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By Alethea Perez, October 14, 2011 12:04 pm

Blanche Serota embraces a copy of the specially-created record label that honors her son, Barry Serota. Photo Credit: Alethea Perez

BOCA RATON, FL (October 4, 2011) – Florida Atlantic University recently received a gift in memory of the late Barry Serota, an attorney, record producer and executive director of the Chicago-based Institute for Jewish Sound Recording. Serota was widely known for his deep knowledge of Jewish music and produced more than 100 recordings of Jewish sacred and secular music. His productions at the Institute for Jewish Sound Recording included choral,   instrumental, folk and art music.

Serota’s mother, Blanche, donated 1,500 LPs, more than 700 78-rpm discs, 100 digital audio tapes and 1,443 audio reel-to-reel tapes to the Judaica Sound Archives (JSA) at FAU Libraries in honor of her son. The collection includes rare record masters and pre-production one-of-a-kind recordings.

“Barry Serota devoted his life to collecting great Jewish music and producing high-quality recordings,” said Maxine Schackman, Ph.D., director of the Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries. “Although we knew this was a wonderful donation to the JSA, we really couldn’t be sure what treasures we would find. Many of these recordings are legendary in the world of the cantorial arts.”

Blanche Serota became acquainted with the FAU Libraries when Ben Roth-Aroni, JSA’s sound technician, called to offer his condolences following Barry’s death. During his youth, Roth-Aroni worked for Serota as a tape editor and greatly admired his expertise in the field of Jewish music. Roth-Aroni encouraged Blanche to visit FAU Libraries, and during her February 2011 visit, she arranged to donate her son’s treasured collection to the JSA.

“She wanted to honor his memory,” said Schackman. “It comforted her to know that what he loved so much would find a warm welcome and a permanent home at the JSA.”

The JSA has digitized and compiled a collection of 56 albums produced by Barry Serota. The recordings can be heard on the JSA website at Musique Internationale.

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By Maxine Schackman, September 15, 2011 3:01 pm

If you like Jewish music, you will love A Bis’l Taam  (A Little Flavor), JSA’s most recent compilation of songs now available on CD.

Recorded from early 20th century 78 rpm phonograph discs the album contains snippets of 21 songs. You will be amazed at the beautiful sound quality and the range of music.

This CD is not for sale.  It cannot be purchased anywhere.  It is ONLY available to JSA members. When you become a member of the JSA* ($36) you become eligible to receive this wonderful CD containing digitized portions of songs from the Yiddish theater, folk songs, cantorial masterpieces, klezmer, and music performed by Jewish artists. A special link has been created for members only so that you can hear each song in its entirety on the internet.

This CD heritage album contains performances by Cantor B. Chagy, Kandel’s Orchestra, David Medoff, Morris Goldstein. Benny Bell, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Cantor J. Rosenblatt, Cantor G. Sirota, Cantor S. Kwartin and many others.

Celebrate the New Year by becoming a member of the JSA and enjoy your Jewish music heritage all year long!

To find out more about JSA Thank You gifts: click here.

*The portion of your payment that qualifies as a charitable contribution will be reflected on the receipt you receive from the FAU Foundation Inc. The amount of your payment that exceeds the fair market value of any consideration you received in the form of privileges or other benefits will be the amount that may be deductible as a charitable contribution. Consult with your tax advisor for deductibility of your charitable gift.

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By Maxine Schackman, October 4, 2010 9:35 am

“The Jazz Singer,” released in 1927, was the first commercially successful “talking motion picture.” One of the most iconic moments in movie history occurs in this film when Al Jolson on stage, turns to his enthusiastic audience and says, “Wait a minute! You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”  This promise of even more exciting entertainment to come is fulfilled as he sings “Toot-toot-tootsie” using moves that could have made Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson jealous. The effect is electrifying.

Known as “The World’s Greatest Entertainer” during his lifetime, Al Jolson’s life story (on which the movie was based) tells of a young Jewish boy who is driven to become a Pop singer despite the fact that his Orthodox father wants him to be a Cantor.

Who would think that a Jewish child born in anti-Semitic Tsarist Russia could become an American entertainment icon whose fame would continue to flourish  more than 50 years after his death?

When Asa Yoelson was only four years old his father became a rabbi and left his family and the old country to find a better life. After four years the Rabbi found a position in Washington D.C. and his family joined him. Tragically Asa’s mother died in 1895 only a short time after her arrival in the USA.

Embracing their “American” identities, young Asa soon became known as Al and his older brother Hirsh became Harry. The boys were obsessed with show business and by 1901 they were getting bookings in burlesque and vaudeville.

