Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

FROM THIS SMALL MACHINE SHOP ROSE THE GREAT 80-ACRE PLANT OF RCA VICTOR AT CAMDEN, N. J. IN THIS BUILDING, ELDRIDGE JOHNSON, FOUNDER OF THE VICTOR COMPANY, WORKED WITH EMIL BERLINER TO PERFECT "THE TALKING MACHINE." pressed by the originality and beau- ty of the picture, but asked for time to think it over. Mr. Barraud was keenly disappointed, and re- counted his non-success to an artist friend, who suggested that the pic- ture might be brightened up by painting a brass horn in place of the black horn which was issued on the phonographs of that period. Mr. Barraud had never seen a brass horn, and asking his friend where one could be obtained, he was told that there was a little company in Maiden Lane off the Strand, called The Gramophone Company, which might possibly lend him one. A Memorable Day in 1899 "And so, on a very memorable day in September, 1899, Mr. Bar- raud came into the little office of the then infant Gramophone Com- pany in Maiden Lane, and asked for the loan of a brass horn. This somewhat unusual request brought forth explanations, which resulted in Mr. Barraud showing the man- ager, Mr. William Barry Owen, a photograph of his picture, and in Mr. Owen's immediate request to see the painting itself. The paint- ing, which was then still in the hands of the hesitating phonograph company, was eventually refused and returned to Mr. Barraud, who at once brought it to Mr. Owen, with a suggestion that he could easily paint out the phonograph and paint in a gramophone. It took only a short time to do this, and the original picture then entered into the possession of The Gramophone Company. "This original, which now hangs in a special recess over the iireplace in the oak-panelled Board Room of the Company's Head Office at Hayes, still shows traces in relief of the marks of the brush outlining the old wax cylinder phonograph. "Since then Mr. Barraud has painted a great many copies of the picture, and these occupy honoured positions in various gramophone centres throughout the world. A very fine copy which he recently presented to the Company now hangs at the British Empire Exhi- bition at Wembley. From the mo- ment of the acquisition of the pic- ture by The Gramophone Company, its unique charm became evident. It was instantly popular. Photo- gravure copies were made and dis- tributed by thousands, and were framed and proudly hung as works of art in the homes of England." Story Shifts to America Our story now shifts to America and to Camden, N. J. One day in 1896 a man named Emil Berliner walked into a machine shop in that city to have some repairs made on a little gadget that had been placed on the novelty market. It was a hand-operated "Gramophone". The machinist was intrigued with the little contrivance, despite its rau- cous tone and crude reproduction. That machinist was Eldridge R. Johnson. He was quick to recognize the improvement—the first basic improvement — that Berliner had made in Edison's original develop- ment, namely, the flat disc record rather than a cylinder. Being a sensitive inventor as well as a keen business man, Johnson devised a spring motor that unwound at an even speed and which could be man- ufactured at a reasonable price. The Berliner-Johnson partnership of 1898 lasted until 1901 when the Victor Talking Machine Company was formed with Mr. Johnson as President. Johnson's Valuable Assets Eldridge R. Johnson, founder of the Victor Company, acquired the American rights to the Barraud painting in 1901. He had little cap- ital in those days, but he had un- limited faith in his talking machine and especially in the trade-mark of the listening dog. These were his chief assets and, as the world knows, he made the most of them. Many versions exist as to how the trade-mark "Victor" came into being. It is probable that the ver- sions are exceeded in number only by the places on the Delaware River where Washington is supposed to have crossed. But here is a terse but authentic account, as told in 1944 by Robert Hathaway who was Johnson's secretary: "There was a very fine bicycle, better than the one he owned, being pedaled around Camden, called Vic- tor, which he would have liked very much to possess; he liked its name, and so when the demand for his talking machines continued to grow he decided to name them 'Victor.' " Birth of a Famous Name In 1905, Eldridge Johnson had been revolving in his mind the ad- visability of a new name for the cabinet type of talking machine in which no horn or amplifier of any kind was exposed. The horn had been turned downward and inclosed in the cabinet of the machine. The machine thus became a piece of fur- niture, and Johnson was shrewd enough to realize that a new trade- mark was needed for the new prod- uct. He desired particularly to avoid using the word "gramo- phone." In a letter sent to his at- torney on June 9, 1905, Johnson wrote: "The word 'Victrola' is similar [RADIO AGE II]