Interesting Django Recordings and Lost Footage?

spatzo · September 2011

I finally bought a luxurious 1948 Admiral TV set (rather expensive) and I am working on a few modification to adjust the device to respond to electric oscillations of a certain time wave length. According to Einstein's Law of Relativity I'm trying to shape the quartz to syntonize on two main broadcasts (it's easier than to make a 2,00mm aluminium thick pick by hand).

Monday 22 March 1948: FROM BBC STUDIOS, White City
Wood Lane, London W12
BBC Television, "Stars in Your Eyes", broadcast at 3.00pm

- Swing' 42 [2.13]
- The Bluest Kind of Blues [3.30]
- Belle Ville [2.00]

On the screen I can recognize some players: Stéphane Grappelli (vln), Django Reinhardt (gtr solo); probably Alan Mindell and Malcolm Mitchell (gtrs), Teddy Wadmore (sb) and a guy that looks like Gusti Malha ... :shock:

The programme is presented by Michael Mills, the stationary orchestra of Eric Robertson is present as always ...

There are others artists: Ronald Chesney, CLiff Gordon, Gail Kendall and Alicia Halama and also Paul Konaski.

The whole programme lasts 45 minutes

Saturday 27 March 1948 BBC TV STUDIOS, WHite City
Wood Lane, London W12
BBC Television, "Stars in Your Eyes", broadcast at 8.30pm

The players are (as far as they are them) Stéphane Grappelli (vln), Django Reinhardt (gtr solo); probably Alan Mindell and Malcolm Mitchell (gtrs), Teddy Wadmore (sb)

- Swing '42 [2.28]
- The Bluest KInf of Blues [1.17]
- Belle Ville [2.05]

Oh wait! now the rhythm section is going out of the set and Grappeli goes to the piano... :shock:
They are playing so wonderfully:

- Diana (sic, probably Dinah) [3.21]

Guests Cyril Fletcher and Vera Lynn - it lasts 60 minutes...

According to Paul Vernon the recordings of these broadcasts, "if indeed they ever existed, don't appear to have survived. HOWEVER, THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR RETRIVAL CANNOT BE DISCOUNTED"

Now the fact is the time obviously, if nothing exists or has ever been recorded, where the time indications for each tune and the tunes names comes from?

Another interesting hint is the presence of that famous "Swing 42" now flagged everywhere on each true footager's home. The tune that Vox Populi indicates as "existing".

Possible investigations are first to be done on eventual survivors from the group, that is to say:

- Alan Mindell: ?

- Malcolm Mitchell:
Malcolm Mitchell, guitarist, bandleader, composer and vocalist: born London 9 November 1926; three times married (three sons, one daughter, one stepson, one stepdaughter); died Bognor Regis, Sussex 9 March 1998.

- Teddy Wadmore: ?

but also on Paul Vernon in order to understand better where he searched and how deep he did that

spatzo · September 2011

I begining to think that searching for Django is a true monkey business! :shock:

Svanis1337 · September 2011

Amazing, Spatzo!!! Two takes of Swing 42, Nuages and Belleville and a take of Dinah. Wow. Let's remember all the Grappelli footage that has surfaced recently, among them a BBC broadcast with the best ever versions of Stephane Blues as intro and outro and Wendy, which only exists here and on a piano recording. Amazing tune.

I wish we had more than a couple seconds of the el rodeo club Nuages. It sounds as if it could have been amazing.

Why do the footagers keep Swing 42 to themselves? With all the amazing Django discoveries lately, like Django's 1935 home recordings with Naguine and Django having a laugh, Jazz Hot, Clair de Lune et.c, I think you're on to something Spatzo. It's about time this footage is unearthed. I'm very excited about this. You and Teddy are just incredible. I'm sure that if the BBC broadcast is unearthed a lot of "purists" will be disappointed it's in 1948 and not the original lineup, but I will laugh in their face. I also hope it will teach people that Django could infact use all his fingers despite his injury, as evidenced in multiple photos.

spatzo · September 2011

Well all the informations on "Stars In Your Eyes" was already known must be be investigated

Here's a view of the BBC TV Studios in White City in 1948, the orchestra we see is Eric Robertson's one so our future footage can be something similar

Svanis1337 · September 2011

Why aren't there many recordings from the early days of television?

There aren't any, or many, recordings from the early days of television because firstly the programmes were all live, and secondly there was no way to record them. Of course, live television must have been a truly terrifying experience for people back then. They'd have four or five cameras, three or four sets, so you were quite restricted in what you could do, although they did used to achieve amazing things. It must've been stomach-churning and there are stories of people being physically sick just before they go on screen. They did develop a way of recording television pictures by 1947, which may seem very crude nowadays, but essentially they would put a film camera in front of a monitor, and record the pictures off the monitor onto film. So when you see clips from things like the coronation in the trial, those were done using film recording, and sometimes that's why they don't look the most fantastic quality - the original picture would have been better than that.

Here is an example, you can actually see the monitor they were recording off:

Higher Quality:

So we can't be 100% sure that the broadcast was recorded, but I'm hoping and I believe.

Otherwise, just use your magic TV, Spatzo.

spatzo · September 2011

Well the fact is that those informations on tunes and above all the timings could not be part of a pre-program such as a production script or something like that as the music being improvised you could not know exactly how long it could last.

I also wrote to the Alexandra Palace Televison Society that own the documents/equipments from early BBC TV and Alexandra Palace is the place where probably the broadcast was recorded.

I'm pretty sure it was recorded 8)

On Les Paul: I wonder if it was the version of How High The Moon that Django wanted to record as he told once to Les Paul he wanted to.

I go back to work on the TV set ...

spatzo · September 2011

I just spoke with Marco Travaglini that actually is dizzing on a beach near Ricione and we spoke obviously of footages... He will soon send me a book he wrote on Spadolini with more than 200 photos I hope at least one will be interesting for us.

Travaglini unfortunately owns no other reels that might have a connection with Django. Just no reels in fact.

There is still the first part of the soundtrack to be found on "Rivages de Paris" and I will investigate on Spadolini's wife (Yvette Marguerie) heirs that actually might own the films today as she was the producer for those court-metrages and she gave (incredible I wrote "geft"

) all her belongings to her last servant (Patrick O.). If I remember well Teddy has been in contact with him in those last years...

spatzo · September 2011

Bromberg is still out somewhere in Paris...

I think we will find something around page 150 so be patient! :shock:

I also would like to contact directly Paul Vernon :roll:

Teddy Dupont · September 2011

spatzo wrote:

Saturday 27 March 1948 BBC TV STUDIOS, WHite City
Wood Lane, London W12
BBC Television, "Stars in Your Eyes", broadcast at 8.30pm

The players are (as far as they are them) Stéphane Grappelli (vln), Django Reinhardt (gtr solo); probably Alan Mindell and Malcolm Mitchell (gtrs), Teddy Wadmore (sb)

What happened to the Gusti Malha look-a-like in this programme? :?

spatzo wrote:

- Teddy Wadmore: ?

Teddy Wadmore went on to play mostly electric bass in various R&B and popular music groups/bands in the 50s/60s including Alexis Korner who wrote the sleeve notes on several Django LPs.

spatzo wrote:

- Alan Mindell: ?

Alan Mindell was essentially a dance band rhythm guitarist. I don't have any photos of him but here is one of Allan Hodgkiss instead who recorded with Django in 1946 and is here sporting a very silly looking Django style moustache.