I think this . . . . . . was an inspection of a disc mastering (not on a Scully lathe) for 78 RPM release. There was one lathe Columbia had between 1939 and about 1959 for cutting 78's.
Yes, I've seen a bunch of pictures of him; got some but not an exhaustive capture. He was in 30th St a number of times, I believe, and was very close to the Plauts as you say. I just got back and am beginning the photo processing; going to go to dinner momentarily but will look and see what I've got. I did ask Richard from Yale about Schweitzer and he said just what you said, and elaborated that he was first a musician and then decided that what he wanted to do was save people's lives in Africa but would perform when he came back to America. The pictures of him are not at 30th St. but are extraordinary to my way of thinking anyway. I don't think I posted any of them, kind of dizzy a little right now. Solid 5 hours without a break, then 10 min, then another 2 1/2 hours to finish the last of today's boxes. 9 down in three days, 7 more to go in two days, so I have to step it up a little but am encouraged that the bulk of what we got last time was from the latter half of the collection, so there's not quite as much new material as in the first half. Hopeful if not confident that I'll get through it. 1600+ pictures today being processed, although a few hundred are orientational (file number, location within the file, etc.). Found a BUNCH of great stuff today. Starting negative reversal then off to dinner while it processes.
That's my point. There are diffusers, which 30th Street didn't get until sometime in 1949. Liederkranz.
Hi Walter I have half a dozen or so of him, but I don't know they are going to be enlightening and I didn't copy photos of the whole session. I wish you'd told me yesterday morning, or even this morning, because I think the boxes are sent back now. If they're not sent back, I'll make a point tomorrow of looking again and seeing if the woman in the session (who I thought I had pics of but don't seem to) was Rose. OH!!! Searching the database reveals that Rose and Poulenc are together in a box that I haven't gotten to yet but MIGHT tomorrow, for sure the next day. The pics I have were a session with Samuel Barber and no woman singer. So your timing is actually perfect! I hope we are in luck. That would be fun if it were the session you seek.
Excellent! The session with Samuel Barber would presumably have been February 15, 1952, when Bernac and Poulenc recorded Barber's Mélodies passagères. That recording went unreleased until it came out on a New World Records LP in the 1970s. Pierre Bernac, for reference: While we're at it (and this one's definitely a long shot) if there are any pictures of Poulenc with Noël Coward, I'd be very interested to know!
I'll keep an eye open. You can actually see an unavoidably incomplete listing of what the pictures in the collection are (who would know everyone?) at http://drs.library.yale.edu/fedora/get/music:mss.0052/PDF This is the original index that was done in 1987, but oh, I see it was updated in 2010. I should try to contact the author and see if she wants the IDs that we've done. And thank you for that date! The dating of the collection is remarkably absent, although it does have somewhat of a chronological sequence in the box ordering. As I go through the pics at home I try to put as many dates as possible. My session spreadsheet for the studio has over 300 entries now, but I won't be working on that (don't think I even brought it) until I get home in a couple weeks. Here are a couple of Monsieur Poulenc: I assume the first one is Mister Barber? Edit: It actually looks like your pic of Bernac, doesn't it? And those letters there are the ordering system in the file negative holders; the lines are the edge of the plastic holder. All the pics I'm shooting are with the negative strips in the plastic sleeves. It would have been hugely more time-intensive to remove and clean each one. Here's one of Herr Plaut during the portable recorder days: catching a well-deserved few winks. And lastly for this morning one of the mystery door we've discussed here in the past For some reason I'm not getting much shadow detail in these pics, but it looks to me like there is some cloth covered thing just inside the door. That's it for now, soon to go back for more. I am having a great time here. These pictures are from MSS 52, The Frederick and Rose Plaut Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University, acquired with invaluable help from Richard Boursy, Emily Ferrigno, and Suzanne Eggleston Lovejoy. Richard told me what a nice feeling it is to google his name and find it mentioned in many books by researchers who have used Yale's resources for their books, and since this work will not result in a book, my current goal is to make this site the #1 hit when googling their names. So I'll be repeating that citation as is from now on.
Very nice. I agree, that looks like Bernac seated next to Poulenc. I think the man at the mystery door is Joseph Szigeti.
I think you are right about Szigeti. There was time to get far enough to see that folder with Poulenc and Rose, and it did show them playing together, BUT they were in the Plaut's apartment. No shots in the studio for that session, and more disappointingly, after a certain time there are very few shots of the studio in action. Most of his work was headshots or non-studio settings. I'm not through the collection yet, but the trend for the last few boxes after the one with Poulenc and Rose was as described. Just got back and am in the earliest stages of downloading pictures. Hours till that's done. I wish you were a little closer to NYC (where I'll be next), I bet you'd find a lot interesting in these pictures. Dan
I'm finished with Yale, completely went through the Plaut pics (although not all the enlargements) in a marathon five day session, a total of 34.25 hours I think, with a total of a little over an hour for bathroom breaks and no food breaks (I eat a big breakfast and dinner). Captured over 7600 pictures of which about 200 or so are orientational. That was a lot of pictures to look through, and just when I thought I was through the good stuff something would come up that would have blown my socks off if I stopped to consider what I was seeing. The Yale folks said they were impressed with my diligence, although I bet they say that to everyone, and that they thought no one since the collection was first indexed had gone through it so comprehensively. Usually, people are looking for pictures of one or a few special famous people, and my interest was almost more in what was in the background of the pictures rather than what was in the foreground, although there were several picture series where Fred took pics of exactly what was interesting to me and us (although not too many of non-studio/control room areas-- BUT I think there are some, including some shots of places we've never seen before AFAIK. I'm putting together shots of engineers to show to the Fo30St gathering on Sunday in NYC (why aren't you coming? Send me a PM if you can), so I'll show those to them first as well as some other good stuff, but here are a few for Walter H that are not exactly what he's looking for but will maybe be enjoyable anyway. Poulenc: Fred really really liked Poulenc's face, which reminds me of a joke I heard about another famous person that, when modified to fit Poulenc, goes, "So Poulenc walked into a bar and the bartender said, "Hey, Poulenc! Why the long face?" There are multiple occasions where the Plauts and Poulenc got together and each time resulted in 10 or 20 pictures of Poulenc's face. I didn't get them all, but did get a representative sample, a few of which are: Those two are in the studio; if you can please ID all those people in the pic I would be grateful.... Here's a couple that I think are in the Plauts' apt, both of which show him in a good mood with a unique big smile in the second: One more with an amused expression with Rose and ? More in a minute. These pictures are from MSS 52, The Frederick and Rose Plaut Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University, acquired in 2015 by Dan with invaluable help from Richard Boursy, Emily Ferrigno, and Suzanne Eggleston Lovejoy.
