The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1906)

The Talking Machine World VoJ. 2. No. 9. TALKING MACHINE PARTIES. How Dealers May Keep in Close Touch with Their Customers. Every dealer will admit that it is absolutely essential in order that he may enjoy prosperity for him to keep in close touch with his customers, and continually throw their way any ideas which tend to further the sale of records by creating new interest in the talking machine. Why not suggest to them, therefore, the idea of giving talking machine parties? Invitations may be sent out as follows: Mrs. Jones Requests the Presence of Mr. Brown at a Talking Machine Party, Friday evening, August 31, at 8. Please bring your Violoncello. The instrument should vary, of course, according to the talents of the invited guest. When the party is assembled, a talking machine is adjusted for recording, and as their names are called, the ladies and gentlemen present come forward in turn and play solos upon their respective instruments into the horn. When the instrumental part of the programme has been recorded, vocal solos and recitations may be indulged in, and then comes the real fun of the evening. A reproducer is inserted in the machine, and seated before it the amateur "talent" listen spellbound to their own phonographic efforts. A prize suitable to the occasion should be awarded to the most successful record maker, and while refreshments are being served, a short professional programme rendered by the talking machine. Get your customers in the talking machine party habit. It will grow on them and help you. Howard Taylor Middleton. TALKER CAUSES MURDER. Italian Who Broke Record in Absence of Owner Shot Dead — World Correspondent Enacts Role of Sherlock Holmes. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) Scranton, Pa., August 25, 1905. I have often marveled that the talking machine sailing serenely upon the ocean of comedy, had never touched at the rocky shores of tragedy, but I need marvel no more. The town of Scranton is aquiver with excitement to-night because of a dastardly crime committed in its very midst. Vincenzo Errinoni, an Italian foreman of section hands of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co., lies cold in death, and Luigi Salwiner is a murderer and a fugitive from justice because of a phonograph and a broken record. This much is fact. The following version is simply a dream, if you will, of the writer, and it remains for the future to verify or nullify that dream. This morning (Sunday) broke cloudy, with a fine rain falling — the kind of day that suggests indoor pleasures. Twenty Italian friends of Salwiner assembled at his shanty to hear his phonograph. He had many selections in his collection, and an enjoyable concert was in prospect. No sooner, however, was the machine started than he was called away on business, and in order that his comrades might continue their good time in his absence, he left Errinoni, who understood the running of a talking machine, to take his place as operator. There was one record in that collection of which Salwiner was very fond, and he requested that it te laid aside. "Play all the others," he said, "but not that one." His friend smiled and nodded in assent. But after all the other rec New York, September 15, 1906. ords had been played over and over again, his curiosity triumphed ovei; his good judgment, and he placed the fatal cylinder on the mandrel. The first notes of the selection were ringing out on the still air when Salwiner returned. "You dog!" he cried in Italian, at the same time reaching for his revolver. Errinoni caught in the act, tried valiantly to withdraw the record, but it withstood his first efforts. Again he tried, and this time a dull crunch — the wax cylinder broke in half. That was as fire to the torch. Accompanied by a scream of rage, the revolver leaped from its holster, a lurid streak of fiame shot from the polished muzzle, and Errinoni was dead, while Salwiner was fleeing across the fields — an escaped murderer. Here fact creeps in again, for it is"=known that the mighty police appeared and arrested, with dauntless courage, seventeen innocent men, and that the slayer of Errinoni is still at large; but what caused him to spring with tiger-like ferocity upon his friend and shoot him down is not known. I am not a Sherlock Holmes, but I firmly believe that if the Police Department of Scranton will search carefully for the remains of that record at the scene of the crime, and cement together its shattered fragments, they will learn why Luigi Salwiner killed Vincenzo Errinoni. It may have engraved upon its glossy surface the voice of a sweetheart across the seas — who knows? May she not have been a dainty signorina whom Errinoni had won by foul, means from his friend Salwiner, and whose voice upon the record was all that remained to him of her sweet presence? OUR FOREIGN CUSTOMERS. Amount and Value of Talking Machines Shipped Abroad from the Port of New York for the Past Month. