Peggy Lee's Bio-Discography And Videography:
The Snader Telescriptions
(Performances For Television, Part I)
by Iván Santiago-Mercado
Page generated on Nov 19, 2019
Scope And Contents
The present page focuses on the 10 TV videos that Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour filmed for syndicated telecasting in 1950, when television was still in its infancy. "Telescriptions" was the name bestowed on this type of music videos from an early era. As shown below, they have been made commercially available to the public on VHS, DVD, and even LP. (Naturally, the vinyl features audio only. Due to its deplorable sound quality, its purchase is by no means recommended.)
Two additional pages of The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography And Videography are fully or partially dedicated to the discussion of telescriptions. One of them is a pictorial gallery. It offers images of various types of music shorts filmed by Lee -- not just telescriptions. The other page offers my own article about Snader Telescriptions Inc, the company for which Lee and Barbour filmed the videos under scrutiny.
Last but by no means least, I would like to express my gratitude to music film historian and jazz collector Mark Cantor. It is only thanks to Cantor that I have been able to enter location, date, and personnel for these Peggy Lee transcriptions sessions. I would also like to thank my friend and fellow researcher Adrian Daff for locating and sharing with most of the newspaper ads on display. (Image above: an advertisement published on the January 15, 1951 issue of the magazine Telecasting Broadcasting. Images below: two ads, one from the May 3, 1951 issue of the Baltimore Sun and the other from the February 19, 1951 issue of the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch. Also, a shot presumably taken near the Snader Telescriptions offices, or perhaps at the Hollywood Center Studios. From left to right, I believe that I can identify telescription director Duke Goldstone, telescription artist Nat King Cole, and business owner Lou Snader. The identity of the portly man on the right remains unknown to me.)
Date: September 14, 1950
Location: Hollywood Center Studios (aka General Service Studios), 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, CA
Dave Barbour (g), Jess Bourgeouis (b), Sid Hurwitz (p), Alvin Stoller (d), Peggy Lee (v)
| a. | 1601Shot For Snader | I Cover The Waterfront - 3:27(Edward Heyman, Johnny Green)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSunknown — The Vocalists {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1988)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSVvd 757 — Storyville Presents The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1991) Idem Public Domain DVD(Spain) Idvd 1021 Int — Peggy Lee ("Swing Era" Series) (2004) Pickwick's Elap Licensed DVD(United Kingdom) 9960073 — The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions ("Jazz Legends" Series) (2004) [unknown label] VHS (Spain) Tdj 44 — The Vocalists – The Snader Telescriptions ("This Is DVD Jazz" Series) |
| b. | 1603Shot For Snader | I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful) - 3:23(Harry Ruskin, Henry Sullivan)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSunknown — The Vocalists {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1988)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSVvd 757 — Storyville Presents The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1991) Idem Public Domain DVD(Spain) Idvd 1021 Int — Peggy Lee ("Swing Era" Series) (2004) Pickwick's Elap Licensed DVD(United Kingdom) 9960073 — The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions ("Jazz Legends" Series) (2004) [unknown label] VHS (Spain) Tdj 44 — The Vocalists – The Snader Telescriptions ("This Is DVD Jazz" Series) |
| c. | 1605Shot For Snader | What More Can A Woman Do - 3:30(Peggy Lee, Dave Barbour)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
