The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

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14 THE PHONOSCOPE October, 1898 Urabe IRotes Norcross works day and night and is still unable to supply the demand for his excellent band records. There will be a new Phonograph parlor opened on Fourteenth Street, New York City, in the near future. The Columbia Company has withdrawn the $40.00 "Bijou" class "AN" graphophone from the market. The Edisonia Company at the corner of Halsey and New Streets, Newark, N. J., is now state headquarters for phonographs. G. A. Barlow's Sons of Paterson, N. J., handle and keep in stock phonographs, graphophones, and accessories. All sizes and prices. Harry Bennett is receiving many compliments for his artistic piano playing for the record-making exhibitions at Columbia parlors. F. W. Nolte, 37 Fort Street, Victoria, B. C, has established quite a trade in Graphophones. He makes a specialty of the $15.00 machine. Geo. D. W. Brown of Passaic, New Jersey, is advertising phonographs and graphophones in connection with his bicycles and sporting goods. Mr. W. H. Miller, who has been exhibiting the phonograph and vitascope throughout the West, is about to open a parlor on Eighth Avenue, NewYork City. The Keating boys, Chas. Carson and a number of the Columbia employees are in Washington, D. C, on a pleasure trip. The Keating boys are the hosts. Mr. Roche the manufacturer of the famous dry batteries attends to the making of the batteries personally and is acquiring an enviable reputation for his goods. Goldsmith's Music Store of Columbus, Ohio, sells a number of graphophones. By careful and courteous treatments Mr. Goldsmith has built up an excellent trade. M. W. Waitt & Company, 60 Government Street, Victoria, B.C., are advertising Graphophones quite extensively. Mr. Waitt reports business as exceedingly brisk. Brazer & Company, Lowell, Mass., in connection with their sporting goods department, carry a full line of Graphophones. They report the local trade as very brisk. Some very good reproducing points are now made of glass instead of sapphire or steel. Sapphire is expensive, steel will rust, but glass is said to supply all the requirements. The American Graphophone Company has declared a quarterly dividend of 1 % per cent, on preferred stock, payable November 15, to stockholders of record November 1 . The British Chemists Company of Toronto, Canada, is offering graphophones as premiums to agents who distribute its medicines. This concern does an enormous business. Mr. William E. Gilmore, general manager of the Edison Laboratory and Phonograph Works, has recently returned from a six week's trip with his wife through Southern California. There is room in the business for some responsible and reliable company who make good individual record boxes. Millions of such boxes would be used if they could be obtained. H. S. Ackers, 350 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., is handling the Gram-o-phoue and Graphophone. Exhibitions are given daily. Mr. Ackers keeps his record stock strictly up-to-date. Orders for phonographs are being received in generous quantities and the factor}' in Orange, N. J., is being run until eight o'clock each night in order that the demand may be supplied. Mr. Stoll, of Trenton, N. J., is advertising a talking-machine for S3. 50 and others at $10.00 $15.00 and $25.00. Mr. Stoll has an excellent record sales room in the basement of his store. Keller's Music House of Easton, Penn., is selling a number of talking-machines. It is to be regretted that this heretofore excellent firm has resorted to scheme-goods methods and' is cutting prices. Miss Estella L. Mann has completed rehearsals of all the best numbers from the comic opera successes of the season. Miss Mann says she finds a very good market for thi<5 class of records, especially"The Bov Guessed Right" from "A Runaway Girl." Mr. John Annan, who is o:ie of the principle officers in the Edison Bell Pho oirraph Corporation. Limited, of London, was in \"ew York recently, Mr. Annan is one of Lond •r.'s leading financiers and his advice on financial matters is highly esteemed. . Mr. L. Kaiser the genial representative of the National Phonograph Company's sales department is very popular among the various New York companies. Mr. Kaiser's frank, square, substantial methods are appreciated by all who have business relations with him. The Graphophone Company issued Nov. 1 a tasty catalogue of forty pages. It has a blood-red cover and shows a marked improvement over literature heretofore furnished. The goods provided by this leading company are varied enough to satisfy the most fastidious. Steinert's Music Store in Bridgeport, Conn., has a very fine line of graphophones in stock. The record department of this firm is really an important feature. The firm's knowledge of the music'trade enables them to handle only such selections as are meritorious and popular. G. A. LeBaron's Music Parlors of Sherbrooke, Que. , have been extended by the addition of a large stock of graphophones. The addition of