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 =
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