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Columbia's first Lp logo
The
Steinweiss cover for the 10 inch Columbia release in 1950 of music by
Sibelius and Rachmaninoff performed by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia
Orchestra
ML 2158.
Alex
Steiweiss, Curt John Witt, Otto Rado, H.Kaebitz, Wattley, Slonevsky, Albitz,
Rudolf de Harak, Einhorn.
In the beginning
for many Lp records a basic design was used which only needed filling
in names of artist(s), composer(s), compositions and reference number
on the tombstone.
Remington's earliest
label
The second label
Remington's
catalog, published in the fall of 1952, showing the new design.
The third label
The fourth label
designed for the MUSIRAMA recordings.
Alex
Steinweiss logo on most Columbia covers.
Alex
Steinweiss 'signature' written in the so called Steinweiss scrawl
as it appeared on Remington releases.
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The
first Remington label designed by Alex Steinweiss.
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When the Remington
catalogue was expanding and the competition was growing, Don Gabor wanted
to upgrade the appearance and add in this way to the significance of the
Remington recordings.
So why not ask the
man who designed the covers for Columbia Masterworks, Alex Steinweiss,
to develop a corporate image and a basic design for the covers and the
label of Remington records.
In 1939, 23 year old Alexander
Steinweiss proposed to Columbia to make a change in the presentation
and packaging of the 78 RPM record albums and to use original artwork
(drawings and paintings) on the covers. This new approach was quite
a change if compared to the old or silver imprint of just the nomenclature
in a serif or gothic font on the black, brown or beige heavy books.
The new look skyrocketed the sales of an already very popular composition.
From that day on the artistic packaging became an important part of
the record.
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The
design of the albums was more or less derived from the photo album
design with a plain and simple layout and lettering as this European
release of HMV (Victor in the USA) shows.
Isolde Menges performs Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, accompanied by
pianist Arthur de Greef.
His Master's Voice D 1066/69 electrical recording, date November 10,
1925.
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This
album is testimony of the revolution in album design. It shows Alex
Steinweiss's style to the full.
Pianist Oscar Levant plays George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with
the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy on Columbia MX251
(on Lp ML4026).
NOTE: This is not the world's first album cover ever and it is not
the factual best selling cover of the Rhapsody played by Alec
Templeton with André Kostelanetz which I only have in its plain
edition and was released much later on Lp in January 1952, ML4455.
The Templeton album which was illustrated by Steinweiss shows a small,
white piano under a street lamp which is in fact a trumpet, the suggestion
of the New York skyline in black, plus the lettering which is as always
with Steinweiss an integral part of the design. |
In 1948 Columbia presented
the Lp format to the public. A symphony on 4 78 RPM records could now
be engraved on a single disc. The new medium did not need the fat, heavy
albums any longer. The standard sleeves for 78 RPM records in albums
were made of light Kraft paper, folded together and glued at the spine
and top or bottom, reportedly with a strip folded inside the sleeve
which could damage the new vinylite Lp.
(Note: In my collection of 78s all albums and sleeves, post- and prewar,
have seams/strips glued on the outside instead of the inside!)
Alex
Steinweiss with some of his designs for Columbia records, photographed
by William P. Gottlieb in 1947.
Courtesy of William P. Gottlieb.
(Copyright W.P.Gottlieb.)
Steinweiss,
who born on March 24, 1917, in Brooklyn, had studied at Parsons School
of Design (New York) and graduated in 1937, was for two years assistant
to Joseph Binder. In 1939 he was retained as Art Director at Columbia
Records, and was appointed Advertising Manager for Columbia Records
in 1943. From 1943 until the end of the war he was Exhibits Engineer
in the US Navy TADC (Tactical Air Direction Center). In 1945 he had
settled as a free lance designer and consultant, painter and ceramist,
working for a variety of companies and industries, including Columbia
Records. Alexander
Steinweiss was now asked to design a standard record sleeve for the
new long playing record. His first design was a sleeve made of rather
thin kraft paper with the opening at the top (1948).
Later Steinweiss's design
of the folded album cover (the fold at the spine) made of cardboard
became the standard of the industry in the USA. His basic design was
soon varied upon but is in essence the same, up to this day.
Generally
a larger sheet with the printed art was folded and glued over the edges.
The square sheet with the liner notes was glued on the back, as the
drawing shows. The reverse way was also done: the sheet with the liner
notes, larger than the actual cardboard, was folded over the edge and
the square sheet with the artwork was glued on the front. In some designs
the top and bottom seams were reinforced with a small strip of some
strong fabric which was glued into the seam.
In
Europe various solutions were devised. EMI, Decca and Philips in England
and early Dutch Philips were put in so called flipback covers.
Deutsche Grammophon had the gatefold with the stitched compartment,
a design with appeal but many times was the cause of a damaged record.
