when saroyan asked if writers are worth listening to...

the january 1955 issue of high fidelity magazine featured a beautiful photograph of william saroyan, recording himself reading one of his own works (jim dandy), in his malibu home, with a view of the ocean. the photograph is connected to a story in the magazine where saroyan discusses the "value" of being able to listen to writers read their own works through recordings, and specifically LP recordings.

the bulk of the article is not super interesting, but there a few gems, including saroyan's affirmation of one of my own stronger beliefs towards making recordings with humble gear...

"my recording for columbia was done on my own machine in my own home in malibu. the machine isn't much, but there are good machines, and i am in favor of this procedure for writers, rather than the procedure which involves recording studios, technicians, signals, signals off, and the rest of it. technical deficiencies are balanced by naturalness. i tend to believe that the ideal record will be more than just a straight reading of a given piece of writing. it will be something of the writer himself. if this were not so, if the reading were the important thing, then it would be in order for a professional reader, or actor to attend to the matter."