78 rpm: Paramount 5 Record set 78 RPM Dempsey Tunney Fight Soldiers Field Chicago 1927

The Complete and Original Paramount Box Set, the Actual Radio Broadcast of the World Famous Dempsey - Tunney Fight at Soldiers Field, Chicago. September 22nd, 1927.

VERY RARE! This is the first time the complete set has been listed on Ebay. Very few complete sets exist, according to experts fewer than five.

Condition: average is V+ to E-, Some Scuffs and Scratches, Rim Chip on 12536 NOT to grooves.

Bid now and own a rare piece of history!

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a very rare Boxing, Record and Radio Broadcast Collectable.

Free Priority Continental Shipping with Insurance. International Shipping Extra.

There are very few recordings of any Radio broadcasts prior to 1927. According to old-time.com, a Radio broadcast enthusiast website:

9/22/27 -- Dempsey/Tunney Fight. NBC Red/Blue aircheck recorded by "New York Recording Laboratories" of Port Washington, Wisconsin. The most memorable sports broadcast of the Twenties survives on a series of 10-inch 78rpm pressings released on the obscure Paramount label. No relation to the film company of the same name, Paramount was a small, Wisconsin-based operation notorious among collectors today for the indifferent quality of its recording work, even as it recorded material by artists who are now very much in demand. Despite its pretentious name, the company did not own its own recording studio until 1929, and up to that date depended on facilities rented from other companies, mostly in the Chicago area. The recordings of the NBC broadcast by Graham MacNamee of the Dempsey-Tunney fight are among the rarest to be released by this company. Ten sides were cut, with each round taking up a single matrix. The sound quality is hollow and distant, leading to the conclusion that the recording was made by simply placing a microphone before a radio tuned to a station carrying the broadcast, most likely one of NBCs Chicago outlets. The recording is not continuous, since the between-rounds commentary by MacNamee and co-announcer Phillips Carlin were not included. The recordings of each round begin and end abruptly, suggesting that only one recording machine was used to cut the masters. A tape dub of rounds 7 and 8 is in my collection, but only one complete set of these discs is currently known to exist. It is held by a private collector who has thus far not released a full tape.

From Paramount Records website, ParamountsHome.org, pertaining to talent scout Harry Charles:

One of the early artists he recorded was the Hugh Gibbs String Band, for which he did the vocal chorus. In September 1927 he became involved in the recording of the famous Dempsey-Tunney fight which took place on September 22 in Chicago. Orlando Marsh recorded the ten rounds of the boxing fight which, according to Charles were recorded over the telephone! Paramount issued the five double discs as an album and pressed 5000 copies of it. When the Grafton record factory was cleared in late 1933, most of the albums were still in stock, indicating the financial fiasco it had been.

According to the Book Paramount's Rise and Fall by Alex van der Tuuk:

Marsh and Charles even recorded the Dempsey-Tunney fight of September 22, 1927, over the telephone lines. The fight was famous for its controversial "long count" when Tunney, having been put down for thirteen seconds, got up to retain the heavyweight title he had won from the popular Dempsey in the earlier contest. The recording ended up on ten sides, one for each round, and was issued in a boxed set of five records, which sold very poorly.

Check out my other items!

I generally ship within 24 hours of payment.