Want to buy a record with Mel Blanc at Wallichs Music City / "Vinage Los Angeles" on Facebook

Filmed in wonderful color, this special promotional film was made in 1951 , it is 35 minutes long & is of perfect quality! This lost gem was never shown to the public & was used for promotional use only among record executives! It hasn't been seen in over 55 years!! What's on it? well, we get to see lots of great color footage of Hollywood landmarks first up.

Mel plays a record dealer who is desperately trying to sell anyone a record at the corner of Sunset & Vine streets in Hollywood, California. While pestering several people, (including Yogi Yorgeson!!), Billy May approaches playing a regular guy walking down the street, Mel takes him into his record store, (Wallichs Music City) & proceeds to pitch everything in the store to him.

In the end Billy won't pay the 85 cents for a record & Mel decides to show him exactly how records are made! They go over to the Capitol Records recording studios on Melrose Avenue & meet with Alan Livingston who takes them on a tour, here is where they run into several famous folks while getting into a little bit of mischief along the way! We get to see rare footage of Dean Martin in the studio actually recording one of his hit records! they run into Les Paul and Mary Ford, a vocal group, a country & western singer (Merle Travis?), and even Bozo the clown!

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[billturgeon]

Could the year cited for this piece (1951) be in error by 1 year? At 16:20, Dean Martin commences "Oh Marie" and it sounds exactly like the audio of his official Capitol recording made on April 8, 1952. Dean originally signed with Capitol on August 12, 1948 and signed again in January of 1952. Therefore, this conceivably could be 1951 but I'm just wondering whether it might not be 1952. Dantanasgirl, is 1951 cited in the piece? Info on this film does not (yet) reside at IMDB.

[dantanasgirl]

@billturgeon I think you are right!! Good call!

[jeffjazzwraight]

Fascinating & most enjoyable. Pity the last 5 mins is missing. Maybe at some point that could be sorted out. Thanks so much for the post though.

[dantanasgirl]

@jeffjazzwraight I am working on getting those last 5 minutes. Keep you posted...

[JohnnyFriendly]

The thing that strikes me is how much care and attention went into recorded music once upon a time. Hard to believe that it's all vanished. Future generations have a lot to answer for with their relentless quest for lower quality and "convenience"

[dboard9]

I like how at 2:05 da goils -er, GIRLS are waiting for their cue

[rmk4362]

I like the way Mel forces the guy to go to Capitol.

[cubantoro]

I love the BOZO Approved banner!

[tonysakich]

This was fantastic! I can't wait to see the last few minutes of this now. The guy bowing at the record dealer made me laugh pretty hard. Thank you for posting this, absolutely fascinating.

[ricadus]

@dantanasgirl Let us know when you get that missing 5 minutes. Personally I found the last 10 minutes of the current clip fascinating, all that old industrial technology and specialist skills that have been supplanted by the relative ease of digital.

[andyotay]

2 people hate Bugs Bunny

[baxterfilms]

No way. They developed the records in Scranton? That's pretty neat.

[BadNews88]

Classic, Thanks fer this, m8..

[BadNews88]

@JohnnyFriendly Agreed, m8..

[kresblain]

@Michaeldair So, for a short while, Melrose Avenue was home to Capitol Records... right in front of the Paramount and RKO studio lots, of all places. That's so awesome!