Wally, Les, Mary and Carrol off stage.

.2 GP: When dad became more comfortable with the tape machine, he put together a new stage show, and he now gave all the sounds of the recordings to his audience, but he wanted more.  The next part would be to bring the audience into his world, an explanation, maybe a demonstration.


When I went on the road with Les and Mary and the Paulverizer I watched the audience when they came out on stage for the first song,  they seem to be overwhelmed.  All the music and sounds were not expected in the live performance.

Every opening night dad would spend about an hour or so getting the sound just right on stage and out in the room.  Dad had an extended cable for the Paulverizer,  so he had full control of the sound and equipment back stage to go out in the room where the audience would be and test the sound.  The sound was the first of his priorities.  Dad always felt the audience was why they were there.  Dad would say the hard part was making the records, but for dad not performing with all the guitar parts and Mary's voices on stage was a disappointment for him.

The Les Paulverizer.

At the back of dads guitar is the Paulverizer.

.LP: “I wanted to find a way of doing what I did on records on stage, radio and eventually TV,”  Paul explained.  “I would entertain people but also explain why they heard more than one guitar or voice without getting too technical."


Paul dubbed his multi-track bag of tricks the “Les Paulverizer."  An innovator with a sense of humor, in his stage performances,  he’d introduce the Paulverizer as a magic little black box that could duplicate his guitar playing ad infinitum:


LP: “On the stage, I’d say, ‘With my Les Paulverizer, I can multiply Mary’s voice into a glee club and my guitar into an orchestra.’ Then I’d demonstrate by making voices a chorus and the guitar a whole section of guitars. So the Paulverizer became part of our schtick.”  The first test audience for it was President Eisenhower at the White House in 1956.  Mary was not sure it would work, but it worked flawlessly.


Dad would say, "People listen with their eyes!"

The Paulverizer,  his Little Black Box was the answer.  The audience loved it and appreciated the show even more.

The stage show before the Paulverizer consisted of Mary, Carol, Mary’s sister, who had an almost identical voice and sang off-stage which made it sound like Mary was singing a duet with herself. Their bass player was Wally Kamin, who was Carol’s husband—so the four of them were a group.

Carol

THE LES PAULVERIZER STORY

Les will tell the story of their performance for President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his VP, Richard M. Nixon at The White House.

THE NEW STAGE SHOW EQUIPMENT

3 tape machines with a synchronizing device to lock the 2 music tape machines together.


A custom mixer.


2 McIntosh amplifiers for the stage monitors.


And the "Les Paulverizer" to control everything from Les' guitar from the stage.

2 Altec Lansing 15" monitor speakers for the stage.

GP:  One of my best memories is being part of the Les Paul & Mary Ford stage show playing drums.

I will never forget that experience, and I want to share this memory with all of you with a reenactment of their live stage show from the 1960s.


LET THE SHOW BEGIN - below⥥

LES'S WAY OF INTRODUCING THE RECORDING PROCESS AND SOUNDS TO HIS LIVE AUDIENCE

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