The talking machine world (Jan-June 1920)

74 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD May 15, 1920 You know "Dardanella" and you know Sascha Jacobsen. So you also know that you can sell many records of this great violin solo. A-2912. Columbia Grapbophone Co, NEW YORK EDISON'S NEW EDITORIAL DIRECTOR D. E. Wheeler Is a Firm Believer in the Fact That America Is Musical Leaving magazine fiction for phonograph music is not such a radical change for D. E. Wheeler, the recently appointed editorial director of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., as the casual observer might think. Though Mr. Wheeler has moved and has had his being in the New York literary world from boyhood the art of music has exercised a dominant influence over him. For a long time Mr. Wheeler has contended that America is musical and that the country is developing its own particular musical culture, even as it has grown along native literary •lines. Our music is not, nor will it be, necessarily the classic European variety, but something more individual and expressive of the American idea. It is his opinion that superior persons may smile at our popular songs, at our rag-time, at our jazz, but in doing so they fail to see deeper than the surface. He points out that if such critics would only stop to compare the quality of our home-made music of twenty years ago, and take into consideration the astonishing multiplication of our orchestras and musical organizations and performers, they would not miss the obvious object lesson of our swift cultural development. "Everything begins with the home," says Mr. Wheeler, "and the fact that even the humblest and poorest may have its music in the form of a phonograph is profoundly significant of the future of America as a musical factor in the world, for it is the constant hearing of music which develops appreciation, discrimination and creation. "The truth is that we Americans have been so thoroughly prejudiced against ourselves as creators of music that it has been taken for granted that it was beyond our powers, meekly accepting the theory of Europe that a country without folk song had not the foundation for A MODEL B, VENUS BELLE Showing Record Compartment holding 70 records. Height 35 inches. Width 2 feet 7 inches. Length 3 feet Mahogany, Walnut, Oak and Ebony THE VENUS BELLE THE BABY GRAND SHAPE provides ample room for a tone chamber of unusual size, so large that it produces the full, round, rich tones of any voice or instrument in a manner impossible with the necessarily small chamber of ordinary upright phonographs. It also permits plenty of convenient easy-toreach space for the filing of 70 or more records. VENUS BELLE phonograph is unique and beautiful in design — a beautiful piece of furniture in any home. Plays all records perfectly and is equipped with automatic stop and modulator. Dealers who desire exclusive territory should make application at once. THE VENUS GO. Also Makers of The VENUS Phonograph Needle Factory and General Offices: Liberty and Western Avenues Cincinnati, Ohio, V. S. A. Chicago Sales Office: Room 435, Fine Arts Bldg. composition or even true appreciation, which is nonsense. This ignores the fact that a score of nationalities have brought their melodic idioms to this land and that in the fusion of common life a cosmopolitan music might evolve, D. E. Wheeler just as social or political customs can merge into a composite that is veritably a new order." In taking up his duties with the Edison Co. it is Mr. Wheeler's intention to spread the gospel of American music and stimulate appreciation of the marvelous art in general through every .channel of publicity that is possible to use. MARKETS THREE NEW MODELS Wonder Talking Machine Co. Adds Three Floor Cabinet Styles to Its Line The Wonder Talking Machine Co., 109 East Twelfth street. New York, manufacturer of small single spring motors and novelty and table talking machines, recently placed three new models on the market, all of which are floor cabinet machines. The models are popular priced, being listed at retail from seventyfive to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Recently the above firm has been manufacturing some small cabinets without equipment on special order. While the new models mentioned above are not at present being turned out in great quantities, the facilities for doing so are constantly being increased, and the compan\ feels that as the demand grows there will be an ample supply of the product. "WHAT ARE YOU SHORT?" Get in touch with us. We hare everything in the phonograph line— Needles, Tone Arms, Motors, Cabinets, all kinds of accessories and repair parts. We specialize on Main Springs, Bettertone Phonographs. Let us do your repairs. PLEASING SOUND PHONOGRAPH CO.. 204-206 East 113th St., New York.