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Encoded by Marsha Maguire, 2008
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsrs/eadmbrs.rs008001
Latest revision: October-November 2008
The following headings represent names, topics, places, and formats of major significance in the collection.
Gift of Mrs. Jack Kapp, the widow of Jack Kapp, in 1950.
No further additions to the collection are expected.
The drawings were rehoused and inventoried in 2006. As part of the matting and rehousing process, the reverse sides of some the drawings were photocopied in order to retain intellectual access to original publisher's markings, dates, and other information. The photocopies, along with some original mats, have been placed in one oversized, flat box (Box 10) and are available for viewing by appointment in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Library of Congress.
Restrictions may exist on copying, quoting, or publishing materials included in the collection. For additional information, contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Library of Congress.
The Jack Kapp Collection is open for research.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [Container number, eg., Box 3], Jack Kapp Collection, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.
Born in Chicago in 1901, Jack Kapp began his phonograph industry career at the age of fourteen by working as a part-time shipping clerk for Columbia Records. Later he oversaw artists and repertoire for Brunswick, and in 1934, backed by the owner of British Decca, Ltd., he founded the American Decca Records Company. By substantially lowering the price of popular records on his Decca label and selecting artists and repertoire to maximize sales, Kapp made American Decca the second largest record company in the U.S. by 1938 and helped the industry pull out of a slump attributed to radio broadcasting and the Great Depression. Decca artists included immensely popular performers such as Bing Crosby, the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots, Ted Lewis, and the Guy Lombardo Orchestra. Decca innovations included the first mass marketed American "original cast recording" (for Oklahoma!) and the "album" record package containing notes and promotional information.
During the 1940s, American recording companies, including Kapp's label, struggled against new challenges, such as the 1942-1944 recording ban of the American Federation of Musicians. The ban was rooted in the concern of professional musicians that they lost jobs due to sound films and did not benefit economically from the growth of the recording and broadcasting industries. In 1940, they elected as president of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) a trumpeter named James Caesar Petrillo. His aggressive actions to counter the loss of musicians' jobs due to the prevalence of the jukebox and the recorded motion picture soundtrack made Petrillo one of the most famous and highly paid union leaders in American history and led to depictions of him in the press as a Mussolini-like character often called "Little Caesar."
In 1942, led by Petrillo, the AFM banned its members from performing for the record industry. Petrillo was undeterred by the efforts of such government agencies as the Office of War Information and the National War Labor Board to end the ban; he even refused President Franklin Roosevelt's request to order the musicians back to work. Jack Kapp's Decca Records, followed by most other American record and radio transcription companies, agreed to pay royalties to the AFM in 1943, but for Columbia and RCA Records, which refused to settle, the ban continued. In late 1944, those two companies also came to an agreement with the union and the ban ended completely; however, the 1946 passage of the Lea Act (often called the "Anti-Petrillo Act") and the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act severely weakened the terms of the agreement between the musicians union and the recording industry. A new recording ban was put into effect in early 1948, but toward the end of the year it was lifted. During the following decade, the industry grew both financially and technologically. Petrillo's retirement from the AFM in 1958 brought an end to the publicity the union had received during the 1940s.
Jack Kapp died in 1949. His brother Dave succeeded him at Decca.
Assembled by American Decca Records founder and president Jack Kapp, the collection consists of mostly original drawings by various magazine and newspaper cartoonists, such as Rube Goldberg, H. T. Webster, Gluyas Williams, L. M. Glackens, Burt Thomas, Fred Packer, Clifford Berryman, James Berryman, Jack Markow, and David Breger. The drawings, chiefly editorial cartoons, reflect the role of the phonograph in American life and offer historical commentary on the internal issues of the American phonograph industry, particularly the American Federation of Musicians recording ban of 1942-1944. The collection also features a framed album cover for the 1943 Decca Records cast recording of the musical, Oklahoma! The cast recording became a standard product category for record companies due to the immense success of this album.
Some Jack Kapp correspondence is included in the collection; it is stored in the Recorded Sound Reference Center subject files. For more information or to view the correspondence, contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Library of Congress.
