Remember Nipper? The Surprising Back Story…

Remember Nipper?

In 1898, three years after Nipper’s death, Francis Barraud, his owner and brother of his first owner, painted a picture of Nipper listening intently to a wind-up Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph. On February 11, 1899, Francis filed an application for copyright of his painting “Dog Looking At and Listening to a Phonograph.”

Thinking the Edison-Bell Company located in New Jersey, USA, might find it useful, he presented it to James E. Hough, who promptly said, “Dogs don’t listen to phonographs.” On May 31, 1899, Barraud went to the Maiden Lane offices of The Gramophone Company with the intention of borrowing a brass horn to replace the original black horn on the painting. Manager William Barry Owen suggested that if the artist replaced the machine with a Berliner disc gramophone, the Company would buy the painting.

A modified form of the painting became the successful trademark of Victor and HMV records, HMV music stores, and RCA. The trademark itself was registered by Berliner on July 10, 1900. (HMV is short for, His Master’s Voice.)

The slogan “His Master’s Voice”, along with the painting, was sold to The Gramophone Company for 100 pounds sterling. Francis Barraud said : “It is difficult to say how the idea came to me beyond that fact that it suddenly occurred to me that to have my dog listening to the phonograph, with an intelligent and rather puzzled expression, and call it “His Master’s Voice” would make an excellent subject. We had a phonograph and I often noticed how puzzled he was to make out where the voice came from. It certainly was the happiest thought I ever had.

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8 Comments

  1. Larry Rosenblum November 11, 2012

    Nipper

  2. Laura Kirby Lawrence November 11, 2012

    What a terrific tribute to man’s best friend! It makes me smile to muse about the different equipment Nipper would have listened to over the years … A boombox, headphones, earbuds, surround sound …

  3. Syl Rossi November 10, 2012

    The caption that goes along with the painting of Nipper on the coffin is, “The sound of his masters voice.” which makes the scene even more meaningful.

  4. Pete Woodworth November 10, 2012

    I have seen a reproduction of the painting with dog and reproducer–with wax cylinder, I think– on top of a coffin and it is heartbreaking. Most folks who see it do not recognize the coffin immediately since they are focused on the dog.

  5. George Bowen November 10, 2012

    Nipper is a historic landmark on the Arnoff Building in Albany, NY. The building use to belong to RCA decades ago. Nipper used to have an airplane beacon mounted on his ear, but now supports a flood light. For more, google “nipper Albany”

  6. Christina Clauson November 10, 2012

    Clearly a Jack Russell!

  7. James Fleming November 10, 2012

    This is good, very good!

  8. Mark David Heimback-Nielsen November 10, 2012

    When you look at the painting, notice that Nipper and the gramophone are sitting on the master’s coffin and Nipper’s confused head-tilting makes a little more sense. Barraud also painted numerous copies of the work, some of which hang or hung in the major offices of EMI around the world, including on the top floor of The Capitol Records Tower 🙂