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ACTORS MASTER TAPE - Patreon Exclusive

A special just for Patrons today - a bit of a thank you. 

Here's the full Actors Master Tape - unedited in its entirety. 

Backstory - I picked this up from ebay where I saw it being re-listed multiple times over a few months. There was no information about the contents and the price with postage to the UK was a bit steep. 

However one day my curiosity got the better of me and I ordered it. Looking at the list of names on the back of the box (PHOTO ATTACHED) - and given the fact it was on a open reel tape I guessed it dated from the 1960s. Originating from a Talent Agency I assumed it would consist of the actors reading a passage of text aloud, so potential employers could pick out a voice for their production - possibly for radio work. 

It turns out that it's more interesting than that. The tape dates from around 1979 or 1980 and contains a collection of advertisement work each actor has done. 

The adverts are cut short, so as to showcase the voice rather than the product - however I'd imagine that for some US listeners, there's going to be a bit of nostalgia here. 

When I got the tape it had clearly never been played and the leader was taped down - so after myself you're the first people to hear it in full - enjoy. 

NOTE: In my experience the audio playback thingy on Patreon can be a bit temperamental on some browsers, if it doesn't work you might want to try another browser or download the MP3.

ACTORS MASTER TAPE - Patreon Exclusive ACTORS MASTER TAPE - Patreon Exclusive

Comments

Remember is is a product of its time, about 1960ish, Please do not complain about no women being in it. It's from the 60s

I listened for a little while and what was really weird and uneasy suddenly occurred to me: only men's voices, more or less all the same, low tone, often country-side style. I did not listen to the end: is there a single woman's voice in there?

Pascal Bruyere

Fascinating look back to a time when I'd just graduated high school. The items like making a long distance call when a poor photograph won't do, is the kind of history for our kids that cranking a car to start it was history to us. But the best was Will Scott telling they were going to put "dirty, filthy pictures on the air, the air you breathe". Love the dual meaning of air.

John Comtois

If one of the GTA games was set in 1979, this is what at least one of the in-game radio stations would sound like.

OzRetrocomp

When I heard Richard Basehart I had to laugh, because it reminded me of that recording that’s been going around forever of Orson Welles doing some voiceover about frozen peas and arguing hotly with the engineer or whomever over the grammar and language. It’s quite funny. Then years later Pinky and the Brain did a parody of it.

Keith Johnson

thanks, enjoyed listening to that. keep up the great work and keep smiling

Glyn Cash

Nice extra :D Thanks Mat!

Michael Turner-Craig

Wow, this reminds of being a little kid in the early 80s listening to the crappy AM radio my mom had the awful car we had at the time, cruising around Tampa, FL with the windows down because no one had working AC. Oh man, which then in turn reminds me of how we used to walk around parking lots as a kid putting smoke bombs in peoples glove compartments... I had totally forgot about that until hearing this. Wow, what a bunch of little pricks we were back then. Anywho, thanks for posting this - listened to the full thing, there was a bunch in here that seemed really familiar and a few I clearly remember.

Chris Munch

Papa Cunningham was east to pick out, wasn't he?

Bob Holt

I didn't need the character list to recognise Tom Bosley :)

Ralph Little

Oh man, did that ever bring back memories. I remembered a lot of those commercials. It was neat to hear them again. Thanks for playing this. Made my day :)

Bob Holt

Charles McGraw (27:21) is one of my favorite actors from the old film noir era. I don't think this tape led to him getting much work since he tragically died in 1980 although check out the IMDB entry on him for more on that: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569902/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0. Did a lot of character parts over the years, but his best was probably 1952's The Narrow Margin.

Mark Hesse

Marty Cooper at 10:56 did Mazda commercials, I believe, of which the Mazda RX-3 advert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHzeGEHWMjo is perhaps the most memorable. (The YouTube Pedant would point out that it is pronounced Mazda, not Mazda.)

Peter Lawrence

Working in Hollywood, many voices are also familiar actors and radio and television personalities. Jack Angel and Danny Dark (Dark in the Morning) had wildly successful careers as D.J.s. On local L.A. television, Walker Edmiston hosted a "kid;s show" featuring the Hal Roach theatrical comedy short THE LITTLE RASCALS. Ernie Anderson moved Wes from local TV in Cleveland to become the "imaging voice" of the American Broadcasting Company. [Someone was kind enough to post a portion of a 1989 voiceover session on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dErRrsUTaEk ' ]. Thanks, Mat for rescuing this bit of advertising history.

Robert Sudock

The rapid-fire does get a bit wearing over time...you never know when it’s going to jump to the next advert, you end up a bit of a nervous wreck (well I did).