In 1904 Al, now known as Al Jolson, was called upon to fill-in for a performer in a blackface vaudeville comedy show.  Blackface, an important performance tradition in the American theater beginning around 1830 can now be seen as racist and offensive. But to young Al Jolson it was a blessing. Hidden behind the make-up, he found that he could give a freer, more energetic performance.  When this chance opportunity was well-received by the audience and critics, he soon decided to continue using blackface. The spontaneity and freedom he felt when in blackface elevated his performance and his fame.

In 1911 Jolson had his Broadway debut. His rendition of George M. Cohan’s Haunting Melody in the show “Vera Violetta “made him a Broadway star.

This was followed by other Broadway musicals and other hits for Jolson including You Made Me Love You in 1913 where he sang the final chorus pleading on one knee, a pose he would assume many times over in his career; Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody (1918); and George Gershwins’s Swanee (1918).

To hear all 55 songs in the JSA’s collection, click here. This collection of songs originally recorded by Al Jolson on 78 rpm discs between 1911 and 1919 was digitized and compiled by The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries. These albums are not available for sale or reproduction.

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By Maxine Schackman, August 5, 2010 1:40 pm

Who said Yiddish Musical Comedy is dead?

Now you can revisit the glory days of the Lower East Side and hear the songs as they were actually sung.

The recordings in this special JSA collection were produced on 78 rpm recordings between 1901 and 1922, at the height of Yiddish Theater’s popularity.

Four stars of Yiddish Musical Comedy are highlighted: Gus Goldstein, Clara Gold, Anna Hoffman and Jacob Jacobs.

Gus Goldstein, an American Yiddish actor of the early 20th century made many recordings for Columbia Records.  This JSA collection features 37 of his solo songs.

He also made recordings with Clara Gold that focused on immigrant issues and Yiddish humor, and featuring Litvak, Galitzianer and Italian dialects. Clara Gold played character roles in the Yiddish Theater and was known for her comedic performances. She partnered with Gus Goldstein from 1916 to 1926. Forty-four of the songs they recorded together are in this collection.

Gus Goldstein also partnered with Anna Hoffman, a well-known comedic singer of her day. This collection includes 7 of their songs. It also features 25 songs that she recorded solo.

Jacob Jacobs was known for adding timely dialogue to his Yiddish comedy acts and translating English songs into Yiddish. This collection includes 12 of his songs recorded between 1909 and 1922. An interesting historical note is that in 1932 he collaborated with composer Sholom Secunda on a Yiddish musical comedy, “I Would If I Could.”  Although the show was not a great success it did produce a song that would later become the #1 hit, Bei Mir Bist du Shon.

If you understand Yiddish, remember Yiddish Theater, or just want a nostalgic journey, you won’t be disappointed. Click here to listen to any of the 14 digitized albums in the collection.

Or select one of these favorites tunes: America, Ich Lieb Dich; Ich bin a boarder by mein vieb;  Yente Telebende.

These albums are not available for sale or reproduction but can be heard in their entirety on the JSA website.

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By Maxine Schackman, June 9, 2010 3:18 pm

There have been many great classical violinists in the past, but few have achieved the fame of Jascha Heifetz. His use of rapid vibrato and emotionally charged fast tempos, together with exquisite control over his instrument helped to make his music distinctive, exciting, and brilliant.

A child prodigy, he began making phonograph recordings in Russia when he was only 9 years old. These early recordings are quite rare. On October 27, 1917, at the age of 16 he made his NYC debut in Carnegie Hall.  Shortly thereafter he began recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company and later RCA Victor. The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries has created four audio albums consisting of 32 of these Victor recordings produced between 1917 and 1922. This vintage collection of music originally recorded on 78 rpm discs was digitized and compiled by The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries. These albums are not available for sale or reproduction but can be heard in their entirety on the JSA website.

Heifetz was often a controversial figure. He was attacked in Israel in 1953 because he insisted on including the works of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner in his repertoire despite the strong sentiment at the time that they were Nazis. On the other hand, he was a strong critic of the Soviet Union and was considered to be a defector by other Russian musicians.

Click on any label to hear that song.

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By Maxine Schackman, April 16, 2010 2:53 pm

Alma Gluck and Efrem Zimbalist

Who is your favorite star couple? From Debbie Reynolds & Eddie Fisher to Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, love among celebrities is exciting.  We always want to know more. That’s the way it is today… it is also the way it was a hundred years ago.

In 1911 two Jewish superstars of classical music met and fell in love. They were young, they were talented, and they made beautiful music together.

The Zimbalist-Gluck romance provided lots of material for the gossips of their day. While the idea of such a wonderful pairing of talents was thrilling, there were those who pointed out that Gluck was six years older, as well as a divorcee with a daughter. Scandalous!

