[78-L] (European) Recording media - gelatin (?) foils

[Michael Biel]

From: Mike Harkin <xxm.harkin at yahoo.com>
> Bartok was recorded by non-professsionals on old x-ray film
> - from radio broadcasts.  Mike in Plovdiv

Actually, some of those were recorded by "professional" studios, mostly
before the war, 1938, when you would think that there was no shortage
yet of proper recording media.  Hungary was fairly prosperous then. 
X-ray film was used a lot during the Cols War in the Soviet Union.  I
have one example, and I saw a large collection of them in Moscow.  

Gelatin and celluloid sheets were used here in the U.S. in the early 30s
-- the 1933 Gershwin Feenamint programs were professionally recorded on
celluloid sheets and later dubbed to lacquers in 1948 when they showed
the effects of life in Ira Gershwin's attic.  In England there was
gelatin coated on glass around 1932-33.  There was a lot of
experimentation at that time.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com


From: Milan Milovanovic <milanpmilovanovic4 at gmail.com>
>> While listening to these extraordinary samples of Czech jazz
>> recorded during WWII (in 1942.):
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1t8bNQTX4k
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZX-uAU1Yo0
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5yL0_bUwiA
>> I found that they recorded on:
>> Neprofesionálne nahraná fólie Praha 1942
>> In translation, these are: "Instantaneous foils
>> unprofessionally recorded, Prague 1942"
>> Probably they are gelatin foils, fragile and prone to ageing.
>> It is always pleasure to see how many recording surfaces
>> (besides lacquer/acetate/nitrate celluloid) exists during those days.
>>  Milan