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.

  Wally, Les, Mary and Carol off stage.

GP: When dad became more comfortable with the tape machine, he put together a new stage show, which allowed all the sounds of the recordings to be heard by his audience, but he wanted more.  He wanted to bring the audience into his world by explaining and finally demonstrating how the process worked.

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 and they seem to be overwhelmed.  No one expected the music and sound to match the recording

in a 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 the Les Paulverizer was President Eisenhower at the White House in 1956.  Mary was not sure it would work, but it worked flawlessly."

Carol

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

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

The Les Paulverizer, his little black box was the answer.  The audience loved it and appreciated the show even more.

2 Altec Lansing 15" speakers

2 McIntosh amplifiers

for the on stage monitors.

THE NEW STAGE SHOW EQUIPMENT

3 tape machines with a synchronizing device to lock the

2 music tape machines together

1 tape machine for delay echo.

A custom mixer.

And the "Les Paulverizer" to control everything from Les'

guitar from the stage.