Mid-night crooks and "The Voice in Time"

Who are these three funny guys? 

Well, we ought to know that first guy(Len Spencer), but the other two could stump some of us. The second is George Emerson, and the third is Clyde Emerson. These three rough-and-tumblers seem to have pulled off an interesting heist back in 1897, one that has been causing all sorts of buzz among the brown wax community this past week. This heist of a sort was pulled off in early 1897(just as the U.S. Phonograph company was collapsing), and in fact, speaking of the U.S. company, it seems that this was part of what led to their demise. So after reading the other record blog that was all read, it seems that Russell Hunting wasn't the only one of these studio stars who was arrested in the 1890's. Len Spencer and those infernal Emerson's were also taken out of that studio by the men in blue. 

The three of them crooks went to their U.S. Company headquarters in Newark(I hope late at night!) and took a hundred records as it says(around 100 would be my guess, keep in mind that it's just three guys...) from that company and brought them to be sold to a company of "rival concern",which is probably Columbia at this point of time. The case was brought to court, with them three handed $2,500 in bail(hot damn that's a lot of money!), but were soon discharged upon having no strong stance on the case. 

So that's it?

Yes, essentially with all the evidence. 

But hold on! There's more to it...This is clearly an inside job, a very complicated story, much more so than it lends itself to be. This is one of those things that just can't be a small thing, with a bail set over the amount that Victor Emerson put aside for George W. Johnson, something ain't right to me...As with anything Emerson or Columbia related, there's some really tangled up backstory that involves several recording stars, as well as deals between rival companies. The U. S. Company was a sinking ship in 1896-97,and everyone had to get their way off into the water. Spencer was in an uncomfortable position for sure, since he had such strong and long lasting ties to U.S., but was being led on a string back to Columbia, since that's where he started, and that's where they wanted him. A similar story must have been attached to Edward Issler, though Issler was not nearly as valuable to the management(he would be the most valuable if managers really cared about musicians), however, he did have an important role at U.S. that succeeding pianists hadn't, the knowledge of the technical aspect. Everyone eventually were saved by Columbia, but it was a long and almost deadly process, as it always was with Columbia during any transition. Spencer just after this heist had pledged his services to Columbia, which is also a little fishy. Come on, you can't just see this as being a smoothly moving thing that just happened. Spencer got busted for it, and so did the two "lesser" Emerson brothers. Victor Emerson may not have been charged, but it's got to be for certain that he had some hand in this late-night raid. 

(a cartoon I did parodying this heist)

Even with the lack of names(unlike the Johnson trial), there must have been at least a dozen other sleazy hustlers involved in this raid, they just sent out the best hustlers to go and steal the records themselves to be sold. I'm sure brother Harry(Spencer) had a piece of this too, since Harry at this point wasn't fully set as a recording artist solely. Recall that at this time (early-1897) Harry was more of a salesman and repairman than a recording artist. It would seem in this case that everyone we might think who would have a hand in this probably did. Considering Columbia's rampant legal squad, they were sure to brush this off quick no matter what happened. Hopefully we'll be able to learn more about his rather hilarious bust with Columbia. It's always fun to read about these stars getting into trouble like this, whether it has to do with recording or not.

Now to move to Fred Gaisberg!

We all have grown to love this crazy guy, and I have most certainly done so, along the course of reading this lovely book:

(Thanks Charlie!)

At this point, I am over half way through the thing, and the first night I started reading it got through 90 pages. I already have written about the first two to three chapters in a previous blog post, but this time, since I've the book right here, I will get to quoting some of Gaisberg's priceless and utterly snobbish remarks about those he met places he went. 

Here's one of the first lines from chapter three:

The man finally selected[to manage Berliner's London outpost]for this task was William Barry Owen, a legal assistant to Frank Seaman...

"Berliner could have selected no finer agent than Owen to exploit his invention. He was an opportunist of quick decision and a bold gambler...You would always find him sitting at the stiffest game of poker in the smoking room...and his eyes would bulge as he laid a full house on the table...He brought to London an infectious enthusiasm and energetic leadership which I believe was quite new to the conservative English city man of that day."

