Catalog Record:
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
Gift of Mrs. Jack Kapp, the widow of Jack Kapp, in 1950.
No further additions to the collection are expected.
The drawings were rehoused and inventoried in 2006. As part of the matting and rehousing process, the reverse sides of some the drawings were photocopied in order to retain intellectual access to original publisher's markings, dates, and other information. The photocopies, along with some original mats, have been placed in one oversize, flat box (Box 10) and are available for viewing by appointment in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 20540-4690; (202) 707-7833.
Restrictions may exist on copying, quoting, or publishing materials included in the collection. For additional information, contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 20540-4690; (202) 707-7833.
The Jack Kapp Collection is open for research. Advance notice is required; contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 20540-4690; (202) 707-7833.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [Container number, eg., Box 3], Jack Kapp Collection, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.
Born in Chicago in 1901, Jack Kapp began his phonograph industry career at the age of fourteen by working as a part-time shipping clerk for Columbia Records. Later he oversaw artists and repertoire for Brunswick, and in 1934, backed by the owner of British Decca, Ltd., he founded the American Decca Records Company. By substantially lowering the price of popular records on his Decca label and selecting artists and repertoire to maximize sales, Kapp made American Decca the second largest record company in the U.S. by 1938 and helped the industry pull out of a slump attributed to radio broadcasting and the Great Depression. Decca artists included immensely popular performers such as Bing Crosby, the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots, Ted Lewis, and the Guy Lombardo Orchestra. Decca innovations included the first mass marketed American "original cast recording" (for
During the 1940s, American recording companies, including Kapp's label, struggled against new challenges, such as the 1942-1944 recording ban of the American Federation of Musicians. The ban was rooted in the concern of professional musicians that they lost jobs due to sound films and did not benefit economically from the growth of the recording and broadcasting industries. In 1940, they elected as president of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) a trumpeter named James Caesar Petrillo. His aggressive actions to counter the loss of musicians' jobs due to the prevalence of the jukebox and the recorded motion picture soundtrack made Petrillo one of the most famous and highly paid union leaders in American history and led to depictions of him in the press as a Mussolini-like character often called "Little Caesar."
In 1942, led by Petrillo, the AFM banned its members from performing for the record industry. Petrillo was undeterred by the efforts of such government agencies as the Office of War Information and the National War Labor Board to end the ban; he even refused President Franklin Roosevelt's request to order the musicians back to work. Jack Kapp's Decca Records, followed by most other American record and radio transcription companies, agreed to pay royalties to the AFM in 1943, but for Columbia and RCA Records, which refused to settle, the ban continued. In late 1944, those two companies also came to an agreement with the union and the ban ended completely; however, the 1946 passage of the Lea Act (often called the "Anti-Petrillo Act") and the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act severely weakened the terms of the agreement between the musicians union and the recording industry. A new recording ban was put into effect in early 1948, but toward the end of the year it was lifted. During the following decade, the industry grew both financially and technologically. Petrillo's retirement from the AFM in 1958 brought an end to the publicity the union had received during the 1940s.
Jack Kapp died in 1949. His brother Dave succeeded him at Decca.
Assembled by American Decca Records founder and president Jack Kapp, the collection consists of mostly original drawings by various magazine and newspaper cartoonists, such as Rube Goldberg, H. T. Webster, Gluyas Williams, L. M. Glackens, Burt Thomas, Fred Packer, Clifford Berryman, James Berryman, Jack Markow, and David Breger. The drawings, chiefly editorial cartoons, reflect the role of the phonograph in American life and offer historical commentary on the internal issues of the American phonograph industry, particularly the American Federation of Musicians recording ban of 1942-1944. The collection also features a framed album cover for the 1943 Decca Records cast recording of the musical,
Some Jack Kapp correspondence is included in the collection; it is stored in the Recorded Sound Reference Center subject files. For more information or to view the correspondence, contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Library of Congress.
The collection is arranged in a single series.
Copyright 1945, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
The cartoon shows a woman purchasing records.
