Difference between revisions of "Bernard Roux"

Revision as of 12:05, 30 January 2024

This page

This page presents a preliminary account of the audio activities of the French engineer and industrialist Bernard Roux (1875-1958).

It is part of the site Classical 'Society' Records by Nick Morgan.

Documented from 1905 until the late 1930s, Bernard Roux’s audio products and services were an integral part of his overall business – making and selling early plastics, notably insulators and moulded components.

A little-known pioneer of audio technology in France, Roux’s firm made private and commercial recordings for a range of clients and also produced a small number of innovative electrical audio devices.

For dates of creation and latest update, please see Page information.

NB this page is still under construction

Genesis

This page grew out of an attempt to investigate a single recording made by Bernard Roux's firm. Initially, I planned to cover it in a simple (if lengthy) blog post, which I started researching and writing in early December 2022. I soon realised that Bernard Roux's firm was not a small studio making bespoke recordings for private clients, as I had imagined, but an industrial manufacturing concern, among whose products and services were recordings and audio equipment. On 29 December 2022 I abandoned the blog post and started work on this page. (The creation date shown in Page information is the date when this page, drafted on my computer, was first uploaded to the internet.)

Sources

I carried out research for this page in the UK, mostly at home, occasionally in the British Library at St. Pancras.

Besides the Roux recording which especially interested me, I knew of a few others in institutional collections. Some of those held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) – though not all – have been digitized and made freely accessible via its digital portal Gallica. I even owned one Bernard Roux test pressing myself, as well as commercially issued discs which I gradually learned were also produced by Roux, and while working on this page I have bought a few more. They have all been digitized and the transfers uploaded to the US non-profit repository Internet Archive.

Most of these recordings have survived as test pressings, with labels which give away little or nothing about their contents or intended uses. Fortunately, other sources have proved rich in information about Roux's businesses and achievements. By far the richest are the historical newspapers, periodicals, directories, official bulletins and other publications (mostly in French) which are freely accessible in full text via institutional websites, notably Gallica, the BnF’s commercial partner RetroNews^[1] and the Internet Archive. One vexing and perplexing omission from the BnF’s print digitization programme (to date) is France's important heritage of historical audio and record magazines (Musique et radio, Machines parlantes et radio, Phono-radio-musique, L’édition musicale vivante, Le Guide Bleu des Nouveaux Disques etc.); I sincerely hope we will be able to read these one day, before it's too late. Historical patents, on the other hand, can be freely retrieved from online databases, and some genealogical information is accessible online in French municipal archives; for that, though, you generally need to know where and when an individual was born, which often means subscribing to a commercial genealogical website such as Ancestry or Geneanet.

Other discographical sources I have consulted include the BnF’s online catalogue, internet sales listings, and collectors’ and enthusiasts’ websites. In the spring of 2023, searching for information on small French record labels, I discovered Jerome Moncada’s website Label Gallery Française, an ongoing survey which promises to be exhaustive and indispensable. Where possible, all these and other sources are cited below (see also Acknowledgements).

I have found no reference anywhere to surviving personal papers of Bernard Roux or business papers of his companies. Extensive and informative as the above sources are, a full, detailed account of Roux's life, career and legacy will probably require travel to France and consultation of sources accessible only off line.

Translations

All translations into English are mine, except where noted. I apologise for writing in English about a French subject, drawing mainly on French sources. Fortunately, after running another page from my site through a well-known online machine translator, I can reassure anyone who doesn't read English that it produces pretty satisfactory results.

Disambiguation

Bernard Roux is a common French name. The person this page is about had contemporary namesakes active in various industries and professions. For instance, another Bernard Roux was an employee of the transnational Liebig concern and, reportedly, the inventor of Viandox,^[2] a long-lived brand of meat extract launched some time after World War I by Liebig's French subsidiary.^[3] The same or perhaps a different person co-founded an animal fat-rendering company.^[4]

The subject of this page traded on two 'Roux processes' (procédés Roux); again, there was at least one other contemporary 'Roux process', although it was not exploited commercially until slightly later. Also known as the procédé Roux-Color (and variations thereof), this was a colour film-projection process, invented by two brothers not related to Bernard Roux.^[5]

Metonymy

Throughout this page, the name (Bernard) Roux is used to denote both the man and his various companies, when using the latter's full, official names would seem verbose and redundant. So, if I write that a work or artist was 'recorded by Roux', I do not literally mean that Bernard Roux himself operated the recording equipment – I very much doubt he ever did – or supervised a recording session but, as I hope the context will make clear, that one or more recordists employed by him did so, or that his company as a whole executed the recording programme or contract under discussion, and so on.

Life

Bernard Roux was born on 30 June 1875 in his maternal grandfather's home in Fontaine-lès-Dijon, a suburb of Dijon, capital of the eastern département of Côte d'Or in Burgundy.^[6] Bernard's father Alexandre Roux was a notary in Dijon, where he lived with his wife Marie-Bernarde, née Mugnier. The Roux family was affluent and also owned a country property 35 km outside Dijon, midway between the communes of Trouhans and Les Maillys.^[7] Bernard had at least one older brother, Marcel, who died in 1918.^[8] Roux's father, meanwhile, had died in 1913.^[9]

At an unknown date Bernard Roux moved to Paris, probably for his education. He remained there for the rest of his life. For some years, Roux listed his father's country residence as a second address in Paris directories;^[10] this country property was sold during the 1920s.^[11]

No record of military service by Bernard Roux during World War I has come to light. Aged 39 in August 1914, he was perhaps too old to be called up, or else he engaged in industrial production deemed of national importance.

On 30 August 1924, in Paris's 14th arrondissement, where he had lived for several years, Bernard Roux married Marguerite Françoise Andrée Eléonore Baudevin, born in Saint-Etienne in 1897 and also resident in Paris. The couple lived together in Paris for the rest of their lives, and had four children: Marie (born 1927?^[12]), Marcel (born 17 February 1929^[13]), Charles-Bernard (born 2 December 1930^[14]) and Charles (born 1930^[15]).

Roux's wife Marguerite predeceased him, on 21 October 1955, at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris.

Bernard Roux died on 7 May 1958 at the family's Paris home.

Education

Bernard Roux received his primary education in Dijon, where he attended the Catholic École Saint-François de Sales from 1887 to 1892.^[16]

In October 1892 Roux was enrolled into Paris's prestigious Collège Stanislas, a private Catholic secondary school.^[17]

Roux commenced his higher education by enrolling in 1897 as a physical engineer at the École Municipale de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, or EMPCI, in Paris (now the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris, or ESPCI).^[18] Details of his specialisation(s), graduation and qualification(s) are yet to be obtained.

It is not clear whether Roux later obtained a further higher qualification. From 1919 onwards, Paris trade directories list him as 'ingénieur E.P.C.'^[19] This usually denoted a graduate of the state engineering academy, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées (now the École des ponts ParisTech); but the École was closed for the duration^[20] and in any case Roux was of the wrong age to enrol. The acronym presumably referred to his training at the EMPCI.

Early career

Patents

Soon or perhaps immediately after graduating from the EMPCI, Roux entered the industry in which he would remain active for the rest of his working life: the manufacture of rubber derivatives and their application in a range of products. This career was built on the exploitation of more than forty patents, granted over as many years. Approximately two thirds were granted in France, the remainder elsewhere. The first few patents relate to insulating plastics derived from rubber and techniques for producing them; these were soon followed by others relating to gramophone records and electronics. Roux's own patents, and others naming him (as applicant or assignee), can be found and accessed in the online databases of France's National Institute of Industrial Property,^[21] the European Patent Office^[22] and the World Intellectual Property Organization.^[23] Where relevant, patents are cited below, but they are not described or examined in detail on this page.

Ebonite and Ebonitine

In 1902 Roux was granted his first known patent, in Denmark, for a 'Procedure for the production of an insulating material';^[24] he perhaps devised this method while still at the EMPCI. Its Danish title is an almost exact equivalent of that of a French patent which he would be granted five years later.^[25]

1902 was also the year in which Victor Karavodine, a Russian émigré resident in Paris,^[26] was granted a patent in France for a method of manufacture of a new material, derived from vulcanized rubber; its name, Ebonitine, clearly echoed that of the older, well-established hard rubber, Ebonite.^[27] (The name Ebonitine was not itself new: a British company had marketed a very similarly-named substance in the 1860s,^[28] and in the mid-1890s another acted as the British agent for France's Société Industrielle des Téléphones, among whose products were both Ebonite and Ebonitine.^[29])

Karavodine also had an interest in Ebonite, obtaining a patent for its 'regeneration' in 1904,^[30] which he assigned in 1905 to Bernard Roux;^[31] Roux later obtained a patent of addition to it.^[32] Also in 1904, Roux applied on Karavodine's behalf for a patent in the USA on the 'Treatment and Utilization of Waste Vulcanized Rubber and Ebonite', granted in 1906 and likewise assigned to Roux.^[33] Another patent transfer by Karavodine to Roux had been made in Italy in 1902.^[34] The two men clearly had some kind of partnership, although there is no clear trace of it outside these patents. And although Roux would build his business on making and selling Ebonitine, and always advertised it as produced by the 'Roux process' or 'processes' (procédé/s Roux), no report has yet been found of a transfer by Karavodine to Roux of the patent on Ebonitine.

Ebonite was already used in the manufacture of many products – among them, audio cylinders,^[35] discs^[36] and player parts;^[37] Ebonitine, meanwhile, was patented specifically as an insulator, but soon also attracted interest from the gramophone trade. In 1908 the marque 'Ultima' was registered in Paris for discs made of 'ebonitine or any other material'.^[38] The same year, Louis Boduin of Amiens registered Ebonitine as trademark of a product 'intended to lubricate talking machine discs',^[39] and by 1910 Boduin was advertising Ebonitine as a preservative which, he claimed, protected discs against wear, giving them an 'unlimited lifespan' and 'reviving worn records'.^[40] In 1909 another entrepreneur, based in Auxerre in Burgundy, had also advertised Ebonitine for the same purpose.^[41] Across the Atlantic, a US textbook described Ebonitine as 'A hard rubber substitute used for phonograph records.'^[42] In 1911, 'Ultima' was again registered in Paris as a marque of ebonitine discs.^[43]

1907

By 1907 Roux was involved in a business apparently named Ateliers « Ebonitine », which manufactured and traded in this and other 'moulded insulating components' (pièces isolantes moulées). The constitution of this business and its ownership are still unclear: no notices or reports of its formation have yet been located, despite the fact that making such details public was a legal requirement.

The first trade directories to list Ateliers « Ebonitine » associate it unambiguously with Roux,^[44] who clearly had a leading interest in it, and was presumably exploiting his and Karavodine's patents, assigned to him. The business's main address was 144, rue du Chemin-Vert, in Paris's 11th arrondissement, not far from the western corner of the Père Lachaise cemetery. In addition, it maintained workshops (ateliers) and an 'industrial testing laboratory' (laboratoire d’essais industriels) approximately one hour's walk away, at numbers 2 and 4, rue Esquirol, in the 13th arrondissement,^[45] near the Salpêtrière hospital. As far as can be ascertained from modern photographs published online, the premises in the rue du Chemin-Vert were located in an ordinary Parisian residential apartment block, possibly in a courtyard. The rue Esquirol was more obviously light-industrial: the area contained many workshops, while a notorious nearby haunt of rag-pickers had only recently been demolished. As Roux's businesses evolved over the following thirty years, they remained at these locations (with variations) for his entire career.

Trade directories afford detailed snapshots of Roux's activities during these three decades. In the earliest relevant directory, for 1907, 'Roux process' Ebonitine appears under the following headings:

Bois durci (a mid-19th century plastic, for which Ebonitine presumably advertised as a substitute)^[46]
Ebonite (Ebonitine advertised as a substitute)^[47]
Electricité (Ebonitine advertised for 'moulded insulating components')^[48]
Isolants et isolateurs (Ebonitine advertised for insulators)^[49]
Ivorine (another mid-19th century plastic, for which, again, Ebonitine presumably advertised as a substitute, in 'moulded components for electrical and photographic equipment, knife-handles, ink-wells etc., black and in colours; gramophone discs a speciality')^[50]
Matières plastiques ('moulded insulating components')^[51]
Phonographes (two entries for 'Ebonitine diaphragms', plus another stating, 'phonograph and gramophone pressing a speciality. Metal matrices, discs, diaphragms.')^[52]
Sonneries et signaux électriques, télégraphiques, à air, etc. ('moulded insulating components' for bells, electric signalling systems etc.)^[53]
Télégraphie ('moulded insulating components')^[54]
Téléphones ('moulded insulating components')^[55]
Traction électrique ('moulded insulating components')^[56]

Of course, the above listings are not proof that Ebonitine was used for any of the advertised purposes. Nor does the directory reveal anything about the size and health of Roux's business in 1907. Still, the Ebonitine works and its successors would continue to appear in all directories consulted for this page until 1938, suggesting a demand had been identified and was being supplied by Roux.

