Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 (American Folk Music and Musicians Series) [Paperback]

David Bonner (Author)

Book Description

Series: American Folk Music and Musicians Series | Publication Date: November 26, 2007

Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild were the first commercially significant record clubs in the world. By applying proven book club methods to the field of phonograph records, these two related companies attracted some hundred thousand subscribers at their peak and serviced perhaps a million members in their existence. Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 tells the history of YPR/CRG, explaining how these two labels intersected important developments in the histories of mass marketing, recording technology, educational philosophy, folk music, contemporary composition, and Cold War politics. David Bonner covers in detail the history of YPR/CRG, tracing its influences back to the beginnings of music education in the 19th Century and incorporating the impact of the American folk music revival on music educators.

The narrative follows the career paths of the company principals, such as its progressive founder Horace Grenell; the musicians who recorded for him, like American folk music revival pioneer Tom Glazer; and the record industry offshoots they created in the process. Bonner considers advances the club made in recording technology as the first record label devoted exclusively to "unbreakable" vinyl discs and provides a comprehensive summary of record club marketing, including the application of "music appreciation" to phonograph records. He also charts the commercial, critical, and political response to these endeavors, including an historical footnote to the "Red Scare" unavailable in existing Cold War literature. A complete and detailed discography listing every YPR and CRG recording, including all known writers and performers, concludes this excellent reference for scholars, nostalgists, and phonographic fanatics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

David Bonner's fascinating look at the nostalgic world of Young People's Records takes the reader far beyond memory lane and into the political and philosophical worlds of those who planned them, wrote them, and performed on them. The complicated history of a host of record labels that sprung from those children's discs, which Mr. Bonner recounts, adds to the tremendous value of his book. Anyone who grew up with these priceless records must read what's on these pages. (Peter Bay, Conductor )

Thoroughly researched examination. (August/September 2008 Dirty Linen )

I grew up with Young People's Records. "The Funniest Song In The World" featuring Groucho Marx and "By Rocket To The Moon" with Raymond Scott helped mold the mind of the boy who became Dr. Demento. Here's the whole story of how those and hundreds of other YPR favorites were created by some of the most progressive thinkers and artists of their times, how they became a target for those in the McCarthy era and later those who sought to repress and confine the minds of young Americans, and how their spirit of joy in knowledge perseveres. (Dr Demento )

This book will be a treat for anyone interested in the history of the music industry. Highly recommended. (Choice 2008 )

About the Author

David Bonner is a music consultant and supervisor in Austin, Texas and an authority on esoteric recorded music.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press (November 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081085919X
• ISBN-13: 978-0810859197
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,012,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm interested in hearing from folks who had YPR and/or CRG records during childhood -- especially those who were club members. So if you fit the bill, please let me know!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guild Takes Baby Boomers, December 22, 2008

By 

Richard A. Hilbert - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 (American Folk Music and Musicians Series) (Paperback)

American Baby Boomers are the luckiest generation in world history. Education, social services, medical discoveries, self-developed efficacy, and of course...The Beatles. Those who factor in how childhood prepares one for big historical events might remember that we also lived through the golden age of children's entertainment, a cultural revolution directed at kids, for kids, and by adults who didn't talk down to kids. We heard all this on the radio, saw it on television, but before all that...we had record players. We could not appreciate, at the time, the artistic professionalism that went into the production of our phonograph records, but David Bonner's "Revolutionizing Children's Records" can now instruct us in what we may have come to suspect but never really knew for sure: There were Giants instructing our consciousness and making our everyday lives happy.

When I say Giants, I mean real musicians, real composers, real poets, real authors, real vocalists from opera to folk--the plethora of artists with real careers who somehow managed to take time to write plays, operettas, choral performances, all kinds of production numbers...so that children might gain intimate knowledge of art, folklore, songs, classical music, history, dance, literature, drama, technology, on and on.... It wasn't that these people were working for such a corporate giant as to be a cash cow, no. I've always figured there was something sacrificial in the time and attention devoted to these marvelous records. They were not very expensive, and the industry gave a lot of them away. This was not the Walt Disney empire, and, unlike Walt, they really knew how to integrate classical music into story telling while retaining its original form and integrity. Any kid who got to know these records would automatically know the music for an "A" in any future music appreciation course or music recognition contest. Moreover, the original scores that went with these stories rivaled the music of the masters, so we gained a little something extra besides.

If you remember Children's Record Guild or its near-twin Young People's Records, you get my gist. David Bonner tells the story of these people and puts identity to those we remember as "the Emperor" or "Celeste" or "the train singing man" or just "that nice guy who tells stories". We see their pictures and read how their private lives, problems, and scandals wove around one another in the back stage of our audio past. We learn of their connections to leading institutions we had no awareness of as children but surely recognize today--what did Julliard have to do with the Queen of the Elephants? We are delighted to learn how our children's records survived the McCarthy era and how worried certain government agencies were that this decidedly capitalist project might be turning a generation of children into collectivists (who could grow up someday and oppose a nationalist war or two). And along with this comes connections demonstrating the continuity of our age group as we moved along in years--the "train singing man," it turns out, was a certain Mr. Pete Seeger.

Bonner somehow reveals this esthetic while retaining a certain kind of down-to-earthiness that goes with a story of entrepreneurial capitalism--the concept, the plan, the marketing, the partnering, the mergers and the buyouts, in short a very detailed and precise history. The book includes a detailed discography and several reference indices at the back. My personal favorite lists thirty-nine classical composers and the discs on which their music appears.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, December 10, 2008

By 

Melody O'Beau "melobeau" (Cottonwood Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 (American Folk Music and Musicians Series) (Paperback)

I found "Revolutionizing Children's Records" by David Bonner to be an excellent, well researched, and well documented book that provides not only a thorough history of the children's phonograph recording industry in the USA during the 1940-50's, but also delves into the fascinating connection between the volatile social and political climate of the times and its profound effect on the recording industry.

I recommend it highly to both those interested in early children's records and to history lovers who would like to gain a bit more of an understanding of the times from an unlikely, surprising, and fascinating perspective.

Thank you David Bonner for preserving this history, much of it first person oral history obtained directly from the aging principal players, and for providing documentation of an important part of our musical heritage. I particularly enjoyed reading the personal anecdotes that came out of interviews with musician Tom Glazer, whose music greatly influenced me as a child. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it has a prominent place in my library next to my original YPR and CRG recordings.

Anita Ranucci Brandon
Professor Emerita
Music Department
Millersville University
Millersville, Pennsylvania

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Highly Recommend This Book, November 30, 2008

By 

Sharon Brown (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 (American Folk Music and Musicians Series) (Paperback)

Revolutionizing Children's Records a very interesting and well written book. The author provides a glimpse into the lives of the singers, songwriters and business people who were involved in creating this amazing era in children's music. In addition, there is a wealth of information in the extensive discography about each record. The documentation of the authors sources of information is really thorough. I was reminded of the records I played as a child and learned what went into making them such a terrific memory. I highly recommend this book.