[78-L] Alex Steinweiss article

Mon Dec 28 15:55:44 PST 2009

Thanks Steve.

Al
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <fnarf at comcast.net>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 6:48 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article

> That's me. Steve Thornton, Seattle, WA.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "simmonssomer" <simmonssomer at comcast.net>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 3:45:25 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article
>
> Who is FNARF?
>
> Al Simmons
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <fnarf at comcast.net>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 3:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article
>
>
>> This is important! While the ramblings of a delightful bunch of old coots
>> is very enjoyable, it's not evidence. People saying "Steinweiss wasn't
>> first" aren't any more reliable than people saying "Steinweiss was first"
>> without some solid documentary proof. Without it, journalists and authors
>> are right to ignore us.
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Cary Ginell" <soundthink at live.com>
>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>> Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 11:52:04 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article
>>
>>
>> Liesl Bradner has asked me for permission to print my comments as a
>> letter-to-the-editor, to be published in next Sunday's L.A. Times 
>> Calendar
>> edition. She also would like to get a link showing examples of 
>> illustrated
>> album design pre-Steinweiss. If anyone has some of the items Mike Biel
>> mentioned and can send me a link or a scan of them, I would appreciate 
>> it.
>> My deadline for getting this in is Wednesday. I will need to trim my
>> letter to make it concise. The way it is now, the Times editors would 
>> hack
>> my current letter to pieces.
>>
>> Cary Ginell
>>
>>> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
>>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>>> Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:40:08 -0700
>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article
>>>
>>> The LA Times has posted my comment with the on-line article.  It would
>>> be nice if the paper would publish as a letter Cary's letter and/or
>>> mine.  I already have put in similar items on Amazon at the several
>>> books about Steinweiss and at several other sites and blogs that have
>>> likewise tried to change history thru ignorance.  But they are bloggers
>>> and this is supposed to be an LA Times journalist.  But considering what
>>> I know about what goes on at the LA Times, I'm not surprised.  My cousin
>>> retired from the LA Times a few years ago from much the same position as
>>> this writer, and about ten years ago I was not able to convince her to
>>> write the TRUTH about the Museum of TV and Radio and she ended up
>>> writing the usual puff piece -- although with a little less enthusiasm
>>> then was originally planned.
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Alex Steinweiss article
>>> From: Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com>
>>> Date: Mon, December 28, 2009 8:48 am
>>> To: <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>>>
>>>
>>> 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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