1908-1913

The 1908 edition of the same Paris directory again listed the Ebonitine business at the same address, but its range of products was now expanded to include Ebonite, Amiantine (an asbestos product) and manufactured rubber.^[57]

No significant changes are observed in the editions of 1909^[58] to 1911,^[59] except that in the latter the main site had moved across the street from 144 to 147 bis, rue du Chemin-Vert,^[60] and Ebonitine was no longer advertised for use in telegraphy or telephones.

In a 1911 directory of the cinema and photography industries, Bernard Roux was listed under headings for batteries and asbestos, offering moulded insulating components;^[61] but it seems that this attempt to break into the sector did not bear fruit.

The general Paris directory for 1913^[62] carried new entries from Roux under seven additional headings, and revised entries under existing ones:

Amiante (revised: 'Ebonitine, Amiantine, Ebonite and rubber[.] All asbestos items stocked')^[63]
Appareillage électrique (new: 'moulded insulators for [electrical] equipment. Melt-proof components […]')^[64]
Calorifuges (new: 'Heat- and fire-resistant Amiantine conduits and coatings. Sold in sheets or mouldings of all shapes')^[65]
Chauffage (appareils de) (new: 'insulating, fire-proof control wheels and levers for all heating appliances, radiators, etc., a speciality')^[66]
Chauffage à vapeur et à eau chaude (new: as Chauffage)^[67]
Cylindres pour phonographes (new: 'Moulds and wax blanks')^[68]
Disques pour phonographes (new: 'Specialized workshops for custom pressing of recordings. Supply and installation of all accessories')^[69]
Ebonite (revised: 'Range of Ebonite in sheets, bars and tubes in stock. Moulded and machined components. Ebonitine, Amiantine and rubber')^[70]
Isolants et isolateurs (revised: 'Specialist manufacture of insulating sheets and bars for all applications. Moulded components for transmission and equipment in Ebonitine, Amiantine and rubber')^[71]
Ivorine (revised: 'Manufacture of all Ivorine components using B. Roux process. Moulded components for electricity, telephony, photography and all applications. Gramophone records a speciality')^[72]
Radiateurs (new: 'insulating, fire-proof radiator caps a speciality. Supplier of major brands, French and foreign')^[73]
Traction électrique (revised: 'moulded plastic or fire-proof components for overhead or underground lines, equipment, power plants, etc.')^[74]

Société franco-anglaise de caoutchouc manufacturé

In December 1913, a new rubber manufacturing company was formed in Paris, the Société franco-anglaise de caoutchouc manufacturé. The founder was an engineer turned entrepreneur, Jean Nouzaret (1866-1929). Roux was not named as an officer of the company but clearly had an interest in it. Among the company's stated assets were Karavodine's patent, assigned to Roux, for the regeneration of vulcanized rubber and Ebonite, with its patent of addition by Roux, and Roux's own patent for the manufacture of rubber tubes and rolls or bars (boudins), also with patent of addition.^[75] Another asset, reflected in the company's name, was the benefit of agreements with a British company, the Millwall Rubber Co., Ltd., of Harpenden, which had been exploiting the Roux rubber patent (also granted in Britain^[76]) for some time,^[77] although the recent early death of its owner had cast doubt over the Millwall Rubber Co.'s future.^[78] As manufacturing premises, the new Société franco-anglaise was to take over a rubber works in Levallois-Perret, a north-eastern suburb of Paris.^[79] (This factory had recently burned down.^[80]) Presumably, Bernard Roux's interest in the new firm was mainly financial;^[81] his name continued to appear in trade directories only alongside the Ebonitine business.

1914-1919 and after

Roux's entries in the 1914 Paris directory showed no changes from those of 1913.^[82]

No information regarding Roux's activities during World War I has been uncovered in sources accessible online. Whether the Ebonitine workshops and Levallois factory were commandeered or re-purposed to serve the war effort is not known.

In August 1918, some months before the end of hostilities, Roux bought additional manufacturing premises in Paris, on the Avenue du Maine.^[83] The new site was presumably handy for Roux, being located only five minutes' walk from his flat on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, and it remained in use by his business for the next two decades.^[84] It was the workshop of a well-established mechanic, Gaston Roquejoffre, who was kept on by Roux, and appears to have handled the precision engineering side of the business.

Meanwhile, Paris directories for 1918 and 1919 showed the main Ebonitine business in the rue du Chemin-Vert expanding into yet more new lines:

Boutons (fabricants et march[ands]. de) ('Roux process-moulded buttons – imitation horn and black corozo. Fancy items for tailors and seamstresses')^[85]
Eclairage électrique des voitures ('Moulded insulators for electrical equipment. Melt-proof components and sheets')^[86]
Jetons pour casinos, cafés, usines, jeux […] ('Moulded tokens in all colours')^[87]
Jumelles (fabr[icants]. de) ('Eyepieces and components in Ebonitine and Ebonite')^[88]
Magnétos ('Insulating components for magnetos, Ebonite distributors')^[89]
Radiotélégraphie ('Moulded insulators for electrical equipment. Melt-proof components and sheets')^[90]

Thereafter, Bernard Roux's range of advertised uses for Ebonitine, Ebonite and its other products remained more or less unchanged, until an significant development in the mid-1930s took a branch of his company in a new direction (see below).

The Société franco-anglaise de caoutchouc manufacturé, too, continued to be listed in the main Paris directory and other trade publications.^[91] Perhaps a sign of post-War social change, its specialities were now rubber-soled shoes for tennis and the beach, as well as a fashionable footwear fad, the talon tournant (a circular heel plate, deeply cut to leave an impression – an image or logo – in soft surfaces such as sand or soil).^[92]

Etablissements Bernard Roux

In October 1923, the Société agreed to sell its factory in Levallois to another company.^[93] After divesting itself of its main asset, the Société Franco-Anglaise then changed its name to Etablissements Bernard Roux,^[94] confirming Roux's continuing interest in the company, which was now restructured. Joining Roux on its board were Pierre Ibled, described as an industrialist, and Gaston Widmer, an engineer.^[95] The first of these names is significant: originating in the Pas-de-Calais, one branch of the Ibled family had become prominent in Dijon and was closely intertwined by friendship and marriage with that of Bernard Roux.^[96] Etablissements Bernard Roux^[97] remained in business until about 1952, and then, with a slight change of name, until 1961.

For most of the remainder of this page, the company's core business of plastics and insulators will be relegated to the background, so as to concentrate on its activities in audio recording, disc manufacture and electronics. As far as is known, the plastics and insulators side continued to flourish. No evidence has been found to indicate which was the more productive or profitable, although Roux ultimately exited from disc manufacturing first (see below).

Records and recordings

The original prompt for this page was a known if overlooked private recording by Bernard Roux of modern chamber music. Its considerable historical importance set me wondering who Roux was, why his firm made it, what else he did and why he is not better known today. It did not take long to find other Roux discs in public collections; several of these are also of historical and musical interest, yet no one, apparently, has written about them.^[98] In fact, the only people outside France who know of Roux today seem to be aficionados of early European jazz recordings, a few of which are preserved on Bernard Roux test pressings. The pressings themselves are rarely much help: those I was able to inspect in person or online usually carry little or no information on their labels about their recorded contents or intended use. But the main reason for Bernard Roux's current obscurity, I have concluded, is that his firm issued no recordings under his name. Private commissions, such as the recording which first piqued my interest in Roux, were probably a minor sideline of his audio business: the bulk of its production consisted of contract recordings and pressings for other firms, hardly reported in the press and largely invisible. Roux's clients were mostly small, local labels,^[99] often short-lived and usually leaving little documentary trace behind them. As a result, Bernard Roux has been overlooked by most historians – despite a strong tradition of discographical study of the French industry of the period.^[100] Yet Roux was involved in records and recording almost from the start of his career. Why he went in for this line of business is not hard to imagine. Rubber and allied materials had been used to make gramophone records since before 1900; to a young entrepreneur with expertise in plastics, this novel, growing market must have been very attractive.

1906-1920s

One of Roux's earliest patents, obtained in 1906, was for a new process of disc record manufacture;^[101] in 1907, he was granted another, for a disc-pressing mould.^[102] In that year's Didot-Bottin directory, 'Phonographes'^[103] was the only category with three entries from Roux, advertising Roux-process Ebonitine as a suitable material for sound-box diaphragms, and offering to press discs and supply metal stampers.^[104]

In a 1910 trade directory aimed at the theatrical and musical professions, a boxed display advertisement, placed between a piano dealer's and a zither-maker's, spelled out Roux's full range of gramophone products and services:

Ebonitine (Procédés B. Roux)
Bureaux: 147bis, Rue du Chemin-Vert :: Usines: 144, Rue du Chemin-Vert
Enregistrements à façon de Disques à saphir et à aiguilles en toutes dimensions
Seul presseur à façon de disques phonographiques et gramophoniques
Cires à enregistrer — Diaphragmes — Matières à disques — Pièces moulées pour applications électriques en tous Genres et toutes Couleurs — Pièces infusibles.[105]

This is the first advertisement or listing located to date in which Bernard Roux offered not only pressing but also recording services, as well as disc-cutting diaphragms and wax blanks for those who wished to make recordings in their own studios. (Incidentally, the advertisement reveals that the Ebonitine business occupied both the original site at 144 rue du Chemin-Vert and the new premises at 147 bis.) These products and services suggest a fully-fledged record-producing operation, although much about it remains unknown. How large was it? What proportion of Roux's overall business did it account for? How many clients did it have? Where were the recordings made and by whom (almost certainly not by Roux in person)? And was Roux's really the sole custom recording and pressing facility in Paris? The latter claim seems justified, going by the 1909 to 1911 Didot-Bottin directories, which list no obvious competitors: one company offered 'blank discs for recording', presumably waxes, but no recording facility;^[106] another advertised the 'Only device permitting the recording of blank discs on any make of disc machine, with instant replay', alongside the 'planing' (rabotage) of discs, presumably to remove existing grooves.^[107] None of the entries for the larger, well-known companies – Columbia, Compagnie du Gramophone, Pathé^[108] – mention custom recording or pressing services. (Pathé did manufacture discs for labels such as Aspir, Dutreih, Idéal and Phono,^[109] but did not advertise this service in directories.)

The reason such services were needed is that small record labels did not own matrix processing or disc pressing plants, and so were obliged to contract out these industrial stages of record manufacture. How many French firms possessed such facilities has not been established – far fewer, certainly, than the plethora of labels marketed during this period. If the 1910 directory quoted above suggests Roux was already active in the contract processing and pressing business, or aiming to enter it, his firm's entry under 'Disques pour phonographes' in the 1922 Didot-Bottin directory shows this activity expanding even further:

Ebonitine
procédés B. Roux
Pressage de disques.
Enregistrements.
Création de répertoires.
Machines à enregistrer.
Cires, galvanos, diaphragmes.[110]

Up until 1910, Roux had advertised disc recording and pressing services, materials and equipment; now, he was offering 'catalogue-building' (création de répertoires) – Artists & Repertoire ('A&R'), in modern parlance. (Note also the advertised 'recording machines'; these were probably destined for professional studios, not for home or personal use – but see below.) Presumably, this catalogue-building service was aimed at firms and retailers wishing to launch their own labels but lacking both the necessary editorial and commercial expertise, recording and/or pressing facilities.

Which labels, if any, took up Roux's offer? Unfortunately, Roux did not name clients in trade directory entries. It is sometimes possible to identify contract recordings and pressings from their physical features or characteristic markings, but most Roux pressings currently documented are not distinctive enough for that. It seems unlikely that documentary evidence for collaborations between Roux and long-defunct, small commercial labels will emerge, although not impossible (such evidence does survive from the electrical period and will be discussed below). For a fuller picture of Roux's contract production, test pressings have to be matched up with issued commercial discs, and extrapolations made from observed patterns.

Cylinders

In 1913 and 1914, entries for Ebonitine appeared in the Paris directories under Cylindres pour phonographes et graphophones^[111] – somewhat surprisingly, in hindsight, as by this time the format was all but obsolete. In 1913, two other businesses had entries in this category; in 1914, just one, while a few more companies appeared under Graphophones, the category for cylinder players.^[112] No evidence has yet been found that Ebonitine was actually used in the production of cylinder records. Perhaps the very fact that most leading producers had dropped the format prompted Roux to see if anything could be made from its last gasp. At least one other business apparently saw the same opportunity: in the 1918 Paris directory, cylinders had disappeared but players were listed for the last time, attracting a single, new entry from the Palais de la Nouveauté, a budget department-store chain.^[113] For lack of both evidence and, regrettably, expertise, this topic is not examined further here.