The collection is arranged in a single series.
| CONTAINER | CONTENTS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #1 | Sally's sallies. "I'll take the smaller record. We live in such a cute little apartment," 1945 November 3 | ||||||||||||
| Scott, R. J. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1945, King Features Syndicate, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| The cartoon shows a woman purchasing records. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
7 Cartoon #2 | "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup, but there's lots of work to do," circa 1944 September | ||||||||||||
| Artist unknown | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink with green wash | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Domestic employees, including a maid dancing by a record player, ignore their work. | |||||||||||||
| Published in
Good Housekeeping magazine. "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," words and music by Anna Sosenko, was written in 1935 and became popular as sung by cabaret performer Hildegarde. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #3 | Parrot listening to a phonograph, circa 1910 | ||||||||||||
| Baker, B. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| The words "Blankety ... D--n!" float out of the horn. | |||||||||||||
| Signed monogram at lower left: BB (the first B is a backwards mirror image of the second B). | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #4 | "So they'll speak correctly," 1910 | ||||||||||||
| Baker, B. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, pencil, white paint | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Caption continues: "More work by the Society for Improving the
Condition of Animals in Captivity." A parrot listens to a phonograph labeled "S.I.C.A. Lessons in Grammar" while a bespectacled man looks on. Out of the horn comes the sentence, "A verb must agree with its subject in number and person." The original handwritten caption is crossed out: "The Society for the Improvement of Animals in Captivity, 'Phonographs for Parrots.'" | |||||||||||||
| Possibly published in
Puck magazine in January or February,
1910. Signed at lower left: B Baker (the first name initial B is a backwards mirror image of the B in Baker). | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #5 | "My how that takes me back," undated | ||||||||||||
| Barlow, Perry, 1892-1977 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Two children listening to a record player. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
9 Cartoon #6 | "Send the boys some records," 1943 | ||||||||||||
| Batchelor, S. E. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : marker, pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A soldier stands in front of a record player. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "For Mr. Jack Kapp, with cordial best wishes of this cartoonist." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #7 | Uncle Sam and Franklin Delano Roosevelt discuss James C. Petrillo, who is eating a record, 1944 October 12 | ||||||||||||
| Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, 1869-1949 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| C. K. Berryman, 1869-1949, created the "Teddy Bear" mascot for Theodore Roosevelt in 1902. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1944. | |||||||||||||
| In this cartoon, Petrillo is depicted as Julius Caesar, who has apparently taken a bite out of a record. Uncle Sam asks, "Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he is grown so great?" FDR replies, "Must be phonograph records." | |||||||||||||
| Published in the
Washington Star. Autographed by the artist: "To my good friend, Jack Kapp, with cordial good wishes, C. K. Berryman." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #8 | "And the music comes out here," circa 1942 | ||||||||||||
| Berryman, James Thomas, 1902-1971 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue pencil | |||||||||||||
| James Berryman, 1902-1971, was the son of cartoonist C. K. Berryman. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1950. | |||||||||||||
| A man representing the recording industry blows money from a tuba towards James C. Petrillo, who catches it in a sack labeled "American Federation of Musicians." | |||||||||||||
| Published in the
Washington Star. Autographed by the artist: "Jim Berryman. With kind regards to Jack Kapp." The Hodgson-Riley song, "The Music Goes Round and Round," recorded in 1935, was Decca Records' first hit, putting Kapp's company in the black for the first time. The song is paraphrased in this cartoon to illustrate the exchanges between the National War Labor Board, its panel, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt over the 1942 recording ban. Ultimately, Roosevelt's request of James C. Petrillo to halt the 1942 recording ban was ignored by the union leader. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #9 | "And now, in response to the requests of thousands of music lovers...," 1949 January 19 | ||||||||||||
| Breger, David, 1908- | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1949, King Features Syndicate, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| A WZZX disc jockey throws records out the window. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "Best wishes to Jack Kapp and Decca, from Dave Breger, 1949." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
7 Cartoon #10 | "A New Jersey man is giving afternoon musical programs," [between 1930 and 1939?] | ||||||||||||
| Denison, Harold, 1887-1940 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A chicken farmer plays a phonograph for his chickens. A partially obscured sign to his right states "... O-Day Special. ... Hero Girl's Dream. [Ca]rmen. Devil's Dream. [Blue] Danube Waltz." Other words are hidden by the farmer's leg. | |||||||||||||
| Handwritten in pencil, bottom center: "Illustration for 'Coddling Biddy.'" | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
7 Cartoon #11 | A farmer plays a phonograph to make chickens lay eggs, 1910 or 1911 | ||||||||||||
| Denison, Harold, 1887-1940 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, white paint | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A chicken farmer happily shows a full basket of eggs to a gentleman while a phonograph "clucks" in the henhouse behind him. | |||||||||||||
| Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' Nov. 22,
1910, New York." "Overlay Dept." stamp, also on reverse, gives a date of "P.M.
