tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11560791998882466692024-03-13T11:54:45.336-07:00The early sound recording archive.This is a blog of stories and comments about early recording. Mainly, but not exclusively about early pioneer disc recording 1895 to 1925. After well over 40 years of collecting, interviewing, studying, digging through old notebooks, files, I am starting to put all of this on a blog. I will be adding much here and some of it will be seeing the light of day for the first time. So hoping you enjoy this journey on sound recording. Full speed astern!Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-76594606172935463752013-12-01T19:58:00.001-08:002013-12-01T22:59:30.852-08:00The short lived and unsuccessful RCA Victor Program Transcriptions One of many of the less than successful LP recordings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the first 60 years in the history of sound recording there have been many attempts at long playing records. Most of them have been less than stellar. All the way back to the days of the early wax cylinder playing at speeds of 100, 125, 150 and finally 200 RPM. Each time the speed went up the quality improved. However, each time the speed went up the recordings were shorter in length. The 100 RPM cylinder would play close to four minutes while the improved cylinder doing 200 RPM would play just 2 minutes!</div>
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Columbia tried a long playing cylinder that was over 6 inches long. There were the 14 inch disc recordings made by Victor and Columbia in the first decade of the twentieth century. These monstrous and easily breakable recordings would play at 60 RPM. But they would afford about 7 minutes of music. </div>
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The one we often hear about was the Edison Long Playing Record. This travesty of sound recording was in the works for a long time. I remember Theodore Edison telling me about making the needles for the Long Play records. They were shaped like a canoe and slightly bent. The success rate for these needles being finished was around 25%. The rest were rejected. </div>
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The Edison LP records were 10 and 12 inch and required a whole new system of gearing to play them. Plus at being recorded at several hundred grooves per inch made recording and playback very difficult. The Edison LP records were made at the Columbia Street Studio and there was a system of two standard players of Edison records. From each of these players came a playback horn that connected to another horn that recorded the LP record. The Edison LP was nothing but transcriptions of standard 10 inch records. Being that the grooving was very tight and LP was acoustically recorded from acoustically recorded discs, led to a rather less than great sound. They were soon discontinued.</div>
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In 1931 the newly formed RCA Victor (founded in 1929) announced that they were going to set the music world on it's collective ear by bringing out long playing records! Now this sounded like a really well thought out idea. But was it? The new speed for these recordings would be 33 & 1/3 RPM. </div>
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One of the lesser known facts about the Victor and later RCA Victor was that starting in 1926, the Victor Talking Machine Company started to press the records for the Vitaphone talking pictures. There were many records pressed by Victor for the talking pictures. The Warner Brothers has introduced the first successful talking pictures. These talking pictures were silent film timed to match the records. These recordings were 14 inch records that were recorded at 33 1/3RPM. </div>
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The Warner Brothers introduced the first full length sound picture, the "Jazz Singer" to the movie public at the Winter Garden Theater at Broadway and 50th Street in New York City. All of the records made for this movie and every other movie or short were made by Victor, So it was a large and new business in a new speed. </div>
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By 1930 the sound on film system was becoming the norm and the long play records made for Warner's were trickling down to a halt. It was at this time that RCA Victor started to create a new system for the public that would play at the same speed as those Vitaphone discs. The new discs would be in 10 and 12 inch sizes. Many popular numbers would be put out on one sided records. This was reminiscent of the one sided records put out by years earlier. It was not really the best of ideas. The records would be made like standard 78 RPM records. The same grooving, just a lower speed.</div>
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The first long play was issued with an all star cast headed by MC Frank Crumit. It was recorded live and direct onto the long playing record. It was a great recording. Sadly, it would be one of the few that was done that way. The rest of the recordings in the RCA Victor Program Transcription series were dubs made from standard 78 records. Sadly very much like the Edison LP six years earlier. However with much better fidelity. But still dubs of standard recordings. The few that were recorded directly are quite good. Sadly it was a good idea at the wrong time.</div>
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There was much against these records.... First it was the beginnings of the Great Depression. Secondly, the machines to play these records cost $250.00 in 1931-33! Lastly the records wore out and broke easy.</div>
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They were quite unique and were recorded till 1933. However the records were available for purchase till the beginnings of WW2. </div>
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It would not be till 1948 that a Vinyl Microgroove LP was developed and released by Columbia that a successful format for long playing had arrived. The microgroove record developed by Peter Goldmark, would become the standard LP till the age of the CD.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh557T95oFvulg9iYSoAE57r4cx_-v3aW-Z-Icmqd4W9vy3dg51CTMID_ojkH7yL2wTHZ8RJULaFSAaVjjmbKW-XTUK-6qcFgQr7G-VtngjsXYI8aLPvyuLC7cNZTPwkF7MUihyphenhyphenwG1yBFY/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh557T95oFvulg9iYSoAE57r4cx_-v3aW-Z-Icmqd4W9vy3dg51CTMID_ojkH7yL2wTHZ8RJULaFSAaVjjmbKW-XTUK-6qcFgQr7G-VtngjsXYI8aLPvyuLC7cNZTPwkF7MUihyphenhyphenwG1yBFY/s320/IMG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A RCA Victor Program Transcription from 1931<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQcb_y1DUOZwB5zOObO1y0gWU_GOW4ikCUzXsRNJR7lOmHvTSxRWEnSxi4MlrTdFDju0L_u9tXjbwCCdk7hnIgMjg71TAyiP2R5B9T-eEhjIfuOU99RZCsM2xyxNIV7n32kxgvsijAkc/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQcb_y1DUOZwB5zOObO1y0gWU_GOW4ikCUzXsRNJR7lOmHvTSxRWEnSxi4MlrTdFDju0L_u9tXjbwCCdk7hnIgMjg71TAyiP2R5B9T-eEhjIfuOU99RZCsM2xyxNIV7n32kxgvsijAkc/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
On the back of this one sided LP is the old marking that was put on late Red Seals in 1922-23Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-12888256740439370832013-11-13T17:55:00.000-08:002013-11-13T17:55:19.672-08:00 THE DIAMOND DISC’S DIRECTOR OF ARTISTS AND REPERTOIRE... THOMAS ALVA EDISON<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote this piece in 2002 on the behest of a fellow who was doing a book on Diamond Disc Records. The book had very limited sales and was read very little. Therefore I thought I would put the piece I wrote for the book here so others could enjoy much of what is not talked about when it comes to Edison and his role with the Diamond Disc Record.</div>
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In this piece I included much of my research and studying of Edison's private notes on singers, artists, composers, musicians in general. It is a very interesting glimpse into the private world of Thomas Edison and what he thought and felt about music, singers, instrumentalists and more. I had put this out with hundreds of his comments. many listed for the first time. This article was the result of many years of research and going though hundreds of his private books and using notes from them. </div>
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In this you will also see his bias on many of the recordings made by Victor. This is a large chapter to a book and will take many reads to get it all down. I hope you enjoy it.</div>
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JFS</div>
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Thomas
Edison while in many ways providing the greatest help and was also almost
single-handedly the greatest detriment to the diamond disc record and the
recording activities of the Edison Company. He was a perfectionist when it came
to sound production (as he heard it). This is the major decisive factor which drove the diamond disc to stretch the
limits of sound production in the early days of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison’s hearing
has been a matter of debate for years often leaving historians wondering
exactly what he heard, and what brought about some of the decisions he
consequently made. His hearing was bad, this is very true, but there were times
he heard much more than we actually give him credit. When Edison got
involved in the “ recording biz” as he used to call it, he was in his early
sixties. He was always somewhat involved in the recording industry, but not to
the extent he was when he lead the charge onto the battlefield called “disc
recording”. Edison had always been involved in this part of the business but by
the time the disc record was first commercially developed he devotes nearly all
of his energy to this cause.(The rest of his research went toward cement, storage
batteries, business machines and motion pictures).<o:p></o:p></div>
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This chapter was
compiled from the notes of Thomas Edison. Edison’s notes are everywhere. He
wrote thousands of letters as well as comments on letters sent to him. He would
write notes on newspapers and journals of the day. Comments would be written in
his employee’s notebooks. No scrap of paper was safe. Marginalia would be
inscribed on the pages of novels as well as books on history, religion, music,
and science. Even encyclopedias and dictionaries were open season for his
pencil. His output was incredible and covered every subject imaginable. No
subject was taboo to him. He would make these notations for his own reference
and pleasure. These were his thoughts and not for the public to see. Here Edison
said exactly what he thought and was often very blunt; in many ways the very
opposite of how he was perceived by the public. He seemed to always have a
pencil in his hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is sad to see newsreels of Edison from the last few years
of his life. We don’t get to see him as others did. We see a very old man not in the best of health and deaf as a post.
That was Edison in 1930, but not the Edison who spearheaded diamond disc
recording twenty years earlier. His work on the diamond disc occurred at the peak
of his popularity, he was still healthy and he was far more inclined to speak
his mind than he had been in his earlier days. The Edison of 1910 was not the
Edison of the good old days of Menlo Park either. He had in a sense become a
bit of a caricature of himself. In this
period of his life he also had the time to write more. We find that a good deal
of his documentation dates from the 1910-1930 period, with the bulk of it
dating from the mid-1920’s, when he
spent a good deal of time at home.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I had the opportunity to study Edison from several rare
perspectives. First, his youngest son Theodore Edison (1898-1992) helped me
tremendously with countless hours of interviews (often by phone at odd hours)
over an 8-year period. Additionally, I was able to spend years studying his
writings not only in his lab notebooks, but, in his own private library. It was in these books at his home called
Glenmont, (part of the Edison National historic site), that Thomas Edison really
comes alive. He does not mince words and you can also feel a little of his
inner struggle to merge his personal tastes and views with those commonly held
at the time. He wonders why he feels different from others in his views and
likes. What follows is a combination of his comments and thoughts from lab
notes and his own personal notes much of which has never before been put into
print. I have taken the liberty of filling in the blanks in Edison’s writing.
He would, depending on his mood write in many different ways. He would
sometimes curse up a storm in his writings, listing the various Damns and
Hell’s. Sometimes he would only write D--- or
H--- (or other words). To make the reading easier I have filled in the
blanks (my additions in parentheses). This makes the 40% of the time he wrote
D---, easier to understand. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is only one chapter and just the tip of the iceberg.
The Edison Papers project at Rutgers University will eventually list many more
of these. But they are now releasing Edison’s much earlier works and
writings. When they release his later
documents, it will be an entertaining read. So we may call this a teaser of
what is yet to come. Enjoy… and remember that we all are human, and yes we all
make mistakes. Thomas Edison had his views as we all do. We must not look upon
these writings with scorn, but rather with an understanding of what made a man
tick and what made this very special man do and say what he did. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison’s favorite
form of recording was the cylinder as it was a constant speed recording from
start to finish. He felt that the disc was inferior to the cylinder. He was very aware that the disc was
slowing down as the needle worked its way to the center as the size of the
record itself was changing. Therefore he believed that the cylinder was better
and that he would avoid all contact with a disc record. The consistently shaped grooves of the
cylinder had no such problem. However
the public was not as concerned with the fact that cylinders played at a
constant speed; they were concerned with ease of operation and storage. There
really was no way to solve the storage problem inherent with cylinders but
discs were a far simpler matter in that regard.
By 1910 the state of affairs in the cylinder world was starting to
crumble. Research on disc recording was
conducted in secret at the Edison Laboratory without Edison’s knowledge. There
was even a weak attempt to gain a controlling share in the Columbia Graphophone
Company. Columbia was at the time the only company that was producing discs and
cylinders in the United States. It could
have been the best of both worlds, but Edison never moved to absorb their
concern. By 1912 Columbia had even given up on the cylinder and announced that
the disc was king. Edison was not in a
hurry to change from the cylinder format but was unusually agreeable once he
discovered that work on a disc record was progressing in secret and, much to
the alarm of some, he encouraged and spearheaded the project.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This work started a
remarkable product that would change everything about the art of acoustics and
tonal range. The Diamond Disc record and
phonograph were in many respects Thomas Edison’s re-invention of the phonograph
and recording. It differed in many ways from any other system yet developed and
was also so technologically superior that its quality today is still something
to marvel at. The main thing Edison
wanted with his recording system was an over engineered product that would
outperform any other talking machine of the time. In this he was successful,
and through his guidance the record and machine became the miracle of the age. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Sadly, after working with his team he decided to become the
phonograph’s guardian. He felt that he had the sense and the musicianship to
understand the public’s entertainment wants and needs in the recorded field. It
was he and no other save for certain circumstances that dealt the final blow to
a song that did not meet his criteria. He was also very fond of certain songs
and styles of music. He would go out of
his way to see that a song that caught his fancy soon made its way to the
recording studio. He felt that there were many melodies that had not been
discovered. This led to many bizarre experiments in backwards recording, but as
far as we know, no new tunes of merit were discovered. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison listened
critically to the cylinder recordings released by his company in the years
prior to the disc and found that many of them did not meet with his
approval. This was a moot point however
as the recordings had long since been released. He felt that they were quite
often harsh and not at all mellow. The cylinders were made to have a bright
sound which was something Edison did not care for and refused to allow on his
new disc. He also had very little praise for the recordings made by the Victor
Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey. He would spend days listening to
Victor records and write notes about them. He used in this process a special
cardboard square that he cut out to put over his good ear and he marked it the
“Victor Ear Tickle”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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He felt that the
Victor Company went out of its way to create a false quality to the sound of
the records. He was right as the Victor Company worked hard to get room
resonance in the recording to create a “ringing” quality. It was a sound that
drove Edison crazy and he often told his recording engineers that the last
thing he wanted was a record that sounded like a Victor! When they produced records that were
“Victor-like” to Edison he made sure they knew it. He would reject the
recording and send notes that would be peppered with quotes like this:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“REJECTED: Sharp, brassy, coarse. Like old wax cylinder
stuff. This don’t go on the disc and don’t want any more of this combination
instruments. The Victor can have the monopoly”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Victor is sharp,
ours should be mellow. The public continually speaks of this, it’s our selling
point and I want it”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Explosive and where explosive very sharp-has a Victor ear
drum tickle”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Sharp, rotten, squeaks, rejected for disc and cylinder.
Victor type of recording!”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many of his days were
taken by listening to singers on a Victor disc machine. He would listen to
hundreds of Victor, Columbia and Fonotipia recordings. He often would comment
on how many of these recordings should be soaked in lime to get rid of them!<o:p></o:p></div>
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He also found that
Victor machines were exacting a heavy toll on the records themselves. He
conducted tests to see how long it took to reach a breakdown in the records
made by Columbia and Victor. He found that after 30 plays there was significant
wear to the grooves of the records. He also believed that they were scratchy
sounding. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While looking for new tunes for his records he also
critiqued the victor records he was listening to. Here are a few of his
comments:<o:p></o:p></div>
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La Boheme 96002 Quartet Act 3<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Only fair”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Farrar should not be permitted to sing on a phono, she will
jump out (of) any record”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Victor 95209 Alda, Jacoby, Caruso, Journet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Ridiculous noise”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Victor 95210 same artists<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Caruso is getting big tremolo, Tune N.G., All N.G.”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Victor 74294 Fritz
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“Absurd, they don’t appear to be able to record and
reproduce violin. No overtones of violin are reproduced. All fundamentals”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Victor 17058 Harry MacDonough and Amer. Quartet<o:p></o:p></div>
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“His chattering tremolo is getting worse and also his clothes
pin on nose is getting tighter”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Victor 74296 McCormack<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Voice or tune not good”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Victor 17075A Al
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“Coney Island beer saloon singer. Not for us”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The process used in the recording studios at the time helped
create the sound Edison wanted, or at least the sound the recording department
thought that Edison wanted. There were great clashes between Edison and his
weary recording department. There were
many recordings made that were thought of as wonderful by not only the
recording department, but the recording artists themselves, that were rejected
by Edison for some reason or another.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison would pick the tune and then he would listen to the
final result as the test returned from New York. Many times the song that he
liked on the test was not much like the recording that came from the N.Y.
Studio Here is an example.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If thou didst love me not
Mary Carson 2659C<o:p></o:p></div>
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1/19/14<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Hold This. As this is a ROTTEN tune as I hear it and I once
passed tune as a GOOD tune. I(t) must be BUTCHERED. Don’t use this type of
instruments for accompanying. Try this song but at least 2 other singers. I
want to experiment and find out why with piano and our girl here I pronounce a
tune good and when I get it back from N.Y. on disc with a professional and a
band to accompany that it sounds rotten. I wouldn’t for an instant pass if it
sounded this way when I originally heard it. Apparently no leader or this is
not a song for Carson”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Things that caused
Edison to reject a record could be one or more of the following.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Room resonance <o:p></o:p></div>
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Instrument valve noise (such as flutes, clarinets etc.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Piano pedal noise<o:p></o:p></div>
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Vibrato<o:p></o:p></div>
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No chorus<o:p></o:p></div>
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Too much accompaniment<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not on the list of tunes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bad tune<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bad singer/s<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In bad taste (By the sea, by the beautiful sea, e.g.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not to his liking <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison made it his business to listen to nearly every test
recording. He made a decision regarding
each and every artist. He was truly the
jury, judge, and at times executioner. What he could hear was most remarkable.
He would complain of hearing the thump of the pedal on the piano, or the clicks
of the valves of a flute. He once said in his notes that he couldn’t hear a
whistler… but could hear the lips! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison was at times the proud father of the phonograph and
he seemed to be very careful of what he put onto his “baby”. He felt that
certain songs were of a bad nature and suggestive and he refused to put them on
his records. He felt that other songs were simply not worthy of being recorded.