Before and during the early years of her marriage to the violin virtuoso, Efrem Zimbalist, famed operatic soprano Alma Gluck enjoyed a highly successful recording career. Her release of Carry Me Back to Old Virginny for the Victor Talking Machine Co. was the first celebrity classical recording to sell over one million copies.

After their marriage Victor/Victrola capitalized on a sure bet: recording the newlyweds together. You can hear two of the most popular of these recordings by clicking on the record labels below.

In his biography of Efrem Zimbalist (Efrem Zimbalist: A Life, 2004), Roy Malan  describes the process of making a recording in the days prior to the electric microphone. “The technique was very basic: a large metal horn was suspended from the ceiling; connected from its small end was a flexible pipe that pssed through a thick curtain to the etching machine in an adjourning room. Singers were instructed to face away from the horn on particularly high notes. Violinists had to position themselves with the sound holes facing directly into the horn’s mouth….The possibility of knocking against the metal rim had constantly to be guarded against (p.117).”

When they recorded together “the singer and violinist each had separate pick-up horns; Efrem later joked that his was much smaller than Alma’s: ‘They didn’t want me to play too loudly and spoil everything!’ (p. 135)”

Among their most financially successful recordings was the Zionist hymn, Hatikva, produced in 1919, and Old Folks at Home by Stephen Foster, produced in 1915.

While rehearsing for this latter recording, Zimbalist discovered that the obbligato was inadequate. He came upon the idea of playing Dvorak’s Humoresque at a slightly slower tempo instead. It was recorded this way and the recording became one of their most popular.

Hear the music.

The JSA has collected 20 song recordings featuring the combined talents of Alma Gluck and Efrem Zimbalist.

To hear all 20 song recordings,     

click here.

Submitted by Maxine Schackman, JSA  assistant director.

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By Maxine Schackman, March 3, 2010 2:27 pm

In the early half of the 20^th century, Yiddish speaking audiences often connected with their roots and culture by listening to Yiddish radio programs produced in the USA. In 2004 the Judaica Sound Archives received a gift of 70 recordings of radio broadcasts produced in 1949 from the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

These broadcasts were recorded on 16-inch discs. Special equipment is needed to play such large recordings. Unfortunately, the JSA did not have the right equipment.  So the recordings sat in storage.

Over time, the JSA was given about 30 more 16-inch recordings, including 14 produced by Vistas of Israel.

As our collection of 16-inch records grew so did the pressure to find a turntable that could handle them. “I suddenly remembered that my employer had given me a large turntable in the 1970’s” said JSA Sound Archivist, Ben Roth-Aroni. Digging through items that had been in storage for over 30 years, Ben was able to eventually unearth the turntable.

But, when he put the first 16-inch disc on the turntable he realized that the tone arm bumped into the record. The tone arm needed to be raised so that the needle was above the record. Working with spare parts, he was able to solve the problem by raising the tone arm base.

Tone arm base before elevation

Tone arm base after Ben elevated it.

Some of these 16-inch recordings are quite unique.  For example, “some of them have grooves which spiral from the inside toward the outside instead of the conventional outside toward the inside. Also some have a “vertical cut.” That means that the needle rides up and down over the grooves instead of the usual “lateral cut” where the needle moves from left to right.” Ben said.

I asked Ben if a special needle was required to play these recordings. “Sometimes we need a special needle but often a 78-rpm stylus will work fine as long as we have a specially wired cartridge that works for the lateral cut discs.”

The JSA currently has over 400 Vistas of Israel radio broadcasts.  These programs were produced by the state of Israel from the 1950s through the 1970s. Fourteen of the broadcasts in the JSA collection were produced on 16-inch discs. We are currently involved in an extensive digitization project so that all of these Vistas of Israel broadcasts can be heard on the JSA website. With the addition of our newly revamped turntable these broadcasts can be included in this exciting digitization project.

Submitted by Maxine Schackman, JSA assistant director

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By Maxine Schackman, February 18, 2010 4:24 pm

Cleveland weather provides a rare opportunity for Floridians to shovel snow

Nathan Tinanoff, Ben Roth and Alethea Perez left South Florida to complete the final packing of the Jack Saul  recordings that will find a home at FAU’s Wimberly Library. They arrived in Cleveland to find a snow-covered landscape and frigid temperatures. How did the Floridians handle the weather?

Alethea said, “It was amazing! I got to throw my first snowball!” But they didn’t have much time to play in the snow, or make snow angels or even create a snowman, there were 78-rpm records to pack into boxes.

Each box holds 40 to 50 records and they packed almost 500 boxes over the Presidents Day weekend. That translates to between 20,000 and 24,000 records.

