Phonographs of the Rich and Famous

[OrthoSean]

The two Valentino sides were recorded for Brunswick but not issued until after his death. I found a copy of the disc several years ago. They didn't sell very well and for good reason, he was a HORRIBLE singer!

Sean

[Uncle Vanya]

Valentino appears here to be speaking into a loudspeaker, a Kodel Microphone loudspeaker, a great selling novelty in the 1925 radio season.

The two Valentino sides were recorded for Brunswick but not issued until after his death. I found a copy of the disc several years ago. They didn't sell very well and for good reason, he was a HORRIBLE singer!

Sean

The record is so awful that I would consider its publication a form of libel, but then one cannot libel the dead, can one?

[marcapra]

So, does that mean that the Kodel was a loud speaker and a microphone?

[epigramophone]

EMG and Expert gramophones have inevitably attracted the rich and famous, and no owner was more famous than T.E.Lawrence. Here is the music room at his former home, Clouds Hill, now in the care of The National Trust :

[Skihawx]

James Whitcomb Riley had a Mahogany L-door Victor. It is still in the exact same place in the house in Indianapolis. BTW the house is noted as
the best house preservation in the country. A place to visit if you are in the area. There is also a Zonophone horn machine missing most of the
upper parts in his bedroom.

[Uncle Vanya]

So, does that mean that the Kodel was a loud speaker and a microphone?

No. It was a novelty loudspeaker that looked like a microphone.

[Silvertone]

Hoot Gibson and I've read that William S. Hart owned 1928 Victrola 9-54s.

Also actor Rudolf Valentino was a radio and perhaps phonograph buff in the the 1920s.

The Sound Box (now called The Antique Phonograph) had articles on both William S. Hart's 9-54 and Rudolf Valentino's custom Brunswick Panatrope.

[marcapra]

Are back issues available of The Soundbox? Or is that article available online?

[victorIIvictor]

Sound Box (later, The Antique Phonograph) back issues ordering information available here:

http://www.antiquephono.org/back-issues ... honograph/

--Mark

Wow, there is even a subject index!

[NEFaurora]

President William Howard Taft had an Edison Idealia phonograph(Presented) / given to him by Thomas A. Edison himself. Today, The phonograph is in Excellent shape and it's a 9 out of 10 I'd say and it exists and is displayed at the Lightner Museum in the Music Room in St. Augustine Florida. The Idelia has a personalized Brass plaque on it that says: "To: William H. Taft with the best wishes of Thomas A. Edison". How the Lightner Museum in the in St. Augustine Florida got a hold of the phonograph still remains a mystery. It most likely should be in the Smithsonian, or one of the Edison Museums by this point. The cover for the Idelia is not present on the display, and it wears an incorrect reproduction of an earlier 14" horn.

I can provide pics of it on request...!

)

Tony K.