Popular Polydor 7", 10" and 12" records had simple covers
stitched at the sides, the opening at the top. In Germany Telefunken
and RCA had a similar folded cover. The fold was at the bottom and the
sides were glued together. The opening was at the top.
In
the USA however many Columbia Lp records (and in the beginning those
of most manufacturers) were put into flimsy, all purpose sleeves with
a basic graphic design. It sufficed to print the names of the artists,
the title and the reference number on the front and some liner notes
or a list on the back.
Many early Remington
releases in 1950 and 1951 were slipped into thin, floppy all purpose
sleeves. Several early recordings had their own art created specifically
in relation to the music.
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The
earliest release of Thaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 conducted by H.
Arthur Brown (R-199-13) in a paper sleeve, yet already with specific
artwork.
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Another
pre-Steinweiss cover:
R-199-50 with Edward Kilenyi's Debussy. The initials of the designer
are EDL, the year is 1951.
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But Don Gabor
was convinced that he needed the full attention of the buyer and that
he should have covers that were well designed in order to be able to
compete with the products of the big companies. Many of the designs
for the early Remington red-label productions were made by a man named
Freeman. Other names that came up were of Sherman Alpert
and Raboni. When profit had been made, the product's appeal could
be improved upon to further boost the turnover. New sleeves were designed
by someone whose initials were E.D.L., by Einhorn and
by Curt John Witt who also made many covers of the Plymouth releases
with the same recorded material. Instead of pictures of artists and
listings, now the covers had liner notes, mostly written by George Curtiss,
Don Gabor's cousin
and managing director of the Webster pressing plant in Massachusetts.
Now Alex Steinweiss
was to design a new basic layout for a label and covers for Remington
Records. In fact he designed a complete corporate image for Don Gabor's
company. He designed the third Remington label, the black-gold label
with the letters REMINGTON placed in boxes arranged in a circle at the
periphery of the label, including a box with a crown. Above the nomenclature
(in the upper half of the label) the text "A Don Gabor Production"
was placed in Steinweiss's hand-drawn lettering, later copyrighted as
"Steinweiss Scrawl".
The
same elements adorned the covers. On the left the letters REMINGTON
were placed in boxes in a vertical row, topped by a box with the same
"A Don Gabor Production" and at the bottom a box with the
crown. Furthermore the logo with laurels was replaced by a new oval
emblem with the text Complete Audible Range Reproduction, a logo
that was to suggest the same quality as Full Frequency Range Recording
(English Decca and London), New Orthophonic High Fidelity(RCA),
Living Presence(Mercury), Full Dimensional Sound (Capitol),
etc.
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'A
Don Gabor Production', the crown, the vertical row of boxes which
spelled REMINGTON, plus the heading on the stationary (and other
documents) with the slogan 'music for millions', the capital R on
the catalog with the Remington logo, and the black/gold sticker
with the important text 'factory sealed', they were, from July 1952
on, the elements defining the corporate image of Remington Records
Inc. The Musirama recordings were announced in the 1953 catalog.
and the new label was introduced in the following year.
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When better recordings
were made under the supervision of both Laszlo Halasz and Don
Gabor, and improved microphone placement was used by Gabor's technician
Robert Blake (Blake later recorded for the Everest label as a few covers
indicate) and this technique was named MUSIRAMA, a triangular logo was
put on the cover and MUSIRAMA was also added to the label. The "A
Don Gabor Production" logo with laurels was replaced by the atomic
symbol and the wording "3 dimensional sound".
The graphics of the labels are extremely beautiful because of the combination
of a serif typeface for the label name - REMINGTON - and a sans serif,
gothic type for reference numbers and the description of the contents
of the recording. Steinweiss designed also a basic layout for the back
of the cover to complement the new style of the MUSIRAMA editions: frames,
typefaces for titles, liner notes and reference numbers, positioning
of logo, etc.
Alex Steinweiss
is noted for his Columbia covers and one easily gets the impression
that this was the only label he worked for. But it is significant that
he designed the covers for other labels as well. And he worked with
other designers and artists like Curt John Witt (later covers
indicate "Curt John Witt Design House"; he also designed for
Allegro Royale and Opera Society), Albitz, Kaebitz, Leonard
Slonevski, Wattly and Otto Rado.
As far as I could find out Rudolph de Harak (1924–2002)
designed just one cover for Don Gabor around 1952. He later became famous
for designs for the Metropolitan Museum, the United States Pavilion
at the Osaka World Fair, for Man Planet Space in Montreal 1967. He also
designed the 'Quadra' typeface and more than 400 book jackets for McGraw-Hill's
book division,
Also an artist named Riser provided jacket art.
