The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1910)

32 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. UNIVERSAL CO. IN PHILADELPHIA. Move Entire Plant from Newark, N. J. — Removal a Matter of Business Convenience — Located in Heart of Quaker City Business District — Recording Laboratory Moved from New York to Camden, N. J. — H. J. Hagen Also Goes — An Important Move. During the month the plant of the Universal Talking Machine Mfg. Co. have been in the process of removal from Camp and Mulberry streets, Newark, N. J., to Fourth and Rare streets, Philadelphia. Pa. The office will be the last to be transferred, but it is expected that about February 1, possibly a week before, the change will have been effected. General Manager Macnabb and his entire office staff and factory force will go along. The removal is a matter of business convenience, as it was found that even if Newark was only about fifteen minutes from New York, Zonophone jobbers and dealers were averse to making the journey. This unfortunate fact was ascertained but a short time after the general offices of the company were taken from the metropolis to Newark, hence this shift restores the equilibrium of affairs, trade visitors to Philadelphia finding it no trouble to call at a plant located in the heart of the business district of the city. The new factory will be one of the most complete in the country, and no change whatever follows the removal to the City of Brotherly Love. The recording laboratory of the company, at 256 West 23d street, New York, under the management of Henry J. Hagen, will be discontinued and goes to Camden, N. J., the manager accompanying the removal of his headquarters, the scene of not a few brilliant triumphs in the making of records. Messrs. Macnabb and Hagen have many friends in New York, and their departure is regarded in the light of a personal loss. throughout the country. The first assignment was Birmingham, Mobile and other large cities of the South, where Mr. Scott is at the present lime. The appointment comes as a deserved promotion in recognition of the splendid work that Mr. Scott has done for the National Co. since his connection. His successor has not yet been announced. Other changes in territorial assignment of the National Co.'s traveling staff are noted as follows: J. H. Allgaier will hereafter travel the southern half of Illinois in addition to Missouri. J. H. Gill will call on the trade in central and western New York instead of California, Arizona and New Mexico. F. , Ln Hough travels North and South Dakota in addition to Minnesota. A. H. Kloehr will report on Kansas City, Mo., in addition to the State of Kansas. F. H. Stewart, formerly traveling Louisiana and Mississippi, has been transfered to the Edison Mfg. Co.'s kinetograph department. DA VEGA CO.'S FINE REPORT. Business for December Made a New High Mark with This House — All Departments Made Good Showing. CHANGES IN NATIONAL STAFF. With the S. B. Davega Co., 12G University place, New York, business in the month of December made a new high mark, and during the holidays, notwithstanding their large and varied stock, they were occasionally crowded to fill orders. However, an unexpected shipment from the factory came in the nick of time -to satisfy the most clamorous, and so the company pulled through witn flying colors, and none of their dealers failed to get what they wanted. The S. B. Davega Co. make a point to fill every dealer's orders, not partially, but completely, and it is this reputation, combined with the rapid sellers which tney specialize, that has contributed largely to the esteem in which the firm, are held by the trade. Their interesting announcement elsewhere is well worth reading carefully. J. W. Scott, familiarly known by the affectionate sobriquet of "Scotty" among his associates of the trade, has been promoted to the position of special traveling representative of the National Phonograph Co. The duties of the position, which has only recently been created, will call Mr. Scott from his former territory, which comprised Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine, to special assignment MACDONALD ENTERTAINED. Thomas H. Macdonald was the guest of honor at a dinner given by President Easton, of the American Graphophone Co., at his home at Areola, N. J., Monday, December 13. The chief officers of the organization were invited to celebrate Mr. Macdonald's twenty years with the company and the progress of the art in that time. It was a most enjoyable time. Many of the most prominent Edison Jobbers and Dealers are not only taking advantage of the handsome profits which the handling of The Edison Business Phonograph affords, but they are using the Edison Business Phonograph with great success for dictation and transcription of their own correspondence. The Edison Business Phonograph not only saves 50 per cent of actual dictating time and nearly 50 per cent of the typist's actual transcribing time, but it saves all the time in which she is ordinarily occupied in taking dictation. This economy of time results 'in a reduction in the cost of correspondence, from about eight cents a letter to from two-and-one-half to four cents a letter. The Edison Business Phonograph is already being used to-day in offices large and small, in all branches of industry throughout the country. It is only a matter of time before all business correspondence will be carried on through this rapid, direct method. Get in while the field is young, take your share of the profits and build up your end of this growing industry. Write us today for full information. Edison Business Phonograph Company, 207 Lakeside Avenue, Orange, N. J. EDISON GRAND OPERA CATALOG. The First Supplement Comprises TwentyEight Records, Ten by the Distinguished Tenor, Slezak, the New Artist, Are of International Repute — Exclusive Contracts Being Made with Noted Stars — New Catalog One to be Proud of. At the time that the National Phonograph Co. first announced the Amberola to the jobbers and dealers the promise was made that it would be re-enforced by a catalog of grand opera Amberol records of special merit. That was on December 1 last, and subsequent additions to the catalog prove that the promise is being religiously kept. The first supplement comprised twentytight records, ten of them by the incomparable Slezak, whose debut on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House constitutes a pag^ in the history of that famous temple of art. Slezak is a young man, in physical stature a giant, hardly as yet at the zenith of his vocal powers, and with many years of professional usefulness before him. He has been retained to sing exclusively for Edison records for a number of years. His contract with the National Co. secures them the exclusive right to his entire French and Italian repertory, as well as to any selections he may use on his American tours. Three more records on this list are by Riceardo Martin, the first American operatic tenor to receive international acclaim, and three more by the marvelous Spanish tenor, Constantino. Mme. BlancheArral, the gifted coloratura soprano, who, after winning the enthusiastic commendations of Metropolitan press and critics, proceeded on a triumphal tour of the country, contributes four more, as do Adelina Agostinelli, the Milanese soprano, at present singing in Italy, but, who from April 1 to September 1 will be leading soprano of the Colon Theater. Buenos Ayres. The remaining numbers on the list are the offerings of singers who are as yet little known on this side of the water, but who. in the musical circles of the world (and particularly the French capital), are recognized as artists of the highest caliber, M. Duclos, tenor, Louis Nucelly, baritone, and Gaston Dubois, tenor. As regards variety of choice and musical excellence, this list of records represents many ot the best and most popular offerings of the world's greatest composers — arias so well known that every lover of the higher grade of music has them on the tip of his tongue. The catalog will be supplemented by five more records in the March list, and the same quota will be added to it monthly thereafter. At this rate, and with artists of such superior talent and reputation, contributing to it the choicest numbers of their repertorys, it will be seen that the Edison four-minute catalog will very soon be of a character to commend it to the music lover. With characteristic thoughtfulness for the interests of their dealers the company are depleting their two-minute grand opera catalogs to make room for these new Amberol records, twenty-eight of the former having been cut out on November 1. These records may be returned to the factory for credit under the company's liberal continuous" exchange proposition. Recognizing the fact that the musical public demands a choice of artists as well as of selections, the National Co. has for some time been quietly preparing their plans to equip their dealers in this respect, and have now under exclusive contract some of the best talent that the operatic circles of the old and new world offer. Included in the list of singers whose records will shortly grace the Edison catalog, are the names of such famous artists as Mmes. Marguerite Sylvia, Maria Labia and Maria Galvany, and M. M. Ernesto Caronna and Walter Soomer, a brief retrospect of whose careers would not be inappropriate as giving a faint idea of what the National Co. have accomplished. Mme. Marguerita Sylva, the great American prima donna, is known all over the United States by her former light opera successes. Not