Mon., Apr. 10, 1911." Signed at lower right. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
9 Cartoon #12 | "He wants to call the tune," between 1942 and 1950 | ||||||||||||
| Evans, Ray J. R. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A man holds a giant record bearing a "Petrillo Records" label that is illustrated with a picture of James C. Petrillo. The song on the record is called "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #13 | Mickey Mouse. "Magic melody" and "An unwelcome gigolo," undated | ||||||||||||
| 2 prints on 1 mat board : lithograph on newsprint | |||||||||||||
| Copyright by Walter E. Disney, Great Britain. | |||||||||||||
| The first strip, entitled "Magic Melody," dated "8-26," pictures Mickey Mouse and Horace Horsecollar attempting to soothe some bears that have appeared near Clarabelle Cow's tent with the music of a phonograph. In the second strip, entitled "An Unwelcome Gigolo," dated "8-27," the bears, who turn out to be trained, are dancing to the music, but when one of them grabs Clarabelle as his dancing partner, she slaps him. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #14 | Toonerville folks. "The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang," 1940 | ||||||||||||
| Fox, Fontaine, 1884-1964 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1940, by Fontaine Fox. | |||||||||||||
| As regular Toonerville Folks character Mr. Bang throws a record into the street, an onlooker says to his friend, "Wanna bet even money it ain't that 'Oh! Johnny, Oh!' record?" | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Mr. Jack Kapp, with the compliments
of Fontaine Fox." Toonerville Folks (sometimes known as Toonerville Trolley) was a single-panel newspaper cartoon, 1908-1955. It was syndicated by, among others, the McNaught Syndicate. "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" written in 1917 by Ed Rose and Abe Olman, became a huge hit in 1939 as performed on a Columbia release by the Orrin Tucker orchestra, with vocals by Wee Bonnie Baker. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
3 Cartoon #15 | Minister with a "choir" of phonographs behind him, undated | ||||||||||||
| Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Louis M. Glackens, 1866-1933, drew for Puck until 1914. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #16 | A dog labeled "Tariff made monopolies" standing over a phonograph labeled "Taft's providence speech," circa 1911 June 26 | ||||||||||||
| Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| The dog scowls while listening to "Taft's providence speech," spoken by the head of William Howard Taft as it spins on the turntable: "Before an industry receives protection, now it must demonstrate the need of that protection, and it must not ask for more protection than it needs." | |||||||||||||
| Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' June 26,
1911, New York." Signed by the artist, lower left. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #17 | "Government by request -- not by law," 1944 October 11 | ||||||||||||
| Goldberg, Rube, 1883-1970 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| The cartoon shows President Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting on top of a prostrate businessman and pleading with "King" James C. Petrillo: "Please, Petrillo, lift your ban on recordings." | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "With a cordial 'Hello' to my friend, Jack Kapp. Rube Goldberg, Oct. 11, 1944." Also signed by the artist at lower left. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
7 Cartoon #18 | "Can't they shut that thing off?" 1943 | ||||||||||||
| Goldberg, Rube, 1883-1970 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, [with crayon?] | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A broken record with the face of labor leader John L. Lewis repeats the word, "Threat," as it spins on the turntable. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "Best of everything to Jack Kapp. Rube
Goldberg, July 8, 1943." Handwritten on reverse: "Wednesday June 16." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
7 Cartoon #19 | "We've changed our tune," 1945 February 8 | ||||||||||||
| Goldberg, Rube, 1883-1970 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, charcoal | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A broken record labeled "Over Optimism" sits on a table near a playing record with "Patience" engraved in the grooves. "War Outlook" is printed on the label of the playing record. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp, my most insistant [sic] collector. Rube Goldberg." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
7 Cartoon #20 | Our Bill, 1944 April 2 | ||||||||||||
| Haenigsen, Harry | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1944, N.Y. Tribune Inc. | |||||||||||||
| In this Our Bill strip, teenaged Bill and his girlfriend reminisce while playing "old" records ("This one is nearly two years old!"). His girlfriend, who has happy memories, sighs, "There's nothing like the old songs to bring back memories!" Bill, however, is reminded of only bad experiences and replies, "Yeah! Thank creepers for that!" | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with very best wishes.
