Salvaged and Restored -
The Shady Dell
Record Collection!
Vol. 1: Long Lost Dell Songs
January 1955 to July 1956
BEWARE! NOTHING CAN
PREPARE YOU FOR...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
Who needs Craigslist?
Who needs Angie's List?
We've got Jim's List!
Hello, friends! Dell Rat Tom
back to share more exciting
news. My good friend in
York, Jim Sieling (above),
has surprised me yet again.
Jim sent me a list he made
of 6,065 records he and
his wife Nancy recovered
from the Dell jukeboxes.
That's 12,130 songs when
you count the B sides. As a
result, I proudly present the
new Shady's Place series:
SAVED BY THE
As we learned in previous posts, Jim acquired the Dell's Seeburg
jukebox (below) and the records that played on it through the decades.
When Jim took possession of the Dell's
record collection, he discovered, to
his dismay and ours, that many of
the discs had been improperly
handled and stored and were
in poor condition. Jim wrote:
Some records were clean
while others were unbelievably
filthy. It was like people had just
been stuffing 45’s as they found
some into boxes to get rid of them.
Note: Someone (perhaps John)
had written “Ettline” on the
top corner of every sleeve.
Lots of sleeves had been eaten by mice, lots of mice nests,
and apparently a snake stopped by for a meal!
Also lots of mice drippings were in the sleeves and on the
bottom of the box. Most boxes were really, really dirty!
I believe we are missing a lot of John’s
collection – perhaps John gave some away,
but mostly they ended up in the dumpster.
I suspect Nancy saw some being thrown
away and said, “Jim and I will take care
of them.” As I remember, the cleanup for
the auction was not well organized and
we will probably never know what
happened. Purely conjecture; but,
I suspect a lot of records were thrown
away before anyone realized how
complete John’s collection was
or else they would have been put
with the other auction items.
“Let’s just get rid of the dirty
old things; and anyway, no one
plays 45’s any more”.
None of the cartons I brought home were meant to store 45’s. Mostly food
containers from the snack bar of different sizes or my IBM boxes designed
to ship manuals. In general: The house and barn were both packed with
lots of “stuff” when John died. A dumpster was brought in and filled up.
(I kind of remember a second one was also required). I suspect many,
many artifacts were just thrown away that should have been preserved.
The family doing the cleaning at the time had no idea how much
John and Helen had meant to so many people. They just
needed to get all the stuff cleaned up before the auction.
Jim, you just told us a pre-Halloween
horror story. Dell rats everywhere are
cringing to learn that so many of
the Dell's priceless heirlooms were
regarded as worthless, unwanted
junk, including its musical treasury.
Before we start listening to tunes,
I'd like to remind new Shady's Place
friends that there were actually two
jukeboxes at the Dell - one on the
first floor of the house in Helen's
snack bar, and the other down at
the barn in an adjacent dance hall.
This series is dedicated to
the memory of Nancy Sieling.
Nancy Sieling
(faithful friend of The Dell)
Nancy, who was John Ettline's niece and Jim's wife, passed away in 2020.
Over the years, Nancy's generous contributions of pictures, information
and Shady Dell memorabilia greatly enhanced the quality of both of my
Dell-themed blogs. And, as Jim just told us, it was Nancy who rescued
many of the Dell's priceless platters when they were art risk of being
thrown into a dumpster and destroyed, hence the name of my series...
SAVED BY THE BELL DELL
Of course, we also have Jim to thank for undertaking the enormous
task of cleaning, organizing and cataloging these 6,065 records!
This series is important to Dell rats old and new
because we are learning for the very first time, precisely which records
were played on the jukeboxes at the Shady Dell from the mid 1950s
through early 60s. The list Jim provided offers clues that might
enable us to pinpoint the year or even the exact month that
"The Barn" - the Dell's historic dance hall - was built.
In all my years of blogging, no one has ever
come forward with that information.
Best of all, for the first time, you will be able to
travel back to an exact month and year and play
records on the Dell's jukebox, the same songs
Dell rats played in the 50s and early 60s!
Obviously time does not permit me to list and play all of the records in Jim's
Shady Dell collection. Over a span of weeks, I whittled the number down
from 6,065 to 180 - the 180 songs that I believe are the most significant
of the period. The songs you will listen to in this series exemplify the
style of music that became most popular with the Dell crowd -
vocal group harmony - sweet, innocent, soulful doo-wop
love ballads ideal for slow dancing with your sweetie.
You will also hear some exciting mid and up tempo
Dell songs that were conducive to dancing.
What surprises did I find on Jim's list?
