Mark Twain recording ($$$)

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orpington
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Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by orpington »

See the attached:


http://www.marktwainperforms.com/media.html

It seems hard to believe there aren't several existing recordings of Mark Twain, especially since he was so well known, lived until 1910, and didn't object to being recorded for posterity's sake. (There is the video of him from 1909). Plus, video recordings were much rarer than audio recordings at that time.

But, to date, no one has located a recording of his voice. It would be worth serious dough! I am sure there must be one out there...somewhere...

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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by epigramophone »

Mark Twain is believed to have recorded for Bettini, but given the rarity of Bettini cylinders there is only a small chance of there being any recordings still waiting to be discovered.

tinovanderzwan
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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by tinovanderzwan »

epigramophone wrote:Mark Twain is believed to have recorded for Bettini, but given the rarity of Bettini cylinders there is only a small chance of there being any recordings still waiting to be discovered.
since the discovery of the once thought lost jullius block cylinders found in one of the many kgb archive outpost im having serious doubts about the destruction of the bettini archive

hitler ordered for cultural items to be removed to underground bunkers (this has only come out in the last 20 years and this would have included the block and bettini collections) since the block cylinders survived the devastating berlin air raids it may not be too far fetched to think that there's a very real chance that the bettini's did as well
as some of you may know is that the block cylinders where only discovered by chance also in a time that there was a short window in witch the west had access to these sites in russia many things where discovered at this time from nazi gold to paintings and many more spoils of war from germany

the kgb sites are vast and there are numerous amounts of them all over the former ussr after putin came to power 90% of those where once more closed to the outside world once again the spoils of war where hidden and it doesn't look like it will be opened again in my lifetime
so if the bettini's survived then i bet they are hidden in these vast complexes and yes that does include mark twain

the only proof in this is that the block cyl where housed in the same set of multiple archives as the bettini collection but if they where moved at the same time or to the same complex in underground berlin is unknown

hitlers germany was interested in old sound in france they where after the collection of Pathé cylinder masters but they where hidden by the french resistance if they ever did find them is unknown what is known is that the collection of Pathé cylinder masters is now lost

as far as the kgb sites are concerned think indiana jones raiders of the lost ark,.. the last sequence and your probably not far off
raiders-of-the-lost-ark-matte-painting.jpg
tino

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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by NEFaurora »

I agree with the "Indiana Jones" theory as well. Mark Twain was an American treasure in his day. I find it hard to believe that the National Archives does not have some type of recording of Twain (The world's most famous Orator of his day)stored away in its vaults that has been forgotten about. Every couple of years Something new gets found that has been previously forgotten about.

:o)

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jfs78
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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by jfs78 »

I find it amazing that Victor or Columbia, not to mention Edison attempted to record Twain...Perhaps the offer was made? Perhaps Twain sounded dreadful on acoustic record? Remember he tried to dictate on an Edison machine and was not happy with the results and destroyed all the recordings? Why? He may have had a preconceived notion that he sounded bad and was not willing to let that represent his posterity. Although I know of the Bettini recording mentioned being played in the studio in NYC...Maybe that was a quick thing he gave to the inventor...There seems to be scant info on Twain and sound recording. As mentioned before ... Maybe just maybe somewhere there will be a recording found.. For now we just copy Hal Holbrook who used to say on his record albums.."That he learned how to speak like Twain by listening to recordings of his voice" LOL

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VintageTechnologies
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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by VintageTechnologies »

jfs78 wrote:I find it amazing that Victor or Columbia, not to mention Edison [never?] attempted to record Twain...Perhaps the offer was made?
I always thought so too. Twain went on international speaking tours for years to pay off his debts. Earning royalties from records (a concept already pioneered by Tamagno) should have been obvious to him or the recording companies.

Twain has always been my favorite American author. As a phono/record collector, it is painful to think those two interests of mine don't seem to intersect.

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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by Starkton »

jfs78 wrote:I find it amazing that Victor or Columbia, not to mention Edison [never?] attempted to record Twain...Perhaps the offer was made?
In June 1888, Twain privately recorded funny stories in Edison's laboratory, but the cylinders were destroyed in the big fire of December 1914.
VintageTechnologies wrote:Earning royalties from records (a concept already pioneered by Tamagno)
Most definitely, Albert Chevalier was earlier than Tamagno. In October 1899, the great British comedian and actor Chevalier was the first who negotiated a royalty-based recording contract with the Gramophone Co. He received a royalty of 1 shilling per dozen records sold. Considerably less than Tamagno, I suppose.

orpington
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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by orpington »

Starkton wrote:
jfs78 wrote:I find it amazing that Victor or Columbia, not to mention Edison [never?] attempted to record Twain...Perhaps the offer was made?
In June 1888, Twain privately recorded funny stories in Edison's laboratory, but the cylinders were destroyed in the big fire of December 1914.
Why would they have only been done privately? Even if done privately, you would think copies would have been made. One would think that someone of Twain's fame would have been a good seller for the phonograph companies, and not only would they be offering significant sums of money to record him, the public would demand his recordings be made available. Given his significant debt at that time, it seems to me he would be seeking any opportunity to generate a royalty check.

This seems as significant as someone like Elvis having no recordings available today.

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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by Starkton »

tinovanderzwan wrote:since the discovery of the once thought lost jullius block cylinders found in one of the many kgb archive outpost
The Julius Block cylinders were not lost, but stolen from a German archive. The Berlin Phonogram Archive, to which the cylinders were given by Block's widow, had early on researched the whereabouts of their collection, now stored in St. Petersburg.

tinovanderzwan
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Re: Mark Twain recording ($$$)

Post by tinovanderzwan »

Starkton wrote:
tinovanderzwan wrote:since the discovery of the once thought lost jullius block cylinders found in one of the many kgb archive outpost
The Julius Block cylinders were not lost, but stolen from a German archive. The Berlin Phonogram Archive, to which the cylinders were given by Block's widow, had early on researched the whereabouts of their collection, now stored in St. Petersburg.
they where not stolen but conviscated by the russians somwhere in the time of 1945 to 1947
the nazi's divided the collection in several parts and where moved to multiple locations in 1944 parts stayed in berlin others where re-located to silesia (now poland) another part was in bern (capitol of switserland) and survived the war unscaved and un re-located(aldough identification is still scetchy and the recordings in the bern collection still are uncatalogued)
i was talking about the part of the collection that stayed in berlin
most parts of the block collection are still lost aldough the bibliothekarin in bern might have a sample of the collection but more research is needed

the nazi's broke up the block collection so that it wouln't be bombed all at the same time in my view a smart move since a part atleast is still here and my hunch is that more might pop up in the future
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tino

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