Dirty Doings in Ohio: More on the Roots of U-S Everlasting Cylinders (1908)

The U-S Everlasting cylinder took a long and tortuous path getting to market. The key elements — Varian Harris’ patents 837,927; 854,886; and 854,887, on a celluloid cylinder with fibrous core — were all in place by mid-1907. But then Harris made the mistake of assigning controlling interest in his patents to the Tacoma Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio. The company burned through its cash without ever producing anything, and in February 1908 disgruntled investors demanded a forced dissolution.

The battle of the lawyers then conmmenced over who held the options on Harris’ patents, as chronicled in the Talking Machine World in June 1908:

Eventually the problems were resolved, and in August 1908 rights were acquired by a group of investors who incorporated as the Cleveland Phonograph Company. With little to show after its first year, Cleveland Phonograph was reorganized in July 1909 as the United States Phonograph Company. The rest of the story can be found in Indestructible and U-S Everlasting Cylinders: An Illustrated History and Cylinderography, which has just been nominated for a 2012 Award for Excellence by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections.

(Harris’ patent on his device for forming a cylinder blank from a rolled sheet of celluloid. The spout applied a chemical solution that sealed the seam. It wasn’t necessarily a permanent bond, as many collectors discover.)

Consolidated Brown-Wax Cylinder Catalog Highlights (Late 1890s)

A companion piece to the United States Phonograph Company flyer shown in the previous post — This Consolidated Phonograph Companies  Supplemental Bulletin shows the same address as U.S. Phonograph and lists the Issler titles from “The Bride-Elect,” possibly the same recordings featured in U.S. flyer. The latest song titles listed in this catalog were early 1899 publications, providing an approximately date for this piece.

We’ll be posting higher-resolution scans of the complete 20-page catalog, along with many other rare brown-wax lists, on the Mainspring website in the upcoming months as part of The American Cylinder Record Project.

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CYLINDER COLLECTORS — Be sure to check out the new Indestructible and U-S Everlasting History and Cylinderography, the first volume in Mainspring Press’ new American Cylinder Record Index series.

United States Phonograph Company Flyer (Brown-Wax Cylinders, c. 1898)

This rare United States Phonograph Company four-panel flyer advertises selections from Sousa’s comic opera, The Bride-Elect, in this case played not by Sousa’s band, but by Edward Issler’s. The flyer most likely dates to 1898. The Bride-Elect opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre (New York) on April 11, 1898, closed in June after 64 performances, then had a  brief return engagement at the Harlem Opera House in October of that year.
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The flyer is from Bill Bryant’s archive, which also includes a complete 32-page United States Phonograph Company cylinder catalog and related materials. We’ll be scanning and posting the full catalog on the Mainspring Press website later this month, as part of our new American Cylinder Record Project.

A U-S Everlasting Cylinder Sampler

A few of our U-S favorites, in celebration of the release of Indestructible and U-S Everlasting Cylinders — An Illustrated History and Cylinderography:

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VESS L. OSSMAN (banjo): St. Louis Tickle  (USE 318)

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ARTHUR COLLINS & BYRON G. HARLAN: I’m Going Back to Dixie
[a.k.a. I Want to Be in Dixie]  (USE 453)

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BOB ROBERTS: Gee, But I Like Music with My Meals  (USE 1498)

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BOB ROBERTS: My Own Adopted Child  (USE 1385)

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FRED VAN EPS (banjo): Gondolier / Temptation Rag  (USE 1260)

 

The Indestructible / U-S Everlasting Cylinderography Is Here

It’s finally safe to throw away the old Deakins and Annand Guides! Indestructible & U-S Everlasting Cylinders, by Kurt Nauck & Allan Sutton, is the first new study of these cylinders in over five decades. The books covers all brands and series produced by Indestructible and U-S Phonograph, even rarities like the Medicophone and Singaphone cylinders.

The cylinderography has been compiled from an extensive examination of the original cylinders, box lids, advance record notices, catalogs,  supplements, and company advertisements. It includes release dates (and even some U-S recording dates, as documented in U-S musical director Louis von der Mehden’s papers), composer and show credits, alternate versions, artists pseudonyms and mislabelings, private and special-use issues, and much more information you won’t find in earlier guides.

The illustrated 34-page historical introduction is based on rare primary-source materials and is carefully documented. Other features you’ll find are a 24-page full-color guide to box labels, lids, rims, and cylinder colors (even those very rare pea-green Indestructibles); a user’s guide; notes on rarity and value; and artist and title indexes.

Indestructible & U-S Everlasting Cylinders is a 288-page hardcover edition with dust-jacket. Price is $45, with free shipping to the U.S. and Canada ($60 to other countries, with airmail shipping). For more details and online and mail-order options, visit the Mainspring Press website.

U-S Everlasting Grand Opera Cylinders

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GIUSEPPE PIMAZZONI: Carmen del Toréador
U-S Everlasting 21133

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Our thanks to Larry Holdridge for the catalog images. Details of the complete Grand Opera Series appear in Indestructible and U-S Everlasting Cylinders, coming in a few weeks from Mainspring Press.