There were times his notes indicate that he would not record a number even if
he could “sell a million of them”. There were many great songs that Edison
rejected only to have his rivals issue them with great success. He would also not allow tunes that were not
in the ”tune book”, save for a few rare exceptions. He would form a preconception of what a
singer should sound like in a part or role, and often expected any singer that
he hired to follow that style.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His rule was
virtually complete save for a few notes like “Hold, wife likes it”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He listened to some
songs and operatic pieces, which he called tunes as well and made decisions on
them like this note on the Lucia Sextet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lucia Sextet June 15, 1912
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Tune good – splendid<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Voices interfere. We can beat this and must in time make
this our star. We do not need so many voices”.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(I gather Edison was
convinced after writing this that the Sextet should continue to have the
required 6 singers.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He felt that all
people heard music the same way. He
wrote this note in a music book that contained the phrase Music and Melody, “
We have Slavs, Chinese, Japanese, and Greeks here at the lab. They all in a
test pick out the same fine melody. Every American is made the same way, and
all like the same kind of music and dislike critic’s music”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can plainly see through Edison’s naïve commentary that he
in no way comprehended the market that he should have been catering to. He
understood many parts of it, but there were a great many holes in his
understanding. This would have a devastating effect on the “Biz”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were many
recordings that he favored and would write things like.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This will be a star<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Congratulate him on his performance<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is real music<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Great<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Accepted (this was something that barely passed)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Passed (this was better)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Passed but oh..(Not at all to his liking)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OK <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Passed-Hurry (this meant he liked the song very much)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Excellent!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Passed-Rush (this meant that the record needed to be on the
shelves of dealers now)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison also would send little notes to recording artists
through the recording labs in New York telling them that they should come and
see him. This was so they could receive training and advice on how to
sing/play/speak and make good records. Here is a comment on the
pianist/composer Rudolf Friml’s test record.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Won’t sell, every note is 50% fret noise and 50% music. If
Friml has time he might come over and I’ll give him some pointers”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The recording studios were well designed to produce what we
would call today a dead studio. This was the opposite of all the other
companies and was part of Edison idea of sound reproduction. He was far ahead
of the pack in his concepts as an engineer and designer. He left little to
chance and investigated each and every aspect of sound. The recording horns
were numbered as to their size and material. This was the same with all the
other recording companies as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His work on acoustics was methodical as he worked on one
style horn after another, testing hundreds. The work was incredible as he
pushed his staff along on his quest towards recording perfection. They designed
horns of various sizes from those the size of a thin pole to the largest, which
was 125 feet in length and over six feet at its bell! This monster of a horn
was made of brass and was constructed in the West Orange Laboratories machine
shop. The large horn was installed in the Columbia Street Recording Studio in
West Orange and it was here that Edison’s ideas about the long horn were tried
out. He found that the long horn had a deeper mellower sound and this pleased
him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, the beginnings of the 125-foot horn were anything
but mellow. There were echoes to deal with and it was found that the horn was
terribly directional. It was also interesting that the piano recorded so well
with the horn (in fact the only things that were ever recorded and released by
the company using the monster horn were piano solos and small groups). These
recordings were often done with Lauder pianos from Newark, New Jersey. The
pianos had to be changed often as Edison said they had lost their sound from
being pounded by jazz musicians. He
often got upset with his private pianist Ernest Stevens for playing jazz on one
of the sacred pianos from the studio. At least Stevens didn’t pound on the
keys, saving him from further wrath.
There was never a release of any orchestral recordings made with the
125’ horn. There were experiments
putting things in the horn such as storage batteries and Ice. Edison did this
to see if there was a difference in the sound quality. There were no
improvements in the recordings. It was
also the sad duty of the recording department’s Will Hayes to clean out the
horn after the recording experimentation was done. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 125’ horn and remodeled studio were put together between 1923 and 1924. There are
notes in the studio logbooks of the alterations of the studio on Feb. 17, 1923.
The studio floor was set up in squares as well. The squares put in on Feb. 19,
1923 We find in a note from Feb. 26, 1923 Studio floor being blocked off and
numbered in one foot squares #1 to #868. We find that on November 12, 1923
carpenters started lining part of the shed covering bell of large horn. We also
see that on January 16, 1924 carpenters working on coverings of cow hair for
the studio. The experiments on the long horn started in 1923 and continued till
1925. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was preceded by work on 30, 32, 35, and 40-foot horns
used at the studio. In fact, there was research going on with horns of many
various lengths. However the only other long horn recordings released were with
the 40-foot horn in the 1922-23 period. Theodore Edison commented that his
father was going through many books on sound and acoustics as he came to the
theory of the long horn. He mentioned that it was in many ways like the work
that Bell Labs was doing with the folded horn or matched impedance. This would
be for Edison a last hurrah in the field of recording. He would detach himself
further from recording as the decade reached its mid point. By 1926 Edison moved to another front… Goldenrod rubber
research. By the late 1920’s the music room was filled with goldenrod plants,
evidence that Edison’s work on recording was finished by that time. The
phonograph division struggled on for a short time and finally goes under in
October of 1929.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was much experimental work done at the Columbia Street
Studio. There were experiments on transcribing records, cylinder dubbing from
disc, cylinder to disc dubbing and later long play and sample records. It was a
major area of acoustic research for the Edison Company till the late 1920’s. It
was there that the “Greetings from the bunch at Orange” was recorded on
November 25, 1925. It states in the recording log that it was done with a short
horn. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1912 Edison wrote up his 11 commandments as to recording
policy. Some of the rules were very good some were truly strange and baffling.
Edison was trying to have a strong measure of quality control over the tunes
and the artists. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was the “tune book”, in which all approved tunes were
listed. i.e. tunes that Edison liked. If there had been a recording test done
without an approved tune, Edison would explode and write a note like this one: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Beck baritone
6/5/16<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Holy Christ! Have you no memory, are you a bunch of
degenerates in New York. How many times have I asked to have tests made with
tunes we have, such as Evening Star for a baritone. I’m getting damn sick of
this.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the many rules and
regulations that Edison set up perhaps the idea that no record would list the
name of the artist causes one to wonder what was really going on in his
head. This rule was due to his mistaken
belief that people did not buy a record because of the singer, but because of
the tune. This led to a tremendous amount of confusion, not only among the
buyers but also the workers at the Edison Company. They had to make special
marks on the matrices to know who was on what. There were many of these early
records with all kinds of marks at 12:00 sector on the label. This marking
system made it easier to tell one matrix from the next. As time went on, this policy
had to be changed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The last rule was the most important having much to do with
the artists and the tunes -Edison became Director of Artists and
Repertoire. Some of the greatest minds
never know when they are standing on shifting sand and in this case Edison was
totally oblivious to the fact. The most successful company in the nineteen
teens and twenties was the Victor Talking Machine Company. One of the reasons
for this was that they had a Director of Artists and Repertoire who understood
what the public wanted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was where Edison
went off the beaten trail. He didn’t know what was good and what wasn’t with
the public. He had no understanding of some types of music and rejected them
totally out of ignorance. Certain songs and styles of music that annoyed Edison
were often dealt a heavy hand. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is the complete list of rules devised by Edison on May
11, 1912.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
POLICY THOMAS
A.EDISON<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1<sup>st</sup>..We care nothing for the reputation of the
artist, singer, or instrumentalist. Except in a few rare instances where the
person has established an unique and isolated position.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2<sup>nd</sup>. All that we desire is that the voice shall
be as perfect as possible, free of conspicuous tremolo, clear without ragged
sustained notes, free of subsidiary and false waves on these notes. Singers who
can sustain their pitch so as to be used in concerted work, who have sufficient
overtones to produce mellow and not sharp mechanical tones. Singers whose
volume changes are violent and ill judged, so it makes it difficult to record are
not wanted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3<sup>rd</sup>. When good voices are bound to exclusive
contract. 1 or 2 years with the option to extend, pay a regular salary for a
determined and known portion of their daily time. Taking in view their other
engagements.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4<sup>th</sup>. To discover these good voices that we can
build up a body of good singers. Bassos, Baritones, Tenors, and corresponding
female voices so we can have a soloist for any tune or concert any time or part
of an opera. Also special voices for comic work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5<sup>th</sup>. To have recording man who will travel the
countries, make trials of voices at singing schools, local opera houses etc…and
submit the voice to Edison for a while until the system is established, and to
keep up this hunt constantly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6<sup>th</sup>. All tunes which are to be used on the phonograph
except the local topical songs which are fleeting are to be entered in the Tune
book. Each tune to be rated as to its desirability from others used.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7<sup>th</sup>. Where artists are engaged to execute a
definite number of pieces, they are to submit their repertory and we must judge
as to the tunes we want. If we cannot find enough in their repertory, then we
submit our list of tunes to see if any of these can be executed by the artist,
if not we do not want him or her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8<sup>th</sup>. Any new tune that is published which is
melodious and which seems to have merit enough and is of such a character that
gives a promise of sustained popularity over a long period should be sent to
Granger to be judged to see if it worthy to be put in the tune book.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
9<sup>th</sup>. No engagements of any kind is to be entered
into with artists whose voice has not been sent to Orange and judged.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10<sup>th</sup>. It is not our intention to feature artists
or sell the record by using the artists name. We shall use no artists names
except in a few instances. We intend to rely entirely on the tune and the high
quality of the voices and not on the names of the artists.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
11<sup>th</sup>. With a regular corps of singers we will be
enabled to rehearse, change the voices and style of accompaniments and make
several duplicates of the tune and thus adopt the most perfect one. A couple of
the best types of the tune as executed can be sent to Orange and masters made
from these. The most satisfactory one can be selected. We will not object to
making these extra masters providing we can get higher quality of execution.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There has often been
the belief that Edison kept Jazz out of his record listing, but this is not
true. Even though Edison said that Jazz
was for “degenerates and nuts”, the genre received fair representation. In fact he wrote of jazz saying that, “jazz
is good when the tune and playing is OK”.
I have listed a few of his comments on jazz recordings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jimmy fox trot
8357 <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Club De Vingt Orch.
Flash to be released April 1, 1922<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison. “passed a-1 flash.
“Good base and snap tune not
very good”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every night I cry myself to sleep over you 9235A<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Flash #2<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Don’t think much of this poor tune. Rhythm poor and sax
player pretty poor. I mean the one playing the melody also weak”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where’s my sweetie hiding fox trot. 9805A<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The merry sparklers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Good Loud-Flappers will by this”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Toodles 9867<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Charleston 7<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No tune, Miserable cornet gives performance”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bluing the blues 7099c<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lopez and Hamilton’s King of Harmony<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Poorest jazz I have yet heard only good to people who are
utterly without a sense of music. Jazz is good when tune and playing is
OK”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Canary Cottage One Step.
Frisco “Jas” Band 5/24/17<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jas bands are very popular at present-though not the
country. They play for dancing with a lot of “Pep. Edison writes “This is OK” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Johnson “Jas” blues
Frisco “Jas” Band 5/24/17<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Only fair. The high instrument supposedly a violin is very
wheezy and spoils all. If violin played lower key it would be OK”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those longing for you blues, Atlantic Dance Orch. 8527<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Crazy thing, has lots of novelties, can’t see how one can
dance to this, it’s confused. Should say singer was poor. I didn’t understand a
word he said. Should say best thing is to put this on order”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison had many comments on band music. Here are a few comments
on some of the band recordings he liked and those he didn’t.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Globe Fox Trot<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Orch 9/10/15<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Passed, some snap to
these dance tunes now keep it up. This is what I have been after for a long
time, the swings are sharp and clear cut”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Isle d’amore Hesitation waltz<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Orch. 3/1914<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Passed, to be
compelled to put this damn stuff on gives me a pain in the ass”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Medley of War songs
Band 3073C<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/8/14<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sounds as if about 5 instruments, why didn’t you have
something besides brass. It sounds damn cheap and common. Rejected, rotten,
sharp. Want lots of instruments and softer as well as louder. The patriotic
band records are very poor you are sending”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maritana Overture part 2 Band 3071C<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/10/14<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Passed, good type of band”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Opera and classical
music suffered more at the hands of Edison than perhaps any other form of
music. The voice and various instruments were something that Edison thought he
understood. He instructed the singers to
sing in a half voice and not sing as they would in a theater or opera house
since this would show the defects (vibrato) in their voices. He had a good
point here. Read this note he wrote about a singer and how she should be
recorded by the staff.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Miss Herma Dalossy Dramatic Soprano 11/28/1913 (Tosi-Milan)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Poorly recorded She was put to far away from the funnel to
prevent blasting. This gives echoes-room sounds and makes very hard to judge
voice. What should have been done is to request that she sing ½ volume or
rehearsal voice, then she could have come close to the funnel and not blast and
it would stop echoes and room sound. If you give them a hint to sing it softly
just as if she was singing at home to her little daughter. I find that when
they are close to funnel and sing, it blasts and I let them hear it and explain
they should tone down the stage volume of their strong high notes to ½. Then
they do it all right and we get a good record, which you should have done”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He would be for many singers a critic who could never be
satisfied. He considered himself well versed enough to give pointers on how to
play the piano and how to sing. He tried to design on paper a violin that would
have magnets on the neck so there would be no movement of the fingers, which
would, of course, remove vibration. (This never materialized). He had
many comments to make on singers, composers and instrumentalists. Here are a
few quotes that Edison wrote down in his lab books and his own private library.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On operatic voices he wrote<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“95% of all voices have the tremolo. The great singers as a
rule have none. Now 1920 there is not in the operatic or concert world more
than 10 great singers who have no tremolo”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He wrote further on this subject saying,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“98% of all singers trial on phono have tremolo, and the
strange thing is that they are unaware of it and are always astonished when
they hear it in the record of their voice. Hence it is not under brain control.
The rate varies from 3 to 12 a second.
Some only have it on one note, some only on low others on high and some
on every note. The effect is at times very disagreeable. Singers who have
become very popular in most cases have but little tremolo”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He studied many singers and did a major study on Elizabeth
Spencer. She was one of Edison’s favorite sopranos, and he had doctors study
her head to see why she sounded so nice to him. He also commented on the
overtones of her voice. She was used in many experiments in the Columbia Street
studios, and also for experiments with the long horn. When Edison was asked as
an old man who was the best singer he ever recorded he responded, “Elizabeth
Spencer when she was young”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison also would completely lose his cool when a pianist
would play as an equal partner to a solo violinist or vocalist. This was most
evident when he was judging the merit of a performer to see if they met with
his criteria. This meant that he was checking to see if they were
playing/singing with a strong tremolo. The playing of a piano would make the
judgment a hard one for him, as he would struggle to sort out the vibrations of
each instrument. This comment was sent to the recording department, which was
often the victim of Edison’s wrath!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Miss Amy Neil
violinist Jan 7, 1921<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“As far as I can
untangle the violinist from the damn piano she is a very good violinist. Why
does the pianist start play loud when violinist goes on E string. I don’t want
to hear the DAMN PIANO. It is only to assist the violinist. I do not want to
hear it at all. Just where I wanted to study the double notes and E string it
starts pounding. Some people have no sense or judgment. 278<sup>th</sup> REQUEST, to keep piano just
loud enough to assist artist. I don’t need to hear it at all”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He often had lots to say on other violinists. Here are a few
of his comments:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fred Mac Murray Violin
6-3-18<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“First class. He don’t vibrate his fingers and spoil the
music. It looks to me as if you had got a fine violinist here. Would also like
to have heard something also with high notes”.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
David Mannes Violin
11-25-16<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This is the worst “Ave Maria” I ever yet heard, his violin
strings are rotten. He vibrates fingers incessantly. He is weak in volume. His
volume varies badly where it should not vary”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Martha de la Torre
violinist 10-1-20<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“First class Violinist. Can you make contract”? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Evelyn Starr Violin
3-13-16<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“She does not pull a steady bow, she exaggerates the
infernal tremolo making it too conspicuous. How can any person judge of the
capacity of a violinist by making a trial with a tune like this. I am going to
make a damn strong kick if the lobster who is responsible don’t use what little
brains he has in the future in these trials”.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He had considerable commentary about singers. Here are a few comments on
tenors, (of which he had quite a bit to say).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quartet from Rigoletto 5629 Verlet, Alcock, Ciccolini,
Middleton<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/19/17<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Pretty fair but unmusical at places where all sing due to
the sharpness of Ciccolini’s voice. Had
his voice been mellow at this point it would have been good. Passed”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amore O grillo Madame Butterfly Ciccolini and Chalmers <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8/10/17<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Passed but this is not music. Ciccolini is getting so sharp
that he drops every overtone and only emits fundamentals. Because he is
straining his voice for an opera house and not for a quiet little room in a
home. I have about made up my mind that EVERY Italian tenor is an all around
general damn fool”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tosca E luccian le stele,Fontana<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
12/30/15<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Pretty good. The
S.O.B. has got Caruso skinned”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh so pure Martha 1283-3<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Orville Harrold<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The tune saves him.
One note tenor-accepted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next time they get any of our money before I hear the
goods. It will be a cold day in Hell”! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In one of his books at home, a dictionary of musical terms
he wrote out a list of what may have been ideas for the name of his Disc
phonograph. The notes are of the period 1910-1915 since there are other
comments on people with dates from that period. Here is the list. Sonatola,
Harmonola, Imperola, Impressio, Legotalo, (ola perhaps) Leiderphone,
Cantophone, Lyrograph, Lyrophone, Maestrola, Mignon, Musiola, Pandola, Orchestrion,
Sonorola, Symphinola, Troubadour, Tandola, Trovatore, and Virtuoso. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also when going through dictionaries of music he would
always look to see if the phonograph was listed. He would often write in these
books “Where’s the phonograph?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here are some of Edison comments from his private writings
at home:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
GERMAN ART LOVERS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They have loved art in the German way by letting their
composers starve to death”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ORGAN MUSIC<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The organ music, the graveyard behind the church. The
sexton’s sign, who has the address of the undertaker the solemn preacher and
all makes one love organ music? Most people have so hard a time in this world
that a little Rossini, Bellini or Verdi is appreciated, but it isn’t very
classic”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
HANS VON BULOW<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Von B. came to the lab when in America and I recorded his
piano playing. My asst. a good pianist
called Von B’s attention to the fact he struck a wrong note. Impossible sued
Von B! But upon hearing it reproduced he fainted away and I poured a jar of
cold water on him and sent him to East Orange. HE’S A CRANK”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
GEORGE F. HANDEL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How German like. Funny any real music came from such a
man”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
FRANZ LISZT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Musical mathematical genius”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
MOZART<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“There is something
wrong with Mozart’s melody, something unnatural. I cannot make it out yet”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It has been calculated that 2/3’s of all the tunes Mozart
writes for the violin lie on the E – string. That is why Mozart is so
unmelodious”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The mechanics of the ear have been called hideous stuff. It
would be contrary to the structure of man and physical law, hence when this
Mozart has made it to reform. To change bad music to damn bad music”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The greatness of Don Giovanni. “To me it is the opposite of this. I wonder
what is wrong with my ear”?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SCHUBERT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Schubert’s eyes were so bright as to at once to attract
attention. This is an absolute indication of ability, the great reflective
power of the eye”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.” Schubert did not get a good musical education. He struck
luck in not getting this damn education”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BEETHOVEN<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He escaped being a Prussian. He never used TNT music”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The music of his operas, 3 good, one not so good. As I have
heard on the piano, this is real stuff”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BACH<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“His head was level”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BRAHMS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Looks like a Prussian”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Musical Machanic”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
THE MUSIC OF BRAHMS IS OFTEN BETTER THAN IT SOUNDS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This is the limit, noise would probably be the best music
of all. Then educated critics could straighten out the discordance and defy the
crowd”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
JOHN McCORMACK<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Fine voice marred by a terrible tremolo. I turned him down
for I couldn’t stand it”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ROSSINI<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wrote real music and its good today”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“ Practical man had common sense”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“ Made natural man’s music”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A genius, wrote real music. Only a few inspired, but even
the composed music is generally musical”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TCHAIKOVSKIY<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Can music come from such a crank”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
WAGNER <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wagner’s musical
dramas, no form, acquired taste. Not natural like chewing tobacco. But he could pull some beautiful things out
of the air”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“ Wagner could have been a great man, his instrumental music
is beautiful. He could beat them all probably in this line, but he was a crank
and wouldn’t do it”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wagner should have
left the music out and launched his operas as plain speaking dramas”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
GLUCK<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Gluck’s music is in
contrast to the laws of acoustics and psychology. Gluck and Mozart are birds of
a feather. They have to learn this is not music”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CHOPIN<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“There is no music in Chopin so bad as Mona Lisa is to
painting”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The worst thing Chopin ever composed was better than
anything in Don Giovanni”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The funeral March is grand, the Funeral march of
Beethoven’s is also good when played on violin with viola to take the very low
notes”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
R. STRAUSS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Won’t be appreciated in this century. But in the next
century God will have remade and improved man’s hearing apparatus, then Strauss
will be appreciated”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
PADEREWSKI<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“1914 still a pounder! Paderewski’s playing goes beyond the
mechanical limits and throws on the strings and all other parts of the
mechanism the most horrible discords”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
VERDI<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“An original inventor of abnormally new combinations of
melody”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Verdi is the greatest of all composers. He has more
original invention, more themes that are original than any other composer. In
his later years he was driven to discord by Teutonic musical degenerates.
