Evening star., 1937-04-25
By Robert 4. Eyu,in.

"
MI generation and the speaking
V voices Of many world-famous
persons are being preserved
today for future generations through
the efforts Of private collectors Of old
phonograph records.
One Of the outstanding collectors is
Ulysses j. Walsh, newspaper man,
whose hobby carried him from boy
hood pastime to recognition as one OF
the best-known authorities in the field
In the United States and England.
Walsh believes that the recent re-
vival Of public interest in the phono-
graph has brought hundreds Of re-
cruits to the ranks Of collectors and
added impetus to a world wide quest
for classics that should not be allowed
to die.
Like many other hobbies, the collec-
ton OF old records has become spe-
cialiSed within itself, depending upon
the individual tastes of the collector.
For example, Movie Actress Greta
Carlo and News Man Walsh are two
who prefer the humorous records Of
yesteryear, while others amass libraries
Of classics of the grand opera and
symphony or jazz and swing music.
Perhaps the most interesting as
pect Of the present situation" Walsh
said, ''is the hobby for collecting old
disks and cylinders, long cut from the
makers catalogue and Of which the
masters In most cases have been de-
stroyed. Few people are aware of the
large number Of record collectors and
OF the dollars and cents Importance
which these collections may ultimately
have.
There Is growing literature on
the subject" he continued. Julian
Morton Moses has recently compiled
for the Concert Bureau OF the College
Of the City Of New York list Of all
American celebrity-type records issued
between 1902 and 1912. In England,
P. G. Hurst, editor of the Collectors
Corner Of the Gramaphone Magazine,
published by Novelist Compton Mac
kenzie, has published book giving
similar details regarding antique Eng
Gsh records.
For several years Philip Miller OF
the New York Public Library Board
has been laboring on the monumental
task OF putting together list contain
ing every classic record ever made.
There Is now on the press in Italy
book edited by Robert Bayer, who was
assisted by one expert from each Of
IL leading countries, making a world
wide survey of all records of collec-
tors interest. Harry Anderson Of New
York has in preparation a booklet list
Ing all important piano recordings, be-
ginning with cylinders made by Jo-
hannes Brahms and Hans Won Bulow
20 or more years ago.
Robert Donaldson Darrell has COM
piled for the Gramophone Shop New
York, a huge book listing all electri-
cally recorded celebrity disks made
anywhere in the world
WALSH said that the first record
collectors convention ever held
took place in New York last August
There IS now an American Record
Collectors Association which uses
the offices of the American Music
Lover, II East Twenty-second street,
New York, as its headquarters"
The International Record COL
1ectors' Club, of which William H.
Seltsam Of Bridgeport, Conn, is sec
retary, Is now entering its sixth year.
The club specializes in unearthing
master records whose manufacture
has been discontinued or which, in
some instances, were never issued, and
putting them on the market in spe-
cial limited numbered editions.
For years." said Walsh, copies OF
Edouard de ResZke's three 1902 rec
ords Of a certain make were among
the most sought by collectors. One
man was offered $500 for a single
copy. The 1. R. c. C. obtained the
loan Of two De Reszke disks, had them
electrically re-recorded and placed
them on the market. Lately it has
located what was probably the only
surviving copy Of an Edison disk made
In England by the Finnish soprano,
Aino Ackte, and had it remade.
Even more remarkable, it has
found copies Of the huge concert-size
cylinders-about as big around as the
calf OF your leg-made by Jean la
Sale, great French tenor, before the
gold nodded process of making small
cylinders was introduced in 1902, and
had them re-recorded It has brought
to this country DRESSINGS Of a disk
containing the voice of Florence
Nightingale, remade from a cylinder
Of the 80s.
There are rumors that cylinders
containing the voice of Jenny Lind
who died In 1887, are still in exist
ence, and these are being feverishly
sought in Denmark and elsewhere
Many other famous voices, includ-
ing those of Tennyson, Browning,
Gladstone, P. T. Barnum, Prince
Napoleon, Queen Victoria and other
rotables, probably eventually will be
transferred to disks.
~0F ALL celebrities, records by the
great tenor, Jean De Reszke,
brother of Eduoard, are most in de-
mAnd. Rumors are sometimes heard
that . few are in existence, but don't
know of an instance His name was
listed as Fonotipia and His Masters
Voice artist, but the records, if made,
never seemed to be issued CONNER
cially. His biographer, Clara Lesser,
says De Reszke made records but
didn't like them and ordered the
masters destroyed before his eyes.
There are stories, however, that some
escaped without his knowledge 1t is
known the royal family of England
has a cylinder which he made for
n Queen Alexandria and a few other
Avlfnders, which he presumably sang
the pleasure of a friend, may still
6e in existence.
There is much collectors interest
In the exceedingly rare 1902 Columbias
Q902 was the first year in which
celebrities began recording) by z. De
Reszke, Schumann-Heink, Marcel
Journet, Charles Gilbert and Suzanne