Voice-o-gram featuring Doreen and Tom Howell
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At first glance, this might look like an ordinary gramophone record, but this recording is a story of love, hope, and an almost forgotten form of communication—the voice-o-gram.
It was made in Brighton, Ontario in 1946 and features Doreen and Tom Howell singing to one another. Known as a “voice-o-gram,” it belongs to a surprisingly neglected chapter of media history: the practice of sending individually recorded audio messages as acoustic letters through the post.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of these postal records were made across Europe and the Americas. Imagine the excitement of receiving not just a letter, but the actual voice of a loved one captured on a disc and delivered in the post.
When Tom and Doreen made their recording, the world was buzzing with optimism. WWII had just ended, families were reuniting, and people dreamed of lives filled with security. Doreen chose to sing “I’ll Buy That Dream”, a lively hit from the 1945 film Sing Your Way Home, capturing those bright post-war hopes. Tom’s choice was “The Mountains of Mourne”, a humorous yet wistful ballad about Irish emigrants in London, popularised in the 1920s by Australian baritone Peter Dawson.
How exactly this voice-o-gram was recorded remains a mystery. According to Prof. Thomas Y. Levin of the Phono-Post Project, it could have been made at a local post office, in a recording booth at a tourist or transport hub, or even on equipment provided by the YMCA.
Whatever the method, the result is a touching time capsule: two voices, captured in song, carrying with them the joy and promise of a new era.
The lyrics are.
Imagine me with my head on your shoulder
And you with your lips getting bolder
A sky full of moon and a sweet mellow tune
I’ll buy that dream
Imagine me in a gown white and flowery
And you thanking Dad for my dowry
A church full of folks, those last minute jokes
I’ll buy that dream
A honeymoon in Cairo, in a brand new autogyro
Then off to Rio for a drink
We’ll settle down in Dallas
In a little plastic palace
Oh it’s not as crazy as you think
Imagine me eighty three wearing glasses
And you ninety two making passes
It doesn’t sound bad, and if it can be had
I’ll buy that dream
Imagine me with my head on your shoulder
And you with your lips getting bolder
The sky full of moon, a sweet mellow tune
I’ll buy that dream
Imagine me in a gown white and flowery
And you thanking Dad for my dowry
A church full of folks and those last minute jokes
I’ll buy that dream
A honeymoon in Cairo in a brand new autogyro
Then home by rocket in a wink
We’ll settle down near Dallas
In a little plastic palace
It’s not as crazy as you think
Imagine me on our first anniversary
With someone like you in the nursery
Oh, it doesn’t sound bad
And if it can be had
I’ll buy that dream
The envelope and recording was found in the Hewett Collection at the museum.