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• MISCELLANEA
  • Catalog Of Peggy Lee Masters (Over 1,000)
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  • Essay About The Song Why Don't You Do Right?
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  • Research About The 1944 Ara Session
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  • Overview Of The Benny Goodman Years
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•  

The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography:
The MacGregor Transcriptions

by Iván Santiago

Page generated on Sep 17, 2021

1945

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Preliminary Notes

Contents. Peggy Lee recorded a total of 17 numbers on behalf of MacGregor Transcriptions, a company that specialized in making recordings for radio airplay only. The 17 performances were cut over four sessions and originally sent to radio stations in the form of three 16" shellac transcription discs, each playing at a 33 r.p.m. speed. (A few of these 17 numbers did double duty. In addition to being released on Lee's own discs, such numbers were incorporated to transcription discs which MacGregor marketed as radio shows hosted by Nat King Cole, Henry King, and possibly a few other male artists. The hosts introduce Lee's numbers as guest performances, and there is usually patter exchanged with the nominal guest.) The Library of Congress possesses copies of the entire MacGregor catalogue (or, at the very least, the bulk of it), including those just described. Consult this page's final note if you are a viewer interested in additional details about the MacGregor company -- or if you would like to learn other general details about Lee's MacGregor output.

Photos (Above). Here are some explanations for -- and descriptions of -- the images seen above, starting with the lady's and the gentleman's photos. A Peggy Lee portrait graces the front cover of a cassette entirely dedicated to her MacGregor transcriptions. Owner C.P. MacGregor is captured near a company microphone, reading from a script. Also in view: two MacGregor transcription discs, shown here for illustration purposes. (This couple of images should give readers a better understanding of the points made in the previous paragraph.) These are pictures of discs containing episodes from two MacGregor radio shows, one titled King Cole Court and the other The Sextet From Hunger. Both shows added the occasional Lee "guest" performance to its transcribed episodes. (No Peggy Lee material is included in the particular discs pictured. Both are featured herein only for illustration purposes. For a look at discs that do feature Lee vocals, check the notes under each of this page's sessions.)

Organization. A note about how this page is structured. Under each Peggy Lee performance, a list of commercial issues has been chronologically arranged, by year of release.  I have aimed at listing every single issue (e.g., any LP, any CD ) in existence, with the following exceptions:  various-artists compilations, foreign editions of domestic issues, and digital files. (Click on the blue links if you want to see separate, miscellaneous pages fully dedicated to the categories in question. In the case of the digital category -- MP3, MP4, AAC, etc.-- I have chosen to make very limited mention of such a format in my work. As it stands nowadays, it is a non-physical configuration with all-too poor documentation history, and also of ephemeral duration.) One more organizational point. Having been frequently released, some of Lee's MacGregor performances have very lengthy lists of issues under them. This page allows viewers to handle such long listings through a "hide-or-reveal" option: any performance that has been released more than three times will feature a blue arrowhead next to that third item. Click on the given arrowhead if you want to inspect the rest of the issues list.


Recommendations For Listening. A note about commercial releases. Under each and every Peggy Lee interpretation, I have endeavored to recommend at least one issue, with preference given to CDs and audiophile vinyl. Throughout the page, my recommendations can be quickly spotted because their titles are in uppercase and boldface. You will see, for instance, that an issue titled I've Had My Moments is among those which I recommend.  Another one is a CD titled Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band, on Laserlight Records. I must confess to having made these recommendations in a halfhearted manner. Simply put, Lee's MacGregor performances have yet to be released in an issue that can be highly recommended. While hoping for the eventual appearance of such a release, the issues that I am momentarily recommending might not boast optimal sound quality, but they still raise a few notches above the rest. They do so either by offering a comprehensive program of MacGregor performances or by counting with rare, otherwise unavailable tracks.  (On the matter of worthwhile issues, you might also want to explore this pictorial page, particularly its first section.)


Photos (Below). Were we left to judge the MacGregor studio from these early 1940s photos alone, we would probably end up dreading the notion of ever being able to visit the place. In them, Stan Kenton looks variously overheated, bored or so constricted by the space that he can only dwell around in a hunch or a squatting position! Granted that we are talking about a very tall man (six feet and four inches), the impression created by these images is of course misguided: by most accounts, MacGregor was a spacious and comfortable studio. The temperature could have not been terribly sweltering, either, as these shots date from November 1943.

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GENERAL NOTES, PART I: THE MCGREGOR COMPANY

The MacGregor Company And Studio

The MacGregor Company And Studio was in the business of producing radio transcriptions -- i.e., discs leased exclusively to radio stations, for a fee. (Sent out to participating stations on a monthly basis, such discs were intended for broadcasting only. Hence they were neither available nor manufactured for retail. In fact, regular record players (i.e., those sold to the general public) could not play them.

From an advertisement placed in a 1947 radio magazine, the following text lists the variety of material that MacGregor featured in its discs: "MacGregor presents, for better programming, half hour presentations of – Drama / Mystery / Romance / Comedy, starring Hollywood personalities. Music library – basic 2,500 selections; 50 new tunes monthly. Available now." All those types of transcriptions were recorded and produced in the company's facilities.

