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Working Americans Vol. 12: Our History Through Music

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Apartment, Chicago, Five Rooms $70.00 Bathing Suit, Men’s $5.00 Carpet Sweeper $5.00 Crib $17.50 Handkerchiefs, Dozen $1.80 Hotel Room, New York, per Day $3.00 Poker Set, 100 Chips $6.25 Radio $39.95 Talking Machine, Victrola 405, Walnut Case, Electric $290.00 Typewriter, Remington $60.00

“Scientist Says Moving Pictures by Radio Certain,” Oakland Tribune (California), November 21, 1924:

In a little while, if all goes well, it may be as easy to “see-in” film plays at home as it is today to “listen-in” to broadcast plays and concerts.

The citizen in his easy chair will adjust his tuner, much as he does now, but, instead of a voice coming out of space, figures will move to and fro across the screen in his darkened room.

This will be the natural sequel to the great step forward in the development of television towards the possibility of broadcasting cinematograph plays, which is claimed by two British inventors.

Hitherto, the transmission of photographs to a distance by wire or wireless has been a matter of minutes, but W. S. Stephenson, the managing director of the General Radio Company, and G. W. Walton, one of his colleagues, now state that they have discovered a “light-sensitive device” which will permit this to be done almost instantly.

“In fact, in the near future,” said W. S. Stephenson to me yesterday, “we hope to have instruments actually working which would be capable of transmitting pictures at the same speed as that now necessary to “maintain persistence of vision in cinematography, 18 pictures per second.”

The chief difficulty in the past was the slow-action selenium, the element most generally used to convert light into electrical current which can be sent over wires or by wireless.

Messers. Stephenson and Walton, who already hold patents covering apparatus devised for the transmission of pictures, claim that their “light-sensitive device” takes the place of selenium.

Stephenson showed a small photograph with a parallel line effect reminiscent of fine-screen halftone reproduction.

“This photograph,” he declared “was transmitted by our method in 20 seconds. It is only a question of speeding up the apparatus to the time necessary for persistence of vision.”

“Victor Co. Produces a New Record, Officials Say Invention for Phonograph Will Revolutionize the Industry,” The New York Times, August 14, 1925:

The Victor Talking Machine Company announced yesterday that it will soon place on the market an improved music-producing instrument which “will revolutionize the entire industry.”

This statement came less than 24 hours after the announcement of the Brunswick-Balollender of the Panatrome substitute for the phonograph, which has been developed by the Radio Corporation of America, the General Electric Company, the Westinghouse Electric Company, and the Brunswick Company.

Both the Victor and the Brunswick companies say that there is no reason for scrapping the existing instruments. The new records which they are issuing can be played on the existing phonographs and Victrolas. They are said to be an improvement over the old records when played on the ordinary machines, but it is asserted that the new reproducing instruments are needed to bring our their full values.

E. K. McEwan, secretary of the Victor Talking Machine Company, described the new Victor invention as “a knockout.” He said it would be placed on the market very soon.

E. R. Fenimore Johnson, president of Victor Co., said that he was not ready to describe the invention in detail, but he called it “the ultimate sound reproduction.” He said that it gave complete mechanical reproduction for the entire range of audible sound.

The New Brunswick machine, called the Panatrome, is equipped with vacuum tube amplifiers and disc resonators run either by batteries or by connection with an electrical system. The new Victor machine, it was said, is nonelectrical.

While both inventions are intended as an answer to the competition of radio, which has cut heavily into the music reproduction businesses, both are indebted to radio. The Brunswick instrument is almost a byproduct of radio. Many of its features are adapted from inventions and developments resulting from radio research. It is asserted that the Brunswick instrument makes it possible to put eight or nine times as much music on a 12-inch record as at present, or, in other words, to make a 12-inch record that will play 40 or 45 minutes. This development, however, is so far only in the laboratory stage. Practical difficulties, it was said, would make it a year or two before 45-minute records can be marketed.

Victor officials declined to say whether the new product would make possible records which could play a great length of time without change.

Discussing the statement that the New Brunswick music reproduced partly on principle that used in the talking film, Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the Phonofilm, said yesterday his patents were not in any way infringed.

“I welcome this invention. I believe it will save the phonograph. I am very fond of the phonograph, I haven’t played mine for months, simply because I am tired of changing the records every few minutes. If they are successful in getting out a record which will play for half an hour without interruption, it will certainly be a remarkable achievement which the public would greatly appreciate.”