Swingtime Collectors' Label VHS119 — Meet The Singers, Volume 2 {Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, June Christy} (1985) Storyville Collectors' Label VHSunknown — The Vocalists {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1988) Charly Public Domain VHS(United Kingdom) Vid Jam 18 — Meet The Singers; Charly Video Presents The Swingtime Collection, Volume 18 (1989) Storyville Collectors' Label VHSVvd 757 — Storyville Presents The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1991) Idem Public Domain DVD(Spain) Idvd 1021 Int — Peggy Lee ("Swing Era" Series) (2004) Pickwick's Elap Licensed DVD(United Kingdom) 9960073 — The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions ("Jazz Legends" Series) (2004) Sohbi Kikaku (Public Domain) DVD & Laser Disc(Japan) unknown & Skl 9 — Swingtime Presents Meet The Singers - 2; Video 9 (2010) [unknown label] VHS (Spain) Tdj 44 — The Vocalists – The Snader Telescriptions ("This Is DVD Jazz" Series) |
| d. | Shot For Snader | Mañana - 3:03(Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
Swingtime Collectors' Label VHS119 — Meet The Singers, Volume 2 {Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, June Christy} (1985) Charly Public Domain VHS(United Kingdom) Vid Jam 18 — Meet The Singers; Charly Video Presents The Swingtime Collection, Volume 18 (1989) Sohbi Kikaku (Public Domain) DVD & Laser Disc(Japan) unknown & Skl 9 — Swingtime Presents Meet The Singers - 2; Video 9 (2010) |
| e. | Shot For Snader | Why Don't You Do Right? - 3:20(Joe McCoy)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
Swingtime Collectors' Label VHS119 — Meet The Singers, Volume 2 {Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, June Christy} (1985) Storyville Collectors' Label VHSunknown — The Vocalists {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1988) Charly Public Domain VHS(United Kingdom) Vid Jam 18 — Meet The Singers; Charly Video Presents The Swingtime Collection, Volume 18 (1989) Storyville Collectors' Label VHSVvd 757 — Storyville Presents The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1991) Idem Public Domain DVD(Spain) Idvd 1021 Int — Peggy Lee ("Swing Era" Series) (2004) Pickwick's Elap Licensed DVD(United Kingdom) 9960073 — The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions ("Jazz Legends" Series) (2004) Sohbi Kikaku (Public Domain) DVD & Laser Disc(Japan) unknown & Skl 9 — Swingtime Presents Meet The Singers - 2; Video 9 (2010) [unknown label] VHS (Spain) Tdj 44 — The Vocalists – The Snader Telescriptions ("This Is DVD Jazz" Series) |
| All titles on: | Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee's Greatest [First Of The 10-Track Editions] (1963)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee's Greatest [Second Of The 10-Track Editions] (1964) |
Images
Shown above are scenes from each of the five Snader Telescriptions whose soundtrack was recorded on this date. In order of display, the five scenes are from "I Cover The Waterfront," "I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful)," "What More Can A Woman Do," "Mañana," and "Why Don't You Do Right?"
Online Availability
The above-listed videos should be viewable for free by clicking on the following links: I Cover The Waterfront, I May Be Wrong, What More Can A Woman Do, Mañana, and Why Don't You Do Right. (YouTube or its subscribers could of course delete any of the linked videos at any time. Should that be the case, a simple engine search at YouTube may retrieve new uploads of the same clips.)
Issues
1. Various-Artists Compilations
This page lists only videotapes and DVDs that contain at least half of Peggy Lee's telescriptions. As for various-artists compilations containing one or two Lee telescriptions, those have been excluded. However, they have not been entirely ignored: pictures of such compilations can be seen in section VII of a pictorial page that this discography dedicates to music videos and other short forms. (Section VI of the same page concentrates on images of the videotapes and DVDs that are listed in the present page.)
