Monday, July 18, 2011

Caution! Inflammable!!!!

I've said in the past how I'll find something unusual or something I've never seen before at a garage sale, only to see it again within a few weeks.  It happened again.

I wrote a few weeks back about the "Your Man in Service" record.  I came across another self-recording at an estate sale (well, actually a friend spotted it).  This Voice-O-Graph was made on the S.S. Admiral steamboat here in St. Louis.



I love the cautionary disclaimer on the record.  At first I thought it was a typo, but apparently inflammable and flammable mean the same thing.  Oh, that crazy English language!
My attempts to decode the Man in Service record were unsuccessful. This was one only slightly more.

You can listen here.

I made my best attempt at transcribing it below.  It almost sounds like the lady was reading from something she'd written down. Maybe you can fill in the blanks.

"5201 (possibly an id for the record?)  I'd like ? to know that ? ? quite enjoyable and I'd like to go again sometime. I also like the idea of this recording. I think it is very nice and well...okay. So, I'd like to say ?? (background music begins to play) the Admiral ? people on the boat ??? enjoy ??? and thank you very much and ??? my friends enjoy it ? glad to come."

The Admiral in its glory days. Photo courtesy maritimematters.com


Sadly, the story of the Admiral in the past 20 years has told of it's demise.  First landlocked and made into a casino, then struck by barges that had been swept away by flood waters, the Admiral has met it's end.

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