Another datapoint. As of maybe 10 years ago, perhaps a couple years further back, there were intact
Vitaphone projectors and some disks in an unused part of the projection booth at the Loews Jersey
Theatre in Jersey City NJ. I saw them with my own eyes. The funding and management situation there
were in flux, so no idea of all that stuff is still present.

Regarding non-Vitaphone work your father did, I think most of the back-catalog of interest to you is
owned by Sony.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Witemeyer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2015 11:39 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] BELL LABS/VITAPOHONE


Wow! what a lot of irons in the fire to follow up on. I do appreciate all this information, and will
see whether I can glean anything from your suggestions. Keep them coming.Thanks again, Barbara

> Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 23:08:36 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] BELL LABS/VITAPOHONE
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> If he goes back as far as the WE experimental recordings of the New York
> Philharmonic and other off the radio line sources in 1922-24, many of those
> discs are at the New York Philharmonic in their Archives and some were in
> the 10 CD set they issued. I was among those involved in finding and
> restoring them and still have a few non-Philharmonic items in the Western
> Electric experimental recording series that were pressed (in the Pathe
> factory in Brooklyn?) I was once told there was a hand-written notebook
> documenting this X- series. I had heard it was in the Sarnoff
> Library-Museum at one time but when I went there to look for it specifically
> in Princeton a few months before the Library closed, neither the librarian
> not I could find it. I believe much of the content of that library is at
> the Camden Historical Society. Incidemtally, Vitaphonr and other U.S. film
> synchro-discs were also pressed by RCA and, possibly, Brunswick.
>
> This is a "blind men describing an elephant by feeling it" story. Tim
> Brooks worked on the 4 volume matrix numerical covering the commercial
> records. Ross Laird did a similar study of Brunswick. The folks at Santa
> Barbara are publishing much Victor material on line from your period. Check
> DAHR. They include much fugitive stuff. Also check Mike Biel's thesis on
> transcription discs. He's also an ARSC member. And so much passes through
> dealer Kurt Nauk's hands including some of the Philharmonic "X" pressings
> that he may have a part of the story as well.
>
> You might plan on attending the ARSC conference in Bloomington this coming
> May.
>
> This is off the top of my head. Some corporate names may be approximate.
>
> Steve Smolian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barbara Witemeyer
> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2015 1:23 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] BELL LABS/VITAPOHONE
>
> Hello ARSCI'm writing a biography of my father, Stanley Watkins, who was
> instrumental in the development of the Vitaphone system at Bell Labs. With
> Sam Warner he produced the soundtracks for Don Juan and The Jazz Singer.
> (That's a very brief summary and leaves a lot out!)I would be grateful for
> any information your organization might have about the sound recordings
> during this period. During the experimental process he personally was
> recorded on many trial discs at the Labs and I would love to know if any
> remain.Also, Stan Watkins was in charge of recording at Columbia in the
> early '20s and recorded Bessie Smith and Eddie Cantor. I have been unable to
> find out where to look for Columbia archives of this period - I usually get
> sent way back to 1960!I'd be glad of anything you can suggest which might be
> of help in my research.Thank you in anticipation.Barbara (Watkins)
> WitemeyerAlbuquerque, NM505-268-7579 =