Electrical recording

After more than a decade in audio disc production and manufacturing, Roux would have been well aware of new trends and openings in the industry. In the early 1920s, developments in telephony, microphones and electronics (notably, valves) combined with the rise of broadcast radio and cinema to trigger an international race to replace acoustical recording with electrical techniques. The best known and best documented of these is the Westrex system, developed in the United States by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric, who licensed it to leading national and multi-national companies.^[114] Other systems were developed and exploited with varying degrees of success and recognition – one, possibly the least well documented of all, by none other than Bernard Roux. A 1936 newspaper article described him (with questionable accuracy) as

the first who thought of using triode valve amplification for [sound] recording[115]

Questions of priority aside, in March 1923 Roux had applied in Paris for a patent in a new recording process 'employing the electrical techniques used in telephony'; it also proposed using multiple microphones and a mixer, as well as a headphone feed permitting real-time monitoring.^[116] The patent was granted a little over a year later, by which time Roux had applied for Swiss and British patents in the same technology;^[117] both granted. Another patent soon followed, for an electrical method of duplicating sound recordings and transferring them between different media (see next section). These patents await investigation by historians of technology; in particular, the construction and properties of the transducer(s) used seem not to be fully described in these patents.

By early 1925, Bernard Roux's engineers had made their first successful electrical experiments. An academic article by a member of the team, published in early 1932, claimed these as France's first commercial electrical recordings.^[118] A newspaper article printed a few weeks later related that a number of electrical disc recordings, notably of the piano, had been made by the engineers Georges Laudet and Jean Ibled in Roux's laboratories in 1924-25, and later deposited with Hubert Pernot (1870-1946), head of the Musée de la parole.^[119] Laudet had been a sound engineer since the turn of the century, and is best remembered now for his work on film-sound synchronization for Léon Gaumont; Ibled (1890-1965) was a decorated War veteran and related to Roux by marriage. A test recording, clearly deriving from these experiments, is discussed below.

For whatever reason, whereas Karavodine's patented Ebonitine production process (ceded to Bernard Roux) was known as the 'Procédé(s) Roux', the Roux electrical recording technique is not known to have been given a name.

Duplication and transfer

In November 1924, Bernard Roux applied to patent a 'Technique for electrical duplication of phonographic and photographic sound recordings', granted a year later.^[120] A subsequent application in Switzerland was also granted;^[121] a third, in Great Britain, became void.^[122] As the patent descriptions state, Roux's proposed electrical method for duplicating or transferring recordings aimed to supersede the mechanical ones employed until then (notably, by Pathé, which continued to make master recordings on cylinders, even after the format had become obsolete, and to transfer them mechanically to disc masters^[123]). Roux claimed his system was capable of transferring any sound recording from one medium or format – cylinder, disc, even optical film – to another, without loss of quality; on the contrary, defects in the original could be corrected by electrical filtering and amplification. In the competitive market Roux was targeting, the facility to change size and cut might be a considerable advantage (as, too, would the ability to transfer recordings to and from film).^[124] No press reports mentioning this technology have been encountered to date. If Roux exploited it commercially, considerable detective work may be required to identify its products.

Studios

Two venues used by Bernard Roux to make sound recordings are currently documented. Almost certainly, there were others, but to date no evidence for them has been uncovered. In particular, no mention has yet been found of venues used by Roux before 1922, during the entire first decade and a half or so of his firm's possible recording activity.

The 1932 account of Roux's first electrical recordings, cited above, stated that they were made in the 'studios Bernard Roux' in the rue Rochechouart in Paris.^[125] The plural 'studios' suggests that more than one space was in use there, but in the earliest known published reference to the facility, a mid-1924 Paris newspaper advertisement, just one 'recording hall' was mentioned, and its exact address given:

On dem. jeune homme sérieux, 17 à 19 ans pr trav. manuel facile. Se présenter Salle d’Enregistrement, Bernard Roux, 24, rue Rochechouart, après-midi[126]

(A very similar advertisement, published fifteen months later, gave the same address but did not mention the studio.^[127]) This address housed part of the head-quarters of the well-known instrument-maker Pleyel et Compagnie, which at various times occupied numbers 20, 22, 24 and 24 bis, rue Rochechouart,^[128] in Paris's 9th arrondissement. (Pleyel's main factory was in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis.) The best known of these addresses is no.22, that of the 'old' Salle Pleyel,^[129] the concert hall inaugurated in December 1839 and immortalized by the celebrated pianists who performed there, notably Chopin. To either side of this hall were workshops, offices, showrooms and salons,^[130] as well as a second, smaller hall. Situated at no.24, this became known as the 'Salle des quatuors', since it was used mainly though not exclusively for chamber concerts.^[131] Its other documented use was pedagogical; as a child, the future conductor and composer Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht (1880-1965) was taken there to perform by his mother, a piano-teacher.^[132] Not long after, the charity L’Oeuvre de Mimi Pinson,^[133] founded in 1900^[134] by the composer Gustave Charpentier, put on free classes in music and dance for unmarried working women in the hall at no.24; a magazine article by Charpentier about his venture was illustrated with some of the only photographs found to date of the smaller 'salle Pleyel'.^[135] After World War I, unlike the larger main hall, the smaller hall seems to have fallen out of use for commercial concerts. Instead, it was used for student concerts and private lessons by singers^[136] and other teachers, notably the pianist-composer Lucien Wurmser (1877-1967): initially based elsewhere,^[137] from 1916 until 1927 Wurmser's annual courses were held in a 'salle Pleyel',^[138] probably the smaller.

Based on the above evidence, my current hypothesis is that this hall, Pleyel's former 'Salle des quatuors', was used as a recording studio by Bernard Roux from at least 1922 until 1927. Recording equipment was perhaps installed and left in place in an adjoining room; this would surely not have been possible with the main hall, which was in regular public use and opened onto other public spaces, notably showrooms. The smaller hall would also have been easier to drape or otherwise treat for the purposes of recording. Finally, Roux's recording set-up might have been available for hire by teachers who shared the venue: in November 1928, a classified advertisement in a Paris newspaper offered for sale a

Machine à enregistrer électrique, permettant d’enregistrer soi-même, conviendrait pour professeur, s’adresser p[ou]r essai. Blanc, 24, rue Rochechouart.[139]

The advertisement did not name Bernard Roux as the seller but the address given was that of Pleyel's smaller hall, so it seems reasonable to conjecture that the recording machine in question had been part of the Roux equipment there, while the mention of a professeur (i.e. teacher) suggests that its pedagogical use was a familiar notion.

Besides the early electrical experiments conducted by Bernard Roux recordists in the rue Rochechouart (mentioned above and described below), at least one other surviving recording is known to have been made there, acoustically, a little over two years earlier (see below). The presence of this still relatively new musical technology within the precincts of Pleyel was not alien to the firm's director Gustave Lyon (1857-1936), described admiringly by Inghelbrecht as an inveterate inventor who 'unflaggingly demanded of science that it serve art'.^[140] As early as 1889, an Edison phonograph was installed there, in its own, dedicated room, and demonstration recordings were made on it; a cylinder previously recorded in New York was reportedly also replayed on it.^[141] In late 1906, Lyon had been a founding board-member of the Société Générale d’Impressions Phonographiques,^[142] a short-lived record company dissolved not long after.^[143] In 1908 and 1909, its showroom was in the Maison Pleyel, at no.22,^[144] but it is not known to have made recordings there.^[145] Twenty years later, Lyon developed his own electrical record-player and planned to make his own recordings; Lyon himself demonstrated the machine in public in late 1929,^[146] but whether any 'Pleyel' or 'Lyon' discs were made is, again, unknown. Further unknowns: when Bernard Roux started using Pleyel's premises; the terms of their relationship (did Roux pay Pleyel rent or session fees?); whether the Maison Pleyel was the only location used by Roux during that period; and whether other firms also recorded there.

In 1927, Pleyel et Cie moved its head-quarters from the rue Rochechouart to a new, purpose-built complex on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement. At its heart was a large concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, still in use today. Roux's association with Pleyel is not known to have been maintained after the move; recordings were made in the 'new' Salle Pleyel for one of Roux's clients (see below), but not by Roux, who was contracted only to press these discs, not record them. The equipment in the rue Rochechouart would not have been needed in the new venue, which probably explains the advertisement quoted above. The old Salles Pleyel seem to have closed definitively in 1928; after that year, they disappear from Paris directories,^[147] although the buildings around them remained in use by various tenants.^[148]

Still, Roux's association with Pleyel may have borne other fruit, in the form of a new direction of research and development for his own company. Within the old Maison Pleyel was an office specialising in architectural acoustics, led by Gustave Lyon himself.^[149] No evidence of personal exchanges between Lyon and Roux has been uncovered, but it is striking that Roux's firm later developed technology for shaping studio acoustics electronically (discussed below), in association with the composer and organist Eric Sarnette. This was demonstrated publicly in early May 1936, in a 'studio-laboratoire Bernard Roux' which is currently known only from a two press reports of that demonstration.^[150] It was located in the rue Jenner, in Paris's 13th arrondissement. The exact address is not known: it was certainly not numbers 6 to 8, later renowned as the birthplace of many famous recordings; this already belonged to the Société phonographique française Polydor^[151] (and, later, to Philips^[152]). It is more likely to have been number 25 bis, a disused factory later used as a film studio by the director Jean-Pierre Melville^[153] and almost completely destroyed by fire in 1967.^[154] Two trade directories of the mid- and late 1930s list a 'recording studio' (studio d'enregistrement) among facilities offered by Etablissements Bernard Roux, without stating its location;^[155] Roux's engineers surely did not use the space in the rue Jenner solely for research and development, so this may have been the facility referred to in the directories.

It remains to be determined whether Roux also used other spaces for recording sessions.

Pressing plant(s)

Bernard Roux had an interest in disc-pressing even before the Ebonitine works came into being, and maintained it for much of his working life: one of his earliest patents, applied for in late 1905 and granted in 1907, was for a disc-pressing mould,^[156] while one of the last applied for by his firm, in May 1945, and granted in 1946, was for a method of pressing claimed to offer great savings of energy and metal, then scarce.^[157]

From the start of Roux's manufacturing career, Paris directories gave full addresses for his business, but they rarely stated explicitly what was being done at each location. As noted above, the 1907 Didot-Bottin, the first with detailed entries for the Ebonitine works, gave the main address and site of its workshops (plural) as 144 rue du Chemin-Vert, with a workshop (singular) and 'industrial testing laboratory' at 2 & 4 rue Esquirol,^[158] while all entries under individual product categories gave only the main address.^[159]

This remained true until 1910, when another directory clarified, 'Usines: 144, Rue du Chemin-Vert'.^[160] Taken at face value, this means that within the ordinary-looking Parisian apartment building at no.144, alongside other manufacturing plant, was a disc-pressing facility – of what capacity, and how productive, is not known. This directory also stated, 'Bureaux: 147bis, Rue du Chemin-Vert', a new location for the Ebonitine business. In the following year's Didot-Bottin it was given as the main address, with no mention of no.144, while a workshop and lab remained at 2 & 4 rue Esquirol;^[161] correspondingly, product entries now listed only 147 bis, rue du Chemin-Vert.^[162] From now on, offices and disc presses were apparently in one place again, where they remained until 1919 (the 1920 directory is not accessible).

From 1921, directories listed yet another new main address for Ebonitine, 142 rue du Chemin-Vert, with a workshop and lab still at 2 & 4 rue Esquirol.^[163] If all the Ebonitine plant and presses really had been moved back across the street from 147 bis,^[164] at least it was not far. But this may have been a simplification: in the 1926 Didot-Bottin, the main entry for Ebonitine again listed it first at no.142 and secondly at rue Esquirol,^[165] but now the entry listing all businesses at 142, rue du Chemin-Vert, stated:

« Ebonitine » (Bernard Roux, ingénieur E.P.C.), pièces isolantes moulées; ateliers au 144, comptabilité au 147 bis.[166]

If the main office was at no.142, the workshops at no.144 and accounts at no.147 bis, perhaps the plant and presses had never moved from no.144, and it had not been felt necessary to mention this in listings aimed at potential clients. (Nor had directories since 1924 reflected the fact that the business was officially named Etablissements Bernard Roux.) Whatever the case, this set-up remained in place until at least 1929,^[167] possibly until later, although subsequent directories are not as detailed or consistent. In May 1933, a tragic accident befell two children who had climbed onto the roof of the works at 144, rue du Chemin-Vert and fell to their deaths; newspaper reports described it as a 'gramophone record factory'^[168] and noted that 'the Roux firm has long been manufacturing raw material for gramophone records'.^[169] These sad reports confirm that no.144 had been and was still an industrial production site, possibly of both 'biscuit' and pressed discs.

