The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1908)

The Talking Machine World Vol. 4. No. I. THE VERSATILE "TALKER." An American Idea Now Being Adopted by a Dentist in Paris — Uses the Talking Machine to Entertain Patients — Steadily Enlarging Its Entertainment Sphere. From time to time in tliese columns we liave recorded the many novel uses to which the talking machine has heen adapted. It has taken the ■place of the "talking" barber, much to the joy of the man who desires to get shaved; it is used in wedding ceremonies in various capacities; it has taken the place of the minister in the pulpit and the choir in the chancel; it has simulated birds and has been used as a pain eradicator, or at least a pain assuager by dentists. • Some time ago we recorded in these columns how a dentist entertained bis clients with the talking machine. We notice that an American dentist in Paris has now fallen in line toy tne adoption of a similar method, although our contemporaries in the daily press credit him with, inventing this novel method by which the horrors of the chair are somewhat lessened. In speaking of the accomplishments of this dentist we read: "His office is in a busy street, and his patients complained that while under the influence of an anaesthetic the street noises seemed to multiply a thousandfold. He explained that the vibrations were prohably increased by the contact of his instruments with the teeth and sought a remedy. Tlie removal of his office to a rear apartment did not bring about the desired result, although the noise v/as somewhat lessened. He then purchased a phonograph and has since been pulling teeth to the strains of "Faust" and "Lohengrin," which, magnified by the sensitive molars, give his patients the delusion of a full orchestra in magnificent play. The patient has the privilege of choosing the music before occupying the chair." It is notevi^orthy, however, that the majority of so-called European inventions find their origin in the United States. They say that it requires as much ability to adapt a thing successfully as to invent it, hut once in a while it is well to let the American eagle scream. MUSIC FOR THE INSANE. Talking Machines Installed in the Insane Asylum at Pekin, III., Have Proven Effective in Soothing Disordered Brains and Keeping Four Thousand Hands Out of Mischief. That in the majority of cases even the most violently insane are susceptible to the soothing influence of music is a well known fact among their attendants, but it remained for Dr. Zeller, an interne in an insane asylum at Pekin, 111., to put the knowledge to practical use toy installing talking machines in the institution. His success is described by the "Tribune" of that city as follows: "There is a keen delight among the 2,000 inmates of the Bartonville asylum, and all on account of a large battery of graphophones which has lately been installed in the institution. Incidentally there is a keen delight among the hospital staff, for they have found that music also has charms to soothe the disordered brain and keep four thousand hands out of mischief. "The virtues of the graphophone as an influence at the hospital were discovered more or less hy accident. Some time ago a large music box was sent to the institution, and was set up in one of the cottages. It hecame instantly popular. The insane women listened to it with breathless interest, and showed such pleasure that the box was almost worn out during the first week. "Encouraged hy its success. Dr. Zeller installed a graphophone and moved it from cottage to cottage. This speedily developed trouble, the in. New York, January 15, 1908. mates of each cottage rising up in wrath to prevent its being taken away. As a result each cottage has been equipped with a graphophone with a good supply of records and a dozen concerts go on every day. " 'We haven't discovered any curative power in graphophones,' said Dr. Zeller, 'buff we have found that while a cottage full of insane people are listening to music they are not working up disturbed periods hy picking their clothes to pieces. The instruments have given keen pleasure and have helped in keeping patients quiet and interested. I am pleased with the experiment.' " TO KEEP VOICES A CENTURY. Records of Foremost Singers of the Day Preserved at Paris Opera — Some of the Many Possibilities in This Connection. A despatch from Paris, dated Dee. 24th, says: "There was an unique ceremony this afternoon in the subterranean passages of the Opera House. In a specially prepared vault a talking machine and a number of discs bearing the records of the voices of great singers of the twentieth century were deposited. Tamagno, Caruso, Scotti, Plancon, De Lucia, Patti, Melba, Calve and others are represented in the selection. The discs are in double boxes, each separate from the ether. Neither light nor air can penetrate the coverings, and it is believed that they can be thus preserved for a century. At the end of a hundred years they will be opened, and the people of that age will have the opportunity of hearing voices of this era as well as seeing the talking machine as manufactured to-day." Commenting on the foregoing the New York World editorializes thus: "The preservation in the vaults of the Paris Opera House of the voices of Caruso, Scotti, Patti, Melba, Calve and other contemporary singers will make comparisons interesting in the centuries to come. The voices of Grisi, Mario, Malibran and Jenny Lind so preserved would be rare treasures. Tamagno's notes are firmly fixed in wax, surviving his death, and Pope Leo XIII. 