That's most certainly Gaisberg's writing at it's finest...his descriptions and diction were just fantastic to every degree. When he wasn't describing a type of foreign music with his European eye, the images he painted through words otherwise were unbiased and nicely structured, giving us a very real and somewhat raw vision into the early recording business. 

His description of the old man Giuseppe Verdi was just as intriguing as his vibrant imagery of his first visits to Milan and Rome:

I often saw the venerable Verdi, who would regularly take an afternoon drive in an open landau drawn by two horses. People would stand on the curb and raise their hats in salute as the carriage proceeded down Via Manzoni to the park. A frail, transparent wisp of a man, but the trim of his pure white beard so corresponded with the popular picture of him that one could not fail to identify him. 

That pretty much sums up Verdi. Gaisberg and Willie Darby were utterly overwhelmed by the culture and constant vigor of Milan the first and few times they went. Being ever surrounded by lovely art, music, and people seemed to overwhelm Gaisberg at first, though after a little while he grew used to the culture.

I hate to move a little out of chronological order, but this book keeps opening to other important pages with Gaisberg's unequalled descriptions, here is his rather cute description of Alfred Clark around 1897:

He was, I remember, a youth big an well-proportioned, perfectly dressed in a tailor-made suit which, in those days of "off-the-peg" clothes[what does that mean?] (which I and even Berliner wore) struck a note of distinction. Further, his dark eyes and curly brown hair set off by a boyish blush whenever he spoke, made him irresistible[hmm mmm...interesting choice of words there], quite apart from the shadow of the great Edison.[That's where he worked before then]

That's a lovely description, and makes me laugh, since he and Clark lived adjacent one another above Berliner's studio from 1896 to 1897, and went to all sorts of shows and got plenty of bonding time in, whilst also learning of the business and local culture in Washington and in Philadelphia. 

Gaisberg's time from August 17th and 18th of 1899 is one of the absolute best two days in sequence throughout his entire years of travel. In these two days, he was traveling with Darby in Spain to France:

Thursday Aug. 17th 99. Plaza de Montesino, Valencia...

Here again the terrible uncertainty of whether to proceed to Libson or return to Madrid seized us, and for two hours we sat discussing the pros and cons. Our fate was decided when we discovered out luggage was already placed on the relief train and we sprung aboard...[then] the station-master informed us no connections for Libson would be made that day, but if we waited for Mañana('tomorrow') connections would surely be made. 

Already knowing that a Spaniard's 'tomorrow' means 'never'[haha], we quickly had our luggage transferred to the Madrid train and at 7 o'c p.m. we re-journeyed over the same ground travelled last night--sad, tired and provoked. However, before starting we invested 9p. in a sausage three rolls, and a bottle of wine. This we tackled with great relish, as we were nearly famished. 

The night was awfully close, and as these European railroad carriages give no draft9as there is no vestibule) we suffered awfully from the heat and thirst caused by the salty sausage

Friday Aug. 18th 99.

We entered Madrid at 8 in the morning...arriving at the station we finally accomplished the difficult task of registering trunks, and tried to find a place in the coach--but they were full. At last, finding an empty seat, I jumped in and sat down just as a fat matron with a bitter tongue claimed it. I refused to move, and she plumped down in my lap and there remained, while Darby on the outside frantically ram about looking for me. At last I gave her a push and slipped out from beneath her and she fell back into the seat with a jar. Then Darby got in, and as the fat woman got out of the car to give the seat to her daughter for whom she was preserving it, Darby slapped himself into it, and immediately two men and the old woman yelled and pulled and tugged and punched at him. Finally he had to give it up, and with a long face squeezed himself in a place opposite, and then it was my turn to laugh[indeed so Fred!].

Well, the ride was the worst I ever endured. This was our third successive night on a train--and that in a car so crowded that one had to sleep as in a strait-jacket.

What a trip! Hot damn that sounds absolutely awful, but it's genuinely a hilarious story that sums up most of their journeys together. 

Many of us can get to wondering about Fred's love life, and luckily, there's a lot of it scattered throughout this book, and it seemed impulsive of him to be describing the women around him any time they were met. Of course, he knew that he's never actually settle with a lady, and with his constant state of moving from place to place, his status of bachelor seemed inevitable, no matter how long the traveling with Darby lasted. Here's a particularly interesting little affair from Feb. of 1900 while back at home base in London:

25th, Sunday...

