Jewish Pageantry circa 1930-40s

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

I came across an article on the net about how pageantry was used to fight 
anti-Semitism in the US in the 1930s and 40s.  In it there was mention of a 
production The Eternal Road, where recorded music was used, but live 
musicians were on site, playing in a sound proof booth, because of the 
requirements of the Federation of Musicians . (see quotation below).
Was this a common practice in the early days of recording?
Helen

http://www.press.jhu.edu/demo/american_jewish_history/84.3whitfield.html
The Politics of Pageantry by Stephen J Whitfield is the article

"Weill had expected his music to be pre-recorded on a new RCA process. He 
told conductor Maurice Abravanel how pleasing such an arrangement was: 
"Think of it! No worries with the musicians who play wrong notes." But the 
American
Federation of Musicians objected; and a sixteen-piece orchestra had to be 
hired to play along with the recorded score from a soundproof
room far above, on the left side of the building. The effect of such "canned 
music" was unsettling to Abravanel; but those with less sensitive ears
could have been dazzled by the sound on stage, particularly from the chorus. 
28
Working with 245 actors and singers, 1,772 costumes and twenty-six miles of 
electrical wiring, Reinhardt also drew praise; he had mounted what
a headline in Variety deemed the "World's Most Costly Show."??

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