CARL SANDBURG HARLOW SHAPLEY JAWAHARLAL NEHRU JACQUES LIPCHITZ Wisdom LP NM

Description: NM/VG drillhole, partial seam split, light ringwear Carl Sandburg, Harlow Shapley, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jacques Lipchitz ‎– Wisdom: Conversations With The Elder Wise Men Of Our Day Volume 1 OCR from liner notes: Selections from the NBC Television Network's Distinguished Series DONALD B. HYATT, NBC Special Projects Director WISDOM IS A STRANGE QUALITY. In a world grotesquely tiptoe-ing along the edge of oblivion the very word conveys a richness of reflection, a surety of direction, that is alien to us. Neither the Bible, nor history nor man's recorded knowledge teaches us a formula for wisdom. Yet it has always existed in man and been recognized, though not always immediately. And so it exists today in a handful of men and women who may never have met each other, do not agree with each other, are separated by far-flung lands and fields of endeavor, indeed share only one thing in common: the rare quality of wisdom. These conversations with the great men and women of our day, which Decca Records is pleased to present in the convenient and permanent form of long play records, were originally recorded on film as part of the continuing NBC Television series, "Wisdom." The concept for this distinguished series came about from a sug-gestion made at NBC Television: "Suppose we had on television film today, talks with Socrates, Shakespeare, and Lincoln in which each tried to explain himself by speaking his innermost convic-tions." Out of this idea grew "Wisdom"—and a novel technique of eliciting from our elder wise men and women, in the course of inspired conversation, what life has meant to them, what has inspired them and what guidance they have to offer. Principles of procedure were established by the early "Wisdom's" in 1952. First, the programs are not interviews in the cross-examination sense. Rather, they are visits to the great in their own homes or working places, with the interviewer an unobtrusive guest, off-camera (and off-microphone) as much asp ossible. The guest serves as proxy for the audience. Next, there are no special camera tricks, no unreal situations, no searching for virtuoso effects. "The wise person," it was said, "must be allowed to talk seriously about his thought—in terms of his life experience. The interviewer must stay out of the way." The conversations have here been adapted especially for phonograph record purposes. The logic of this is clear: ideas, not pictures, are the substance of the programs. Words, after all, are the means of expression. A recording, like a book, has an advan-tage over television in this area of thought digestion; unlike the TV set the record can be stopped and turned back for a second, third tor infinite number of rehearings. But the vitality of move-ment and mobility of expression must be imagined, for they are missing. A hint of this is in the photos— most have been taken directly from the films themselves. The chief work of editing has been to merge some questions and some answers, to eliminate purely visual references, and to mute throat clearings and uh-uhs. A word about sound quality. High fidelity studio conditions have of course, been sacrificed deliberately in keeping with "Wisdom's"guest-in-the-home-of-the-great intimacy. The original film-track sound heard on this record reflects the difficulties met in obtaining it. For example, Prime Minister Nehru's conversation with Mr. Bowles was held outdoors, in the garden of Nehru's Introductions read by: Alexander Scourby "Phizzog": from Good Morning, America, copyright 1928, 1955, by Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., Publishers) Editorial Advisor: James Nelson, Editor of the book "WISDOM" published by W. W. Norton Co. official residence in New Delhi. One hears the sounds of exotic birds occasionally cutting through the voices with unexpected brilliance. It is an effect not altogether out of keeping with the portrait of a man who is an island of restraint and culture in a land that still encompasses the primitive. Similarly, sculptor Lipchitz' indescribable accent (part-French-part-Lithuanian-part-Yiddish) may take a moment or two of fathoming. It is well worth the effort. Carl Sandburg opens his conversation with Edward Stanley by singing of his "place," Illinois: 'Twas here the Queen of Sheba came, With Solomon of old, With an Ass load of spices, Pomegranates and fine gold; And when she saw this lovely land, Her heart was filled with joy, Straightway she said: "I'd like to be A Queen in El-a-noy." She's bounded by the Wabash, The Ohio and the Lakes, She's a crawfish in the swampy lands, The milk-sick and the shakes; But these are slight diversions And take not from the joy Of living in this garden land The state of El-a-noy Then move your family westward, Bring all your girls and boys, And cross at Shawnee ferry To the state of El-a-noy. Sandburg goes on to read his "favorite" sketch, "Phizzog," and winds up accusing the Russians of a kind of pathetic/ tragic egoism: "They have invented everything, I guess, but baseball. That belongs to good old Abner Doubleday." In their wisdom, these four men share a concern for today's world and where it is going. Poet, astronomer, statesman and sculptor—each has followed a different path to greatness—yet each is "involved" with today. Each has his own vision, dour or bright, of the days ahead. Listening to an early playback of the transfer tapes of the four conversations, two recording engineers hotly debated the validity of the points of view expressed in turn. Finally one turned to his associate and said, "Well, I guess one man's wisdom is another man's poison." The personalities of these four elder wise men seem to differ; but there are similarities in the virtues. They are sacrificers, ques-tioners, innovators and defiers of what has gone before. After hearing them out we can agree with Edward Young (1684-1765) , who said: "It is greatly wise to talk with our past hours." I have been selling vinyl online since 1997. All records will be well-packaged (between cardboard inserts, with record removed from cover unless sealed) and sent promptly. I will combine multiple wins into a single shipment. Please contact me with any questions.

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End Time: 2025-01-26T01:54:18.000Z

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