The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Generally the songs are weak disks vogue of dubious quality (especially 40-50's ... It's just a beauty?

I think Art Kassel got a lot of mileage out of Doodle Doo Doo.
I have a Victor version that is a normal version, and a version on Bluebird that is a like a laughing record.

Momentarily diverting my gaze from the young lady, I notice that the machine has both a winding handle and what appears to be an electrical pick-up.

Either this is artistic licence or there must be a battery operated amplifier in there somewhere, for it is a long way from the mains supply......

epigramophone wrote:Momentarily diverting my gaze from the young lady, I notice that the machine has both a winding handle and what appears to be an electrical pick-up.

Either this is artistic licence or there must be a battery operated amplifier in there somewhere, for it is a long way from the mains supply......

There were indeed some portables made with spring motor turntable and battery powered vacuum tube amplifier for the crystal pick-up.

While the musical content may not be all that great on Vogue Picture records. I will say that Lulu Belle & Scotty had a great one, "I get a kick out of corn".

When I lived in Michigan many years ago and belonged to MAPS, I met a fellow at one of our meetings that owned most of the original artwork those disks are made from. He brought a number of them to show, but none were for sale. They were bright and spectacular!

And I went to High School with Tom Saffady's Great-Nephew. Tom founded the company and his Nephew had some great B&W photos of behind the scenes Vogue stuff, including factory photos, Tom himself holding the first Vogue pressing of "Rum and Coca Cola" with a really neat high end sound system in the background, and many others I can't specifically remember. The family moved away from here while I was in college and I lost touch with them. It's a shame we didn't have scanners and such back in the early 90s, I would have loved to have scanned those pictures!

Sean

Some of the Vogue records sound terrific! The problem is most Vogue records have been thrown around coffee tables for 60 plus years because most people are more interested in looking at the picture than listening to the record and have been badly scratched even though they still look good from a distance. Never play these records on a Victrola type of machine. They are vinyl and will be eaten up by a steel needle. There are some good jazz Vogues by Charlie Shavers quintet and even the Clyde McCoy records like Sugar Blues sound terrific with great hi-fi sound if you can find a clean copy.