Pathé Sheraton model 27 of the "DeLuxe" line (1923-24)

[pughphonos]

After a years-long search I have finally found documentation on the mysterious, gutted Pathé console phonograph cabinet that occupied my parents' home for many years.

Painted white, they used it for storage and it always appeared to be just a low-boy cabinet. But once I got into antique phonographs, I looked at it with fresh eyes in 2013 and thought that perhaps it had once been a phonograph. I stripped off the paint from the underside of the lid--and a Pathé decal appeared!

Searching the surviving Pathé literature, the closest thing I could find to that cabinet was the Sheraton Actuelle model. Thing is, the Sheraton Actuelle had the decal inside a large, centered lid (above the paper cone/turntable assembly)--whereas in my cabinet the decal is inside a smaller lid at the far right of the cabinet!

My theory was that Pathé (after it discontinued the Actuelles in 1922) used up the Sheraton Actuelle cabinets by installing its older, standard tone arms/turntables in their right ends--and outfitted the rest of the cabinet for record storage.

I have finally been proved right. See attached advertisement that I just bought via E-bay. On its reverse is printed "Artcraft Sheraton Actuelle Cabinet."

Has anyone ever seen/owned one of these? I might have a one-of-a-kind here and am contemplating a restoration. If my theory is right that the turntable was older stock, it might be the same found in the small tabletop model III--which I hope might be easy to locate.

Ralph

[alang]

That sounds like an interesting project. Congratulations on finding this catalog picture so you have something to work of.

Good luck
Andreas

[Victrola-Monkey]

Looks like the right person got the advertisement artwork. I'm so glad I was picky and did not buy this on ebay. Even though I have the Actuelle of this model, it wasn't the same. Interesting how the word "Sheridan" is not on my ID plate, instead it only states "Art Model". Here's a link someone near Kansas selling one that looks exactly like mine (their photos below):

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/atq/5248781284.html

I did buy the same type of advertisement artwork from the same seller for the French Gothic Pathé Actuelle, for which I do have the same model machine.

[Kirkwood]

What an interesting discovery! Pathé--like Edison and others--must have invested heavily the cabinets from an outside jobber. This was an accepted way to use up cabinets on hand and not take such a loss. I'll be interested to see if any others have one of these later versions. The Actuelle has gold-finished hardware, would this one in your illustration likewise have used gold parts?

I have the Actuelle version, just like that shown in the post from Victrola-Monkey, which likewise only says "Art Model" on the badge. Although I enjoy my Actuelle, I always found that plain, plain case to be almost homely to look at and wondered if the buying public of the day thought so as well. Maybe this was a first stab at being "modern" for the time. There don't seem to be many of them. I prefer the more common upright version, which I just bought this Fall---it's easier to use, not so much bending down to wind the thing....

[pughphonos]

Andreas, Victrola-Monkey and Kirkwood,

Thanks for your responses! I'm really very excited about all this. I know that the later American Pathés (Acuelles--and through to the end) don't have many fans; there aren't many surviving; and information on them is hard to find. But for those reasons it also makes it more fun--and a greater responsibility--to preserve the ones that still exist and share as much information on them as we can.

I am so glad that you guys own a couple of the Actuelle versions of the Pathé Sheraton cabinet. I did for awhile (and still do, "sort of"); I bought it via E-bay and had a friend deliver it. But the cabinet was in truly sad shape (one leg was broken off) and I decided to disassemble it and save the good cabinet parts against the day when I could restore the painted one I already had from my parents' home. The turntable/cone portion I gave to Ron Haring of Plano, Illinois in around 2013; he might still have it.

I have a copy of Copeland & Dethlefson's Pathé Records and Phonographs in America, 1914-1922. On pages 125-126 it reproduces Pathé literature from around 1919 that shows six of the Actuelles. Most are designated by a letter. The one you see most often--the relatively plain upright--is designated as the Model H; a somewhat more ornate version is designated as the Model J. Then there's a short Gothic designated as Model T, and a taller, more ornate Gothic marked as Model L.

The Sheraton you guys own is also shown on page 125, with some of the others--but does not have its model number provided. I assume it also had a letter for its model designation. I'll continue to research this.

It appears that Pathé didn't want to go to the additional trouble/expense of putting these model designations on the ID plates; they just used a generic "Art Model" description for all of them.

Anyway, back to the post-1922 final use of the Pathé Sheraton cabinets. On-line I found a scan from a late 1923 newspaper (November 14)--I believe from Ohio--of an advertisement stating:

Our Christmas Club offers you the opportunity to own a beautiful Pathé Console Model Phonograph!

Model No. 40, as shown in cut, $199.00
Model No. 40, as shown in cut, electric, $235.00
Model No. 36, Mahogany or Walnut Veneer, Queen Anne, $130.00
Model No. 31, Mahogany or Walnut Veneer, Adam $115.00
Model No. 27, Mahogany or Walnut Veneer, Sheraton $99.00

Pathé perfect tone control; Pathé reproducer; nickel fittings; new oval horn.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, I clearly own the cabinet for the Model 27. As you can see above, these final models had nickel fittings--and the hinges on my white cabinet also are nickel! So, when I seek to restore I'll be going with nickel knobs as opposed to the "dangly" gold ones of the Pathé Actuelle.