Advertisement for Eagle brand Graphophone, 1899:

Possession of a Graphophone makes it possible, at modest cost, to keep up-to-date with the latest operatic and musical comedy successes, with concert singers of the highest renown, to hear the voice of a noted comedian reciting some of his sidesplitting monologues. The Graphophone is to the ear what the camera is to the eye; superior, in fact to a camera because it is Simple and Instantaneous, recording and reproducing on the spot, with utmost fidelity anything it is allowed to hear.

Timeline of the Victor Phonograph Company

1900

Eldridge Johnson purchased the Berliner Gramophone Company after Berliner lost a legal battle over rights to manufacture flat-disc gramophones; Johnson formed the Consolidated Talking Machine Company.

1901

Johnson reorganized Consolidated Talking Machine and called the new venture The Victor Talking Machine Company.

Victor $3, Type A, Type B, Type C, Monarch, and Monarch Deluxe models were introduced.

Victor sold 7,570 phonographs during the year.

1902

Victor introduced the “Rigid Arm” tone arm concept, which allowed the arm to pivot independently from the horn.

Victor Monarch Jr., Monarch Special, Type P, Royal, Victor II, Victor III and Victor IV models were introduced.

1903

Victor introduced Type D, Type Z, Victor I models.

Initial sketches of an internal horn phonograph design appeared, eventually leading to production of the Victrola.

1904

Victor introduced the deluxe gold-trimmed Victor VI model, selling for $100.

A tapering tone arm debuted on certain models.

1905

Victor sold 65,591 phonographs during the year.

1906

The pneumatic-powered Victor Auxetophone, introduced in May, sold for $500.

The Victrola, the first internal horn phonograph, was introduced and became an instant success.

1907

Victor began transitioning manufacture of Victrola cabinets to its Camden plant.

The “domed lid” was introduced on the Victrola.

1908

Victor sold a record 107,000 phonographs.

1909

Victor introduced the first tabletop internal horn phonograph, the Victrola XII, which sold for $125, and the economy Monarch Jr. external horn phonograph, priced at $10.00.

Victor sales plummeted over 50 percent during the year due to the economic downturn.

1910

Victor focused design and production efforts on the internal horn phonograph and away from the external horn models.

1911

Victor introduced the Victrola IX, the first truly low-cost internal horn tabletop model, selling for $50.

Internal horn Victrola sales exceeded those of the external horn Victor phonographs for the first time.

Victor sales were at a record 125,000 for the year.

1912

Victor sales nearly doubled from the previous year, passing 252,000.

1913

Victor introduced the automatic brake feature on many models.

The Victor XXV “Schoolhouse” model was introduced.

1914

Victor introduced brown mahogany as a finish option.

1915

The elegant Victrola XVIII was introduced, selling for $300 in basic mahogany.

1917

Victor reached an all-time production high of 573,000 phonographs during the year.

1918

Wartime inflation resulted in a series of price increases for all Victor products.

Victor production partially converted to rifle components and biplane wings; phonograph production dropped over 40 percent from the previous year.

1919

Victor production converted back to phonographs, with annual production rising to 474,000 units.

Additional price increases were implemented due to inflation.

1920

Annual sales of Victor phonographs topped 560,000, the second-best year ever.

1921

Intense competition reduced sales by 30 percent for the year.

Victor offered its first “suitcase portable” model, the Victrola No. 50.

1922

Victor introduced a low-priced line of “flat-top” consoles, selling for $100, that were immediately successful. New phonograph competitors and the rise of radio sales increased to five percent.

1923

Victor launched a series of upper-medium-priced consoles; total Victor production levels remained stagnant at around 400,000 units per year.

1924

Victor sales continued to slide during the year, deteriorating to a low point during the usually busy Christmas season.

Radios were now the dominant Christmas entertainment gift.

1925

Victor licensed the electric recording process.

During the summer, Victor launched a “half-price” sale to unload its stock of old-style Victrolas in anticipation of the Orthophonic debut.

Four new Orthophonic Victrolas were introduced on November 2; the products were highly successful, since the fidelity and volume were many times greater than the earlier Victrolas, and costs ranged from $85 to $275.

Victor offered its first radio/phono combination console, the Alhambra I, selling for $350.00.

Victor sales dropped nearly 40 percent to an annual rate of 262,000 units.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"." Working Americans Vol. 12: Our History Through Music, edited by Scott Derks, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=WA12_0042.
APA 7th
. Working Americans Vol. 12: Our History Through Music, In S. Derks (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=WA12_0042.
CMOS 17th
"." Working Americans Vol. 12: Our History Through Music, Edited by Scott Derks. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=WA12_0042.