And some more, all in the Plaut Apt. I think: I could be wrong (haven't correlated to the index yet) but I think that's Ned Rorem in the back with Rose. There are also a TON of pics of him with Rose and Fred, and it was like maybe he was an almost-adopted son or something. I don't know anything about him but I've heard his name. Rose and Poulenc rehearsing: There were a couple of picture series showing obvious recording sessions in the Plaut living room, but none, alas, with Poulenc and Rose. Try as I might, I can't see a microphone in these or the other pics of this same moment, although that doesn't mean that they didn't record it later there. I thought it would have been so cool if Walter's record was recorded there, but there is no proof in the Plaut picture collection that I recognized. The rest of the week will be pretty busy for me so I don't know that I get to post anything, so I hope this will do for a while. Again, if you are in the NYC area let me know if you want to be part of a historic meeting with some of the people who were at 30th St and some of us wannabes. Sunday Nov. 1 3pm (arrive at 2:30 if possible) in Manhattan's West Side. Ending at 6pm, but some of us will have dinner and further discussions afterward.
Thanks so much for posting all these great pics! I had a stupid accident a couple days back that has all but closed my right eye, but it ought to heal up soon enough and when it does I'll take a closer look and see if I can come up with any identifications. I'm not sure if Ned Rorem is in the pictures here, but yes, he was very much a part of this circle. He's a talented writer as well as a composer, and among his several volumes of memoirs and observations there's at least one chapter about the Plauts. I'll try to locate that book. I do wish I could come to New York but my work schedule won't permit it. Should be an excellent meeting.
Bob Waller did engineer some of my Juilliard Quartet recording sessions of the complete Schoenberg Quartets circa 1975. He had a great ear and obviously knew how to engineer. Stan Tonkel did most of the sessions.
Sometimes it seemed to be political/union related too, from speaking with Fred Catero last year. I'll quote a few things he told me when interviewing him: ...skipping ahead a bit... (Note: I can't find anything John Hammond produced with Torme at Columbia. Fred possibly meant Robert Mersey, unless this material wasn't released...)
A lot, Dan - I began transcribing it last year, and haven't gone back to finish. Eventually will get to it. Fred was great.
Hi Everyone, Still in NYC, still having a great time. Sunday's Friends of the 30th Street Studio gathering went well. Numerous 30th St/CBS alumni showed up: Ray Janos Art Kendy George McKechnie (sp?) and wife Don Meehan Vlado Meller Doug Pomeroy George Schowerer along with friends Vic Anesini Dominick Costanza Chris Herles Elliott Kisseleff Dan Mortensen Victor Svorinich I think that was everyone, although I haven't had time to review the video and there wasn't a signup sheet, so my apologies if I missed someone here. They all seemed to have a pretty good time being together and I sure did with them. I showed them a bunch of pictures (although a tiny percentage of what I got) from the Plaut collection, and Dominick brought out a drill from the 30th St. Studio Do I need to tell you it was pretty cool to hold it? I think all of the friends held it at some point, although I think the alumni kind of thought "What?" Anyway, I'll skip over rest of the meeting until another time. The thing I wanted to talk about now: it was pointed out again at the gathering that some of the polycylindrical wall diffusors were on display in the drugstore at 49 E. 52nd that occupies the space that once held Studio B and E (? I still don't have those various studio names settled in my head after our last go-round here). My wife and I walked over there last night and took pics; here is an overview of one side of the display in context of the store and a couple of signs there: [ More images in the next post.
The first sign is mounted in between those two diffusor segments. Close ups of the ends of the left-hand set of diffusors (pretty sure that's what they are): Seeing them there and now looking closer at the pics has me confused. Why are they in the shape of an airplane wing (almost), with two sides rather than one, and what are the holes in the ends, with hardware on one end to reinforce the holes? It almost looks like they are made to be variably rotated and not attached solidly to the walls, like the ones in 30th St appear to be. The bracket on the end looks like it was probably from that period and not added for the store display, especially since it is not in use in the store display. The last picture shows a cross section of how those things are put together, and it looks both pretty complicated and pretty stout. Interesting, huh?
Nice craftsmanship indeed. I wonder if they were on stands maybe. I was trying to do some amateur sleuthing and ran across a few unrelated things. I don't think they have been posted but apologies if they were. I will get back to work on trying to find more about those wings. This was a nice Sound on Sound article regarding 'Round Midnight and general studio characteristics here There was a discussion of recording jazz here with a few Time Out shots, one looking staged and the other perhaps the working set up.
Sorry still rambling a bit. I ran across the photo below from the Glenn Gould On the Record video on the first page so I am finally getting around to viewing that video and it is great if one has not seen it yet. The photo is complete with film cameras, Muller milk and socks.
