BEST. FIND. EVER.
I am writing this post with constant goosebumps — the absolute best kind. I would have saved this post for Halloween, but I just can’t wait to share this.
Okay, so my sister phoned me this afternoon (even though we spent the weekend together we didn’t get much time to talk and have already spoken on the phone about six times today!) to tell me that Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf was on CBC Radio 2. I happen to have it on CD already and my reception was pretty fuzzy so I threw on the CD. Which reminded me…
When we were kids, our dad used to bring us home records from the Albion Library to listen to. Weekends and evenings would often find us all lying on the floor on our stomachs or sitting cross-legged in a circle, listening intently to the stories. Among our favourites were Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Stirling Holloway; Peter Cottontail‘; a particular recording of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (which I’ve never been able to find and all I remember about it was that it had a brown cover and was narrated by a woman with an English accent); and James and the Giant Peach and Fantastic Mr. Fox, both narrated by Roald Dahl himself. I own none of these, much to my utter dismay.
But our very favourite, the record we listened to most, was one Dad bought us at a garage sale: Alfred Hitchcock presents Ghost Stories for Young People (the 1960 version). Sadly, and much to our horror, our parents must have sold the record at the garage sale they held before they moved to Europe.
Many times I’ve gone online to see if someone had this record or if I could purchase it, and I came up with nothing because I couldn’t remember the exact title. But today, reminded of the records while listening to Peter and the Wolf on the CBC, I looked it up again. And found it! I found it a few times, once on a site selling the sealed deal for $55, plus shipping, which I wouldn’t hesitate to buy if I could—so long as it had the right cover picture. It has to be the 1960 version, since it’s been rereleased a few times. I also saw it, the vinyl, for $9.99, a well-used, ticking second-hand recording. I must have it but I just can’t spend any money right now…
So I feel like squeezing in a huge bear hug the person who put the recording on youtube. I’m listening to it right now. It’s been posted in five parts:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=z-hlwwVDknM&feature=related
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=F00vfxgH6n4&feature=related
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=clLt0ocJUao&feature=related
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=jEIvOouE6Ig&feature=related
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=dbh9L7ZIs-4&feature=related
I can’t even begin to explain what this means to me. Hearing it again for the first time in years and years is bizarre, as though the last time I heard it was only yesterday. Everything about it is so familiar, I could narrate the record myself. I sent the links to my family, and in less than an hour, just now, my sister in England wrote back:
I loved it!!!!! Absolutely amazing!!! I found myself lipping some of the parts!! How strange that I’m still able to do that after all these years. We must have played that record a thousand times! I closed my eyes whilst listening and tried to imagine all of us there sitting in a circle, still being chilled by the stories and giggling at ourselves that it still has that effect on us!!! Jay is on nights again, and I found myself turning it down, and flicking the lights on, ’cause it still spooked me!!! WHAT A TREAT!!!
See all the exclamation marks? That’s how I feel, too! Ecstatic. Let this be a lesson for you parents out there—two lessons, actually—1. give your kids stuff like this for them to savour and remember in later years. 2. NEVER EVER EVER give away or sell stuff from their childhood without first asking them. Don’t guess or assume. You never know how much it might mean.
If you feel like having a great old-fashioned ghost story session, here’s the very best memory from my child- and even teenagehood. Click on the links above in the order they appear.
Don’t forget to turn out the lights!
PS. I’ve finally finished listening. NOW I can go to the bathroom!
PS. Anything like this you remember? If so, I want to hear about it! Another treat for us was getting up at something like 6 am and watching The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1970s Canadian TV show with guest Vincent Price)! We used to LOVE that show!
Filed under: miscellaneous | 24 Comments
Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Ghost Stories for Young People, memory, record, vinyl
That’s so cool and I’m glad they stood up to the test of time. I hate when I rediscover something from when I was younger and I don’t like it as much now (trying to think of examples).
Anyhow, thanks for the links. I’ll have to give them a listen.
Paul: ENJOY! I hope you love them.
I’m SO happy for you, because I totally get where you’re coming from. My sister and I have so many things like that from our childhood; I wouldn’t even know where to start. We have nothing but memories now. We had all our old stuff from our childhood up in the attic of this house we weren’t living in for a while, and vagrants came in and ransacked it. They even took my macaroni art projects. I am crying right now.
Sean: SHUT UP!! They stole your macaroni projects?! How absolutely horrible!! Grrrrr!!! Oh, how awful all your mementos were taken!!
Steph,
Awesome find (and thanks for sharing earlier!) – you are so right, hang on to this stuff for your kids or nieces and nephews or whatever, give it to them and then whatever you do don’t get rid of it.
