The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

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Vol. I. No. i. THE PHONOSCOPE. it ©ur Correspondents Portland, Ore.— AVe hare received the November Phonoscope, have read its articles and its letters from the different parts of the country, and have been both pleased and edified. This number is certainly very interesting and must be of great value to all parties operating instru ments pertaining to sound and sight. Especially will it be of great value to the phonograph operator. He who reads its columns monthly will be posted in all things pertaining to his business, that is, he will be "up to date," as it were. A few words in regard to business here in Oregon may not be out of place. The writer has been located in this city for 639 days, and so should be able to speak from knowledge. In the year 1895, business was all one could expect, and while it has not been nearly as good this year, yet we find no fault, and have no complaints to make. Of course the phonograph is in the nature of a luxury and everything in that class has suffered during the past year. However, we pin our faith to the Phonograph and certainly think it has come to stay. If the business has not been as good in this city during the past year as formerly it is because the pay roll has not been as large. Whenever and wherever there is a good pay roll, then and there will the Phonograph thrive. It is a fact that many people think it a toy. and I must confess that I have heard some machines operated that were hardly good toys, but the fact still remains that the Phonograph in good order, with first-class records, operated by one who understands his business, is the very ruai-vel in machines. \X stands in this the last decade of the nineteenth century, the most wonderful discovery ever made by man. The most wonderful form that man has ever seen is man himself, the most wonderful machine is the Phonograph. In fact, the Phonograph is almost a human being. I have in my case a cylinder. "Hocked in the Cradle of the Deep." I have repeatedly challenged any man in Oregon to sing this song, as well as my instrument sings it. I have another record, "Hot Corn Medley," by the Unique Quartette. I make the same challenge to any quartette in this State. The Phonograph is the marvel of all machines. The rhonograph is almost human. * * * * * Let us have the best instruments. Keep them in perfect order. Buy nothing but the best records and reproduce them as they should be: and we will improve the business and make the people hear us, whether they wish to or not. MONROE. Vitascope Hall, Buffalo. N. Y. Vitascope Hall, the new auditorium, has been iitted up at large expense as a suitable place, for the proper display of the marvelous possibilities of Edison's latest wonder-worker, the perfected vitascope. It has been tastily decorated in whte and gold, Avith an inclined floor carpeted in Wilton velvet, nine rows of luxurious orchestra chairs arranged in sets of four on either side of the central aisle, a handsome stage with an elaborate proscenium arch, rich maroon plush nangings, incandescent lights, perfect ventilation and all the other' accessories of a delightful place of entertainment. On the snowy screen adjusted just back of the proscenium arch, so as to carry out perfectly the illusion of a stage setting, the streets of New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and Hong Kong will be shown animate with life, the famous dancers of the world will indulge in Tersichorean revels, noted pugilists will fight fiercely, volcanoes will pour forth their smoke, fire and lava, conflagrations with exciting scenes of rescue, huge ocean waves dashing themselves into foam on rocky shores, dead men will return to life and history repeat itself. In the vestibule, a palace of pleasure in itself. 2S Edison phonographs— the latest and best singing instruments made — have been placed for the diversion and instruction of everybody, as well as a number of kinetoscopes. The New York State Vitascope Company, of which the irrepressible M. H. Marks is general manager, is sponsor to this new enterprise, and this in itself is ample guarantee of a constant flow of entertainig as well as instructive novel ties to convert every occasional visitor into a regular patron. WILLIAMS. Waterloo, Iowa.— -The paper reached me yesterday and I am well pleased with it, and it should be in the hands of every one interested in the business. It should prove a valuable advertising medium for the different companies. If I had anything to sell I would certainly have a space all of the time. I am getting disgusted with all the different people that are advertising phonographs for sale (and phonograph supplies), and am going to change my letter-heading and have nothing for sale. What I want is good records and plenty of them. I see that Walcutt & Leeds are advertising their records for 50 cents each. Are they "dubbing" with the rest of them? I am short of bands, quartettes and solos and do you know of any place where I can get them; that is, good masters'? I am getting fine records from Myers, but the last Gaskin records that I got were too loud and blasty. I lind that Quinn records vary, some of them are good and clear and others blasty. 1 do not think that it is on account of the singer, but the way the records are taken. Hoping the paper will prove a decided success, I remain, yours sincerely, THAYER. San Antonio. Tex.— Business in the South in the phonograph and kinetoscope line is very quiet at present. "Casey's" new songs and recitations are making the most money for me. I am taking some very fine records of Mexican songs and music. Why does not some one invent a mailing case for single records? All permanent parlors desire them. WINNIE. Bangor, Me.