Orlando R. Marsh (August 6, 1881 – September 7, 1938) was an electrical engineer raised in

Wilmette, Illinois Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

. In early 1920s

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

he pioneered electrical recording of phonograph discs with microphones when acoustic recording with horns was commonplace. His firm Marsh Laboratories, Inc., founded in 1922, at one time was located on the seventh floor of the

Lyon & Healy Lyon & Healy Harps, Inc. is an American musical instrument manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois and is a subsidiary of Salvi Harps. Today best known for concert harps, the company's Chicago headquarters and manufacturing facility contains a ...

Building near the corner of Wabash and Jackson in Chicago. The Marsh firm no longer exists but the building still stands and is part of

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

.(1) It was reported in

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

on April 28, 1923 that a device invented by Orlando R. Marsh was successfully used to make a recording of organ music, hitherto considered impossible. The article stated that Pietro A. Yon from New York City played his organ composition "Jesu Bambino" in Marsh's Chicago laboratory and that the reproduction was described as excellent. The article went on to say that this accomplishment appeared to open a new area for the phonograph. Marsh's best known recordings were duets by

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...

and

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

on the

Autograph Records Autograph Records was an American record label in the 1920s owned by Marsh Laboratories of Chicago, Illinois, which was owned by Orlando R. Marsh, an electrical engineer. Marsh made recordings by his own experimental methods. Autograph was the f ...

78 rpm phonograph disc label. His best selling Autograph records were those of

Jesse Crawford Jesse Crawford (December 2, 1895 – May 28, 1962) was an American pianist and organist. He was well known in the 1920s as a theatre organist for silent films and as a popular recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and b ...

in 1924 playing the Wurlitzer pipe organ in the

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban a ...

using his then new electrical disc recording system. This was before

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

and Columbia Records started to use the Western Electric licensed method of electrically recording records using microphones in 1925.Theater Organs website
/ref> Orlando Marsh also participated in the first radio program syndication employing disc records.

Freeman Gosden Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden (May 5, 1899 – December 10, 1982) was an American radio comedian, actor and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the radio series ''Amos 'n' Andy''. Life and ...

and

Charles Correll Charles James Correll (February 2, 1890 – September 26, 1972) was an American radio comedian, actor and writer, known best for his work in the radio series ''Amos 'n' Andy'' with Freeman Gosden. Correll voiced the main character Andy Brown, a ...

electrically recorded their

WMAQ (AM) WSCR (670 AM) – branded as 670 The Score – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, servicing the Chicago metropolitan area and much of surrounding Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and parts of the Mil ...

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

'' radio program at Marsh Laboratories prior to live airing during the 1928 - 1929 period.(3) Occasionally, specialty recordings by Marsh Laboratories from the late 1920s to the early 1940s are found.

References

Bibliography

* (1) Powell, James R., Jr., Randall G. Stehle, and Jonathan D. Powell. Vintage microphones and the restoration of early Marsh Laboratories electrical 78-rpm recordings. ''ARSC Journal'' 2006; 37 (1): 36-47. * (2) Rust, Brian. Autograph, a glimpse into the past. ''Storyville'' 1972: 40:124-126. * (3) McLeod, Elizabeth. A & A Recordings; email to old.time.radio@oldradio.net; December 27, 2002.

External links

When Did Marsh Laboratories Begin to Make Electrical Recordings?
- photos, details of Marsh patents {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Orlando American electrical engineers 1938 deaths 1880s births 20th-century American inventors

See also

References

Bibliography

External links