Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1931-10)

2 The Phonograph Monthly Review J. S. MacDonald (“Harry MacDonough") The passing of a phonographic veteran T HE sudden death of J. S. MacDonald re- moves from the phonographic stage one of most important contributors to the evolu- tion of recorded music. Record buying amateurs of today, to whom Mr. MacDon- ald’s name may be entirely unfamiliar, can have little idea of the moving part this modest figure has played, first under a stage name, and in latter years entirely behind the public scenes. On the very eve of going to press it has been impossible for us to secure full biographical details from Mr. MacDon- ald’s former associates. We plan to publish these next month, but meanwhile the an- nouncement of his death should not be un- accompanied by some tribute to his long and distinguished phonographic career. To that indefatigable historian, Mr. Ulysses J. Walsh, we are indebted for much of the ma- terial that follows. Four years before Mr. MacDonald began recording, he appeared—“under his stage name, Harry MacDonough—as Prince Paul in the supporting cast of Lillian Russell in Offenbach’s The Grand Duchess at the Casino, New York, 1891. Mr. MacDonough, to quote Walsh, “was a lyric tenor whom I consider the superior of McCormack, and whose enunciation was invariably a model for other singers.” The Haydn (later Hay- den!) Quartet was formed with Mr. Mac- Donough as first tenor, John Bieling, second, S. H. Dudley, baritone, and William F. Hooley, bass. From 1895 to 1914, when it disbanded, this group was the unsurpassed vocal ensemble of its kind, making hundreds of records many of which were among the best sellers of all times. One of them, Vic- tor 16394 (originally 97), Lead Kindly Light, was named by Mr. Walsh as “the oluest record seeing active service today . . . still a bustling breadwinner for its makers.” Some other famous ones were Jimmie Wal- kers’ Will You Love Me in December as You Do in May?, In Dear Old Georgia, Dreaming on the Ohio, Sweet Adeline, and many others. Mr. MacDonough alone made scores of other records, many of which were exceedingly popular. Beyond a doubt, during his record- ing career he participated in the making of more discs than any other artist. The career of the usual artist ends with the end of his active singing days, but with the retirement of Harry MacDonough, Mr. MacDonald’s career under his own name was scarcely begun. The technical end of record making began to take more and more of his attention and he was soon placed in charge of the New York studios of the Victor Com- pany, later going to Camden as chief assis- tant to the then recording manager, Mr. Child. About 1919 he enlarged his activities still further and became sales manager for the Victor Company, returning later to the re- cording studios where he participated in the making of millions of discs in the so-called golden age of the phonograph. In 1925 he left Victor to become Recording Manager of the Columbia Phonograph Com- pany, in which position he was still active until his death. Under his direction came not only the remarkable recording feats of the acoustical days, but later the brilliant developments of electrical recording, most notable of which perhaps was the first ade- quate reproduction of piano tone with the memorable Chopin and Brahms sonatas played by Percy Grainger for Columbia. No history of phonography would be com- plete without the reminiscences of Mr. Mac- Donald. We trust that these were com- mitted to paper before his death, for what an inestimable wealth of anecdote concerning the great musicians of the last three or four decades they would contain! How many of the great names owe their recording suc- cess to Mr. MacDonald’s tireless ingenuity only they can say. Surely they will not be backward now in acknowledging the debt. The average listener is unaware of the tre- mendous importance of the part played by the recording director, upon whom so much of the record’s success or failure depends. In addition to all the complicated and varied technical problems he must meet and con- quer, he must also be a diplomat of the most finished type in order to get the best out of high-strung, temperamental artists. Mr. MacDonald’s tactfulness and personality worked these miracles for many years. The phonographic world is incalculably the poor- er for his loss.