The first records I heard were played through a walnut Radiogram. It had a Garrard Turntable that you could pile up both 45s and lps on a stacker mechanism. It had this dinky little arm thing that could detect the size of the record and so when different records dropped it would line the needle up correctly. Simple effective technology.
It could also play 78s, 45s, 33s and something called 16s which I still have never even seen. After a bit of searching on the net the closest I could get to what our Radiogram looked like is the photo below - although this one is a bit more modern.
For as long as I can remember until I started buying records the radiogram had the same records in it.
An eclectic mix of Mantovani 10"s, The Dean Martin 45 Volare, some Mario Lanza, Doris Day's Que Sera Sera/Sentimental Journey 45, Sea Shanties by the Robert Shaw Chorale, Some Kingston Trio, Where are you by Sinatra, A pile of old 78's including more Mantovani and one that really intrigued me even then Charlie Chaplin's Theme from Limelight.
We also had the great Bonanza Pondarosa Party Record which somehow seems to be the sole survivor from that era.
Many of the records were not the original pressings and covers but ones from the World Record Club with different covers to the original and a pink whirly label.
The Radiogram was a big piece of furniture and so doubled as a sideboard with vases and other ornaments frequently stored on top of it. To play something you had to take whatever was on top off and then carefully place the records on the turntable in what was something of a well. It kind of made playing music difficult and in the whole time we had it I can not remember Mum and Dad ever buying a new record.
Rightly or wrongly I then concluded that most of the records probably came with it.
It could also play 78s, 45s, 33s and something called 16s which I still have never even seen. After a bit of searching on the net the closest I could get to what our Radiogram looked like is the photo below - although this one is a bit more modern.
For as long as I can remember until I started buying records the radiogram had the same records in it. An eclectic mix of Mantovani 10"s, The Dean Martin 45 Volare, some Mario Lanza, Doris Day's Que Sera Sera/Sentimental Journey 45, Sea Shanties by the Robert Shaw Chorale, Some Kingston Trio, Where are you by Sinatra, A pile of old 78's including more Mantovani and one that really intrigued me even then Charlie Chaplin's Theme from Limelight.
We also had the great Bonanza Pondarosa Party Record which somehow seems to be the sole survivor from that era.
Many of the records were not the original pressings and covers but ones from the World Record Club with different covers to the original and a pink whirly label.
The Radiogram was a big piece of furniture and so doubled as a sideboard with vases and other ornaments frequently stored on top of it. To play something you had to take whatever was on top off and then carefully place the records on the turntable in what was something of a well. It kind of made playing music difficult and in the whole time we had it I can not remember Mum and Dad ever buying a new record.
Rightly or wrongly I then concluded that most of the records probably came with it.
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