Working in both the Saul’s home and the furniture store they were amazed at what was still left behind. “This collection was so extensive that even after we packed two truckloads of recordings, it still seemed like there was so much more there,” said Nathan Tinanoff, director of the JSA. But as these pictures show, a lot of progress has been made in clearing out the clutter and packing treasured recordings.

Before

After boxes are packed

The 78-rpm records that were packed during this trip to Cleveland will NOT become part of the Judaica Sound Archives.  These 78-rpm recordings contain American pop music, classical music, opera and the works of many famous entertainers of 50 to 100 years ago. Because of the size of this collection FAU Libraries is establishing a new Vintage Record Collection which will be under the direction of Nathan Tinanoff.

Below is newspaper article from 1976 showing Jack Saul with a basement full of recordings. It seemed huge , but who knew at the time that Jack Saul would continue adding to his enormous collection of recordings for over 30 more years?

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By Maxine Schackman, February 8, 2010 11:31 am

Chuck Samberg and Gloria Magida (on right) visit the JSA to donate recordings to Nathan Tinanoff and Maxine Schackman (holding record album).

Valentine’s Day is certainly not a Jewish holiday.  But who says Jews can’t celebrate love?

The Yiddish word, beshert, can refer to any kind of fortuitous good match, such as finding the perfect job or the perfect house, but usually it refers to a perfect romantic match. Beshert brings people together no matter what obstacles might stand in the way.  “If it is meant to be, it will be.”

Chuck and Gloria connected romantically back in the early 1960s, after her first husband passed away.  They dated, they married.  But the time was not right for these two to live happily ever after. After five years they divorced and lost contact with each other.

But when two people share a destiny they will find a way to reconnect with each other, even after many years. Chuck’s father was a pioneer in Jewish comedy back in the 1930s. Known professionally as Benny Bell, he was a celebrity in Jewish circles.

When Gloria’s third husband passed away a few years ago she became interested in reconnecting with friends from her past. She especially wanted to reconnect with Chuck. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to find him.

Many times she sat at her computer and typed the name “Charles Samberg” into the Google bar only to be disappointed by the lack of results.  Then one day she typed in the name “Chuck Samberg.”  This time she got a link to FAU’s Judaica Sound Archives.

Her curiosity aroused, she decided to follow the link which led to one of the happiest surprises of her life!  What she found on the JSA website was 19 comedy albums by Benny Bell.  As she listened it brought back many memories of her childhood. And then she went to the Benny Bell biography page. And there, at the bottom of the page was a way to reconnect with her past. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

She sent a note. Now the two are reunited and enjoying every moment of it, looking back at the past with nostalgia, looking towards the future with joyful thoughts. “We’re very happy!” Gloria to me.

For more information about Benny Bell click here.

Submitted by Maxine Schackman, JSA  assistant director.

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By Maxine Schackman, December 18, 2009 3:49 pm

I was listening to my local public radio station while I was driving to work the other day. Roger Bennett, co-author of And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl, was talking with Marco Werman about his attempt to save decades of American Jewish music from obscurity.

We, at the JSA, are very proud of our participation in helping Roger and his co-auther, Josh Kun to find materials that eventually found its way into their wonderful book.

Even though he didn’t mention us by name, we knew who Roger was talking about when he mentioned visiting Boca Raton, Florida, “where old Jewish vinyl goes to die.” When JSA Director, Nathan Tinanoff listened to the interview he told me, “He got that wrong! The JSA isn’t where old Jewish vinyl goes to die.  It is where it goes to be reborn!”

The book is a wonderful compendium of stories, information, photos, and album covers from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.  

Josh Kun, Associate Professor of communication and journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and   America, which won a 2006 American Book Award, co-authored the book with Roger Bennett who also co-authored Bar Mitzvah Disco. 

The authors write about how they “encountered the Judaica Sound Archives of Florida Atlantic University, where Nathan Tinanoff and his devoted staff generously opened their collection to us.”  And where they found “thousands of LPs, shelf after shelf filled with dsicarded cardboard and vinyl that we gushed over like scientists marveling at new speciments” (p.17).

Looking through the book is an education and a trip down memory lane. From Steisand to Bagels and Bongos by the Irving Fields Trio, from Molly Pecon to the Four Bursteins, from Neil Sedaka to Theodore Bikel, the names and images pop off the pages.

The following JSA featured performers are highlighted in the book: Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, Oysher-Michaels Family, Benny Bell , The 4 Bursteins, Gladys Gewirtz, Shimon & Ilana Gewirtz, Gadi Elon.

 A friend of mine who loves the book told me that when she goes on the JSA website it is like the “book comes to life” right on her computer. I can’t think of a nicer compliment.