Around this time, though, either the Bernard Roux presses were on the move, or the firm was adding a second pressing facility. In April, September and October 1932, and July 1933, it applied for permits to carry out building work at 12, place Pinel,^[170] a small, oval circus at the southern end of rue Esquirol. Nothing seems to remain of the buildings then standing, but no.12 appears to have abutted the Bernard Roux workshop and laboratory at nos.2 and 4, rue Esquirol. The new constructions on place Pinel were more workshops (ateliers), a small electrical sub-station (cabine électrique) and large shed (hangar). By June 1932, Roux was inviting record-press operators to apply to no.4, rue Esquirol,^[171] who would have been needed for the new facility at place Pinel, presumably not yet ready to open its gates. That pressing did take place there is confirmed by notices of an auction at 12, place Pinel seven years later, when Bernard Roux sold off large quantities of heavy industrial machinery,^[172] including at least fifteen record presses.^[173] Otherwise, this location was almost never mentioned in business reports and directories, surely because it was treated as part of the complex sited at 4, rue Esquirol, listed in two trade directories of the mid- and late 1930s as the address of one of Bernard Roux's three factories (the others were at 144, rue du Chemin-Vert, still, and 43, avenue du Maine, formerly Gaston Roquejoffre's wokshop).^[174] Another advertisement soliciting applications from record-press operators (specifying that they should be female and French nationals), in December 1934, again gave the address as 4, rue Esquirol.^[175]

(Another activity carried out by Roux at the firm's rue Esquirol complex was the production of moulded Bakelite components; as far as can be ascertained from classified advertisements recruiting experienced mould-workers, this went on roughly from mid-1929^[176] to 1934^[177] or later.)

Disc-manufacturing was heavy, dirty industry; nor was it the only potentially harmful activity at these sites. As early as July 1933, a local councillor passed on to Paris's Prefect of Police complaints he had received about emissions from the factories in place Pinel and rue Esquirol, 'highly noxious' to local residents and a nearby maternity ward, and about the lack of remedial action by the cuplrits. He was assured that up-to-date boilers and smoke abators were being installed, existing chimneys raised and a new one built. No firms were named but the addresses given leave no doubt: as well as those of Bernard Roux's works, Polydor's address on the rue Jenner was mentioned, and a fizzy drink factory on a nearby boulevard.^[178]

Test pressings

Below is a summary list of all Bernard Roux test pressings located for this page – a little over forty sides, to date. The recordings themselves will be discussed in later sections and, where possible, documented more fully.

The disc which prompted this page is one of six Roux tests held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (for full catalogue entries, follow links below):

• 'Bernard Roux – Octuor Finale', no matrices given, BnF shelf mark SD 78 30-12984
• 'Chant Hébreu' / 'Chant Hébreu', 4120 / 4121, BnF shelf mark AP-2172
• 'Premier disque à aiguille enregistré électriquement le 28 janvier 1925' / 'Orchestre enregistré électriquement le 28 juillet 1926', essai spécial no.57 / 3698, BnF shelf mark AP-2173
• 'Ecoles internationales Phonogramme de français N°2' / 'Ecoles internationales Phonogramme de français N°3', 3670 / 3671, BnF shelf mark AP-2174
• 'Guitare hawaïenne' / 'Chœur v.f.[?] av. Grand Orgue', E 584 / 3586, BnF shelf mark AP-2175
• 'Etablissements Bernard Roux 8510', 8510 / [?], BnF shelf mark SD 78 25-19949

Only two Bernard Roux test pressings have been found in national and university libraries elsewhere (catalogue entries via links):

• [no titles], 1106 / PK 200, British Library, London, shelf mark 9TS0002803
• 'Don Goyo / Bernstein. El matrero / Soler.', 4318 / 4319, University of California, Santa Barbara Library, shelf mark Bernard Roux 4318 / 4319

In March 2023, two Roux tests were sold online, described by the seller as follows:

Etablissements Bernard Roux 7330/7331 (10”) Hot Melodic Band (Julien Porret) Great Fun Test Pressing 78RPM Bernard Roux[179]

Etablissements Bernard Roux 7334/7335 (10”) Hot Melodic Band (Julien Porret) Pupazzi Test Pressing 78RPM Bernard Roux[180]

In April 2016 and April 2023, I bought three Bernard Roux test pressings from Phonopassion, of Horben, Germany, who described them as follows (labels from the first and third are reproduced below):

anonymous (cello solo ) Prelude en Ut mineur pt.1/2 (Bach) / published sides ? ? ak[ustisch] ? Bernard Roux test[181]

anonymous (sop.) +piano: Se tu m'ami (Pergolesi) mx.4811 AB/ Lasciate me morire (Monteverdi) mx.4810 AB Paris ca.March 1929 released sides ? Azurephone is a very rare label. Usually less than 100 copies had been pressed once a record was released. Handwritten white label test Bernard Roux (Azurephone) test[182]

(sop.)/(contr.) el. Bernard Roux (Azurephone) test unidentified (mx.9576/ 9577) Paris ca.1930[183]

Revisiting past Phonopassion sales yielded two more Bernard Roux test pressings:

anonymous 8 2/3” el. Bernard Roux test (unidentified pianist) Finale: Presto agitato “Mondscheinsonate” (Beethoven) mx.6256 MB/ Fantaisie impromptu (Chopin) mx.6257 MB Paris ca.1930 Released recordings?

anonymous 8 2/3” el. Bernard Roux test (unidentified pianist) Moment musical (Schubert) mx.6343 MB/ Perpetuum mobile “Sonata in C” (Weber) mx.6342 MB Paris ca.1930 Released recordings?[184]

Phonopassion's proprietor, Andreas Schmauder, kindly sent details of five other Roux tests known to him:^[185]

anonym (Orchester), Danse des souliers, mtx 11677 / ? mtx 11678, Bernard Roux test

Berson, Roger (European Ramblers) + Jean Farnèse (Gesang), Un deux... toute la compagnie, mtx M 142 A (Foxtrot with vocal) / Nana, mtx M 139 A (Rumba with vocal), Paris 1932, Bernard Roux test

Hamilton, Jack & his Entertainers, That’s my weakness now (Foxtrot with vocal), mtx 4748 AB / Virginia (Foxtrot with vocal), mtx 4749 AB (released on Azurephone in a different coupling), Paris 1929, Bernard Roux test

Sterman, Paul (Orchester), Mai-Thou (Foxtrot), mtx AB 10966 / Débinons-nous (One Step), mtx AB 10967, Bernard Roux test

Briggs, Arthur & his Boys + vocal duet, Glad rag doll (Foxtrot with vocal), mtx 4806 AB / Rudy Bayfield Evans (Refraingesang), Only for you, mtx 4807 AB (Waltz with vocal), Paris 1929 (released on Azurephone), Bernard Roux test

Further sides are documented in various discographies but no copies have been located:

The Red Beans
Robert de Kers tr. Francis “Sus” van Camp tbn. David Bee al-bs. René van Dijck pf. Charlie “Chas” Dolne ch-vl. Leopold Serluppens bt. Rudy Bayfìeld Evans v.

Parigi, ca. agosto 1928

35 AB Wonder Why (You Made Me Cry) – RBE v Bernard Roux test […]
36 AB Do Let Me Try [ditto] Bernard Roux test

4849 JPRM Sunny Boy (Sonny Boy) – RBE v Bernard Roux test[186]

Marcel Dumont, de l’Empire, accomp. d’orchestre
janvier 1931?
6120 AB Publicité pour le [vin] blanc des Magasins du Louvre
6121 AB [ditto]
Disque publié par Les Editions [sic] Bernard Roux, 142 rue du Chemin-Vert, Paris. Echantillon invendable. Ce disque était réservé aux salles de cinéma puisqu’on entend, à la fin de l’annonce: “Ne partez pas sans voir notre prochain film”[187]

Test labels

Two paper labels for Bernard Roux test pressings currently are known. The older type is illustrated below, along with the segment of the runout or 'dead wax' in which the matrix number is stamped:

Bernard Roux matrix 4502 label, with runout or 'dead wax' detail (Collection: the author)

The printed text reveals nothing about Bernard Roux, his firm or the purpose of the pressing. A single field is defined, '№'; as seems to have been standard practice, the matrix number in the runout was duplicated here in pencil. (Most Roux tests have a matrix number in this area, but not all.) Typically, this number is a sequence of three or more digits, sometimes with a one- or two-letter prefix or suffix.

The florid name and monogram have not been seen in Bernard Roux advertisements in the French press. It is not known if either mark was used on the firm's other, non-gramophone products.

The second type of label is slightly more informative:

Établissements Bernard Roux matrix 9576 label, with 'dead wax' detail (Collection: the author)

The upper half carries the name 'Établissements Bernard Roux' and address '142, rue du Chemin Vert, Paris', suggesting the design was introduced after the company was formed in late 1923 – but with some delay, perhaps, as test pressings are known which are dated later yet carry the earlier label. The legend 'Échantillon invendable' is an exact equivalent of the '[Factory] Sample Not for Sale' often seen on British and American test pressings; this did not necessarily mean that Roux tests with this label were as destined for commercial issue, as this very recording was almost certainly a private, non-commercial commission (see below). No fields are defined, not even for the matrix number, which has been duplicated, again in pencil, in the label's blank portion.

Bernard Roux issues

No discs appear to have been issued under a Bernard Roux imprint.

Bernard Roux publications

No printed matter, other than disc labels, published by Bernard Roux or emanating from his businesses has been located.

Identification and interpretation

Identifying the contents, intended uses and clients of Bernard Roux test pressings calls for various approaches. As noted above, the labels of many tests seen for this page convey little to no information – perhaps not surprisingly: when the discs were made, this information would usually have been known to Roux's clients, commercial or private. Now, a matrix number is often all there is to go on, in which case the only method available is a combination of brute-force searching and luck.

The following sections set out the current, sometimes rudimentary state of knowledge about Bernard Roux tests documented to date, grouped into categories in no particular order. Inevitably, some of the identifications and interpretations involve speculation. Discographers of a sensitive disposition are advised to look away.

Educational recordings

The Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris holds six Bernard Roux test discs, of which five have been digitized and four (to date) made available online. Among them is an educational record – an aid to learning French:^[188]

As often with Roux tests, the labels disclose nothing about the content; at some later date, the hand-written classification Diction ('spoken word') was added to both. Fortunately, each side is clearly announced at the start by an adult male French-speaker:

Ecoles internationales[189] Phonogramme de français numéro deux

Ecoles internationales Phonogramme de français numéro trois

The announcements identify Roux's client as the French partner of the International Correspondence Schools (ICS) of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The ICS was a leading provider of distance-learning materials and an early adopter of audio recording (initially on cylinders). In 1912, it launched an ambitious marketing campaign in Europe;^[190] the following year, in Paris, the Ecoles internationales began its own press campaign for 'Méthode I.C.S.' language-learning courses,^[191] ramping it up – with unfortunate timing – in 1914.^[192] Coincidentally or not, the founder of ICS was a mining engineer, as was an enthusiastic French champion of the method, who described it at length in professional journals and compared it with its main rival, Pathé's ambitious audiovisual system the Pathégraphe.^[193] The ICS had already produced French-language cylinders^[194] and an associated book^[195] in the USA, but the Ecoles Internationales commissioned new discs as well as new printed materials.^[196] The Bibliothèque nationale de France holds a large quantity of the latter^[197] but none, it seems, of the associated records.

For the moment, it is not possible to determine whether the above Bernard Roux test formed part of a tender or was accepted by the Ecoles internationales, pressed for publication and sold. The latter option is tentatively preferred here. The contents correspond closely to a contemporary description of 'Méthode I.C.S.' lessons:^[198] after the opening announcement, each test side starts with a selection of basic vocabulary, read by the same male native French speaker; continues with a simple conversation, the reader impersonating both speakers (including a woman); and ends with a reading of a short series of numbers. Of particular technological interest is the fact that the ICS method required students to record their own voices on disc and post the resulting recordings to the Ecoles Internationales, where native speakers would assess them and post back written corrections. If any words were judged to have been poorly pronounced, students were advised to re-record them after the following lesson. A dual-mode (playback and record) machine for this purpose was marketed by the Ecoles,^[199] although exactly how it captured these home recordings was not explained.

After the War, the 'Méthode I.C.S.' programme was relaunched; this time, it was also advertised to English-speakers living in France.^[200] The dual-mode gramophone was also relaunched;^[201] a surviving example held by the BnF is dated to circa 1921.^[202] This interesting venture deserves further research, not least to establish Bernard Roux's role in it, if any.

It may be that Roux also made recordings for another gramophone-based language course, devised by and marketed under the name of composer, conductor, pianist, organist, teacher, author and entrepreneur Louis-Julien Rousseau (1873-1950). The Bibliothèque nationale de France holds thirteen of these 30 cm / 12 in. vertical-cut discs,^[203] whose labels state:

Méthode dialoguée de L. Julien Rousseau […] Français allemand Franzosich [sic] deutsch […] Système unique à répétition. Copyright by L. Julien Rousseau 1922

The BnF holds a related printed item; it is not known if this is a marketing pamphlet or a complete course book.^[204] Rousseau also published a French-English course, documented in printed form only;^[205] whether it too was accompanied by records has not been established. No press advertisements or notices have been located which might throw further light on Rousseau's venture. In 1918, he had been engaged by the Compagnie française du Gramophone as an orchestrator, and before that he had been musical director for Odeon, but it seems unlikely either of these companies produced these records, as their technical quality is below the standard one would expect from these firms. This leaves open the possibility that the discs were indeed produced by Roux's firm, which made musical recordings with Rousseau (see below). (Linguistically, the material is somewhat amateurish, not least because the male speaker, possibly Rousseau himself, is fluent in French but not in German, while his 'système unique' seems to consist merely of repetition.)