(Images above: Chick MacGregor, photographed in the mid-1940s. Two MacGregor advertisements, the first in circulation around 1939, the second around 1956. A reference copy, cut at the MacGregor company; it has the full 12-track contents of Peggy Lee's 1960 album Latin Ala Lee.)

The C. P. MacGregor Studios

The MacGregor company's sources of revenue included not only its transcription service but also its studio facilities, which were available for leasing. According to Klaus Teubig, author of Straighten Up And Fly Right: A Chronology And Discography Of Nat King Cole, "MacGregor had Hollywood's largest and most modern recording studios during the early forties, which were used by many independent record producers such as Capitol Records, Exclusive, Dial, and AFRS (American Forces Radio Service)."

The 1940s were the heyday of this enterprise. Due to its reputation as a state-of-the-art facility, the MacGregor Studio was in considerable demand during the decade's earliest years. The MacGregor Company thus reaped benefits from deals made with a variety of record labels and radio networks.

Further information about MacGregor's studio(s) will be offered below, Some can also be found in the book Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions, by Michael Sparke and Peter Venudor. The authors quote Audree Kenton, widow of Stan Kenton, who explains that "[w]e recorded in a very small studio, using the standard microphone set-up for those days. But [engineer] Vic Qu[o]n had great technical expertise, and had developed a system whereby everything sounded live when he recorded it, a sort of early echo chamber idea."


(Images below: Mister MacGregor in full executive mode. We first find him next to 1940s heartthrob Turhan "The Turkish Delight" Bey, inspecting the script which the B movie actor has been hired to deliver on the air. Next we catch MacGregor wining and dining another guest star, Marie "The Body" MacDonald, right before a transcription session. Last but not least, McGregor treats us and a young Roddy McDowell -- nowadays best remembered as Cornelius, the ape from Planet Of The Apes -- to a look at his studio's sound equipment.)

Chip MacGregor

The MacGregor Company and Studio was owned by Chick MacGregor (1897-1968), who spent much of his lifetime in the transcription business. A Canadian of Scottish descent, Chick was born and grew up in Chelsey, Ontario. After completing a stint in the Canadian Air Force (where he met many officers from the US, particularly from the California, who had enlisted), he promptly left Ontario for California, in search of prospects. From a job as a clerk at the music section of a department store, he moved to a position as a road salesman of Brunswick discs. Starting around 1924, he became a local manager for Brunswick Records in the San Francisco area. As part of his job, he is said to have also worked on a recording studio, producing music for playing on the phonographs that Brunswick was selling. After several years on this valuable apprenticeship, the sale of Brunswick to Warner Brothers left the young man without a job.

It was then, in 1929, that MacGregor took the big step of becoming the co-owner of his first transcription company, originally named MacGregor & Ingram Recording Laboratories, and becoming MacGregor & Sollie Recording Laboratories at some point between 1930 and 1932. San Francisco remain the location city of choice. The main original activity seems to have been the production of personal recordings, as requested by a clientele that included film actors (e.g., John Gilbert), musicians, and the regular public. One probable struck of luck took place in 1930, when a popular daily sitcom decided to go into syndication. MacGregor & Ingram -- and, later, MacGregor & Sollie -- were hired to make the transcription discs for the program, Cecil And Sally, aka The Funniest Things (1928-1933).

In either the late 1930s or early 1940s, Chip founded The MacGregor Company And Studio, of which he appears to have been sole owner. The entrepreneur appointed Paul Quon as the company's chief executive and Paul's brother Victor as the studio's recording engineer. (Victor Quon also worked, incidentally, as a musical director at CBS, and appears to have done extensive musical engineering work for the Armed Forces during WWWII.) Contemporary press reports identify a man named Orrin Nance as the company's publicity director. The company hired writers, actors, and technicians, in order to create their own transcribed programming. Concurrently, his recording facilities began to be favored by the networks, too. One way or another, the MacGregor company wounded up offering for radio syndication a considerable amount of notable shows, such as The Shadow, Lux Radio Theater, Sambo, and Jubilee.

In the 1940s, MacGregor took on the additional role of show host. His most successful venture in that area was the ultra-popular Hollywood Theater (1941-1948), sponsored by Skippy peanut butter. According to Old-Time radio expert Doug Hopkinson, the host position continued to hold interest for MacGregor in the mid-1950s, when he had his own transcribed C. P. MacGregor Show, and as late as 1965, when he was guest-hosting on the last regularly scheduled radio drama, the Salvation Army's Heartbeat Theatre (a show that he had produced for radio transcription at an earlier time).

A 1945 yellow press article described MacGregor as a "calm, friendly sort" with a "reputation for being a generous Scotsman." The reporter expands the portrait as follows: "[h]e likes the fling an atmosphere of relaxed luxury around all those working with and for him and also entertains at dinner preceding a cutting session with a star along with Mrs. MacGregor, who is always at the studio on show night to act as hostess."

In addition to the radio transcription business, MacGregor was heavily involved in philanthropic work. The most publicized of his charity activities was linked to his role as the Potentate of the Fraternal Order of Shriners International, which operates Shriners Hospital for Children as well as numerous US medical facilities which the Order collectively called Shrine Centers. For many years, he was on the Salvation Army's advisory board, too.

