The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1913)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. 15 POORLY ADJUSTED MACHINES A MENACE TO THE TRADE. A Story That Illustrates the Importance of Having Talking Machines Used in Connection with Moving Picture Shows Properly Adjusted and the Records New — The Real Necessity of the Speed Regulators on All Machines — Interesting and Helpful Suggestions. PROLOGUE. The grout plankway was thronged with a gay cosmopolitan multitude that spread itself like a great many-hued flower garden along its live miles of promenade. The season was late — September 27, to be exact — but the weather was perfeet, and the crowd responded nobly to the seductive call of the salt air and the dashing waves. A scene bewildering in its magnificence, and one to be witnessed nowhere else on earth — Atlantic City on a fair autumnal Saturday with the fashionable world and his wife down for a joyous week-end. From the Steel Pier came the crashing blare of Vessala's Band swinging its melodious way through "The Fairest of the Fair March." Old Father Neptune approved of this spirited two-step, for he had the foaming bireakers tuned to an obligate. The sun was shining with golden splendor, and the breeze from the sea was tilled with life-giving elixir. Some resort, and some day, believe me! You enjoyed the introductory overture by Signor Vessala and Daddy Neptune, I am sure, but the music accompanying the balance of this performance will not be pleasant — I warn you in advance. I did not wish to destroy the beauty of my prologue with discordant noises. I desired to have you in good humor before registering my kick, which, by the way, is of such proportions that only an incorrigible mule could satisfactorily administer it for me. I therefore strained my optimism to the breaking point, and up until this pitiful moment refrained from unpleasantness. Now for the dirty work! Mr. Dealer, if you could sit here with me in Bralinger's pavilion and listen to the consarned, dod binged, overworked, poorly adjusted talking machine the movie emporium across the way is using to attract the attention of the public, and then take pencil in hand, as I have done, and write a cheering prologue, you would deserve credit; you would, indeed. I feel quite chesty to think that I was able to capture for you snatches of real music and glimpses of sun and sea from out that awful bedlam of harsh sounds. The plot thickens — On guard ! Mr. Dealer, why do you not see to it when you make sales to 'moving picture parlor proprietors, that they are instructed in reference to running the machines you sell them? There is no better opportunity for an abundance of free advertising for you than in this field if you would embrace it. The way the proposition is handled at present is a disgrace to the talker fraternity. People are passing this movie parlor, and hundreds more in different cities throughout the country, at the rate of approximately one thousand per hour, and all of them to a man are disgusted at the infernal squeak that issues from the horn of the instrument installed there. It is not because the machine is inferior — no, that is the pathetic part of it. It is simply due to the incompetency of the operator, who is running a worn record at high speed. As I write, the selection being rendered is "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." In this particular instance, the record bears upon its mutilated surface the voices of Miss Edna Broun and Mr. James F. Harrison (Frederick W. Wheeler). As you know this lady and gentleman sing contralto and baritone respectively, but as inflicted by this instrument of torture, they represent an impossible soprano and a nasal counter-tenor far beyond their depth in the briny ocean, yelling for succor from cupid, the chubby red-shirted lifeguard. Can you beat it? Mr. Dealer, this matter should really receive your very careful and most serious attention. I have made an exhaustive study of the movie branch of the talking machine business, conducting investigations at various resorts, and reaching a climax in Atlantic City at the present moment. I therefore know what I am talking about when I say that the moving picture theaters, with phonographic attachments as now conducted, are poisoning the cars of a vast horde of music lovers, and it is all so entirely unnecessary. The remedy is ready at hand, Mr. Dealer, if you would but use it. When you make a sale to Mr. Movie Man, ask him to send his operator to you for instructions, and the problem will find a happy solution .it once. For the sake of the customers yon are losing from this cause, sit right down at your desk this very minute and write a courteous note to all the Messrs. Movie among your patrons, explaining the situation to them and ask for their co-operation in an effort toward