The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Second part sears 1930 catalog.

Larry,

Thanks for posting these, they’re excellent scans. [Edited after realizing I apparently missed the ones on the preceding page.]

— MordEth

Hi Larry:

Those scans are great! I remember seeing a phonograph exactly like the 1937 Wards table model for sale on eBay a couple of years ago. I remember thinking that the sound box and tonearm exactly matched those on a Birch portable I used to own. I don't remember what it sold for, but it wasn't much.

The phonographs in the 1930 Sears catalog look virtually identical to those in the 1927 catalog. (I used to have a photocopy of the pages from the reproduction catalog that came out in the 1970s.) It's interesting that they are selling two versions of the "Consolette." Apparently Victor did not trademark that name. Perhaps it was a general term in use at the time to describe a small console cabinet?

I also find the tonearm on the Sears 1937 cabinet phonograph, with what looks like a sliding counter-weight, very interesting. It almost looks like a throwback to the pre-1925 style arms, though I'd imagine that it probably has a constant taper, throughout.

Again, many thanks for posting these!

No one has picked up so far on the Brunswick tie in I mentioned. Could the sliding tone arm weight possibly mean brunswick tone arm as well?

Goes to show how closely I studied the page before putting it up. That tone arm on the 1937 is almost for sure the Ultona arm? I too thought brunswick was out of business by then? Someone here must know the story. Maybe Rick Wakeman.. Maybe I will write him for an opinion;

By 1937 Brunswick's record production was a part of ARC. I don't know if the talking machine part of the business followed with it or went a separate way.

As far as the original Brunswick product - pool tables - is concerned I believe that part of the company still exists?

Fredrik

Fredrik wrote:As far as the original Brunswick product - pool tables - is concerned I believe that part of the company still exists?

Fredrik,

I never realized that these two product lines under the Brunswick name were the same company...Brunswick Billiards is still going and has been around since 1845. Pretty impressive, really.

Thanks to Google for the link, because a search is only a tab away in Firefox. And I Google everything.

— MordEth

Many of the record producing companies of the 78 rpm era had started out making quite different things. Apart from Brunswick I think of Banner and the other so called "Plaza" labels which were produced by the Scranton Button Company (I suppose they pressed buttons in shellak as well?), and Paramount which was the product of the Wisconsin Chair Company.

The Swedish Sonora label of the 1930s and 1940s was pressed by a subsidary of the Swedish telephone company LM Ericson.

Fredrik

I'm pretty sure that RCA Victor in Montreal kept one or two of the Orthophonic machines on the market for a year or so longer than in the States, to late 1931. In particular that odd one that was an 8-35 with the storage area on each end chopped off. It was only sold in Canada.
(This is going to make me go and buy a new scanner) The only thing is I have nothing in my hand to prove that,,,but I'm working on it..

Jim

Lenoirstreetguy wrote:...This is going to make me go and buy a new scanner...

Jim,

If you do not want to spend very much money on it, I recommend the [url=urlhttp://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?a ... elid=11463]Canon CanoScan LiDE 25[/url]. You should be able to pick up one pretty cheaply (~ $50 USD).

— MordEth