Although the popularity of transcriptions dwindled dramatically in the 1950s, MacGregor continued to make and distribute them until at least a decade later, if not two. By that time, new additions to the library were probably circumscribed to serials and variety programming, rather than music per se. As already mentioned, MacGregor was still active in the transcription world as late as 1965, when he guest-hosted at least one episode of the Salvation Army's transcribed show Heartbeat Theatre. (Some MacGregor transcriptions have been given an early 1970s. If correct, such dating would mean that transcribed programming continued to be churned out after the passing away of the company's owner.)


(Images below: five images featuring recording engineer Victor Quon and a last one of a Paul Quon, with a child named Frank. I do not factual data about this Paul Quon, other than his name and the certainty that he was related to Victor. I presume him to be Victor's brother, and the chief executive at MacGregor studios, but there is a chance that he is a different relative whose name also happened to be Paul. As for Victor, we first see him in the middle of the control room at MacGregor Studio. The caption identifies the ongoing show work as the recording of the 1943 short film Show Business at War, from Time's March Of Time newsreel series. Next we find him next to a member of the Women Army Corps in 1944, at a control room that might or might not beMacGregor. We next see him being touched and handled by Bing Crosby, first in 1944 and then in 1945. The other individuals in those two shots are Dinah Shore and an unnamed AFRS staff scriptwriter.)

Capitol Records And MacGregor Services

From 1942 to 1944, Capitol Records had a very active contractual agreement with MacGregor. Capitol's artists came to C. P. MacGregor Studios to record not only commercial material (for Capitol) but also radio transcriptions (for MacGregor). The September 23, 1944 issue of Billboard magazine reported that the ongoing arrangement between the two parties had been upgraded to exclusivity status:

"Deal has been set by C. P. MacGregor for exclusive recording contract with Capitol Records. Contract gives Capitol the exclusive services of the MacGregor studios for commercial disking, guaranteeing $1,000 per week in fees. New set-up calls for MacGregor to do waxing, after which masters will be turned over to Capitol for pressing at Scranton, Pa., plant. Terms of contract call for exclusive services of Benny Jordan, recognized as one of the top mixers and sound engineers in the biz. While MacGregor has been handling Capitol recording sessions for some time, new deal prohibits him from doing work for any other firm. [But] regular transcription recording service for radio stations and advertisers will be continued by MacGregor."

In his book Straighten Up And Fly Right: A Chronology And Discography Of Nat King Cole, Klaus Teubig quotes the next relevant article, from a Downbeat issue published on February 1, 1945. The magazine reports that "Capitol Records, which has used the facilities of C. P. MacGregor sound studios exclusively for recording purposes and for a time had a deal under which the sound firm's commercial phonograph facilities were available only to Capitol, has 'split' with MacGregor for unrevealed reasons." The February 3 issue of Billboard reported the same news at length, adding the transcription company's spin on the matter:

"MacGregor's spokesman says the studio is too busy with war work and handling its regular accounts ... Capitol's sessions were becoming so numerous that MacGregor studios was unable to give the proper time and attention to numerous Armed Forces Radio Service shows, its own musical and dramatic transcription series and advertising agency accounts. Dehydrating commercials and inserting special announcements and musical bridges and recording many of the major network broadcasts, including Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Metropolitan Opera, Hit Parade, etc., plus the army's own tailor-made programs for distribution via AFRS to servicemen overseas in itself amounts to 120 half-hour programs weekly. All this work obtains for MacGregor [a] priority rating. In addition, MacGregor is concerned about his post-war business from the agencies and his own transcribed library accounts. Since it is very likely that Capitol will build its own recording studio at the end of the war or as soon as materials are available, it probably is good business for MacGregor to make a break now."

Capitol gave an entirely different spin on the matter. The spokesman for record company pointed out that MacGregor had recently painted the walls of his studio, and as a result the studio was now "too live," even after an attempt at solving the matter by installing rock wool. The implication was that Capitol was too unhappy with the new sound of the studio to hold any further sessions there.

Adding to the Capitol perspective, this subject matter was also recounted in the memoirs of Capitol singer Margaret Whiting. "Johnny and Paul [Weston] always liked to use McGregor's [sic] ... because of the phenomenal sound," Whiting enticingly tells her readers.  "The story goes that after a recording session in the morning, everyone broke for lunch.  McGregor [sic], feeling flush with Capitol's success and the money it had given him, painted the studio's walls during the lunch break. When the engineers came back, they put on their earphones.  The afternoon session began.  Suddenly, everyone stopped.  The sound wasn't the same.  Mercer, Weston, everyone put on the earphones and listened.  What had happened?  M[a]cGregor confessed he had painted the walls.  In so doing, something had happened to the acoustics ... Johnny ... always talked wistfully about those halcyon days at M[a]cGregor's before the wall were painted."

The aforementioned Billboard reporter went to add that "a patching up [was] in order" -- or so was the word from Capitol's headquarters. But no such patching up took place. On the contrary, additional points of contention became exposed. The February 24, 1945 issue of Billboard revealed that MacGregor was demanding payment of an one-cent royalty fee for any side recorded in his studio, to be added to the standard mechanical charges. In addition to this one-cent-a-sie royalty, the company charged $50 per master (according to the April , 1945 25 issue of the same periodical). Two pieces of justification were given for the new fee:

"According to MacGregor, his firm has devoted many years and over $200,000 to building a 'know how' in the recording biz and therefore are entitled to participate in the success of records they make. Furthermore, declared MacGregor, the minute a new entry in the already crowded record biz is successful enough, it builds his own studio. So the only equitable means of sharing in the profits of such a new venture is to be in at the beginning."

