Building Mind Power - The Ben Sweetland System (Nocturnal Education/RCA Custom, 1956)

Ben Sweetland was a motivational speaker. Similar to Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar and the late Robert Schuller. He was a godfather to the self-help craze that continues to lure in desperate people to this day.

A pioneer in "sleep training", he published this 22 record ‘system’ as a way for average people to improve themselves via conscious and subconscious education.

These records look like 45 RPM discs. But they actually played at 16 RPM with an average playing time of 20-30 minutes per side.

Are you sure this is something that ought to be played during daytime hours?

On top of this MAMMOTH 22 record set, Sweetland also offered a special phonograph changer with a timer. So users of the program can select when certain talks were to be heard during the night or day.

"The Lamp of Memory" Yvonne DeCarlo (1942)

In 1942, Yvonne DeCarlo, then 20 years old, a rising star and future Lily Munster recorded a musical film called a soundie, which are pretty much the very earliest music videos. They would be shown in theaters sometimes, or in coin operated jukeboxes and you could also order them on 16mm film for home showings.

More on Yvonne DeCarlo's singing career.

The Elves And The Shoemaker (Scholastic Records, 1975)

More on the Scholastic Book Club.  

"The Rock & Roll Doctor" Travesty Ltd. (1980)

As heard on Dr. Demento back in the day.....

The Tefifon

When it came to tape machines, the German made Tefifon  was one odd duck.....

....That's because it was no ordinary tape machine.

The Tefifon (or Tefi) used perhaps the very first example of an endless loop, like an 8-Track. But no magnetic tape. Instead, it used grooves in the tape, like a vinyl record.

Unlike the 8-Track, most Tefifon tapes are still playable after all these years. The Tefi machine was invented in the 1930s and refined before becoming available in Germany (and it's US export brand, Westrex.) from 1952-1964

The thin grooved tape had the same fidelity as an Evatone sound sheet. Each Tefi tape could play for sixty minutes up to four hours.

Each recording began with 40 seconds of fanfare. This was for the listener to adjust their sound equipment for the best fidelity and insure stable tracking of the stylus and groove.

Here's a full Tefi recording. Their repertoire was mostly of unknown German acts.


More on the Tefi machine and tapes.