Haenigsen." Harry Haenigsen was best known for his long-running comic strip, Penny, which began in 1943. His strip Our Bill, which also ran in the New York Herald Tribune, appeared from 1939 to 1943. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #21 | They'll do it every time. "He not only heard it in A minor...," 1947 January 31 | ||||||||||||
| Hatlo, Jimmy, 1898-1963 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1947, King Features Syndicate, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| In the first frame, a man at the "Records" desk [in a library?] asks to hear "Popoffski's 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Penguin' in A minor." The second frame shows him in his listening booth covering his ears as the young couple in the next booth dances to the loud strains of the "Boogie-Woogey Blim-blam Blues." The text states: "He not only heard it in A minor, he heard a couple of other minors as well--" | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #22 | Room and board. "And the judge is looking over the lost and found column on rewards," 1942 May 20 | ||||||||||||
| Ahern, Gene, 1895-1960 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1942, King Features Syndicate, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| In this drawing from Gene Ahern's syndicated single-panel daily, Room and Board, Judge Puffle refuses to help another boarder collect old phonograph records for the government during World War II. Holding a stack of records, the boarder thinks to himself, "Glad now I didn't tell him I'll get 5 cents a pound for old records so they can reclaim the shellac!" Federal rationing of shellac during the war curtailed record production but probably increased the value of the discs that were not sold to the government. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #23 | "You say you've been working on it with utter absorption for 40 years," undated | ||||||||||||
| [Jarmane, Louis?] | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue wash | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Two men, one holding a phonograph, sit in a patent attorney's office. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #24 | "His master's voice!" 1913 January 25 | ||||||||||||
| Kemble, E. W. (Edward Windsor), 1861-1933 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, white paint | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A phonograph labeled "From the people" proclaims, "Land thief, unfaithful servant, you must go!" to a dog identified as Sen. [Francis E.?] Warren of Wyoming. | |||||||||||||
| Possibly published in
Collier's. Autographed by the artist: "With some apologies & some liberties, Kemble." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #25 | "Lets not be too hasty about swapping our ivory for that...," undated | ||||||||||||
| Keate, Jeff | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Explorers play a record for two natives, one of whom whispers, "Lets not be too hasty about swapping our ivory for that -- I think first we should hear what's on the other side." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
4 Cartoon #26 | "You'll love this. 'Bye Baby Bunting' done by Stokowski, Nelson Eddy and the Westminster Choir," circa 1946 | ||||||||||||
| Key, Ted | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue wash | |||||||||||||
| A child plays a record for his friends. | |||||||||||||
| Appeared in
Collier's, possibly December 21,
1946. Signed by the artist, bottom center. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
9 Cartoon #27 | "Professional jealousy : what happened when a Mary Garden record met a Tetrazzini record on the library table," 1910 March 30 | ||||||||||||
| Levering, Albert, 1869-1929 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Two records representing opera singers Luisa Tetrazzini and Mary Garden fight next to a phonograph on a library table . | |||||||||||||
| Published in Puck magazine. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #28 | "No talking machines! No moving pictures! No electric lights! Do you want to put people out of work?" 1948 | ||||||||||||
| Lewis, K. A. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Coyright 1948, Sun and Times Co. | |||||||||||||
| James C. Petrillo with an axe, standing over Thomas Edison. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #29 | Grin and bear it. "Psst -- Joe sent us -- said we could make a recording here!" 1948 | ||||||||||||
| Lichty, George Maurice, 1905-1983 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, charcoal | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1948, Sun and Times Co. | |||||||||||||
| George Lichtenstein, "Lichty," drew the Grin and Bear It strip from 1932 to 1974. | |||||||||||||
| Musicians, disregarding the recording ban of 1948, knock on a basement door. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #30 | "You've seen our laundry machine that washes dishes, but wait 'til you see what our new record changer can do!" undated | ||||||||||||
| Luchsinger, Chuck | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue pencil | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A man holding a baby in a diaper shows off his record player to his friend. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with Best Regards! Chas. Luchsinger." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #31 | "-- and now Bing Crosby is coming into the studio -- coming into the studio -- coming into the studio," circa 1947 | ||||||||||||
