Toscanini-Heifetz recording of the Beetho-
ven Violin Concerto _
"The gun crew," he laughs, "were now
d_ispl~ying the:,r newly acquired discrimina-
tlO n In mUSIC.
William Happel of
Badger Sales visited
William
Nathanson
in his new Chinatown
Arcade to congratu-
late him on the spot.
A good share of the
equipment was sup-
plied by Badger
Sales. The two are
posing beside one of
the photos compris-
ing a gallery of
prominents who have
made the Coin Ma-
chine Industry what
it is today.
COIH
MACHIHE
REVIEW
52
FOR.
JUl.Y
1943
Men Facinu Death Are Hunury
For Good Music
on the vast Aoor of the North
S Atlantic, deep
in the Aame-scarred ruin
OMEWHERE
of a torp edoed tanker, lies a Victor album
-a phonograph recording of th e Kalinni-
koff Symphony in G Minor-which during
the ill-fated tanker's last voyages proved
the hunger for music known to men faced
with danger and death.
The part played by that particular record
of a little-known symphony, which was part
of a $700 collection of records lost when
the tanker was sunk, was told recently by
Lieut. Franklin Miner, armed guard com-
mander of a Navy gun crew aboard the
tanker, following his dramatic rescue.
Any apparent inconsistency between the
Kalinnikoff Symphony and a tanker dodg-
ing U-boats in the Atlantic is explained by
the fact that Lieut. Miner was, before
en tering the Navy, manager of the Indiana-
polis Symphony Orchestra which recorded
this work.
On leave while awaiting assignment to
another ship, Lieut. Miner related how he
took with him, almost surreptitiously, a
battered USO phonograph and a few re-
cordings of the Indianapolis Orchestra,
given to him by its conductor Fabien
Sevitzky. In the lot was the Kalinnikoff
work. The gun crew of 28, which he com-
manded, had next to no interest in music
besides dance tunes and jazz.
During the voyage he started concerts of
recorded music, mostly for himself, he says,
but he invited his men to attend, if they
felt like it. Before long, they were drifting
in by twos and threes. The gunner's mate
held out for six months, then slipped in.
Constant playing of the Kalinnikoff Sym-
phony soon had its effect. The men heard it
so often that even the least music-minded
was able to cue in individual instruments,
a feat that many a prominent maestro might
envy.
Back in New York again after the voy-
age, Lieut. Miner told the story to friends
and it soon got around_ A generous woman
thought he ought to have a fine phono-
graph, and contributed one. Walter Tos-
canini, son of th e famous maestro, con-
tributed some of his father's albums. Others
sent along cartons of single discs and al-
bums_ By the time his ship set sail for
North Africa, he says, he had a record
library worth $700. His programs aboard
ship were always well-attended and he was
able to play request numbers. Tschaikow-
sky, he relates, was most popular with the
men, but before the boat reached its des-
tination it had been nudged ou t by the
At one port, Lieut. Miner's gun crew was
changed_ He found himself right back
where he had st!\rted. The crew frankly
admitted they would prefer to spend their
time in the brig than listening to his brand
of music. Again he continued to give his
record concerts, welcoming any of the men
who showed up. But there isn't much to do
in off-duty hours and radio listening for
pleasure is out of the question. It was a
matter of breaking down their pre-con-
ceived prejudices against long-hair music,
explains Lieut. Miner_ And this gradually
took place.
"The men had dance music and boogie
woogie," he says, "but gradually Beethoven
won out."
One dark night, shortly after a record
concert, a torpedo struck and the ship
began to go down. Five seconds later a
second torpedo hit the aviation gasoline
and the ship burst into Aames. The order
to abandon ship was given and the men
scrambled into rafts and lifeboats, but not
before the radio operator got off an S.O.S.
The lieutenant managed to swim to a raft
before the surface of the water became a
Aaming torch. The submarine did not sur-
face and Lieut. Miner believes the nature
of the cargo kept it away. Five hours later,
in response to the S.O.S., a U.S. bomber
sigh ted them and radioed their position. It
hovered over them as protection until a
rescue ship picked them up. They were
brought to Puerto Rico.
The $700 record library is on the bottom
of the Atlantic, but a number of Navy men
are converted to good music_ And there'll
be a good deal more, thanks to Lieut.
Miner's efforts. Unfortunately, the lieuten-
ant, as good as are his intentions, is hardly
in a position to bring the finest in music to
gun crews on all the seven seas, to fighting
men overseas or in our far-Aung outposts,
and to the men in isolated training camps
and bases. But it's good to know that there
exists an organization trying to do just this.
This organization, Records For Our
Fighting Men, Inc., headed by Bob Hope, is
presently conducting its second scrap record
collection drive, which will run through the
month of July. The American Legion and
its Auxiliary are the collecting agents and
the appeal is for old, unwanted, worn-out,
and broken records. These scrap records
are to be sold to record manufacturers and
the net proceeds will go to purchase new
records for distribution to army and navy
camps and bases, here and abroad.
Operators are asked to turn some of their
scrap records over to American Legion
Posts. Or if the contribution is a heavy
one, a Legionnaire will drop by to pick
it up.
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FOR
T HIS
STARTLING
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