Campus feature: Doug Collar

By Lisa Swickard

Doug Collar was just a kid the first time he fell in love. The subject of his desire wasn't the girl next door. It wasn't even his grade-school teacher.
The love of Collar's prepubescent life was his mother's collection of 78 rpm records.

"Mom had superb taste. I was listening to Fats Waller, Count Basie, Ellington, Shaw and Miller when I was 10 years old," he explains. "I kept thinking, 'This is great. Why isn't it heard?' I had this crazy inclination I had to save it or it was going to be gone."

That notion sent young Douglas on a mission. Every summer he'd scour yard sales, accumulating boxes of vintage 78's for as little as a quarter.

But as his knowledge of music became increasingly sophisticated, the youngster sought more specific recordings.

Throughout the years, he'd heard about the elusive V-Discs--records issued by the Armed Forces during World War II--but those were extremely rare, and virtually non-existent in his home town.

It wasn't until 1968, on a visit to a Michigan junk store, Collar finally discovered the holy grail of record collecting.

"I went down into the seedy part of Lansing with $3, which is all I had of disposable income," he says. "It was cold as hell."

Collar stood shivering as he thumbed through hundreds of 78s until he finally hit the jackpot.

"Here was a V-Disc. It was Muggsy Spanier and Pee Wee Russell. And it was introduced by Bob Hope," he recalls. From that moment, he was hooked.
Collar eventually learned the V-Disc project was the brain child of legendary sound recording engineer, Robert Vincent.

"When the war started, the Army Special Service Forces were created to provide morale for the Army," explains the Heidelberg assistant professor of English and Integrated Studies. "Bob was assigned to the group that was creating Armed Forces Radio."

At the time, The American Federation of Musicians union was on strike, so no records were being produced. But Vincent realized music was an important morale boost to the G.I.s. He approached the Pentagon and discovered $1.5 million in unappropriated funds earnmarked for entertainment.

"He talked to the government into letting him take that money and press Army music," says Collar.

In return, the musicians' union was promised V-Discs would be sued for military personnel only. Thy eventually would be destroyed--along with the masters--when they were no longer of use to the Armed Forces.

Vincent immediately went to work. Due to a shellac Shortage, V-Discs became the first recordings pressed on vinyl.

"Being 12 inches, there was twice the music," Collar explains. "In addition, Vincent got celebrities to introduce the music. Bob Hope, Jack Benny and even Toscanini. They put out classical and country, but big band and swing was the main delivery."

The first V-Discs were shipped Oct. 1, 1943. Along with 30 records, each camp was sent a phonograph, microphone and a public address amplifier.

During its six-ear production, some 30 million records were distributed to military bases around the globe. And although it was illegal for solders to possess V-Discs, hundreds were smuggled home

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Collar--whose personal collection contains about 250 V-Discs--is grateful to those pilfering G.I.s. " I think there are fewer ways to get closer to the essence of that culture ant that time than these broadcasts," he stresses. "These were young kids from towns like Tiffin, for whom this music--these broadcasts--meant home and high school and malt shops.

"The V-Disc project is just so fascinating. It was an example of how WWII was a compete, all-out effort."

Doug Collar

By Lisa Swickard

In 1980, Doug Collar was a high school teacher and baseball coach whose undying thirst for jazz landed him a show on a Michigan radio station.

That summer he was contracted to do a program on WKAR called "Jazz Archives." The music--from Collar's personal collection of 78s--spotlighted the transition from swing to modern jazz during the 1940s-early 50s. After awhile, he even suggested including V-Disc performances in his repertoire.

Don Kemp, the engineer of "Jazz Archives," was impressed by Collar's knowledge of the rare World War II recordings. One day he asked, "would you like to meet Bob Vincent, the father of the V-Disc?"

Collar was familiar with Vincent's work. The sound engineering icon had his own studio in New York City in the 1930s and 40s, and throughout the years he had amassed the world's largest collection of historic voice recordings.

By the late 1950s, Vincent went to Michigan State University to open the Vincent Voice Library. There, his conversation with the likes of President Theodore Roosevelt, Florence Nightingale and Alrfred Lloyd Tennyson were available for all to hear.

Kemp told Collar, "I got to dinner with Bob and Vi (Viola) Vincent ever week. I'd be glad to introduce you. But I'll tell you on thing. Bob is an old-time, New York guy. He doesn't suffer fools for a minute. If this doesn't work out, you'll be out of there in 10 minutes. But if he likes you, he'll start calling you 'kid.'"

For Collar, it was the interview of a lifetime. After dinner, he and Kemp set up their recording equipment in Vincent's basement studio.

"We did three segments of 'Jazz Archives' about V-Discs, and I thought that was it," Collar recalls. "Then I got a call about a week later. Bob said, "Hey kid, I got an idea for a series. Why don't you and I do a show called 'Musical By-Lines?' I'll have my recordings of the famous lyricists and composers, and you'll be my partner.'"

It was an offer Collar couldn't refuse.

He got a $12,000 grant from National Public Radio for a 26-week series in 1982 that was distributed to more than 50 public radio stations.

After the hit show, Collar's friendship with Vincent continued until Bob's death in 1985. Since then, he ahs written a book about Vincent's life he hopes to have published.

As for his career in radio, Collar is still going strong on WKAR-FM (90.5), even though "Jazz Archives" ended its run in the 1990s. He now hosts "Jazz Till Midnight" every Saturday from 8 p.m.-midnight. It streams on the Internet for those outside the FM range.

But his friendship with Bob Vincent remains ha highlight of his career. "It was my chance to learn from one of the legends, " Collar says. "it was an education."