— Business through Maine has bee very good the past month for exhibtors. The Phonoscope received with pleasure in this section, and it is hoped it will be well suppori ed by those interested in scientific and amuseexhibiting sound and sight inventions to the ment inventions, as well as those also who are exhibiting sound and sight inventions to the public. The spring machines are almost entirely taking the place of electrical phones, and the cheaper grades are making rapid progress in filling the long looked for home entertainer at a moderate cost. GREEN ACRE. ©ur jforeigii = = = = Cocresponbence The Editor of the Phonoscope. New York City. Dear Sir: On my return from Cuba I found your kind letter accompanied by a copy of the first issue of your journal. I am more than pleased with the get-up and substance of your publication, the want of which has long been acutely felt in the circles in Phonographs and Stereopticons. It will give me great pleasure to co-operate with you, and I feel sure that an account of my recent trip to Cuba will have the attention of your readers. For the past six years, you know, 1 have made annual business tours in Cuba and the otherlarger islands of the group generally known as the Antilles of the AVest Indies, and for that reason I can claim some knowledge of Cuba and the Cubans, especially as I speak their language. Spanish, like one of them. Cuba is a long, narrow island, extending some SOU miles from east to west, with its center due south of the lowest point of Florida, at a distance of about 100 miles. Its width varies, being narrowest between Havana and Batabano, and widest in the eastern parts. Nature has divided Cuba into three almost equal parts, the eastern rugged, mountainous, anil wild, inhabited by a hardy set of people devoting themselves to agricultural and mining pursuits, with St. Jago de Cuba as capital; the central, generally known as the Camaguey, with Puerto Principe as capital, consists mainly of an immense plain, lined by hills and peopled by a most hospitable and honest race, who make an easy living chiefly by raising cattle; and lastly the western part, of which Havana is the capital, rich in sugar and tobacco. At the outbreak of the present war the census showed a population of 1,800,000, of which only about 600,000 were pure whites. It can, therefore, be no matter for surprise that the Cuban army of liberation consists of colored people. Antonio Maceo, the famous guerilla chief, belonging to that race. Of the aboriginal Indians of whom Columbus found about 3,000,000, only faint traces are left, one of the leaders in the present war, Rabi, claiming descent from them. The white Cubans are mainly descendants of Spaniards, whose characteristics they have preserved in a remarkable degree. They are fighting hard to-day to break the bonds in which Spain has kept them for nearly 300 years, and there is every indication that they will eventually succeed in shaking off the hateful yoke of the Spaniard. In Havana itself, the only thing to indicate the fact of war existing in the island is the greater suspicion displayed towards strangers, a certain constrained air of the people you meet with in society, and an almost complete paralysis of business. Otherwise life goes on in the capital of Cuba as before, and the horrors so vividly pictured in certain sensational newspapers as of daily occurrence may be true, but nobody, in Havana at least, seems to Know anything about them. It is very different in Purto Principe, where I spent three weeks last October, and where I had many opportunities of observing the tactics both of the Spanish soldiers and the Cuban insurgents. The latter are nearly all agile, active young men, who being born and bred in the country know every inch of it and are perfectly inured to all its climatic dangers and hardships. Mounted on hardy native ponies they are here to-day and fifty miles away tomorrow, finding a friend and shelter in every hut. They are well-armed, mainly with Colt's and the deadly machete. A more daring set of men it would be hard to find in any part of the globe; their sole object seems to be to tire out the raw recruits Spain has sent out to suppress them, and to leave to nature the task of exterminating them. And there can be no doubt that here Dame Nature is again the great ally of the struggles for liberty, for so far ten Spaniards have fallen victims to the deadly fevers prevalent in the island to one killed in battle. These fevers scarcely ever attack the natives, but it is only by the greatest precautions that foreigners manage to escape them, precautions which it is impossible to expect or exact from ignorant recruits. They will persist in eating and drinking inordinately and the combination proves more effective than exposure to the rapid fire of machine guns. Fighting in a strange and hostile land, the unfortunate Spanish soldiers cannot expect either help or shelter; traps and snares surround them, and the consequence is. that they only venture out in large bodies and that their, movements are invariably lame and slow. In the island of Cuba there are to-day about 150,000 Spanish with but 30,000 Cubans'to face them, yet the end is not a doubtful one; it is only a question of time. It is surely an indication of the complete helplessness of the Spanish forces, that Puerto Principe, although but 60 miles distant from its seaport, Nuevitas. and connected with it by a good railroad, is absolutely isolated, wenever the Cuban leaders have a mind to order ir so At will the telegraph lines are cut down, the railroad trains blown up. even the milk carriers are stopped from entering the city. Of the nine locomotives which the railroad company originally possessed only two are left. The others have been sent heavenwords by dynamite cartridges deftly placed on the rails by some reckless Cuban patriot. The devotion of the Cubans to the cause of liberty is unlimited; all they have they give "por la patria." The headquarters of the provisional government are in the Cubitas Mountains, not far from Puerto Principe.. From here the island is administrated without any regard being had to the Spaniards, who control only the towns. From here taxes are collected and mail forwarded just as easily as if the last Spaniard had already fled the island. Before the war Cuba was a very remunerative field for phonograph and stereopticon exhibitors, which will be open again when the sun of liberty shall rise over this fairest portion of the new world. Respectfully yours, J. H. B.