The furniture and clothing department store, Michael Brothers, inserted the following advertisement in The Daily Standard Union newspaper of Brooklyn, N.Y. on October 15, 1915 introducing the new Rex record, which could be played on the Rex Talking Machine. There is another advertisement on this blog for the Rex phonograph.
An interesting advertisement for The Supertone Phonograph appeared in the Schenectady Gazette on October 16, 1919, posted by the local Carl department store. Here is that advertisement, below.
Here is the second installment of the Victrola and 78 Journal, edited by Tim Gracyk, in the Fall of 1994. The first issue can also be found on this blog.
Once again, I am please to share with my readers the publication of the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society, in which one will find various articles pertaining to phonographs, etc. The current issue has an excellent article about the history of the Phonola, a Canadian manufactured gramophone, along with other items of interest.
While searching for new material to publish, I came across a series old articles that were written for the Victrola and 78 Journal in 1994. The material pertains to both gramophone and 78 rpm records, so it falls within this blogs theme. I hope you will enjoy the first edition, and will continue with the series at a later date.
Happy Holidays to you during this festive season! Many stores during the Holiday season, suggested that a phonograph would be an ideal present for the home. Here are a few examples of the newspaper advertisements used to entice people to buy.
The hunt for records took me out today to the Christie Antique Show, billed as the largest show in Ontario, held twice a year in the Spring and Fall at the Christie Conservation Area on Highway 5 west of Flamborough, Ontario.. Of course leaving early to get there by 8:30 a.m was hampered by our famous highway and road construction, which reduced traffic to a snail’s pace. However, we finally arrived by 9: 30 a.m, and promptly headed over to see Jean-Paul Agnard, proprietor of the Musee Edison du Phonographe, situated in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre, Quebec. He had a very nice selection of gramophones for all to see and hear, and a stash of 78’s in the rear of his truck for me to go thru. Some nice 10000 series Starr records came out of that pile, along with a few other Victors, Columbias, and a late Perfect. Enjoy the photographs below detailing the phonographs on display, and of course, your editor hunting for records!
Here is another example of the type of talking machine that was popular in 1915, as posted in the May 29 edition of The Billboard.
The November 6, 1915 edition of Billboard carried this advertisement, placed by the Wonder Specialty Mfg. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for their Wondophone Talking Machine.
This advertisement for the Blue Bird phonograph was placed in the Buffalo Courier on November 14, 1920. The Blue Bird Phonograph was manufactured that month and year in California.
The September 11, 1902 edition of The Munro County Mail, New York, carried this advertisement for a Columbia Graphophone.
Tull and Gibbs, the largest home furnishing and music store in Spokane, Washington set their hopes in generating Summer phonograph business, with an advertisement that they placed in The Spokesman Review on June 9, 1929. They were offering both the Reliance and Artophone portable phonographs at a discounted price. I am not certain of the origins of the Reliance, but there is a notation of Victor manufacturing such a model. The Artophone, however dates back to 1916, and was manufactured in St. Louis, by The Artophone Company. Again, there is no other data to rely on to confirm that this portable phonograph was not manufactured by the same company.
One of the best kept secrets on where to junk for 78 rpm records, and phonographs in Central Ontario is the Barrie Antiques Centre, located in the heart of downtown Barrie, Ontario. Barrie, is located north of Toronto, Ontario, as is about an hour away by car. I paid a visit to it on Saturday, March 15th, 2014, and was astonished to find such a wide display of records and phonographs. The manager graciously allowed me to take some photographs and share them with you.
Barrie Antiques Centre, 227 Innisfil Street, Barrie, Ontario Open 7 days a Week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Crescent Talking Machine Company of New York City existed primarily from 1916 to 1920, and the phonographs were sold primarily in New York State, with some distribution extending into Pennsylvania. There were a line of 8 inch records manufactured by the company under the Crescent name, most likely to compliment the phonograph line. The two ads below were from the Wallace Company of Schenectady, New York, posted between 1920 and 1922, in the Schenectady Gazette.
It is not common to find an advertisement which combined both phonographs and race records together, let alone in a non colored newspaper. Such was the case in this Brunswick insert, placed in The Tulia Herald, Tulia, Texas on May 9, 1929.