I went to take Miss Waite's package to Miss Edell's, and there spent a delightful afternoon, at the same time taking tea with them. Returning to town. I dropped in at the Horse Show, and to my great surprise who should I see sitting there but Henrietta. I hardly recognised her at first. She looked entirely prosperous, and decked out in fine dressed an jewels. She tried to urge me to enter old associations with her, but I stoutly resisted the magnetism of her beautiful brown eyes. She waxed most furious. What an uncontrollable passion this spoilt beauty has!

26th. Monday

After work Henrietta met me at the office, where we had a short dance and singing[aww...what a cute picture...].Then after supper we went to the gallery of the Savoy theater to see The Rose of Persia on Newton's invitation. She followed me me all the way to my Kensington lodgings, where I abruptly left her.

How interesting. It really fascinated me to read such writings of his, since we would normally never hear this side of him. He seems confused in this whole love matter...but at the same time all mad about it. It's truly charming to gather his feelings about being kinda in love. He hadn't the best of luck with this matter it seems. 

Here's an interesting picture from just a few months later. This was taken of the family when he visited for Christmas:

I'm sure you can guess where Fred is. 

Their long and grueling trips to Russia were chock full of mockery for Gaisberg. He reveled in how ignorant the Russian opera audiences were, cheering madly at a single performer who wasn't even adequate(at least to what Gaisberg had experienced). But after a horridly busy week of recording and traveling in Russia, this horrid mess befell them in their room:

About 2 a.m...

We were awakened by a terrible battering on our door. The porter and three or four others wanted to know what terrible happenings were going on, the room below was all dripping with what might be blood or something deadly, and was falling on the face of the sleeping occupant. We went into our 'lab' and to our dismay found a bucket filled with old acid had sprung a leak, and the floor was flooded...The bright red fluid dripped through the ceiling on to the sleeping guest; when his body began to smart[interesting word choice there...]he roused the hotel. We had the disagreeable task of sopping it up in our nightshirts, and expecting the manager up every moment to pitch us out bag and baggage. 

What a horrid thing! That would have freaked me out if I had been that other hotel occupant. Certainly I would have been convinced it was blood a-dripping on my face! 

Oh how there's so much more to write here from this lovely book, but there's no way I could quote everything  that was curious, since his descriptions of eastern music and instruments  are very interesting, while at the same time also strongly judgemental. He wasn't easy with his words on eastern music and instruments. He didn't revel as much being in Japan as he ought to have. His time in India and the middle east especially was curious to him. It seemed he took a great fascination with these nations, and took many candid pictures of the street people and musicians. This book is an overload of information and quotes, since Gaisberg lived a fuller life than anyone I have ever studied. Such the amount of travel he did is more than anyone would hope to travel in an entire lifetime, and he did that much travel in 10 years, or even less. He seemed to have most enjoyed Milan throughout his time of travel, since he revisited the place very often, and spoke the highest of everything there. He seemed to have disliked the long grueling trips to Russia, and seriously disliked the music of Japanese opera. His tastes dramatically changed from his days back at Columbia in 1889! Never would he have guessed he'd be in the studio with the masters of Italian opera just 15 years later...

Over time, I will use quotes from this book, since there are so many more, and I have to finish reading it of course. Remember, I'm only just over halfway through!

Hope you enjoyed this!

First families of the Phonograph business

A rather common thing among these early recording stars is the fact that more than one sibling worked in the business. It usually began with one family member getting into the business. Most of the time the single misfit of the family got into the business, but occasionally, more than one of the family joined after the other did so. It's strange that this seems to be a pattern in the early business of recording, more so than many would think at first. The Spencer's probably come to mind at first, but there were more families with misfit children who joined recording early on. Sometimes it ended up being husband and wife in the business, but most of the time it was siblings following each other around in the studio. 

The most famous of these families in the early business is the Spencer's. 

Len 

and Harry(the taller one here)

These two brothers were all over the early recording and film business. It seemed natural for brother Harry to catch the bug that his older brother Len got in 1888. Harry came into the business in 1895-1896, more as a salesman and repairman than his brother. He was more of a film enthusiast when he began, which sets him apart from Len. 