| Markow, Jack, 1905- | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| In a radio station, a man runs toward a skipping record as worried employees look on. | |||||||||||||
| Bing Crosby's Philco Radio Hour was the first major network radio program to be broadcast from transcription discs rather than live. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
8 Cartoon #32 | Bringing up father, 1946 April 1 | ||||||||||||
| McManus, George, 1884-1954 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1946, King Features Syndicate, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| Four-frame strip in which Jiggs tries to prevent his wife, Maggie, from playing the piano by putting on a record. The music, however, reminds her that she needs to buy a new Easter hat, and she asks him for shopping money. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "Greetings to Jack Kapp from Geo McManus." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #33 | "Marines listen to recorded jive on way to assault Guam," 1944 | ||||||||||||
| McDermott, J. R. (USMC) | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Soldiers listen to a record player. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
5 Cartoon #34 | "For pitys sake -- all the latest song hits," 1948 | ||||||||||||
| Normant, John | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A woman looks through a pile of records in the attic. | |||||||||||||
| Published in
Collier's. Because of the American Federation of Musicians recording bans of 1942 and 1948, record companies reissued many discs from their back catalogs. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #35 | [ Life's like that?]. "Dry the dishes! Dry the dishes!! Do I ever ask you to dust off my records," 1945 November 21 | ||||||||||||
| Neher, Fred, 1903-2001 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Fred Neher drew the weekly single-panel cartoon Life's Like That from 1935 to 1941 and from 1945 to 1977. | |||||||||||||
| Standing by a record player, a teenage girl complains to her mother. | |||||||||||||
| "Released by Consolidated News Features." Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with best wishes! Fred Neher." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
8 Cartoon #36 | "Salome Petrillo" with the "heads" of Colombia and Victor Records, circa 1944 | ||||||||||||
| Packer, Fred Little, 1886-1956 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, pencil | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| James C. Petrillo, dressed as Salome, spins a record on which rest the "heads" of Colombia and Victor Records. | |||||||||||||
| Published in the
New York Mirror. Autographed by the artist: "With kindest personal regards to -- Jack Kapp. From -- Packer." | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
5 Cartoon #37 | James C. Petrillo running on a turntable, circa 1946 | ||||||||||||
| Packer, Fred Little, 1886-1956 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, charcoal, white paint | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| As Petrillo runs on the turntable, a needle labeled "Congress" is poised to stick him in the rear. | |||||||||||||
| Published in the
New York Mirror. Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp. Very sincerely, Fred L. Packer." Also signed by the artist, lower right: "Packer." The Lea, or "Anti-Petrillo," Act of 1946 was enacted by Congress to prohibit Petrillo's standby rules for radio. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
1 Cartoon #38 | "Here, Frankie -- see if Beethoven's '5th' fits any better," undated | ||||||||||||
| Peters, Eric | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, with blue and red paint | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Boys attempt to replace a missing wagon wheel with records, breaking several of them. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
8 Cartoon #39 | "The missing link supplied," 1908 | ||||||||||||
| Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Men stand before a phonograph to which a hand is attached. To one side are cylinders labeled "Bryan" and "Taft." | |||||||||||||
| Published in
Puck magazine in 1908, during the
presidential race between William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan. The
hand outstretched for shaking is the missing link that would make personal
appearances by campaigning politicians obsolete. Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' Sep. 23, 1908, New York." | |||||||||||||
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BOX
8 Cartoon #40 | "His master's voice," circa 1918 | ||||||||||||
| Racey, A. G. | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Racey was a cartoonist for the Montreal Star from 1899 to 1941, the year of his death. | |||||||||||||
| A phonograph horn in the shape of a cannon labeled "the Allies ... Foch" points at a sweating, quaking hound representing Kaiser Wilhelm. The words "unconditional surrender" come from the cannon. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "A.G. Racey. With apologies to the
'Victor.'" Ferdinand Foch was supreme commander of the Allied armies in November of 1918, when Germany requested an armistice. | |||||||||||||
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5 Cartoon #41 | "Due to conditions beyond our control, we now present Harry Harris," undated | ||||||||||||
| [Ramerno?] | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue wash | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A man in a radio studio speaks into a microphone as another man apparently prepares to speak. | |||||||||||||
|
BOX