Experimental recordings

Also among the BnF's holdings is an early experimental electrical recording by Bernard Roux:^[206]

On this disc, both labels show neat, hand-written inscriptions in ink, which, unusually, appear roughly contemporary with the recorded contents. This suggests that, unlike Bernard Roux tests whose labels lack all but the barest annotations, this pressing was not a 'disque de travail' – an intermediate stage in the production of a published disc, to be discarded later – but was intended to be preserved in its current form, to document the results of research and development then deemed historic.

The label of 'Special Test No.57' identifies it as the 'First electrically-recorded needle-cut disc 28 January 1925'. The content is unexpectedly light-hearted: an unnamed male speaker describes the recording session itself in jocular doggerel, egging on a pianist who punctuates the patter with short solos. The latter, addressed as 'Rousseau', was almost certainly Louis-Julien Rousseau (see above), who was born and died in the north-western Paris suburb of Taverny.^[207] To judge from the compère's teasing, Rousseau was rather attached to his birthplace:

Pour rendre le phono pratique
faut l'enregistrement électrique;
et c'est pour celà qu'entre nous
on le travaille au studios Roux.
Faut du boulot, de la constance,
car quand c'est fini on r'commence.
Et notre maestro est verni
quand i' r'gagne à l'heure Taverny!
M'sieur Rousseau! Faites-nous de la musique!
[piano solo]
Lààà... Que'qu'chose de bien et d'harmonique!
[piano solo]
Ça va... Et pour essayer ce micro,
encore un p'tit air de piano:
[piano solo]
Lààà... Maintenant, ça va bien, je l' proclame:
M'sieur Rousseau! Encore une gamme!
[piano scales]
Celui-ci va pas mal, ma foi;
jouez-nous donc l'air de l'autre fois.
[piano solo]
Mais toute peine a sa récompense:
M'sieur Rousseau, jouez un air de danse!
[piano solo]
Lààà... Enfin, voilà que'qu'chose qui plaît.
Félicitons Monsieur Ibled!
Notre patron en sera fort aise;
M'sieur Rousseau, jouez la Marseillaise!
[piano solo][208]

This side clearly derives from Bernard Roux's experimental electrical recording sessions (see above), known to have been held at 24, rue Rochechouart. As can be heard, the compère mentions Jean Ibled, one of the two engineers responsible, by his surname, and also alludes to 'Notre patron' ('Our boss') – surely Bernard Roux, whose initials 'BR' appear alongside the date in the runout or 'dead wax'.

The other side of this test pressing contains an upbeat march with occasional syncopation, not titled or credited on the disc label, which states, 'Orchestra recorded electrically on 28 July 1926'. Presumably this side too was an experiment, this time in recording larger ensembles. Conceivably, it was conducted by Rousseau, who made recordings for commercial labels with which Roux seems to have collaborated. The matrix number, 3689, is not much higher than those on the Ecoles internationales tests discussed above, yet the latter were recorded perhaps five or more years earlier, unless the obsolescent acoustical system was still thought adequate in 1925 for educational spoken word discs. Or it might be that Roux ran more than one matrix series; as will be seen below, at an unknown date these began to be distinguished by matrix prefixes and suffixes.

Unidentified recordings

The great majority of Bernard Roux test pressings documented for this page contain music, and it seems likely that music accounted for most of the firm's output of recordings. Without expertise in the relevant repertoires, it can be difficult to identify the contents of tests or their intended clients, and to determine whether they were experimental recordings, private commissions or for commercial issue. This section presents a few such cases; perhaps you can help solve them?

One Roux test held by the BnF perplexingly couples sides with very different matrix numbers, one containing a Hawaiian steel guitar solo (with backing banjo or ukelele) and the other a short sacred choral work:^[209]

As indicated (clumsily, with apologies) in the table, the labels appear to have been annotated at different times. As often, matrix numbers are in grey pencil and were probably entered first, whereas titles are in blue pencil and were perhaps added later (they look very like those on the language-learning test pressing discussed above). Each of these sides might well have been issued commercially, perhaps by Inovat or Perfectaphone, both labels with very varied outputs. But would they have made for a viable commercial product as coupled on this test, with very different music presumably aimed at different audiences?

The instrumental side has not been identified. The Hawaiian guitar was popular in France in the 1920s and '30s: labels large and small, including Inovat and Perfectaphone, issued recordings by leading players such as the Italian-born Gino Bordin (1899-1977)^[210] and Edouard Jacovacci (1875-1939).^[211] Purely as a recording, this has an odd quality: the BnF's catalogue does not specify the system, which sounds restricted enough to be acoustical – a subjective judgement, admittedly.

The choral work is identified in the BnF catalogue as a sacred canticle by the French composer and musicologist Charles Bordes, setting a prayer to the Virgin Mary by the Benedictine Dom Jean Parisot (1861-1923).^[212] This side does sound electrical and could represent another experimental ensemble recording; its matrix number is relatively close to that of the mid-1926 orchestral side discussed above, except that here the number is suffixed with a monogrammed AB, seen on very many commercial records produced by Roux. A few French labels issued mainly or only sacred music, such as Lumen (c. 1933-1970), La Musique au Vatican (commonly known as SEMS) (c.1938-1950s), Studio SM (1946-2007) and Voix chrétiennes (c. 1936-1939), but all can be eliminated as outlets for this side, not least on the grounds of probable date (and because Roux is not known to have made recordings for the first three). Perhaps this test was a business-to-business sample, a demonstration of what Roux's engineers could do with such different material (if so, it must be said, it is none too convincing).

Another Bernard Roux test disc held by the BnF contains recordings identified on both labels simply as 'Jewish song':^[213]

A male voice announces each side in Turkish and plays a brief prelude on the oud or ‘ūd (the instrument is specified by the BnF but not the language), and then sings unaccompanied for the rest of the side. Despite considerable efforts, it has not yet been possible to identify definitively the performer (whose speech was recorded somewhat indistinctly) or the exact selections on this disc, but the latter are certainly part of the repertoire of Sephardic Jews in Ottoman and post-Ottoman Turkey.^[214] Rivka Havassy, a scholar of Sephardic song, has tentatively identified the song on matrix 4120 as a seliḥa, BeZokhri ‘Al Mishkavi (בְּזָכְרִי עַל מִשְׁכָּבִי), and the singer as the renowned Hayim Efendi or Haim Effendi (1853-1938), who had previously recorded it in 1913 for the Turkish label Orfeon.^[215] His birth name was Haim Behar Menahem, and it is interesting to note that a M. and Mme. Haïm Behar travelled on the SS Lamartine from Istanbul to Marseilles in February 1926.^[216] That is within the range of possible recording dates for this disc, although before jumping to conclusions one must establish whether the singer Haim Effendi was one of the passengers named, and whether he or the couple travelled on to Paris.

The reason for the second proviso is that no evidence has yet been found to indicate that Bernard Roux's firm ever made recordings outside Paris, let alone abroad – which, in turn, begs the questions of this disc's intended purpose and possible client. Both multinational concerns and local French labels issued Jewish music from the Near East and North Africa commercially;^[217] while companies such as Columbia could record in Istanbul and elsewhere, smaller ones such as Perfectaphone recorded eastern musicians in Paris. In 1927, during a visit to the city, celebrated Syrian violinist Sāmī al-Shawwā (1899-1965) set down several sides for the company,^[218] some of which appear in an undated Perfectaphone catalogue listing records of Greek and Turkish music.^[219] These repertoires were also the focus of academic recordists; but in France that activity was dominated, if not monopolised, by Pathé, and there is no evidence that Roux's firm was involved in it. On balance, it seems more likely this was a commercial production – perhaps for an as yet undocumented label, perhaps unissued – or a private commission, which seems less probable, when Haim Effendi made so many commercial recordings.

Of the two Roux tests whose labels are illustrated above, one is especially tantalising:^[220]

An unusual feature of this disc is that the music is clearly identified on both labels, in the same hand as the matrix numbers and in pencil (suggesting the annotations are contemporary?), as the opening movement of J.S. Bach's Suite for solo cello in c minor (BWV 1011). It is performed complete and interpreted confidently, thoughtfully and distinctively, surely by a professional cellist – not named on the labels, unfortunately. The recording itself is also unusual. At this date, presumed to be the late 1920s or early 1930s, this was uncommon repertoire for small companies in France or indeed anywhere; on disc, cellists were usually limited to salon items such as Handel's so-called 'Largo', recorded by Jean Vaugeois for Perfectaphone,^[221] or Gounod's 'Ave Maria' (then commonly credited to Bach), recorded by, among others, Victor Pascal for Gramophone.^[222] Meanwhile, not a single movement of Bach's solo suites was recorded in France before April 1930,^[223] not even by the leading multinationals. Movements from them were recorded in Britain and the United States, by Pablo Casals (Columbia), Beatrice Harrison and Guilhermina Suggia (Gramophone Co.), while Casals' famous complete cycle lay some years in the future^[224] (Casals also recorded arrangements for cello of other items by Bach). It is hard to think of a small French label which might have issued such recherché repertoire, except perhaps Electrovox, for which Bernard Roux is suspected though not confirmed to have produced recordings (see below); if this disc was recorded for Electrovox, it might prove to be the earliest French recording of such music. Equally possibly, this disc might have been a private commission; its matrix numbers lack the AB monogram seen on many Bernard Roux commercial productions.