As I studied Jim's list of 6,065 Dell records, which includes
16 Christmas singles, I was surprised to find thousands that
are atypical - not at all indicative of the style Dell rats came
to know and love - vocal group harmonies. Among these
anomalies are bland, violin-drenched, easy listening pop
ballads by solo artists like Johnny Mathis, Dinah Shore,
Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, Eydie Gorme,
Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Pat Boone, swing-
band instrumentals by Guy Lombardo, Tommy Dorsey,
Mitch Miller and other bandleaders, jazz & blues vocals
and instrumentals, movie themes, Country & Western,
honky-tonk and even novelty comedy records!
This series is designed to simulate the
experience of playing the Dell jukebox.
With the exception of the first song, there are no written intros,
nor are there captions revealing a record's peak chart position.
The Dell's jukebox did not provide that information.
Tip of the iceberg and, in keeping with Dell tradition,
only the cool stuff, regardless of chart position.
Keep in mind that Dellions ignored the national chart. They played
both sides of records and made their own hits by "voting" for songs
they liked with their dimes and quarters. In selecting the tiny fraction
of the songs on Jim's list of 6,065 records (12,130 sides), I avoided
some of the major national hits that we've all heard a million times.
In this series, the Dell songs and Mad Men era
images, ads and headlines tell the story of
changing times and evolving trends.
As you scroll down and play these rare Dell records, you will notice
that I decked the halls and decorated the walls with covers of vintage
fashion magazines, teel idol fanzines, Hollywood gossip rags and
period calendars. These nostalgic images will add context and
facilitate your sentimental journey along the timeline of the
50s through early 60s, revealing changes in clothing and
hairstyles, leisure time pursuits, attitudes and cultural
norms of the pre-Beatles Eisenhower and JFK years.
The end of 1963 was the end of the Age of Innocence.
This 36-part series concludes when we reach the end of 1963,
a pivotal point in time when the popular music landscape
changed dramatically with the coming of The Beatles
and other rock bands, rendering obsolete the
old school doo-wop love ballads that had
long been the Dell's bread and butter.
It's time for you to use your imagination
and play the first five Dell songs.
Pretend you are new on the scene at the Dell and looking at the musical menu
on the jukebox for the first time. One of the most important things you learn as
a Dell rat initiate is to pick records you don't know and take them out for a spin
to gauge their soulfulness and danceability. So scroll down and click on the
pictures of records to play them. I posted only five songs in each volume to
give you ample time to examine the vintage artwork that follows the timeline.
BEWARE AND BEHOLD...
LISTEN AND LEARN...
AS WE EXPERIENCE...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
The records are presented in chronological
order, allowing you to trace the evolution of the
"Dell Sound" month by month and year by year.
ENJOY THE VINTAGE FASHION
PARADE AND FANZINES.
CLICK ON PICTURES OF
RECORDS & ALBUM COVERS
TO PLAY THE SONGS.
Many times before, I have posted "Close Your Eyes" by The Five Keys,
the song that tops my list of The 200 Greatest Hits of The Shady Dell.
JANUARY 31, 1955
Born (released) on January 31, 1955, when I was five years old,
"Close Your Eyes" found its way into the jukebox at the Shady Dell.
It would take more than ten years before I heard the song for the first time
as a new face in the crowd at the popular hangout for teenagers.
FEBRUARY - MARCH 1955
By early March, "Close Your Eyes" had entered the R&B
chart where it spent 16 weeks and peaked in the top 5.
Incredibly, this wonderful love ballad failed to register on the
national pop chart, but that was true of many classic Dell songs.
Like our friend Jerry Blavat - The Geator With The Heater -
Dell rats played songs from the heart... not from the chart.
I proudly begin this series showcasing the Dell's musical treasury
with that glorious love ballad, a slow dance number that worked
its magic on Dell teenagers from the start of 1955 through the
rest of the 50s, the entire decade of the 60s and beyond.
MARCH - APRIL - MAY 1955
Close your eyes, take a deep breath,
open your heart, and whisper "I love you."
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 1
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 2
JUNE - JULY - AUGUST 1955
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1955
SAVED BY THE DELL
DECEMBER 1955 - JANUARY 1956
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 4
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 5
Nancy Sieling, and her husband Jim, for doing the
good work of preserving the Shady Dell legacy for
future generations. We owe you a debt of gratitude.
Stick around. You'll hear more long lost songs
of the Shady Dell... the moldy oldies, dusty discs,
colossal fossils and rusty relics we like to call...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
coming up on the next exciting edition of...
SAVED BY THE BELL DELL