The Royal Phonograph Company of New York City introduced the Royal Phonograph around 1919. P.C. McInnis of Brownwood, Texas advertised that they carried this line of phonographs on May 5, 1921 in the Brownwood Bulletin.
From the pages of the April 28, 1922 edition of The Schulenburg Sticker, Schulenburg, Texas comes this rare advertisement for the Claxtonola Talking Machine at the local City Drug Store. The City Drug Store also stocked the latest Okeh records.
The idea of using professional singers and dancers to promote the sales of phonograph had already been tested in the past. In 1914 Victor offered professional dance instructors to teach the latest dance steps while the Victrola played a record in the background at their distributor’s music store. Now Edison, in an effort to sell his latest two models of phonographs to a captive Montreal audience of 1,500, employed the talents of Scottish baritone Glen Ellison, who had already recorded his voice on an Edison disc, and would sing along side to see if the audience could tell the difference. There is no explanation for the $3,000,000 price anywhere in the advertisement, which was placed in The Montreal Gazette on April 1, 1919.
In November 1912, the Berliner Gram-o-phone Company Limited, which manufactured and sold His Master’s Voice and Victor records, and its Victrola phonographs, decided to take out a full-page advertisement in the Montreal Standard to show the public where their manufacturing plant and retail locations were located, in the heart of Montreal itself. There were already two existing retail operations at 415 St. Catherine Street West, and the other was at 488 St. Catherine Street East. Berliner was now announcing its latest retail operation would be located at 355 St. Catherine Street West.
In 1913, the American department store Montgomery Ward provided an owner’s manual with each Cecilian phonograph purchased, containing the complete line of models, and how to properly care for the phonograph and records.
On March 8, 1920 the department store of Kaufmann & Baer, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania announced that they would be the exclusive dealers of the Mastertone Phonograph. This is the advertisement that they placed in The Pittsburgh Press that day.
Jones and Cross Ltd., of Edmonton, Alberta, a piano and phonograph store, ran this interesting advertisement for the ”Melotone” phonograph, in the Edmonton Journal, on September 1, 1923.
While scanning over the pages of one of Australia’s newspapers I happened upon this insert for the Rexonola Phonograph. The manufacturer was a company by the name of Jackson and MacDonald, Sydney, Australia. This ad was placed by them in The Sydney Mail on May 30, 1923.
In the previous article about portable phonographs, the advertisement mentioned The Dixie Portable. Now, from Australia, comes an illustration of this phonograph, courtesy of The Sydney Mail, February 8, 1928.
For those of us in Canada and the United States who have had to endure a harsh winter, I give you thoughts of hot Summer days ahead, and music from a portable phonograph. Sterchi Bros. of Florence, Alabama advertised that they carried four different portable phonographs, in the Florence Times Daily, on June 18, 1928.
A series of advertisements ran on the front page of The Aspermont Star, Aspermont, Texas for The Dalion phonograph, from October, 1920 to January, 1921. The Milwaukee Talking Machine Manufacturing Company was marketing their phonograph during the busiest time of the year for giving gifts.
The Indestructible Phonograph Company of Albany, New York offered The Princess Talking Machine, along with 10 doubled sided records, for a price of $16.75. The company advertised the phonograph in The Bryan Times, Bryan, Ohio, on December 10, 1912.
Here is a great advertisement for the Talk-o-phone phonograph from 1904, and as an added bonus, a Leeds record is included! So, if you lived in the Toledo, Ohio area you could obtain one through The Talk-o-phone Company, or, The Hayes Music Company. From the July 21, 1904 edition of The Bryan Times, Bryan, Ohio.
The Lord and Gage Department Store of Reading, PA., carried news about The Manafone phonograph that they were selling in the December 15, 1915 edition of The Reading Eagle.
For our readers who have an interest in phonograph history, I came across this illustrated advertisement placed in the June 19, 1921 edition of The Reading Eagle, Reading, Pennsylvania, for the Everplay Phonograph Needle.
