[78-L] Vinyl Record Day Aug 12

[David Lennick]

Picky, picky, picky.

 

dl


 
> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:38:49 -0400
> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: [78-L] Vinyl Record Day Aug 12
> 
> Oy vey. I just got a newsletter posting about Vinyl Record Day being 
> celebrated on Aug 12 because that is the day Edison invented the phonograph.
> 
> http://www.musicstack.com/articles/vinyl-record-day-attemptinggain-momentum
> 
> Here is the correction I sent. I hope they use it:
> 
> "August 12 is NOT the day Edison invented the phonograph. That was 
> November 29, 1877 with the Mary had a little lamb recording done on 
> December 6. Aug 12 was a made-up date when they couldn't find the 
> actual lab drawings in the 1920s. They took a later drawing of a 
> tinfoil machine and Edison wrote "Kreuzi Make this Edison Aug 12, 
> 1877" Since he misspelled his worker's name, someone tried correcting 
> it first to Kreusi, and then finally to the correct spelling Kruesi. I 
> have copies of publications of all four versions, blank with no 
> inscription and all three spellings. When the Nov 29 lab sheet was 
> discovered, Kruesi, Charles Batchelor, and Edison had all signed it.
> 
> In 1927 they did use this fictitious Aug 12 date for a celebration and 
> 50 years later the Edison National Historic Site used that date to 
> celebrate the 50th anniv of that 50th anniv celebration. They also had 
> a small ceremony on Dec 6. 
> 
> If you need proof from an official source, contact Jerry Fabris, 
> <Gerald_Fabris at nps.gov> Museum Curator,Thomas Edison National Historical 
> Park, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, 
> 211 Main Street, West Orange, New Jersey 07052."
> 
> +++++++++++
> 
> I noted some other errors of fact in the posting and then sent this 
> second correction:
> 
> "You have another set of fictional stories in your posting. There were 
> no vinyl records in the 1920s. Most of them were made of a shellac 
> compound. Vinyl was not used until 1931 when RCA Victor issued their 
> first 33 1/3 Long Playing records. Which leads to the next points. Gen. 
> DAVID Sarnoff (not his son Robert) did not storm out of the meeting with 
> Columbia angry at his engineers, he knew they HAD been developing the 45 
> since 1940 in a project called "Madame X". I have photocopies of the 
> original recording ledger sheets of this project as proof. It started 
> as a 6 1/2-inch 40 RPM disc and by 1942 was a 7-inch 45 RPM. I can give 
> you exact details of the experimental recordings from the early 40s. 
> And your comparison with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates is bogus because 
> there was nothing new or patentable with the Columbia LP. RCA Victor 
> and others had already used 33 1/3, vinyl, and microgrooves. Columbia 
> could not have stopped anyone from duplicating their process, and 
> couldn't collect a dime in royalties. And one other thing, Alex 
> Steinweiss did not invent album cover art. I recently did a 
> presentation in New Orleans with photographs and release dates of at 
> least 200 illustrated album covers that had been issued by a dozen 
> labels prior to Steinweiss's first in April 1940. He was copying what 
> other companies had already been doing. Decca had already issued about 
> 125 albums starting Nov 1937 and there were illustrated covers on 
> Liberty Music Shop, Music Box, Musicraft, Blue Note, Commodore, HMV, 
> Victor, Brunswick, Bluebird, Vocalion, and even Columbia. Steinweiss 
> was not anywhere near being first."
> 
> 
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