# Phonograph Monthly Review

Music Lovers' Phonograph Monthly Review (PMR) was an American magazine for record enthusiasts founded in Jamaica Plain, Boston, by Axel B. Johnson. The first issue was dated October 1926 (Vol., no. 1) – three years, six months after the first issue of Gramophone, a similar magazine founded in London by Compton Mackenzie. As put by George Wilson Oman (1895–1947) – an Edinburgh-born Chicago-based telegraph operator and organizer of the Phonograph Art Society of Chicago – "This magazine is to the United States what the Gramophone is to Great Britain and bids fair in its splendidly edited pages to rival the Gramophone." The magazine ran for 66 issues – six and one-half years – ending March 1932 (Vol. 6, no. 6), under financial duress during the Great Depression. Although, the suspension of the April and May 1932 issues has been attributed to, according to Gramophone magazine, "a misfortune of which we have only just heard from an American reader." "He says that the Editor, Mr. Axel Johnson, was kidnapped late in March, 'robbed, beaten unconscious and thrown from a speeding auto­mobile.'" PMR – through the succession of Music Lovers' Guide (1932–1935) and The American Music Lover (1935–1944) – is considered the forerunner to the American Record Guide.

## History

The magazine launch occurred (i) one year, three months after Columbia (May 1925) and (ii) ten months after Victor (November 2, 1925; "Victor Day") debuted their new systems – orthophonic (electrical) recording technology – electronically-amplified sound developed by Bell Labs-Western Electric in an effort to replace the limited properties of the acoustic recording horn. The mid-1920s was also the beginning of the Golden Age of Radio and prior to the introduction of the new technology, consumer demand for old-style phonographs waned in favor of radios.
Reviews of recordings were first published in 1906 in Berlin by Phonographische Zeitschrift (de); but, The Gramophone, in England, and the Phonograph Monthly Review, in North America, were the first non-record label periodicals that focused primarily on reviewing musical recordings.
In 1932, Axel B. Johnson and R.D. Darrell purchased the Music Lovers' Guide. The magazine ran monthly for 31 issues, from September 1932 (Vol. 1, no. 1) through March 1935 (Vol. 3, no. 7).

## Phonograph Monthly Review (digitized online)

* Johnson, Axel B. (ed.). Music Lovers' Phonograph Monthly Review. Jamaica Plain, Boston: The Phonograph Publishing Co., Inc.. LCCN unk84135656; OCLC 11380159 (all editions), OCLC 1762297 (all editions) & 499264168.
* Vol. 1, no. 1. October 1926 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 2. November 1926 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 3. December 1926 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 4. January 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 5. February 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 6. March 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 7. April 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 8. May 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 9. June 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 10. July 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 11. August 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 1, no. 12. September 1927 – via Google Books.
* Vol. 2, no. 1. October 1927 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 2. November 1927 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 3. December 1927 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 4. January 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 5. February 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 6. March 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 7. April 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 8. May 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 9. June 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 10. July 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 11. August 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 2, no. 12. September 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 1. October 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 2. November 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 3. December 1928 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 4. January 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 5. February 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 6. March 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 7. April 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 8. May 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 9. June 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 10. July 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 11. August 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 3, no. 12. September 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 1. October 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 2. November 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 3. December 1929 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 4. January 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 5. February 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 6. March 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 7. April 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 8. May 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 9. June 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 10. July 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 11. August 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 4, no. 12. September 1930 – via Internet Archive.
    New art deco cover, designed by Emma Cartwright Bourne (1906–1986), featuring abstract images of discs and an acoustic tonearm with soundbox rather than an electrical pickup.
* Vol. 5, no. 1. October 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 2. November 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 3. December 1930 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 4. January 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 5. February 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 6. March 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 7. April 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 8. May 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 9. June 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 10. July 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 11. August 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 5, no. 12. September 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 6, no. 1. October 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 6, no. 2. November 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 6, no. 3. December 1931 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 6, no. 4. January 1932 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 6, no. 5. February 1932 – via Internet Archive.
* Vol. 6, no. 6. March 1932 – via Internet Archive.
* Other access. October 27, 2016 – via Association for Recorded Sound Collections.
* Other access – via Lantern, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
* Other access – via Media History Digital Library.
    The Google Books versions were digitized from originals held at the Stanford University Libraries
    The Internet Archive versions were uploaded in August 2016 by the National Recording Preservation Board