Here is another example of Australian gramophones, this time from the year 1925. Looks like a great table top model, and, the Regal “O” can play both 10 inch and 12 inch records. From the April 8, 1925 edition of The Sydney Mail.
I am not familiar with Australian model phonographs during the 1920’s, but I did come across this advertisement for The Salonola Phonograph while browsing through the April 9, 1924 edition of The Sydney Mail.
In an effort to promote its new flat disc phonograph,as the dancers machine, Edison took out this full page advertisement in The Milwaukee Sentinel, on December 2, 1914.
The furniture department of Culbertson,Grote-Rankin Company, situated in Spokane, Washington, has the latest models of the Brunswick phonograph, which now feature the Ultona reproducer. The Spokesman-Review, the local newspaper carried this advertisement on April 7, 1918.
The Gerard Heintzman Company of Toronto, Ontario sells its models of phonographs as having the ability to withstand any accident, including falling off an airplane from 500 feet in the air. The accident was used to market the phonograph, at their Toronto Exhibition display. From the August 25, 1919 Quebec Telegraph, Quebec City, Quebec.
The Pal Phonograph was a portable phonograph that was advertised as the one you could take with you anywhere in the Summer, even on canoe trips! The Spokane Daily Chronicle carried this insert on July 18, 1929.
Here is a rare 1900 advertisement for the Zon-o-phone phonograph, as a special offer to subscribers of McClure’s Magazine in their November issue.
The unusual combination of phonograph and lamp made the Fairy Phonograph a truly unique artifact. This advertisement by the Piepkorn Electric Company, tells that they are the sole agents for Wisconsin, and was put in The Milwaukee Journal on September 19, 1920.
The Pittsburg,PA. agency for Rex Records offers the machine as a free offer, so long as you agreed to purchase a certain quantity of their records. This advertisement was inserted in the February 14, 1915 Pittsburg Press.
Here is an advertisement from the September 5, 1920 Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA. for Paramount Phonographs and records.
Here is a look at the publication of the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society. This issue contains the history of the “Thorens” phonograph.
The local Boston Stores in Milwaukee, Wisconsin carried the Puritan phonograph for the first time in 1922, as illustrated by their advertisement in The Milwaukee Journal on May 4th.
From Toronto, Ontario comes an advertisement placed in The Toronto World, on August 23, 1920, by the now defunct department store Eaton’s, depicting a Leader phonograph. Eaton’s would also carry their better known Amphion phonograph at this time.
Summer is six months away, and what a better way to think about a nice sunny warm day in July, than with a grafonola from the C.W. Lindsay Limited of Ottawa, Ontario. Lindsay’s inserted this advertisement in the July 2, 1919 edition of the Ottawa Citizen.
On February 1, 1924, the dry goods store of Townsend,Wyatt and Wall announced in the St. Joseph Missouri News-Press that they were conducting a “Smashing Carload Sale” in their music department, of all Sonora phonograph models, as illustrated in the advertisement below.
Here is a rare glimpse of the Wurlitzer Phonograph, with two different offers, that included six Victor Records, a novelty dancing doll attachment, needles, a gold plated record repeater, and a mirror. I do apologize for not being able to enlarge the advertisement to show all that was included in the two offers. This advertisement appeared in the March 12, 1924 edition of the Greensburg Daily Tribune, Greensburg, Pa.
The Edison agent for Peekskill, New York, D. Greenfest Company, ran this advertisement for the Edison phonograph in the December 6, 1916 edition of The Highland Democrat, Peekskill, N.Y.
H.S. Ackerman Music House of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, announces in January, 1919 that they are selling the newly improved Crystola Phonograph, in the Greensburg Daily Tribune. The Crystola was manufactured by the Crystola Company, Cincinnati, Ohio.
This advertisement for the Adora phonograph was part of a much larger ad in the February 2, 1923 Milwaukee Sentinel, taken out by retail furniture store Bloch Daneman Company. This phonograph was made in Detroit, Michigan by the Adora Phonograph Company.
Reed, Dawson, and Company, Inc. of Newark, New Jersey placed an advertisement for the Dolce-Tone phonograph in the December 12, 1920 Newark Sunday Call. The Dolce-Tone was made by this company, itself.
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