5 Cartoon #42 | "Well I followed your advice. I turned the lights down low and played romantic music!" undated | ||||||||||||
| Reckas, George | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue wash | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A young woman complains to her mother while a sailor snores on the couch, oblivious to the records she's been playing. | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #43 | "Shyness compels Mr. Winterbottom to deliver his speech from a home recording," 1948 January 26 | ||||||||||||
| Reed, Ed | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| At a board meeting, the arms of a man hidden behind the table place a record on a turntable. | |||||||||||||
| "1948, the Register and Tribune Syndicate." Autographed by the artist: "All best wishes, To Jack Kapp -- Ed Reed -- "Off the Record." | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #44 | A cobra transfixed by music from a record player, undated | ||||||||||||
| Richter, Mischa, 1910- | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, white paint | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Mr. Kapp -- Mischa Richter." | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #45 | "It's nice of you to contribute your phonograph records to the canteen, Ethel -- even if they are all nursery rhymes," 1943 February 6 | ||||||||||||
| Coe, Roland, 1906-1954 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, charcoal | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| The image shows girl scouts carrying records. | |||||||||||||
|
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8 Cartoon #46 | "Open this package, Jack," circa 1947 January 29 | ||||||||||||
| Russell, Bruce, 1903-1963 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink on brown kraft paper | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| On paper used to wrap a package that was mailed in 1947 (at top right are canceled stamps dated January 29, 1947), Russell has drawn a record labeled "Decca Records," that includes the address of the record company owned by Jack Kapp. The "song" on the record is entitled "Open this package, Jack," and the "songwriter" is "Kapp." Along the bottom of the "record label" are musical notes surrounded by the words "Office of the president." At upper right is the return address: "From Bruce Russell, Los Angeles Times." | |||||||||||||
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8 Cartoon #47 | "Martial music," undated | ||||||||||||
| Russell, Bruce, 1903-1963 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| The cartoon shows a broken record labeled "China peace." | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with best wishes. Bruce Russell." | |||||||||||||
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5 #48 | "Nothing like this in Nazi Germany," 1942 November 4 | ||||||||||||
| Seibel, Fred O. (Fred Otto), 1886-1969 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A speaking head identified as "U.S. voters" rests on the turntable of a phonograph labeled "ballot box." Emanating from the horn are the words "voice of the people." | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with my compliments. Fred
O. Seibel." The drawing is also signed by the artist, lower right. Handwritten under the autograph is: "Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 4, 1942." | |||||||||||||
|
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5 Cartoon #49 | David and Goliath, 1948 January 3 | ||||||||||||
| Seibel, Fred O. (Fred Otto), 1886-1969 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Armed with a sword and shielded by a record, a huge robot is nevertheless hit in the head with a rock flung from a slingshot by James C. Petrillo. The robot is labeled "machine age," and the words "Ban on recording" appear at the top of the cartoon. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with my best wishes. Fred
O. Siebel." The drawing is also signed by the artist, lower right. | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #50 | "Acme Second Hand Phonograph Record Company, Good morning, good morning, good morning, good ...," undated | ||||||||||||
| Soglow, Otto, 1900-1975 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A switchboard operator speaks into a receiver. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist, lower left: "O. Soglow." | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #51 | "I can't figger it out at all -- no tubes or batteries!" undated | ||||||||||||
| Spaar, William | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| Several natives comment on a playing phonograph while a pipe-smoking man in a safari outfit stands by. | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #52 | "Don't bother Junior now. He's listening to his homework," undated | ||||||||||||
| Strauss, Charles | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A boy listens to a record as his parents look on. | |||||||||||||
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5 Cartoon #53 | "Swelling the chorus!" circa 1948 | ||||||||||||
| Talburt, Harold M., 1895-1966 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| "John L." (probably John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, 1920-1960) sings "Brother, can you spare a dime?" while a phonograph labeled "[James C.] Petrillo's royalty racket" plays. The musical notes floating from the phonograph have dollar signs on them, and Lewis holds a sign that states, "Demand of 10 cents a ton royalty for miner's union." | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with best wishes. H. M.