Frightenstein!!! That’s on the Space Channel these days if anyone happens to subscribe, or you should be able to find it on DVD. I saw that you can buy t-shirts as well when I went looking for it a few months ago. Classic show… I love it, my kids love it, and my wife hates it!
-Brett
Wow…!!! I think I actually read that book…the cover looks very familiar. I might have borrowed it from the public library when I was around 12-13. If I recall, there were several of these type of Hitchcock books.
I always liked the spooky stories. Way better than the mundane murder mysteries (like Agatha Christie’s) which I never really got into.
Brett: It IS cheesy and totally silly, isn’t it? But I used to love it. What’s your favourite segment? What do your kids love? I liked Dr. PetVet, of course. And the Librarian. And Grizelda the Ghastly Gourmet…
Friar: I’m talking about the vinyl, the LP, but it was indeed a book way back when! I’m not sure if it’s the same cover as the record or not. You can find the book on alibris.com, I think. I have been a huge fan of Hitchcock forever. I used to read and still own the Three Investigator books (I don’t have all of them), and I do have three of the Hitchcock hardcover anthologies (Ghostly Gallery, etc.)
Steph,
I love the Grammar Slammer Bammer – I feel sorry for him because he never gets to hammer Igor
I also like the Professor, Julius Sumner Miller – he actually taught real science, and if it didn’t work, he tried to explain it… love it.
I *so* need a t-shirt.
This is awesome! I vaguely remember this – I know we had it too. I think this is what inspired my dad to write scripts with sound effects. We had a tape recorder and he would give us all parts to read. And then he’d add in crazy sound effects. One story was about some letter that blew out of our mailbox and my sister and I were chasing it all over town. He’d narrate saying, “Brett and Vicki chased the letter as it blew over the railroad tracks, but they had to wait as a long rumbling freight train came by.” But then he’d play the sound of a high speed passenger train. He cracked himself up.
One of my fave childhood memories of all time is when my parents would play the Sound of Music record on the old grundig. We’d all sing along, especially the Doe, ray, me song. At the end of it, my sister and I would always tackle my dad. We did that forever! Now I sing it to my kids and they tackle me. I love it.
Thanks for drumming up the great memories!!
@ Brett: the funny thing is, of all the characters, I don’t really remember the Grammar Bammer Slammer!! GASP! I know. Maybe I tuned him out because my grammar was great already. LOL!!
I couldn’t find the t-shirts…
@BrettHead: AWESOME!! I love your stories! These are the kinds of things I want to hear. It’s so much fun to remember stuff like this.
Do you guys still have the recordings your dad made? Your dad sounds so cool!! You have to tell him about this, remind him of them. I told my dad about finding the Hitch recording and he wants to buy it for us now!
We never had the SoM recording, but we watched it every Christmas on TV. That’s hilarious about you guys tackling your dad after! What started that? I love that you do it with your sons now. I have to think about what I still do that’s carried on, besides this record and certain books. If I had TV I’d still be watching Saturday Night Movies with Elwy Yost!
We were so in love with SoM and we always acted out these types of films. Wizard of Oz, etc. We just knew all them by heart. Dad wanted all of us four girls to be nuns. (Not one of us is, and I don’t think any of us even married a Catholic!) Actually, I was in love with musicals, period. For YEARS.
@Steph,
He’s this big purple furry guy, Pet Vet (I think) asks Igor to read a sentence and he does, but his grammar is off. The GSB then threatens to hammer Igor… he was a bit of a side-character, but for some reason I remember him – he kind of reminds me of my Grade 9 English teacher!
I’ll find the t-shirts for you
My dad had a concertina (squeeze box) that he used to play, and would let me play when I was growing up. Not well, mind you, but I loved it. It came in its own octagonal box. Several years ago, I asked to have it. THEY HAD GIVEN IT AWAY!!!!!! I was sooooo upset and laid down the law to them: NEVER EVER EVER give away or sell stuff from their childhood without first asking them.
Now they are petrified and ask my brothers and me about everything they are thinking of getting rid of. *chuckle*
I don’t remember what started the tackling. But once it started, it happened 100% of the time. He is totally aware of it because we still joke about it today. But at 41 and 43, my sis and I don’t tackle him anymore (he is 79).
We do still have those cassette tapes. Honestly, I don’t have a long list of great family memories. My dad is a good man, but we weren’t’ the lovey-dovey family that I have with my kids now. My other best memories with him are playing catch and going to ballgames.
So long, farewell…
Steph,
those memories are so important. I’m glad you could find it on YouTube. Have you looked for the other recordings you mentioned?
One of my strongest memories is going down the Liberty Memorial in downtown Kansas City with my dad and siblings. He would pretend to be a monster and chase us around the memorial. It was really fun.
