The Churkendoose
This one is mostly for Joanne. I know she does not visit here too often so someone let her know.
When we were kids we had a large number of records that were stories. Some of them were 78RPM and only played about five minutes on a side. Some of the 78s were put into collections called "albums" or two or four or eight records. A few were 15 7/8 RPM and played for over 45 minutes on a side. They were stories made for kids some of them recoreded by famous voices some not, some with music some not. Maybe they were not my favorite form of entertainment but I did enjoy them and still remember the stories.
One of the ones that I had a special affinty for was the story of the Churkendoose. He was part chicken, turkey, duck and goose. It was one of those Ugly Duckling or Lambert the Sheepish Lion stories that was about an animal so ugly it saved the other animals in the barnyard.
A couple of years ago, I thought I might try and see if it existed out in cyberspace. So I went about looking for it using Google and seeing if I could find a copy on eBay. I did find stories in books about the Churkendoose and even a website that used the churkendoose story as a theme for a guy who was a reformed alcoholic, but I did not find a copy of the record.
I did bump into a site that I have enjoyed though, the Kiddie Records Weekly site. If you click on that name you will get a new window that takes you there. I have loved this site for the way they provide one additional record or album a week. They keep the old ones and even tell you what is coming in the future. Tex Ritter, Mel Blanc, Ingred Bergman, Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flinstone) and many others recorded these records. I love them, listen to them and play them for my grandson.They tell a little about each one and post the cover art, sometimes even the book that came with them. Some day will send the guy who runs it a check for all his efforts. I encorage you to visit and download the records, many of them still hold up.
Here are some of the ones there:
Tonight after coming home from a fine Thanksgiving dinner I thought I might visit the site and see what is new, I have not been there in over a month. They had the proposed schedule for 2007, to be their last year. and I was happy to find that on June 23rd of next year they will put up the Churkendoose. I can harly wait. I want to see if it is as good as I remember it.
Now I all I have to look forward to is finding the book that had "Eggplant better be sliced and fried" as the last story. It was about fruits and vegetables that acted in ethinically stereotypical ways, a Mexican jalapino, an Italian garlic and an African-American Eggplant. Anybody know were I can get a copy?
