This section of our site is thru the generosity of Mr. CT Law:
Mr. CT Law wrote:
Here's a first installment on the information you need. Attached are 150 dpi scans
of Toscanini, Samuel Rabinowitz (later legally changed to Sam Rand), and the title
page of the 1938 NBC S.O. Publicity book.
The entire book is about 120 pages long, most of which are dedicated to bios and
drawings of the performers.
I believe that the information is most likely Public Domain, since the book is now
60 years old. I was unable to find any contact information on NBC's site
regarding copyrighted material. The title page clearly indicates the copyright
claim, as well as the original authors of the work, but I think that the original authors need to be
mentioned prominently.
If you have any suggestions on what image sizes or scan resolutions might better
suit your site, please let me know before I extensively scan this book. I can do
better on the scan of Toscanini, but I do not have time to work further on this
right now.
At some future date, I would like to republish some of this information on a site
dedicated to Sam Rand and his exploits, so I would like to reserve the right to use
the information elsewhere.
Thanks for your interest and your fantastic resource.
-Tommy Law
lawct@ibm.net
I recently visited Sam Rand's widow (my wife's grandmother), who gave me her
copy of the Publicity book for the NBC Symphony's first season. This includes
sketches and personal information on each player in that first season (some of
it apparently made up to make the players sound as if they had superlative
credentials to match their playing skill.) At the back of this book is a copy
of the picture of the NBC Symphony that you offer on your Web site, so I think
you might already be aware of this book. I have also seen at least one other
name of a performer who was not listed in your performer listing.
Would you like me to update your list of performers based on this book?
-Tommy Law
lawct@ibm.net
CT Law wrote:
I have been trying for some time to track down references to an original
member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The name at that time would have
been Samuel Rabinowitz. He was picked out of the Cincinatti Orchestra
and served with violin for only the first (1937-38) season, after which
he became distracted by many other projects, including Perry Como and
Jackie Gleason radio and TV shows. He was the grandfather of my wife.
I do not see his name listed among the members you give in your list.
Are you aware of any surviving members who might recall that first
season -- or perhaps some literature that would list the members of that
season only. Ultimately, I would like to acquire recordings of that
first season, but I have yet to come across any of them.
For Web Concerts and articles about Toscanini and other great conductors:
http://www.classicalrecordings.org
