The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1911)

46 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. The Columbia Demonstration DoubleDisc Record Is proving Itself the ablest collector of new names and new business the dealer ever found. It breaks the ice. Ten cents cost and ten cents list— free advertising that pulls like a husky bull pup ! Columbia Phonograph Co., Genl., Tribune Building, New York CABINETS THATARE ORIGINAL. Pooley Furniture Co. Enter Field witli Record Cabinets That Possess Features Well Worthy of the Dealers' Attention — The Pooley Filing System Wizard-Like in Its Operation — The New Cabinet That Turns a Horn Machine Into a Hornless Model at a Minimum Expense — H. N. McMenimen in Charge of New Department — To Make Extended Visit. The latest entrants in the field of disc record cabinet manufacture are the Pooley Furniture Co., of Philadelphia, with branch showrooms at 182 Madison avenue. New York. They have come forward with a cabinet proposition that should prove of interest to every live dealer who has faith in the future of the talking machine trade. This new department is in charge of H. N. McMenimen, who during his nineteen years in the talking macliine trade has accumulated a fund of experience and useful information, as well as an acquaintanceship with every jobber in the business and most of the dealers, that has placed h-im in a position to know just what the trade requires, and ne is most enthusiastic over the new Pooley line as opening a new field for the dealer. As to the new cabinets themselves, any written description of them would be inadequate, for it is in their actual operation that the greatest interest lies. It is said of the Pooley filing system, incorporated in the cabinets, that you simply ask for the record and it rolls out to you, and that practically states the case. The cabinets are supplied with two shelves with a capacity in all of 210 disc records held vertically. A vertical indicator travels along a bar so notched that the indicator may be placed in front of any of the 210 records. When the indicator points to the number of the record desired a slight pressure on a lever causes the record to roll out between parallel bars covered with felt, from whence it is easily removed for playing. A special loose index book is supplied for the purpose of cataloging records in numerical order. The numbers in. the book correspond with the figures on the dial above the top shelf of the cabinet and the result is that any record may be obtained in the fraction of a second, and mistakes are practically impossible, for as each individual section only holds a single record it is impossible in returning a record to place it in the wrong compartment, the compartment being already occupied. In short, the Pooley filing system has brought the record-handling problem in the home down to a purely automatic basis, and without a complexity of delicate mechanism which is liable to get out of order. The real feature of the Pooley line is the hornless record filing cabinet, which in exterior appearance closely resembles the $200 or $250 hornless machines. In this cabinet the lower section is given over to the standard Pooley filing system, while the upper part is equipped with an amplifying sounding board built on scientific principles, and arranged for direct connection with the tone arm on any standard disc machine, which is placed in a special recess near the top of the cabinet. It is claimed for the Pooley cabinet that the tonal effects of the talking machine possible through the utilization of the special sounding board are of a decidedly superior quality, inasmuch as the machine is so arranged under the sounding board that the sound travels upward and in the natural direction, thus losing none of its purity. In fact, the entire cabinet is distinctly original in conception and construction. From the dealers' viewpoint it is pointed out that the new cabinet has solved a problem that has in many cases become quite irritating. An enthusiast, for instance, owns a first-class horn machine, but wishing to be up-to-date desires to secure a hornless model in its stead. The dealer cannot afford to offer an amount even for a comparatively new horn machine that will prove really satisfying to the purchaser when applied on an exchange basis. No matter how good a deal he makes he finds himself shy of a good part of the profits due him on the sale of a hornless model, and in addition has an old-style horn machine on hand to dispose of. This is where the Pooley cabinet fits in. The horn machine which may have really excellent reproducing qualities can be thoroughly satisfactory in every way when placed in the Pooley cabinet. A door hides it from view, and there the enthusiast has a mighty handsome piece of furniture, an up-to-the-minute talking machine and an ideal filing cabinet at a comparatively small cost. The cabinet itself sells for $100 retail, and if a $60 machine is placed therein the whole outfit costs $160, a proposition that offers many talking points to a live retailer. The ordinary Pooley filing cabinet intended to hold the smaller models of hornless machines are handsomely finished to correspond with the standard finishes of the various machines. To those who know the standing of the Pooley Furniture Co. in the realm of fine furniture manufacturing, it will not require any details regarding the quality of the cabinet work in their new line for the talking machine trade. The Pooley line of cabinets was shown to the jobbers at the convention in Milwaukee and met with a high measure of praise Those talking machine men who have seen them since have become * equally enthusiastic, and Mr. McMenimen expects to 'make many more converts upon his annual visit to every jobber in the United States and Canada. He will lea\e New York for this purpose shortly after July lo. MUSICAL IGORROTES. The Dog-Eating Natives of Samar in the Philippines Are Musical, According to Mrs. Wilkins — A Settlement in Fordham. The histrionic and musical residents of Fordham are to be augmented by a score or more of dog-eating Igorrotes from Samar, in the Philippines, if Mrs. George S. Wilkins, a wealthy widow who lives at the Hotel St. Francis, in West Fortyseventh street, has her way. Further, Mrs. Wilkins hopes to civilize her guests by means of musjc, of which, she says, they are passionately fond. Mrs. Wilkins. who, previous to her marriage six years ago was the Baroness von Groyss, of Vienna, has a large income from the estate of her father. Her favorite diversions are music and travel. She first became interested in the Igorrotes at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and was a constant visitor to the village reproduced there. On the last day of the fair a reception was held in the Igorlote village, and Mrs. Wilkins attended. She was grtatly impressed by the brightness and intelligence of a seventeen-year-old boy named Penossan and undertook to teach him the cakewalk. The boy was an apt pupil, and after twenty minutes' instruction outdid his teacher. "What I saw of the Igorrotes at the time," said r>lrs. Wilkins the other day, "determined me to try an experiment. I intend, unless the United States government objects, to bring about thirty of them, men and women, to New York very soon. I want to ge a large house up near Fordham, put m two or three pianos and other musical instruments, and give music lessons to each of the islanders. I also intend to install talking machines and a great supply of records, for no one factor has been more successful than the talking machine in instilling a love and appreciation of music amon'g these Igorrotes. They have found it an educator. "It is astonishing what a quick ear an Igorrote has for music, and how fond he is of it. I am sure my experiment will be a great success, and I believe that more of these savages can be converted by music than by missionaries.'' "What will you do if the' Fordhamites object to having a lot of dog-eaters among them?" she was asked. 'I don't think tliere will be any objection," she said, "at least not from the intelligent and educated people. I intend to have the party come in charge of Penossan, who is chief of his tribe r.ow, and I expect that his influence will be of great help to me." NEW FALL STYLES NOW READY SEND FOR SAMPLES ! Echo Record Albums Send for 1911 Booklet of Nezv Style Echo Albums for Tttlking Machine Records. They fit any Record Cabinet or Victrola. These are the Net Prices to Dealers: 10-inch 16-page albums $1.05 12-inch 16-page albums 1.20 Ask your Jobber for Echo Albums ECHO ALBUM COMPANY 926 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pa.