Talburt." The drawing is also signed "Talburt" at lower left. In 1948, the year of the second American Federation of Musicians recording ban, the UMWA under president John L. Lewis won health and pension benefits for miners, financed partially by a royalty on every ton of coal mined. | |||||||||||||
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6 Cartoon #54 | "The music goes round and round -- but it don't come out here!" between 1940 and 1950 | ||||||||||||
| Talburt, Harold M., 1895-1966 | |||||||||||||
| 1 print : lithograph, crayon | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| While a record spins on the turntable, James C. Petrillo sits in the horn of a phonograph, blocking the sound. | |||||||||||||
| The Hodgson-Riley song, "The Music Goes Round and Round," recorded in 1935, was Decca Records' first hit, putting Jack Kapp's company in the black for the first time. | |||||||||||||
|
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2 Cartoon #55 | "The super juke box," 1942 | ||||||||||||
| Thomas, Burt | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Uncle Sam stands in front of a jukebox on which sits James C. Petrillo's head (bearing a definite resemblance to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini). A hand reaches out from the jukebox, which is labeled, "Pay me." | |||||||||||||
| Published in the Detroit News. | |||||||||||||
| Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with compliments of B. Thomas." | |||||||||||||
|
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2 Cartoon #56 | A man looks through a pile of records as guests wait, undated | ||||||||||||
| Tobin, Don | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| One of the guests says, "Really, Charley, I didn't mean for you to go to all that trouble. We can hear 'Sugar Blues' some other time." | |||||||||||||
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2 Cartoon #57 | Jelly Bean Jones. "Gee I never really appreciated symphonies before -- they scale better than anything," 1948 March 10 | ||||||||||||
| Walter, Frank | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Two children are throwing records. | |||||||||||||
|
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2 Cartoon #58 | Jelly Bean Jones. "Look, Pop -- I've just invented a new game," 1948 January 14 | ||||||||||||
| Walter, Frank | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| King Features Syndicate, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| A child jumps onto a record player as his father walks in. | |||||||||||||
|
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6 Cartoon #59 | "The timid soul," 1946 September 2 | ||||||||||||
| Webster, Harold Tucker, 1885-1952 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1946, New York Tribune, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| Standing near a record player and holding a record, Casper Milquetoast says, "Perhaps I'd better employ a couple of musicians to play this record for me. I don't want to offend the union and have them denounce me as a labor baiter, or a stooge for the capitalists, or a fascist." | |||||||||||||
| Signed by the artist, lower right. | |||||||||||||
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6 Cartoon #60 | "The thrill that comes once in a lifetime," 1944 October 25 | ||||||||||||
| Webster, Harold Tucker, 1885-1952 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1944, New York Tribune, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| A mother listens to the voice of her son on a record from the U.S.O.: "A -- hem -- uh -- ah -- er -- Well, -- ah -- gosh! I don't know what to say -- uh...." The mother, smiling, says, "Now, isn't that cute?" | |||||||||||||
| Signed by the artist, lower right. | |||||||||||||
|
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6 Cartoon #61 | Two fairies near a bell-shaped flower, undated | ||||||||||||
| Wheelan, Albertine Randall | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| A. R. Wheelan was a nineteenth-century cartoonist known for his Dumbunnies newspaper series. | |||||||||||||
| Handwritten caption under the first panel: "Adventuros [sic] fairy: 'Why this must be a phonograph! Doesn't that Bumble Bee's voice sound natural?'" Caption under the second panel: "Bee, appearing from within flower: 'Good morning ladies! This is my busy day. Aren't you out rather late?'" | |||||||||||||
| Signed by the artist, first panel, lower right. | |||||||||||||
