The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1912)

34 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. FROM OUR CHICAGO HEADQUARTERS— (Continued from Page 33.) D. Geissler, the general manager. Instead of compiling a list of the stock records on hand each month and sending them to the dealers, Mr. Geissler has reversed the custom and is sending them a list of the records he is out of. In this way the dealer can compare his own list with the company's, and if he finds they do not compare he knows that the company has on hand the records he desires. Incidentally in compiling the record Mr. Geissler finds that out of over 3,000 titles in the Victor catalog there are only about 300 that are not now in stock at the Chicago headquarters. Consequently they are able to fill their orders 85 to 90 per cent, complete. Phonograph Suggests Suicide. A sentimental song being played and sung on the phonograph in a Chicago shooting gallery has been accredited with stimulating in the mind of a despondent young man the idea of taking his own life. The young man, Edward Wicks, aged twentytwo, walked into a shooting gallery at 106 South Halsted street last week and as he passed the door he heard from the horn of the phonograph a mechanical voice singing : "I Wish I Had a Girl Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad." He stopped and listened a minute to the song then passed in. He walked close to the musical instrument and seemed to be influenced by the song. When the song was finished the listener asked the attendant of the gallery for a target revolver. Four times he shot at the targets at the other end of the room and then turned to the keeper: 'Would a bullet from this small revolver kill a man?" he said "Sure, if it went into his brain," said the target setter. The young man then deliberately placed the muzzle of the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger. He died instantly. Has Made a Favorable Impression. Kreiling & Co. report that the new straight tube "Tiz-it" horn connection and tone modifier advertised in The World last month has made a favorable impression in the Edison trade. They are offering a special discount for a limited time. New Factory for Lyon & Healy. Lyon & Healy have just purchased a tract of six acres at Fullerton avenue and Fortieth avenue, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. There is a freight and passenger station at this property, and it can also be reached by the Fullerton avenue trolley and Fortieth avenue trolley, which pass the property, and also by the Northwestern elevated. Lyon & Healy are making plans to erect a large fireproof structure, which is to be one of the most modern musical instrument factories in existence. Improvements in methods of lighting and of maintaining a uniform temperature will be incorporated in this building. The ample amount of floor space will permit of many economies in the making of musical instruments of the highest grade. The manufacture of Lyon & Healy pianos, Lyon & Healy harps and other musical instruments will be carried on there under ideal conditions. March a Good Month. C. F. Baer, manager of the Chicago office of the Columbia Phonograph Co., said: "March of last year was an abnormal month on account of a single immense order that came in. Eliminating that, March of this year showed a good increase over the corresponding month of 1911. Business looks very bright to us, indeed. The new Princess, the only talking machine made standing on its own base to sell at as low a price as $75, is a winner both as to appearance and tone, and is going to have a whirlwind sale." The Wade Fibre Needle Cutter. The Wade fibre needle cutter, manufactured by Wade & Wade, 1227 East 46th street, Chicago, imi POCKET UGHTER Only practical pocket lighter yet produced. No mechanism to get out of order. Durable, reliable, waterproof, made of best material, highly nickeled. Occupies space of pencil. Just the thing ■ for lighting cigars, pipes, lamps, gas, campfires. etc. Money refunded if not as represented. Special prices to agents and dealers. Sent complete with pocket clip, 35 cents. LAVAJ IttFG. CO., Dept. , CHICAGO is continually growing in favor with the trade. This cutter reaches the high point of efficiency, convenience and ease of operation. It works like a pair of scissors or pliers, and is hailed generally in the trade as one of the most practical devices of the kind ever placed on the market. Speeches by Dictaphone. A unique entertainment feature was pulled off by Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. last week in their farewell dinner to S. Sandell, manager for many years of the purchasing department of that firm. About thirty men representing the heads of the different departments of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. were in attendance. Instead of making personal speeches, as is usual in an affair of this kind, the banqueters had previously recorded their flowery offerings on wax cylinders by means of the dictaphone through a Twentieth Century horn, several of which are used in the company's store, and these were reproduced on a Columbia graphophone. The stunt was quite a novel one and furnished much amusement. No. 100 Adjustable Corners. The above picture illustrates Salters' Patent Adjustable Square Corners, made to fit any make of machine, providing the top, in which the talking machine stands, is of sufficient size. Salters' corners do away with the old style rails, which have always been a source of annoyance for the reasons that they were