Howling for discord which is now called art. The music that will live
forever….etc..etc..”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
LUIGI ARDITI <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Get all of his published music, he is a star”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
VIBRATO:
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A glass of cold
water will stop it generally in Sopranos for 3 or 4 minutes”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“ Tremolo of the voice is unpleasant, and to me it is”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DISCORD<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“N.G. except to a
German brain where discord is resolved into melody”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BEAUTIFUL FOLK SONGS <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
” Would like to find some, horrible music as far as I have
heard”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TANGOS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Get some they are
good”!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
MUSIC CRITICS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The reputation of music depends upon critics, who couldn’t
compose a discord in most cases”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is absolute music? “It is music nobody likes but music
critics”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is a list of comments that Edison made about singers.
You will notice that Edison has quite a sense of humor at times. He was also
very much influenced by the events of the time and his humor shows it. What
follows is Edison at his best as he has a little fun with some of the new songs
and talent. He has fun with one in late April 1912. This is a week or two after
the sinking of the Titanic. He hears
what he calls a “Bull baritone” and writes that “He should be put on the front
of ocean liners to scare icebergs away”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1915 Edison listens to a voice trial of Gertrude Cugut.
He is in a playful mood as he writes to Mr. Judas, one of his musical directors
who must have had the misfortune to have suggested this singer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison writes, “This is nearly the limit, congratulate Judas
on his fine appreciation of interpretation and elegant wobbling voice. ROTTEN”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He then listens to the voice of another candidate named Mrs.
Rosetta Stephenson, soprano. Edison writes, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I withdraw Cugat and
decide Mrs. Stephenson shall have the prize. If anything would make the Germans
quit their trenches it would be this, My God This Is Awful-Has intelligence
fled from our planet. Is this a Judas
star”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison listens to a young man named Master Richard Heeley,
counter tenor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edison writes,
“Sounds like a broken down Italian soprano. No timber, Oakland is 1000%
better”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He listens to Masonic trial record of one of their hymns and
writes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Passed but Rotten
I will never join an organization that has such rotten stupid stuff as
this”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sam Ash- tenor 1/29/1915<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No interpretation-no brains to submit a sample as a tune
like this, recording dept. to send a tune like this. Has a tremolo, should he make sustained note,
the only sustained note he gave shows tremolo- has sharp tinge, cabaret tinge a
la Murray in his voice. Couldn’t sing a sentimental song that would be
effective to save his life. Let Columbia
have him”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Florence Crosby-contralto 10/20/12 <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s too bad this
woman has tremolo and a cat sound-She has such a deep fine contralto voice. I
wonder if she could not get rid of it. Another defect she has, is a sudden
change of volume. Who ever taught her should be placed over a wheelbarrow and
whipped with a board. Can’t use her”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emma Van Holstein Soprano 10-7-24<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This type of soprano is useless to use-she sings in places
so weak that (I) hardly hear, then she let’s out a yell like a wild Indian.
Such interpretation is not dramatic its idiotic”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10 o clock at night Farrington 7/01/15<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Rejected too silly”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William R. Searproff
tenor 4-30-19<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh, no. Sounds like a Jewish cantor discharged for in
competency”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Tom Burke, Irish tenor
“The John McCormack of Europe”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If he is the McCormack of Europe, Europe is in far worse
condition than the papers make out. Not Wanted”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5010 Mr. Leonard Brown Yiddish tenor <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No tune. Is there no melody in Jewish music. If they enjoy
this they would enjoy small pox”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison was happy to give great praise to someone if he felt
they deserved it. Here are a few:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Light cavalry overture <o:p></o:p></div>
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Xylophone solo
G.Green<o:p></o:p></div>
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11/25/16<o:p></o:p></div>
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Green is “some Xylophonist<o:p></o:p></div>
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OKEH Laughing record<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Walter, get two they are good. Our (laughing) record
couldn’t be given away its altogether rotten. The Okeh has many kinds of
laughing and few words. It’s a great novelty”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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9799B Victor Rosales <o:p></o:p></div>
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“This man has the finest voice that I have ever heard. When
we have good tunes that fit his voice by all means use him freely. Am delighted
with this voice “. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison listened to his music differently than almost anyone
else, at another speed than he proscribed. Edison usually listened to Diamond
Disc records at the speed of about 70-72 RPM’s.
He wrote about this and said,<o:p></o:p></div>
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“ PITCH While the
corti rods in the ear are not fully grown in young people they like high pitch.
When 25 years they like present French pitch. There after the rods get loaded
and the older you get the lower the pitch. Old people run 80RPM phonographs to
70-72 RPM’s”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison’s personal phonograph in his home in Glenmont was set
to play at about 70 RPM’s. He listened to the recordings at a speed that was
comfortable to him. I would like to take a story and correct it here. Yes there
does exist a phonograph with teeth marks in it, but this machine was from the
last days of Edison’s involvement. He was near 80 and very deaf. But to think
of Edison in the early days of the Diamond Disc biting into a phonograph to
test the records is absurd. I can imagine that there were times that he may
have done it to experiment with his hearing. He could still hear well enough to
listen to the recordings with his naked ear or with a horn. He often commented
that certain recordings were so loud that they “near split open my ear”. Edison
heard far more than we give him credit for. He also misled us into thinking
that he heard nearly nothing. Edison heard what he wanted to hear. He seemed to
hear very well when you were talking about him and amazingly deaf when he
wanted to be. Of course as he aged his hearing got worse. There were also a few
operations performed on his ear that harmed his hearing more than it helped it.
His hearing was correctable as proved by his son Theodore. He took his father
to Bell Labs and had a curve made of T.A.E.’s hearing. Then he constructed a
hearing aid to compensate for the hearing loss. This monstrosity as he called
it worked very well. But it was a large box with vacuum tubes, a
stethoscope-like headset and a microphone to speak into. He said his father put
his head into the headset and someone spoke into the microphone he heard the
high-pitched sounds that he had never heard before. In fact, Theodore said his
father “heard pretty good through it”. But the thing weighed a lot and was
“tremendous” in size. So we can see where Edison’s hearing loss centered. He
had very few highs in his hearing and he would often lose the hissing sibilant.
He could hear lower tones rather well and I believe this is what led him to
push for a very mellow sound with low tones. It was a pleasing and comfortable
sound for him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Edison had his taste and feelings toward music like anyone.
To his credit there was quite a bit of decent recording going on. His mania for
perfect sound reproduction forced his company and staff to reach for a quality
that many only dreamed of. The diamond
disc was the result of research and development and the strange but determined
work of a man who could hardly hear as others did. The notes that we have
peppered through this short piece just open a door a little so you can see the
real Edison. He was in so many ways bigger than life and in other ways so very
human. Whether you like Edison or not,
you have to respect the amazing result of his and his team’s work. The Diamond
Disc Phonograph and Record. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-40612725671191386272013-10-27T14:28:00.000-07:002013-10-27T14:28:02.320-07:00What is on the back and in a few cases the front of very early mainly pre-dog and early dog Victor records. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have always thought that there were some odd marks on the back of pre-dog Victor records. I started going through many of them.. I found on many a marking that was not on the others and it made me guess. Why would those marks there? Well there is only one reason, identification or place of production etc.</div>
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I am going to take a guess here as I can do nothing else but that at this point. That is when a record was pressed in Camden or Philadelphia it was marked with 3 stars around the spindle hole. Other companies hired to press Victor records did not. I am guessing that a vast majority of records pressed in 1900 to early 1902 were pressed by the Burt Company of Milburn, NJ...Also the Doranoid Company of Newark, NJ.. Which was making not only Victor records but also had been previously making Berliner and later Zonophone records which were being produced basically for the Victor Company, which was somewhat indirectly, the owner of the Zonophone Company in the United States. </div>
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So look for stars in the back of you pre dogs..If there is a set of stars I believe it was pressed in Camden, lacking means somewhere else.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dIG67XxtAIyZrg6J25fa6aJLflT0lOBebdggntKjS5_556ZtFM7AAjYmDPW_MbZnZPcVQ151xzJURfuhRx85UBMxzXXbmiNB97oEzRtPY9XqG3D4-fS8jYAuL682Tn17B60KtVYyWD8/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dIG67XxtAIyZrg6J25fa6aJLflT0lOBebdggntKjS5_556ZtFM7AAjYmDPW_MbZnZPcVQ151xzJURfuhRx85UBMxzXXbmiNB97oEzRtPY9XqG3D4-fS8jYAuL682Tn17B60KtVYyWD8/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
This is what I think is a Camden or Philadelphia pressing. The label looks the same but on the back you see the three stars. Which were symbol of the home company and pressing plant.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLVyv5UXPHhIF0TaUlI7squow-5MWublUvXYmAcvhhPTXYcI-myyuNMhEyU4uN4wQRIJet-I4htJ5RS6WRzrVSwkiawZ8idkKsd8mG51sLGX8vsbS-LeTbk3MMHrvDG00GEnDN2p4WeGA/s1600/IMG_0009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLVyv5UXPHhIF0TaUlI7squow-5MWublUvXYmAcvhhPTXYcI-myyuNMhEyU4uN4wQRIJet-I4htJ5RS6WRzrVSwkiawZ8idkKsd8mG51sLGX8vsbS-LeTbk3MMHrvDG00GEnDN2p4WeGA/s320/IMG_0009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Note the three stars counter sunk in the rear of this record.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vUwskejQIR3Qh1Z8u8l-Qgnb7j70vdB4YF-F0OE2cmKyvKQS6et6NB5n_f1hj3ovsenID5Yq88eDSCa22T76NDN6Ls0tdyxMQlCzp46Nm3z8TnGMHfrL5YVstzrVlfs8SnPcstEfwnY/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vUwskejQIR3Qh1Z8u8l-Qgnb7j70vdB4YF-F0OE2cmKyvKQS6et6NB5n_f1hj3ovsenID5Yq88eDSCa22T76NDN6Ls0tdyxMQlCzp46Nm3z8TnGMHfrL5YVstzrVlfs8SnPcstEfwnY/s320/IMG_0003.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>
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Now as we look at this record. The same label, no special marks on it. Except that it does not have the three stars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZC0bcWXRImzr8v5zKBg979SBZcTyQLuHoDALlDGzXx2pbBY04MlNFYULq7I9WFqqvxBMWUAaO8VLNvrhqe3XdbaCUbX3WCt7alkcF93RidLiuvL2Q3FbaN4nJOHlVhE8biRHWaz1MB_M/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZC0bcWXRImzr8v5zKBg979SBZcTyQLuHoDALlDGzXx2pbBY04MlNFYULq7I9WFqqvxBMWUAaO8VLNvrhqe3XdbaCUbX3WCt7alkcF93RidLiuvL2Q3FbaN4nJOHlVhE8biRHWaz1MB_M/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
Here is the back and there are no stars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49mMqgU87tTIDUPLQK5tWQuUDFUEhS198wKPbzaiYfzL2TbYEwx2Xoi-cNBaQj9u2OjlI2qJo7EonmLEO6tqXULy5Hi8Jh1POQsilXZsRWbn9dc8W0Dn6cCNwJgq6y-Ig_KV0cyA_mBY/s1600/IMG_0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49mMqgU87tTIDUPLQK5tWQuUDFUEhS198wKPbzaiYfzL2TbYEwx2Xoi-cNBaQj9u2OjlI2qJo7EonmLEO6tqXULy5Hi8Jh1POQsilXZsRWbn9dc8W0Dn6cCNwJgq6y-Ig_KV0cyA_mBY/s320/IMG_0013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is as late as we will go here and a late 1902 pressing of a Harry MacDonough. However look at the record and you will see the word VICTOR stamped on the wax. Obviously this was not done by the company in Camden as they knew their records. This was marked to exclude it from others being pressed. If you look very carefully to the far right of the number 1415 on the label is a small C. <br />
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Now here is another early 1901 recording and marked for export. Judging how many records in total were made in 1901 they are a rare minority. But these records are marked in the back with a simple tag.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWOm1WGsI3BXzcWyKUVo0pmHy1KiXC919t-K5iaCWxcJUdcCQgWScTFI31KI-54TCsUKJ9FYXePj-bob5_LdRO-2kVF09AeY3imeHwd7KPQDFiX4FNM077fQxmAUFN_XuVwPZaln8x8A/s1600/IMG_0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWOm1WGsI3BXzcWyKUVo0pmHy1KiXC919t-K5iaCWxcJUdcCQgWScTFI31KI-54TCsUKJ9FYXePj-bob5_LdRO-2kVF09AeY3imeHwd7KPQDFiX4FNM077fQxmAUFN_XuVwPZaln8x8A/s320/IMG_0008.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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All show this to be a regular Bert Company pressing, but on the back was affixed this small tag as seen below..</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoJ3tn7X1mT5p50_7InBBdUrBaCvXsyOur0UAeArmguLVab2Mb7knh12wNw32X9qUUk84xABhiv5FbfS-frSCeIELApFvr_U93c12CNFlGemX-zexkdtp0e-DpwAo931bNvQcScoHc3o/s1600/IMG_0007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoJ3tn7X1mT5p50_7InBBdUrBaCvXsyOur0UAeArmguLVab2Mb7knh12wNw32X9qUUk84xABhiv5FbfS-frSCeIELApFvr_U93c12CNFlGemX-zexkdtp0e-DpwAo931bNvQcScoHc3o/s320/IMG_0007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It would be interesting to see how many recordings were exported in 1901. I just cannot think it would be many. but I am sure some were sent to Canada and to the offices of Emile Berliner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBIzlBu67dztgKlxjG2qFM7wtTcO4woBG1wUzBwsNXRcrqbm43DHoSl0jU9jGIFCpMmFYrGVrs66rKTQ77hOmKatrreMB5xOSDJIBJSW1qL0s01zhAJPFuajbQDLEv1KIHH3BqZkYFH4/s1600/IMG_0010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBIzlBu67dztgKlxjG2qFM7wtTcO4woBG1wUzBwsNXRcrqbm43DHoSl0jU9jGIFCpMmFYrGVrs66rKTQ77hOmKatrreMB5xOSDJIBJSW1qL0s01zhAJPFuajbQDLEv1KIHH3BqZkYFH4/s320/IMG_0010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Now this got my attention as I was looking through a large number of pre dog Victor records. That once the labels started showing point of pressing like this above. You could see who was making them. Of course here is an mid 1902 pressing and first dog label. It has a small B right above machine on the label. This Bert pressing has no stars. However, most of the pre-dog 1902 VTM labels all have stars on the backs. Those that lack it most probably were made by Bert or Doranoid. The labels with out the little B as you see here have the stars. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZC0bcWXRImzr8v5zKBg979SBZcTyQLuHoDALlDGzXx2pbBY04MlNFYULq7I9WFqqvxBMWUAaO8VLNvrhqe3XdbaCUbX3WCt7alkcF93RidLiuvL2Q3FbaN4nJOHlVhE8biRHWaz1MB_M/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZC0bcWXRImzr8v5zKBg979SBZcTyQLuHoDALlDGzXx2pbBY04MlNFYULq7I9WFqqvxBMWUAaO8VLNvrhqe3XdbaCUbX3WCt7alkcF93RidLiuvL2Q3FbaN4nJOHlVhE8biRHWaz1MB_M/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
As you can see on the back of this and every Bert record I have seen so far has no stars. Just an interesting point to bring out.<br />
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The early years of the Consolidated and early Johnson label years were a time in which most of the pressings were made outside of the Philadelphia and Camden compound of the company. I have based this on a very limited scope of about 150 records of the 1900-1902 period. So I think that if you see stars...You are seeing a home produced recording from the 1900-1902 period. This is my guess for now.<br />
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<br />Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-38140933610318546902013-10-25T23:16:00.002-07:002013-10-26T01:49:21.546-07:00Edison's 125 foot horn. A interesting idea that never quite worked.<br />
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In the study of sound recording there have always been those unique ideas that were never quite on a level playing surface. One such subject was the 125 foot horn which was built on the corner of Columbia Street in West Orange. Right down the street from the Edison factory complex. I was lucky when I was young to meet some of the people who were there and learned a lot about this one of a kind recording project.<br />
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I was able to talk to Theodore Edison about this and for a short while listen to Ernest Stevens go on about it. Theodore told me that his father was very upset about the recording process as he heard it. he was always going on about mixed up music and the like. His father was trying to understand the process and use a mathematical system to make recording less mixed and more straight forward.<br />
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In my years of research I went through many of Edison's personal books. notebooks, pocketbooks, printed journals, and in these I found drops here and there of information dealing with Edison's thoughts and ideas when it came to sound. With the combination of this and my conversations with Theodore, I wanted to share what i have learned about it. Theodore said many times when his father was fiddling with the idea of a long horn he was around and offered advice. if you are not aware Theodore had a Ph'D in Mathematics This was not met with much approval, so he let him go his own way.<br />
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He said his father went through lots of books on physics, sound, and acoustics. . This is what led to the first of these big horns. The 40 foot horn was the first of these horns to be built. It was used for mainly piano as that was what it seemed suited for. Steven's made a large number of recordings on the 40 foot horn.<br />
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Also a Mr Folsom made a number of test recordings on this horn. Folsom was a fellow at the lab and one of the heads of the recording lab. He was embroiled in a battle with a young lady who worked in the factory of whom he got pregnant. She was suing him for seduction. Edison was paying for his court case. In fact Edison in writing about this wrote.."Angels do not work in factories". He wrote more about it in a letter that is in a private collection in which he goes into far more detail and using words that were not very Victorian. However Mr Folsom was also quite a drunk and one night messed up several masters. Getting a woman pregnant was one thing, but, messing up masters was another. Edison fired him after that.<br />
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While all this was going on Edison was working on his grand idea of a larger horn. He felt that sound in a shorter horn, even the 40 foot was not enough. He felt that sound itself needed space to untangle itself. That when various instruments were played , their sounds were tangled together.<br />
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Now the Columbia Street Studio was an area constructed originally to deal with transferring discs to cylinders and other experimental work. In 1914 it was decided as a cost cutting move to dub the cylinders from the discs. Much of this work took place in the Columbia Street studio. There was a lot of complaints about them, but it became the standard practice and it would never change. But in this studio all would change. As a new horn of amazing size was fitted into it.<br />
