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Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Interesting information! All of the "lost" Chan movie soundtracks dated between 1931 and 1934. Hopefully, all the recordings were safely and carefully moved to the new location.

-Rush

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

That's wonderful! Your son is very fortunate, indeed!

Sincerely,
Rush

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

It might be good if you could speak with your friend about how these recordings could be tracked down at the Library of Congress, if, indeed they are there to be found. If we could somehow get the soundtracks from the four lost Chan films, that in itself would be a wonderful find! At least people would be able to listen to the movies.

Sincerely,
Rush

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Rush Glick
I just got off the phone after speaking with a very helpful person at the UCSB Special Collections Library. Sadly, these recordings are not available and their status is listed as "unknown." I was told that their database lists ALL known recordings of all fields, including our hoped-for Charlie Chan movie soundtracks/dialogue recordings, whether available or otherwise. It was suggested that we try the Library of Congress next, as they would be the most likely to hold access to these materials.

Years ago, I recall that the Library of Congress had a copy of the trailer for "Charlie Chan Carries On." It was going to be shown there, and, I was so excited even at that news, that I entertained thoughts - briefly! - of traveling to Washington to see it. However, we now have that available on DVD ("Hollywood Chinese") for viewing. I bring this up mainly to suggest that if these discs exist, the Library of Congress will be our best hope. One of our weekly Monday Chat participants is a librarian, and perhaps he can offer the best suggestion on how best to pursue this!

Sincerely,
Rush
Rush:

If you would be interested in checking on just one other detail with a librarian ...

Consider a listing such as this one ...

http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000015419/MVE-68776-Charlie_Chan_carries_on

Victor matrix MVE-68776.

That was Reel 2. The status of the two takes are ...

Take Date and Place Take Status
3/18/1931 Camden, New Jersey. Church Bldg. Studio 1 1 Hold
3/18/1931 Camden, New Jersey. Church Bldg. Studio 1 1A Unknown

It would be good to know what 'Hold' means here. Not all the recordings have an 'Unknown' status.

I will try to talk soon with my friend who worked for years at the Library of Congress.

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

I will try to do that at our Monday Chat tomorrow, provided he appears.

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Rush Glick
I will try to do that at our Monday Chat tomorrow, provided he appears.
Thanks! And, as soon as I get an opportunity, I'll ask my friend about how to research recordings with the Library of Congress.

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Our librarian friend was with us two weeks ago, and I gave him the information. He was not in attendance last week, but when next he participates, I will see if he has had even the slightest luck on this.

-Rush

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Rush Glick
Our librarian friend was with us two weeks ago, and I gave him the information. He was not in attendance last week, but when next he participates, I will see if he has had even the slightest luck on this.

-Rush
I finally had a free moment to call a librarian at the Library of Congress. This was a very helpful librarian working in the sound recordings division.

He pulled up the same listings from the Discography of American Historical Recordings website by searching on 'Charlie Chan', and I explained to him about 'Charlie Chan Carries On' and 'Charlie Chan's Chance' being missing films, but 'Eran Trece' being the surviving Spanish-language version of 'Carries On'. I also noted that soundtracks had apparently been made of other films besides these two Chan films, so that there might be soundtracks of other lost films in existence somewhere.

He did a quick search and located the trailer for 'Charlie Chan Carries On', which we know is in the library's collection.

The recordings on the DAHR website are described as 16" discs, and the library has a collection of such discs, though we shouldn't get our hopes up, as it seems likely that someone would have probably noticed them previously since they are soundtracks of well-known lost films.

Yet, even if we discover they are not in the library, the next question would be how to find out what happened to these various soundtrack recordings. Did they go up in flames along with the film prints in 1937, or were they perhaps stored somewhere else? Might they still exist? What was their fate?

I gave him my phone number and email address, and he promised to look into the matter further and to get back to me.

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Here's an update.

The librarian in the sound recordings division confirmed that none of these soundtrack recordings exist in their catalogued holdings. That didn't surprise me, but it needed to be checked anyway.

I asked if he had an suggestions about what next to try in tracking down the fate of these recordings. He suggested talking to one of the librarians in the moving pictures division, as that division may have more information about who to contact to track down movie soundtrack recordings.

I will do that once I have another bit of free time.

It is clear that these recordings were made in 1931 and 1932, but determining the exact fate of these discs may be very difficult. I'm going to give it a try though.

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Thank you for all of your time and effort on this project. I'm still hopeful that something will turn up.

Re: Audio Recordings of Lost Chan Films

Dear Douglas,

I will echo what John said, and thank you for your GREAT work on this! Even if we continue hit dead ends, just knowing that such recordings were made at all is of great interest! Who knows, at the end of one "dead end" their could be a glimmer of hope to one day finding one or more of these elusive discs!

Thank you, again, and, it should go without saying, please keep us informed on anything that turns up...even if it's yet another wall!

Sincerely,
Rush