[78-L] Oskar Preuss

[Kristjan Saag]

Uncle Dave Lewis asked:

> Does anyobne here have some background information on Oskar Preuss? I am 
> told he founded the > English division of Parlophone in 1923 and hired 
> George Martin in 1950. I don't know anything
> about the early history of Parlophone; was it yet another division of 
> Lindstrom?
---
Parlophon was originally the name of a talking machine, produced by the 
Lindstrom company in Berlin. The company was founded by Swedish engineer 
Carl Lindstrom, born in 1869. In the 1890's he emigrated to Germany where he 
established a factory for tools, novelty items and talking machines.
The first letter of his surname, with a dash through it, was used as 
logotype, later to be seen on the Parlophon(e) label.
Subsequently the company was sold to Max Strauss, who established it as a
Limited Company (GmbH) and later (1908) developed it into a joint stock
company (Aktiengesellschaft, AG).
Carl Lindstrom stayed in the company as an inventor and engineer but had 
little to do
with its future success, based on record industry. By 1911 the Lindstrom Co
had acquired Odeon, Beka, Fonotipia and other record labels and
established Parlophon as a record label as well. From then on, and well into
the 20's Carl Lindstrom AG was one of the world's leading record companies,
with branches in India, China, North Africa, South and North America and
most of Europe.
Lindstrom's name remained in the company name for another 50 years, even
after the acquisition by British Columbia in the mid 20's and, in Germany,
after the amalgamation with Electrola to launch the German equivalent to 
EMI:
Lindstrom-Electrola (1931)
Carl Lindstrom died in 1932, leaving two sons, Alfred and Bruno.
Oscar Preuss, BTW, was the A & R man of the British division of Lindstrom.
More at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlophone
Kristjan