Date: September 22, 1950
Location: Hollywood Center Studios (aka General Service Studios), 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, CA
Dave Barbour (g), Jess Bourgeouis (b), Sid Hurwitz (p), Alvin Stoller (d), Peggy Lee (v)
| a. | 1806Shot For Snader | I Only Have Eyes For You - 3:23(Al Dubin, Harry Warren)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSunknown — The Vocalists {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1988)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSVvd 757 — Storyville Presents The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1991) Idem Public Domain DVD(Spain) Idvd 1021 Int — Peggy Lee ("Swing Era" Series) (2004) Pickwick's Elap Licensed DVD(United Kingdom) 9960073 — The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions ("Jazz Legends" Series) (2004) [unknown label] VHS (Spain) Tdj 44 — The Vocalists – The Snader Telescriptions ("This Is DVD Jazz" Series) |
| b. | 1807Shot For Snader | I Don't Know Enough About You - 3:15(Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
Storyville Collectors' Label VHSunknown — The Vocalists {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1988) Storyville Collectors' Label VHSVvd 757 — Storyville Presents The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions {Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, June Christy, Mel Tormé}} (1991) Idem Public Domain DVD(Spain) Idvd 1021 Int — Peggy Lee ("Swing Era" Series) (2004) Pickwick's Elap Licensed DVD(United Kingdom) 9960073 — The Vocalists; The Snader Telescriptions ("Jazz Legends" Series) (2004) [unknown label] VHS (Spain) Tdj 44 — The Vocalists – The Snader Telescriptions ("This Is DVD Jazz" Series) |
| c. | 1810Shot For Snader | While We're Young - 3:18(William Engvick, Morty Palitz, Alec Wilder)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
|
| d. | Shot For Snader | It's A Good Day - 3:08(Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
|
| e. | Shot For Snader | You Was Right, Baby - 3:17(Peggy Lee, Dave Barbour)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee [Seven-Track Edition] (1965)
|
| All titles on: | Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee's Greatest [First Of The 10-Track Editions] (1963)
Camay Collectors' Label LPCa 3003 — Peggy Lee's Greatest [Second Of The 10-Track Editions] (1964) Swingtime Collectors' Label VHS119 — Meet The Singers, Volume 2 {Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, June Christy} (1985) Charly Public Domain VHS(United Kingdom) Vid Jam 18 — Meet The Singers; Charly Video Presents The Swingtime Collection, Volume 18 (1989) Sohbi Kikaku (Public Domain) DVD & Laser Disc(Japan) unknown & Skl 9 — Swingtime Presents Meet The Singers - 2; Video 9 (2010) |
Images
Shown above are scenes from each of the five Snader Telescriptions whose soundtrack was recorded on this date. In order of display, the five scenes are from "I Only Have Eyes For You," "I Don't Know Enough About You," "It's A Good Day," "You Was Right, Baby," and "While We're Young."
Online Availability
As of late 2013, the above-listed videos can be watched for free by clicking on the following links: I Only Have Eyes For You, I Don't Know Enough About You, It's A Good Day, You Was Right, Baby, and While We're Young. (The linked videos could of course be deleted by Youtube or its subscribers at any time. Should that be the case, a simple engine search at YouTube may retrieve new uploads of the same clips.)
Issues
1. Various-Artists Compilations
This page lists only videotapes and DVDs that contain at least half of Peggy Lee's telescriptions. As for various-artists compilations containing one or two Lee telescriptions, those have been excluded. However, they have not been entirely ignored: pictures of such compilations can be seen in section VII of a pictorial page that this discography dedicates to music videos and other short forms. (Section VI of the same page concentrates on images of the videotapes and DVDs that are listed in the present page.)
GENERAL NOTES
Photos Above1. The Reel Thing
These images showcase the medium on which the Snader telescriptions were originally sent to TV stations: reel. The first image presents the actual reels or films; a sampling of three of them is on display. The other images give a view of the carton boxes on which the films were stored. The front of one of the boxes is seen in one image, two of the boxes' sides in the other images. Of the three pictured films, only one contains a Peggy Lee selection ("What More Can A Woman Do").
Masters & Recording Process
1. Sideline Photography
These ten music videos were shot over four days. For the first five videos, the so-called sideline photography was carried out on September 13 and 14, 1950. For the other five videos, the dates were September 21 and 22, 1950. (In the sessions above, September 14 and 22 correspond to the recoding of the audio or soundtrack only.)
