ABSTRACT
A British record, issued by Nimbus Records, Ltd., Monmouth; the label was founded by Frances Baskerville, Michael and Gerald Reynolds, and Jonathan Halliday. A speciality is CD reissues of early material, primarily vocal. The Prima Voce series has included material by Enrico Caruso, Giovanni Martinelli, and Rosa Ponselle; plus anthology records like Divas 1906-1935. There is also an extensive catalog of current recordings. In the 1990s, the label branched out into producing world music recordings. The Nimbus company developed the Ambisonics technique of recording. An Ambisonic microphone is also used in transferring acoustic material to contemporary formats. The company grew into a large distributor of classical recordings in U.K., but subsequently both label and distribution firm went bankrupt in 2001. In 2002, the original owners purchased the assets of the label and resumed its operation. [website: https://www.nimbus.ltd.uk/nrl/]
FRANK ANDREWS
A white fox terrier with black markings, the dog in the painting “His Master’s Voice” by Francis Barraud, famous as the Victor/Gramophone Co. trademark. Born in Bristol, Nipper was owned first by the painter’s brother, Mark Henry Barraud. When Mark Henry died in 1887, Nipper moved in with Francis, in Liverpool, and the painting followed at some uncertain date. He was seen in advertising by Emile Berliner, who registered the trademark with the U.S. Patent Office in July 1900; and by Eldridge Johnson’s Consolidated Talking Machine Co., in 1900. The dog was next seen on Victor Monarch record labels from January 1902, and on Gramophone Co. labels from February 1909. He appeared in other countries as well, wherever Gramophone affiliates were found, with the text translated appropriately into “Die Stimme seines Herrn,” “La Voce del Padrone,” etc. In Germany the dog trademark was used by the affiliate until 1949, while the Gramophone Co. branch, Electrola (established 1926) used it only on products sold outside Germany until 1949, when EMI gained control of the trademark and used it on early LPs in Germany. In 1949 a plaque was placed (according to undocumented reports) over Nipper’s supposed grave, near a mulberry tree on Eden St., Kingston-on-Thames. That was the place of employment of Mark Barraud, nephew of the painter and son of Nipper’s first owner; he took the dog to work with him each
day. However, later developments in that location have resulted in a parking lot, under which Nipper apparently lies. The property, now addressed as 83 Clarence St., belongs to Lloyds Bank. A marker was laid in the parking area on 15 Aug 1984, by David Johnson, chairman of HMV Shops, Ltd., and a memorial plaque was placed in the foyer of the bank. Nipper’s birth and death years as given above, are taken from the memorial plaque and marker, which are illustrated in TMR #70 (December 1985): pp. 1948-1949 .As for the current use of the trademark, a letter from J.P.D. Patrick, vice president for international marketing for EMI Classics, stated that “Nipper is alive and well and to be found in all the territories where EMI have the right to use the trademark. This right does not, however, apply worldwide (not in the USA and the Far East, for instance). … Nipper will continue to grace tape and LP releases in the relevant territories … and is also appearing on CDs conceived for, and distributed by, specific territories: an example is West German EMI Electrola’s current Meisterwerk series” [Gramophone, November 1989, p. 822]. In late 1990 RCA began to use two “Nippers”—a grown dog and a puppy-in advertising its new line of television models and camcorders. RCA was acquired from General Electric by Thomson Consumer Electronics, a French company, in 1987. Thomson has the right to use the Nipper symbol and so does General Electric. The latter firm owns the four green stained glass windows-circular, 14 1/2 feet in diameter-now in the nine-story tower in Camden, New Jersey, which was for years the centerpiece of Victor’s vast establishment there. Eldridge Johnson commissioned Nicola D’Ascenzo Studios of Philadelphia to make the windows in 1915. They remained in place until the late 1960s, when RCA changed its logo and donated three of the windows to the Smithsonian Institution, Widener College, and Pennsylvania State University. The fourth window was stored by RCA until 1988, when it was given to Camden County Historical Society. A revival of interest in Nipper resulted in a fresh commission by RCA to D’Ascenzo in 1979, and four new windows, copies of the originals, were installed.
