Saturday, January 25, 2020

Film-Tone, Part 2

Last post, I mentioned coming across some copyright dispute (at the Internet Archive) and concluding there wasn't much info of use.  Bob gave it a closer look and pulled out vital info, though I can't picture anyone reading the entire 150-plus-page nightmare.  For instance, he informed me that the musical director--the one who looks like "Vincent Poll" on the label--was Vincent Poli.  And, meanwhile, the actual director was Elmer Schmidt.  The on-line document doesn't come out and actually name Poli as an alias for Schmidt--there could have been a real Poli, though not on the record--but Poli was an alias by default, so that's what I've dubbed him.  More info at the actual document.  I was revising my update even as people were reading my post--I had mistaken a leaflet for the Madhatters Trio (the group credited as "vocal trio" on the Film-Tone EP) for the magazine ad used to reel in the gullible marks for this outrageous scam.  Some of my details might be a little off, but I think I got the gist.  Film-Tone was a standard "song-poem" operation, only at such an epic level of flat-out lying that the consters had no chance of getting away with their scheme for long.  Common sense should tell a con artist that, if you're going to pull a standard scam, stay within the normal, conventional limits of that scam.  That lowers the probability of being sued, and it makes serious legal trouble unlikely, especially if a lot of other people are doing the same thing.  When you blow up the scam, you're just making yourself a target.  I have good dishonesty instincts--too bad I'm such a straight sort.

So, check out my last post for the update, which I revised about, oh, twenty times in the space of an hour.  Legal documents never, ever start with an "Okay, here's the basic situation...." statement.  Intellectual people know to start big--to generalize, THEN cut things into smaller pieces.  From general to specific.  You're supposed to learn that in college.



Lee

3 comments:

Ernie said...

Wow. Just Wow...

JW said...

I am absolutely gobsmacked. These records are so full of mystery - songpoem records in general, but specifically Film-Tone - that when you come across stuff like this, it gives you goosebumps.

I must say I'm a little sad; these particular records so benign (and often bland!), that you don't want to think the absolute worst.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this record! And even moreso this information! Thanks so much to Bob - I'm going to start studying this document right now! I'm also blown away that as of this writing there seems to be no mention of this amazing find on his own blog! (I may have missed it, though) Ooodles of thanks to the both of you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go pour over this document as if I were studying the Dead Sea Scrolls! PS: Excited to have found your blog! Looking forward to perusing it at length!

Lee Hartsfeld said...

JW,

Thanks for the nice words! I had to re-read these posts--I'd forgotten the details of Film-Tone's elaborate scam. It was pretty much the ultimate song-poem rip-off. What a lucky--and weird--find!