MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE ARMED FORCES
V-Disc was an ambitious and successful effort by the Armed Forces of the United States to bring musical entertainment to soldiers, sailors and airmen serving around the world during and following World War II. The name of the program to send music overseas derived from the “V for Victory” slogan and campaign. Furthermore, between October 1943 and May 1949, the armed forces produced over eight hundred releases and distributed over eight million 12” 78rpm vinylite V-Disc records to service personnel worldwide.
ORIGIN
By July 1942, the Armed Forces were distributing commercial records and broadcasts to service personnel. However, a recording ban was imposed by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). The ban would last until November 1944 for RCA Victor and Columbia. Decca and Capitol settled in September 1943. Lt. (later Capt.) Robert Vincent was involved with the shipment of broadcast transcriptions overseas. Because of the AFM strike, records were becoming unavailable. In July 1943, he proposed a special recording project to provide music for service personnel overseas. Consequently, the V-Disc project was approved. Moreover, Vincent reached agreements with the AFM and AFRA (American Federation of Radio Artists) to waive of all fees and royalties for musicians’ services and copyright payments for the published music. However, the Army agreed that V-Discs would be for the use of military personnel only and no commercial exploitation would be made of the recordings.
PRODUCTION
As the V-Disc group became organized and fully staffed, it was able to procure unlimited material and became very selective. There were eight primary sources for V-Discs: special recording sessions, concerts, recitals, radio broadcasts, broadcast dress rehearsals, radio transcriptions (both commercial and AFRS), film soundtracks and commercial records (both issued and unissued versions). Bandleaders and singers made spoken introductions on many V-Discs to establish a more personal relationship with overseas listeners. V-Discs themselves were 12-inch 78-rpm records. The maximum V-Disc playing time of 6:30 minutes compares to the maximum playing time of standard 10-inch 78-rpm records of 3:25 minutes. Commercial 78-rpm recordings were shellac and very fragile. Breakage of records sent overseas was a problem and shellac was in short supply. Therefore, the V-Disc program used flexible and almost unbreakable Vinylite and later Formvar materials.
DISTRIBUTION
The V-Disc staff and commercial production partners produced and assembled into complete releases, packing the records in cardboard boxes coated with wax and waterproof glues, shockproof and impervious to varying climatic conditions. They enclosed 100 Duotone or Microphonic steel needles in each box with a letter inviting requests and comments. The boxes went to eight POEs (Ports of Embarkation) operated by the Army for shipment overseas. From the POEs the boxes went to the headquarters of theatres of operation in Alaska, Iceland, England, Italy, Sicily, Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, China, Guadalcanal and Australia. Theatre headquarters distributed the boxes to military units. V-Discs also circulated on a limited basis to bases in the United States. By January 1945, 3,000 V-Discs shipped each month. Therefore, in September 1945, total production reached four and one half million records. When the program concluded, the armed forces had distributed more than eight million V-Discs.
RICHARD SHERWOOD SEARS
The late Richard Sherwood Sears was the author of the definitive histories of the V-Disc recording program. Thus, the Richard Sherwood Sears Collection contains the complete Sears papers, research, correspondence and supporting documents, as well as V-Disc recordings, test pressings, tapes, photographs and other materials. Therefore, from the Sears Collection and its many other substantial collections, the American Music Research Center Glenn Miller Collections at the University of Colorado holds a generally complete and unique V-Disc resource led by Dennis M. Spragg.
Discover the complete history of the V-Disc program, the scope of the recordings and view original materials:
