The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

On a related side note, I received my copy of Frow's, The Edison Disc Phonographs and the Diamond Discs: A History with Illustrations yesterday and proceeded to devour it. I have a much better understanding of the "New Edison" machines now than I had just 2 days ago!

How amazing this world of Phonographs is.

Edisone wrote:Looking at the December 19, 1918 EVENING NEWS of North Tonawanda, I see that Mr.Curt Andrus had multiple ads - at least 5 for Edison, 2 Victor, and 1 for a player piano. He must have gotten good rates. His store is still standing (90 Webster St), as is his house (408 Wheatfield St - a modest place) ....

I have a C-250 (or is it a c-19? Must check again) with an extra decal under the horn - it's from UTLEY, Buffalo NY. Maybe it was a Buffalo custom, I assume through W.D.Andrews or Neal Clark & Neal (jobbers) on Main St. Speaking of which - there's a photo in circulation showing the demonstration booths of Neal Clark & Neal, and a very rare Edison Amberola IV is in the shot. I wonder if it has survived, and is still lurking in a Buffalo attic .....

In the December 2(0), 1917 "THE EVENING NEWS—North Tonawanda", was a nearly ¼ page add for, "The New Edison". I can imagine the hype he was subjected to, as a sales agent, to get these new models ordered and sold!

It seems that by December 1926, in the same publication, he was advertising heavily for radio sales...the inevitability of the end of our beloved Edison machines was near.

Yet, in December of 1929, he was still advertising Edison (Phonographs) at $37.50 and $57.50 with no mention of the models. It has a caption at the bottom of this particular add: "Some of the phonographs listed above sold as high as $250 and are in slendid condition - and have room to install radios in."

Source: [url]www.http://fultonhistory.com/[/url]

90 Webster Street, North Tonawanda, NY.

The store on the left was the location of Curt C. Andrus, "The House of Music".

I wonder if that's the original building. It looks like it could have been built in the 1920s/30s as a car dealership or something. In any event, it sort of lacks the gravitas for being the "House of Music!"

Another thing to watch out for is street renumbering.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:I wonder if that's the original building. It looks like it could have been built in the 1920s/30s as a car dealership or something. In any event, it sort of lacks the gravitas for being the "House of Music!"

Another thing to watch out for is street renumbering.

George P.

George, you are right, I haven't been able to find any photos of the building that would prove this is indeed where Curt C. Andrus' store was located. The store fronts were recently "upgraded" which would explain the modern decor. Who's to know if the buildings may have been razed? I will continue to search, though.

C-19? It looks more like the C-250! Look, It has drawers! Only the C-250 had drawers, The C-19's have slats for the records, I should know, I have both!

Beautiful machine, but I think that it's a C-250, and not a C-19. Re-check the dataplate ask re-ask George P. what the deal on the machine is.. You may just need to hunt for a C-250 dataplate and medallion as they were different on the C-19's

Get a pic of the gold medallion next to turntable, a pic of the id dataplate, and a pic of the drawers. We'll figure it out..

)

Tony K.

fran604g wrote:

phonogfp wrote:I wonder if that's the original building. It looks like it could have been built in the 1920s/30s as a car dealership or something. In any event, it sort of lacks the gravitas for being the "House of Music!"

Another thing to watch out for is street renumbering.

George P.

George, you are right, I haven't been able to find any photos of the building that would prove this is indeed where Curt C. Andrus' store was located. The store fronts were recently "upgraded" which would explain the modern decor. Who's to know if the buildings may have been razed? I will continue to search, though.

That building is the original. Nothing has been built on Webster Street since 1930. I attend monthly Mighty WuliTzer concerts at the Riviera Theater, on this very block - so I'm quite familiar with it. In fact, most pre-1940 buildings in the Buffalo area are either still standing or empty lots - very few were replaced by new construction, because we have never recovered from The Great Depression or the death of the railroads, death of Great Lakes shipping, steel industry, American Manufacturing, etc etc. The population declines every week & at least 30,000 houses stand abandoned, while Buffalo cannot find the million$$ needed to demolish them.



ps - Look again at the full-sized version of that building's photo. It's made of beautifully multi-colored bricks, with decorative stone insets and topped with copper. Such care is rarely seen on post-1930 construction. (try to ignore the grotesque billboard with ambulance-chasing shysters, who are the shame of Buffalo)

NEFaurora wrote:C-19? It looks more like the C-250! Look, It has drawers! Only the C-250 had drawers, The C-19's have slats for the records, I should know, I have both!

Beautiful machine, but I think that it's a C-250, and not a C-19. Re-check the dataplate ask re-ask George P. what the deal on the machine is.. You may just need to hunt for a C-250 dataplate and medallion as they were different on the C-19's

Get a pic of the gold medallion next to turntable, a pic of the id dataplate, and a pic of the drawers. We'll figure it out..

)

Tony K.

The early C-19 also has drawers. I have one and have seen several others.

The "deal" on the machine was explained in earlier posts.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:The early C-19 also has drawers. I have one and have seen several others.

. . .

George P.

It seems to have been Edison's practice to cheapen the way that machines were built as time went on, perhaps as a result of declining fortunes of their phonograph business. I am wondering, though, if that might just have exacerbated the decline.

Clay

NEFaurora wrote:C-19? It looks more like the C-250! Look, It has drawers! Only the C-250 had drawers, The C-19's have slats for the records, I should know, I have both!

Beautiful machine, but I think that it's a C-250, and not a C-19. Re-check the dataplate ask re-ask George P. what the deal on the machine is.. You may just need to hunt for a C-250 dataplate and medallion as they were different on the C-19's

Get a pic of the gold medallion next to turntable, a pic of the id dataplate, and a pic of the drawers. We'll figure it out..

)

Tony K.

With all due respect, Tony, you should read through the entire post before commenting.

Fran