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DJ George Garabedian

DJ George Garabedian
Downbeat Magazine April 1958

There are few images of George V. Garabedian, and his definitive biography has not been written.   George was a performing musician, and led several different groups of studio musicians: George Garabedian And His Royal Armenians, The Archibald Players, The George Garabedian Players, and The George Garabedian Troubadours. Below is a partial discography. Most of his sides were released as The George Garabedian Players; I included their one 45 with Liberty. They have over twenty 45s all effectively self-released on Mark 56 Records, the list is too long to include.

Garabedian was also president of Chevron records. The earliest appearance of George in Billboard is January of 1957 for hiring two comic artists to draw album art: Virgil Parch and Paul Welb. An article in Variety in 1958 calls him the general manager but it's also the first mention of his attempt to buy some of the Laurel and Hardy catalog. The American Record Label Directory and Dating Guide, 1940-1959 notes that the parent company is UPA Pictures.

Almost everything he recorded was self-released. When he was running Chevron Records in 1955 he approached W.C. Handy about doing a film on his life. That eventually became a feature film in 1958, St. Louis Blues, starring Nat King Cole and Eartha Kit. [LINK]But that didn't happen until after Paramount removed Garabedian as producer on the project. It's probably the most famous thing Garabedian ever did, and he didn't even get to really do it. But those sides he did in 1958 and 1959 did move a few units.

Arist Tracks
Label/Format
Release Year
 George Garabedian And The Royal Armenians  Artistry In Rhythm / Afraid To Dream Chevron / 45
 1958
 George Garabedian And The Royal Armenians  Thanks / Ball of Love
Chevron / 45 ????
The Archibald Players
 Mr. Grillon / The Big Nothing
Arch Records / 45
 1958
 The George Garabedian Troubadours Thomas Dooley Cha-Cha-Cha / Two Hearts To Sing  Mark 56 / 45
1959
The George Garabedian Players
Artistry In Rhythm / Art's Tune Liberty / 45
1959

But things got more interesting late in life when he founded Mark 56 Records in 1970. In addition to numerous music releases, Garabedian started releasing old radio serials on LP. This was probably the first time that had been done commercially since radio serials were pressed to transcription discs. Stephen Fuchs interviewed him for Cash Box in 1976 where he got more of the story.

Below is a list of all the radio programs Garabedian released under the Mark 56 label. I've included the catalog oddities like re-releases, and changed release numbers. I've removed all the non-radio soundtracks (I think) and all the random original music releases. Many are simply named "Original Radio Broadcasts" and the tracks generically as "Episode 1." There is conflicting information on many of these indicating their release may have been rushed. The list goes on only sporadically beyond release number 730, I stopped there to preserve my sanity.


Release Artist
Album
Year
 571 W.C. Fields
Original Radio Broadcast
 1972
 575 Laurel & Hardy
No U Turn 1973
577
Laurel & Hardy Babes in Toyland  1974
578
Bill Ballance Feminine Forum
1978
579 Laurel & Hardy Another Fine Mess
1973
583
Fibber McGee & Molly
Johnson Wax Program Vol 1
xx
584
Fibber McGee & Molly Johnson Wax Program Vol 2
xx
585
Fibber McGee & Molly  Johnson Wax Program Vol 3
xx
586
Fibber McGee & Molly Johnson Wax Program Vol 4
xx
588
Superman Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
589
Dick Tracey
Original Radio Broadcasts
1973
590
The Lone Ranger
Original Radio Broadcasts 1972
591
The Shadow
Vol 1
1972
592
Sgt. Preston of the Yukon
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
593
Little Orphan Annie
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
594
Captain Midnight
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
 595 W.C. Fields/Lux Radio Theatre
Original Radio Broadcast
 1972
596
Tom Mix
Two new original episodes
1973
599
The Green Hornet
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
600
Laurel & Hardy Trouble Again!
1973
601 Laurel & Hardy No U Turn
1973
602  Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
603  Jack Armstrong - The All American Boy Wheaties Presents 1973
604 Jungle Jim Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
605
Lum & Abner An Evening with Lum & Abner 1973
607
The Green Hornet
*Duplicate of 599
1973
608
The Shadow
Vol 2
1973
609 Flash Gordon Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
610 Lux Radio Theatre The Treasure of Sierra Madre 1973
611 Suspense - Bela Legosi Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
613 Rudy Vallee  The Fleischmann's Hour Presents 1973
614
George Burns & Gracie Allen Maxwell House Coffee Vol 1
1973
615
The Chase and Sanborn Show
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
619
Nick Carter Master Detective
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
620
The Great Gildersleeve
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
621
Ed Wynn The Fire Chief As the Perfect Fool
1973
622
Lassie Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
623
Mandrake the Magician
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
624
Blondie Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
625
Super Heroes Of Yesteryear Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
626
Don Winslow of the Navy
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
627
Charlie Chan
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
629
Red Ryder
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
630
Terry and the Pirates
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
631
Gasoline Alley/Moon Mullins
Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
634
Campbell's Playhouse
Huckleberry Finn
1974
635
 Jack Armstrong - The All American Boy *Different tracks than 603
1973
636
The Shadow / Fibber McGee And Molly Original Radio Broadcasts 1973
637 Grand Central Station
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
638
Sam Spade/Howard Duff
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
639
Betty Boop
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
640
Bill Stern/Sports Newsreel
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
642
Straight Arrow
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
643
Mae West
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
644
Tarzan Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
645
Hallmark Playhouse
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1974
647
Soap Operas
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
649
The Shadow/The Lone Ranger
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
650
Superman *Different tracks than 588
1974
652
Miss Helen Hayes Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
654
A Streetcar Named Desire Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
657
The Shadow
Vol 3
1974
659
Will Rogers
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
660
Archie Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
661
Louella Parsons
Hollywood Hotel 1974
662
The Whistler
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
663
Joe Palooka
Original Radio Broadcasts 1974
665
Various Good Old Days of Radio
1974
666
Superman *Different tracks than 588
1974
668
Lux Radio Theatre
African Queen
1975
669
The Fat Man
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
670
Mr. Keen Tracer Of Lost Persons Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
671
The Goodwill Hour Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
672
Alan Ladd
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
673
Major Bowes And His Original Amateur Hour 1975
674
Ripley's Believe It Or Not Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
676
 Hopalong Cassidy Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
677
Superman Volume 1-4
1975
678
Buddy Clark
The Carnation Contented Hour
1975
679
Skippy Hollywood Theatre Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
681
Rudy Valee
An evening With Rudy Valee 1974
682
Sad Sack
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
685
Little Orphan Annie
Vol 2
1975
686
Hop Harrigan America's Ace Of The Airwaves 1975
687
The Lone Ranger Rides Again Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
692
The Aldrich Family
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
695 Lux Radio Theatre
To Have And Have Not
1975
696
This is your FBI
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
697
Mystery Theatre
Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
698
Soap Operas
Vol 2
1976
699
Red Skeleton
Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
702
Mary Pickford America's Sweetheart Original Radio Broadcasts
1976
703
Sky King
Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
706
Harry S. Truman
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
709
The Mills Brothers
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
710
Helen O'Connell
Original Radio Broadcasts 1975
712
Memories Worth Saving
Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
713
Various Golden Days of Radio
1976
714
Rudy Vallee
 World War II U.S. Coast Guard Band 1975
715
Popeye Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
716
V.J. Day WWII Ends! Recording of the surrender ceremony broadcast
1976
717
Captain Midnight
Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
719
Frankenstein Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
720
Lux Radio Theatre
Dracula 1976
724
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Nordstrom Presents
1980
726
Edward G. Robinson Original Radio Broadcasts 1976
728
D-Day The Day The Allies Invaded France NBC Radio Broadcasts
1978

