[78-L] Fred Gaisberg BBC Radio Biography

[I. Cubillo]

Damen und Herren:

Fred William Gaisberg's memories are a MUST for any collector. As to provide
the needed spiritual feed to our souls of collectors, one must read, at
least:

- Jerry Nolthtrop Moore's "A Matter Of Records"
- Roland Gelatt's "The Fabulous Phonograph"
- Fred W. Gaisberg's "Music On Record", or "The Music Goes Round" (US and UK
editions had different titles)

Maybe too Francis James' "The EMG Story"

These books will give breath to all the romantic part of the hobby in a
collector, talking about the fascinating pioneers of the recording art, al
those long expeditions carried on in the very first days of the XX century,
that have an unarguable connection with all the exciting polar expeditions
of the old days.

After reading Gaisberg's memories, specially, one would feel hungry and
longing to have been able to participate in those early recording days. All
the stories about Berliner, or Edison, or the men at HMV in the UK and
Europe, their expeditions, the technical issues, experiments and all their
fighting for settling a powerful entertainment industry...

Also the Raymond R Sooy memories, or the Paul Vernon articles (Folk Roots,
Vernacular Music) on the recording industry all around the world are also
very formative for the spirit of a FULL HEART collector.

Let's say: one 78 collector will never be the same after having read all
those books; after that, a 78 listening session will be something different,
and 78s will became objects of veneration and respected treasures from the
past.

Too romantic to follow...

Iñigo Cubillo
----- Original Message -----
From: <bruce78rpm at comcast.net>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 11:50 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Fred Gaisberg BBC Radio Biography


> Fantastic stuff. Also worth noting that Gaisberg, prior to his European
involvement with the recording industry, worked for Emile Berliner, and even
played the piano during those earliest of recording sessions for different
laborotories. He even went out on the Streets recruiting some of the
earliest of talent heard on recordings of the mid to late 1890's. To earn 10
bucks a week in those early days, he to find the artists, load up each of
the twenty recording units with cylinders, set the recording horns and play
the piano accompaniments. Some of the early artists that he played
accompaniment for were Dan W. Quinn, Johnny Myers, George Gaskin, Len
Spencer, and Billy Golden. It was Golden according to Gaisberg who invited
him one day to accompany him to see a funny German Man who had been
experimenting with a flat disc talking machine record and wanted to make
some trials. Gaisberg claims he was there to witness the making of the first
Gramophone record when Berliner "Placed
>  a muzzle over Golden's mouth and connected this up by a rubber hose to a
diaphragm, Gaisberg was at the piano, the sounding board of which was also
boxed up and connected to the diaphragm by a hose resembling an elephant's
trunk. Berliner said "are you ready?" and upon both Golden and Gaisberg
answering yes, he began to crank like a barrel-organ and said "Go". the song
finished Berliner stopped cranking, took from the machine a bright zinc disc
and plunged it into an acid bath for a few minutes. Than, taking it out of
the acid, he washed and cleaned the disc. Placing it on a reproducing
machine, also orperated by havnd like a coffe-grinder, he played back the
resulting record from the etched groove. Just how accurate Gaisberg's
rememberances were of those early days, I will leave up to the experts.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Clark" <bill78 at btinternet.com>
> To: 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 4:17:15 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [78-L] Fred Gaisberg BBC Radio Biography
>
>
> Still 4 more days left to listen to the UK BBC radio programme "The First
A&R Man".
>
> An excellent programme with intelligent presentation and some great
archive clips.
> This is the BBC's own introduction:
> Paul Gambaccini delves into EMI's Hayes archive to uncover the remarkable
story of Fred Gaisberg, the music collector, technician and entrepreneur who
brought recording to Britain over 100 years ago.
>
> Fred became the first man to record Caruso and the first to record the
court music of the Chinese and Japanese Emperors. In a series of adventures
in the early years of the 1900s, transporting his bulky apparatus -
including an acid bath - across continents, he amassed hundreds of discs of
indigenous music. Nearer home, he recorded the last ever castrato and made
precious recordings of the great music hall and operatic stars.
>
> Well worth a listen.
>
> Link here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00krhhl
>
> Bill Clark
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l