Recording Pioneers


Russell Dinsmore HUNTING  1864 - 1943   arrowarrow PIONEER    PARENTS    LIFE    NOTES    LABELS    PHOTOS    THANK YOU

PIONEERRESPOND

Russell Dinsmore HUNTING  1864 - 1943

aka Russell D. Hunting, R. D. Hunting, Russell Hunting, R. Hunting
nationality
occupation recording artist/engineer
birth 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA
baptism
death 20 Febr 1943, .........., Westchester Co., NY
burial
marriage married on 19 March 1888, Manhattan, New York, NY:
Mary Ann LAWRENCE

b. .............
d. ................


marriage>
Ethel ........

b. ... <1870>, .........
d. .............

children
  • Russell Emerson HUNTING

    b. 24 May 1897, NY
    d. 14 March 1966, NY

  • Mabel

    b. .... <1896>, New York
    d. .............


PARENTS

father Henry A. HUNTING

b. <1831>, ......., NH
d. ....... (before 1897), ......., MA

mother Julia E. W. WHITTEMON/WHITTEMORE

b. .. June 1833>, ...., MA
d. ........ (after 1913), Cambridge, MA

children
  • Charles
  • Francis/Frank
  • William or James M.
  • Russell Dinsmore

    b. 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA
    d. 20 Febr 1943, .........., Westchester Co., NY

  • Clifford
  • Harvey/Harrison
  • Annette/Beatrice

    b. March 1875, MA
    d. .........


LIFE


The dubbing machine, invented by Frank Capps, a Columbia employee still in the phonograph game, was a jealously guarded secret. But we just had to speed up production if we were to make any real money out of the Edisonia, Ltd., business; so Vic [Emerson] put his head together with old Carson [no doubt Charles W. Carson is meant], his handy man, and Russell Hunting, his assistant. ........... It wasn't long before they had independently worked out another dubbing-process. Passing our laboratory late one song-plugging night, I saw a light in the loft. Curiosity drew me up the stairs.
There were the three allies [Emerson, Carson and Hunting - HS] engaged in the big experiment.
They had exactly balanced two of the wax cylinders, so that a pressure in the center caused a ball or stylus to impress both simultaneously. It was now possible to make fourteen records at a round. A big advance!

(from: They all sang: from Tony Pastor to Rudy Vallée - as told to Abbott J. Liebling by Edward B. Marks. New York: Viking Press, 1935)

1850 CENSUS (3 Sept 1850, Roxbury, Norfolk, MA):
Michael WHITTEMORE (68y)
Betsey WHITTEMORE (61)
- Michael WHITTEMORE (91y)
- Julia WHITTEMORE (17y)



1860 CENSUS (Boston, Suffolk, MA, 16 July 1860):
Henry A. HUNTING (29y) (b. <1831> NH) sign painter
Julia (25y) (b. <1835> MA)
- Charles (4y) (b. MA)
- Francis (= Frank) (2y) (b. MA)
- William (1y) (b. MA)



1870 CENSUS (Malden, Middlesex, MA, 11 July 1870):
Henry A. HUNTING (39y) (b. <1831>, NH) sign painter
Julia M. (35y) (b. <1835>, MA)
- Chas He[nry] (14y, MA)
- Frank N. (12y, MA)
- James M. (9y, MA) landscape painter
[Russell D. HUNTING (6y) is living with other family; see below]
- Clifford (4y, MA)
- Harvey (1y, MA)



1870 CENSUS (West Roxbury, Norfolk, MA, 12 Sept 1970):
James M. DAVIS (54y) (b. New Hampshire) works in ....(?) factory
Betsy J/I/F DAVIS (50y) (b. MA)
- Russell HUNTING (6y) (b. <1864>, West Roxbury, Norfolk (not Suffolk), MA) attends school



1880 CENSUS (Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, 8 June 1880):
Henry A. HUNTING (58y = 48y) (b. NH) painter
Julia E. M. (44y) (b. MA)
- James M. (19y) (b. MA) landscape painter
- [Russell HUNTING (16y) not listed]
- Clifford (13y) (b. MA)
- Harrison (= Harvey) 11y) (b. MA)
- Annette = Beatrice (5y) (b. MA)



1900 CENSUS (Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, 2 June 1900):
Julia HUNTING (66y; b. June 1833, MA) widow
- Beatrice [= Annette] HUNTING (25y; b. .. March 1875, MA)





1901 ENGLAND CENSUS (Gray's Inn Lane, St Pancras, London):
Russell HUNTING (35y) Phonographs M... In... Exhib / Employer
London, St Pancras, 2 Heathcote St. (near Mecklenburgh St. (Square?))
USA American subject



1920 CENSUS (Yonkers, Westchester, New York):
Russell HUNTING (54y) (b. MA) expert phonograph
Ethel HUNTING (50y) (b. MA)
- Russell [E.] Jr. (27y) (b. <1893>, NY - d. ) Salesman Phonograph Co.
- Mabel (24y) (b. NY)