either too large or too small, and that they were dust catchers. These corners are made in. both mahogany and oak and finished in any color. There are four to a set, furnished with eight round head, nickel plated screws. They are easily adjusted and make an excellent appearance. The u'se of the corners is to keep the machine in place on the cabinet. They are sold, complete with screws, at $1 a set. THE PHONOGRAPH IN THE HOME. The Subject of Some Commendatory Remarks From Walt Mason. Thomas A. Edison, Inc., has had put in folder form the very clever story written by Walt Mason in the Chicago Daily News recently, entitled, "Canned Symphonies." It is worth reproducing for the benefit of our readers generally : "The man in the house next door has invested his hardearned savings in a phonograph," said the morose boarder, "and he keeps it going every evening just wheri I want to read some uplifting book. Unless he can be suppressed I foresee that I'll have to hunt another boarding house, for 1 can't stand it to hear a corn sheller trying to sing 'When the Daisies Bloom, Dear,' every evening." "I trust you will seek another boarding house," said the star boarder, politely. "Such a proceeding would give general satisfaction. As William Clarence Shakespeare remarked, the man who is not charmed by the concord of sweet sounds is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, and some extremely sweet sounds are produced by the phonograph next door, and by all other high-class phonographs, which are properly oiled. "It has become the fashion with half-baked humorists in boarding houses and elsewhere to say biting, caustic things , of the phonograph. These humorists are the descendants of the merry men who used to insist in print and on the stage that a mother-in-law in the house is worse than a contagious disease. A quarter of a century ago you couldn't pick up an almanac or a comic paper without seeing the mother-in-law held up to scorn and contumely. "In the course of time the joke concerning this admirable female became so halt, lame and blind that it was forced into retirement, and then the stove-pipe joke made its triumphant debut. It was held by American humorists for many years that the chief employment of the married man was putting up stove pipe, and that such employment caused him to mutilate the English language beyond recognition. This truly irresistisble quib did yeoman service for many years, until it was discovered by a committee of savants that the average married man seldom has anything to do with stove pipes. "Then came the phonograph jest, which has contributed to the gayety of the nations for several years, and which appears to have a long career of usefulness before it. When a man appears in society and wishes to convulse people with merriment he makes some casual reference to a phonograph, and everybody lies down on the floor and indulges in apoplectic mirth. "Now, the truth is that the phonograph is one of the greatest blessings of this age of blessings. I have a married friend whose humble abode I pass an evening once in a while, and every time I go there he furnishes a free concert with his music mill. He is a phonograph fiend and keeps his machine going most of the time when he is at home. Perhaps some of the neighbors are sore about it, but what of it? If a man can't open a few cans of music in his own home, what's the use of having a home? "Before he got the phonograph habit my friend was a restless, dissatisfied man. He didn't know what to do in the long winter evenings. He got tired of beating his wife and jawing the children, and his eyes were too weak to read much, and he was a trial to himself and everybody else. He liked music, but it cost a good deal to go to concerts and take his tribe along. He belonged to a club, but he was a poor hand at poker, and generally lost. "Then he was persuaded to buy a phonograph and his nights were filled with music and the cares that infested the day folded their umbrellas and chased themselves. He gets more happiness out of that little box with a sheet-iron horn attached than the millionaire gets out of his yacht, and his wife and children have an equal share. He buys a record for a few kopecks and plays it a million times, and enjoys it every time. "Tell me, if you can, of another amusement as cheap and satisfying. The phonograph has made home life in this country as attractive as it used to be, and it makes my blood boil in my veins when I hear an Aleck speaking of the canned music grinder in slighting terms, in a misguided effort to be funny." A POPULAR EDISON STYLE Is the Opera Model Which Has Been in Great Demand Throughout the Country. One of the most popular creations put out by Thomas A. Edison, Inc., in some years is the new opera style, of which an illustration appears herewith. It has proven a big seller and its reproduc NEW EDISON "OPERA" STYLE. tive qualities are highly acclaimed. Reports from correspondents at all points throughout the country are a unit in proclaiming this one of the sellers of the season. Don't try to get rich suddenly, by selling goods at a figure that doesn't pay a profit. Trade now in that way is not held. Your patrons expect you to make a profit, and if you do not, they are sure there is a trick somewhere. If they come to trust in your judgment, and you assure them that the price is fair, they take your word, and the goods. "Let us have ninety per cent, of confidence and ten per cent, of money with which to conduct business, rather than one hundred per cent, of money and lack of confidence."