The reporter correctly assumed that Capitol would not be willing to entertain the notion of paying royalties for studio usage. As the reporter reasoned, acceptance of MacGregor's proposal would have established a precedent with alarming consequences for the industry's statue quo: it would have brought into question why royalties were not also being granted to arrangers, bandleaders, singers, and other involved parties.

Capitol thus began the process of moving its Hollywood session work to alternate studios. February of 1945 is the last date for which I have found listings of MacGregor-conducted Capitol sessions. (For instance, a February 14, 1945 Ella Mae Morse date is reported to have taken place therein.) During the transitional months that had preceded and which would follow, various sessions were held as Paramount Studios, a location that became momentarily available thanks to the fact that one of Capitol's founders (Buddy De Sylva) was also an executive at the film emporium.

February of 1945 did not mark the full termination of the The Capitol-MacGregor relationship. Although the former did stop using the latter for commercial recording, some Capitol artists still continued to record transcriptions at MacGregor throughout the year. Stan Kenton did so as late as December 28, 1945. Nat King Cole might or might have not recorded additional transcriptions in the summer. The likeliest reason for the continuation of activity was the artist's need to complete a contractually predetermined amount of transcriptions. Once such contractual obligations were fulfilled, Capitol probably expected its artists to fully cut ties with the transcription company.

Meanwhile, Capitol reached a deal with Radio Recorders. Capitol might have started cutting the occasional date there in late 1944. However, it was not until the second half of 1945 that the label resorted to Radio Recorders on a consistent basis. From the onwards, most Hollywood-based Capitol record dates would take place at what the aforementioned Sparke and Venudor characterized as "the West Coast's leading independent" of its time.

Capitol did end up setting up its own transcription service, too. The operations began in May of 1945, though initially it moved at a slow pace, doing only ten transcription sessions during that first year. Thereafter, it went into full swing. From 1946 onwards, Capitol artists such as Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton, and Peggy Lee would record only for Capitol's transcription service. (The songstress' work for that service is detailed on this page.) Meanwhile, MacGregor continued its transcription program with other artists, including some who had been or would be affiliated to Capitol at some point in time -- artists such as Matt Dennis and Mel Tormé.

(Images below: A Mel Tormé red-vinyl transcription disc, recorded and distributed by the MacGregor Service in 1947. Tormé is backed by Peggy Lee's then-husband, Dave Barbour, and three other musicians. Chances are that the quartet is the same ones that backed Lee on her Capitol transcription discs of that year, under the collective name of Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind: Cole on piano, celeste, and organ; Barbour on guitar, Phil Stephens on bass; and Tommy Romersa on drums. [There might not be a drummer on these harp-heavy Tormé performances, however.] Next in sight is a 1958 photo of Chick MacGregor, who was a Freemason as well as a Shriner, active in the LA chapter of that fraternity. His headwear spells out the position to which he ascended in 1958: Potentate of Al Malaikah Temple of the Shrine. As for the third and final photo, I came across it during an online search. Devoid of any accompanying identification, this photo presumably shows the exterior of the MacGregor recording studio. A bit too austere and with no door in sight, the pictured façade could be the back of the studio, rather than its front. Year and gentleman unknown; any information help in the identification would be appreciated.)

Types Of MacGregor Transcriptions: Music Library Versus Music Shows

MacGregor sent various types of music discs to the radio stations which subscribed to its service. One type of disc contains just songs, usually by one artist. Such transcriptions bear the prefix "LB." on the physical discs, an abbreviation that stands for the word "library." In logs and published listings, the more commonly found code is " CPM LB," which is likely to stand for "C.P. MacGregor library." Furthermore (and as will be further detailed below), the physical discs usually included a matrix number, prefixed by the letters "MM" or "MMo." From those listed on this page, take, for instance, MacGregor disc #CPM LB-145. When participating radio stations played it, listeners would hear a full four-song segment by Peggy Lee, beginning with "I Should Care" and ending with "Gone With The Wind."

Another type of MacGregor disc consisted of a pre-recorded radio show. As explained by Nat King Cole discographer Klaus Teubig: "[i]n addition to the normal 16" transcription discs, MacGregor offered complete 15-minute programs called King Cole Court with full announcements by Cole and a studio host with (guest) cuts from other MacGregor productions as Peggy Lee, Larry Stewart or Ray Eberle." The musical selections heard during the program, whether by Cole or by his guests, were not numbers recorded expressly for this radio show,. They were instead performances that had been culled from the "artist library" discs (i.e., the kind of MacGregor disc which I described in the previous paragraph).

To illustrate, let's take episode #2 of King Cole Court. The episode contained eight songs, all taken from MacGregor's music/artist library: seven songs from discs by The Nat King Cole Trio, and the remaining one a "guest cut" by Peggy Lee ("September In The Rain," from MacGregor transcription disc #CPM LB-131). Variations on this same procedure are evident in all other King Cole Court episodes listed by Teubig. (He gives us a total of six episodes, each including one guest vocal, by artists as diverse as Anita O'Day's and The Berrie Sisters).

