He Deals in Phonographic Esoterica--Even ‘I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone’

If you are among the two or three people on the planet who have sworn they will go to their graves in despair if they never obtain a copy of the 1957 LP “Ronald Reagan Recommends Award Winning Music From Hollywood,” despair no more. For around $50, Mr. C is able to give your life meaning.

Mr. C, the alter ego of Everett Caldwell, who owns Mr. C’s Rare Records in Orange, has a copy in good condition. But the president-to-be doesn’t speak on the album, or sing. What he apparently did, Caldwell said, was lend his name and face to the album jacket, along with a personal selection of such favorite Academy Award-winning songs as “All the Way,” “White Christmas,” “Zip A Dee Doo Dah” and “Buttons and Bows.”

While the Reagan-inspired 33 disc is certainly a rarity, Caldwell said it is something of an orphan in the company of the recording artists that make up most of his stock of more than a million records, nearly two-thirds of which are 45s from the 1950s and ‘60s.

Caldwell’s money-makers, he said, are vintage rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues recordings, many on obscure labels, many by individuals and groups that bring few glimmers of instant recognition to the eyes of browsers in the little shop on North Glassell Street. Want an Annette Funicello record? Mr. C has dozens. How about an album by the Tymes containing “So Much in Love?” It’s hanging on the wall. The Fendermen’s album containing “Mule Skinner Blues?” It is yours for about $500.

There is an entire wall of Elvis Presley 45s, including a recording of the nearly forgotten “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone” on the Sun label. A wall full of Beatles records is adjacent. And in a nearby warehouse is the rest of the stock of what Caldwell estimated to be nearly 900,000 45s and 300,000 albums. The shelves in the shop are never completely full, he said, “and we put out from 1,000 to 1,500 (additional) records a week. There’s a tremendous turnover.”

Caldwell said he began amassing a record collection as a hobby in the early ‘70s: “I bought a jukebox for my kids, and I didn’t have one record to put in it. Not one. I’d never collected anything in my life, but after I bought a few, I got carried away. I was like an alcoholic. A recordholic, I guess.”

He and his wife, Helen, decided to open the store in 1978 against the advice of friends “who thought we were crazy,” he said. “But we hit it at just the right time. Ten years ago, (vintage) rock started taking off. Everybody wanted that and rhythm & blues.”

Today, Caldwell said he travels throughout the country, often buying records in large collections, such as 119,000 records from a defunct Denver radio station. Also, he employs “pickers” who spot similar sales and provide him with records. Other records arrive through the front door, offered by individuals who simply want to sell off their old discs.

His buyers, he added, sometimes buy records in lots of several dozen. “And,” he said, “we get collectors from all over the world who buy mostly albums, sometimes 100 or 200 at a time.”

As Caldwell’s business grew, he took on the ancillary task of buying, selling and reconditioning old jukeboxes. He also provides a free record-finding service and has become something of a self-made expert on out-of-print records. He said he frequently answers questions for collectors and once provided a list of record-related questions for TV’s “Jeopardy.”

“I like helping people,” he said, “and not just the collectors, the sentimental people too. We’ll see people coming in looking for a particular song for a particular reason, like an anniversary, and we’ll play it for them, and they’ll just break down and cry right here in the store.”

MR. C’S RARE RECORDS AT A GLANCE

Where: 148 N. Glassell St., Orange.

Items in stock: Vintage records (LPs, 45s and 78s recorded from the late 1940s to the mid-’70s). Specializing in rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues recordings of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Juke boxes bought, sold and reconditioned.

Extras: Free record-finding service.

Price ranges: Generally from about $3 to several hundred dollars, depending on rarity of the item.

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.