No copyright notice found with item.
Domestic employees, including a maid dancing by a record player, ignore their work.
Published in
"Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," words and music by Anna Sosenko, was written in 1935 and became popular as sung by cabaret performer Hildegarde.
No copyright notice found with item.
The words "Blankety ... D--n!" float out of the horn.
Signed monogram at lower left: BB (the first B is a backwards mirror image of the second B).
No copyright notice found with item.
Caption continues: "More work by the Society for Improving the Condition of Animals in Captivity."
A parrot listens to a phonograph labeled "S.I.C.A. Lessons in Grammar" while a bespectacled man looks on. Out of the horn comes the sentence, "A verb must agree with its subject in number and person."
The original handwritten caption is crossed out: "The Society for the Improvement of Animals in Captivity, 'Phonographs for Parrots.'"
Possibly published in
Signed at lower left: B Baker (the first name initial B is a backwards mirror image of the B in Baker).
No copyright notice found with item.
Two children listening to a record player.
No copyright notice found with item.
A soldier stands in front of a record player.
Autographed by the artist: "For Mr. Jack Kapp, with cordial best wishes of this cartoonist."
C. K. Berryman, 1869-1949, created the "Teddy Bear" mascot for Theodore Roosevelt in 1902. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1944.
In this cartoon, Petrillo is depicted as Julius Caesar, who has apparently taken a bite out of a record. Uncle Sam asks, "Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he is grown so great?" FDR replies, "Must be phonograph records."
Published in the
Autographed by the artist: "To my good friend, Jack Kapp, with cordial good wishes, C. K. Berryman."
James Berryman, 1902-1971, was the son of cartoonist C. K. Berryman. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1950.
A man representing the recording industry blows money from a tuba towards James C. Petrillo, who catches it in a sack labeled "American Federation of Musicians."
Published in the
Autographed by the artist: "Jim Berryman. With kind regards to Jack Kapp."
The Hodgson-Riley song, "The Music Goes Round and Round," recorded in 1935, was Decca Records' first hit, putting Kapp's company in the black for the first time. The song is paraphrased in this cartoon to illustrate the exchanges between the National War Labor Board, its panel, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt over the 1942 recording ban. Ultimately, Roosevelt's request of James C. Petrillo to halt the 1942 recording ban was ignored by the union leader.
Copyright 1949, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
A WZZX disc jockey throws records out the window.
Autographed by the artist: "Best wishes to Jack Kapp and Decca, from Dave Breger, 1949."
No copyright notice found with item.
A chicken farmer plays a phonograph for his chickens. A partially obscured sign to his right states "... O-Day Special. ... Hero Girl's Dream. [Ca]rmen. Devil's Dream. [Blue] Danube Waltz." Other words are hidden by the farmer's leg.
Handwritten in pencil, bottom center: "Illustration for 'Coddling Biddy.'"
No copyright notice found with item.
A chicken farmer happily shows a full basket of eggs to a gentleman while a phonograph "clucks" in the hen house behind him.
Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' Nov. 22, 1910, New York." "Overlay Dept." stamp, also on reverse, gives a date of "P.M. Mon., Apr. 10, 1911."
Signed at lower right.
No copyright notice found with item.
A man holds a giant record bearing a "Petrillo Records" label that is illustrated with a picture of James C. Petrillo. The song on the record is called "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie."
Copyright by Walter E. Disney, Great Britain.
The first strip, entitled "Magic Melody," dated "8-26," pictures Mickey Mouse and Horace Horsecollar attempting to soothe some bears that have appeared near Clarabelle Cow's tent with the music of a phonograph. In the second strip, entitled "An Unwelcome Gigolo," dated "8-27," the bears, who turn out to be trained, are dancing to the music, but when one of them grabs Clarabelle as his dancing partner, she slaps him.
Copyright 1940, by Fontaine Fox.
As regular
Autographed by the artist: "To Mr. Jack Kapp, with the compliments of Fontaine Fox."
"Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" written in 1917 by Ed Rose and Abe Olman, became a huge hit in 1939 as performed on a Columbia release by the Orrin Tucker orchestra, with vocals by Wee Bonnie Baker.
No copyright notice found with item.
Louis M. Glackens, 1866-1933, drew for
No copyright notice found with item.
The dog scowls while listening to "Taft's providence speech," spoken by the head of William Howard Taft as it spins on the turntable: "Before an industry receives protection, now it must demonstrate the need of that protection, and it must not ask for more protection than it needs."
Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' June 26, 1911, New York."
Signed by the artist, lower left.
No copyright notice found with item.
The cartoon shows President Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting on top of a prostrate businessman and pleading with "King" James C. Petrillo: "Please, Petrillo, lift your ban on recordings."
Autographed by the artist: "With a cordial 'Hello' to my friend, Jack Kapp. Rube Goldberg, Oct. 11, 1944." Also signed by the artist at lower left.
No copyright notice found with item.
A broken record with the face of labor leader John L. Lewis repeats the word, "Threat," as it spins on the turntable.
Autographed by the artist: "Best of everything to Jack Kapp. Rube Goldberg, July 8, 1943."
Handwritten on reverse: "Wednesday June 16."
No copyright notice found with item.
A broken record labeled "Over Optimism" sits on a table near a playing record with "Patience" engraved in the grooves. "War Outlook" is printed on the label of the playing record.
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp, my most insistant [sic] collector. Rube Goldberg."
Copyright 1944, N.Y. Tribune Inc.
In this
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with very best wishes. Haenigsen."
Harry Haenigsen was best known for his long-running comic strip,
Copyright 1947, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
In the first frame, a man at the "Records" desk [in a library?] asks to hear "Popoffski's 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Penguin' in A minor." The second frame shows him in his listening booth covering his ears as the young couple in the next booth dances to the loud strains of the "Boogie-Woogey Blim-blam Blues." The text states: "He not only heard it in A minor, he heard a couple of other minors as well--"
Copyright 1942, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
In this drawing from Gene Ahern's syndicated single-panel daily,
No copyright notice found with item.
Two men, one holding a phonograph, sit in a patent attorney's office.
No copyright notice found with item.
A phonograph labeled "From the people" proclaims, "Land thief, unfaithful servant, you must go!" to a dog identified as Sen. [Francis E.?] Warren of Wyoming.
Possibly published in
Autographed by the artist: "With some apologies & some liberties, Kemble."
No copyright notice found with item.
Explorers play a record for two natives, one of whom whispers, "Lets not be too hasty about swapping our ivory for that -- I think first we should hear what's on the other side."
A child plays a record for his friends.
Appeared in
Signed by the artist, bottom center.
Two records representing opera singers Luisa Tetrazzini and Mary Garden fight next to a phonograph on a library table .
Published in
Coyright 1948, Sun and Times Co.
James C. Petrillo with an axe, standing over Thomas Edison.
Copyright 1948, Sun and Times Co.
George Lichtenstein, "Lichty," drew the
Musicians, disregarding the recording ban of 1948, knock on a basement door.
No copyright notice found with item.
A man holding a baby in a diaper shows off his record player to his friend.
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with Best Regards! Chas. Luchsinger."
No copyright notice found with item.
In a radio station, a man runs toward a skipping record as worried employees look on.
Bing Crosby's
Copyright 1946, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Four-frame strip in which Jiggs tries to prevent his wife, Maggie, from playing the piano by putting on a record. The music, however, reminds her that she needs to buy a new Easter hat, and she asks him for shopping money.
Autographed by the artist: "Greetings to Jack Kapp from Geo McManus."
No copyright notice found with item.
Soldiers listen to a record player.
No copyright notice found with item.
A woman looks through a pile of records in the attic.
Published in
Because of the American Federation of Musicians recording bans of 1942 and 1948, record companies reissued many discs from their back catalogs.
Fred Neher drew the weekly single-panel cartoon
Standing by a record player, a teenage girl complains to her mother.
"Released by Consolidated News Features."
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with best wishes! Fred Neher."