In addition to King Cole At Court, other examples of MacGregor's transcribed music programs were The Sextet From Hunger Show and the aforementioned King At Court starring Henry King. There probably were plenty more, although so far I have not come across information on them.

One remaining matter about which I am curious is the dating of the syndicated radio shows under consideration. Sadly, such specifics have not been forthcoming in the cases of The Henry King Show and The Sextet From Hunger. As for the King Cole Court shows, Klaubig has no dates to offer, either. Another source refers to it as a 1950s series. I have tentatively followed that source's lead.

The United (Orthotone) Transcribed System

According to a producer's note in the booklet of the CD The King Cole Trio: The MacGregor Years, 1941-1945, "[m]any [MacGregor] transcriptions were licensed to a Canadian distributor, United Transcribed System [also known as Orthotone], which sometimes pressed direct from the original parts but which frequently dubbed the material onto new masters, sometimes changing the track sequence and invariably altering the sound quality, not for the better." Although that booklet's note refers specifically to Cole's transcription recordings, it probably applies to Peggy Lee's work for MacGregor, too. I assume that all of the songstress' work for MacGregor was pressed anew by United, although so far I have located only one UTS transcription disc featuring Lee. (See above, 2nd MacGregor session.)

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GENERAL NOTES, PART II: PEGGY LEE'S MACGREGOR TRANSCRIPTION OUTPUT

Personnel Of Peggy Lee's MacGregor Sessions

The personnel of Peggy Lee's MacGregor transcriptions is identified in only one of the sources consulted: the Starline cassette I've Had My Moments. A collective personnel is listed for the tracks, which come from all four MacGregor sessions. Since Lee seems to have recorded all her MacGregor numbers during the same month (perhaps even the same day; see discussion about dating below), and since the musical backing sounds very similar throughout, the collective personnel given in the cassette may indeed apply to the entire 17-song batch.

Recording Process And Alternate Takes

On their aforementioned book (Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions), Sparke and Venudor explain the manner in which all MacGregor transcriptions were waxed: "titles were not recorded in separate acetates, but were cut a program at a time, directly onto a 16" transcription master. Matrix numbers, preceded by MM for MacGregor Music, were awarded to this block of titles at the time of recording."

In other words, a full session of about four or five songs was recorded directly onto one disc, perhaps with the occasional alternate take included. From that "mother master," a secondary master disc was then made, with any spoken comments or any other interference edited out. The next step in the process was to transfer the date from the "secondary master" to the transcription discs that would be sent out to subscribing radio stations.

This method was not exclusively to MacGregor. Most transcription companies of the 1930s and 1940s appear to have operated in this manner. The transfer from "mother" to "secondary" ("daughter") disc is the reason why the extant logs of several transcription services show two master numbers next to each interpretation.

The use of this direct-to-disc process did not favor the recording of many alternate takes, let alone their preservation. Any such alternates would have been circumscribed to the "mother" master discs, whose preservation must be extremely rare in the cans of all transcription companies.

In the specific case of Peggy Lee's MacGregor sessions, I have no indication of their existence. My assumption is that the physical copies kept at the Library of Congress are merely discs sent out to the radio stations. Or perhaps they are "secondary masters." But could any of them be mother discs, containing the odd alternate take as well as dialogue or direction between performances? I doubt it. A modicum of hope can still be maintained, though: I am aware of the existence of a few alternates for another MacGregor artist (Stan Kenton).

Main Sources

MacGregor's master-books are currently owned by the Library of Congress.  I have not seen or consulted them. Naturally, they should be deemed a primary source of information, particularly when it comes to catalogue matters.

Being unable to check the master-books, I have relied instead on a pamphlet called MacGregor Radio Transcriptions, 1 To 920, published by Charles Garrod in 1990. Not an overly forthcoming writer, Garrod's acknowledgements are restricted to just one sentence: [t]hanks go to Sam Brylawski and Wynn Mattthias for their help." The author does not elaborate, but it must be noted that the thanked gentlemen were, at that point in time, curators and sound specialists at the Library of Congress' Recorded Sound section. It is thus very likely that the MacGregor master-books served as the basis for Garrod's pamphlet.

Garrod's work is best described as a sequential listing of the MacGregor electrical transcriptions, from Lb. 1 (four performances by The Don Thomas Orchestra) and Lb. 2 (another quartet of performances by The Don Thomas Orchestra) to Lb. 919 (six performances by The Les Paul Trio) and Lb. 920 (fives performances by Eddie Skrivanek). The Paul and Skrivanek sides bear matrix numbers 1442 and 1443, the Thomas sides 556 and 557.

As already mentioned, Garrod hardly offers any explanation of the pamphlet's contents. In fact, his full commentary can be copied and dispatched within this paragraph: "This series is but one of two MacGregor Radio Transcription Series. These were stdio recordings sessions that were put on 16 inc discs and leased to radio stations all over the country, Many of these releases are still around, in the hands of collectors, and can often be found at record collectors' conventions" and on auction lists." We are not told if matrix numbers preceding 556 were ever used, nor whether 1443 is the series' last matrix number. (I can only assume the latter to indeed be the last number, and 555 to be the closing number of the other MacGregor series to which Garrod alludes.) Garrod also leaves it to us to discover that some of the disc bearing high matrix numbers (i.e, 4,000 or so) are reissues of earlier ones. Those reissues do not use the original matrix numbers, but have new matrix numbers, which means that some MacGregor performances are tied to two different matrix digits.

