The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1916)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 43 CONVENTION OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TALKING MACHINE JOBBERS— (Continued from page 42) tion without returning the cabinet to the factory. It has come under our observation that whenever such repairs have been attempted by unskilled mechanics, and the improper use of materials, greater damage to the instrument has resulted. After the cabinet is unpacked, it should be wiped off with a piece of fine cheese cloth to remove all dirt and marks of packing. Then taking a clean piece of the same cloth and using a small portion of cleaner, made of three parts of benzine and one part of paraffine rubbing oil, go all over the case, rubbing briskly lengthwise of the grain, cleaning off all the surplus and brushing out all the corners. A soft round three degree bristle varnish brush of the grain and only so far as the body of varnish will stand. This also applies to scratches. If too deep to rub out, they may be burned in with shellac cement; the spot leveled up with fine sandpaper and touched up to the required color and French polished with a solution of shellac, alcohol and raw linseed oil, using a piece of cotton covered with a piece of fine linen cloth. This requires skill and experience and should never be attempted by a novice on large flat surfaces. Rubbed spots and white corners may be touched up with spirit stain made from Bismarck brown, dissolved in alcohol, to which is added a little shellac. This for the regular red mahogany; for the English brown a little Nigrosine added to this stain will A Quartet of Prominent Delegates to the Jobbers' Convention is good for this purpose. Cabinets should never be sponged with water and then exposed to the strong rays of the sun in a show window, which acts as a lens and either blisters the varnish, fades the color or ruins the finish so that it must be removed. So called liquid polishes should be avoided, which are supposed to work "wonders"; frequently they do, but in a different way than intended, and may destroy the finish, leaving the surface sticky and the satin finish spotted and cloudy. The cleaning preparation mentioned before will answer all purposes. Bruises, if not too deep, may be safely rubbed out with a piece of soft felt and 3F pumice stone and paraffine rubbing oil, taking care to go only lengthwise give the required shade. J"he special finishes and oak requires the color adapted to the finish. Paper sticking to the finish can be removed with a cloth and water, dry carefully and rub the surface with third degrees pumice stone, soft felt and paraffine oil. If, after rubbing closely the marks still show, it will require the services of a skilled mechanic to French polish the same to the desired finish, which is then dulled off with a soft brush dipped in 3F pumice stone and cleaned up as before mentioned. Where the finish has turned gray or spotted from dampness or some unusual condition, the only remedy is to have the finish removed and should only be attempted by a competent, experienced polisher, and never by a novice. As I have said before, the machines leave the Victor factories in perfect condition and if not injured in transportation, severe climatic changes or unusual conditions, should open up in first-class shape and if properly handled and taken care of should cause no trouble whatever. C. H. Wickes, Superintendent Record Pressing Plant Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — I suppose there may be other kinds of business as interesting as the Victor, but all I have to say is, that so far, I have never been able to find any of them. I always expect that visitors to the factory are going to be very enthusiastic about my department, and my expectations have never been disappointed. When you stop to think about it — it is a wonderful thing. I have delivered to me the finest kind of chocolate colored dust. Tons of it at a time. It is worth a good deal of money of course, because there's so much of it and the ingredients come from all over the world, but when that same "dust" leaves my department it is worth hundreds of thousands — yes, millions — of dollars. Instead of being so much dust, it is artistic triumph — in a thousand forms. Being a truthful man, I have to admit that I, myself, do not have much to do with the miracle that happens. Mine is a straight manufacturing proposition, but I don't believe there's a soul in my whole department but what realizes the importance of the work we do. I believe we have made the claim in our advertising that the Victrola has done for music what the printing press did for literature. That is our particular job. It is all very well for Caruso or Melba to sing like angels, but it is up to us to "print" their music in such a form that it can be enjoyed by everybody, no matter where they live and how much they know about music. Its also up to us to make so many records that the cost of each is kept down so that they will be within the reach of all. Most of you know the process, but I want to give a short outline of the operations performed in the record pressing plant People always want to know just what composition we use in making records, but you will easily understand how that piece of information is not for me to give. Perhaps you don't know that the combination of substances we use is so delicately adjusted that we need the services of an analytical chemist at all times. If some one of the ingredients didn't come up to normal, it would throw out the entire combination, and so all raw product is submitted to analysis and all mixtures are similarly examined. The record material is now compounded in our