Emily Vinson
Emily is a graduate of the School of Information of the University of Texas at Austin and an alumnus of the New York Public Library IMLS Preservation Fellowship, where she worked closely with the audio ...
Archives Mixtape: Please No Squeeze the Banana, 1946
Number 10
Friday, March 11, 2011 - 04:28 PM
Men around a fruit seller's push cart, 1944. United States, Office of War Information.
(Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.)
Undoubtedly readers of the Annotations blog have been waiting with bated breath for the next installment of the Archives Mixtape, and we are happy to oblige with a double feature!
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Established in the year 2000, the WNYC Archives are the station's physical link to its rich and storied past.
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Pals of the P.A.L., a children’s variety show presented by the Police Athletic League is well represented in the Municipal collection, and amidst announcements about upcoming Pals’ river cruises, youth boxing leagues and short radio plays are musical performances – some of which are really great!
These two tunes are courtesy of an August 1946 episode and feature a shared food theme. The first song, “We’ve Got Fish for Supper” was performed by Harvey Davis and his Instrumental Quintet. Unfortunately, research yielded no information about the band, but the song was first mentioned in Billboard on February 28, 1942, calling it “Al Cooper’s band’s new novelty for Decca.”
The second “track,” and a favorite here in the archives, is Anna Blanco’s rendition of “Please No Squeeze the Banana.” Once again, nothing is known about the performer, however the song was most famously recorded on the Majestic label by Louis Prima and his Orchestra in 1945.
Audio courtesy NYC Municipal Archives collection.
About Annotations: The NEH Preservation Project
In September 2010, WNYC's Archives and Preservation Department initiated a two-year archival digitization project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Its goal is to reformat 660 hours of choice recordings from the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC collection found on lacquer disc and open reel tape.
For more information, please visit the 2010-2013 NEH-Funded Preservation Project page.
The 2010-2013 NEH-Funded Preservation Project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this web resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Comments [1]
Really adorable! Thanks for digitizing!
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