[Harp-L] Seydel in Australia, Part II

[David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In the movie "Australia" thread, I mentioned Frank Albert's relationship with Seydel back in the early 20th century, the Boomerang, etc. and how Albert's Music Stores marketed those Seydel harps in Australia, Albert's is still in business, they record AC/DC, etc. I've been putting together some stuff on Seydel history for a couple years now, it's hard to come by as the company doesn't have a lot of history recorded itself because of the years of The Reign of the Communist Overlords, so I've been turning to Australia for an indirect source. 
I wrote Albert's and heard back from Jane Albert, Frank Albert's grandaughter. She said that Frank was the one who created this interest in harmonicas at Albert's and that she is working on a book about Albert's history. 
She said that Albert's relationship with Seydel began in the 1890s. In 1897, Frank took out the trademark for the Boomerang symbol and used it on all kinds of stuff, songbooks, the music store, instruments, etc. 
She said Frank sent the templates for the coverplates and orders by ship to Seydel and he and Seydel (presumably Richard Seydel Sr., the designer of the Super Cool prewar Bandmaster) became close friends, which would explain that authentic Australian boomerang (one you throw, not blow) that the Seydel managers were standing under in that 1930s photograph. She said, drawing on Ray Grieve's, "A Band in a Waistcoat Pocket" book (gotta get that), that Seydel stopped manufacturing the Boomerang models when Frank Albert died in 1962. 
 
 
Dave
________________________
Dave Payne Sr. 
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com