The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Paal1994 wrote:That's a really nice phonograph image!
Is this taken in 1927 for the 50th anniversary of the phonograph?

Paal.

Yes it is. I have several images taken at the occasion. Btw, Edison turns the crank of a reproduction. The original model, stored at the South Kensington museum since October 1880, was returned to him not until 1928. I have his speech of thanks, signed by the inventor. The phonograph stated below might be the original model. It is an excerpt from another press photo in my collection.

This is the Paul Specht band in the Columbia studio in 1922-23. I like it because it's a real session: note the music in the holders. This is from the Bain Collection and I have it in a tif file that is so detailed that you can almost READ the music and see the tattoo on wrist of one of the sax players! The blob hanging on the conductor's desk is someone's tweed cap! I can't seem to resize so that it maintains the extraordinary detail of the tif. The tall young trombonist is Russ Morgan. He is better known for his kinda schmaltzy pop stuff on the late forties and early fifties.

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This is by far my favorite phono-related photo. I can easily imagine how beautiful this shop must have looked in real life, with it's rich mahogany & tiger oak cabinets & machines, each topped with an explosion of colour. With all this set against a back drop of Edison cylinder records & art nouveau wall paper, it really must have been a sight to see.
(And not a wrinkly old man in sight)

I have all of the phono images from a post like this from the OTVMMB. I think 15 or 20? The only thing is my system crashed, but thankfully they were backed up on my Ipod. Unfortionatly, i have no way of getting them off. Every program that i have tried is just a demo and i can only take 6 images off...So i'll have to try and find a way....

But Shane, regarding your picture, that is one of the photos i have on my Ipod. If you look at the Columbia BC to the left you'll see a tube going upwards from it. George suggested that it was connecter to a horn coming out of the building to draw in crowds. He said there is a display like it in one of his books. The BC is deffinatley the one for the job! Gawd do i want one . Well, i just thought i would share that about the image!

Aaron

gramophoneshane wrote:This is by far my favorite phono-related photo. I can easily imagine how beautiful this shop must have looked in real life, with it's rich mahogany & tiger oak cabinets & machines, each topped with an explosion of colour. With all this set against a back drop or Edison cylinder records & art nouveau wall paper, it really must have been a sight to see.
(And not a wrinkly old man in sight)

Very nice photo Shane. So what's with the BC and the Victor III or IV off to the right? What are they doing in an "Edison Shop"? Do you think that a couple recent Victor and Columbia purchasers quickly recognized the error of their ways and these machines were taken in trade for Edisons?

I was wondering about the tube & the Victor myself.
The tube being connected to an exterior horn makes sense to me.
I never thought about the posibility that the Victor was a trade-in. I thought it was either a new line to be sold in the shop as the disc machine would have been gaining popularity around the time this photo was taken, or I thought it might have been there to demonstrate the inferior sound quality of discs compared to cylinders

Aaron,
I've got some more of the pictures from the old board on my computer. I can either post them here or send what I've got in a PM if you like. Probably not all of them, but maybe half??

Great pictures everyone!
I enjoyed all of them.
And Shane, Please post the pictures here. I'd love to see them

Paal.

Here's my second favorite. I think we'd all like to visit this place!
I think we all could choose 100 cylinders & a stack of horns, and there'd still plenty of left overs.

Wouldn't that be great? I love the cabinet that Triumph is sitting on. Not the usual Herzog you see.

Sean

The photo is wonderful. I think we're all engaging in the vicarious pleasure of taking home cylinders from among the floor to ceiling selections. I wonder what the store hours are; I want to be first in line when they open their doors in the morning. Just imagine being a kid back in '04 or '05, and going to this store right after your dad gave you your $500 weekly allowance for being an angel child!



Rocky