2. "Master" Numbers
A four-digit code can be found next to some of the titles entered above. (For instance, "I Only Have Eyes For You" is preceded by the number 1806.) I have taken those codes from the opening cards of the videos, under the tentative premise that they could be master numbers. I do not have any corroboration or support for this premise, though. If any viewer knows the four code numbers that I am currently missing -- e.g. the digits for "Mañana" -- I would appreciate receiving the details. (By all appearances, the missing numbers are likely to be 1602, 1604, 1808, and 1809, but I do not know which code belongs to which performance.)
Issues
1. Swingtime Video & Wally Heider
2. Swingtime Video & Virgil Sipes
Originally intended for TV airing, Peggy Lee's Snader Telescriptions were not commercially released to the public until the 1980s. (As shown above, the Camay label had issued them in the 1960s, but those were audio-only issues.) The releases in question were VHS tapes on Swingtime, a label set up by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider. Seen in the first of the photographs below, Heider was also responsible for the foundation of the record company Hindsight, which issued numerous radio transcriptions, including those found in the Peggy Lee album The Uncollected Peggy Lee, 1948. The engineering, film setups, editing, graphics and final mastering of the label's videos was primarily carried out by engineer Virgil Sipes, under Heider's supervision.
3. Camay
Peggy Lee's Greatest is the only album to ever feature her telescriptions. It came out in three vinyl editions. Two of them contain all ten telescriptions, whereas the third (and chronologically, last) edition reduces the total to seven. All three of these LP editions were issued in both mono and stereo.
The release dates for that Camay LP, including its variations and editions or reissues, fall somewhere between 1962 and 1965. Although I have provide more exacting release years above, those should still be considered approximate, and thus subject to change if additional information turns up in the future. The reasons for Camay's repeated reissuing of this item are only partially known to me; I offer both fact and speculation in the last sections of this page. Also, for pictures of the original album and its reissues, consult this page, section VIII.
Under the title Peggy Lee's Greatest, the 10-track edition of the Camay LP has been commercially issued on MP3 audio. There has been no CD issue. The photo used for the online advertisement of the MP3 release can be seen last, directly below. This MP3 audio is not recommended, and neither are the original LPs. For further details, consult the already mentioned section VIII of the pictorial short forms page.
Personnel
1. Sid Hurwitz (Horowitz, Hurovitz)
2. Hal Schaeffer, Andre Previn
Various sources erroneously identify Hal Schaeffer as the pianist who participated in these sessions. The error probably stems from the fact that Schaeffer did serve as Peggy Lee's regular pianist in the late 1940s, and played on her radio transcriptions from those years. However, Schaeffer did not take part in any of her telescriptions. Neither did Andre Previn, who some YouTuber viewers have also misidentified as the pianist seen in the telescription footage.
Instead, the sessions' pianist was Sid Hurwitz, whose last name can also found in print with the spelling "Horowitz." He is dimly visible in the second and third photo shots above, both taken from the telescription "What More Can A Woman Do."
Hurwitz was definitely playing piano for Peggy Lee in 1950 -- and not just in the telescriptions. A Billboard review of a May 18, 1950 concert at the Palomar (Seattle, Washington) highlights him out of the quartet that was backing Lee at the time. In her autobiography, Lee does make mention of the pianist a couple of times, one of which suggests that he also went on the road with her in 1954.
Online information about this pianist is limited. A brief obituary in the Boston Globe points to Boston as the city where he grew up, Hurovitz as his parents' last name, and California as the state where he passed away (possibly LA's Sun Valley, 2005). Another source claims a May 27, 1921 birthdate for Hurwitz, which would mean that he and Lee were almost the same age (about 30 when they were working together). Judging from credits gathered at a couple of commercial sites, he played with ensembles led by Glenn Miller, Jerry Gray, Jack Teagarden, Wild Bill Davison and Harry James.
Crossreferences
1. Additional Information On Snader And Camay
During my preparation for the creation of the present page, I did a fair amount of research about Snader Telescriptions, Inc. I have gathered the fruits of my research in one of this discography's supplementary pages. Also covered therein: a variety of closely related topics, such as the Camay record label, the telescriptions made by Studio Films, and the Showtime At The Apollo films.
