Re: [ARSCLIST] Shout Factory Poetry Box still continues Walt Whitman Cylinder hoax

[David Lewis <davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The controversy is about a cylinder recording purported to be of Walt Whitman reciting his poem "America" in 1890. "America" is not a major work; it is a short piece which would have been new in 1890. The recording did not surface until the 1950s, and I'm not sure who it was that first came up with it, but it was someone who collected old machines and could've made the recording himself on a wax blank. The recording quality is abnormally clear for something from 1890, and the original wax has never been proffered. 
The selection is a very clever one, being an obscure verse current at the time of alleged recording, rather than something well known which would have been a dead giveaway. Walt Whitman died in 1892, which is still a very early date for extant recordings. Although Tennyson and Robert Browning did record in 1889-90, those can be verified as the cylinders themselves still exist and there is independent documentation of their making. These can be found at the Poetry Archive on the web:

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do

The Poetry Archive does not include the Whitman recording, which may be found here:

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/audio/

Dave Lewis
  
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List<ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
Date:          Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:51:30 -0500

>Hey guys, for those of us who haven't been following this, what's the controversy??
>
>-- Tom Fine
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List<ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
Date:          Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:51:30 -0500

>Hey guys, for those of us who haven't been following this, what's the controversy??
>
>-- Tom Fine
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Bryan E Cornell" <bcor@xxxxxxx>
>To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 4:32 PM
>Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Shout Factory Poetry Box still continues Walt Whitman Cylinder hoax
>
>
>Weirdly, the last time this myth showed up * although obliquely * was in the film "The Gangs of New 
>York."  If you watch the commentary on the DVD, Scorcese says that Daniel Day Lewis based his accent 
>for his character (an 1850's butcher and gangster) on the Whitman recording.  Scorcese clearly 
>believed it was an authentic recording of a 19th century New York accent.
>
>Bryan
>
>>>> davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx 11/22/06 4:19 PM >>>
>Steve,
>
>You have NO IDEA how hard it is to combat this situation. When the Shout
>Factory piece was reviewed for AMG, there was no mention of the controversy
>and I called the writer's attention to it. When I told him about it, he at
>first got very angry and thought that I was challenging HIM on the matter.
>Later when things cooled down and I was able to make clear that my info was
>credible, he apologized and modified his review to reflect the controversy.
>
>Admittedly, when Shout Factory circulates statements like:
>"the first time he  heard it, a flock of birds flew
>to the ceiling of the church he was in at the  moment Whitman's voice hit
>the
>air."
>
>this is confusing to journalists, who tend to be a subjective lot anyway
>(present company included!) and it stacks the deck against fact just so that
>the company can CYA. Not cool.
>
>Happy Thanksgiving!
>
>David N. Lewis
>Assistant Classical Editor, All Music Guide
>
>"Music expresses what one cannot say, but about which one cannot remain
>silent." - Victor Hugo
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Ramm
>Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 2:46 PM
>To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [ARSCLIST] Shout Factory Poetry Box still continues Walt Whitman
>Cylinder hoax
>
>I got an email today from Shout Factory about their box sets for the
>holiday
>gift season. One was:
>
>_Shout!  Factory - Poetry on Record - Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their
>Work  (1888-2006)_
>(http://www.shoutfactory.com/selection/292/poetry_on_record_poetry_on_record
>:_98_poets_read_their_work_(1888-2006).html)
>
>As you will see the fraudulent Walt Whitman cylinder is included. No matter
>
>what we do, we can't kill this myth. It certainly is great for promoting a
>set,  showing how early they went back to include it.
>
>I wrote to SF and sent them the NPR story on the cylinder. The reply I got
>was:
>
>
>Rebekah addresses this in her  essay: Of  the three Edison recordings, only
>the one of  the American giant of modern poetry, Walt Whitman, has had its
>authenticity  questioned. We know that Edison wished to  record Whitman, and
>we
>know that Whitman (who was so tireless a self-promoter  that he once
>reviewed
>his own book!) would have liked to be recorded. His  four-line poem,
>"America,"
> published in the 1889 edition of Leaves Of  Grass, seems too obscure to be
>chosen by a forger. As Galway Kinnell  points out, Whitman wanted to be seen
>as
>more patriotic and acceptable to the  general public late in his life, which
>
>is why he wrote such work as  "America."  Still, the original wax cylinder
>has never been found and neither has any  documentation verifying that the
>recording session took place. Kinnell, who says  he is unsure of the
>recording's
>authenticity, also says that the first time he  heard it, a flock of birds
>flew
>to the ceiling of the church he was in at the  moment Whitman's voice hit
>the
>air.
>I'm  posting this JUST incase any Sound Archives have purchased this set.
>They should  be aware. The same thing happened about a year ago with a book
>and
>CD set  "Poetry Speaks" from Source Books.
>Steve 
>