Acknowledgements

References

1. ↑ Although RetroNews is a commercial service, a subscription is necessary only for detailed searches and some other facilities
2. ↑ Baudrillart, Alfred 'Chez les latins d'Amérique Argentine et Uruguay III Les influences françaises', Nouvelle revue des deux mondes, Tome XVIIIe, 1 December 1923, pp.[619]-648 (on p.623)
3. ↑ The trademark Viandox for food substances was applied for in Britain around mid-1919 by Liebig's Extract of Meat Co. Ltd. of London, see 'Trade-marks Applied for', The Chemist and Druggist, Vol.XCI No.2068, 13 September 1919, p.77; its French subsidiary was marketing the product by October 1919, see Compagnie Française des Produits Liebig 'Le nouveau potage OXO […]' (advertisement), La Dépêche coloniale, Sunday 19 & Monday 20 October 1919, p.4
4. ↑ See first item under 'Constitutions', in 'Annonces légales', Cote de la Bourse et de la banque, Monday 1 February 1909, p.3
5. ↑ Roux, Alain J. & Martin, Pascal 'Le Rouxcolor: descriptif technique et histoire de son inventeur' (online version), 1895. Mille huit cent quatre-vingt-quinze, No.71, 2013, pp.203-204; Martin, Pascal 'Le Rouxcolor: un procédé additif de reproduction des couleurs' (online version), ibid., pp.205-10; Roux, Alain J. 'Armand Roux et le Rouxcolor: des années 1930 aux années 1970 (online version), ibid., pp.211-28
6. ↑ All genealogical data, unless otherwise stated, retrieved from notarial and civil records accessible online in French municipal and departmental archives
7. ↑ See e.g. 'Côte d'Or', Le Progrès de la Côte-d’Or, Wednesday 25 October 1893, p.2, and 'Chronique du bien', ibid., Wednesday 6 December 1893, p.2
8. ↑ 'Avis de décès', Le Progrès de la Côte-d’Or, Wednesday 20 November 1918, p.2
9. ↑ 'Avis de décès', Le Progrès de la Côte-d’Or, Thursday 18 September 1913, p.2
10. ↑ e.g. Paris-Hachette. Annuaire complet commercial, administratif & mondain (2nd edition), Paris: Hachette et Cie, n.d., p.313; the same information was printed in subsequent editions until at least 1914 (later editions are not accessible online)
11. ↑ The property was first put up for sale after the death of Bernard Roux's brother Marcel, see e.g. 'M^e Jouffroy, notaire à Dijon […]' (classified advertisement), in 'Notaires', Le Progrès de la Côte-d’Or, Sunday 21 September 1919, p.3, but a Madame Roux was still in possession two years later, see 'Les Maillys. — Chasse réservée […]' (classified notice), in 'Divers', ibid., Friday 1 September 1921, p.7; after at least one other advertised sale in 1927, see 'Etude de M^e Jouffroy, notaire à Dijon […]' (classified advertisement), in 'Officiers ministériels', ibid., Sunday 27 November 1927, p.5, the property passed definitively out of the Roux family's ownership, see 'La chasse est réservée […]' (classified notice), in 'Chasse et pêche', ibid., Wednesday 6 September 1933, p.6, and 'La chasse est réservée […]' (classified notice), in 'Chasse et pêche', ibid., Saturday 1 September 1934, p.6
12. ↑ Marie Roux's exact date of birth has not been established
13. ↑ 'Naissances', in 'Carnet du Jour', L’Écho de Paris, Sunday 3 March 1929, p.2
14. ↑ 'Naissances', in 'Carnet du Jour', L’Écho de Paris, Tuesday 16 December 1930, p.2
15. ↑ Charles Roux's exact date of birth has not been established
16. ↑ Denizot, J. ‘Anciens élèves’, Bulletin bi-mensuel de l’Ecole Saint-François de Sales de Dijon, 36e année No.1, Saturday 18 October 1924, pp.12-16 (on p.13)
17. ↑ Collège Stanislas Annuaire 1893 Renfermant les documents relatifs à l’année 1892, Paris, 1893, p.431; Collège Stanislas Annuaire 1894 Renfermant les documents relatifs à l’année 1893, Paris, 1894, p.440
18. ↑ Copaux, Hippolyte et al. Cinquante années de science appliquée à l’industrie, Paris: École Municipale de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, 1932, p.355
19. ↑ e.g. Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1919, Vol.II, p.977
20. ↑ 'L’École nationale des ponts et chaussées pendant la Grande Guerre', https://heritage.ecoledesponts.fr/enpc/fr/content/grand-format-lecole-nationale-des-ponts-et-chaussees-pendant-la-grande-guerre
21. ↑ https://data.inpi.fr/
22. ↑ https://worldwide.espacenet.com/advancedSearch?locale=en_EP
23. ↑ https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf
24. ↑ Roux, Bernard Fremgangsmaade til Fremstilling af et Isoleringsmiddel, Danish patent No.5814
25. ↑ Roux, Bernard Procédé de fabrication d’une nouvelle matière isolante, French patent No.379910
26. ↑ Variously named in French-language sources as Victor Karavodine and de Karavodine, and in Russian-language sources as Viktor or V.V. Karavodin (Караводин), this prolific inventor is poorly documented online, despite the great interest shown over many decades in his early pulsejet engine, patented in France in 1906; Karavodin's dates of birth, emigration, naturalization (if any) and death have not been established
27. ↑ de Karavodine, M[onsieur]. Procédé pour la fabrication d’un nouveau produit isolant, à base de corps résineux vulcanisés, résistant à des températures élevées, dénommé: l’“ébonitine”, French patent No.319264
28. ↑ Some twenty-six advertisements for the British Ebontine Co. Ltd. were printed in the Birmingham Daily Post from Saturday 16 November 1861 (front page) to Monday 10 February 1862 (p.4), promoting ‘Ebontine [as] being an entirely new description of hard rubber suited for Combs, Brushes, Buttons, and other Manufactures.’ The Company was mentioned in editorial articles on Saturday 5 April 1862, p.2, and Wednesday 19 October 1864, p.2, and in Williams's Manufacturers' Directory for London and Principal Market Towns in England, London: J. Williams, 1864, p.497; it was wound up by April 1868, see Birmingham Journal, Saturday 4 April 1868, p.4
29. ↑ Electrical Trades’ Directory and Handbook for 1895, London: The Electrician Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., 1895, p.685
30. ↑ de Karavodine, Victor Régénération du caoutchouc vulcanisé et de l’ébonite, French patent No.338945
31. ↑ Item No.37 in ‘No.47513. Décret proclamant 67 Cessions de Brevets d’invention. Du 12 Novembre 1905’, Bulletin des lois de la République française. XIIe série, Partie principale, Tome 73e, 1906, pp.229 ff (on p.234); see also de Karavodine, Victor Treatment and Utilization of Waste Vulcanized Rubber and Ebonite, US Patent No.838419
32. ↑ Roux, Bernard Régénération du caoutchouc vulcanisé et de l'ébonite, French Patent of addition No.8074
33. ↑ de Karavodine, Victor Treatment and Utilization of Waste Vulcanized Rubber and Ebonite, US Patent No.838419
34. ↑ 'Trasferimento di privativa industriale N.2660', Supplemento alla Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia del 26 maggio 1903, No.122, p.32; despite its French title (« Procédé pour transformer en masses solides des matiéres [sic] contenant de l’eau chimiquement liée »), no equivalent French patent has been found
35. ↑ Wile, Raymond R. 'Cylinder Record Materials', ARSC Journal, Vol.26 No.2, 1995, pp.162-71 (on pp.167-68)
36. ↑ Bottone, S. Talking Machines & Records, London: Guilbert Pitman, 1904, p.86
37. ↑ Marty, Daniel (translated Tubbs, Douglas) The Illustrated History of Phonographs, New York: Dorset Press, 1989, pp.45, 89, 107-08, etc.
38. ↑ Registrations No.109535 (marque), 9 September 1908, Paris, and No.110952 (label design), 27 November 1908, Paris, see Chamoux, Henri Dépôts de marques phonographiques françaises de 1893 à 1940. Documents tirés des bulletins de l’INPI, Archéophone, 2015, pp.68, 70 [PDF pp.74, 76]
39. ↑ Registration No.588, Amiens, 8 July 1908, see Chamoux, Henri Dépôts de marques phonographiques françaises de 1893 à 1940. Documents tirés des bulletins de l’INPI, Archéophone, 2015, p.68 [PDF p.74]
40. ↑ e.g. 'Disques Inusables par l'usage de la merveilleuse "Ébonitine"' (advertisement), Le Grand Echo du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais, Wednesday 27 April 1910, p.8
41. ↑ 'Demandez pour la Conservation des Disques à Saphir ou à Aiguilles L’Ebonitine' (advertisement), Le Bourguignon, Friday 8 January 1909, p.4; the same advertisement was reprinted twelve times until the issue of 11 February
42. ↑ Pearson, Henry C. Crude Rubber and Compounding Ingredients. A Text-Book of Rubber Manufacture [2nd edition], New York: The India Rubber Publishing Company, 1909, p.128; Pearson also described Ebonitine, seemingly incorrectly, as 'Of German origin.' (The book's third edition, of 1918, on p.145, described Ebonitine as 'A hard rubber substitute formerly used for phonograph records.')
43. ↑ Registrations No.133264 (marque) and No.133268 (label design), 26 December 1911, Paris, see Chamoux, Henri Dépôts de marques phonographiques françaises de 1893 à 1940. Documents tirés des bulletins de l’INPI, Archéophone, 2015, pp.93, 94 [PDF pp.99, 100]
44. ↑ e.g. Paris-Adresses Annuaire universel de l’industrie et du commerce, 17e année, Paris: Sociéte anonyme de l’annuaire “Paris-Adresses”, [1907], pp.816 (NB entry reads, erroneously, ‘Roux (Bernard), ébéniste [sic, recte ébonitine], Chemin-Vert, 144’), 1467 and 2135
45. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.I, p.710
46. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.1102
47. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.1654
48. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.1689
49. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2033
50. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2034
51. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2198
52. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, pp.2473-2474
53. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2378
54. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2807
55. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2810
56. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.2846
57. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1908, Vol.II, pp.904, 1254
58. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1909, passim
59. ↑ The directory for 1910 appears to be accessible online in incomplete form (no Vol.II is shown), see Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1910
60. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1911, passim
61. ↑ Annuaire du commerce et de l’industrie photographiques & cinématographiques, Paris: Charles-Mendel fils, n.d. [1911], pp.3, 6 & 61
62. ↑ The Didot-Bottin Paris directory for 1912 is not currently accessible online
63. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.984
64. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1003
65. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1366
66. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1484
67. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1492
68. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1770
69. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1814
70. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1864
71. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.2316
72. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.2319
73. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.3010
74. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.3290
75. ↑ Roux, Bernard Procédé de fabrication de tubes et boudins en caoutchouc régénéré, French Patent No.350113; id., Procédé de fabrication de tubes et boudins en caoutchouc régénéré, French Patent of addition No.5765
76. ↑ Roux, Bernard Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Tubes, Bars, Felt, Cable Coverings […] from Regenerated Rubber, UK Patent No.16389
77. ↑ ‘Nº 5529. — Décrêt proclamant 86 Cessions de Brevets d’invention. Du 1er Juin 1909', Bulletin des lois de la République française. Partie supplémentaire, Nouvelle série, No.36 ter, 1910, p.4328 ff (on p.4333, Ordonnances 30º & 31º); 'Our Regular Correspondent' 'The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain', India Rubber World, Vol.44 No.4, 1 July 1911, pp.349-50 (on p.349)
78. ↑ 'Our Regular Correspondent' 'The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain', India Rubber World, Vol.45 No.4, 1 January 1912, pp.179-80 (on p.180)
79. ↑ 'Sociétés Formation de Société anonyme', La Loi, Wednesday 24 December 1913, pp.2-3
80. ↑ 'Le feu', in 'Nouvelles diverses', Le Figaro, 13 May 1912, p.4
81. ↑ The detailed history of the Société franco-anglaise de caoutchouc manufacturé is somewhat difficult to trace online, as French search engines generally refuse strings containing words such as 'du', 'et', 'le' etc.
82. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1914, passim
83. ↑ Roux, Bernard ‘Avis d’opposition Première publication’, La Loi, 11-13 August 1918, p.2
84. ↑ '43, av. du Maine, Paris' listed under 'Roux (Etabl. Bernard)', L’Annuaire industriel. Répertoire analytique général de l’industrie, Paris: L’Annuaire industriel, 1938, p.'Roux à Roy'
85. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1919, Vol.I, p.347
86. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1918, Vol.I, p.875
87. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1919, Vol.I, p.1345
88. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1918, Vol.I, p.1307
89. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1918, Vol.I, p.1419
90. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1918, Vol.I, p.1887
91. ↑ e.g. Société Franco-Anglaise de Caoutchouc Manufacturé advertisement, Le Franc Parleur parisien, 5-10 October 1923, p.8963
92. ↑ e.g. Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1921, Vol.I, pp.882, 3499 and 3500
93. ↑ 'Ventes de Fonds de Commerce', Le Courrier, Monday 12 November 1923, p.4 (NB summary of earlier notice published in Les Annonces de Paris, not accessible online); 'Société anonyme des Etablissements Primus' in 'Sociétés', La Loi, Friday 29 February 1924, p.3; Primus apparently also bought the name of the Société Franco-Anglaise factory, as it continued to be so listed in the Paris trade directory until 1930, see Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1930, Vol.I, p.815
94. ↑ 'Modifications', in 'Sociétés', Le Courrier, Wednesday 5 December 1923, pp.4-5 (on p.5) (NB summary of earlier notice published in Les Annonces de Paris, not accessible online)
95. ↑ ‘Caoutchouc’, in ‘Informations Industrielles, Commerciales & Agricoles’, La Journée industrielle, Friday 30 January 1925, p.3