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A large part of the main building was changed into a large recording room. A cut was made into the wall and another building running 125 feet was built to cover this brass horn. At the end of the horn was built another small building that would deal with making the recordings. Lastly a telephone line was put in so both sides could talk to each other. This was very important as it was very hard to contact the other building. Now into the main building was affixed to the walls cow hair. This was to deaden the sound. Theodore Edison recalled and told me that you would whistle in the room and the sound would be lost. The recording room or building 125 feet away was sealed as well as possible to not allow atmospheric conditions to affect the recording.<br />
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The first records made were quite problematic as there were a lot of echos in the long horn. To solve this they eventually put baffles in the horn to cut down on the echos, but, also cut down on the horns effectiveness.<br />
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On the floor of the main building there were series of numbers to use as guidelines for recording. Therefore one could make a series of recordings on square number 26 and know exactly where it was recorded. There were many tests done with single instruments on many of these squares that went up to 100 plus. In fact there were a series of tests done using Elizabeth Spencer. Who's voice was adored by Edison. He liked the way she vibrated and used her to sing "Ava Maria" over and over again to lackluster results. In fact there were not many great successes with the horn.<br />
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Now that is not to say that there were not any success stories with the horn. There were a few and the fidelity of the recording was improved to a degree. But it was not going to be a viable system.<br />
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It proved to be terribly directional, and would vibrate at certain frequencies which would spoil the recording. Edison had ideas to solve the problem that were pathetic at best. He suggested to put storage batteries in the horn or even ice! This was all done and left to Will Hayes to clean it up.<br />
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Over the years of 1923-24 there were number of recordings made with the horn mainly of piano music. The Ernest Stevens trio made a large number of recordings with it.<br />
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There were also a lot of breakdowns with the phone system there. Which caused a lot of problems. Theodore Edison was involved in changing the end of the horn in the recording room. Making it a slight bit smaller. The bell at the main building was near six feet and covered with a netting.<br />
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By 1925 the Edison company was having a lot of issues with its recording division. It was already starting to lose a lot of money. Therefore the 125 foot horn project was laid to rest. The monster stayed there till 1942, when it was donated for scrap for the war effort. A small piece of the horn was saved in Edison's old storeroom in his lab.<br />
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As Theodore mentioned to me. He said that his father was trying to do what Bell Labs would do at practically the same time. Develop a system of matched impedance. This would happen at Bell Labs in 1924. This would result in what the Victor Company would called the "Orthophonic" system.<br />
A system that would revolutionize the recording industry. However Edison was trying to do it acoustically and Bell Labs and Maxwell did it mathematically and electrically. Theodore would go on to develop new systems and improvements to the Edison system, but not having the patents or the approval, left a lot of his mathematical wizardry out of his father's industry..<br />
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I will write more on this later. Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-59135601235191524842013-10-18T07:32:00.000-07:002013-10-18T07:32:51.506-07:00The phonograph record that started it all. The record I shared with my friends in Fort Lauderdale Florida in 1969 -70<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I have had a fascination for recorded sound since I was a little boy. I went to Thomas Edison's Laboratory in 1964. It was still a working factory then, It was there that an old fellow who had worked for the old man played a phonograph for me. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I WAS HOOKED.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I became fascinated with recorded sound. But did not know much about it. I needed to learn, and I did in time.</span><br />
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The starting point of this learning curve took place in October of 1969. I was in class at Riverland Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I was in Mr Dixon's class in the 6th grade. I had my friends there...Mark (itchy) Fletcher, Jimmy, Kern Orr and a few others. We would hang out together and have fun as all 11 year old kids did in those days. </div>
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Gosh we would climb trees and sing in them, or just hang out and walk around. I still remember the songs we used to sing in the trees. Those were such fun days, and I have always missed those guys.</div>
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It was another age. Kid's today would not understand it at all. </div>
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But one day in class we did a show and tell program. It was a day that would change my life forever.</div>
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I was originally from New Jersey and has some stuff from Washington's Headquarters in Morristown NJ. It was cool pictures of the site. I was proud of my presentation, however a kid in the class brought in something that made my eyes bulge out. He brought to class an old record. </div>
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It seems he and his dad had gone fishing in Port Everglades and had pulled this up with their hook. It was record unlike any I had ever seen before. I traded with him all my pictures of Washington's Headquarters for that record. I thought at that time I had one of the oldest records in the world. Well I was nearly 12 and naive.<div>
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I brought the record to Itchy Fletchers house and his father played it on their stereo. In those days stereos had 78 as a speed. It was amazing to listen to it. It was four guys singing harmony. Not very well I will admit.</div>
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But what did I know. Itchy's father called the local radio station in Fort Lauderdale and they said it was a recording from around 1900. I was excited. It meant it was a recording nearly 70 years old! Well it was nice to think that.</div>
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Well that was then, and now 40 years later I have that record, and I know what it is, and what age it is as well. It is from the 1950's. It is a homemade record of 4 guys singing barbershop harmony. Not too well I will admit. </div>
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But it was this record that started it all for me as a record collector. A record dredged up from Port Everglades. </div>
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Perhaps the fellows listening to what they recorded, tossed the record into the harbor. Who knows, but since 1969 that record that was fun for us kids to look at has been a part of my collection. It is not worth anything, but it is a wonderful memory of my childhood.</div>
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I almost forgot it too, I was leaving Florida on February 14, 1970. I had brought the record to Mark (Itchy) Fletchers house and we did some fun stuff and his dad tried to study it. I took my bike and went home as we were to leave for New Jersey the next day. Both Mark and Jimmy came by and brought back that record to me. It was the last time I would ever see them. So when I do look at this record, I remember my friends from the past in Fort Lauderdale where this record changed my life.<br /><div>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9V7nRIRM2ELXPdlFRaURoFLjjOxMM1q2dedB6-4pmdscg4FNIK6usYw_AYkWW83nbKmVZDcwDRI2tRmQVJu-Rd5coQaEd5UK4fIBqluQo8yZW-c3LtLQzwmWt8w8HFEI0wentftCpPcdn/s1600-h/image0-3.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364080194595943890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9V7nRIRM2ELXPdlFRaURoFLjjOxMM1q2dedB6-4pmdscg4FNIK6usYw_AYkWW83nbKmVZDcwDRI2tRmQVJu-Rd5coQaEd5UK4fIBqluQo8yZW-c3LtLQzwmWt8w8HFEI0wentftCpPcdn/s400/image0-3.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 397px;" /></a>This is that record that I forgot at Mark Fletchers house and he brought back to me with my friend Jimmy, on February 13, 1970. We all said goodbye and cried a little. I wonder how they are all doing today? I always think of them when ever I see this record. The record that started my obsession with the history of recorded sound.</div>
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I wish I could talk to those guys again. My friends from so long ago...I miss you</div>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-53008756633582135522013-10-18T07:23:00.001-07:002013-10-18T07:23:44.611-07:00Little Orphan Annie a great comic strip figure by Harold Gray based on the poem of James Whitcomb Riley. The Riley recording sessions and what the end result was.<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Today the image of Little Orphan Annie is as well know to us all as our own names. It was the creation of Harold Gray. He made the cartoon character of Little Orphan Annie. The original story is often forgotten. It was written by the Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley. The original title of the poem was Little Orphant Annie. However through some mistyping it came out as we know it today. James Witcomb Riley recorded most of his major poems in 1912, including Annie. He was one of the few poets of the that time to do so. More on that later.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYUqaq1fxv4l3VSXjWZxvVQXABYlcBmjy_fFco-3FtCH0gUNvUth5z2XL3wrByUWB3PijelHDrumR12gtmjh74lSztQ-DB7rKF-QI2yU5DfNkdS4Cig7uwPzjtEndOWe1IapeuHnuxCQq/s1600-h/Hgray.gif" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365237772406192482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYUqaq1fxv4l3VSXjWZxvVQXABYlcBmjy_fFco-3FtCH0gUNvUth5z2XL3wrByUWB3PijelHDrumR12gtmjh74lSztQ-DB7rKF-QI2yU5DfNkdS4Cig7uwPzjtEndOWe1IapeuHnuxCQq/s400/Hgray.gif" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 245px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Harold Grey (1894-1968)</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRZl289K4wuC1SEWImBiCIuQ656eLyz9OXhXX9rZyahx8Dks2auWDgsJmcUpnhM7MyRmMtrWKgMbixlPduaxrdeHtKbM4r_7Orqqb_eAAGQc8qILFv46abDF-bKU-T6PuJzJlRBRtARqC/s1600-h/Loauncledan.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365237118174018082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRZl289K4wuC1SEWImBiCIuQ656eLyz9OXhXX9rZyahx8Dks2auWDgsJmcUpnhM7MyRmMtrWKgMbixlPduaxrdeHtKbM4r_7Orqqb_eAAGQc8qILFv46abDF-bKU-T6PuJzJlRBRtARqC/s400/Loauncledan.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 209px;" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Various pieces of Little Orphan Annie Memorabilia. This comic strip first appeared on Aug 3, 1924.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFMTPbwzngvys_azfKc6aKofNiWrJJazHYuXXWJEPg08SXv894O240b4kufmxfT111bkGbpgQ6XEQLGKcV6OtWt1IYEDjkmz6_Mm0TlzBm9xUuFx5G5zDxsdK-_chndMpejLxNz6gaGVL/s1600-h/Little+Orphan+Annie+BBB+cvr.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365236969946508594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFMTPbwzngvys_azfKc6aKofNiWrJJazHYuXXWJEPg08SXv894O240b4kufmxfT111bkGbpgQ6XEQLGKcV6OtWt1IYEDjkmz6_Mm0TlzBm9xUuFx5G5zDxsdK-_chndMpejLxNz6gaGVL/s400/Little+Orphan+Annie+BBB+cvr.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 314px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJ6ExYv1kuBfS89g9EoI5NMSbDZzYhGMBvrrs-LjDhfoxkWHZ3AAjVhlAkWxuPvnkXQ8OqPD3KwhqG6-1pU1mfEXzYxQ6RDQ2gCPlRLbss2cxkAN6oMzligfZM09B1L5ZfABTVvNeOnE9/s1600-h/little_orphan_annie.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365236861596079490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJ6ExYv1kuBfS89g9EoI5NMSbDZzYhGMBvrrs-LjDhfoxkWHZ3AAjVhlAkWxuPvnkXQ8OqPD3KwhqG6-1pU1mfEXzYxQ6RDQ2gCPlRLbss2cxkAN6oMzligfZM09B1L5ZfABTVvNeOnE9/s400/little_orphan_annie.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 283px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">One of the many early cartoons of Annie.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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The slight typo in the name changed the spelling but not the idea. Riley by the time he was to make the recordings was in ill health. Attempts had been made to make recordings in 1911. He had suffered from a stroke and his ability to project his voice was greatly compromised. However the Victor Talking Machine Company recording Sooy and his team were able to make recordings of the weakened old man. Thus the reason the records are quite soft was due to this problem. They also were not made in a studio, but in the poets home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisa-q19Oz0dsghyphenhyphenRkUOPtxDFN-TITFRW3hFSVu7fONuSeNdeXap2zPSaxw0D7BmbiBoVazV8vEddk6jtx8aAI4kbfZvPPF60QxhmMTSyVpFFGjknvvGv_JMl5EFT1JVgIcRRYO04G6PTXO/s1600-h/485px-James_Whitcomb_Riley,_1913.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365236676094004994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisa-q19Oz0dsghyphenhyphenRkUOPtxDFN-TITFRW3hFSVu7fONuSeNdeXap2zPSaxw0D7BmbiBoVazV8vEddk6jtx8aAI4kbfZvPPF60QxhmMTSyVpFFGjknvvGv_JMl5EFT1JVgIcRRYO04G6PTXO/s400/485px-James_Whitcomb_Riley,_1913.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: start; width: 324px;" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) Below a copy of his original recording of the poem from around 1912</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMbOSMWAE2Ba5NyU29OUlgFu2_FzCxqGiD2PoMsU5MCf7EEPGsASnPOf77hGBBNVBzaVsz9Ek78Lp4UnpZ1G3psG9ZSMOb1F42wU_6x-q8Hq7Kn4r89w9tEImBYCq2V5pDqF6tiY6Jhq9H/s1600-h/image0-4.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365236542698859490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMbOSMWAE2Ba5NyU29OUlgFu2_FzCxqGiD2PoMsU5MCf7EEPGsASnPOf77hGBBNVBzaVsz9Ek78Lp4UnpZ1G3psG9ZSMOb1F42wU_6x-q8Hq7Kn4r89w9tEImBYCq2V5pDqF6tiY6Jhq9H/s400/image0-4.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 394px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><b><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">by: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)</span></i></b></span></blockquote>
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<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><i>INSCRIBED WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION</i></span></dt>
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<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><i>To all the little children: -- The happy ones; and sad ones;<br />The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;<br />The good ones -- Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones.</i></span></dt>
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<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="25" naturalsizeflag="3" src="http://www.poetry-archive.com/l_pic.gif" style="border: 0px;" width="22" />ITTLE Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Ef you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Watch</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Out!</span></dt>
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<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at all!</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout:--</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Ef you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Watch</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Out!</span></dt>
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<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Ef you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Watch</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Out!</span></dt>
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<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Ef you</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Watch</span></dt>
<dt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Out!</span></dt>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-58477779892118131092013-10-18T07:11:00.000-07:002013-10-18T07:11:18.671-07:00Nat M Wills One great comedian of an age long ago. 1873-1917<br />
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The comic Nat M Wills leaves us with more questions than answers on his life. He was a great performer, but in his private life there were hard times and difficult moments. He was married 4 times. He was a head liner of great fortune. He was working the Palace theater 6 weeks after it opened as its star. He made countless recordings. He was a master at the monologue.<br />
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Yet there was sadness in this life. He was in terrible debt, He was for a while living at the Lambs Club on 44<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span> street in New York. He was as the papers said at the time, without any <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">assets</span>. He was paying alimony on his previous wives. I guess this problem haunted him. He was only 44 when he died, So I gather he went through some marriages rather fast. I guess they were ugly situations as well. But he was working then, but something was wrong.</div>
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Things seem to change with his 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> wife. He had a child with his 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> wife, and he lived in New Jersey as many stars did. His address at the time was #2 31st Street in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Woodcliff</span>, New Jersey. One would think he was trying to start again. He was popular on Broadway at this time too. One must remember that Wills was so big that he was the star of Palace Theater on it's 2nd week of operation. The Palace was the high alter of vaudeville.<br />
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Wills made a number of recordings to cover much of what he did on Broadway and Vaudeville. His recordings of No news or what killed the dog and BPOE were so famous and great sellers. But through it all he was in trouble. One did not see this, but there seemed to be problems.</div>
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The NY Times reports on Dec 10, 1917 that Wills went into his garage to work on his car as he was a car buff. He locked the garage doors and turned on the car. Hours later he was found by the door of the garage with the key of the garage in his hand, very dead. Did he want to die? was it a choice? Was he depressed enough to do that? No one really knows.</div>
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He was known to tinker a lot with cars. He enjoyed them. But one would think that anyone who knew about cars would know to leave some opening in a garage to allow air to come in. That is what is puzzling? He was a smart man, and a good man with cars. So why lock the door? Does it sound like suicide? I would have to say yes, but I cannot prove that. No one can. If it was a mistake is was a very foolish one, and one that almost does not make sense.</div>
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But the world lost a great entertainer on the 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">th</span> of December 1917. His death shocked the theatrical community and of course his family. He was embalmed and laid out at Campbell's Funeral home in NYC. His funeral service was joined by <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">delegations</span> from the Lambs club, Friars club and the Players club. He was then entombed in a mausoleum in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">WoodLawn</span> Cemetery in the Bronx.</div>
