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
This page was originally published
within the Perry Como Discography during the spring of 1998 in response to
many requests about the author and the reasons for putting this discography
together. After several months the page was removed due to the
overwhelming amount of mail received in response to it's content. It is now
published privately ( without direct links ) within the discography and made
available to those who ask.
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.