Dating of Peggy Lee's MacGregor Discs & Sessions

Probably relying on such master-books, the library's online database gives a 1945 dating to all the MacGregor transcription discs which feature Peggy Lee. In other words, 1945 was the year on which those discs were originally made available for syndication.  

The library's database does not reveal, on the other hand, recording dates, and neither do the MacGregor master-books in its possession. (Or so I have been told.) There is no indication that session date information has been preserved anywhere else, exception on American Federation Of Musicians reports. The latter are not currently available for public perusal.

Fortunately, knowledge of the discs' release dates can provide us with clues. If we operate under the assumption that there is a short, months-long time span between the recording (#1) and distribution (#2) of most MacGregor performances, then the distribution dates can allow to postulate approximate recording dates.

Garrod provides a date (month and year) for almost all of the discs whose numbers fall between 1 and 120.  Thereafter, his supply of dates becomes infrequent and scarce.  The numbers for Lee's original MacGregor transcription discs are 130, 131, 144, and 145.  None of them are dated by Garrod, but his numerical sequencing points to January of 1945 as their likeliest time of "release" on transcription disc.  

(Bear in mind, however, that Garrod does not supply explanations in what is essentially a bare-bones list of transcription discs.  Hence I do not know how many of the dates on his pamphlet were acquired from the MacGregor master-books or any other reliable source, and how many qualify as mere assumptions on his part.  For what is worth, the first disc which he lists with a January 1945 dating is the one whose sides are numbered 109/110.  The last to which he gives the same date bears the numbers 185/186.  We are thus left with the implication that, for the month of January 1945, MacGregor released over 35 transcription discs into syndication.)

I do have concrete recording dates for the transcriptions of two other artists who were also under MacGregor contract, and who shared a Capitol connection with Peggy Lee:  Stan Kenton and Nat King Cole. For the latter,  pertinent information can be found in the booklet of the CD set The King Cole Trio:  The MacGregor Years, 1941-1945, produced by David Lennick.  Another worthwhile source is an online document prepared by the team of Will Friedwald and David Weiner, The King Cole Trio On MacGregor:  An Attempt At A Dated Listing.  Both sources show Cole starting his MacGregor recording activity on February 25, 1941.  There is also agreement on the closing year (1945), with January or February alternately suggested or speculated as the last month. I have come across additional sources in which the summer of 1945 is given as the final period, but I found no rationale, source or explanation in any of them.

(Incidentally, the CD set The King Cole Trio:  The MacGregor Years, 1941-1945 seems to err in its dating of a Cole session with Anita O'Day. That session is generally referred as O'Day's audition for Kenton. Since the team of Kenton and O'Day were already recording for Capitol by late 1944, her MacGregor session would have to date from earlier in 1944.  The date alleged on the CD --May 26, 1945-- might thus be off by a year.) 

Recording data is more solidly provided by Michael Sparke in his book Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions (also credited to Peter Venudor).  Sparke inspected Kenton's AFM contracts. On May 11, 1944, the bandleader recorded sixteen songs onto four MacGregor transcription sides.  On January 8, 1945, he did sixteen more, for four additional sides. One of those last four sides was numbered 128, which is numerically close to two of Peggy Lee's own sides on MacGregor transcription (#130 & #131).  Another Kenton side was numbered 146, which is in turn numerically close to Peggy Lee's other two sides (#144 & #145).  We can thus postulate that these Kenton and Lee discs were released for syndication on the same month(s) -- January of thereabouts.

But, moving away from release dates, how about recording dates?  We have Kenton's, miss Lee's.  To try to pinpoint them, matrix numbers will naturally be more helpful than disc numbers.  Fortunately, Garrod provides them, too:  

matrix MM 671:  Disc side #128 (Stan Kenton)                                                                 
matrix MM 673: Disc side #146 (Stan Kenton) 
matrix MM 677: Disc side #130 (Peggy Lee)                                                                 
matrix MM 678: Disc side #131 (Peggy Lee)                                                                   

matrix MM 694: Disc side #144 (Peggy Lee)                                                                 
matrix MM 695: Disc side #145 (Peggy Lee)                                                       

If we are to assume that MacGregor numbered its sessions in chronological order, then Lee's masters 677 and 678 must date from around the same time as the 671 Kenton master.  In other words, all three sets of transcription masters probably date from the second week of January 1945.  Those numbered 694 and 695 could in turn be speculated to date from either later in January or, otherwise, February of 1945.

Photos

This section's photos illustrate and provide support for the comments that will be made in the next paragraphs. The above-shown items (top of the section) are the only ones to be entirely dedicated to Peggy Lee's MacGregor transcription tracks. In order of display their titles are September In The Rain (10" LP, Norma Records), You Can Depend On Me (12" LP, Glenda Records), Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band (CD, LaserLight Records), and Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band; Nat King Cole Trio 1943/49, The Vocal Sides (CD, Capriole Records). The latter can also be found in an edition which is identical but for the photo used on the front cover.

