LIFE

Home address PREUSS family in 1886: 15 Chapel Street, Bedford Row, London

1881 CENSUS, 75 Albany St., St Pancras, Marylebone, London:
Albert G. PREUSS (40y; b. <1841>, Berlin) hotel employe // Inn
Charlotte (27y; b. Middlesex)
- A. W. R. [= Albert Robert W.] (4y; b. )

1891 ENGLAND & WALES CENSUS (St Pancras, Gray, 6 Belgrave Street):
Albert PREUSS (47y; b. <1844>, Berlin) hotel employee // Inn
(naturalised British Subject)
Charlotte (32y; b. Middlesex)
- Albert Robert W.(13y; )
- Percy (10y)
- Charlotte (7y)
- Violet (6y)
- Leonard (4y)
- Oscar (1y)

1901 ENGLAND & WALES CENSUS (134 Gray's Inn Road, St Pancras, London):
Albert G. F. PREUSS (60y; b. <1841>, Berlin) (left Germany at age 12) waiter
Charlotte (45y)
- Percival (20y)
- Lottie E. (17y)
- Violet (16y)
- Leonard (14y)
- Oscar C. (11y)

Joined ODEON 1904
1914 ODEON (? Woessner)
recording expert for the Bulldog Company

JUMBO
PARLOPHON
ca. 1930 CLAUSOPHON (Woessner)

Residence in 1938: 122 Old Bromley Road, Bromley, Kent

retired in April 1955
"OCP" signature/monogram in wax


Carl Oscar Preuss was born on 14 November 1889 in the Gray's Inn area, district Holborn, London, ENGLAND.
(source: EMI, the first hundred years, p. 118)

In 1904 at the age of 15 Oscar Preuss joined ODEON as a recording apprentice.
1904-1914 worked for the INTERNATIONAL TALKING MACHINE Co.



In 1906 Preuss visited America

Oscar [Carl] PREUSS
ethnicity: German
profession: engineer
date of departure: 21 July 1906
port of departure: Antwerp, BELGIUM
ship's name: SS "FINLAND"
date of arrival: 1 Aug 1906
age on arrival: 28y
place of residence: Karlsruhe, GERMANY
marital status: married
(went to visit friend Ernst Wortman, 823 Washington Street, Hoboken)

The following announcement in the Phonographische Zeitschrift 7. Jahrg. No. 45, p. 977 a K. Th. Preuss had gone to Mexico to make recordings, but if he was in any way related to Oscar Carl Preuss is uncertain:

"In der Sitzung der Antropologischen Gesellschaft vom 20. Oktober d. J. [= 1906] teilt Herr Dr. [K. Th.] Preuss, der sich zu etnographischen Studien nach Mexico begeben hatte, mit, dass er namentlich in der phonographischen Aufnahme von Liedern bei den Indianerstämmen Mexikos bisher gute Erfolge hat erzielen können."
[K. Th. Preuss may have been related to "our" Oscar Preuss, perhaps his father's brother - HS] (see: Das Berliner Phonogrammarchiv by Geh. Regierungsrat Dr. Carl Stumpf, ordentlichem Professor der Philosophie an der Universität Berlin, Direktor des Psychologischen Instituts der Universität. (in: Internationale Wochenschrift für Wissenschaft und Technik of 22 Feb 1908, pp. 232)

In 1909 he took over from Arthur Brooks as recorder for The International Talking Machine Company Ltd.

In 1910 went to Tunis and Algiers to record Arab music.

In 1913 he was in Brazil recording for Casa Edison, Federico Figner's company which was the Lindström representative in brazil.

From 11 to 21 july 1913 Preuss was in Porto Alegre recording 101 sides which were pressed at the Lindström Brazilian factory for "Discos Rio Grandenses". 16 to 22 june 1913 Preuss had been in Sao Paulo, making 82 recordings there. Presumably he had also been recording in Rio, but this is not told. (source: A Casa Edison e seu tempo by Humberto M Franceschi, Rio de Janeiro, Sarapui, 2002; has photos of recording sheets from these sessions (but no others)

From 27-30 July 1914 Preuss (OCP) made Swiss recordings for Odeon in Zürich (xBe 773-841)

WWI Theatre of War first served in: (1) France (16 March 1915)
Residence: Burton (Brixton?) Road, Brixton SW (British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920)

In 1917 Oscar Preuss was recording expert of the Buldog Company (The Talking Machine News, August 1917)

Joined COLUMBIA UK in 1919 (London)

But re-joined Lindström in 1921 (PARLOPHONE England).

Also carried out many recordings for Lindström abroad, as he was the only recording engineer they had at the time with an English passport.

From 1950 to his death in 1958 he lived at 5/28 and 6/28 Arkwright Rd. [Hampstead], London W.3, ENGLAND)

Preuss retired in April 1955.
George Martin (Beatles) was selected to succeed him as the head of PARLOPHONE Records (joined Parlophone in 1950) .


In 1955 Oscar Preuss went to visit the USA.

Oscar PREUSS ( y) Recording Man. [= Manager?]
SS "QUEEN ELIZABETH"
departure Southampton: 22 Sep 1955
arr. New York: 27 Sep 1955
Destination: 1540 Brewster Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio. [Who was living there? - HS]



Oscar PREUSS (65y)
"QUEEN ELIZABETH"
dep.: .... 1955, New York
arr.: 22 Oct 1955, Liverpool
(residence: 28 Arkwright Rd. [Hampstead], London W.3, ENGLAND)

Oscar Carl Preuss died in the London Hospital on Christmas Eve, 24 Dec 1958

2 articles in The Gramophone

The Gramophone of March 1928: Round the Recording Studios; No. I - "Songs of Araby" (by Oscar C. Preuss of the PARLOPHONE CO., Ltd. (In an interview with Perceval Graves.) p. 411-412

mentioned in article on Brooks in The Gramophone of May 1928: Round the Recording Studios; No. III - Recollections and Reflections (by Arthur H. Brooks of the COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE COMPANY, LIMITED; In an interview with Perceval Graves.) p. 490 (a correction by Perceval Graves)

text on and cartoon of Preuss in The Gramophone of December 1929, p. 293 and 295 (Our Masters and Mothers)

article by Don Everitt (pp. 18-19, title magazine unknown)

Oscar Preuss - An Admirable Man by George Frow (in: Hillendale News, No 196 Febr. 1994)

Pages 1200-1201 in A Fonotipia Fragmenta (by Frank Andrews)