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I was there looking for him, but as of yet have not found him. I will of course in time. But this short little piece is about a great performer who left us all with a smile, even if he was crying.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivo9yrbZJ7PYghZ6kizifTD9SSB1j3UBPmmxFQ4zHYJtT61lhG20A0alDNAxu62nh5nxKKJbhetC8FjJ12ko85s_pijP-n8R4shQZLN_YTYIW8NJzjD4fph9Edl3jAC1s9DjKFS245zGmm/s1600-h/6482.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364123333469333506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivo9yrbZJ7PYghZ6kizifTD9SSB1j3UBPmmxFQ4zHYJtT61lhG20A0alDNAxu62nh5nxKKJbhetC8FjJ12ko85s_pijP-n8R4shQZLN_YTYIW8NJzjD4fph9Edl3jAC1s9DjKFS245zGmm/s400/6482.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 208px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 158px;" /></a>Nat M Wills as the Hobo Comedian for which he was famous..... Wills 1873-1917<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61j-KoJxzhpyfL3T_hIPNBDb29KorodiIokZBIdAQ2Bf1Df2Ax3YrlYT3rHG-C7rb_0u7-ZpgbHhwFTFWLEQVDaLIMFGdgIsqgekNaTmhWSgXkVSQZliczBP-FbGhl-N4uqFGVXqXxXqU/s1600-h/image0-4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364123259495471298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61j-KoJxzhpyfL3T_hIPNBDb29KorodiIokZBIdAQ2Bf1Df2Ax3YrlYT3rHG-C7rb_0u7-ZpgbHhwFTFWLEQVDaLIMFGdgIsqgekNaTmhWSgXkVSQZliczBP-FbGhl-N4uqFGVXqXxXqU/s400/image0-4.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 226px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>One of his many Edison recordings, this one BPOE. That was a great classic.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoRLa3WbHLD5bu_4TZ5F-7wlC-xULdt6Afw9cKh5fXMNsv3FX2x_W2e4erc-KwNAbTg7ebekiatG383ToD0pTn-sgK0o-KxQ9LoPqNsFXtLrv_-sfwc8EI3OQPYayRyjMImain-LTwweh/s1600-h/nonews.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364123098123054514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoRLa3WbHLD5bu_4TZ5F-7wlC-xULdt6Afw9cKh5fXMNsv3FX2x_W2e4erc-KwNAbTg7ebekiatG383ToD0pTn-sgK0o-KxQ9LoPqNsFXtLrv_-sfwc8EI3OQPYayRyjMImain-LTwweh/s400/nonews.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 250px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px;" /></a>No News or what killed the dog was his greatest hit. It was funny in 1906, and still funny in our own age. Good comedy lives, just like good fashion, for a long time. I played a recording of Wills just before I wrote this. I listened to him and had to smile. If his comedy reaches me a century later he really was doing a great job. He truly was one of the greats on Broadway and in Vaudeville. He left this world far too soon.</div>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-73221139154265466562013-10-17T22:00:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:49:48.251-07:00Victor Talking Machine's first celebrity records. The short lived 5000 Red Seal series of 1903<div class="post hentry uncustomized-post-template" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 8px 0px 24px;">
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It is always interesting to see where a series comes from. In the field of recorded sound the first red seal records were called so. The short lived Gramophone Red Seal records recorded in Russia in the end of 1900 were the first. The term Red Seal was used just shortly. Later that term was no longer used by the Gramophone or Gramophone and Typewriter. However, the Victor Talking Machine Company newly formed and incorporated on Oct 3, 1901, was looking for something new to showcase the operatic field.<br />
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In today's world it is hard to explain the rank that operatic singers were placed at during this period. I would guess that the movie stars of today are the closest in that adoration. They were looked at as the highest form of entertainer and treated like royalty.<br />
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By 1902 the Victor company was looking to expand their base. There was basically a large proportion of popular, coon, band, and comedy recordings produced by the company at their meager recording studios in Philadelphia. Although they were very successful in this field, Eldridge Reeves Johnson wanted to make the Victor Record more than just as it was looked at, and that was merely as a toy.<br />
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The Gramophone and Typewriter company which is what the Gramophone Company was know as till 1907 was recording operatic singers from it's start. The company was recording from the late 1890's operatic pieces of various qualities. By 1902 they had recorded Caruso, Calve, Plancon, theVatican Choir with the last Castrates along with many others. A deal was worked out in late 1902 by Calvin Child so that Victor would press and market recordings made in Europe by G&T.<br />
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This event would change the very face of the Victor Talking Machine Company. These European recordings would be released in March of 1903. These records would have a red label and be put into the first series of it's kind, the 5000 series. These records would sell at $2.50 each. One has to remember how much money that was in 1903. This amount would buy you a wonderful meal at Delmonico's in New York City.<br />
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This first release would be of 25 recordings and over the year more would be added during the spring and summer. By October there were a large number of recordings to choose from.<br />
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The 5000 series would be available till October of 1903. The end result was there was not a massive amount of these records ever made or sold. The price and the early date led to very small sales. But one had to remember it was not at all about sales. It was about prestige. I am aware that a very small amount of pressings each of the listings were made. Therefore after 110 years they are remarkably rare. When they were pressed they were rare.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Cose0DHp3XW3RNf1aMhjiB_nlFWkyRR1YCWvOQsIfGu_m2Q1IVZh3AjCZXZOOuUZGrSiG6wl4LuTsZARlPS5IN5QsWR8Ef3mx7BKiJG-HvPrM80H03GyklBC2QtHYgwHGApkjAaIoUs/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Cose0DHp3XW3RNf1aMhjiB_nlFWkyRR1YCWvOQsIfGu_m2Q1IVZh3AjCZXZOOuUZGrSiG6wl4LuTsZARlPS5IN5QsWR8Ef3mx7BKiJG-HvPrM80H03GyklBC2QtHYgwHGApkjAaIoUs/s320/IMG.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="312" /></a></div>
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A 1903 pressing on 5067 of the Vatican Choir recorded in April 1902 and pressed in the United States.<br />
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In October of 1903 there was change on the labels. All of the recordings that were on the 10 inch 5000 series were split. A large amount of the imported recordings were split into two different numerical listings. Many of the Red Seal records were switched to what is called 91000 series as shown below. In fact this is the same recording shown above in this new series. There is something odd about this record. It has a "D" on the bottom of the wax under the label. The "D" stands for the Dennison Recording machines, which were used by Victor and in some cases G&T from 1903 till around 1907. But this record was made in April of 1902 and most probably not using a Dennison machine. But basically most records made by Victor in this period were stamped with the "D". This was for royalty reasons that the records were marked. However I am of the thought that many recordings were stamped not needing to.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijt3E49vYhAMLFADMYpoonrod_7w4U0ZSZph-O5ADxV3Px5vzp1fsXdfHBec00JAtSz3pEUYbgSv79O5Dl7bmD7bojwMSW8q2ujkq7KkbTZw2eAV5HTtz8Zwsw_o7V2A-hGjjTZHpzRXw/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijt3E49vYhAMLFADMYpoonrod_7w4U0ZSZph-O5ADxV3Px5vzp1fsXdfHBec00JAtSz3pEUYbgSv79O5Dl7bmD7bojwMSW8q2ujkq7KkbTZw2eAV5HTtz8Zwsw_o7V2A-hGjjTZHpzRXw/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="309" /></a></div>
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Many of these imported recordings were put on to another numerical listing for records of this type. It was called the 61000 series. The 12 inch recordings would be given the 71000 series. In fact you will see below another recording made at the Vatican in 1902 that made it to the black labeled series. These records would be priced at $1.00. The recording below is from late 1905 or early 1906. Most of these recordings on the black labels would be gone by 1907.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZ_7PpE7QoDb_SR_6E8qX-BteFnQgsL1ldj0R4Z4u5c4bqDpx4VNffe8hs8gICfAUGD8ihoxHqAAKK-LbN-9ZlY4ZbYj_vQ5iNtbMKJEDJ8_rTTwuTIaK6VpDrrbOfbb2tlKpGi46Bxw/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZ_7PpE7QoDb_SR_6E8qX-BteFnQgsL1ldj0R4Z4u5c4bqDpx4VNffe8hs8gICfAUGD8ihoxHqAAKK-LbN-9ZlY4ZbYj_vQ5iNtbMKJEDJ8_rTTwuTIaK6VpDrrbOfbb2tlKpGi46Bxw/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="319" /></a></div>
A late 1906 pressing of a 1904 G&T recording. You will see that there is no "D" on this recording.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRsU2UxgGpvLOl1RXPmYP9YhowIBdS1FkUviKM6tu2Xf8XQGlC28h_vWmtDpIAzcRGZ8rtPP0iiU7SmDveG_xhhLMHul-Ig5_rB4Qbz49U259jOu1jeF0aHjm2B-Zb8128foyDHelIpJs/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRsU2UxgGpvLOl1RXPmYP9YhowIBdS1FkUviKM6tu2Xf8XQGlC28h_vWmtDpIAzcRGZ8rtPP0iiU7SmDveG_xhhLMHul-Ig5_rB4Qbz49U259jOu1jeF0aHjm2B-Zb8128foyDHelIpJs/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="177" /></a></div>
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As you can see here in a 1906 listing of Imported Red Seal Records, the list is getting shorter. This was due to the fact as soon as the artist could make a new recording for Victor, the old ones listed here would be removed. The 91000 series was not a big seller either, but, was far more successful than the 5000 series.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzl4qvmXGEaiTweF0FSRYVzWLDF2vcz4nUtPLYdLrGkF71Yy4wyPGZ1H279l_GKR6TdwinJFOeqMb4gfacqDJKD6dmyXAqVZtMEwWCh9ilbGqpndZdailQSGq6FmxwCJxGt0hksjOc6U/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzl4qvmXGEaiTweF0FSRYVzWLDF2vcz4nUtPLYdLrGkF71Yy4wyPGZ1H279l_GKR6TdwinJFOeqMb4gfacqDJKD6dmyXAqVZtMEwWCh9ilbGqpndZdailQSGq6FmxwCJxGt0hksjOc6U/s320/IMG.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are many of the recordings made at the Vatican in 1902-04 listed under the 61000 and 71000 series. In the catalog of early 1906.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEvto2UlItEHfEa7DwEV2WX2nJqW0xhorS5v5FwguZA-JuFbgXW1ssMwSLjfqVgzG6VUxOhVusW-NhZK00PMhS7PTp5iUVfChs_odveUjXSI2e2MHVLD48s0npTTd8hM7PQEhd_Yft8g/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEvto2UlItEHfEa7DwEV2WX2nJqW0xhorS5v5FwguZA-JuFbgXW1ssMwSLjfqVgzG6VUxOhVusW-NhZK00PMhS7PTp5iUVfChs_odveUjXSI2e2MHVLD48s0npTTd8hM7PQEhd_Yft8g/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Also many of the recordings made in 1902-3 in Russia were put on to the 61000 series. There had been a few originally released as Red Seal recordings.<br />
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The 91000 series would end in within a few years as the Victor Talking Machine Company would start it's first Red Seal recording series in late 1903 as you will see below. This record is from the first Red Seal session recorded in the United States in 1903. However the first Red Seal records were listed with Black Label numbers.<br />
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The end result was a massive amount of confusion concerning Imported Red Seal, Imported Black Seal, domestic Red Seal, and domestic Black label. Lastly at this time Victor started a new matrix system. However the first domestic Red Seal Records received a domestic Black label number which shows the confusion that abounded. This Red Seal problem would exist for the first two sessions at Carnegie Hall. That famous music hall is where the recording studio was located in room 826.<br />
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One of the rare examples of the first domestic Red Seal records with a Black Label number.<br />
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<span class="post-author vcard">Posted by <span class="fn">Jack Stanley</span> </span><span class="post-timestamp">at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://edisoneffect.blogspot.com/2013/09/victor-talking-machines-first-celebrity.html" rel="bookmark" style="color: #956839; margin-right: 6px;" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" style="border: none; cursor: help;" title="2013-09-12T16:52:00-04:00">4:52 PM</abbr></a> </span><span class="reaction-buttons"></span><span class="star-ratings"></span><span class="post-comment-link"></span><span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"></span><span class="post-icons"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=23381024&postID=6453764439322321184" style="color: #956839; margin-right: 6px;" title="Email Post"><img alt="" class="icon-action" height="13" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em !important; vertical-align: middle;" width="18" /> </a></span><span class="item-control blog-admin pid-1705058375" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=23381024&postID=6453764439322321184&from=pencil" style="color: #956839; margin-right: 6px;" title="Edit Post"><img alt="" class="icon-action" height="18" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em !important; vertical-align: middle;" width="18" /></a></span></span></div>
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<h2 class="date-header" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">
MO</h2>
Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-19804347908173582122013-10-17T20:44:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:44:54.542-07:00Berliner Gramophone Records...The first type of commercial disc records<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Berliner Gramophone Disc was the earliest type of commercial disc records. Produced by Emile Berliner. They were truly a 19</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">th</span><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">century phenomenon. By 1900 the Berliner disc was on its way out and the Victor Disc was the new and improved type of disc record. I have written on these records in other articles on this blog. But I thought it would be nice for you to see one of these records from around 1897. From the dawn of the age of recording.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcfU6ZLFScfdEcxz2gjK6HpG3cItV0KZ-eVRdWRNW7YMSWg3ce26Cn62-GKMh13cq_IsZ4enkOi7JcxfWH4ce-nhS4f38qnnRwfdgjfkEZDgK9CXWufrmfQOQBtkCwXkO7C8cjuOHmH-b/s1600-h/7-2-2009+2%3B16%3B17+AM.JPG" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381936213472016370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcfU6ZLFScfdEcxz2gjK6HpG3cItV0KZ-eVRdWRNW7YMSWg3ce26Cn62-GKMh13cq_IsZ4enkOi7JcxfWH4ce-nhS4f38qnnRwfdgjfkEZDgK9CXWufrmfQOQBtkCwXkO7C8cjuOHmH-b/s400/7-2-2009+2%3B16%3B17+AM.JPG" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 380px;" /></a>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-2876086424561274432013-10-17T20:43:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:43:50.134-07:00One of the funniest old cartoons I ever saw from around 1910.<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In the early days of the 20th century. The prima donna was the ruler of the operatic stage. one has to only think of Melba. But in this clever cartoon from around 1910, we have a fight going on between two great soprano records. One of the records is the great Louisa Tetrazzini and the other the witty Mary Garden. While these two Titans fight it out on the library table all the other records flee for cover.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5OCon7s5-XAgyYymtLBdY7Kh53hyfy0tu-13Kzvw3BTttTfJFa5yxs4ktjx1tgrvxdQIlvUOa9Nd5D4tIbw9vsEn9UU3L76ezq0vd-_Q3S86QBy7nFbkEo9uCNxZXQAG_F8FrVIlblPnH/s1600-h/image0.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382315926758843106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5OCon7s5-XAgyYymtLBdY7Kh53hyfy0tu-13Kzvw3BTttTfJFa5yxs4ktjx1tgrvxdQIlvUOa9Nd5D4tIbw9vsEn9UU3L76ezq0vd-_Q3S86QBy7nFbkEo9uCNxZXQAG_F8FrVIlblPnH/s400/image0.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 372px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-26544582075102114132013-10-17T20:40:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:40:40.851-07:00Frank C. Stanley 1868-1910 One of the greatest of the early recording artists. Famous for many names on records. But died far too young.<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">His death brought out a number of great recording artists who sang in a program to honor him and provide for his family. He was very famous for being a person who he never was. This is part of the program done at the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street in New York City to raise money for his family.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbNRgvp9jPiWKg0A8W25_yroh0Vsf1h3PeG_Z1dRdjXqsDFpMAENuqih_8jvKRrtktgIS0wacsgYOzpTQViGfAABKLkKMYSHHSPuIUUy_LOkP7npKUG1zWIH8eiOhkSlB0AThDzl7ekQuL/s1600-h/stanley_program.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384923420387379170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbNRgvp9jPiWKg0A8W25_yroh0Vsf1h3PeG_Z1dRdjXqsDFpMAENuqih_8jvKRrtktgIS0wacsgYOzpTQViGfAABKLkKMYSHHSPuIUUy_LOkP7npKUG1zWIH8eiOhkSlB0AThDzl7ekQuL/s400/stanley_program.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 262px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">William Stanley Grimstead was most famous as a recording artist. His career went back to the dawn of recording and would have gone on further had he not died at the early age of 41.</span><br />
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Grimstead founded the Columbia Stellar Quartet, the Peerless Quartet, the team of Burr and Stanley, Harlan and Stanley and many great minstrel recordings. But only when he started recording for Edison in the 1890's did he use his real name. He was soon convinced to use other names and that he did. He was listed under many different names, but mostly Frank C. Stanley and Fred Lambert. He was also the voice of the Columbia Phonograph Company. He along with Henry Burr (who's real name was Harry McClaskey) made a number of demo recordings, showing the wonders of the double disc record in 1908.</div>
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Grimstead died in 1910, leaving a wife and several children. There was a special program done at the New Amsterdam Theater on March 8, 1911 The theater is on 42nd Street and is still there. The program was to raise funds for his family. In this program all the major recording artists of the time performed for a public that rarely saw them. This program made a great deal of money for his family, and Grimstead's records would also make money for the family for the next 15 years.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedqHjQ0chiqO-nrWIivQd0_AKybVYU-Q_R54i8qQwdhdb7LrbS1bck0AXjXftrEnXqgUSFoZQ7HGEDqo4YTKQIfeN690yNhqSAve5K7HMavTm8o_0KIQ-WaRgDxeNGwa8vN0FsMLPKFi8/s1600-h/frankstanleyjpg.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384919775607170546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedqHjQ0chiqO-nrWIivQd0_AKybVYU-Q_R54i8qQwdhdb7LrbS1bck0AXjXftrEnXqgUSFoZQ7HGEDqo4YTKQIfeN690yNhqSAve5K7HMavTm8o_0KIQ-WaRgDxeNGwa8vN0FsMLPKFi8/s400/frankstanleyjpg.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 199px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 180px;" /></a>His picture and name in the Victor Catolog<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1p-HAVw0uXI7MK1bPmq-cyrgyIpYEIzik-WhznfOfJFFOneTj4pwyIEOCCMsxO2boXF86_x7bWynkazthhu7Ogll66RL_UCN0MUdxQzvIsE5wsA1zFo-TE4KCK6sBstcyehrV6AHDvO1i/s1600-h/image3.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384919576009972722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1p-HAVw0uXI7MK1bPmq-cyrgyIpYEIzik-WhznfOfJFFOneTj4pwyIEOCCMsxO2boXF86_x7bWynkazthhu7Ogll66RL_UCN0MUdxQzvIsE5wsA1zFo-TE4KCK6sBstcyehrV6AHDvO1i/s400/image3.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 378px;" /></a>On Zonophone records he was Frank C. Stanley<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SOCaRYF0nhHVAaW1HGkP5c0_4GdI0k68m7ChsVxCOHiMPA1_GiODy1MX7xLznk0rMQXAsnChm5RfcQkDWsJrRM2yqcmnb7vCCUncvTjHloViZHQvw-BQ1-pAL5qL0DwiEVET3J7WO1lk/s1600-h/image2.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384919503623192098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SOCaRYF0nhHVAaW1HGkP5c0_4GdI0k68m7ChsVxCOHiMPA1_GiODy1MX7xLznk0rMQXAsnChm5RfcQkDWsJrRM2yqcmnb7vCCUncvTjHloViZHQvw-BQ1-pAL5qL0DwiEVET3J7WO1lk/s400/image2.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 372px;" /></a>On Zonophone records he was also Frank Lambert<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8VVIom5LK_37bDwTWQRVVMYQev29-inFBQlbyAwmZom6sF0_jfxbyUp4Flo4vKE4Dpb_lJ8NMyrWB3msbEswMejy7tYjUIqrXJipK-aoaGGgpdvFqhMlJYw_krMCZczYknAZPeD5iXKA/s1600-h/image1.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384919415387270002" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8VVIom5LK_37bDwTWQRVVMYQev29-inFBQlbyAwmZom6sF0_jfxbyUp4Flo4vKE4Dpb_lJ8NMyrWB3msbEswMejy7tYjUIqrXJipK-aoaGGgpdvFqhMlJYw_krMCZczYknAZPeD5iXKA/s400/image1.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 384px;" /></a>He was the voice of Columbia phonograph advertizing<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRb_yUq-rzkCZHd2kJ9GIozT-ROSRLAyfiW1mYprPOoNX9OMdJyTKIEcvEFnYW30JfgpF8rvKFahMg83U2VoDxYWEoxZz9sk3VTh3lwLUnf1ooCqB1CciFllJN-WEG06RMYM-4ebY-jn3/s1600-h/image0.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384919310282867346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRb_yUq-rzkCZHd2kJ9GIozT-ROSRLAyfiW1mYprPOoNX9OMdJyTKIEcvEFnYW30JfgpF8rvKFahMg83U2VoDxYWEoxZz9sk3VTh3lwLUnf1ooCqB1CciFllJN-WEG06RMYM-4ebY-jn3/s400/image0.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 384px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>His records would sell till the mid 1920's. This pressing of D</div>
Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-49911187041299168682013-10-17T20:38:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:38:47.342-07:00The great Lillian Nordica (1857-1914) A great voice in an age of not too great recording ability<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The great Lillian Nordica, one of the great sopranos of the gilded age. She sang at the Met for many years and was known to have a voice of stellar qualities. She could sing a wide range of roles, and that voice was one many longed to hear.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFUjjGCeYAsZiDQBHXlPXMhFWOD5QSn9Q0HSrdA3T97HnDjOzNWrqr2JZNp5PXX48B-oUtMjx7OkpI1xoIniTGlWHUxOm-8ddPRAnFJ2OZrcevUlweLWHFzklmVthzPVk4q_lZXXu4lFa/s1600-h/nordicaward.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390423897039228610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFUjjGCeYAsZiDQBHXlPXMhFWOD5QSn9Q0HSrdA3T97HnDjOzNWrqr2JZNp5PXX48B-oUtMjx7OkpI1xoIniTGlWHUxOm-8ddPRAnFJ2OZrcevUlweLWHFzklmVthzPVk4q_lZXXu4lFa/s400/nordicaward.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 262px;" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">She was convinced to make recordings for the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1907. These recordings are not what one would expect of Nordica.</span><br />