Techmoan

About the holiday. Yes originally it was originally booked for something like the 22nd April - I moved it to late July because that’s the only date that worked, but now it’s probably very likely in July I’ll be moving it again to next year. At least I haven’t lost any money - it was a bit of a treat as well, so it was more than I normally pay.

Techmoan

Well I’m glad you finally get to hear it.

Techmoan

Michael Bell (born July 30, 1938) is an American actor, voice actor, voice director and animal-rights activist[1] who is most active in voice over roles, known for his youthful voice. He has acted in video games and animated series, including The Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Houndcats, Rugrats, The Smurfs, and Snorks and appeared on-screen in film and television, including the TV programs Dallas and Star Trek. Bell was described as being "one of the most prominent voice actors of the 1980s." Both Bell's wife, Victoria Carroll, and his daughter, Ashley Bell, are actresses.

Randall Jennings

Michael Bell sounds really familiar from some cartoons — Smurfs?

Randall Jennings

This is fascinating stuff. The rapid-fire nature of it makes it feel like this long list of little snapshots into the past. It's really interesting for me to contrast old Venezuelan advertisements with the American style - there's some common patterns, but Venezuelan advertisement is either more smooth or more bombastic than this, usually.

Vinushika

That was good getting back into the mindset of the 1970's /80s. I'm not to good at remembering names and the only one I initially recognised was Richard Basshart from that TV series about a futuristic submarine. Then I started googling the names and I came across Tom Bossley from "Happy Days" I think that apart form toothpaste adverts the UK had switched to British voices by the time the 80's were upon us. Thanks Matt and did you find it impossible to go on holiday ? Because I have a neurological condition and a buggerd immune system I have gone int isolation along with my family. My son is working form home and my wife has ben told she can stay at home because her employer is closing the department store where she works.

Jeremy Travis

I had seen this tape for sale, I wanted to buy it, but I waited too long and the tape disappeared. It's Incredible that you bought it, the world is small!

MVVblog

Really nice Mat. I have R2R tapes from radio stations which have music, will have to start looking for something like this.

Chris “Smitty”Smith

The current radio ads I hear surprisingly don't sound much different from those on this tape. Too bad there wasn't an ad for Heinz beans on this tape, it would have maintained the continuity of the Techmoaniverse. At least there weren't any ads for a John Lennon album ;)

Mark Hesse

Ernie Anderson was the voice of the ABC network here in the states for many, many years. An outstanding talent.

Justin Harman

Thanks for this Mat, great little window into a bygone age - just like those radio recordings you found on that multi-section tape thing you found a while back. For anyone who enjoys found recordings on reels, there's a great blog here: https://inches-per-second.blogspot.com/?m=1

Alan Burns

Thank you for sharing this, Matt! I'm still amazed how cool were the advertisements those days, and how boring are today.

Zollai István

Great! Funny that I came across the Datsun Z ad in video in an old ad compilation on Youtube a few weeks ago - That must have been recorded on VHS, so I would expect the tape is more from the mid 70s or so...

Kilrah

I couldn't resist doing this . . . https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@34.0631632,-118.3835456,3a,55.5y,275.47h,94.1t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sNXorYkhhi7M4PDy1wbiV1g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DNXorYkhhi7M4PDy1wbiV1g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D68.8661%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192 S.

Stephen Bell

Wow, a pure gold mine of ads from the past.

Peter Menzel

Yes - him and Richard Basehart the ones everyone knows - they're mostly quite prolific though. A lot of cartoon work etc.

Techmoan

Very nice. I enjoyed listening much more than I thought I would.

Bill Browning

Thanks for this! Yes, some nostalgia. Many of these ads were local/regional, so not heard everywhere in the U.S. I grew up in the New York City area, and these ads seem to be mostly from the west coast or mid-west U.S. But I did recognize some of them and I certainly recognize many names and voices. Mat, you'll know Tom Bosley as the father from the 1970s TV show "Happy Days", which I'm sure you had in the U.K. as well. As a side, I know that actors LOVE these kinds of audio voiceovers: it's a couple of minutes/ hours work and they are usually paid on a scale based on the popularity of the ad, so it's "easy" money that might add up (no pun) quickly.

Peter Rogers

This is a fascinating blast from the past, thanks for sharing. I'm also struck with just how different some of these voices from the same person can sound!

Colin Bartlett

Thanks for sharing Matt, i will enjoy this. Keep isolating ;-)

Chris

Wow, I didn't realize how many of these ads I would remember. Thanks!

Compactedorb31


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