Strange Audio Gadgets

 

The Devineau Biophone Attachment was a strange and unique gadget that allowed you to play gramophone records on cylinder phonographs......

Combination Tape Recorder/Phonographs

.....or tape recorders that attach to phonographs......

Jacques Dutronc

This one's for the ladies.....

Clearly, nothing says "sex appeal" like some dude with a cigarette hanging nonchalantly out his mouth.

Meet Jacques Dutronc, he was one of France's hottest stars of the '60s and '70s. He scored a number of hits there and in French Canada (he's probably best known amongst American music fans as the husband of singer Francoise Hardy.) I once found a 45 of this song "J'aime Les Filles" or "I Love The Girls". 

I found it at my favourite thrift shop in a random bag of 45s, some 40 of them for $1.00 

The lyrics.....

J'aime les filles de chez Castel
J'aime les filles de chez Régine
J'aime les filles qu'on voit dans "Elle"
J'aime les filles des magazines

J'aime les filles de chez Renault
J'aime les filles de chez Citroën
J'aime les filles des hauts fourneaux
J'aime les filles qui travaillent à la chaîne

Si vous êtes comme ça, téléphonez-moi
Si vous êtes comme ci, téléphonez-me

J'aime les filles à dot
J'aime les filles à papa
J'aime les filles de Loth
J'aime les filles sans papa

J'aime les filles de Mégève
J'aime les filles de Saint-Tropez
J'aime les filles qui font la grève
J'aime les filles qui vont camper

Si vous êtes comme ça, téléphonez-moi
Si vous êtes comme ci, téléphonez-me

J'aime les filles de la Rochelle
J'aime les filles de Camaret
J'aime les filles intellectuelles
J'aime les filles qui m'font marrer

J'aime les filles qui font vieille France
J'aime les filles de Cinéma
J'aime les filles de l'Assistance
J'aime les filles dans l'embarras

Si vous êtes comme ça, téléphonez-moi
Si vous êtes comme ci, téléphonez-me...

I ran these lyrics through Babelfish and got this translation......

I love the girls from Castel
I love the girls from Régine
I love the girls one sees in "Elle"
I love the girls of the magazines
I love the girls from Renault
I love the girls from Citroen
I love the girls of the blast furnaces
I love the girls who work with the chain
If you are like that, telephone to me
If you are like Ci, telephone me

I love the girls with dowry
I love the girls with dad
I love the girls of Loth
I love the girls without dad
I love the girls of Mégève
I love the girls of Saint-Tropez
I love the girls who strike
I love the girls who will camp
If you are like that, telephone to me
If you are like Ci, telephone me

I love the girls of the La Rochelle
I love the girls of Camaret
I love the intellectual girls
I love the girls who make merrier
I love the girls who make old France
I love the girls of Cinema
I love the girls of The Assistance
I love the girls in embarrassment
If you are like that, telephone to me
If you are like Ci, telephone me…

Wow.....I've been through every type of girl he mentions...except for those girls of the blast furnaces. Who knew?

Jeno's Frozen Pizza

You gotta LOVE Jeno's Frozen Pizza.

Usually on sale for $1.50 or less each in most supermarkets, they are a cheap and super tasty way to get your tummy full in 11-12 minutes in a 450° oven. College students LIVE on Jeno's pizza and air.

But I'm also old enough to remember when Jeno's pizzas were also a little bigger than the 8" in diameter they are today. They used to be 12" in the '60s and '70s....

10" from 1983 to the 1990s. And 8" from then to today - mostly because of cost cutting, but also because Jeno's had been bought by it's budget frozen pizza rival, Totino's (both now owned by General Mills Inc.) Totino's pizzas are still 10" diameter.

Jeno's even made pizza mix. In fact, this came out before they made frozen pizza!

I always thought Jeno's tasted better than Totino's, even though technically, they are actually the same. But the one thing everybody complains about Jeno's is they never put enough mozzarella cheese on their pizzas. So you usually had to buy a bag of shredded mozzarella to compensate.

In 1967, they released this album, a selection of accordion music called Music to Eat Pizza By.

TV Tray Stands

TV tray stands....STILL mandatory in many households (namely mine!)

Shhhhh! Milton Berle is on.....

The TV tray stand wasn't necessarily a by-product of 1950's television. They actually had lap tray sets as far back as the 1930s for families to listen to the radio while eating their dinner.

Yma Sumac

Yma Sumac "Voice of The Xtabay" (10" inch LP, 1952) Right here is where "Exotica" music began.....

Before Minnie Riperton and Mariah Carey, Peruvian singer Yma Sumac was considered to have the widest vocal range of any known singer, over FIVE octaves (that's a range going nearly the entire human vocal spectrum, from a gut-deep basso to an ear piercing C-note. The best opera singers can barely accomplish two octaves.)


But WHO was she?

She was reportedly descended from the last Incan emporer, Atahualpa (although no DNA evidence was ever presented, it's a claim supported by the Peruvian government.)

It was also claimed in the 1950s she was nothing more than a housewife from Brooklyn named Amy Camus (and "Yma Sumac" was this name backwards.) However, that rumor has been discredited by several Peruvian and Argentinian records she recorded for Odeon in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

The shellac doesn't lie......

Her popularity peaked in the 1950s during the hi-fi craze. Her exotic look, music and voice made her very popular with young hi-fi fans. In fact, before the first formal hi-fi demonstration albums, it was her records that were the bench test of hi-fi enthusiasts.

One of her most famous was Mambo! (10" inch LP, 1955)

 

Here's Side One.....

Yma Sumac died November 1, 2008.