[78-L] Alex Steinweiss article

Mon Dec 28 05:48:13 PST 2009

This is what I sent the writer -

Dear Ms. Bradner,

I just read with interest your article on Alex Steinweiss, "Father of Album Art" in Sunday's Times. As
a member of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, I
participated in an online discussion recently as to how Steinweiss or
his representatives at his publisher have been misinforming the public
as to his role in the development of album cover art. Although he did
revolutionize the art form with his work for Columbia Records, he was
by far NOT the first to use artwork on 78 rpm record albums. There have
been many instances dating back at least to the 1920s that did this. It's a
shame the distortions of Steinweiss's are muddying his reputation as a
true pioneer of the art form. 

Also - to clarify something that
you wrote: "At the time, most albums were packaged in plain brown paper
sleeves with no lyrics or credits." This makes me wonder how familiar
you are with record packaging in those years. Although single 78 rpm
releases were issued in brown sleeves, they always had logos for the
record company printed on them, usually with some kind of advertisements
for other releases. Albums were actually hard cardboard folders with
individual pages containing the records - hence the word "album" was
invented (today, a CD is still absurdly called an album despite the
fact that there are no pages at all). The covers of the albums always
had some kind of identification and in many cases, artwork. Inside the
album was either a descriptive essay, credits, or song selection
listings pasted on the inside front cover. Sometimes there were
miniature booklets or other explanatory notes inserted into the album.
Your article makes it look like Steinweiss invented all of this
single-handedly, which he decidedly did not.

Anyway, I suppose
any publicity concerning the history of the manufacturing and marketing
of 78 rpm records is better than nothing, but I would hope that, as a journalist, you would research more thoroughly your subject, rather than
taking as fact what publishers' publicity departments feed you.

Sincerely,

Cary Ginell
Thousand Oaks

> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:09:26 -0700
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article
> 
> I've just submitted this comment to the on-line comments section of this
> article using my name, not a handle.  No comments have been posted yet,
> so this might be the first IF it gets approved.  If Cary has written
> directly to her, that should be the confirmation of what I have
> submitted.  If others of you do likewise, that will help.  If this does
> not appear, you all have been notified that it had been submitted.  
> 
> 
> "Once again the myth that before Steinweiss records were  packed in
> plain brown wrappers has been bought hook, line, and sinker by a writer
> who is not a record collector, and has not done independent research in
> an archive or collection.  By the time Steinweiss was hired by the newly
> reorganized Columbia in 1940, Decca Records had a six year history with
> their series of 200 albums with illustrated covers, often with
> photographic inside-covers and booklets with extensive notes.   There is
> a heritage of illustrated album covers dating back before 1910. 
> Descriptive written notes appeared with all Edison cylinders and discs
> starting in 1912.  Steinweiss is an inventive and imaginative
> illustrator and artist, but he did not invent the concept of illustrated
> record album covers, he merely convinced HIS company to start competing
> with Decca's six year-old series of  illustrated covers.   His first
> cover (C-11 by Richard Rodgers)  was not THE first illustrated cover, it
> was only HIS first illustrated cover, and the first for the newly
> reorganized Columbia."
> 
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  
> 
>     
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> From: Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com>
> 
> Well, it won't do any good if you don't write. At least I said something
> and maybe...MAYBE the writer will do more research the next time. I
> write reviews for a local paper and I get very few letters from people.
> But when I do, I take notice, unless it's some crackpot from some
> obscure organization with a bone to pick....hey, wait. That's me.
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
> > From: dlennick at sympatico.ca
> > Think it'll do any good? I don't. Writers with no frame of reference grab 
> > whatever they can find, and we've been arguing this matter (as well as 
> > Steinweiss not being the first to come up with illustrated album covers) as 
> > long as I've been on this list. I didn't realize Steinweiss was still alive. 
> > Someone should tell HIM to clarify these matters, don't you think? Or is he 
> > beyond the point of giving credible interviews?
> > 
> > Here's another example of misinformation becoming permanent. Earlier today I 
> > was looking for links to a Heritage LP of Alan Jay Lerner songs, since someone 
> > had said it contained the only uncensored recording of "My Mother's Wedding 
> > Day" with its original lyrics. It doesn't contain that song, as it happens. But 
> > every link to that LP that I checked misquoted the catalog number, including 
> > one that showed the album cover which has the correct number on it, H-0060. One 
> > person listed it as H-0600 and everyone else copied it. Amazing.
> > 
> > dl
> > 
> > Cary Ginell wrote:
> > > The Los Angeles Times-and-Throwaway had another article perpetuating the myth that Alex Steinweiss "invented" album cover art. It's plain that the author of the article knew nothing about the subject, saying that before Steinweiss came along, albums "were packaged in plain brown paper sleeves with no lyrics or credits." If we can bombard her with complaints about her article, maybe a clarification will be printed. Her name is Liesl Bradner and she can be reached directly at liesl.bradner at latimes.com. Be polite. She know not what she hath wrought. I've already written to her.
> > > 
> > > http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/12/alex-steinweiss-father-of-album-art.html
> > > 
> > > Cary Ginell
> 
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