new plant near the river front. By the way, since the last Jobbers' Convention was held, we have put an entirely new plant for the preparation of record material into operation — which in the matter of methods and output, represents a very considerable gain. The new material preparing plant is located near the river, adjoining the new power plant and pumping station. To resume my story. When the record material arrives at the record pressing plant, it is fed into big mixing and kneading machines, having steam heated rollers or other appliances which raise the composition to the exact temperature at which it develops the required degree of softness. By the time this happens, the kneaded mass has turned black and it exists thereafter not as dust, but as an absolutely smooth, plastic mass. We handle it in immense rolls — about all that two men can handle in passing it from one mixing or kneading machine to another. Finally this black "dough" is rolled out into long strips ninety feet long, three feet six inches wide and approximately one-eighth inch thick. The last set of rollers mark it off into squares ten or twelve inches, as the case may be. It is conveyed some distance by a wide canvas belt, and while on this belt, passes through a cooling chamber which hardens the composition so that it can be handled readily. The squares are then sent to the pressing floors. The actual pressing is probably more familiar to you than any one other operation performed by my department. The squares of record material are again heated on steam tables to just the right temperature. The press operator then puts a label, face down on the center of the matrix, and folds over it one of the softened squares of record composition. A heavy pressing plate is then placed on top and the whole thing is slid between the jaws of a press, where sufficient power is applied to make a perfect impression. Advertising and Education Discussed After the manufacturing departments had had their say, as it were, the other departments of the great Victor organization also had their inning with Ernest John, of the advertising department of the company, leading off with the following address on "Advertising That Gets Attention:" Advertising That Gets Attention By Ernest John Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: There are some people who look for trouble. There are others who have trouble thrust upon them. I do not belong to the first, but— evidently I do belong to the second, class of unfortunates. Any man who undertakes to say anything worth saying on "Advertising That Gets Attention" — and say it in fifteen minutes, is likely to have all the trouble he wants without looking for it. It is not a general subject to be dealt with in a general way, but a highly specific subject which must be so dealt with. There is no time to lose — no chance to wander into pleasant verbal byeways, and so, if you please — if I may so far presume upon your forbearance — I shall work close to my notes. They say that money talks. I suppose it does, but for that matter, so can a parrot. As between two advertisers, each of them using the same amount of space, one of them will be more successful than the other — always. In every case it will be found that the successful advertiser is the one who has found out what is the best thing to say and what is the best way to say it. Each man may spend the same amount. of money, but one man's money talks louder and more plainly. Is there a remedy for such condition of affairs? Of course there is. There are certain first principles in advertising which are perfectly understandable, just as there are certain fundamental principles in music or mathematics. They can't very well be weighed or measured or analyzed in a test tube, but they are there nevertheless, and they work just as effectively as the liveliest microbe that ever came to live in a human lung. Geraldine Farrar, in an interview given some time ago, was asked how a student practicing four hours a day should spend her time. Miss Farrar's reply was quite characteristic. She said, "Think for three hours and practice for one." If you first think for an hour, you will write the right sort of copy, and figure out the right typographical arrangement in a very few minutes. There are many of you no doubt, who have come to understand advertising very well. I will venture to say you have arrived at that happy estate as the result of hard knocks and spiritual anguish. Never mind, you can't have had any worse experience than I have, because "they ain't no such animal." In my newspaper days I labored for years to convince a town full of small store keepers that it pays to advertise, and believe me, gentlemen, I earned my money. It was worse than that. I had to earn my own money and theirs too. And under such circumstances advertising technique becomes an instinct, or you become a corpse. I may have comparatively little to offer you, but I have much hard won experience to offer through you to your dealers, and that is what the Victor Co. has asked me to do. If an advertisement is to produce any business, it must first of all be read. I am not trying to be funny, nor do I propose to feed you spoonfuls of sophistry. I mean just what I say, and I believe the first question, the most important question of all is, how to get your advertisement read. I am not talking for the benefit of the man who uses pages or half pages of space. When a man can burn up space like that he doesn't need much help from me, nor indeed, from anyone. The very size of his advertisement will turn the trick, unless he makes a very bad mess of it. What I want to do is to make one or two practical suggestions for the man who can only (Continued on page 44)