Right above (first column), I have supplied more photos of the first issue, September In The Rain (front cover and insert, back cover, vinyl disc with its label). The second column features two other albums from the same series: Betty Madigan's Betty (NLP 1029; front cover) and Jeri Southern's Jeri (NLP 1016; back cover, vinyl disc with its label). The back cover of Jeri lists nine Candlelite 10" LPs, including September In The Rain but excluding Betty.

Down below, there is an array of commercial issues containing MacGregor masters, all of them issued by that company itself under the names MacGregor Records and MacGregor Transcriptions. (Peggy Lee is not heard in any of them. They are featured here as aids to the discussion that will ensue.) The first two images belong to Al Perry And His Singing Surf Riders' Hawaiian Magic (10" LP), the next two to Stan Kenton And His Orchestra (EP) and Fenton Jones' Square Dances (10" LP). The second row features the physical labels on each of the three discs, along with that a fourth MacGregor issue for which I have not provided front cover artwork (Eddie Skrivanek's Sextette From Hunger, Volume 2, 10" LP).

Commercial Issues Of Peggy Lee's MacGregor Transcriptions

Transcription discs were originally made for syndicated radio broadcast, not for retail. From their appearance in the 1920s to their decline in the 1950s, they were virtually unavailable to the general public, who would have needed special equipment to play them. Nevertheless, this state of affairs did not turn out to be a permanent one. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, a few transcription companies had dipped into the sometimes murky world of retail. In 1958, a MacGregor deal for the commercial release of Jimmy Wakely's transcriptions on Tops Records elicited a lawsuit from the
Capitol country star. The parties went to court, where Wakely lost the case. His MacGregor transcription performances were indeed issued on a 1958 Tops LP titled A Cowboy Serenade.

Leaving aside the hypothetical existence of a couple of LPs which I for one have never seen (and whose dim footprints will receive discussion in the next section), no retail release of Peggy Lee's MacGregor recordings came out before the 1980s. During that decade, two mail order labels finally issued them to the public. Both labels had p.o. box addresses in Glendale, California. One of them, called Glendale Records, released 14 of the 17 numbers on a LP titled You Can Depend On Me in 1981. Glendale's LP includes the following statement in its record sleeve: "All selections released for the first time / Material licensed from the archives of C. P. MacGregor Library / Photos from the collection of Ron Towe." (Towe was the author of an unpublished bio-discography of Peggy Lee. He is said to have owned an extensive collection of Lee memorabilia.) The other company, Starline Records, released 10 of the 17 numbers in a cassette titled I've Had My Moments (1987).

In 1991, the record label Laserlight made Lee's MacGregor songs part of the compact disc era. Laserlight's CD Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band is actually a reissue of the aforementioned Glendale LP, with the same tracks but different title, artwork, and notes. The entire contents of the CD were also reissued in 1997 by the German label Capriole, in a twofer of sorts: it combines the contents of two Laserlight issues, the other one being a Nat King Cole CD, from which Capriole took only the vocal sides.

In the years that followed the Laserlight release, an ever-growing number of public domain labels appropriated and re-released the MacGregor material. Their CDs often mixed these transcriptions with Peggy Lee's studio recordings, and with performances taken from various radio sources.

During the ongoing twenty-first century, Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band still remains the most adequate choice for fans who want to own the bulk of Lee's MacGregor output. The CD contains 14 of her MacGregor transcriptions in unobjectionable sound quality. It is, nevertheless, an unattractive budget issue, and by now no longer in print. Despite the rapid shrinking of the CD market, I am still hoping for a future release of all 17 MacGregor numbers in a CD with informative liner notes and appealing artwork.

Norma, MacGregor And Candlelite: Mysterious And Mystical Peggy Lee Albums

The aforementioned 1981 album You Can Depend On Me (Glendale Records) is one of only two LPs dedicated exclusively to Lee's MacGregor transcription recordings.  The other one is a 1998 release titled September In The Rain, on Norma Records.  I am dedicating the present sub-section to discussing the possibility that two more Lee MacGregor LPs might have been issued in the 1950s and/or 1960s.  I am supporting such a possibility despite the fact that I have never sighted either "mythical" album, nor have I found any solid corroboration for the existence of either one.  To explain the rationale behind my conviction, we will first need to spend a few paragraphs examining September In The Rain and the label on which it was released.

Norma Records

A Japanese-market label, Norma Records was in operation from the 1990s to the 2000s.  If word of mouth is to be trusted, the label was a bootlegger which had to shut down its business after facing one or more lawsuits.  During its years of activity, it presented itself as a distributor and reissuer of vintage, relatively obscure jazz titles by both instrumentalists (e.g., Dick Katz' Kool For Katz, Lou Levy's Touch Of Class, Johnny Raducanu's Jazz In Trio, etc.) and female vocalists (e.g., Fran Lacey's Fran!, Lita Roza's Drinka Lita Roza Days, Annie Ross' Annie By Candlelight, Pinky Winters' Pinky).  Most if not all of the mentioned albums were released on the label's so-called Collectors' Series (with catalogue numbers from the 5000s to the 7000s) and obis prominently featuring the wording N Presents.

Another sizable portion of the label's catalogue consisted of reissues whose front covers carried a yellow sticker identifying them as part of a "Rare Item Collection" series. Those carry catalogue numbers in the 1000s and 2000s.  Many of them also have the peculiarity of being 10" LP pressings, despite dating from the 1990s.  They appear to be straight replicas of original 10" LPs from the 1950s (same artwork, same 10" size). 