In the late 1950s Garabedian bought some rights to the Laurel & Hardy catalog. He'd been producing records since at least 1956. In 1960 he and his friend George Holcott reviewed that acquisition but sat on it for another decade. In 1972 Holcott owned R&R Distribution and called up Garabedian offering to be a distributor for his tiny label. In the interim Garabedian had bought up the rights to 400 more copyrights. He briefly listed off some of the ephemera:

"In addition to numerous radio broadcasts ranging from "Sgt Preston Of The Yukon" and "Little Orphan Annie" to "An Evening With Rudy Vallee" and "Don Winslow Of The Navy," Garabedian commands the rights to such golden possessions as a tape of George Gershwin sitting at the piano, directing a rehearsal of the original Broadway cast of "Porgy And Bess"; a taped conversation of Harry Truman as he ran for Senator; on-the-spot documentation of VJ-Day; recordings of Rudolf Valentino..."

He didn't forget about Nat King Cole. He licensed the rights and began releasing 22 sides from his back catalog in 1974. In the May issue of Billboard there was an article on R&R Distribution.
In 1976 he re-released the King Kong radio serial. I don't think it ever came out though. In 1979 he popped up in the news again in a legal flight with Wally Heider of Hindsight records over the Stan Kenton catalog. Apparently George's rights to the C.P. MacGregor Transcription catalog had an exception. He finally got nominated for a Grammy in 1981, under Best Historical Reissue with "Early History of the Phonograph Record." If you check the Grammy Winners book he actually won once but it was earlier, in 1978 with the Citizen Kane motion picture soundtrack in 1978. It was the legitimacy that he had craved for decades but he never struck gold again.

Not that everything on Mark 56 was a classic. Mark 56 makes an inauspicious appearance in the book The World's Worst Records: An Arcade of Audio Atrocity by Darryl Bullock. In 1978 Garabedian announced that he had negotiated an exclusive arrangement with the Henry Ford Museum for the duplication rights to the 26,000 Edison Cylinder and disk masters. they had an immediate 16 releases planned and another 200 projected releases. He told the interviewer:

"We might somewhere along the line in the next couple years pop up with an LP which will step out , attract an abundance of airplay and wind up on the charts."
Was George a radical optimist or was he just teasing? It's hard to know. But things ended badly for Mark 56. Following his death in 1987, his son, Marcus Garabedian, continued to operate Mark 56 Records. His obituary in the Los Angeles times names his wife as Nancy and his daughter as Rebecca then list of their sons John, Phillip, Paul, Leslie, Vincent, Arthur and Mark. In 1988 Marc cut a deal to sell weekly cassette subscriptions of the Wall Street Journal. You could call 800-727-WALL (9255) for a $44.95, 12-week subscription. It's fascinating as the move prefigures the later invention of podcasts. But also The Wall Street Journal Radio Network which wasn't launched until 2014. But the service never materialized.



This post first appeared on ARCANE RADIO TRIVIA, please read the originial post: here

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