96. ↑ Roux's fellow-director would appear to be Pierre Ibled (1879-1946), of the Pas-de-Calais branch, proprietor of the Ibled brand of chocolate, whose factory was located in Mondicourt, between Arras and Amiens
97. ↑ In the word Etablissements, French-language sources of the period used both accented capital É and unaccented E; for typographical simplicity, the latter is used on this page
98. ↑ The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which holds six Bernard Roux test pressings, the largest number in a public collection, has to date transferred five; of these, four are freely accessible via its online portal Gallica, in a section titled 'Autres disques: disques édités et disques de travail' ('Other discs: published discs and working discs', i.e. test pressings), presented without comment or explanation (NB this is not a criticism, merely an observation; the BnF's transfers are excellent and have been crucial for this project)
    Four of the BnF's Bernard Roux test pressings are catalogued, incorrectly, as having been made for the University of Paris, probably because they were acquired by the BnF together with other holdings of France's early sound archive, the Musée de la Parole et du Geste
99. ↑ By 'local labels' are meant labels based in France and not owned by foreign and multinational companies present in France (Pathé, Brunswick, Columbia, the Gramophone Company, Lindström affiliates, Polydor, Vox etc.); many of these labels, though not yet all, have pages devoted to them at https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/ (see next note)
100. ↑ The leading living historian of the early French record industry is Henri Chamoux, an inventor and audio restoration expert affiliated with the CNRS, France's national scientific research council, who has spent decades documenting and making publicly accessible the industry's early products, as well as information about the artists, inventors and entrepreneurs who produced them; the results of M. Chamoux's efforts include his indispensable compendium of French record marques and registrations up to World War II, Dépôts de marques phonographiques françaises de 1893 à 1940. Documents tirés des bulletins de l’INPI, Archéophone, 2015, his PhD thesis, La diffusion de l'enregistrement sonore en France à la Belle Époque (1893-1914), Paris: Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2015, and his website https://www.phonobase.org, an archive of freely accessible transfers and images of thousands of mostly early French cylinders and discs; M. Chamoux has also made available online the entire run of the late Gérard Roig's magazine Phonoscopies (1993-2011), and these resources are now being extended by another impressive recent initiative, Jerome Moncada's online guide to smaller French disc labels, https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/, as well as by Olivier Ciccoli's voluminous catalogue-discographies of French Pathé and Perfectaphone
101. ↑ Roux, Bernard Disques pour machines parlantes et leur procédé de fabrication, French Patent No.361993
102. ↑ Roux, Bernard Moule pour l’impression, par compression, des disques gramophoniques et phonographiques, French Patent No.370792
103. ↑ In French, the words phonographe and gramophone had by this time became interchangeable in common parlance, with phonographe gaining a clear upper hand as the default everyday term for 'record-player'; the 1907 Didot-Bottin directory had no entries under 'Gramophones', only a cross-reference to 'Phonographes', see Vol.II, p.1913; the same was true of the 1908 edition, see Vol.II, p.1943, while the 1909 and 1911 editions had no at all heading for 'Gramophones'
104. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, pp.2473-2474
105. ↑ 'Ebonitine (B. Roux process)
     'Offices: 147^bis, Rue du Chemin-Vert :: Factory: 144, Rue du Chemin-Vert
     'Custom recording of vertical- and lateral-cut discs of all diameters
     'Sole custom disc-pressing facility for phonograph and gramophone records
     'Wax recording blanks — Diaphragms — Record-pressing compounds — Moulded components for electrical appliances of all types and colours — Melt-proof components.'
     Annuaire des artistes de l’enseignement dramatique & musical […], Paris: Société générale d’impression, [1910], p.443
106. ↑ Société générale d'Impressions Phonographiques, entry in Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1909, Vol.II, p.2545
107. ↑ M. Daviet, entry for 'L'Auto' in Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1911, Vol.II, p.2687; Daviet was still offering machines for recording, planing and duplicating discs in 1914, see Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1914, Part II, p.2765
108. ↑ Pathé made very many recordings for the University of Paris's Archives de la parole, a project proposed by Emile Pathé himself and of a different nature and extent from the type of service under discussion; see Cordereix, Pascal 'Les enregistrements du musée de la Parole et du Geste à l'Exposition coloniale. Entre science, propagande et commerce', Vingtième Siècle, 2006/4 (No.92), October-December 2006, pp.47-59 (on p.48)
109. ↑ See Moncada, Jerome https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/2021/06/21/aspir/, https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/2022/04/27/dutreih/, https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/2021/07/02/ideal/, https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/2021/02/04/pathe/, https://labelgalleryfrancaise.wordpress.com/2021/07/03/phono/
110. ↑ 'Ebonitine
     B. Roux process
     Discs pressed.
     Recordings [made].
     Catalogue creation.
     Recording machines.
     Waxes [matrices], metal stampers, diaphragms.'
     Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1922, Vol.I, p.1531
111. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.1770, and 1914, Vol.II, p.1694; as stated above, the 1912 directory is not available
112. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1913, Vol.II, p.2178, and 1914, Vol.II, p.2102
113. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1918, Vol.I, p.1149
114. ↑ A good account of the Westrex system can be found at https://www.stokowski.org/Development_of_Electrical_Recording.htm
115. ↑ 'M. Bernard Roux, qui, le premier, a songé à utiliser l’amplification de la lampe triode pour l’enregistrement': Laclau, Pierre ‘La Radiophonie’, Je suis partout, Saturday 9 May 1936, p.4
116. ↑ Roux, Bernard Procédé et dispositif pour l’enregistrement phonographique et accessoirement leur application à la téléphonie ordinaire comme dans le théatrophone, et à la téléphonie sans fil, French patent No.575535
117. ↑ Roux, Bernard Procédé et dispositif pour l’enregistrement phonographique et accessoirement leur application à la téléphonie ordinaire comme dans le théatrophone, et à la téléphonie sans fil, Swiss patent No.112826; id. Improved method of and means for phonographic recording, British patent No.213264
118. ↑ Gamzon, R[obert]. ‘L’enregistrement et l’impression des disques phonographiques’, Bulletin mensuel de l’Association française pour l’avancement des sciences, 61e année, No.98 (nouvelle série), January 1932, pp.665-70 (on p.670)
119. ↑ ‘L’historique du film sonore’, Lyon Républicain, 5 February 1932, p.7
120. ↑ Roux, Bernard Procédé de duplicatage par voie électrique des enregistrements phonographiques et photographiques des sons, French patent No.602374
121. ↑ Roux, Bernard Procédé de duplicatage par voie électrique d’enregistrements des sons, et installation pour la mise en oeuvre du procédé, Swiss patent No.118035
122. ↑ Roux, Bernard Improvements in or relating to sound-record duplicating devices, British patent No.243375
123. ↑ Posateri, Anita 'The Pathé Acoustic Era: Unconventional Technologies, Factory Process and Management', ARSC Journal, Vol.52 No.2, Fall 2021, pp.308-21; Zwarg, Christian 'Not Just Another Discography! Documenting Pathé's recording activity from 1897 to 1916 and beyond' (presentation), GhT General Assembly, Dresden, 1-2 November, 2019
124. ↑ The only other patent resembling Roux's was applied for in 1939, by a firm then specialising in film sound, and granted in 1940, see Reterson Holding S.A. Procédé de duplicatage d'enregistrements sonores gravés sur films ou disques, French patent No.856283
125. ↑ Gamzon, R[obert] ‘L’enregistrement et l’impression des disques phonographiques’, Bulletin mensuel de l’Association française pour l’avancement des sciences, 61e année, No.98 (nouvelle série), January 1932, pp.665-70 (on p.670)
126. ↑ 'Wanted: serious young man, 17 to 19 for easy manual work. Apply in person Recording Studio, Bernard Roux, 24, rue Rochechouart, afternoons'
     ‘Offres d’emploi’, in ‘Petites annonces’, L’Intransigeant, Sunday 18 May 1924, p.5
127. ↑ ‘Offres d’emploi’, in ‘Les Petites annonces de L’Intransigeant’, L’Intransigeant, Sunday 16 August 1925, p.6
128. ↑ Rue Rochechouart has since been renamed rue Marguerite-de-Rochechouart
129. ↑ The Salle Pleyel at 22, rue Rochechouart, was not in fact the Pleyel company's first recital space, which still survives, a short walk south, in the salons of the hôtel Cromot du Bourg at 9, rue Cadet, also in the 9th arrondissement
130. ↑ Despite the historical importance and musical interest of the Pleyel properties in the rue Rochechouart, no detailed contemporary description or images of them have been found; works such as de Fourcaud, Louis, Pougin, Arthur & Prade, Léon La salle Pleyel, Paris: Librairies-imprimeries réunies, 1893, and Comettant, Oscar Histoire de cent mille pianos et d'une salle de concert, Paris: Fischbacher, 1899, concentrate on Pleyel & Cie's history, instruments, clients, manufacturing processes and prowess, and touch on other aspects of the firm's activities, but do not even contain contemporary photographs of the main hall at no.22, and barely mention the neighbouring premises on the rue Rochechouart. Only one detailed, retrospective account of their layout and interiors, including a very full description of the 'grande salle', has been encountered during research for this page, in Inghelbrecht, Désiré-Émile Mouvement contraire: souvenirs d’un musicien, Paris: Domat, 1947 / La Coopérative, 2019 [reprint with illustrations and discography], pp.123-28
131. ↑ Earliest listing found: 'Petite Gazette des Théâtres', Le Soleil, Monday 21 March 1898, p.2; latest listing found (NB Société Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven concert, not Quatuor Capet concert billed at same hour in large hall at number 22): 'Courrier musical', Le Figaro, 26 March 1914, p.6
132. ↑ Inghelbrecht, Désiré-Émile Mouvement contraire: souvenirs d’un musicien, Paris: Domat, 1947 / La Coopérative, 2019 [reprint with illustrations and discography], p.123-24
133. ↑ Mimi Pinson, eponymous fictional heroine of an 1853 novella by Alfred de Musset, became the archetype of the unmarried Parisian grisette (factory or shop girl), living in a left-bank garret with a caged finch (pinson) for company
134. ↑ On launch of L’Oeuvre de Mimi Pinson, initially with aim of distributing theatre tickets gratis to Parisian working-class families, see e.g. 'Courrier des théatres', Le Figaro, Tuesday 18 December 1900, p.5, and 'Echos de partout', La Liberté, Tuesday 25 December 1900, p.2
135. ↑ Charpentier, Gustave ‘L’Œuvre de Mimi Pinson’, Musica, No.2, November 1902, pp.19-21; photographs on front cover and pp.19 (bottom) and 20; another photograph, of the same or another rehearsal by the Oeuvre de Mimi Pinson, is held by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, which has not identified the location
136. ↑ Mezzo-soprano Esther Chevalier (1853-1936) held vocal and theatre courses in the hall at 24, rue Rochechouart between 1921, see 'Cours et leçons', Le Gaulois, Wednesday 26 October 1921, p.5 (NB main Pleyel address, no.22, given), and 1925, see 'Cours et leçons', Le Gaulois, Tuesday 6 October 1925, p.5
137. ↑ On the launch of Wurmser's piano school, originally head-quartered at 23, rue Ballu in Paris, see 'Nouvelles théâtrales', Le Matin, Monday 25 September 1905, p.5; the school expanded nationwide as early as 1906, see 'Spectacles & Concerts', Le Figaro, Tuesday 25 September 1906, p.5, and remained active and well publicized until 1914, see 'Courrier Théâtral', Le Journal, Friday 29 May 1914, p.5
138. ↑ On reopening of Wurmser school, see 'Courrier Musical', Le Figaro, Wednesday 4 October 1916, p.5; in most years, school's address given as 22, rue de Rochechouart, e.g. 'Courrier Musical', Le Figaro, Monday 29 September 1919, p.3, or both 22 and 24, e.g. 'Courrier des théatres', Le Matin, Sunday 9 October 1921, p.4; last courses held in 1927, see 'Courrier Musical', Le Figaro, Monday 3 October 1927, p.4, and 'Musique', Le Matin, Thursday 27 October 1927, p.5
139. ↑ 'Electrical recording machine, usable for DIY recording, would suit professor, apply for trial run. Blanc, 24, rue Rochechouart.' ‘Petites Annonces classées’, Comoedia, Friday 2 November 1928, p.5
140. ↑ Inghelbrecht, Désiré-Émile Mouvement contraire: souvenirs d’un musicien, Paris: Domat, 1947 / La Coopérative, 2019 [reprint with illustrations and discography], pp.124-25
141. ↑ Mangeot, Edouard ‘Le phonographe dans la maison Pleyel, Wolff et Cie’, Le Monde musical, Vol.1, No.7, 15 August 1889, p.5
142. ↑ 'Sté Générale d'Impressions Phonographiques', in 'Annonces légales', Cote de la Bourse et de la banque, Monday 21 January 1907, p.3
143. ↑ 'Dissolutions', in 'Annonces légales', Cote de la Bourse et de la banque, Thursday 24 December 1908, p.3
144. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1908, Vol.II, p.2517; Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1909, Vol.II, pp.716 and 2545
145. ↑ The Société Générale d’Impressions Phonographiques
146. ↑ de Curzon, Henri ‘Revue musicale’, Le Journal des débats, Tuesday 31 December 1929, p.4
147. ↑ Cf. Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1928, Vol.II, p.1682 and Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1929, Vol.II, p.1730
148. ↑ None of the buildings in the rue Rochechouart occupied until 1927 by Pleyel survives; today, numbers 22 to 24 bis rue Marguerite-de-Rochechouart are occupied by the Centre Anim' Paul Valeyre, which includes a swimming pool and primary school, one of a network of public activity centres maintained by the Mairie de Paris
