The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Dave,

There's a good book on the subject you might enjoy: High Class Moving Pictures, Lyman H. Howe and the Forgotten Era of Traveling Exhibition, 1880-1920 by Charles Musser and Carol Nelson. It's a fascinating look at the business of traveling exhibitions. You're right - those guys really busted their humps, but some of them reached thousands of people every year.

By the way, it would take 6000 tickets at five cents each to pay for a $300 GG m(not counting the records, hall rentals, travel, lodging, etc.). But fortunately the price of a GG dropped to $150 in February of 1899!

George P.

Pete, you are correct !! DUHHHHH You can tell that I was not a math major !!

On the subject of 5" cylinders, there are people making reproductions, also from hard plastic....so easy to play on a machine without the depressive possibility of ruining an original 5" way cylinder. I got mine from England.

US Phono, I found the same company in England but they only offer three titles to choose from and with shipping the cost is over $150. U.S. apiece. If I could obtain requested titles I might go for it. I have heard of possibly another man in the states that is working on doing just that. I wish him luck and I am sure that if he does perfect the process he will do very well with it. I probably would order 5 or 6 right off the bat if the price is not too exorbitant. We'll see what happens !!

I have just received a 5 inch mandrel for my A B McDonald Graphophone from Jean-Paul in Canada and it works very well. He did a very nice job on it.

Have any of you purchased any 5 inch reproduction concert cylinder records??? I have several originals but would like to investigate some repros, possibly custom made unless they are very expensive. Thanks guys !!

I'm a huge fan of Vulcan's reproduction Concerts. They aren't cheap, but they're reasonable compared to originals. But importantly they look real, they sound great --- and they are unbreakable. Finally I can play records whenever I want, or even leave it on the mandrel for display, without worrying about damaging a very expensive original. (I've been gun-shy ever since I cracked a fine original while putting it on my Graphophone Grand.)

Thank you for that information. I see that they have three titles available. I will order them. I just wanted to know how they sound and look before ordering. Thanks again!!

obmcclintock wrote:Thank you for that information. I see that they have three titles available. I will order them. I just wanted to know how they sound and look before ordering. Thanks again!!

A friend of mine has a black plastic Concert record that I think was made by Vulcan a couple years ago, but it is not in their current catalog. It is titled "Liberty Bell March" and is well recorded and is everything you would hope for in a replica.

Thank you for that information !!!!

I don't know why they dropped Liberty Bell March from the catalog. Too bad. I had one of the black ones but when they switched to brown I replaced it and sold the previous one. It's a terrific piece to play on a Concert machine, very loud and very clear. And in brown you'd never imagine it's not wax. Top notch.