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I found this picture of John Charles Thomas (1891-1960), an American opera singer,with this strange upright phonograph. Does anyone know the make? And what is that strange cord that Thomas is holding? What is it for? Does it have anything to do with the opened grille?

That is an Aeolian-Vocalion phonograph. Rather a nice machine.

The cord he is holding is called the "Graduola." It's not really a cord, but more like a vintage push-pull choke cable hooked to control the volume. Incidentally, it is the first remote control.

It's a beautiful picture--both an awesome singer and an awesome phonograph. Thanks for posting it! Maybe someone will chime in with the model of Aeolian-Vocalion.

Cool picture. I have seen this specific model in some old ads just this week. I just took another peek but didn't see any model information in the particular ads. By the way, Aeolian had some stunning ads in the late teens and early 20's, some awesome framing or decor material in my opinion. I will keep my eyes open.

that's quite a song! never heard of it before. Thomas was quite a singing actor!

I have a couple records by Thomas on red Vocalion.edisonplayer

I've seen this photo before in an antique store, displayed along with a Vocalion of this same model. The owner claimed that the machine belonged to this man, but this seems unlikely since it's a photograph that's publicly available, which could've easily been printed and passed along with the machine. Either way, this is the model from the shop. Perhaps my pictures could aid in identifying.

What city and state and what was the price, if you can say? Thanks for the pics!

It was $995. It was a store in emmittsburg, MD. The lady who owned the shop was very nice and seemed to know that she had an exceptional phonograph. It was in excellent condition, one of the best I’ve ever seen in person. I believe she ended up giving it to her cousin, but I’m not sure. The store it was housed in flooded and was destroyed about 2 months after I saw it, but the machine survived as it had been relocated beforehand. I had no idea that the man in the photo was famous! If I remember correctly there was a bit of writing on the back of the photo. In case anyone is interested in tracking this machine down, I can give you the lady’s phone number. Just send me a PM.

Greg

GregVTLA wrote:It was $995. It was a store in emmittsburg, MD. The lady who owned the shop was very nice and seemed to know that she had an exceptional phonograph.
Greg

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that seem like an unrealistic price? I would have thought the machine was in the 200 range.

Martin