talkingmachines is a new feature of his already extensive trade in sheet music. Mr. LeBaron advertises free. lvin the local papers and should meet with success Rev. Frederick W. Wey, of Waynesville, N. C, is in the crty. He is one of the original subscribers to The Phonoscope and is an enthusiast. He has an old style type "K" graphophone, which he uses to entertain and instruct the mountaineers in his mission field. Mr. Frey has purchased a fine outfit for future use. Have you heard the Lyric Trio's records of the "Good-night Trio" from "Dorothy?" A beautiful number ; well sung. Miss Mann's vocal records are meeting with great success. Her selections from the standard operas are properly rendered, showing great care and preparation. Joseph A. Weber who has been a Phonograph singer for the past seven years, is meeting with marked success. His theatrical engagements have kept him away from this line in the past, but recently he has devoted most of his time to recordmaking. Besides his excellent rendition of English songs, he sings German in the true language which cannot be excelled. His yodle songs are veryartistic . F. C. Tuttle of New Haven, Conn., has, for some time past, been making experiments as to the very best quality of rubber tubing for Talking-ma chine reproduction. He claims to have secured the exclusive agency for a special brand that is especially suited for this purpose. The sample tube sent The Phonoscope was excellent, the improvement over the ordinary tubing is at once apparent. The new tubing also costs less. Mr. James White, who is connected with the Vitascope department of the Edison Works, has recovered from his recent illness and is now able to resume his official duties. Mr. White has recently returned from a trip to China and Japan, where he went in the interests of the Edison Company. An interesting article is promised in our next issue setting forth the salient points of his exceedingly interesting journev. A dealer in Cortland Street who recently bought graphophones for twenty-five per cent, off, making the $10.00 eagle net him $7.50, is never happy when he passes another dealer's place every day on his way to lunch in whose window is displayed a pile of graphophones for sale at $6.50 or $1.00 less than he can buy them for to say nothing of the profit. The former dealer thinks the talking machine business is a bit peculiar. It has up to this time been deemed impossible to obtain a good record of a church organ. In a recent issue Mr. Tuttle of New Haven was called into prominence for his failure to secure one after many trials. Now, however, Mr. Tuttle is to be congratulated for solving the church organ problem. He has discovered the secret and great credit is due him for his skill and patience. He has really done what hundreds of experiments, heretofore made, have uniformly failed to accomplish. Many a Yale graduate would like a record of the organ and of the chimes of historic old Trinity Church fronting on New Haven green. Such a record would recall pleasant memories of Sunday mornings and would be highly valued. litems of Unterest Few customers know how difficult it is to pronounce some words to a talking-machine so that they will be plainly heard in the reproduction. One leading artist declares that the word "thrice" is his shibboleth. The "th" sy liable is verydifficult and never loud. The "r" is difficult to pronounce clearly unlesss it is rolled. As a result the word which reaches the ear in the reproduction unless great care' is taken, is the syllable "ice" which of course is not the one desired. Singers to the talking-machines occasionally tire of their work and at times it must seem monotonous. Over and over again the song must be rendered in order that the demand may be supplied. The relative popularity of the songs ma}' be accurately guaged by the demand for records. As an instance it may be stated that George J. Gaskin, the popular Irish tenor has been singing, besides supplying the regular demand for his large repertoire, such songs as "Break the News to Mother" thirtysix times ; "She was Bred in old Kentucky" twenty times ; "On the Banks of the Wabash" thirty times and"Sweet Savannah" (Paul Dresser's latest ) fifteen times each and every week. Mr. Gaskin declares the last mentioned song is destined to be as popular as any. Artist Gillam of "Judge" is to be commended on the accuracy of his sketches. Heretofore "anyold thing" was used as the model when the artists for comic papers wished to portray the talkingmachine in a cartoon. But it was left for Mr. Gillam to include in a recent frontispiece a moderately good sketch of a graphophone. It was so greatly superior to the sketches usually made that ones attention was forcibly attracted by it. In a following edition, however, Mr. Anderson pretends to portray the taking of a record of a yelling cat on a Gramophone. The making of a record on a Gramophone is not the simple process illustrated in the cartoon, but as the drawing of the Gramophone is most excellent in detail, Air. Anderson can in a measure be forgiven for his mistake.