No copyright notice found with item.
James C. Petrillo, dressed as Salome, spins a record on which rest the "heads" of Colombia and Victor Records.
Published in the
Autographed by the artist: "With kindest personal regards to -- Jack Kapp. From -- Packer."
No copyright notice found with item.
As Petrillo runs on the turntable, a needle labeled "Congress" is poised to stick him in the rear.
Published in the
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp. Very sincerely, Fred L. Packer."
Also signed by the artist, lower right: "Packer."
The Lea, or "Anti-Petrillo," Act of 1946 was enacted by Congress to prohibit Petrillo's standby rules for radio.
No copyright notice found with item.
Boys attempt to replace a missing wagon wheel with records, breaking several of them.
No copyright notice found with item.
Men stand before a phonograph to which a hand is attached. To one side are cylinders labeled "Bryan" and "Taft."
Published in
Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' Sep. 23, 1908, New York."
No copyright notice found with item.
Racey was a cartoonist for the
A phonograph horn in the shape of a cannon labeled "the Allies ... Foch" points at a sweating, quaking hound representing Kaiser Wilhelm. The words "unconditional surrender" come from the cannon.
Autographed by the artist: "A.G. Racey. With apologies to the 'Victor.'"
Ferdinand Foch was supreme commander of the Allied armies in November of 1918, when Germany requested an armistice.
No copyright notice found with item.
A man in a radio studio speaks into a microphone as another man apparently prepares to speak.
No copyright notice found with item.
A young woman complains to her mother while a sailor snores on the couch, oblivious to the records she's been playing.
No copyright notice found with item.
At a board meeting, the arms of a man hidden behind the table place a record on a turntable.
"1948, the Register and Tribune Syndicate."
Autographed by the artist: "All best wishes, To Jack Kapp -- Ed Reed -- "Off the Record."
No copyright notice found with item.
Autographed by the artist: "To Mr. Kapp -- Mischa Richter."
No copyright notice found with item.
The image shows girl scouts carrying records.
No copyright notice found with item.
On paper used to wrap a package that was mailed in 1947 (at top right are canceled stamps dated January 29, 1947), Russell has drawn a record labeled "Decca Records," that includes the address of the record company owned by Jack Kapp. The "song" on the record is entitled "Open this package, Jack," and the "songwriter" is "Kapp." Along the bottom of the "record label" are musical notes surrounded by the words "Office of the president." At upper right is the return address: "From Bruce Russell, Los Angeles Times."
No copyright notice found with item.
The cartoon shows a broken record labeled "China peace."
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with best wishes. Bruce Russell."
No copyright notice found with item.
A speaking head identified as "U.S. voters" rests on the turntable of a phonograph labeled "ballot box." Emanating from the horn are the words "voice of the people."
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with my compliments. Fred O. Seibel."
The drawing is also signed by the artist, lower right. Handwritten under the autograph is: "Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 4, 1942."
No copyright notice found with item.
Armed with a sword and shielded by a record, a huge robot is nevertheless hit in the head with a rock flung from a slingshot by James C. Petrillo. The robot is labeled "machine age," and the words "Ban on recording" appear at the top of the cartoon.
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with my best wishes. Fred O. Siebel."
The drawing is also signed by the artist, lower right.
No copyright notice found with item.
A switchboard operator speaks into a receiver.
Autographed by the artist, lower left: "O. Soglow."
No copyright notice found with item.
Several natives comment on a playing phonograph while a pipe-smoking man in a safari outfit stands by.
No copyright notice found with item.
A boy listens to a record as his parents look on.
No copyright notice found with item.
"John L." (probably John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, 1920-1960) sings "Brother, can you spare a dime?" while a phonograph labeled "[James C.] Petrillo's royalty racket" plays. The musical notes floating from the phonograph have dollar signs on them, and Lewis holds a sign that states, "Demand of 10 cents a ton royalty for miner's union."
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with best wishes. H. M. Talburt."
The drawing is also signed "Talburt" at lower left.
