Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1931-11)

November 1931, Vol. VI, No. 2 25 its individual members signed a contract which permitted it as a Quartet to continue its work for the Edison Company. This ar- rangement continued for only a couple of years and then the whole outfit signed up ex- clusively with the Victor Company and this association continued as long as the Quartet existed. “My personal connection with the Victor Company continued until 1925. For many years I sang solos, duets, trios, quartet and ensemble records with the Victor Male Chorus, the Trinity Choir, the Victor Mixed Chorus and the Victor Light Opera Company. In fact, I was mixed up with almost every combination in the catalog, besides picking artists and selections for them to do.” Al- though he does not mention it, Macdonald was also the second tenor of the Orpheus Quartet, which consisted besides himself of Hooley, the bass, and Lambert Murphy and Reinald Werrenrath, who later became Red Seal performers. This was perhaps the most impressive quartet ever put together, for the two members who were eventually listed in the celebrity section of the Victor catalog were no more than the equals of the two who were not. To go on with Mr. Macdonald’s story: “Eventually I was made Sales Manager of the Company and continued in this work until 1922 when I returned to the Artist Depart- ment with my very dear friend, C. G. Child, who had been at the head of the Department since the formation of the Victor Company. On his retirement in October, 1923, I was made Manager of the Artist and Repertoire Department and continued there until Oc- tober, 1925, when I left to become Director of Recording Studios of the Columbia Com- pany.” This was the position he was holding at the time of his untimely death. And now he has left us—and left not one electric record to let us enjoy the sound of his voice as it was in his later years. Only a few weeks before he died, I suggested that he make a record of some standard selection “to show the other tenors how to do it,” but he whimsically replied that “I have been out of singing harness so long that I fear the result would not be exactly pleasing.” Not even an acoustic record of his remains in the current Victor catalog, which twenty-five years ago contained hundreds, even though a few may be found in the catalog of Records of Histor- ical and Personal Interest. The last Harry Macdonough disc was issued in the spring of 1919, and was No. 18532, “It’s Never Too Late to be Sorry,” although his final appearance as a recording artist came when he sajng the vocal refrain of a dance record, “Peggy,” by Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra, which was re- leased in February, 1920. Aside from possessing a naturally sweet and powerful tenor voice, Mr. Macdonald had versatility to a degree perhaps unsurpassed by any other artist. Though appreciating the best in music, he sang all sorts: Operatic airs in English (his duet with Olive Kline of the Miserere from Trovatore was long one of the most popular records in the Victor catalog)' standard concert songs; scores of hymns' Stephen Foster songs and other selections of the plantation type; hundreds of popular songs of the day—there was almost [nothing which he did not undertake and do so well that, so I have been informed, after his re cording career ended his records were some times played by Victor officials to give other artists pointers on just how some special number previously recorded by Macdonough should be sung. He took part in dozens of “descriptive specialties” by the Haydn Quar- tet and, while his voice was hardly adapted to his essaying comedy, I have a vivid recollec- tion of his excellent portrayal of a darky bride in a very old Victor record called “A Negro Wedding in Southern Georgia.” Too much an artist to foist slack treatment upon any- thing that came to his attention, he bestowed the utmost care upon even the most trivial out-pouringS of Tin Pan Alley and invariably evinced a crystal-clear enunciation. Although “Harry Macdonough” made no records for the decade preceding his death, his capability and importance as a recording director were such that not only the Columbia Company but the entire world of recorded music has sustained a cruel blow in his loss; and, restricting consideration of his achieve- ments solely to his status as a recording artist, there have died in the last twenty years only three other “popular” performers—Frank Stanley, Len Spencer, and Ada Jones—who ever enjoyed a popularity comparable to his. The true lover of the phonograph, whether he derives enjoyment from “popular” records or not, should hold the memory of all three in tender affection, for in their heyday their very names brought smiles that indicated their work meant good times to millions; and it is owing to their conscientious endeavors and the huge sales of their records that the connoisseur is able to enjoy his album sets and long-playing discs today. In the Next Issue: Along The Memory Trail By FRANK DORIAN