[Sharon]

Nipper - the RCA Dog - His Master's Voice

Perhaps the RCA dog listening to the gramophone has become one of the worlds most successful and adored logo of all time.

Nipper the Dog and "His Master's Voice" was not a fictitious character dreamed up by a professional ad agency. "Nipper" was very real. This is the story of how it all came to be.....

Nipper the dog was born in Bristol in Gloucester, England in 1884 and was owned by Mark Barraud - his first master. Mark passed away in 1887 and Nipper was taken in by his brother Francis (a painter) who lived in Liverpool. Nipper was a bit of a rascal and named for his tendency to nip at people's ankles. Nipper was also an inquisitive character. Nipper was not of "Royal lineage", he was part mutt, part bull terrier and perhaps a trace of fox terrier thrown in for good measure.



At Francis Barraud's photographic studio, Nipper would listen attentively to the old Edison cylinder player with his ears perked and head tilted and gazing into the horn for hours on end. One day it occurred to Francis that Nipper might be waiting to hear his original master's voice. Francis was quite taken by all this and inspired him to paint the oil in 1895 of Nipper in his now famous pose, appropriately titled "His Master's Voice."



Francis tried to sell the painting to the Edison Bell Company (the manufacturer of the cylinder player) without success. "Dogs don't listen to phonographs!", was Edison's dismissive response. Alas, Edison in a major marketing blunder of epic proportions, managed to toss away the most coveted and adored of all corporate logos of all time.

Undaunted, Francis next visited the English Gramophone Company Ltd., whose manager William Owen offered to buy the painting if the cylinder player in the painting could be transformed to show a disc-playing Gramophone. Francis agreed to make the change, and the rest became history.



Francis collected £100 for the painting and rights of copy, and made the changes as requested.

On July 16, 1900, the painting of "Nipper" shown listening to a gramophone was registered as the company's trademark. The Nipper painting first appeared on the back of a recording of "Hello my Baby", sung by Frank Bata. From that moment on, the Gramophone Company became hugely successful and sold more than two million records in 1901 alone, each bearing Nipper and "His Master's Voice". So adored was the logo, that much of that success was perhaps attributable to "Nipper".

In May 1900, Emile Berliner, the actual inventor of the disc gramophone, visited the English Gramophone Company, and so admired the painting, that he returned to the United States and began using the trademark before he had even registered it. Ultimately, he registered it as "Nipper and the Gramophone" in the U.S. and Canada on May 26, 1900. Berliner founded the company that later became the Victor Talking Machine Company - later acquired by RCA. Nipper is proudly displayed on each of the Victrolas the Victor Talking Machine Company manufactured.



Meanwhile, Francis Barraud spent much of the rest of his working life painting 24 replicas of his original painting, as commissioned by "The Gramophone Company".

The image conveys a deeper meaning and tells a story - the details of that story left to the imagination of the viewer.

***

Nipper was 11 years old when he died in the year 1895. He was laid to rest in a garden at Kingston Upon Thames, England, UK where a plaque resides on his grave in commemoration of the inspiration he provided.



The original "His Master's Voice" painting is now displayed at EMI Music's Gloucester Place headquarters. When viewed in the proper light, the original cylinder player can still be seen underneath the second layer of paint.




The only decent image of the London EMI Studios I could find, am unable to remove watermark tidily.

[Sharon]

Funnily, I've been to that Lloyds-TSB bank a few times and did not notice the plaque. I live 30mins from Kingston so next time I go, I'll find it and get a 'pointer pic'