In 1948, the year of the second American Federation of Musicians recording ban, the UMWA under president John L. Lewis won health and pension benefits for miners, financed partially by a royalty on every ton of coal mined.
No copyright notice found with item.
While a record spins on the turntable, James C. Petrillo sits in the horn of a phonograph, blocking the sound.
The Hodgson-Riley song, "The Music Goes Round and Round," recorded in 1935, was Decca Records' first hit, putting Jack Kapp's company in the black for the first time.
Uncle Sam stands in front of a jukebox on which sits James C. Petrillo's head (bearing a definite resemblance to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini). A hand reaches out from the jukebox, which is labeled, "Pay me."
Published in the
Autographed by the artist: "To Jack Kapp with compliments of B. Thomas."
One of the guests says, "Really, Charley, I didn't mean for you to go to all that trouble. We can hear 'Sugar Blues' some other time."
Two children are throwing records.
King Features Syndicate, Inc.
A child jumps onto a record player as his father walks in.
Copyright 1946, New York Tribune, Inc.
Standing near a record player and holding a record, Casper Milquetoast says, "Perhaps I'd better employ a couple of musicians to play this record for me. I don't want to offend the union and have them denounce me as a labor baiter, or a stooge for the capitalists, or a fascist."
Signed by the artist, lower right.
Copyright 1944, New York Tribune, Inc.
A mother listens to the voice of her son on a record from the U.S.O.: "A -- hem -- uh -- ah -- er -- Well, -- ah -- gosh! I don't know what to say -- uh...." The mother, smiling, says, "Now, isn't that cute?"
Signed by the artist, lower right.
A. R. Wheelan was a nineteenth-century cartoonist known for his
Handwritten caption under the first panel: "Adventuros [sic] fairy: 'Why this must be a phonograph! Doesn't that Bumble Bee's voice sound natural?'" Caption under the second panel: "Bee, appearing from within flower: 'Good morning ladies! This is my busy day. Aren't you out rather late?'"
Signed by the artist, first panel, lower right.
Copyright 1942, 1970, The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.
A woman looks puzzled as she reads the pretentious program notes accompanying the record she holds.
Published in the
Signed by the artist, lower left.
Not on shelf.
James C. Petrillo on a phonograph; a hand is jutting into the picture holding an injunction.
Not on shelf.
This promotional poster, printed for the Buffalo-Pan American Exposition of 1900 and 1901, was intended for distribution to Goodrich's wholesalers. The photographs of the salesmen-musicians superimposed over the drawing are of actual Goodrich Rubber Company employees.
Uncle Sam, standing in the middle of a boxing ring, holds up a card that says “Round 2.” In one corner, Frank Sinatra sings into a microphone for sitting boxer FDR, and in the other, Bing Crosby croons into a microphone for Thomas Dewey.
Published in the
Autographed by the artist: "Jim Berryman. With my best to my friend ... and everybody's friend, Bing!"
No copyright notice found with item.
An inebriated man ("Mr. Talksome") stands in front of a window display of phonographs and declares, "Hones' fact, itsh the finesht display er mornin' glories ever shaw in m'life!"
A black and white print matted on the reverse of the color print is the same image but includes the hand-written caption and editorial markings.
Probably published in
No copyright notice found with item.
A professor wearing a safari hat plays a phonograph from inside a zoo cage labeled "Prof. Monk, the scientist." Monkeys, some wearing human clothing, listen from outside the cage.
Handwritten in pencil on reverse: "In the jungle. May 16, 1894."
Stamp on reverse: "Keppler & Schwartzmann, 'Puck,' April 17, 1894, New York."
Copyright 1943, Decca Records.
Cover of the 1943 cast album,
Inscription on the small metal plaque attached to the center of the album cover: "For Jack. This 500,001st album from Dick and [Deen?]. Feb. 3, 1946."
For more information about the collection, as well as Jack Kapp, James C. Petrillo, and the American recording industry in the first half of the 20th century, see Samuel Brylawski, "Cartoons for the Record: the Jack Kapp Collection,"