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I am of the a mind to think that she scared the hell out of Columbia's recording engineers.</div>
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Here was a voice that was so powerful and a system to record that was so weak.<div>
I really think that the recording engineers had no idea what to do with her vocally. There were a series of recordings made, and all of them leave much to be desired. They did their best to keep her from over powering the recording horn. This means she was away from the recording device to such an extent that the recordings sound muddy and lack much of anything.</div>
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Oh if she only recorded for someone else. But those few and rather poor sonic gems are all that exist outside of a few moments on Mapleson cylinders. By 1914 she had died on a remote island in the Pacific.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07Kt_5EBx7MJtnBw8DIe4ze56pxtmwmm8bc5zxB_rDIn0wzReErPXyJTaO1t3Xhrtr4MBli62n6p_ezTPdRtkREgLO3o-qoUKo1Go0HOiGJeUsG0aWYyGJLbxRU6xRBp8QkSkOeRYAh3w/s1600-h/image1.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390423766158955890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07Kt_5EBx7MJtnBw8DIe4ze56pxtmwmm8bc5zxB_rDIn0wzReErPXyJTaO1t3Xhrtr4MBli62n6p_ezTPdRtkREgLO3o-qoUKo1Go0HOiGJeUsG0aWYyGJLbxRU6xRBp8QkSkOeRYAh3w/s400/image1.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>This Columbia recording of "Omaha Indian Tribal Song" and "Mighty lak a Rose" is one of the few recordings made by this most talented performer. The great soprano who scared the hell out of Columbia's recording engineers.</div>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-90318170790945880372013-10-17T20:36:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:36:58.952-07:00Warren G Harding makes some recordings of speeches 1920-1921Warren G Harding was not afraid to speak almost anywhere. In fact he was the first President to speak on commercial radio. But he made several recordings over the years for Nation's Forum and later Victor. While we have in many cases heard the recordings. Rarely do we ever see the pictures of the event.<br />
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Here we have 3 pictures of the same recording session dealing with Senator or possibly by this time President Harding. He was a good speaker and he seemed to always enjoy a good crowd. However many people said that he was able to say much, without having to say much of anything. Well he was a newspaper editor! He knew how to say and find the right words for whatever the event was.</div>
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He was like most other Presidents, he had a full time speech writer.<div>
He was also one of that special group that liked to be involved in the whole process. Of course he had help from assistants and speech writers, but he seemed to be more interested in the process than many others who had preceded and those who had followed him. of course there are some very great exceptions. In another post in the future we can talk about them.<div>
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The process to record Harding was called the acoustic process. It meant that there was no microphones, speakers, mixers, or electricity at all. It was all mechanical recording. he spoke into a recording horn and the power of his voice would cut the wax master to make the record. It was as simple as that. So you will get a real good view of Harding here and also the recording horn and a touch of the recording mechanism.<br /><div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Now the next time you hear a historic recording of Harding perhaps these pictures will help your imagination a little to picture him making them.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XhH14tD-FR22HMCC-AEuTlBgfh3Vv-vN5W6XF2yDTLzHqcrBLiDU7ysfAjDmvfJMVPMPEFxiNu9ceh9wtxlUwx4mwB42f6YzKeZf5GymiJUReZQhWR2OvoqoZToGDWIocoBs7EBbAtdO/s1600-h/warrenghardingrecording.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396763500072930322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XhH14tD-FR22HMCC-AEuTlBgfh3Vv-vN5W6XF2yDTLzHqcrBLiDU7ysfAjDmvfJMVPMPEFxiNu9ceh9wtxlUwx4mwB42f6YzKeZf5GymiJUReZQhWR2OvoqoZToGDWIocoBs7EBbAtdO/s400/warrenghardingrecording.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 292px;" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This picture was in the news magazine "Outlook" here you see Harding with his reading glasses on ready to record.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrX1_Z_oWS8JKAt8oAPAOWKE1bpZyFWvIgNS1DM7-5WbO4TjPvUH5NhLP47-PklUb8Jv2e6CS0x39DJ6DRigA7CNzOoBFA2qSXvDJBCMxUdJ2Pw3NO7zmVjGsJ7II-cRwdP4bwmB9aRDZJ/s1600-h/Harding_speaking.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396763442968781506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrX1_Z_oWS8JKAt8oAPAOWKE1bpZyFWvIgNS1DM7-5WbO4TjPvUH5NhLP47-PklUb8Jv2e6CS0x39DJ6DRigA7CNzOoBFA2qSXvDJBCMxUdJ2Pw3NO7zmVjGsJ7II-cRwdP4bwmB9aRDZJ/s400/Harding_speaking.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 235px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1aYXNXn0ie-hX2kefhDnHSC7CEyGETfDcwGynJs3uTvdvzh3rBOk_rHzTY2YxG8JbLW2NMX_84C6HeEM8YTtBosTjfFgkwn252nzOKJ1qIo5xIyPvX-r2ErOFzh9WPaRsx78rzcI-hzk/s1600-h/09_G_039_M.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396763392263078306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1aYXNXn0ie-hX2kefhDnHSC7CEyGETfDcwGynJs3uTvdvzh3rBOk_rHzTY2YxG8JbLW2NMX_84C6HeEM8YTtBosTjfFgkwn252nzOKJ1qIo5xIyPvX-r2ErOFzh9WPaRsx78rzcI-hzk/s400/09_G_039_M.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 293px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">These are photos of the same session captured by the photographer. One can only guess where these pictures were taken. One good guess would be Washington DC.</span></div>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-59805510331281023452013-10-17T20:35:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:42:59.923-07:00" Their Masters Voice"..A timely cartoon from the 1908 election on recordings of the Presidential candidates.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvnzIHZhjgUMAvxExS593JPb9RJk7UcwKqsXi82Jx7hljcNKMhqPQAnWFpGIOan277wuNYq9JCcq1fuD1zq8wwNcTf9UBzS8JBrTKZ-BLUhX5_zeU9cD0DKZCL0CwwvGGelpUKNe-Q9hu/s1600/image0.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405636188774336770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvnzIHZhjgUMAvxExS593JPb9RJk7UcwKqsXi82Jx7hljcNKMhqPQAnWFpGIOan277wuNYq9JCcq1fuD1zq8wwNcTf9UBzS8JBrTKZ-BLUhX5_zeU9cD0DKZCL0CwwvGGelpUKNe-Q9hu/s400/image0.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 272px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It was so true that in the Presidential election of 1908, both candidates were recorded and used the phonograph for the first time as a campaigning device.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In 1908 the two Presidential candidates who were running for office recorded their voices for a few recording companies. The first time the voices of the two men were heard by more than a few thousand and by hundreds of thousands.</span><br />
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There were several recordings made for both the Edison Phonograph Company and the Victor Talking Machine company. But it was ground breaking...For the first time each company knew they had the voice and speeches of the next President. This was a new world. In this article we have two of the Victor records made by both candidates.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12Vd3oIZnmfRpdXQtn7e7Mmv_15uwu8E82Eg9WVnSEWQttkYlPgD0h96otXIlIkkamfAQHpZrPXkch7Bg3JEVLMByqVZJ0bv_LChgK8kBba5r2LMJ1g1AWqHMlVOP2hZ4caAiiFOagpau/s1600-h/6a00d8341cca7b53ef010535d2ef7c970c-500wi.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384554791954431314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12Vd3oIZnmfRpdXQtn7e7Mmv_15uwu8E82Eg9WVnSEWQttkYlPgD0h96otXIlIkkamfAQHpZrPXkch7Bg3JEVLMByqVZJ0bv_LChgK8kBba5r2LMJ1g1AWqHMlVOP2hZ4caAiiFOagpau/s400/6a00d8341cca7b53ef010535d2ef7c970c-500wi.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 252px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Here we see a cartoon of the two candidates William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan. Below we will see an example of the two recordings for made the Victor Company by the two men..<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pg6cDCRX_nC5RKEDlGngHkPrncC2hbRGYzwyAjdJRCBxuBRC8rCcrKBQ5q6ApbpH5urBJgKVRzkTLlY61Oy7HgtNEKzTDltkGISh2EKpW3O3fPq8jK7My1x-_JRjmPpxWWqR36RV1OTp/s1600-h/image1.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384554136474692434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pg6cDCRX_nC5RKEDlGngHkPrncC2hbRGYzwyAjdJRCBxuBRC8rCcrKBQ5q6ApbpH5urBJgKVRzkTLlY61Oy7HgtNEKzTDltkGISh2EKpW3O3fPq8jK7My1x-_JRjmPpxWWqR36RV1OTp/s400/image1.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 361px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouA67siJA3z_X_oz1RvJnfM7gIGm52DBtJ4PyhyAI5vJpnoK0CfmJPKRmQ0fm4sgMkipkPnGSv3zGseIRrAnNQxyc0n_3Qj2tXIBJqDJULVj6liIxGrMILRZj1hFt9wpxbGs-5ViRJQeH/s1600-h/image0.jpg" style="color: #956839;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384554054678475554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouA67siJA3z_X_oz1RvJnfM7gIGm52DBtJ4PyhyAI5vJpnoK0CfmJPKRmQ0fm4sgMkipkPnGSv3zGseIRrAnNQxyc0n_3Qj2tXIBJqDJULVj6liIxGrMILRZj1hFt9wpxbGs-5ViRJQeH/s400/image0.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 390px;" /></a></div>
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Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-14434412812049908182013-10-17T20:32:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:32:30.666-07:00The End of Books..... An article from the August 1894 Scribner's Magazine<br />
<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Are books dead? We hear that all the time today. Today with audio books and all kinds of electronic devices to store books,information and the like we think of books as a flash from the past. This article from 1894 is interesting to read as it brushes the future as to our entertainment and how we gain our information. Some of it is funny and some reminds me of our present time. Specially on the next to last page as we see a woman watching a picture and listening in her chair. Like a precursor to TV. Also on that next to last page you will see a trainload of people all with earphones on. Lastly a few pages before that you will see a person on a walk with earphones on and listening to his book. Of course my favorite is the last illustration that shows a lady seeing the doctor as her hearing is impaired by the loud recordings. Boy isn't that right on. You can see an entire generation today that will be in severe need of hearing aids in the future. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In 1894 the phonograph had just arrived on the scene in a rather crude form, but was still an amazing thing. Sort of like our TV's were like in 1935. We all dreamed of what would be and as usual nothing like what we dreamed ever happened.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So what of books? Yes people do not write or read books like they once did. But that does not mean the book is dead. I think books will continue to be read and printed on paper but, mostly electronically as time goes on. But there will always be books around here and there. </span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There will always be the holdouts who will never give them up. So has technology made the book obsolete? In a way yes, but also, in a way no. For there still is something magical and enjoyable about holding a book in your hands and using your mind and imagination. Just the feel of the book has a special meaning at least to me. Plus there are some areas where the book still holds its own.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I have my own library and that equals into a lot of books. But that is something as long as I live, I would not like to be without.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So enjoy this wonderful piece on the end of books and the outlook for new technology.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPhowcz2oqcGrQC9bFmAQMwBeD2TbFJsCIQ37ICodC0wnD0zvrCstr625J0igOEjZe2Zf7_4NQ8-VgYqqvR4ZiHE_UmSR4hnLeLkKnvHsiKOqIlOZKv-BADHW4y8JE2DyMvDnpyEIq1M/s1600/image0-4.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619587300285527714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPhowcz2oqcGrQC9bFmAQMwBeD2TbFJsCIQ37ICodC0wnD0zvrCstr625J0igOEjZe2Zf7_4NQ8-VgYqqvR4ZiHE_UmSR4hnLeLkKnvHsiKOqIlOZKv-BADHW4y8JE2DyMvDnpyEIq1M/s400/image0-4.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 390px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aJDkVPBeZG7iPS-YfBgUq2zOQJFmqGRbmr9EhPPbWjLOWWIk3wRD7bFyy3cjV9I2vo9OftkBuKzx_Pm_TMVTOk2QuRxF9nyTbfytV_7fGJnpRIJDP4KUmyTq7dkkpuULZeyKoLE9XD8/s1600/image0-3.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619587175183405666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aJDkVPBeZG7iPS-YfBgUq2zOQJFmqGRbmr9EhPPbWjLOWWIk3wRD7bFyy3cjV9I2vo9OftkBuKzx_Pm_TMVTOk2QuRxF9nyTbfytV_7fGJnpRIJDP4KUmyTq7dkkpuULZeyKoLE9XD8/s400/image0-3.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 271px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8TdhYufqVWfE4NuLV66t18W-X8bXWvC_BQUSUUnc8hq9Z-uAEsZ7_R5O7z4hs1DVQ3Au0cWpX4JeramGZEZgM7QZFR0nujKZBRZRUizcRsF-j_Oxrh_zL9_Xjw9sNh-yiGw_O1RoTqM/s1600/image1-2.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619587079208858578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8TdhYufqVWfE4NuLV66t18W-X8bXWvC_BQUSUUnc8hq9Z-uAEsZ7_R5O7z4hs1DVQ3Au0cWpX4JeramGZEZgM7QZFR0nujKZBRZRUizcRsF-j_Oxrh_zL9_Xjw9sNh-yiGw_O1RoTqM/s400/image1-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 258px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwUhVTX6eO5EbDlirRMNnwMPBGu98Per8LUxdYcmam4x_rbTaYQHN6pUQDEsXyw3UhmdFcETuGPilsQ_npY0fS9rk6z0cpN_pEWlwMkPB2QsOKU3C7kF55boc5mUOTssL64jqw2b_hg7M/s1600/image2-4.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619586922422910338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwUhVTX6eO5EbDlirRMNnwMPBGu98Per8LUxdYcmam4x_rbTaYQHN6pUQDEsXyw3UhmdFcETuGPilsQ_npY0fS9rk6z0cpN_pEWlwMkPB2QsOKU3C7kF55boc5mUOTssL64jqw2b_hg7M/s400/image2-4.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 251px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcpbEvfgYRSoIOxXigjxJvsZQHgQcvaHjOLJTozuZiqkCAw7mlz1ODRhsFY49beUbvUhcqBXeVS2hYsXMA1a6qN-bGvJgiJFNlzCTGA3cVtqmPje-OqaRwrSt4RxSb_LPdhYBvcJe-tFQ/s1600/image3.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; 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color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5R92xy01ADF8UG3j2l8U62IT5tFqCaMghjXVi0QjJZgEwu_DFFC0cqLLAqnHAcxd0NBHKHVNf778T7Op5tZ7e37cuiunK11foSGcrKBXWOfKveReHCh6kHTO_4zzFN9tDEO9kJSH2is/s1600/image6.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619585742482952386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5R92xy01ADF8UG3j2l8U62IT5tFqCaMghjXVi0QjJZgEwu_DFFC0cqLLAqnHAcxd0NBHKHVNf778T7Op5tZ7e37cuiunK11foSGcrKBXWOfKveReHCh6kHTO_4zzFN9tDEO9kJSH2is/s400/image6.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 258px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMsePU_GHBwkq7dfOeybMmmmYrSA4MP7tglcqiLsjn_HoynmzU7VwUyRFfZhRXs_LxmujxrqfKWSuaHckuiiImL3EKNmFu4Bql6ClBmrcFJJ6a7x8j4Y1pshabnzamI68yX77NgViQ2M/s1600/image7.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619585655326348578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMsePU_GHBwkq7dfOeybMmmmYrSA4MP7tglcqiLsjn_HoynmzU7VwUyRFfZhRXs_LxmujxrqfKWSuaHckuiiImL3EKNmFu4Bql6ClBmrcFJJ6a7x8j4Y1pshabnzamI68yX77NgViQ2M/s400/image7.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 259px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqZwhyulWrabVuKabSkFPpRi4Au6_PLxGGBuTlaKnK8ixmLET2jhDJ1QV6GJfUG3IsZIO6rRnwC1IoYLr8S-c9W2w1GOzbIMiSFdna3VRB3YtHl9E2V6ifq6z7UuGoqBgunlDFHWYzTQ/s1600/image8.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619585537184212978" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqZwhyulWrabVuKabSkFPpRi4Au6_PLxGGBuTlaKnK8ixmLET2jhDJ1QV6GJfUG3IsZIO6rRnwC1IoYLr8S-c9W2w1GOzbIMiSFdna3VRB3YtHl9E2V6ifq6z7UuGoqBgunlDFHWYzTQ/s400/image8.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 268px;" /></a><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrpQ8oyGV_9b7BjGA0327miqfZv5zoe8f1K4C6T4PRsN9AQSouHcR_n9Knxzb5EicSayx6XgtjGuoCMjiVGq7wUKS9i3QUDUIokA5uh_2Eavf1ybSbRYviraOHnJCa4FkbobW0XszQNE/s1600/image9.jpg" style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619585402984208562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrpQ8oyGV_9b7BjGA0327miqfZv5zoe8f1K4C6T4PRsN9AQSouHcR_n9Knxzb5EicSayx6XgtjGuoCMjiVGq7wUKS9i3QUDUIokA5uh_2Eavf1ybSbRYviraOHnJCa4FkbobW0XszQNE/s400/image9.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 280px;" /></a>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-49907471043869380402013-10-17T20:27:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:27:14.057-07:00What was the Columbia record Climax and how did some of the early Climax recordings get on Columbia labels?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIW5te34Ft92zyD-lOOZrKeDbYOzAoakfHDwODyAgPyCZ9XLNi_qoDhlRSmLPvel8pogyRCj7ttUTi7haXauGTIldPn9b3mEdDMbMBCFhHtUWESbh8yqraNPmvgJRds65Fh79YG4DVeg/s1600/climax.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIW5te34Ft92zyD-lOOZrKeDbYOzAoakfHDwODyAgPyCZ9XLNi_qoDhlRSmLPvel8pogyRCj7ttUTi7haXauGTIldPn9b3mEdDMbMBCFhHtUWESbh8yqraNPmvgJRds65Fh79YG4DVeg/s1600/climax.JPG" style="border: 0px;" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Note the stamping on the upper right of the label saying VTM. This recording is from Feb - April. 1902. As the Victor Talking Machine Company bought the Globe Record Company in Jan 1902. This was the first label for the Columbia disc market made between 1901 and 1902.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In mid 1901 the Columbia Graphophone Company got into the disc record market. It was not easy to do and quite a detailed undertaking. But after seeing the success of the Berliner, Zonophone (which was influenced by their company) and most recently for them the Victor records manufactured by Eldridge Reeves Johnson, they knew they needed to get into the fray.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> But how does one start a disc record division when you have nothing to make them with? This is when the Columbia Company under the control of Edward Easton took a trip to New Jersey. They had been located in NYC, but they needed a place to make their disc records.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> They found a Company called the Globe Record Company to do the job. It was through this group that the earliest of the Columbia records are pressed. This is where it does get a bit confusing. We know Edward Easton who was the head of the Columbia Graphophone Company pushed hard to defeat Victor.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I know that by summer 1901 Columbia is pressing records called Climax records. This is being done in contrast to the Berliner Patents, but it was hit and miss in those days as to who was in control of what. The Climax label would last into 1902 when Columbia made a deal with a company now called the Victor Talking Machine Company. This was the little company that was run by Eldridge Reeves Johnson mentioned before. However now this company was making well over a million a year in the business. Not only that, but Eldridge Johnson had bought the Globe Record Company and to the Columbia Companies embarrassment all of the Climax records would also be imprinted with the initials VTM on each record.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> This was one of the main reasons that Columbia came to the table with Victor. Cause although the Victor company did not like to admit it, Columbia had what Victor needed as well as Victor had what Columbia did as well. At this point in 1902 Columbia ceased producing Climax records. (They also had the Joseph Jones Patent granted on December 10, 1901) This was a powerful poker chip and Columbia played it wisely. For this patent, as bogus as it was, would be the patent that would allow the modern method of disc recording. Through this deal was born the Columbia Disc label.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> When they came out with their own label called a Columbia Disc Record, some of the old material somehow slipped through the cracks and for a while a number of Climax records would receive Columbia labels. This would make for some confusing business for the rest of 1902 as all recordings in those days with a few exceptions had a spoken announcement in the beginning and many of these Columbia Records were proudly introduced as Climax ones!</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">.. By 1903 everything with a Columbia Label was a Columbia record and announced so. By late 1903 the announcement would vanish as well as each record had a paper label. So why bother I am sure was the question..I am sure everyone saw that as over kill.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> But the history of the Climax record is one full of some fascinating details. A short lived company of which little today is known, but the beginning of the famous Columbia Disc Record. The copies of Climax Records are not at all common today. Every now and then a few are found. But as a general rule they are quite rare today. Pioneers of the recording industry from over 110 years ago!