September In The Rain is one of the titles in such a "Rare Item Collection" series.  It includes eight of the 17 titles that Peggy Lee recorded for the MacGregor transcription service.  Norma issued it on December 25, 1998, exclusively for the Japanese market.  

Candlelite Records

The 1998 album is also part of a sub-series of at least ten Norma LPs.  They are by female artists of a certain vintage:  Mindy Carson, Connie Francis, Peggy King, Peggy Lee, Monica Lewis, Betty Madigan, Ginny Simms, Keely Smith, Jeri Southern, and Jo Stafford.  (There could be more, of which I am not yet aware.)  Norma is said to have issued some of these 10-inch LP items on CD as well -- specifically, the items by Mindy Carson, Peggy King, and Monica Lewis. Not September In The Rain, though.  In passing, I can report having seen Norma CDs of albums in its Collectors' Series, but not yet any of those belonging to the Rare Item Collection series.) In addition to featuring female vocalists, another common denominator of these Norma albums is that they paradoxically identify themselves as also belonging to a second label, Candlelite Records.  The most natural explanation for this duality is simply that Candlelite was the original issuer of these albums, and Norma their reissuer.  

Unfortunately, that explanation does not count with corroborating evidence.  For this discographer, the task of tracking down that hypothetical, earlier September In The Rain album is still ongoing. My search has led me to the inspection of two labels, in particular. Both bear the Candlelite name. One dates from the 1960s, the other from the 1970s. 
 
A Candlelite record company was founded in 1972 and probably closed in the early 1980s.  Operating from the New York area, it was a direct-marketing label that initially focused on 1950s musical nostalgia, and which advertised on tube stations such as New York's WNEW-TV.  Co-founded by Wesley Wood and promptly expanding its catalogue to country and rock, the label leased their material from the established record labels.  

I do not know if that Candlelite label issued 10" LPs, though.  Being a 1970s company, it seems unlikely.  Then again, the label's orientation toward nostalgia could have triggered a decision to manufacture 10" vinyl albums.  

An earlier Candlelite Records was founded by Wayne Stierle in 1960.  It was also a mail-order operation, with offices in New Jersey.  This label concentrated on rock 'n' roll and oldies.  From 1959 to 1961, a teenager Stierle is said to have also worked on re-releasing a series of recordings that had been gone unnoticed during their first time around. 

Both of these Candlelite labels were mail-order outfits.  That fact could account for the elusiveness of not only the Lee album but also the other Candlelite LPs listed on the back covers of Norma's reissues.

MacGregor Records

As already mentioned, some radio transcription services were branching into the world of retail music as early as the 1940s and 1950s.  MacGregor was one of them.  See, for instance, the Stan Kenton issue whose front cover is pictured down below (MacGregor EP 201), and which came out around October of 1953.  It is one of about 150 MacGregor retail releases that I have seen online.  They range from singles in the two main speeds to 33-rpm LPs.  

According to an announcement made on the September 29, 1956 issue of Billboard, the company had till then "restricted its commercial disk activity to the square dance and Western fields," but was just about to launch "a full line of pop singles and albums."  Not having found a listing of MacGregor's full LP catalogue, I suspect that the line was not widely distributed, and most of its issues might be seldom-seen rarities.

I am considering the possibility that one of such elusive rarities could be a release of .  Under this hypothetical scenario, the 1998 ten-inch LP on Norma Records would be a reissue of a ca. 1960s Candlelite 10" LP, which would in turn be a reissue of a ca. late 1950s MacGregor 10" LP.  One factor that is compelling me to speculate about the existence of a MacGregor ten incher is the similarity between the artwork of  (as displayed on the extant Norma item) and one of the MacGregor LPs pictured below.  I am referring to Hawaiian Magic (1957), credited to Al Perry And His Singing Surf Riders.  The color and the overall look are quite similar.  There is also a stress on the notion of "high fidelity recording" or "hi-fi sound" (though this promotional terminology is, admittedly, an all too common trait among LPs of that era).

Having now conveyed my thoughts on these two pursuits (i.e., the Candlelite and MacGregor versions of the 1998 album), I can only remind readers once more about the hypothetical nature of the discussion.  As of this writing, the 1998 Norma record is the only version of September In The Rain for which there is actual proof of existence. 

Statistics: Total Number Of Masters; Performances Not On CD

This discographical page shows a total of 17 masters, originally distributed over four transcription discs, meant for radio airplay one. Of those 17 performances, 14 have appeared on compact disc. The 3 numbers not yet on CD are:

"You Turned The Tables On Me"
Available only in two rare issues released by online mail order companies (as shown in the second session above).

"I Get The Blues (When It Rains)"
Issued in the cassette I've Had My Moments, which has been out of print for decades. (A different version of "I Get The Blues" is also commercially available. See page for War & Government Transcriptions, once it opens for viewing.)

"Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea"
Never commercially available. It can be heard only on MacGregor 16" transcription discs. (Numerous public domain CDs contain a Peggy Lee version of "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea," but that's a different version, recorded by Lee for another transcription service, World Records.)

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Sessions Reported: 4

Performances Reported: 17

Unique Songs Reported: 17

Unique Issues Reported: 78

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