Edison standard with provenance!

[dzavracky]

Incidentally- the Kratz Piano Co. was in the same neighborhood on E. Howard. They were a Victor dealer, and must have sold Edison products as well. There's a still crated DD machine that's been discussed on here that came from Kratz. I knew Janice Kratz from a part time retail gig in college. Her mother, Eileen, was still running the show at Kratz at that time. It was interesting to see that machine pop up on here and be discussed some time ago.

https://www.victorrecords.com/ohio

The Kratz Piano Co definitely sold Edison products....Look what I found on one of the cylinder boxes

Can we assume that this Edison Standard was sold in this store?

David

[Curt A]

Since that cylinder was with the machine that originated in Akron, Ohio, I think you can safely assume that the Edison machine was purchased there as well...

[soundgen]

Soundgen asked: "Very Neat ! be good to know when Lizzie moved in between 1917 and 1938 Teubner must have left it behind !"

I checked the Akron, Ohio City Directories between 1930 and 1935. Between 1930 and 1933, Alexander and Lizzie Hauser were living on Cuyahoga St. which almost runs directly into North St. Sometime during 1934 and 1935 they moved to 112 E. North St.

Alexander apparently was a fireman...

so Lizzie was only in the house for four / five years before it was demolished Teubner must have left it in the house ( perhaps the neighborhood was going dpwnhill when he left ) Curt you're a star ***

[gramophone-georg]

Incidentally- the Kratz Piano Co. was in the same neighborhood on E. Howard. They were a Victor dealer, and must have sold Edison products as well. There's a still crated DD machine that's been discussed on here that came from Kratz. I knew Janice Kratz from a part time retail gig in college. Her mother, Eileen, was still running the show at Kratz at that time. It was interesting to see that machine pop up on here and be discussed some time ago.

https://www.victorrecords.com/ohio

The Kratz Piano Co definitely sold Edison products....Look what I found on one of the cylinder boxes

Can we assume that this Edison Standard was sold in this store?

David

I had a feeling... and yes, it was likely sold through Kratz. Very cool find.

Here's Eileen's (Janice's mom) obituary:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ohio/ ... d=16494481

I'm not sure if the John W. mentioned in the obit is a junior or if the old man robbed the cradle here.

I decided to check Google, and John W. Kratz, born 1889, indeed passed away in December 1965, so Eileen and Janice's dad had a 27 year age difference, it seems. Could well be that Janice's dad might have sold your machine!
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/547 ... n-w_-kratz

[Curt A]

I found a couple of interesting things about John W Kratz that you might find interesting - like, he played clarinet in Sousa's band... I'm also attaching an interesting PDF bio of John, if anyone is interested.

[dzavracky]

I am so pleased to know so much about this machine. I have been listening to it nonstop since yesterday. I am simply amazed at how loud and clear it is. I have never heard a morning glory/edison horn in person... but my searchlight horn sounds REALLY good.

Thank you to everyone who helped me learn more about the history of this machine! It will certainly be a keeper in my collection!


David

[dzavracky]

I found a couple of interesting things about John W Kratz that you might find interesting - like, he played clarinet in Sousa's band... I'm also attaching an interesting PDF bio of John, if anyone is interested.

This is great!! Thank you Curt.

Cheers,
David

[Curt A]

David, you obviously didn't realize the rabbit hole you were going down when you got this machine...
It also made me go down there too...

Don't miss the PDF biography, it's worth looking at...

[gramophone-georg]

1923 is a little late to be peddling that sort of phonograph and records though- didn't Edison stop selling open horn machines 10 years previous? Wonder if Kratz started the music store in the early Teens. He would have been 21 in 1910. There was a LOT of money in Akron back then- hell, even through the 1980s. Akron was, after all, the "Rubber Capital of the World". Firestone, Seiberling, Goodyear, and Goodrich were all headquartered there, and Babcock and Wilcox as well as the Barber Match Co. were in Barberton which was sort of an Akron sub city, so it wouldn't be surprising that a 21 year old could make a go at business... but then go off to play for Sousa? Either that or maybe there was a John W Kratz, Sr. but I am not finding that info.

It wasn't unusual for stores to take trade- ins, but I don't think they would have been interested in 2 minute cylinders in the 1920s. If the Kratz Piano Co. started with this John W., it's beginning to seem impossible that this machine could have been sold there new.

EDIT: Just saw Curt's PDF. Mystery solved- it WAS his father's store originally. So yeah, the machine most probably came from there.

The PDF mentions Janice. I had no idea she was 10 years older than me. She was very tall, fair skinned with dark hair, easy on the eyes. She was the last person I ever saw smoke a cig with a holder on a regular basis. Quite elegant. It has to be odd, though, to realize that if your DAD was still alive... he'd be 131 years old!

I also had no clue of the phono connection back then. If I had, I would have BEGGED my way in to checking out the back, upstairs, and downstairs rooms!

[Curt A]

I think that it's amazing that there is so much info related to this machine and how the story even involved George when he lived in Akron...

George, it's too bad you didn't know Janice's relationship to the phonograph world... who knows what stuff was still lurking in that old store when you were there. It's the same with me, when I went to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI in the late '60s... there was an antique shop in the old RR depot downtown that was run by a phonograph collector who was later murdered. I went in there several times and he had a huge inventory of interesting machines, which I'm sure included Kalamazoo Duplex machines... I should have spent some time searching the area when I was there.

This is the same reason that I love genealogy. It's fun solving mysteries and fitting things into history... and it is weird about the perception of time.
My dad, if living today would be 108 years old, but I discovered that his dad (my grandfather) was born in Germany in 1847 and would be 173 years old...