Steinweiss
himself designed covers, and he coordinated the work of the other artists
as well. In the beginning existing covers were adapted to the new lay
out. But as soon as new recordings were to be released, new artwork
was made and even particular covers that were already restyled, were
replaced by covers with new art work. The most significant example is
Edward Kilenyi's recording of the Chopin Waltzes of which the cover
could be obtained in (at least) two different editions.
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Cover
by Alex Steinweiss for Remington R-199-126 with the Steinweiss Scrawl
in abundance: Violinist Michèle Auclair plays Kreisler Encores
accompanied by pianist Otto Schulhof.
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The designs made
by Steinweiss for Remington are not always as elaborate as most of the
covers he did for Columbia Records. But there are exceptions of course.
An example is the beautiful cover for R-199-128 with violinist
Michèle Auclair and cellist Gaspar Cassado playing gems.
However, the similarities in style are obvious. The Remington covers
have an originality of their own which is also brought about by the
vertical logo (designed by Steinweiss) on the left of the cover which
had to be "integrated" in the artwork. Integration also applied to the
triangle of with the MUSIRAMA logo which was added lateron.
The designs
of the Remington covers are at times a bit simple and reflect a somewhat
childish optimism, one could say. To a large extend this style was imposed
by the technique of plate production and the printing process available
in those days, a technique which had its restrictions. Yet the covers
witness the personalities of the various designing artists who (often
guided by Steinweiss), in many instances, achieved to reflect the nature
of the artists, the composers and the music.
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A
"golden" laminated cover by Steinweiss at the occasion
of the 5th Aniversary of Columbia's Long Playing record, September
1953, with popular music of Tchaikovsky conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
The style for the LPs of Columbia is often more sophisticated and
more serious by the use of darker tones.
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Steinweiss's covers
distinguish themselves by the hand writing (the Steinweiss scrawl):
names of artists, location of recording, the works recorded. So even
if his name is not mentioned the original artist is generally recognized.
Steinweiss is the one who at times uses more pastel colors and fine
lines as for the covers of Scheherazade with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra
and the cover of Piano Encores (not displayed). (Publisher Taschen from
Los Angeles is preparing a new publication about Alex Steinweiss and
his work. It will be available by the end of 2008.)
Curt
John Witt
has his own signature of style. His designs initially have calmness
and simplicity like the cover for Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (displayed
at the end of this page). He also designed one of the covers of the
Waltzes of Chopin on R-199-82 (not displayed).
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Curt
John Witt's cover design for The Opera Society recording of Orpheus
and Eurydice (Gluck) - M142 OP25.
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Lateron his designs
have bright and intense colors and straight lines: Chopin's 4 Scherzi
played by Jorge Bolet and
the recording with music of American composers Ward and Stein (see at
the end of this page). And look how he just uses a few colors evoking
the modernism of Gershwin's Concerto in F. He could have been the artist
who designed the Prokofiev cover on which no name is mentioned. Some
covers just state Curt John Witt, while other covers mention: Design
House - Curt John Witt.
Curt John Witt worked for other labels as well. He designed the cover
for The Opera Society's edition of the 2 10" Lp set in a gatefold of
Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" performed by The Netherlands Philharmonic
Orchestra and Chorus under Nicolas Goldschmidt and Dutch singers Léon
Combé, Corry Bijster and Anette de la Bije.(The Opera Society
was a label of the Concert Hall Society/Musical Masterpieces Society.)
And he can be found on many covers of Eli Oberstein's Allegro/Royale
releases.
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The cover Otto Rado did for Westminster's release of Rimsky-Korsakov's
Scheherazade conducted by Argeo Quadri. And
the cover for Urania 7112 released in 1954: Violin Concertos of
Rakav and Malipiero.
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Another artist
was H. Kaebitz. From his hand is the cover of Symphony Fantastique.
It displays a sinister purple, and a cross adorned with faces.
Slonevski
and Wattly use styles which have a more common and plain quality
if compared to the other, brighter designs. And Rudolph de Harak
designed a sober cover for Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 conducted by Zoltan
Fekete. So far the only De Harak cover I found.
Albitz is the artist of Kilenyi's Liszt album where on a purple
background the shapes of a grand piano and candles with flickering flames
indicate the romanticism which was seen a couple of years earlier in
the 1945 biopic of Liszt's contemporary Chopin, "A song to Remember",
where Merle Oberon (as George Sand) walked into the non-lit room and
places the candelabras on the grand piano, thus revealing that Frederick
Chopin (Cornel Wilde) was playing instead of Franz Liszt, what everybody
expected. (The piano part was played by José Irturbi).
On the cover of
the recording of Dvorak's 4th (8th) Symphony designer Otto Rado
beautifully expressed a pastoral mood. In that way he accentuates the
sense of beauty. His love for the use of gold can also be seen in the
cover for Westminster's 1953 Scheherazade release (WL 5234, Argeo Quadri
conducting). He also worked for the Urania label. Extraordinary is his
design for the 3 Lp Remington box of Verdi's
Aida. That is a collectible item for reasons of both performance
and cover art.
