User:George Townsend

George Townsend

Author of the Perry Como Discography & Cd Companion

I've been a fan of Perry Como for more than forty years, which in some ways seems like a long time but in many ways like yesterday. In 1957 we lived in the small village of Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, Canada, directly across from "The Old Presbyterian Church" erected by Loyalists and Scotch and Irish Presbyterians between the years of 1804 and 1818. As children, we used to play around this church and hide in the upper pulpit when the kindly 80 some year old McClatchy ladies, caretakers of the church, would come investigating. The church was a popular site for American tourists who visited our community during the warm summer months whilst looking for Eskimos and thinking that we lived in snow year 'round! During that time, it seemed that Americans generally knew very little about Canada and it seldom occurred to them that our life style and culture was little different than their own.

It was common for tourists to knock on our door seeking guidance or help of some kind or another within our historic community. And it was common for my mother to invite them in with the offer of tea and whatever might be freshly baked on that day. On one occasion I remember my mother being asked whether the "sisters" might use our washroom and her dismay when a bus load of Catholic Nuns arrived at the door shortly following. She never let on that she had actually expected two ladies who were "sisters" as she greeted the entourage of forty-some with grace and humour, treating them with the usual Maritime hospitality.

During the summer of 1957 we received a knock at our door from an American tourist seeking directions of some kind or another and my mother invited her to stay for tea and sweets of some kind. My mother had struck up a conversation with this lady because either her name, maiden name, or family name was the same as ours. The lady was from New York City and worked in some capacity within the television industry which involved programming for a number of popular American television shows. My mother told her that I was a "super" Perry Como fan and had recently been disappointed at having received a small 5x7" autographed photograph with an imprinted signature . . . which even I could tell was "fake" and not what I had expected when writing to ask. This very kind lady commiserated with me about the situation and told me that while she didn't work for Perry Como directly, she was a personal friend with his secretary and could correct the situation on returning to New York. In addition, I had spoken of the high cost, postage etc., in mailing my request for the picture in the first place . . . and my great disappointment at receiving a fake signature. Not long following, I received an authentic 8x10" photograph in the mail directly from Perry Como and inscribed "To Georgie" . . . and taped to the back of the picture was an American quarter which Perry had sent to help defray the out of pocket expense about which I had complained. Considering the cost of postage in 1957, the quarter was probably five times greater than my loss. Adding insult to injury, I was a little embarrassed at the inscription "Georgie" because at eight years old I was then considering myself quite grown up. I relayed this story to Mr. Como once, and he promptly sent me another picture with an appropriate elevation of title. But the first picture is the prize and both hang side by side on the wall of my office today. The American quarter I still have.

I've been a fan of Mr. Como ever since that time and only now, at the age he was then, with a son of my own who is the age I was then, can I fully appreciate how young Perry was at the time. Time has a way of doing this to you. I never had further contact with the lady who helped me get the real thing in 1957, nor am I certain of who Mr. Como's secretary may have been then, but I've corresponded with his current personal secretary, Vera Hamilton, for more than thirty-five years and we've long been friends. In the early 1960s when Vera learned that I was having difficulty finding one of Perry's earlier record albums, "Perry Como Sings Hits From Broadway Shows," she mentioned this to Mr. C., and he brought a copy of the record in to the office from his home, asking that she mail it to me. That same record is the one photographed for this discography and one of the prize possessions of this collection. Strangely, despite the fact that the record came from Perry's home, it was factory sealed! It was years later when I learned that he rarely, if ever, listens to his own recordings. If you have a question about his recordings, he would be the last person you should ask. Ask me, I'll tell you.

Throughout the 1960s, as a young teenager, I corresponded with various people at RCA concerning the Como repertoire. I took them to task with increasing regularity concerning the handling and mastering of Como recordings and, despite the fact that most of my commentary was critical by nature, many of these people became friends. After a while they didn't wait for me to return their product with critical comments, they sent me "mint" copies of Como recordings . . . . sometimes even prior to official release. One such man was a very kind gentleman named Herman Diaz Jr., who once wrote to me saying, " . . . it certainly can be said that if Mozart had his Koëchel then Como has his 'Townsend' " and I was probably fourteen years old at the time.

In 1992 I put together my first full discography of Perry's recordings based entirely on my own record collection and information I had amassed throughout the years. I found to my dismay that this information was not readily accessible to everyone and so I printed copies and freely distributed them to all who asked. In 1993 the new owners of RCA published a similar looking discography within their compact disc box set "Yesterday & Today - A Celebration in Song" which purported to represent the enormous Como repertoire but with limited success . . . albeit understandably. Coincidentally, the BMG discography contained many of the same spelling mistakes as my own which I had of course sent to them earlier! I found that amusing. I then published a revised version of the original discography with additional recording dates available for the first time within the BMG published materials. Since 1997 the site has been continuously updated but a major update was added in 1999 to include recording dates and serial master numbers for virtually all recordings between 1943 and 1978. The addition was made available courtesy of The Como Circle, one of Perry's longest running and currently active American fan clubs. In 1978 members of the club visited the RCA facilities in New York City and, from a box of papers literally turned upside down on a table-top, they transcribed as much as they could find. Through sheer tenacity and determination this information was documented over a period of several weeks. Included within the data is a listing of unreleased songs never available before. For the first time, the chronological lists are now relatively complete ( at least up to 1978 ) and Como researchers will now be able to gain a whole new perspective on the extensive Perry Como repertoire. Through the courtesy and generosity of the Como Circle, that information has been made available to this site and for all interested people to explore through the magic of the internet. The real benefits of this web-site edition will be the relative ease of revision and the negligible cost for distribution. In the 1990s it now costs more than an American quarter to send a printed discography by mail but the Website Discography is distributed freely and instantly throughout the world for no appreciable cost.

I have never charged anyone as much as a single penny for the discography and that will not change. As I have learned, it doesn't really matter much what you do in life for money, what really matters is what you do for the love of doing it — and no amount of money can ever compensate for that. A great many people have been kind to me throughout the past forty years of putting this collection together, and in only a small way does this effort pay them back for the kindness they have shown me. There is no possible way to thank Mr. Como for all he has done in showing us how to live our lives, and for living his life always as an example to others — except, of course, to do for others as he has done for us. As I live my own life, I hope to prove his quarter well invested. Thank you Mr. Como for a life well lived and for being an example to us all.

George Townsend