(an advertisement for Harry in 1896, from The Phonoscope). 

It seemed inevitable for Harry to tag along with Len in the business, as he had been interested in the technology since 1888 like Len, but he was too young to join back then. He waited until he was 20 to set up his own shop and experiment with film and projectors. While Len was doing the frivolous work in the studios, Harry was working with machinery. Their wives must have been alone at home a whole lot, and probably often became tired of their frequent absence. The lady to really wonder about here is Len's wife, since it's hard to imagine him being married, with children. It's said that Jim Walsh interviewed her, but of course we can't all see those fantastic articles he wrote. 

By 1897, Len and Harry were both working in the same studio, doing the same work at the studio as well. They often took turns announcing takes and handling sound effects, which Harry had to learn how to do from Len. They almost never worked on the same recording early on, which is a little strange, but makes some sense. It seems as though they new that they sounded almost identical on recordings, so both of them speaking on a single recording would get confusing rather quick. After 1900, this occurred a little more often. There are recordings such as this one that help us in trying to distinguish the brothers, but make us realize why they weren't on the same recording very often. Oddly enough, Harry's speech is often a little harder to understand than Len's, with a sort of lisp, accompanied with a dialect thicker than Len's. Some of Harry's announcements sound a little strange with this factor. After 1900, Harry was the chief announcer for the Columbia orchestra, essentially doing what Len did before 1900. Pretty much all of the Columbia orchestra announcements were by Harry from 1901-1905, with occasional anomalies, occasional takes announced by Dan Quinn or Joe Belmont, which doesn't make much sense, but it did happen. 

One of Harry's strange announcements sounded like this:

War-shington Pos' Ma'ch, played by Sousa's band-- fo' Columbia Phonograph com'pny of New Yo'k an Loondon

Yep, that's about right. The only reason I haven't the link shared to the recording is because it's one of those links I cannot share publicly. That's the closest I can get to writing it out exactly as he said it, because the lisp he had is very hard to write out. It's much like how he and Hylands sound on this 1898 cylinder. It's very odd, but interesting all the same, because Spencer's announcements were not nearly as weird, such as his on this late-1897 cylinder.

If I were to phonetically decipher Len's announcement in the cylinder just above, here's how it goes:

I thought I was a winna' , er I don' know you ain't so wa'm--played by Columbia orchestra,  fo' Col' umbi' Phonograph company a New Yo'k an Paris.

It's still a little queer, but it's not nearly as much so as the announcements of this brother. Also, the rest of the recording in the link just above is great, please listen to the rest of it! It's a very early piece of authentic Rag-Time, from 1897. Other than the two dynamic Spencer's, there were also the Emerson's who dominated Columbia's studio at the same time. 

Victor Hugo Emerson entered the recording business in 1890, when he was working as a telegraph operator. He began as a helper of Columbia's newly formed company in Washington, but the next year he became the manager of the U. S. Phonograph company, of which he kept up until 1896. In 1897, when Columbia moved to 27th and Broadway in New York, he was their studio manager. We may know of Victor as the infamous studio manager for Columbia, but his brothers George and Clyde were also running around that studio at the same time. These boys were a bunch of misfits, beginning with Victor, who was the second of the four Emerson boys. Victor and Georgie(as they called him) took turns running daily recording activity at Columbia in 1898 to 1900, with George more often than not the engineer on many of the brown wax Columbia's that we listen to. 

(a cartoon I did of Georgie Emerson)

Victor may have been strange and disliked, but George was more highly regarded by the Columbia staff, especially since he was a better engineer and was much less tightly laced than Victor. The studio stars felt more comfortable around him than Victor, because Victor was high in the management, George wasn't, and seemed more rebellious and interesting then Vic. In a few editions of The Phonoscope, George was mocked for being rebellious and the polar opposite of his brother. This makes the Emerson's ever more interesting, because it seems that Victor wasn't the black sheep oddly enough, despite him being the first to enter the phonograph business. It must be noted that George was born in Oakland California(yay! not far from me!), and that he was the youngest of the Emerson boys, so there's a reason that he didn't join the business until 1897. He was 21 when he joined Victor and Clyde at Columbia. 