</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-84606566372791356372013-10-17T20:25:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:25:56.999-07:00The wonder of sound recording<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I am writing this because in my imagination I was thinking about Berliner's recording laboratory in Washington D.C. in 1895.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> As I thought more about it the more I was transfixed on the whole wonder of sound recording. It has not been with us too long. It only started as a commercial medium around 1889-1890. That commercial medium was seen by perhaps .001% of the general population as it was not something for the general public. It was for all intents a rich man's toy.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> But now as I sit here in front of my laptop computer and type I think of what a different world it was and how this "toy" would transfix humanity. The term sound recording is most ubiquitous as it is everywhere. We are surrounded by it, we are bombarded by it, we are experiencing it often without even knowing it. We have become jaded to the very essence of it. Can you think of many public places not infused with recorded sound? Be it messages, music, tones, or noise filtering hums.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sound recording has allowed us to bridge generations, even centuries. I recall having a conversation with another historian and we were talking about how one record existed that Abraham Lincoln would probably recognize the voice. It was the record made in 1898 by Chauncey Depew, who had several conversations with Lincoln in the 1860's. I was thinking of that and saying that here was a recording that would have been recognized by those long dead before sound recording was invented or had become a massive medium.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I am sure that Lincoln saw Joseph Jefferson on the stage at one time or another. He was traveling in many shows in the 1840's and 50's and I am sure at one time or another Lincoln would have seen Jefferson on stage. Jefferson made records in 1898 and in 1903. This again might be a recording that Lincoln might have recognized.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Adelina Patti sang for the 15th president, James Buchanan in the late 1850's. He was born in the 1790's and I can hear Patti today. Maybe I am an old romantic, but I find that amazing. The historical connections are overwhelming and most unique.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sound has been captured for us by those long gone from us. But the wonder of sound is that they stay with us. I can still hear Joseph Jefferson, I can hear the voices of some of those who were around during the Civil War. I can hear the song John Browns Body sung by those who were alive when it meant something more than an interesting relic of a byeregone time. The Fab Four will always be young, Caruso will always be singing gloriously and Theodore Roosevelt who did not give a damn about posterity (his words) will forever influence it</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> It has allowed us to share history with our grandparents and our grandchildren....For as we live and die, sound recording will go on forever. I can only imagine what will be thought of these early recordings in the years of the 25th century. Perhaps they will say pretty much the same, but talk about 500 years of sound recording and the wonder of it all. Just perhaps they may marvel at the fact they can hear the voice of Queen Elizabeth or President Obama. Perhaps hear a TV show or Radio program and try to imagine what it was like to live in the primitive 21st century. We think we live in a world that is so advanced, well so were Edison cylinder records and life in 1890.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I remember playing some recordings for operatic basso Jerome Hines and tenor Franco Corelli. I played on a Victrola some recordings of Tetrazzini, Caruso, Melba, Scotti, Homer and Farrar. It was interesting to see them react to the recordings and in one case talk about one of these artists they had known. The recorded sound transcended time and the singers were one with their forebears....</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It still happens..</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Next time you hear a sound recording and that is almost everywhere, stop and think of the wonder and the history of it all.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-66420229710512513752013-10-17T20:24:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:24:17.001-07:00The Gramophone records in a vault at the Paris Opera ...1907<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ESYLfv8VyC8UOI4Hags39aIYahlQhrNeplgtuYhzoMFuYIWm9kflnCZft2t1buZL1eiYPu3g9cbOl7swUgcrWIYYHg2Vx1ak5brFqs8GQIdTfDV9yr8YF9kuMro49NUQbp_OSMGhLkA/s1600/opera-time-capsule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ESYLfv8VyC8UOI4Hags39aIYahlQhrNeplgtuYhzoMFuYIWm9kflnCZft2t1buZL1eiYPu3g9cbOl7swUgcrWIYYHg2Vx1ak5brFqs8GQIdTfDV9yr8YF9kuMro49NUQbp_OSMGhLkA/s320/opera-time-capsule.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I was reading a old Scientific American Magazine in 1982 and ran into this article. It said that a number of recordings were placed in a vault at the Paris Opera House and to be saved there till 2007. My imagination took off of course and I put the 1907 magazine away, I have since lost it. But the idea of a time capsule of sound was such a wonderful idea. I also knew at the time it would be 25 years till it was opened. But was it all about time and the future, or was it about then and sales of their records?</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Of course it was all about sales. This was great free publicity! It would be all over the papers and push the fortunes of the Gramophone. Alfred Clark was the power behind it and he was the head of the Gramophone and Typewriter Company. The company would change its name soon to just the Gramophone Company.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In 1982 I asked tons of people about this, but no one was very sure about it. I was told by one person that they were moved out ages ago. One has to remember in 1982 there was no internet and it was basically calling and talking to museums and archives to get info....I was totally out of luck on this. And to be honest I pretty much forgot about it. I recall in the article it went into detail of how the records would be preserved.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The records were all placed in containers as you see in the photo and protected and sealed with asbestos, which was the magic mineral at the time.There was in the vault also a Gramophone Concert Grand to play the records when the yet unborn adventurers opened the vault in 2007.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">To move ahead I have seen that there were some additions to the vault in 1912 and then it was resealed.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Bounce ahead to the 21st century and the vault was opened. Sadly it was found to be like many Egyptian tombs...Looted!</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There were some containers of records there, but one of the containers was empty and the fancy Gramophone Grand was too!. Plus there was an added problem, the containers that remained were coming apart and the asbestos was all over. In fact they needed bio hazard outfits to open them. After doing this to one of the containers it was seen that there was little reason to open the others. As this was mainly a big publicity stunt there was nothing very special in the containers. Just standard issues records of the time of which hundreds of thousands exist to this very day. So there was a CD made of the records that already existed in collections. But still it was interesting to see when they finally opened the vault it answered the many questions I had in 1982 in a long forgotten article in Scientific American.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-35735360283515560462013-10-17T20:22:00.002-07:002013-10-18T06:52:27.409-07:00Collecting Records ...The early days of collecting recordings before anyone knew too much of anything. How the hobby has changed.<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I acquired my first old record in 1969. It came my way in school. It had been found in the waters of Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale Florida . It was a home made job from the 1940's of a rather bad barbershop quartet singing. I have a feeling that there was drinking involved in this recording. But I was delighted and hooked.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I started in 1970 collecting records. Anything old I would take. I used to go to houses of older folks and ask if they had any old 78 records to get rid of. Amazingly I did find quite a few. Many were odd and unusual. Being that I did not know a lot yet I let many a treasure go away.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Also I was totally confused as to the value and rarity of some of the records. In 1971 I traded a Philco cathedral radio for a Caruso record!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I was sure I did better in the deal...I had a lot to learn.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I was living in New Jersey by 1971 and before long I had a rare collection of Kate Smith records. Well, I thought they were rare. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I found my first old phonograph in 1971. It was a Victor Victrola VI. It was not working had problems and I mowed a lawn to get it. Since I had no idea what I was doing I broke the much of the original mechanism. Well by doing so I learned. I would in time fix it all with of all things Crazy Glue! But this was my starting machine and I was very proud of it. I signed the inside and put a 1972 penny inside to mark this very historic machine. I was using sewing needles to play records..This was not the most successful way to play them.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So in my naive sense I called RCA Victor. It was still their logo on the side of the Victrola. It was a million to one chance that the person who answered the phone at RCA was a record collector named Don Donahue. I asked if they made needles for their Victor machines and he answered "Of course we do" That evening I was to receive a pack of needles, as I walked to the RCA company in Rockaway, New Jersey. I was soon to get mono and was sick beyond belief. One day while I was in and out of a very restless sleep there was a man at the foot of my bed with a big box. This was Don, and he brought me a get well present. A box of old records!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Once I was strong enough to, I went through that box and was amazed at all the treasures it contained. I would spend my evenings just playing some of these records ( I still have a few of them these 40 years later)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It was at this time I would discover Henry Burr, Billy Murray, Ada Jones, The Peerless, American, and Hayden Quartets and many more. I would in 1974 go and by chance walk into a store that would change my life. It was called the Player Piano Headquarters of Boonton, New Jersey. I was there with a friend and heard a piano playing one of the songs I had on my old records called Old pal why don't you answer me?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I walked in and said to the young fellow playing or I should say pumping the old piano, " I have a recording of Henry Burr singing that"..... Suddenly I heard a voice in the back louder than I could imagine say "Henry Burr!" Out came Ted Spangenberg the restorer of the pianos. He was about six feet tall, wearing a white tee shirt, bright green shorts, orange socks, and a smile. He grabbed me and took to the back of the shop and loaded me up in about 40 seconds with about 30 records of Henry Burr. After getting over my shock of the records, his outfit, and this unique experience. I discovered my new home and people who loved what I did.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">922 Main Street became my home away from home as Ted would restore phonographs, teach me about reproducers, and introduce me to many who were 15 to 90 in the field. Saturdays would be the day we would all get together at Ted's place. Through this association I would meet people who had worked for the Victor Company, recording artists, and some really fascinating collectors.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">When I graduated from High School, Ted who always drove a limo, even though he was in the front made sure I arrived in style. Afterwards He would bring me a Victor Victrola as a present. It was at this time I said goodbye to that first machine I had and had learned from. I sold it for $25.00 in 1976. What was amazing was I would get it back through another person who had it in 1992. I would get rid of it again in 1993 and it has not returned yet. But who knows?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">By 1980 I was well on my way to collecting a vast amount of early discs. It was good to start then as many of those records I found at this time you cannot find at all easy today. By 1982 I had a nice collection of Zonophones, Pre Dog Victors, Columbias and Climax records. I also had a good grouping of Edison records. Although I was never as fascinated by the Edison's as much as the early pre 1905 discs.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So now I have been at this for well over 40 years and I am not looking much for records, although I would be delighted to find some early ones, which happens now and then. But my collection is basically disc records from the 1895 to 1910 period. I find this period the most fun and also just about anything would be put on record.. So there is a lot of fun to many of these early records and their amateurish nature has a sense of fun in it. As we worked into the 20th century the fun went out of the recording and it became a serious business.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Now after all of this time and talking to so many people I have learned so much and know the histories of these recordings and artists. No longer do I have my Kate Smith records...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Although I am willing to trade a Caruso record for a Philco Cathedral radio!</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-66147256451806704892013-10-17T20:21:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:21:15.972-07:00 Zon-O-Phone records. Stamper information seems a little hard to find. But here is one thing that may help.<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlxxl_zMLIZN74USSiXWKJGuvsW6emfzpeobr42B0IGJ6UcJkjfomDTqaYrD5sFubm672uPt8zK6u3NSsSYBdUkrhMeVhBcgvRanNWYWJm5TlHsTsGURLMcIoLXahqJkLi9V5xvNzJVo/s1600/GetAttachment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlxxl_zMLIZN74USSiXWKJGuvsW6emfzpeobr42B0IGJ6UcJkjfomDTqaYrD5sFubm672uPt8zK6u3NSsSYBdUkrhMeVhBcgvRanNWYWJm5TlHsTsGURLMcIoLXahqJkLi9V5xvNzJVo/s1600/GetAttachment.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Although not the best picture, you can see where the stamper letter is on the rim of the record.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In 1904 through the G&T company, the Victor Talking Machine Company would get a low cost brand of record called the Zon-O-Phone record. It was made from masters made in New York City and the records were stamped in Newark, New Jersey. These stampings were done at the Duranoid Company which was at 28 Prospect Street in Newark. The company would soon move to 213-221 Chestnut Street in Newark. By the way some of the original buildings are still there.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But this is where the stamping and production of all the Zon-O-Phone records would take place between late 1904 to early 1905 till around 1910. This company would also at times makes Victor Records, specially when there were some very big sellers.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Victor Company had a set policy for their stampers and how they would be marked.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It was a alphabetical and numerical system. Let me explain</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The first stamper from from the mother would be marked A . When that stamper wore out after making a 150 to 300 copies the next stamper would be used. This one would be called B. This went right through to Z. Then they would start all over again 1A, 1B, etc... It is not unusual to see some popular Victor records with 27 W next to the serial number of the record on the wax. This was a good system and it was quite understandable.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Then Zon-O-Phone was started and controlled from a distance by the Victor Company, there was a rather messy attempt to do the same for the cheaper label. However, I have been going through about 150 Zon-O-Phone records from 1904 to 1910. It is a very haphazard system. I saw that many of the earliest pressings from 1904 have no stamper info at all. Some others from 1904 have the stamper info right where it is on Victor records. But by what I can see by around 1905 is that all stamper info has been moved from the inside area by the serial number and moved to the outside rim of the record! This becomes a standard practice by 1905. I have seen markings that go from A to I and as of yet not any higher. But what I am wondering is, if this was the markings of the stampers, there were a lot of records that were not selling well.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If we can guess in the best conditions around 300 records could be pressed with a stamper, perhaps a little more. If the record shows a C stamper that means that there were about 1000 records made of that record. At least at the time of this records stamping. What I was looking for was the signs of a 12 W or anything like that. I did find a few crudely scratched numbers written on to the wax. I would see 6 and then a stamped C. The highest number I could find was an 8 B. This was found on only two records. That is all I could find on a 150 or so Zon-O-Phone records. So my guess is while they were stamped and produced by the Duranoid Company there was not a great deal of control or concern to mark the records by stampers in a very organized fashion. So I am guessing that many of the records that have a rim stamper mark of C, could easily have been preceeded by a 2 or 3. If not Zon-O-Phone was not making or selling many records.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In 1910 the company was brought down to Camden and all of the records were marked like Victor records. But the early years from 1904 to 1910 leave quite a few mysteries.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-52658819838935004082013-10-17T20:18:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:18:30.524-07:00What was so wonderful about Dame Nellie Melba? What can we hear today?<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There have been few in operatic history that have had the following and career that was Nellie Melba's. She was the reigning queen of Covent Garden for a quarter of a century. She made sure there were no greater singers doing her roles. When she saw that Tetrazzini sang at Covent Garden she made sure she would never be there again as long as Melba was. She started making recordings in 1904 and in those you get a sense of her voice perhaps more than any of the other recordings I hear of her. I guess my point is that I feel nothing when she sings. I listen to her and I say "nice" but nothing that makes me say "My god!"</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Was it that way in life? Was she a cold fish? Was she lacking when it came to emotion? I have listened to the recording she made with Enrico Caruso (their only recording together) and it is dull and lifeless. I listen to the same duet with Caruso and Geraldine Farrar and it is exciting and full of life. So was she the cold fish that many say she was? I listened to one of her recordings this evening and I found it lacking and she was even a bit flat at the end. </span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">For me I have come to the understanding that what she was, has not at all made itself apparent on her recordings.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The early recording system was not kind to sopranos mostly. A few such as Tetrazzini seems to be alive as her records play on a Victrola. Melba sounds like a hollow tone through a log. Lacking life and excitement. </span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">For tone I can blame the recording method, but as to any kind of emotion or feeling on her records I can in fancy chill my ice cubes to her performance. Emma Eames, who was know to be cold on stage sounds even warmer than Melba.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">All of this being said there had to be some thing amazing about her. Perhaps it was just her voice that did not record well or she lost the excitement of performance without an audience in the recording studio. Maybe she didn't care too much? Perhaps the Melba on stage was not at all like the Melba in the recording studio. All I can say is you cannot have a career that was called one of the greatest and have records that are rather lackluster at best.................</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">What ever she had, it died with her.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-2903830028923868872013-10-17T20:17:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:17:30.995-07:00In fairness to the Victrola XII An odd 1914 one!