## Editors and contributors

* Axel B. Johnson (born around 1874) – founder, publisher, and Managing Editor of PMR – had been for a brief time secretary of the Boston Gramophone Society. He often signed his articles, "A.B.J." Robert Donaldson Darrell, Johnson's assistant and staff writer, took over as Managing Editor in 1930 after Johnson stepped down after his wife, Johanne (aka Johanna) Johnson (1877–1929), died in Jamaica Plain November 13, 1929. Their residence, at the time, was 47 Hampstead, Jamaica Plain. Johnson had previously, from about 1922 to about 1926, been a barber in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. Before that, in 1921, he lived in Pascoag, Rhode Island.
* Richard Gilmore Appel (1889–1975), Literary Editor and contributor, was head of the Music Division at the Boston Public Library.
* Adolf Albert Biewend (1899–1953), born in Jamaica Plain, was Associate Editor and contributor since 1926. He was a 1925 graduate of Northeastern University. He became an attorney. His father, Rev. Adolf Heinrich Angelo Biewent (1814–1919), founded in 1871 the German Lutheran Church in Roxbury, and was its pastor until 1914. His mother, Elizabeth H. Biewend (1869–1941), had been an instructor at Wellesley College.
* Emma Cartwright Bourne (maiden; 1906–1986), born in Norfolk, Connecticut, a painter and etcher, designed a new cover for PMR, beginning with Vol. 5, no. 1 (October 1930), issued days after marrying – on September 30, 1930, in Arlington, Massachusetts – PMR's managing editor, Robert Donaldson Darrell. They divorced in 1936. Bourne was a 1927 graduate of Vassar College, the alma mater of her mother, Edith Louise Hunter (maiden; 1877–1950) (class of 1900). Emma had studied art with Richard Andrew (1869–1956) of the Massachusetts School of Art. Her cover design, in an art deco style, features abstract images of phonographic discs with an acoustic tonearm and soundbox, rather than an electrical pickup. Bourne also, in April 1932 drew a sketch of Isaac Goldberg for Disques magazine.
* Henry Cantwell Cox (1890–1954) – who, beginning in March 1925, became President of the newly organized Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.
* Robert Donaldson Darrell (1903–1988) – a former student at Harvard (1922) and composition student at the New England Conservatory (1923–1926) – became editor of the PMR. He took interest in jazz after hearing Ellington in 1927 and wrote positive reviews of his and other artists' work. In 1939, Darrell received a Guggenheim Fellowship. Darrell, who also wrote for Disques, by 1927, in PMR, was writing jazz reviews. According to James Lincoln Collier, for the "Jazz" entry in the 1994 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, "Darrell was the first writer on jazz to make judgements in print that generally hold up today." And, "he was the first writer to single out Ellington's "Black and Tan Fantasy" for extended comment."
* Vories Fischer (né Franklin Vories Fisher; 1901–1969).
* Theodore Feland Gannon (1901–1979), business manager of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
* George Clarence "Clare" Jell (1881–1955), Ontario-born and naturalized U.S. citizen, known for his connection to the Columbia Masterworks Library.
* Alfred Henry Meyer (1888–1944), music critic for the Boston Transcript for about 10 years. He was a faculty member of Boston University since 1929 and, in 1941 until his death, served as Dean of its School of Music. He was an authority on American modern music. He was a graduate of Oberlin College and studied at had studied also at Harvard and the New England Conservatory of Music.
* George Wilson Oman (1895–1947) – an Edinburgh-born Chicago-based telegraph operator and organizer of the Phonograph Art Society of Chicago.
* Rev. Herbert Boyce Satcher (1890–1966), Episcopal clergyman and, at the time, Vicar of St. Aidan's Chapel in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, founded, in 1928, the Cheltenham Phonograph Society, the first known clergyman in America to found a record society. He also contributed to PMR. He was regarded an authority of hymnology. He compiled Indices to Volumes I, II & III of the Phonograph Monthly Review, which was published in 1930 by The Phonograph Publishing Company.
* William Henry Seltsam (1897–1968), who, early in 1932 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, founded the International Record Collectors' Club, and, among other things, persuaded American and foreign record labels to issue special editions of historically important recordings. He wrote about early opera recordings. He went on to become curator and bibliographer of the Metropolitan Opera.
* Edward Earl Shumaker (1882–1949), President of RCA Victor from 1925 to 1931, wrote an article titled "Television" for the December 1930 issue.
* Moses Smith (né Moses Smithkins; 1901–1964), a 1921 graduate of Harvard College, was Associate Editor and contributor. He flourished in Boston as a music critic, first, in 1924, at the Boston American, then, beginning around 1934, at the Boston Transcript. After the demise of the Transcript, he became an executive at Columbia Masterworks in New York.
* Ulysses "Jim" Walsh (1903–1990).
* Walter Leslie Welch (1901–1995), who, in 1959 with Oliver Read, co-wrote From Tin Foil to Stereo, discusses cylinders in a letter in the October 1930 issue.