[78-L] Bell, Western Electric and Orthophonics

[James Tennyson]

Michael......I have been dying to learn about the EMI electrical experiments 
for that past 25 years!!  Do tell!!
I've found out lots about English Columbia's experiments under the direction 
of W.S. Purser...but little about HMV other than the fact that they were in 
fact experimenting.
 Jim Tennyson
Message: 9
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:34:07 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Bell, Western Electric and Orthophonics
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID: <493D5A8F.7090602 at mbiel.com>
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David Lennick wrote:
> Michael Biel wrote:
>
>> Western Electric .... continued to experiment with electrical recordings 
>> of
>> music from the weekly New York Philharmonic-Symphony on WEAF in 1923 and
>> 24.   These were found at Jim Hatfield's
>>
>
> BY ME! Jim called me and said he had some interesting transcriptions I 
> might
> want to look at. I borrowed everything he had, except for a couple that 
> were
> too badly broken to be playable, taped them and returned them to him.
>
>
>> and are now at the NY Phil.
>>
>
> There were several that were NOT of the Philharmonic..some dance bands, an
> earlier recording of the Associated Glee Clubs of America etc..I wonder 
> where
> those went?
>
>
>> Which reminds me that I need to transfer off the R-DAT I made of them
>> when Kurt loaned them to me.  I just found that tape yesterday, in fact. 
>> MB
>>
>
> Steve Smolian drove up to see them right after I'd returned them and used 
> 4 or
> 5 of those sides in the New York Philharmonic Anniversary box set. Kurt 
> came
> along later. And this reminds me that I'd better put my transfers (on open
> reel, on good stuff) onto something digital as well.
>
> dl
>
Kurt couldn't have come along later because Steve and/or the Phil got
the discs from Kurt after I told Steve about them after I had returned
them to Kurt.  No sides have been reissued that were not in the batch
that Kurt loaned me.  We ought to compare our lists.  Did you dub off
the pop stuff too, because the only non-Phil that was in the batch was
one horribly distorted disc of an operatic soprano.  Playing those discs
in chronological order (the dates were well marked) shows how the
quality of the system improved over the two years.

Just last night I got into a file cabinet I hadn't been able to get to
in a decade and discovered correspondence and a tape from Leonard Petts
that was about EMI's pre-1925 electrical experiments and a tape of a
1924 master.  There is also a mention of the use of a stroboscope
purchased from Victor in 1925 -- I'll discuss this later -- that is the
proof I needed for my contention of the use of strobe discs in the 20s.

More details when I have time.  I've got to do some videotape inserts of
Jim Walsh articles in Hobbies and some Billboard covers and charts and a
couple of Victor records and send them off to Leah for her documentary.
The paper stuff is to cover references made by Tim Brooks (she also used
some photos Tim had taken of Jim and Jim's cats) and the labels are to
illustrate a comment you (Lennick) made about when you were taught long
ago about the difference between Grand Prize and Batwing labels. (We
should have had you pull out samples from your collection, but we'll
fill in from mine.  It's only about 3 seconds.)  She is going to have a
screening and a defense of the documentary on the18th and this stuff has
to go out express mail so she can insert them tomorrow.  You guys are
gonna love this documentary.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com