<div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff3db; clear: both; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkgQMvamWShlojRg-ZAE0pc7DUhkwQ11UOVCFPBzX2X1KaYY9LeJdm_V23az1YelQ9jcyW5-SK0kKgPADw4wwtPc4J-f6tZUgXdbJXhOoS2rTLxfdwMK4V8N86szroJ5zA-_67TCE49Us/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkgQMvamWShlojRg-ZAE0pc7DUhkwQ11UOVCFPBzX2X1KaYY9LeJdm_V23az1YelQ9jcyW5-SK0kKgPADw4wwtPc4J-f6tZUgXdbJXhOoS2rTLxfdwMK4V8N86szroJ5zA-_67TCE49Us/s1600/images.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Victrola XII was the first table model Victrola. It was introduced in 1909 and had rather sluggish sales till it was discontinued in 1910. I know for myself I was harsh on the VVXII five years ago when I wrote a article on this blog called the Victrola XII the Edsel of the Victor Company. There are parts of that comment five years ago that makes sense and of course parts that do not. This machine was announced and was thought of as the Victor Junior, at least at the company they referred to it that way. There were great plans for this new machine. However it had issues. Perhaps the greatest was its cost. Remember in 1909 the average salary was around five to six dollars a week. Now of course this machine was not made for the common man. It was made for the rich. Who else could afford $125.00 for a small tabletop Victrola. It was beautifully appointed with mahogany veneer and in a very few cases oak. It was the perfect Victrola for your yacht or summer home. It had a 3 spring motor and had all of the above the motor board hardware gold plated. The internal horn was cast iron which ended with a square wooden horn with sound enhancing slates. It was Victor's idea to help with the sound. It also had a heavy iron turntable that was 12 inches in width.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> While this may have been somewhat luxurious a machine there was a great deal of concern about the size of the horn in front. It was quite small, not very small, but it was the smallest horn ever put into a non-portable Victrola ever. I have found that the sound is not as bad as I wrote five years ago. I have a VV XII and it plays rather nicely and I really have little to complain about when it comes to sound or volume.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In January of 1910 they added some carving on the machine to perhaps take away from the size of the horn. The machine was cancelled later that year and the sales were rather dismal ...around 4900 sold.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I aquired a VV XII that had issues</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. It did not work</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Was told its crank was broken</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Lastly was told it needed tender loving care.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">When I got it I saw that they were right, it needed work. I found the trouble with the crank was a little bit of the tip of the male crankshaft had lodged itself into female crank. I took it to a machine shop and they pulled it out in 2 minutes. Then I found the spring was fine and it just needed some good cleaning, polishing, greasing and oiling.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I rebuilt the reproducer and while working on the motor and oiling it I noticed some thing. Firstly, the turntable was made of steel. It was a yielding turntable welded to work with the machine and obviously original. I found that odd, as VV XII's should always have an iron yielding turntable. While pulling out the motor board on this machine as the layout of the motor of VV XII is different than any other Victrola ever made. I noticed it was stamped on the motor board with the date of May 12, 1914. I found this odd indeed. </span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In studying Robert Baumbach's data book on Victrolas I find that there were 47 VV XII's made in 1911, five in 1912, one in 1915 and four VV XII's put together in 1916! I do not know if either of these exist, but it would interesting to compare them with this 1914 VV XII. There is no listing for a machine that year but it is clearly stamped with that date and the stain was removed to make sure the date could be prominently seen. Now at least there is one from 1914.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I have restored the machine and love it and as I have said I find it sounds not that bad at all.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-34430208424298050412013-10-17T20:16:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:16:15.281-07:00President William McKinley's last speech in Buffalo, New York. But sadly there exists no recordings of his voice. What you hear on the internet and youtube are studio recordings by performers. Therefore they are fake.<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwGPGwrG-3xycZNprHowdhrwR1z1CCQXiMICo3p90ZPyBD6FXv30ls8ob8v760yAjlNFZP7FMuYzuhuSBR9b6rgfbDDR7W2W0ogh0pirR6N6FTyDCI4Ejfjvqumehpr2ZfoNkjoXyfYM/s1600/last-speech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwGPGwrG-3xycZNprHowdhrwR1z1CCQXiMICo3p90ZPyBD6FXv30ls8ob8v760yAjlNFZP7FMuYzuhuSBR9b6rgfbDDR7W2W0ogh0pirR6N6FTyDCI4Ejfjvqumehpr2ZfoNkjoXyfYM/s320/last-speech.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There is film of McKinley's last speech made at the Buffalo World's Fair in Sept of 1901. There is sadly, no recordings of it. I have seen in many films in which they say the recording is McKinley's voice, but I am not at all in agreement. I hear the voices of Harry and Len Spencer, William Hooley, and Arthur Collins. There is a recording playing on the internet that says it is a campaign recording by McKinley. I dare say not.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">First the recording of cheers would have been next to impossible, secondly and more important the man speaking has no regional accent. McKinley was from Ohio and was known for a bit of a Ohio styled accent. His wife always called him the "May-jah" That is for Major. Listen to any person from that area before the effects of TV and cable and you hear what I mean by regional accents. Just listen to a recording of Warren G Harding, or William Howard Taft who were from Ohio as well and have that regional dialect.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As far as I can tell there are no existent recordings of McKinley's voice and there is little info that he made any recordings either.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">McKinley's last speech is on record. It was performed by Len and Harry Spencer. As well as William Hooley. I have a copy of Len Spencer doing it in 1902.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The recording that is on youtube a lot of McKinley's campaign speech sounds very much like Arthur Collins. It is not McKinley! Any recording on youtube of McKinley is fake.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Also the campaign recording for Grover Cleveland on youtube is not Cleveland either. It sounds like one of the Spencer brothers. It is not Grover Cleveland! Any recording of Cleveland on youtube is fake.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The earliest recording of a President was a Bettini cylinder of former President Benj. Harrison in 1901. The rest are fakes.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So there is film of McKinley, but nothing recorded of what his voice was like. What a loss.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-72007671414046946932013-10-17T20:14:00.002-07:002013-10-17T20:14:17.896-07:00How did so many early recordings made in the 1890's and 1900's survive to see the 21st century?<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">When we look at an early recording made in let's say 1902. You think that this recording has survived 110 years? How did such a thing happen?</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">These records were made of shellac and hard rubber and easily break. I know I have sadly done so a few times. But how did so many of these recordings survive. I have around 500 recordings made between 1895 and 1910. I often just marval at how they have survived to see the year 2012. I am not really speaking of cylinders right now as they are another amazing story in themselves. The composition of those early cylinders was something called metallic soap and they were very fragile and how they survived is amazing as well. But what I will focus on here is the more familiar disc record.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">These records were Berliner, Climax (1901-02) Columbia 1902 on, Eldridge Johnson's Improved Gramophone, Improved Record, Victor, Monarch, Deluxe records, Leeds and Zonophone. Berliner was the first to make disc records commercially in and around 1894 in Washington DC, and by 1900 was out of the business. By 1902 you had Columbia making two different labels, Climax and Columbia, Zonophone started in 1899, and by this year the Victor Talking machine Company which had several names before finally joining with Berliner in creating that company. Lastly Leeds and Catlin were a relatively patent-less company that kind of borrowed things from everyone till they were put out of business after an amazing run of years. </span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">When these records were first made they were the technological marvels of their time. But by the 2nd decade of the 20th century they were looked at as old and not too useful. Many were thrown out, but many as well were put away in attics, cellars or in a few cases remained right where they were.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">By 1916-17 there were record drives to donate your old records for the war effort. Hundreds of thousands of records went to these drives. In the 1920's the radio became the main area of entertainment and more records and machines to play them were tossed. By the time of WW2 there were severe shellac shortages and there were massive drives to get all the olf records around the house and donate them... Millions of records went the way of the War Bond. But still many survived.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">By the 1950's and 60's anything old was looked at as useless and many phonographs, victrolas, graphonolas, amberolas, and the like went into the trash. I remember that myself when I was a kid seeing tons of great what we call antiques on the corner waiting for the junk man or the garbageman. at that time I knew no better. but my memories haunt me today.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">One of the last indignities offered to these early recordings was to make dishes or ash trays out of them! This was done a lot in the 1950's and 60's. I remember seeing many a record dish or ash tray at various peoples homes. But still many survived!</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So after all of this why did hundreds of thousands of records and cylinders from the 1890's, 1900's survive to see another century? I guess it was because of a few things. One reason would probably be that who ever owned them did not care to get rid of them. Another was that they had forgot they even had them. Lastly, many people saw that is was wise not to destroy recordings from it very dawn.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I guess I can say jokingly that there were a few unpatriotic souls out there who were not going to give a thing to the war effort or they still liked listening to Harry MacDonough, Sousa's Band, George Washington Johnson, The Metropolitan Orchestra, Bert Shepard, Fred Hagar, and a bunch of other very early recording artists.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> But what ever the reason I give a big yell of thanks. Because when I listen to a record from the dawn of sound recording, I am listening to a time capsule from a time a place so far away it is hard to dream of. I was listening today to an Climax Record from 1901 and I could hear Fred Hagar who was the conductor say ready 1..2..3 and the band played.....</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So I enjoy my records and will do my best to take care of them to make sure another amazed person will write what I do at the dawn of the 22nd century as he or she listens to a recording made by that time 200 years earlier and marvels at how it survived the ages.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Cause as much as I like them, they will long outlast me and my times. Just like they have the times in which they were that marvel of the age I wonder how many tapes, CD's, DVD's or chips will be working like these true amazing recordings of over 100 years ago when they reach that age? I kind of doubt they will as they are more complex and require much more to make them work. The old records of the 1895 - 1910 period were simple. But in the words of many a wise person ...The simpler it is the better it will work. And in this case will keep working for centuries to come....But how they made it to this point in which they are treasured...still so amazes me.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1156079199888246669.post-15336322053463126522013-10-17T20:12:00.000-07:002013-10-17T20:12:08.694-07:00Leeds Records and the many labels that came the Talk-O-Phone Company 1904 - 1909<div class="separator" style="background-color: #fff3db; clear: both; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv05eTx4i1ALIqthoviDcW3NEY4fPRMcuxFU1ossfxRftgXYursWGkctK3Wn2cTbxN4KuFFe09Y9h7PZsuuydwoVPIbAeYMvYD0biz23z8tXN81iZuWL9i-bdlTvQwyF2NwGafuq-Nl28/s1600/IMG_0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv05eTx4i1ALIqthoviDcW3NEY4fPRMcuxFU1ossfxRftgXYursWGkctK3Wn2cTbxN4KuFFe09Y9h7PZsuuydwoVPIbAeYMvYD0biz23z8tXN81iZuWL9i-bdlTvQwyF2NwGafuq-Nl28/s320/IMG_0006.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Leeds Record made by the Talk - O - Phone Company. Also known as Leeds and Catlin. They are known to many in the recording collecting, research world. It is an uncommon label. It is one of the most beautiful labels to grace a piece of hard rubber and shellac.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">They were around in the first decade of the 20th century and produced some interesting, although not the most well recorded pieces. They did not really have a vast powerhouse of patent support for what they did. They infringed on the many Victor and Columbia patents that existed and to these companies they were more an annoyance than a heavy competitor. But they did sell records. There was many a court battle with both companies and finally by 1909 the company had assumed room temp.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">What is also interesting about this company is that they did not let a song that they wanted pass their grasp even if they could not get artists to record it. They were not above just dubbing recordings from other companies stock. I have listened to a number of these recordings and you can easily hear the dubbed recordings. These were often by bands, orchestras, singers and the like. I have also noticed that the records that were dubbed seemed to be shaped different. I have found that most of the Leeds that were directly recorded have a raised area on the outer rim of the record. Those that I have seen (that is not too many) that were dubbed did not have this? Also I found crude numbers written in reverse rather than stamped in reverse which was their practice. But the written number had nothing to do with the record number. So in many respects the label and company leaves more questions than answers.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There are perhaps more than ten labels that resulted from this company. Most were quick lived and used to divert attention perhaps from the courts, Victor or Columbia. Perhaps the most successful of the labels they put out was the Imperial label. It seems to have been the most successful and long lived of their short lived company. Many other labels by this company were put out for short periods of time and used the Imperial, Leeds, perhaps anyone's masters. I though I would share a few of these labels with you. I was looking around and pulled out a few examples of Talk-O-Phone records on other labels. I am not showing all of the labels, just a few to give you a taste. What is interesting is how widespread the use of Imperial masters were on other labels. Lastly, the Talk-O-Phone masters found their way to grace the labels of many other companies in the early part of the 20th century.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDInB71dmRejIrEXTrC5uzUH-xwlVPutGJbI-LxF_uDpogsC_zbbYJxv8s9oNhme8aRAKFa5p4J0nfiPMBI1xf2bmNhFWLmg7DSfX2c2bgZD7B35a9lhhWckT9rdkaVePAxANtNLAco-0/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDInB71dmRejIrEXTrC5uzUH-xwlVPutGJbI-LxF_uDpogsC_zbbYJxv8s9oNhme8aRAKFa5p4J0nfiPMBI1xf2bmNhFWLmg7DSfX2c2bgZD7B35a9lhhWckT9rdkaVePAxANtNLAco-0/s320/IMG_0003.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="319" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This Busy-Bee record uses a Talk-O-Phone master. There were many recordings on this label made from Imperial masters. The Busy-Bee records were unique in that they just used other companies masters under their own label. Most of the masters were of early and obsolete performances that had no real appeal to the large companies but to the buyers who bought records on a tight budget. Busy-Bee was a wonder for them.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBdti6uyVvXg1nxebMIAXibLI21By9x4V2FZGZTA61OHxqJivIj0F-bixxOGtHoGqGp4dt8l-5UNGGG5c8648c1lNSV2hUpGss26s8uJQPxltC-mI_SrN60es4aGpGWfxMD2NLSm-RDs/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBdti6uyVvXg1nxebMIAXibLI21By9x4V2FZGZTA61OHxqJivIj0F-bixxOGtHoGqGp4dt8l-5UNGGG5c8648c1lNSV2hUpGss26s8uJQPxltC-mI_SrN60es4aGpGWfxMD2NLSm-RDs/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Here we have an Oxford disc record using a Talk-O-Phone master. Oxford was a Sears and Roebuck Company label that like Busy Bee made none of their own recordings. They just used usually but not always older matrices from companies like Zonophone, Columbia, Talk-O-Phone, every now and then Victor and what ever else might find its way cheaply to them. It appears that the Oxford label was produced in a rather high quality way. Since a vast majority of its output was Zonophone masters. It makes sense to assume that Victor was involved in their making.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Many of these companies would remove spoken announcements from the masters that they sold or leased to Oxford. This was for several reasons. First off, it would look rather awkward to have an Oxford record proudly proclaim it was a Columbia one. Secondly, it allowed many companies to used some of their ancient masters dating back to 1901 and give them a second life. There were many early Columbia masters around dating from 1901-02 making records for these secondary labels till the later part of the nineteen teens. The lack of an announcement would at least hide the fact that the new records were being made from masters that dated from a year or two of the McKinley assassination.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Sun Record was another short lived Talk-O-Phone record label that used some great talent and perhaps borrowed a little from here and there. Henry Burr (Harry McClaskey) one of the leading recording artists of the time is featured here. Having a singer like Burr would makes sales take off as he was one of the most popular singers on record at the time.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Nassau label was another short lived label of the Talk-O-Phone Company. Made also in the Plant that seems to have made everything. I have heard that the pressings for most of these recordings were in Connecticut, but outside of that I can sadly not say much but say that these records are tremendously rare today.</span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzxySCYbWp1LUjL0m7aOwnWKWT5CpnNmr8JF4r6V2idxpVPsnVfTW2vZtjPO-OKTjW5cEID0OzzEnqaSkz1uI8rfpD6a0ebUtwHYXSgOB-EDQVd1ZYNaemwk-PGTmoAC6H1N_St3GOQo/s1600/IMG_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #956839; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzxySCYbWp1LUjL0m7aOwnWKWT5CpnNmr8JF4r6V2idxpVPsnVfTW2vZtjPO-OKTjW5cEID0OzzEnqaSkz1uI8rfpD6a0ebUtwHYXSgOB-EDQVd1ZYNaemwk-PGTmoAC6H1N_St3GOQo/s320/IMG_0005.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Here is another quick and late label of the Talk-O-Phone Company. The Sir Henri label. This was a double sided disc made in the 1908-09 period. Right at the end of the companies life. I cannot say anything much about this label except it is also amazingly rare today. It is perhaps one of the last labels put out by the company. The company would be out of business by 1909 and its history and products would fall into total oblivion. But now as researchers dig and study. Our understandings and knowledge of these rare recordings will expand. </span><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff3db; color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I write this on the date of 12/12/12. The last records of the company were made well over 103 years ago. I am sure as times goes on some diligent researcher will find out much more than those of us who have studied this from the 1970's. In the 1970's when I started collecting and researching no one knew much of anything about this company. Nor did we have the wonder of the age....The internet. New technology is helping old technology to be found, shared, and explored. I will look to see if I can add some more labels to this article. I am sure I have some put away somewhere.</span>Jack Stanleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00630287034140371292noreply@blogger.com0