Comments on: Brain Game: Forty-Fives

By: Jood42

Jood42 — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:51:00 +0000

I have one of those exceptions, too. The first pressing of Monty Python’s “Matching Tie and Handkerchief” was a three-sided record. It was too fragile to play, but it was amusing.

By: Fredly

Fredly — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:11:00 +0000

Another special case was the miniature disk that they used inside of old talking dolls, like Mattell’s Chatty Cathy. It was only grooved on one side, but it had 8 or 9 separate, nested spirals that were exactly parallel to each other. When you pulled the string, the needle would randomly catch and play only one of the grooves. Because the mecahnism had to be small and rugged, each little speech was only 4 or 5 seconds long, but it still seemed pretty magic at the time. “Can you come out and play?”
With modern technology and a flash memory chip, you could now have a doll that is capable of reciting a whole bookful of speech.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:36:00 +0000

I have one of those rare exceptions, and it had multiple grooves for a really cool reason (or at least I think it’s pretty cool)–it was for a game.

It was a baseball game, and Mel Allen supplied the voice. Whoever was “batting” had to move the needle above the record and place it down, and good ‘ol Mel would make the call for the “play” that just took place on the field.

Of course, regular baseball rules followed, three outs per side, nine innings per game…

By: Sandy Wood

Sandy Wood — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Yep, Nevin, that’s one of those “rare exceptions” I mention in the answer. Likewise, there are some one-sided records (not really one-sided, but with grooves etched on only one side). Some other oddities (usually business-related or educational recordings) have multiple grooves on a side… but it is rare.

By: Dinosaur

Dinosaur — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:31:00 +0000

But I suspect “Matching Tie and Handkerchief” was not a 45… I suspect it was an LP.

By: Nevin ":-)"

Nevin ":-)" — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Early pressings of Monty Python: Matching Tie and Hankerchief had three grooves.

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Wouldn’t the answer be 2? One on each side of the record?

By: luis

luis — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:03:00 +0000

ahh, tricky one maze, i stepped full on the trapÂ¡

By: Sandy Wood

Sandy Wood — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:54:00 +0000

You’re exactly right, Bri… but hey, the math exercise didn’t hurt ya.

By: EMStoveken

EMStoveken — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Started down the complicated math road for a moment, then came to my senses. Looks like my college DJ years finally paid off!