The very personal
style of Alex Steinweiss is also seen in the early album covers of Bob
Whyte's Everest records and the design of the early labels of the Everest
releases. Again he arranged the label's name in a circle and choose
specific colors. The early releases had a very distinctive basic design,
the choice of fonts included.
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Two
different designs for labels and the basic layout by Steinweiss
for the covers with two blue stripes, the Everest logo and in the
same typeface for STEREO and RECORDS.
Both the box of Mahler's 5th conducted by Rudolf Schwarz, and the
cover of "Around the World in 80 Days" state: Cover design
by Alex Steinweiss.
When only stereo issues were released the dominant indication STEREO
was replaced by EVEREST in black on a yellow background as in the
cover of the Petrouchka recording by Sir Eugene Goossens.
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The application
of artwork and the use of very distinctive graphics for the Everest
covers is the more remarkable while by that time the trend was gradually
changing towards the use of photographs only.
In early
years of advertising, objects and people were depicted in drawings in
black and white and later in color.
When new, more
cost effective printing techniques became available, art directors and
copywriters started to work together with photographers who were commissioned
to shoot photos along the lines of the art director's layout. Gradually
the graphic artists was replaced by the photographer completely. The
art director designed the basic lay-out and choose the various typefaces.
In the beginning
of the application of photography the visualization was a combination
of graphics and photography. Finally the hybrid designs of the covers
were replaced by pure photography. This trend was followed by many a
record company.
Very early examples of the use of photographs exclusively can be found
on several RCA covers. From 1954 is the release of "With Love From
A Chorus" (LM-1815), sung by the Robert Shaw Chorale. Also famous
is the cover of Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe" by the Boston
Symphony Orchestra and the Robert Shaw Chorale under conductor Charles
Munch on LM-1893 from 1955. It has a distinct new style, as has the
RCA cover of the 1956 release of "My True Love Sings" on LM-1998,
again by the Robert Shaw Chorale.
These designs may
have inspired many a photographer and designer, like famous Dutch photographer
Paul Huf when he made the covers for the Philips S-L Series with model
Ann Pickford from England.
At right the cover of the Piano Concertos of Franz Liszt performed by
pianist Cor de Groot and the Recidency Orchestra conducted by Willem
van Otterloo, and Paul Huf's cover of Ballet Music by Delibes and Gounod
with conductor Jean Fournet.
Columbia naturally
had covers designed in the same trend as shows the late release of Oscar
Levant's Gershwin ecordings made in the 78 RPM era. The photographer
was Hal Reif.
Remarkable was
that the great Alex Steinweiss was the creator of the basic design for
Don Gabor's Remington records in 1952 and this added even more to the
importance of the label and made Remington records easily recognizable.
His basic concept had also to be filled in by the other artists and
designers. He gave them enough freedom to express their own artistry.
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The
two different covers of Buck Clayton's most famous Jam Session on
Philips B 07022 L: Buck Clayton and Joe Newman (trumpets), Urbie
Green and Henderson Chambers (trombones), Lem Davis (alto sax),
Julian Dash (tenor sax), Charlie Fowlkes (barotone sax), Sir Charles
Thompson (piano), Freddie Green (piano), Walter Page (bass), and
Jo Jones (Drums). The titles: The Huckle-Buck, and Robin's Nest.
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An
example of the new trend to use photography in combination with graphics,
and the use of plain photography is the release by Philips of the original
Columbia recordingCL 548 which was first issued in the spring of 1954.
The early hybrid design (graphics and pictures) of Philips B 07022 L,
was eventually replaced by a powerful picture of Buck Clayton playing
the trumpet. The second edition was pressed from new plates and released
around 1957.
By
that time many an old Remington recording had a new disguise with a
photograph on the cover and was now available on one or several of Gabor's
other labels like Masterseal, Paris, Webster, and Palace. The Remington
label was gradually discontinued.
Below is the cover of Palace M-601 with Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet
Overture) and Grieg (Peer Gynt Suite No. 1), played with the Viennese
Symphonic Orchestra under fake conductor Kurt Baumann, a substitute
for Kurt Wöss (Tchaikovsky) and H. Arthur Brown (Grieg).
After the craze
of using photography had more or less passed, new generations of artists
were designing labels and covers and corporate housestyles. Now al styles
and techniques were used side by side, many times inspired by the pioneers
of the early days.
Many record collectors and artists regret that the small size of the
jewel case of the CD gives less opportunity to make an artistic cover.
But within the restrictions there are quite a few remarkable designed
CD covers and booklets. Yet, the CD with art work and the small lettering
is sometimes qualified as neat or cute, while an Lp cover can be utterly
impressive.
Rudolf A. Bruil
- Page first published, September 2001 - and updated since.
All covers from my private record collection.
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