improved concerts. Suggest, if their records are worn, that they purchase new ones* thus substituting music for noise, offer the services, of your expert on speed regulation, and I'll bet you a box of salt water taffy your business will enjoy an increased prosperity. Nowhere does the talker get a better chance to reach the public en masse than through the medium of the resort movie parlor. This is a fact beyond dispute. Therefore, why not reap a harvest of Killing Talking Machine Prospects. good advertising instead of scepticism and disgust when it is only a mater o'f instruction and adjustment? While we are upon this interesting subject, I wish to take up with you still another phase, viz. : the throttleless talker. I mean by the "throttleless," the small models which certain concerns insist upon thrusting upon the people without a practical speed regulating device. There is, it is true, imbedded deep in the heart of the power plant a screw which may be found by most any trained mechanician who has received minute instructions from his dealer regarding its whereabouts, but in any case, it entails disconnecting the horn and a partial dissection of the machine. It is therefore without value. Is not this also a menace to trade, Mr. Dealer? The manufacturers tell you that the machines are adjusted, when they leave the factory, to run at a certain speed which is correct for every record played. If this statement were true all would be well, but, unfortunately, such is not the case. For instance, the average song may sound fairly well when rendered at the above mentioned speed, but change to a selection requiring a large movement and discord instead of harmony results. Play a talking record at this speed and the speaker conveys the impression of declaiming against time, and that to do this, he has thrown aside every rule of elocution which, of course, mars the effect. You have heard Cal. Stewart tell one of his quaint Yankee stories from out the horns or tone chambers, as the case 'might have been, of the cheap and expensive talkers, have you not? Certainly you have, and in one, if your memory fails you not, he was talking so softly that even his infections of laughter sounded like the staccato roll of a drum ; while the other reproduced his voice perfectly. The deliberate nasal drawl of the New England farmer and his slow convulsive merriment were before you in life. These two extremes, which are not exaggerated, were brought about by the addition and subtraction of speed regulator. I have witnessed the loss of many a sale from this cause, and I will wager that every dealer, who is considerate enough to read this article, has done the same. In conclusion, I will state in all sincerity that I believe at least a part of the discordant phonographic howls that issue from beneath the gilded archways of the movie palaces may be traced to this cause. Do you not think the time ripe for an urgent request for speed regulators of a practical nature on all machines, regardless of price ? CURTAIN. Exit March — "Too Much Mustard." Howard Taylor Mihw.eto.v. HELEN KELLER CAN HEAR MUSIC. Vibration of a Violin String, She Says, Is Like Voice of Singing Angel. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) I'f.tosky, Mich., October 4. — Miss Helen Keller, the noted iblind, deaf and dumb girl, has heard her first note of music. She caught the vibrations of a violin string through her teeth, held against the bridge of the instrument, and although her ear drums are useless, Prof. Franz Kohler, of the Oberlin Conservatory, declared to-day that the harmonies had been communicated to her brain and .she had caught the strain. The first note which the former concert master o; the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra played for Miss Keller was on the E string of his rare old violin. Miss Keller was astonished. She held her teeth firmly against the scroll while Professor Kohler played strains of Saint-Saen's "The Sivan," using both the high and low registers. "Like the voices of singing angels," Miss Keller communicated to Miss Macy, her teacher. Miss Keller was exhausted from the excitement. Miss Macy declared to-day that this was the first musical sound that has reached the brain of Miss Keller, despite reports of her violin playing which stated that she knew musical harmony before. NOT A BAD SUGGESTION. Mr. Bryan has stated that his expenses on the "road" amounted'to about $500 for two weeks. It seems as though it might be cheaper for him to stay on the job in Washington and give the lectures by phonograph. Men are judged by the company they keep, and candidates ought to be judged by the discordant brass bands they hire. Simplex Automatic Starts Stop Device LISTED BY 95% OF VICTOR JOBBERS WHY? STANDARD GRAMAPHONE APPLIANCE CO. 1 73 Lafayette Street, New York, N. Y. Stop /Start