The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Shorpy has a great Victor dealer storefront pic today. This HD version is now my Windows wallpaper for the month.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/12885?size=_original#caption

(If it is too large for you to see in your browser, hold down your contral key and hit the minus key.)

The Mischa Elman record advertised was recorded in January 1921.

Clay

Great window display. Here is that nipper in color.....

Clay, thanks for Sharing. Does anyone have any store front pics with the later Orthophonic line? if so lets see those, this would be a nice new thread. Show us your Victor store front pics

One of the several things that interested me about this one is the very high gloss on what looks to be a VV-XVII. I am so used to seeing the finishes dulled by the years that I sort of think of them as always being that way.

Clay

i know, i have a Victor 17 and the finish is ok but not like that

Wonder what other machines they had in that store. What a great time to be alive and walk in and see and hear all these great machines brand new

I'm always amazed by the extremely fine detail in the large format negatives from which these Shorpy (and other) prints were pulled. It speaks volumes for the quality of the photographic emulsions and lenses that were available back then. In this respect, visual "recording" was far in advance of aural recording in that era, in terms of fidelity of reproduction. IMO even the best of today's b/w films do not surpass by much, if at all, those of the 1920s. Even digital photography cannot exceed what you see here, no matter how much $$ one is willing to pay for megapixels. That's why I'm sticking with my film cameras. Just my $.02 worth....

Looks like there is a wide "Period" model behind the sign. Can tell which model it
it.. Must be about 1920-22.

The record on the poster (Someone Will Understand) came out in March 1921.

I don't know if it matters, but the record title is "Sometime We'll Understand."

George P.

What an extraordinary photograph. The little Nippers are exactly the same as the Wannamaker one I posted a few days ago. The book in the window on the left is Pan and His Pipes and other Tales for Children
by Catherine Dunlop Cather. The stories included a long list of appropriate Victor records. And the author never makes it quite clear just why Pan was pursuing the nymph Syrinx other than chaste companionship in the forest glades, that is.

Jim