The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just happened to be attempting to play though some sheet music in a Paramount Song Folio from what would appear to be the mid to late thirties. I don't see a date, but it has Thanks for the Memories, Blue Orchids, Faithful Forever, maybe someone knows the date, its the Fifth Song Folio according to the cover.

So I was glancing at the photos and I see this photo I put below. It says Lillian Cornell recording her new song.. She is singing into a horn? I guess I just assumed that they sang into microphones at this point.. anyone know anything to shed light on this?

Larry

I think you assumed right. There weren't acoustic recordings being made professionally in the 1930's.

Doesn't look like a recording studio either, rather, a nightclub or something.

Strange and interesting photo. Maybe she was recording, but under some amateur guise, maybe cutting an acoustic demo for song transcribing/publishing purposes?

Or, the photo is earlier than you think.

That style of hair, style of dress, and even style of photo just reeks of 1930's, not 1920's. However, the flare on the horn does not lend itself to looking like a recording horn, rather it most closely resembles (to my eyes) a straght Public Address horn, but there are still unanswered questions here.

The size of the horn struck me as odd, too. Even if was for recording, why would they drag such a large thing in there? And where is the recorder? Up on a ledge or something?

She looks like a 30's girl too, I agree.

I'd say it dates from around 1939.

"Thanks for the Memories" came out in 1938. It was Bob Hope's signature song, and came from the film, "The Big Broadcast of 1938." It also won the Academy Award for "Best Song of that year."

SEE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6OCrf7xtWI
Also -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029912/
(That's from the days when movies still had songs worthy of winning an Academy Award.)

"Faithful Forever," was also nominated for an Academy Award as best song, the following year, and comes from the 1939 animated classic "Gulliver's Travels"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031397/

It might be as late as 1940, though, since Lillian Cornell didn't make her first films for Paramount until that year, though she was already known as a radio singer.

I think it's just a posed publicity still, since she looks like she may be listening to (or singing along with?) a recording of her voice coming out of a horn type loudspeaker. I think the person who did the caption took some liberties.

EMG machine?

Sure looks like an papier-maché EMG horn. Afaik Harmony was the last label to switch over to electric recording, in 1929. I think she sings along with the music coming from the horn.

syncopeter wrote: I think she sings along with the music coming from the horn.

Could be a likely scenario!

And some goofball captioned the photo 'recording' anyway, even though acoustic recordings had died a decade earlier. "Eh, who's going to make the distinction, anyway?"

If the horn just had the 'Monumental Pictures' logo on it she could be Lina Lamont singing to Debbie Reynolds dubbed by Betty Noyes "'N I cean't steannim!" No no Miss Lamont, round tones, round tones...

note that she's standing in a large room horns where sometimes attached to mic's to capture an instrument or voice without the added echo of a large room they din't have super sensitive boom mics in those days
also in the movies they used this method for capturing sound especialy singing voices they would later dub the voice in
a horn captures a voice very directly in the 1930s-40s they used tape or big 33rpm recorders

most people think the horn became obsolete in 1925 this is very untrue they used horns in one way or another in studio's and movie sets untill the late 1940s when stereo mics came into use also the acoustic recording prosses din't emediatly die out in 1925 it was used for a little while after
in the toy industry it was used even longer doll records and some kiddy records where recorded acousticly till about 1930
the acousic record hung on even longer you could still buy or order some acousic tittles in the 1950s

with acoustic playback its very much the same some companys like hmv and columbia sold acousic phono's into the 1950s
some toy phonograph where avaleble in the 1970s
and some pull-string doll figures are still made for retro afisionado's today with these playback of the fixed inner disc is sometimes acousicly
in japan the make acoustic plaback devices that look like gramophones to play 45s i don't consider these as crapophones because they are not meant to fool(or scam) anyone i think they stand out on their own and are just a nother page in the chapter on acoustic phono's
in that way we can say the acoustic phonograph is still with us

greetings
tino