The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I noticed a rare book on eBay that ought to be of interest to some of you. It took me a long time to find a copy like this and I and paid much more for mine. It is a great history.

The Music Goes Round by Gaisberg First Edition 1942

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Music-Goes- ... 2518.l4276

Was this written by the same Gaisberg who was a piano accompanist on early Columbia cylinders?

-Steve

oldphonographsteve wrote:Was this written by the same Gaisberg who was a piano accompanist on early Columbia cylinders?

-Steve

Yep - same guy. It's an interesting read with lots of fascinating details, but some of stories tend to give Gaisberg a bit too much credit. For instance he claims that he's the one who showed Eldridge Johnson how the governor should be designed on the Improved Gramophone. He claims that he paid Caruso out of his own pocket for his first G&T masters in Milan, but more recent research has shown that London had okayed the expenditure of company funds. There are a few others. It's too bad, because Gaisberg didn't need to self-aggrandize his pivotal role in early Gramophone history. As long as you're aware that these tall tales are in the book, they're pretty easy to spot. It's a book worth having.

Jerrold Moore wrote the same basic story, but from the third person, in a book called A Matter of Records. I might like this one even a bit more than Gaisberg's book. Get them both!

George P.