Russell [D.] HUNTING
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession: student
date of departure: .........
port of departure: England, UK
ship's name: SS "GALLIA"
date of arrival: 2 Sept, 1884
age on arrival: 18y (20y?)
place of residence: New York City
born: 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA



Russell [D.] HUNTING
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession:
date of departure: 27 Mar 1914
port of departure: Cherbourg (orig. Hamburg, GERMANY
ship's name: SS "KAISERIN AUGUSTE VICTORIA"
date of arrival: 5 April, 1914
age on arrival: 49y
place of residence: New York City
born: 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA



Russell [D.] HUNTING
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession:
date of departure: 19 July 1915
port of departure: Bordeaux, Gironde, FRANCE
ship's name: SS "CHICAGO"
date of arrival: 30 July, 1915
age on arrival: 50y
place of residence: Hotel Mc/Alpin, 38th Broadway, NY City
born: 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA



Russell [D.] HUNTING
ethnicity: US citizen
profession:
date of departure: 15 Nov, 1924
port of departure: Le Havre, Seine-Inferior, FRANCE
ship's name: SS "LA SAVOIE"
date of arrival: 23 Nov, 1924
age on arrival: 60y
place of residence: 46 Vista Ave., Yonkers, NY
born: 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA



Russell [D.] HUNTING
ethnicity: US Citizen
profession:
date of departure: 13 Aug, 1927
port of departure: Le Havre, FRANCE
ship's name: SS "SUFFREN"
date of arrival: 24 Aug, 1927
age on arrival: 63y
place of residence: 46 Vista Avenue, Yonkers, NY
born: 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA



Russell [D.] HUNTING
+ Harriet MOORE (HUNTING) (31y) (born: 10 Dec 1902, New York, NY) (=daughter? wife?)
ethnicity: US citizen
profession:
date of departure: 11 July, 1934
port of departure: Cherbourg, FRANCE
ship's name: SS "BREMEN"
date of arrival: 16 July, 1934
age on arrival: 70y
place of residence: 25 Normandy Road, Yonkers, NY
born: 8 May 1864, West Roxbury, Suffolk, MA


member of Boston Theatre Stock Company (discovered by New England Phonograph Company) also recorded by E. Berliner

"Michael Casey" sketches
see Joe Batten's Book, p. 44-45

editor of The Phonoscope (1896-1900)
went to England
Opens PATHÉ factory in New York

"As showing the world-wide extent of the Pathé business, we might mention that Mr. [Russell] Hunting has gone on a special recording mission into China, with which vast country the eminent Paris house does a very large business." (Talking Machine News, 12: 226, Nov. 1915; 306. Source: ........ by Andreas Steen, p. 132)

Mr. Hunting in May 1940 lives in Yonkers and is almost blind (Capps in New York Times)

The New England Phonograph Company discovered a young member of the Boston Theater Stock Company, named "Russell Hunting".
(from: Emil Berliner and the birth of the Recording Industry: internet)
Returned to the USA to manage Pathé's New York Operation.
He remained in that position, with one brief hiatus, through the mid-1920s.

editor of first film/sound magazine: The Phonoscope (Nov 1896, NY)

Monologues (on Cylinder) in 1898

Edison Bell Recording director (1901)
Zonophone recording supervisor (1904) Where?
Head of recording department at the Sterling Record Co. (1904)
Formed the Russell Hunting Record Co. with Louis Sterling (1905)
Director General of Pathé (1908)
He was sent by Pathé to New York in 1910 to set up a laboratory and a factory
(shouldn't that be 1914/1915 in view of passenger lists ?????)

The Russell Hunting Company Pinafore (1907)

Sent Western Electric test pressings to his friend Sir Louis Sterling (1924/1925).

His son Russell Emerson Hunting (b. 24 May 1897 - d. 14 March 1966)
Head of Nipponophone Recording Department (TMW XVII (Jan. 1921): 3) in Recorded Music in American Life by William Howland Kenney, p. 72 (note 30)


NOTES

  • They all sang: from Tony Pastor to Rudy Vallée - as told to Abbott J. Liebling by Edward B. Marks. New York: Viking Press, 1935)
  • From Tinfoil to Stereo pp. 72, 81, 144-145, 150, 196-197
  • The Guinness Book of Recorded Sound
  • Edison Phonograph. The British Connection by Frank Andrews (The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society, 1986), pp.
  • Music on Record by
  • A Voice in Time by
  • A FONOTIPIA FRAGMENTA. A History of the Societa Italiana di Fonotipia - Milano 1903-1948 by Frank Andrews (Historic Singers Trust, 2002), p. 47
    (this (revised) edition originally appeared as a series of articles in The Talking Machine Review - International between June 1976 and December 1977)
  • Talking Machine World XVII (Jan. 1921): 3) in Recorded Music in American Life by William Howland Kenney, p. 72 (note 30)
  • All Talking Machines Yet Invented. How an Ex-Con Created the First Phonographic Codebook by Allen Koenigsberg (in: The Antique Phonograph, (June 2012), pp. 12-15)


COMPANIES & LABELS



PHOTOS



THANK YOU


Allen Koenigsberg