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6 Cartoon #62 | Woman reading album notes, 1942 | ||||||||||||
| Williams, Gluyas, 1888-1982 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, blue pencil | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1942, 1970, The New Yorker Magazine, Inc. | |||||||||||||
| A woman looks puzzled as she reads the pretentious program notes accompanying the record she holds. | |||||||||||||
| Published in the
New Yorker. Signed by the artist, lower left. | |||||||||||||
| Cartoon #63 | A woman listens to her husband singing "Pistol Packin' Mama" in the shower, undated | ||||||||||||
| Chenoweth, Hugh | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Not on shelf. | |||||||||||||
| Cartoon #64 | "Maestro Petrillo versus the law," undated | ||||||||||||
| [Kay?] | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink, charcoal | |||||||||||||
| James C. Petrillo on a phonograph; a hand is jutting into the picture holding an injunction. | |||||||||||||
| Not on shelf. | |||||||||||||
|
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9 Cartoon #65 | The Goodrich Rubber Man's vacation, circa 1900 | ||||||||||||
| 1 print (poster) | |||||||||||||
| This promotional poster, printed for the Buffalo-Pan American Exposition of 1900 and 1901, was intended for distribution to Goodrich's wholesalers. The photographs of the salesmen-musicians superimposed over the drawing are of actual Goodrich Rubber Company employees. | |||||||||||||
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6 Cartoon #66 | "Round 2," 1944 October | ||||||||||||
| Berryman, James Thomas, 1902-1971 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| Uncle Sam, standing in the middle of a boxing ring, holds up a card that says “Round 2.” In one corner, Frank Sinatra sings into a microphone for sitting boxer FDR, and in the other, Bing Crosby croons into a microphone for Thomas Dewey. | |||||||||||||
| Published in the
Washington Evening Star. Autographed by the artist: "Jim Berryman. With my best to my friend ... and everybody's friend, Bing!" | |||||||||||||
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6 Cartoon #67 | "In full bloom," 1907 February 6 | ||||||||||||
| Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933 | |||||||||||||
| 1 print : lithograph, color | |||||||||||||
| 1 print : lithograph, black and white | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| An inebriated man ("Mr. Talksome") stands in front of a window
display of phonographs and declares, "Hones' fact, itsh the finesht display er
mornin' glories ever shaw in m'life!" A black and white print matted on the reverse of the color print is the same image but includes the hand-written caption and editorial markings. | |||||||||||||
| Probably published in Puck magazine. | |||||||||||||
|
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6 Cartoon #68 | "In the jungle," 1894 | ||||||||||||
| Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933 | |||||||||||||
| 1 drawing : pen and ink | |||||||||||||
| No copyright notice found with item. | |||||||||||||
| A professor wearing a safari hat plays a phonograph from inside a zoo cage labeled "Prof. Monk, the scientist." Monkeys, some wearing human clothing, listen from outside the cage. | |||||||||||||
| Handwritten in pencil on reverse: "In the jungle. May 16,
1894." Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' April 17, 1894, New York." | |||||||||||||
| BOX 11 | Framed album cover of Oklahoma! 1946 | ||||||||||||
| 1 photomechanical print : in wooden frame | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 1943, Decca Records. | |||||||||||||
| Cover of the 1943 cast album, Selections from the Theatre Guild Musical Play Oklahoma!, featuring members of the original New York production. Decca album no. 359, 23M, Personality series. | |||||||||||||
| Inscription on the small metal plaque attached to the center of the album cover: "For Jack. This 500,001st album from Dick and [Deen?]. Feb. 3, 1946." | |||||||||||||
For more information about the collection, as well as Jack Kapp, James C. Petrillo, and the American recording industry in the first half of the 20th century, see Samuel Brylawski, "Cartoons for the Record: the Jack Kapp Collection," Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, volume 38, number 3 (summer 1981), pages 180-195.
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