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) Washington, D. C, September 7, 1906. Manufacturers and dealers in talking machines will doubtless be interested in the figures showing the exports of talking machines for the past five weeks from the Port of New York: AUGUST 8. Berlin, 39 pkgs., $1,854; Bristol, 115 pkgs., $390; Buenaventura, 8 pkgs., $189; Buenos Ayres, 131 pkgs.. $4,307; Calcutta, 7 pkgs., $337; Callao, 2 pkgs., $248; Cartagena, 10 pkgs., $316; Cardiff, 55 pkgs., $429; Coquimto, 2 pkgs., $201; Glasgow, 9 pkgs., $376; Hamburg, 231 pkgs.. $3,460; Havana, 1 pkg., $100; 12 pkgs., $621; La Guayra, 14 pkgs., $529; Limon, 10 pkgs., $266; London, 1,014 pkgs., $13,447; 17 pkgs., $1,235; 62 pkgs., $362; Melbourne, 11 pkgs., $334; Milan, 7 pkgs., $202; Para, 17 pkgs., $792; Sheffield, 62 pkgs., $362; St. Petersburg, 10 pkgs., $355; Trinidad, 12 pkgs., $208; Valparaiso, 4 pkgs., $139; 14 pkgs., $996; Vera Cruz, 20 pkgs., $624; Vienna, 4 pkgs., $100. AUGUST 14. Berlin, 245 pkgs., $2,290; Brussels, 14 pkgs., $132; Buenos Ayres, 30 pkgs., $735; Callao, 3 pkgs., $250; Colon, 3 pkgs., $215; 7 pkgs., $203; 4 pkgs., $295; Glasgow, 3 pkgs., $259; Havana, 21 pkgs., $1,732; 17 pkgs., $500; Havre, 9 pkgs., $376; Limon, 1 pkg., $124; Liverpool, 2 pkgs., $175; 11 pkgs., $898; London, 979 pkgs., $8,737; 22 pkgs., $1,562; Santiago, 8 pkgs., $352; Santos, 8 pkgs., $118; St. Petersburg, 5 pkgs., $196; Sydney, 540 pkgs., $4,300; Vienna, 27 pkgs., $137; Vera Cruz, 19 pkgs., $470; Warsaw, 13 pkgs., $333. AUGUST 20. Bombay, 31 pkgs., $305; Ceara, 12 pkgs., $383; Corinth, 8 pkgs., $510; Demerara, 3 pkgs., $116; Guayaquil, 3 pkgs., $235; Havana, 27 pkgs., $934; 14 pkgs., $900; Havre, 3 pkgs.. $183; La Guayra, $287; Limon, 5 pkgs., $250; London, 3 Price Ten Cents pkgs., $173; Manila 24 pkgs., $1,515; Melbourne, 24 pkgs., $680; Progreso, 15 pkgs., $633; Savanllla, 6 pkgs., $139; Sydney, 1,629 pkgs., $16,373; Valparaiso, 40 pkgs., $1,419; Valencia, 2 pkgs., $117; Vera Cruz, 9 pkgs., $146. AUGUST 27. Acajutla, 2 pkgs., $205; Berlin, 229 pkgs., $1,767; Bombay, 4 pkgs., $196; 3 pkgs., $119; Brussels, 8 pkgs., $970; Buenos Ayres, 30 pkgs., $2,728; Callao, 4 pkgs., $105; Colon, 4 pkgs., $195; Dublin, 9 pkgs., $240; Glasgow, 6 pkgs., $179; Hamburg, 6 pkgs., $137; Havana, 12 pkgs., $499; Liverpool, 5 pkgs., $219; London, 8 pkgs., $446; l,0u0 pkgs.. $9,841; 1,184 pkgs., $14,136; 14 pkgs., $1,582; Manaos, 17 pkgs., $500; Milan, 22 pkgs., $833; Montevideo, 32 pkgs., $2,831; Santos, 12 pkgs., $1,491; St. Petersburg, 15 pkgs., $517; Tampico, 7 pkgs., $356; Vera Cruz, 14 pkgs., $296; Warsaw, 5 pkgs., $117. SEPTEMBER 3. Alexandria, 4 pkgs., $124; Berlin, 259 pkgs., $2,911; 231 pkgs., $5,003; Bristol, 85 pkgs., $2,375; Bombay, 19 pkgs., $521; 4 pkgs., $196; Bpenos Ayres, 198 pkgs., $4,706; 12 pkgs., $908; Cienfuegos, 14 pkgs., $197; Colon, 2 pkgs., $370; 5 pkgs., $161; Havana, 13 pkgs., $1,045; Havre, 7 pkgs., $242; Iquitos, 7 pkgs., $823; La Guayra, 7 pkgs., $144; Limon, 3 pkgs., $149; London, 33 pkgs., $2,027; 1,064 pkgs., $15,031; Matanzas, 2 pkgs., $189; Milan, 7 pkgs., $291; Para, 2 pkgs., $107; Rio de Janeiro, 12 pkgs., $1,615; Samarang, 94 pkgs., $392; Singapore, 6 pkgs., $215; St. Petersburg, 22 pkgs., $879; Sydney, 8 pkgs., $330; Vera Cruz, 5 pkgs., $100; Vienna, 12 pkgs., $198; 20 pkgs., $126; Warsaw, 7 pkgs., $162; 7 pkgs., $325. PRESERVING INDIAN MYTHS. Prof. Kroeber Successfully Preserving Prayers and Legends of Fast Dying Humboldt Tribe of American Indians. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) Berkeley, Cal., Sept. 8, 1906. Professor A. L. Kroeber, secretary of the Anthropological Department of the University, has returned from a month's exploration among the Indians in northern Humboldt county, bringing with him more than a hundred graphophone records of songs, myths, traditions and medicine prayers. The songs belong mainly to the sacred dances of the Yurok tribe of this region, and the spoken records all refer to the religion and beliefs of these people. All of the graphophone records, besides being intended for permanent preservation, will be carefully gone over with interpreters, and written out in full In a system of special characters used for this purpose. The texts in native language thus obtained will be published in a bulletin of the University, with exact interlinear translations, thus giving an accurate picture and record of this tribe's legends, prayers and medicine in both the Indian's and white man's language. When the Second Regiment Connecticut National Guard was returning from camp recently, the band playing the well-known "Second Regiment March," turned down a side street, leaving the greater part of the regiment out of hearing distance of the music. At the time the troops were passing the store of the Columbia Phonograph Co., on Church street, New Haven, and Manager Ogden, noting the lack of music, got a Twentieth Century Machine in working order, pointed the fifty-six inch horn toward the street, and a record of the regimental march was soon furnishing marching music. The time was perfect and it is said that not a man lost step. We believe that this is the first instance where the greater part of a regiment marched 'to the music of a talking machine.