When I was a kid, I was addicted to the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines. I even received my first literary rejection letter from them — a mimeographed, quarter-sheet scrap of paper, suffering from overcopying.
Ah, the memories.
This is my favorite post ever of yours. O M G, did it bring back memories!
You had me searching online for a record I was obsessed with as a child; I especially remember skipping around a basement pole to it — The Big Top. Lol! Circus music. It may be Under The Big Top, but I’m not sure.
When I was little, I had a few of those books that came with 45’s (records) and I remember The Three Little Pigs, but I was obsessed (yes, that word again : ) with Smokey The Bear. I just got a clear flash of the picture in the book of the little bear cub up a singed tree scared to death. On the next page, his poor little paws are all bandaged up.
So cool, because I haven’t accessed these memories in a gazillion years!
Now I have to get The Big Top for Thanksgiving, as I remember it from Thanksgiving morning, or some equivalent circus music. Too funny!
Em : )
Steph, what a precious memory and it’s awesome that you and your sister were able to recapture a piece of it – big props to modern technology! I have so many of these wonderful memories too. I loved reading, dancing and singing as a kid. I had the Peter Cottontail too (one of my faves). But one of my favorites was Teddy Bears on Parade. I would play it over and over and over, marching around, singing totally lost in the teddy bear parade. I can still see myself complete drama queen that I was and my mom smiling at me in that sweet way she had. Thanks for bringing back all the warm, fuzzy memories.
Oh, Panther! That’s terrible! I so understand how you feel!! Isn’t it horrifying?! I can’t fathom how they wouldn’t realize these things’ value to us!! Have you gone antiquing at all? Not to make a comment on your age (the record is an antique for me as well!), but I mean, you might find something like it somewhere! I was surprised to find people online who had the same memories as me with the Hitch record, so someone else’s parents might possibly have got rid of a concertina too!
@BrettHead: Well, ballgames still affect you, don’t they? Aren’t you still a fan? And the most important now is that you create new memories with your kiddies, as you’re doing now. You have photos and wonderfully funny blog entries, stuff like that. Just don’t forget to keep that princess costume, and the shiny shoes!!
@ Beth: How cute, that memorial story! I’ll bet you can’t look at it ever without thinking of that memory now. I love hearing these memories of all you guys! And it’s especially interesting that many are with fathers. I haven’t looked for those other recordings yet, but I will. Apparently, my sister in England had no trouble finding the Roald Dahl ones on CD for her kids!
@ Beth Z: ME TOO!!! Well, not the rejection part (do you still have the letter?), but I LOVED reading them! I wish I still had them. I haven’t looked in ages, but might they still sell those. I seem to remember seeing them at Chapters a few years ago. Still, it would be fun to find ones from our era.
@ Em: Oh, I’m so happy I brought back this memory for you! I can hear your excitement. I know! It really is fun to remember stuff like this, and, as Beth said, important, too, I think. I do hope you find that record, or at least a recording of it in some form! We too had the 45s with the books, especially Disney ones: “You will know it is time to turn the page when Tinkerbell rings her little bell like this.” I can hear it all so clearly! We had Bambi, I remember, and Peter Pan, and others. And we had a FisherPrice record player to play them on! (We also had the FP hard plastic coloured records, with the notches, anyone remember those?)
@ Karen: What a beautiful, sweet memory! It’s cool that we both had Peter Cottontail!
I can totally imagine you singing and dancing, your mom smiling on. So cute!! I don’t know Teddy Bears on Parade, but it actually sounds familiar. I’ll have to look it up, too.
How about the records that used to be part of the back of cereal boxes, that came off and could be played on a record player?
Which then, lol, has me thinking of the Jackson Five cartoon!
: )
Em (from the cobwebbed attic of childhood)
Em,
I don’t know those!! Man, you can’t get anything that neat in cereal boxes these days!! Just ask Friar…
Steph,
What a lovely post. Yes, I had two records in particular that I still remember vividly from childhood: Jim Henson’s The Frog Prince (you inspired me to see if it was on YouTube—I can’t believe it is!) and The First Christmas Record for Children. All sorts of gems like Captain Kangaroo telling the story of The Littlest Snowman (tearjerker for little people), Rosemary Clooney singing C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S—it’s fabulous. I have that on CD now, and it does make me ecstatic. That’s exactly the word for it, every time I listen.
Thanks so much for writing this!
Karen—I had Teddy Bears on Parade, too! I loved that one.
Regards,
Kelly
Steph,
You’ve won the I Love Your Blog Award!
Please check your email for the details I sent to you.
Hooray!
Em