149. ↑ Lyon advertised his consultancy, branded 'Orthophonie Système Gustave Lyon', from at least 1914, see Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1914, Vol.II, p.870, until the year Pleyel moved to its new head-quarters and hall, designed by Lyon, see Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1927, Vol.I, p.39
150. ↑ Ménécier, Marcel 'Ce cor On l'entend bien sonner au fond des bois...', Le Jour, Tuesday 12 May 1936, pp.1-2, reprinted (without illustrations) in 'Revue de la presse', L'Instantané, VII^e année, No.73, June 1936, unpaginated; Descaves, Pierre ‘Radio’, Les Nouvelles littéraires, Saturday 12 September 1936, p.8
151. ↑ 'Lubin, Jacques 'Phonogrammes Polydor', Sonorités, No.12, January 1985, pp.17-19; facsimile offprint freely available at https://journals.openedition.org/afas/1603
152. ↑ Summary of Les éditions Chappell, Les éditions musicales Caravelle, Vogue, le service militaire et Jenner-Music. Entretien avec Frédéric Leibovitz', https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc953509/ca19914295
153. ↑ See Lack, Roland-François https://www.thecinetourist.net/godard-and-melville-the-view-from-the-rue-jenner.html and https://www.thecinetourist.net/melville-more-views-from-the-rue-jenner.html
154. ↑ https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/caf94008877/incendie-du-studio-cinema-de-la-rue-jenner-a-paris
155. ↑ L’Annuaire industriel. Répertoire analytique général de l’industrie (Onzième édition), Paris: L’Annuaire industriel, 1935, unpaginated; L’Annuaire industriel. Répertoire analytique général de l’industrie (Quatorzième édition), Paris: L’Annuaire industriel, 1938, unpaginated
156. ↑ Roux, Bernard Moule pour l’impression, par compression, des disques gramophoniques et phonographiques, French patent No.370792
157. ↑ Etablissements Bernard Roux Procédé pour le pressage des disques de phonographe et matériel pour utiliser ce procédé, French patent No.915003
158. ↑ Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.I, p.710
159. ↑ See e.g. under ‘Ébonite’, Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l’industrie, de la magistrature et de l’administration, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1907, Vol.II, p.1654; or under 'Phonographes', ibid., pp.2473 & 2474
160. ↑ Annuaire des artistes de l’enseignement dramatique & musical […], Paris: Société générale d’impression, [1910], p.443
161. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1911, Vol.I, p.755
162. ↑ See e.g. under ‘Electricité’, Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1911, Vol.II, p.1822; or under 'Phonographes', ibid., pp.2689 & 2690
163. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1921, Vol.II, p.591
164. ↑ See e.g. under ‘Disques pour phonographes’, Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1921, Vol.I, p.1367; or under 'Phonographes', ibid., pp.2952
165. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1926, Vol.II, p.663
166. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1926, Vol.II, p.1536
167. ↑ Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris: Didot-Bottin, 1929, Vol.II, p.1327; the 1929 directory has no main entry for the Roux business, but product categories give its address as 142 rue du Chemin-Vert, see e.g. under ‘Ébonite’, ibid., Vol.I, p.1607
168. ↑ ‘[É]tablissements Roux fabrique de disques pour phonographe.’: ‘L’Aventure lamentable de deux garçonnets imprudents’, Le Petit Parisien, Tuesday 9 May 1933, p.1
169. ↑ ‘La maison Bernard Roux s’est consacrée depuis longtemps à la fabrication de la matière première des disques pour phonographes.’: ‘Deux enfants qui jouaient sur un toit font une chute de dix mètres’, Le Populaire, Tuesday 9 May 1933, p.1
170. ↑ ‘Demandes en autorisation de construire’, Bulletin municipal officiel de la Ville de Paris, Saturday 23 April 1932, p.2136; ibid., Sunday 11 September 1932, p.4004; ibid., Wednesday 12 October 1932, p.4208; ibid., 19 July 1933, p.3087
171. ↑ ‘Nos petites annonces’, L’Intransigeant, Saturday 4 June 1932, p.13
172. ↑ Thirty-three hydraulic disc presses were for sale, see ‘Officiers ministériels’, La Journée industrielle, Wednesday 21 June 1939, p.19; reprinted on Sunday 25 June and Tuesday 4 July 1939
173. ↑ Report of items sold and sums realised: ‘Ventes’, L’Usine, Thursday 13 July 1939, p.53
174. ↑ L’Annuaire industriel. Répertoire analytique général de l’industrie (Onzième édition), Paris: L’Annuaire industriel, 1935, unpaginated; L’Annuaire industriel. Répertoire analytique général de l’industrie (Quatorzième édition), Paris: L’Annuaire industriel, 1938, unpaginated
175. ↑ Under ‘Industrie’, in ‘Petites annonces’, L’Intransigeant, Sunday 2 December 1934, p.12
176. ↑ ‘Industrie’, under ‘Offres d’emploi (Suite)’, in ‘Petites annonces’, L’Intransigeant, Thursday 30 May 1929, p.11
177. ↑ ‘Main-d’œuvre’, under ‘Industrie’, in ‘Nos petites annonces (Suite)’, L’Intransigeant, Friday 13 July 1934, p.12
178. ↑ ‘L’émission de ces fumées étant des plus nocive [sic], tant pour les habitants du quartier que pour la maternité de l’hôpital de la Pitié’: ‘Conseil municipal de Paris Réponses aux questions écrites’, Bulletin municipal officiel de la Ville de Paris, Thursday 24 August, pp.[3539]-40; NB the locations of Etablissements Bernard Roux's works were reported slightly incorrectly as 4 rue Esquirol and 14, instead of 12, place Pinel
179. ↑ eBay item 125834770080, ended 27 March, 2023 (URL defunct)
180. ↑ eBay item 125664298775, ended 20 March, 2023 (URL defunct)
181. ↑ Item 13382 (25 cm / 10 in. disc), Phonopassion Fix Price List 1-2016, April 2016 (retrieved from Internet Archive Wayback Machine); originally auctioned c. April 2008 but unsold
182. ↑ Item 26048 (25 cm / 10 in. disc), Phonopassion Fix Price List 3-2022, September 2016; previously auctioned as lot 34, Phonopassion auction list of classical/ operatic 78rpm records (closing date 6 April 2014), p.4, but unsold
183. ↑ Lot 95 (25 cm / 10 in. disc), Phonopassion auction list of classical/ operatic 78rpm records (closing date 15 April 2018), p.7, unsold; bought at fixed price
184. ↑ Lots 2183 & 2184, Phonopassion auction list of classical/ operatic 78rpm records (closing date 23 April 2017), p.79
185. ↑ Andreas Schmauder, email, 3 January 2023
186. ↑ Mazzoletti, Adriano Il jazz in Italia: dalle origini alle grandi orchestre, Torino: EDT srl, 2004, p.191; also listed (less accurately) in Lord, Tom The Jazz Discography, West Vancouver, B.C.: Lord Music Reference, 1997, p.R178, and Klaric, Marianne & Henceval, Emile (eds.) Dictionnaire du jazz à Bruxelles et en Wallonie, Liège: Pierre Mardaga / Communauté française de Belgique. Conseil de la musique, 1991, p.221
187. ↑ Roig, Gérard ‘Les disques publicitaires en 78t (1ère Partie: Apéritifs, Automobiles et autres...)’, Phonoscopies, No.3, July 1993, pp.17-23 (on p.23)
188. ↑ BnF shelf mark AP-2174 (transfer)
189. ↑ The BnF catalogue's transcription of the announcements' opening words as 'Ecole internationale', in the singular, is audibly incorrect
190. ↑ One of the most visible elements of this campaign was an ICS-sponsored aerial tour of English cities and towns by a Blériot monoplane piloted by an ICS alumnus, Robert Slack (1886-1913), see 'The first aeroplane in Sheffield', sheffielder.net, 29 March 2020
191. ↑ Earliest dated advertisement found: 'Les Ecoles Internationales', La Liberté, Sunday 7 December 1913, p.[1]
192. ↑ Advertisement for courses in four languages, including French: 'Apprenez les Langues Vivantes', La Grande Revue, Vol.18 No.13, 5 July 1914, p.unpaginated advertisement
193. ↑ Bellom, Maurice ‘Une nouvelle méthode d’enseignement des langues vivantes a l’usage des ingénieurs’, Bulletin de l’Association amicale des élèves de l’École nationale supérieure des mines, January 1914, pp.75-83; id. 'L'enseignement des langues vivantes par correspondance et à l'aide du phonographe', Le Génie Civil, Saturday 21 March 1914, pp.419-21
194. ↑ The University of California, Santa Barbara Library holds the book as well as seven ICS French Language Record cylinders, call numbers Cylinder 9796, Cylinder 10395, Cylinder 15938 and Cylinder 19682-85; of these, Cylinder 9796 has been digitised
195. ↑ International Correspondence Schools Pronouncing Index French, Scranton, PA: International Textbook Co., 1906
196. ↑ e.g. Method for the study of modern languages; French, conversational lessons, 1st book (Lessons i to xx) Paris: Ecoles internationales, [1913]
197. ↑ None of the 90 or so printed items has been digitised by the BnF, but an impression of their content can be gained from a detailed, illustrated 20-page marketing pamphlet, containing a sample of a German lesson, Langues Vivantes Allemand Méthode "I.C.S.", Paris: Ecoles internationales, n.d. [circa 1913]; this item is held by the BnF alongside a dual-purpose (playback/record) machine sold by the Ecoles internationales (see below), and has no separate shelf mark
198. ↑ Bellom, Maurice ‘Une nouvelle méthode d’enseignement des langues vivantes a l’usage des ingénieurs’, Bulletin de l’Association amicale des élèves de l’École nationale supérieure des mines, January 1914, pp.75-83 (on p.81)
199. ↑ 'Phonographe reproducteur enregistreur', in 'Nouvelles inventions', Le Rayon, Vol.9 No.3, 25 March 1914, p.47
200. ↑ Earliest advertisement found: ‘Announcements’, The New York Herald [European Edition, Paris], Monday 20 December 1920, p.4
201. ↑ e.g. ‘Si vous avez un phonographe’ [advertisement], Le Journal, Sunday 6 February 1921, p.3
202. ↑ BnF shelf mark Collection Charles Cros n°342
203. ↑ The thirteen discs held by the BnF have been digitized and made available online
     Individual BnF shelf marks:
     AP-248 (transfer)
     AP-2516 (transfer)
     AP-2517 (transfer)
     AP-2518 (transfer)
     AP-2519 (transfer)
     AP-2520 (transfer)
     AP-2521 (transfer)
     AP-2522 (transfer)
     AP-2523 (transfer)
     AP-2524 (transfer)
     AP-2525 (transfer)
     AP-2526 (transfer)
     AP-2527 (transfer)
     NB although there are no gaps in the face numbers, it is not known if the series is complete as issued
204. ↑ Julien-Rousseau, L. Enseignement des langues vivantes par la méthode dialoguée en deux langues, Paris: L. Julien-Rousseau, 1923, shelf mark 4-X PIECE-290
205. ↑ Rousseau, L. Julien, translated Wood, James H. Français-anglais, méthode pratique et rapide […] English-French, a Practical and Quick Method, Paris: Margueritat, 1922; no copy of this book has been located
206. ↑ BnF shelf mark AP-2173 (transfer)
207. ↑ 'Fonds Louis Julien Rousseau', finding aid to Louis-Julien Rousseau papers, Lausanne Cantonal and University Library
208. ↑ To make the gramophone practical
     electrical recording is needed;
     and that's why together
     we're working on it at Roux studios.
     It calls for graft and grit
     as, no sooner finished than it's back to square one.
     And our maestro is lucky
     when he gets back to Taverny on time!
     Mr. Rousseau! Give us some music!
     Theeere... something nice and harmonic!
     That'll do... And to test this mic,
     another little piano number:
     Theeere... Now it's going well, I do declare:
     Mr. Rousseau! Another scale!
     I say, this one [microphone?] isn't bad;
     so do play us that tune from last time.
     But all hard work has its reward:
     Mr. Rousseau, play a dance tune!
     Theeere... finally, here's something that sounds good.
     Let us congratulate Mr. Ibled!
     Our boss will be jolly pleased with it;
     Mr. Rousseau, play the Marseillaise!
209. ↑ BnF shelf mark AP-2175 (transfer)
210. ↑ Cook, Les 'Gino Bordin (1899-1977) France’s star of Hawaiian steel guitar', Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association Quarterly Newsletter, Vol.38, issue 147, Summer 2022, pp.8-9, 12
211. ↑ https://www.ukulele.fr/2009/09/29/edouard-jacovacci/
212. ↑ Bordes, Charles Litanies à la Très Sainte Vierge. Cantique en forme de chant alterné; first publication possibly as Album musical (musical supplement) to Le Mois littéraire et pittoresque, Vol.XXV, No.149, May 1911 (in the performance recorded by Bernard Roux, only Verses I, II, IV, V and VI are sung)
213. ↑ BnF shelf mark AP-2172 (transfer)
214. ↑ I am greatly indebted to Dr. Maureen Jackson, author of Mixing Musics. Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013, for listening to the BnF's transfer of this test and for bringing it to the attention of fellow-specialists in the field
215. ↑ Vezouhri, matrix 1159, recorded and/or issued 1913 on Orfeon Record 11200; transferred as CD1, track 9, in An Early Twentieth-Century Sephardi Troubadour. The Historical Recordings of Haim Effendi of Turkey, (Anthology of Music Traditions in Israel 21), AMTI 0801 (4 CDs), Jerusalem: Jewish Music Research Centre, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2008; many thanks to Rivka Havassy, co-author of the set's booklet, for examining these Bernard Roux recordings and relating them to the extant repertoire of Turkish Sephardic song and recordings, and to Yoram Bilu and Dr. Maureen Jackson for facilitating this work
216. ↑ 'Départs', in 'La Ville', Stamboul, Friday 5 February 1926, p.2
217. ↑ See the Bibliothèque de France's large online repositories of digitised commercial and ethnographical recordings from former French colonies and neighbouring regions, e.g. Musique arabe et orientale, Afrique du Nord, Moyen-Orient etc.
218. ↑ R. de N. ‘Musique. Petit Courrier’, in ‘Courrier Théâtral et Musical’, Comoedia, 5 October 1927, p.5
219. ↑ Image © Hugo Strötbaum, http://www.recordingpioneers.com/
220. ↑ Collection: the author; transfer forthcoming at DogintheManger
221. ↑ Perfectaphone 1651, coupled with Schumann(?) Träumerei(?) (as 'Rêverie'); no discographical data available
222. ↑ Recorded in uncredited arrangement, on 25 February 1930, in Paris, by Victor Pascal ('cello) and Denise Herbrecht (harp), matrix BF 2979-1, face number 50-947, issued in France on Gramophone K 6003 (25 cm)
223. ↑ The earliest commercial recording in France known to date was Suite for solo cello in G BWV 1011 – (iv) Sarabande, Marix Loevensohn ('cello), matrix Ki 3582, recorded 8 April 1930, Paris; issued on Odéon 238.132
224. ↑ Casals' recordings of Bach's complete solo cello Suites were made between November 1936 and June 1939 in Paris and London