Nipper
Nipper (* 1884 in Bristol ; † September 1895 in Kingston upon Thames , England ) was the dog who was depicted on the labels of various record companies in a pose in which he seems to be listening attentively into a gramophone funnel. Nipper owes its name (in German: "pince-nez" or "bite pliers") to its habit of pinching the calves of visitors to the house and passersby.
Very little is known about the origin of Nipper. His first owner, Mark Barraud, had probably picked him up on the street. One can assume that Nipper a Terrier - Hybrid was. After Mark Barraud's death, he was taken in by his younger brother, the painter Francis Barraud . According to popular tradition, the dog was fascinated by the phonograph , and Nipper often sat in front of the funnel and listened to a record with recordings of Mark Barraud's voice.
EM Barraud, the painter's niece, denied this representation. In an article that was republished by the press service of EMI Electrola GmbH, that is, by a trademark owner of the logo, in 1973 for the 75th anniversary of his master's voice , she wrote that it was “not true, as was often claimed that he was a record listened in the voice of his master because Mark Barraud never made a recording ”. Rather, he often sat in this pose at the door, as if hoping to see his former master.
Francis Barraud painted the dog in his favorite pose, first added a cylinder phonograph and the picture of the Edison-Bell Consolidated Phonograph Company Ltd. offered in London , which, however, showed no interest. On the advice of a friend, Francis then painted over the phonograph with a record from the newly founded Gramophone Company in Hayes , England. What is certain is that she bought the picture, including copyright, from him in 1899 for a total of 100 pounds in order to use it in her newspaper advertisements. The original is now hanging in the boardroom of EMI in Hayes, the painted over area should be clearly visible.
Nipper was buried in the London borough of Kingston upon Thames . The parking lot of a bank branch is located on the site of his grave. In the entrance area of the bank there is a memorial plaque pointing to the former grave. The His Master's Voice brand name and logo became popular around the world, but due to the complex history of the music industry, the rights are held by different companies in different countries: RCA on the American continent , EMI Group in Europe and the Commonwealth of countries, and Japan at the Victor Company of Japan (JVC).
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- ^ Franz Schorn: Old record brands in Germany. Wilhelmshaven 1988, p. 71. The press release in turn quotes an article by EM Barraud for The Hillandale News , the organ of the Phonograph and Gramophone Society London, without a year