Part of me hopes that someone else has one of these "final stage" Pathé Sheratons (with hardware reverted to the Universal Tone Arm); part of me doesn't so that I might have something virtually unique.

Ralph

P.S. I'll provide photos of my painted cabinet in the near future. I'm working FT and a couple PT jobs and don't have a huge amount of free time at the moment.

[pughphonos]

Hi Guys,

One thing I can do today is provide a couple scans from the Copeland and Dethlefson book.

The first is from page 113 and shows the earliest version of the Sheraton--as carried in the "Talking Machine World" (under date August 15, 1917). As you can see from the description, it had the Universal Tone arm. It had a fancier cabinet than the versions that came after.

The second is of page 125, showing the Actuelle version of the Sheraton among other art models of that time (ca. 1919).

The cabinet I have, which is post-1922 (as advertised in late 1923), was apparently the third and final version--at which point the company had reverted to the standard tone arm.

Ralph

[pughphonos]

Hi folks,

I've finally taken a few photos of my Pathé Sheraton model 27 cabinet (see below). As you can see it's serving as the base for other storage and at present occupies a rather crowded rec room; as I move ahead with restoration I'll of course get it totally uncovered.

The first photo is an overview shot that shows its shortened legs; as part of restoration I'll need to place on it the legs from my now-disassembled Sheraton Actuelle cabinet.

The second photo shows its motorboard/turntable area (grille is long-gone). Even with the paint job you can see where the brackets used to be that supported the motor board; the crank hole is at right.

The third photo is from the same area--angled upwards towards the inside of the lid so that you can see the uncovered Pathé decal.

So, these are my "before" shots!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I've been googling around and so far have not found any Pathé motorboards that are from its late acoustical period (ca. 1923-1926)--with an oval horn and the Universal Tone arm--that would fit this relatively snug space (13" deep, 15" in height, and 13 ¾" wide). Can you all keep an eye out for me?

Oh, in looking again at the Copeland & Dethlefson book I see in its Appendix 1 that it has reproduced a Price List under date February 15, 1924 of the "New Pathé DeLuxe Models." I'll enter the info here so I won't have to scan the page:

MODEL / STYLE / PRICE

/ Portable / 40.00
/ Portable (Fabrikoid) / 50.00
4 / Table Model / 55.00
8 / Small Upright / 85.00
15 / Large Upright / 100.00
27 / Sheraton / 100.00
31 / Adam / 120.00
36 / Queen Anne / 135.00
38 / Hepplewhite / 165.00
40 / Italian Renaissance (Nickel) / 185.00
40b / Italian Renaissance (Gold) / 195.00
H / Actuelle / 125.00

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, the Actuelle model H (the most plain upright--see one of my prior scans above) was still being advertised as late as early 1924.

The "DeLuxe Models" were of course Plain Janes with leftover mechanisms and cabinets; all old stuff, except for the oval horns--which were hardly revolutionary. So this cabinet of mine is most properly designated as from a Pathé Sheraton Deluxe model 27. Its only claim to fame is, as yet, no one else on this forum has ever seen another.

Ralph

[estott]

At least two of the upright Actuelle cabinets have turned up rebuilt into "Operaphone" phonographs- Pathé must have had quite a few cabinets to liquidate. http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... operaphone

[pughphonos]

At least two of the upright Actuelle cabinets have turned up rebuilt into "Operaphone" phonographs- Pathé must have had quite a few cabinets to liquidate. http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... operaphone

Estott, this is fascinating; thanks for the link. I'm particularly intrigued by the oval horn in the "Operaphone" as the Pathé literature for the DeLuxe models talks about them having oval horns. So, it appears that some of the unsold Pathé DeLuxes ended up as Operaphones?

At any rate, I need one of those oval horns for my restoration project.

Ralph

[pughphonos]

Hi all,

Further research in the Copeland & Dethlefson book Pathé Records and Phonographs in America, 19441922 (Appendix 3) shows the Pathé Oval Horn as represented in Pathé literature from around 1923-24 (see below). The description states that the horn was made out of Pathol; sounds like a name based on the name Pathé?

At any rate, this proves that the Pathol horn was a Pathé creation and Pathé probably outfitted a number of leftover Actuelle cabinets with them before turning over their distribution to Operaphone; most of the surviving examples of these machines with Pathol horns have the Operaphone ID on them, with the sole exception being one with the Prestonia ID tag. All surviving examples are of the cabinets that had previously housed the Pathé Actuelle model H (the plainest upright).

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... operaphone

The purpose of the odd-shaped Pathol horns was clearly to fit the odd cabinet spaces left over by the re-purposing of the old Actuelle cabinets. In the case of the model H, it meant creating a horn that was very wide but not very high. In the case of the Sheraton cabinets, such a horn would have been very small as very little space was available for it (as can be seen via the photos and dimensions I provided earlier in this thread). One wonders how good--or bad--the sound was after traveling through such a horn (see additional photos below; as copied from the string linked above).

But little matter: the whole purpose was clearly to just use up old mechanisms and cabinets.

Given all that, I am giving up on trying to find a Pathol oval horn that came from another Pathé Sheraton model 27; practically none exist. Instead I'll just be content with transferring to my cabinet an older Pathé motorboard/turntable that would fit--and hopefully its older wooden horn would also fit that space. I'll let you know how that all turns out.

Ralph