When Victor was running the studio, the stars had to behave themselves, but when George or Charles Carson were there, it was work just as usual. Victor must not have been proud of his brother George straying from the good name of the Emerson's, though being involved in recording was the first step in doing this, George escalated this fact. The Emerson's remained together in the recording business until the early 1920's, when Victor was running his own label, the Emerson label. 

We are well aware of the Berliner family being involved in early recording, not just Emile being the only one who did this. It began with Emile, making his label seem more like a family business, with the studio being managed by a bunch of misfit teenage boys. Their family to-day are advocates for spreading the history of their family, and keeping the history alive. This is much like the Quinn family, who are continuing to do just the same as the Berliner family, even if it was relatively recently that they began doing this. 

Since Berliner hired a bunch of misfit teenagers, it seemed inevitable for him to dig up Fred Gaisberg, as well as his brother Willie, both of whom worked for Berliner. Willie was a few years younger than Fred, but they both worked for Berliner from 1893 to 1898, and the both of them went out on quests that took them around the world for the sake of recording. 

Another group of brothers who dominated Columbia's studio in the 1890's were also involved in its management--the Dorian's. 

 Frank Dorian(in the center) was Columbia's first studio manager, beginning this job in 1889. Frank remembered recording Len Spencer in the earliest days, when Spencer had to do everything himself, and when he was coming in just to take parts from machines to repair his father's office phonograph. The other two Dorian's helped around with Frank, since he was running Columbia's studio in that period of uncertainty in 1892-1895. When Frank was sent out to Paris in 1897 to run Columbia there, brother John(seen at the left in the picture above) went with him, and also went on other voyages with fellow recording stars who were performing in England and France, such as Russell Hunting and Burt Shepard, and later Steve Porter. Marion(at the right) was not as involved in these ventures, though he helped out Frank in his management job out in Washington DC, and later went out to Paris to do the same. The Dorian's more specifically Frank and John, remained in the recording business into as late as the Emerson's did, if not a few years later, since Frank lived into the 1930's, he had a million stories to tell, and it's great that Jim Walsh was able to interview him. Dorian was surprisingly sharp when Walsh interviewed him, much like when Quinn wrote his letters to Walsh around the same time. Dorian seemed a little bitter though, more so that Quinn, who was the optimist, clearly observed from his letters. Thinking of the fact that Dorian was Columbia's manager in the early days, it's not surprising that he seemed a little bitter later in life, all we can say to that is that it's good Walsh didn't interview Emerson. 

Whew, that would be rough going. I almost don't want to imagine an interview with old man Emerson. Same goes for Edward Easton. 

Before I finish, I have to share this FANTASTIC early Rag-Time brown wax that was newly posted on Youtube last evening. 

Here's Len Spencer and Fred Hylands' "Get Your Money's Worth" from 1898. 

What a cylinder! My god! 

The sound of the piano(from what we can hear), is absolutely perfect! It has that perfect sound that only a few Columbia's I've heard have, and it's a sound that really defines what the 1890's sounded like on recordings. 

That's the cover to the music, it's dated the year before this recording, 1897. 

In a way, this can seen a like a motto for the Columbia Company at the time that this was recorded, with the Rag-Time adding to the realistic nature of this statement. I just cannot get over how much I love the sound of the piano on this recording, it's got a similar sound to this J. W. Myers cylinder from the same year, that probably means that these "rounds" were recorded not too far from each other. 

Also, if you look up the sheet music to this song, the lyrics are actually really kind of funny, one of the lines in the first verse reads thus:

you had to be a ragged coon to enter in the hall

such a bunch of ragged japs I neva' did saw

As horribly racist as that is, it's pretty funny, and Spencer singing it is ever better.This is another one of those recordings that Rag-Time freaks and pianists really should take note of, since it's a fantastic example as far as these early brown waxes go. It's not surprising that this is coming from a Spencer and Hylands brown wax, like most of these examples turn out to be. 

That's all the families I'll speak of for now, since there are more, but that will make this post unmanageably long and hard to navigate, more than it already is. 

With that,

Hope you enjoyed this!