's voice still lives. The Kaiser's is in storage at Harvard College and in the Lihrary of Congress. The phonographic preservation of languages will he valuable to philologists. Humboldt found a parrot in Brazil which was the solitary speaker of an otherwise extinct Indian dialect. A phonograph may do as much for Welsh a century hence. "Posterity should feel grateful for this foresight on the part of the present age. But it is to be questioned whether we are not preparing for the generations unborn a heritage of printed and written matter which will overwhelm them with an embarrassment of riches. The millions of books, the vast accumulations of the libraries, the wealth of new discoveries in science, will make a staggering mass of knowledge for transmission. What mind can muster a hundredth part of it? "The 'specialists' ' field will be restricted to the narrowest of limits, and a Bacon or Newton of the thirtieth century will be a prodigy "indeed. Nullifying the destructive influences of time on human records may not prove an unmixed hlessing for the ages yet to he." GERMAN HORN MEN RAISE PRICES. A meeting of German talking machine horn manufacturers, which took place in Berlin a short time ago, resulted in the determination Of all present to raise the prices in that branch of the industry. This increase will operate at first in Germany only; but so soon as the manufacturers who were unable to he present have been communicated with it is planned to charge higher prices for horns exportecl tO ofJier countries, Price Ten Cents "KNOCKING" THE TALKING MACHINE. Editorial Writers on the Daily Press Going Out .of Their Way to Ridicule the Talker — See All Its Faults but Not Its Good Points — Time This Unfair Attitude Was Reversed. Many of the editorial writers in the daily papers are anything but partial to the talking machine, judging from the bitter and ofttimes untruthful statements they make about this device. It has been cartooned, ridiculed and buffooned. Tne writers find pleasure in setting forth its weak points on every possible occasion without stopping to think for a minute of the tremendous educational value of this machine, and the helpful part it is daily playing in the lives of our people as a factor in both amusement and educational fields. Of course this attitude is based entirely on ignorance. The writers, it is safe to say, have not examined the machine of recent days, hence cannot realize what has been accomplished. If these writers were only to go into the thousands of small country towns and interview those people who have long hungered for the best in music, which they have never been ahl© to hear, owing to distance and ofttimes expense, they would find that the talking machine has brought joy and keen pleasure to those people. It has brought the greatest vocal and instrumental artists into their homes at a comparatively small expense. Surely any machine that is able to do this is worthy of something more than ridicule. It is always a matter of surprise why those wiseacres — who, by the way, consider themselves foreordained to lead the thought of the world — should hold themselves aloof from a thorough knowledge of developments in the musical and mechanical worlds. If they were to acquire a practical knowledge of conditions they would not write the absurd nonsense we so often read. If they were to editorialize on politics and display the same ignorance as they do when writing of talking machines they would lose their positions within twenty-four hours. It is really time that this nonsensical idea of the talking machine and its especial purpose had been eradicated. It is not to any humorous comments that we object, for they are very apt and at times justified, but to those writers occupying editorial chairs and whose opinions are considered worthy of consideration, that we address these remarks. It is time they should see the light. ITALIAN DEALERS ORGANIZE. Talking-machine record dealers of Italy recently held their first annual convention in Milan. Italy, and perfected the organization of the Congress of Italian Record Dealers. This convention was given over greatly to the discussion of discounts allowed the public and special discounts given to music teachers, schools and societies. A general sentiment favoring the withdrawal of all discounts was expressed and the matter is now in the hands of a committee. HANDSOME HOLIDAY SOUVENIR. One of the handsomest souvenirs sent out to the "talker" trade is the calendar of the Syracuse Wire Works, Syracuse, N. Y.. well known as pioneers in the field of wire record racks. The calendar is a work of art, being a reproduction in original colors of the painting by Carle J. Blenner, entitled, "In Maiden Meditation. Fancy Free." We hardly think it would he out of place to remark that perhaps the beautiful young lady's expression of perfect contentment might be due to the fact that her father was a talking machine dealer making money by the tise of the Syracuse wire record racks,