 |
|
Makers...from
page 4
cylinders. The Lyradion was one of the first radio-phonograph
cabinets (April 1922); a 2-stage D.C. Westinghouse receiver
was included. The Phono-Grand, made by the J.P. Seeburg Piano
Co. and advertised as "small enough...to fit the apartment
of the man of moderate means," was a combined talking machine
and player piano, playing regular 78 rpm discs and standard
Q.R.S. 88 note player rolls. The Phonola was an upright cabinet
which was collapsible; advertisements claimed it could be assembled
in 60 seconds. Instead of having a grille in front of its horn,
the Ton-O-Graf had sliding shutters which could be adjusted
"for perfect tone control." Pressing a button on the
Supreme illuminated three lights, one each for the turntable,
tone chamber, and record compartment. Most impressive was the
grille that contained stained glass and was beautifully illuminated
by the tone chamber light. The grille could be swiveled to an
open position when playing records. Many Supreme models came
with electric motors. Machines were made for children, some
being small upright or console models though more were small
table models. The Diamond Juvenile console, well-crafted in
simple "Mission" style," was painted white with
blue trim and had a 9-inch turntable. Other brands were Baby,
Bobolink, Kiddiephone, and Toyphone. Several
firms manufactured phonograph lamps. The Phonolamp was perhaps
the most amazing because of its stained glass shade. The Modernola
was an upright phonograph with a large lamp
|
 |
elevated above the cabinet. The Lampograph was yet another
brand. Several firms manufactured  phonographs
with the shape and appearance of baby grand pianos, such as
the Venus Belle, Phono-Grand and Fern-O-Grand. Library tables
with a phonograph concealed inside were produced by Librola,
Phonographic Table, and Tabla-tone. For the latter the phonograph
was held within a pull-out drawer. Beginning
around 1916, several firms produced portable "suitcase"
models. A few, such as the Stewart Military and the Recruit,
were originally designed for soldiers and sailors. Other early
makers of portables were Piknik, Cirola, Melophone, Portola,
and Spraytone. In the summer of 1921 portable models were advertised
extensively as
ideal for picnics, camping, and back porch listening. Firms
made record cabinets in all shapes and styles. The Schloss Brothers
in New York and the Udell Works in Indianapolis made cabinets
specifically to hold the common Victor and Columbia table models.
Some cabinets held the phonograph exposed on top of the cabinet. The phonograph
was held within some other cabinets and could be covered by a lid. Other
|
|
record cabinet firms were Berkeley Cabinet Company,
Herzog Art Furniture Company, George A. Long Cabinet Company,
C.J. Lundstrom Manufacturing Company, Pooley Furniture Company,
and Value-Tone Talking Machine Manufacturing Company. Some of
the 260 plus companies produced records. With only a few exceptions,
such as Emerson, records made before 1919 were vertical cut. Emerson,
Paramount, Rex, and Starr cut their own material. The New York
Recording Laboratories of Port Washington, Wisconsin, which pressed
Paramount discs, supplied records for Harmograph, Mozart, and
Puritan. Pathe produced pressings for Empire and World. The Bell
Record Corporation produced records for Schubert. Resona had record
sources from Paramount, Plaza, and Emerson. Cardinal produced
its own records until 1922 when its records came from Starr. According
to Brian Rust's The American Record Label Book, Phonolamp issued
less than a dozen recordings. They were not sold individually
but were included with a Phonolamp purchase. Grey Gull was the
source of these rare discs. Arrow and Mandel also briefly sold
records. Although many companies had main offices or manufacturing
facilities in Chicago or New York City, the center for cabinet
production was Michigan, especially in and around Grand Rapids.
The famous Berkey and Gay Furniture Co. of Grand Rapids made cabinets
for the Cheney Talking Machine Company. Cheney also made cabinets
at another in |
|
|
 |
|
Grand Rapids. American, Art Craft, Crescent,
L'Artiste, Lauzon, and Widdicomb phonographs were made in Grand
Rapids. The Aeolian Company had an assembly plant on Lyon Street.
Metal parts for talking machines were produced by the Grand
Rapids Brass Company, the Grand Rapids Foundry Company, the
Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Company, and the Rathbone Fireplace
Manufacturing Company. Grand Rapids held semi-annual furniture
exhibits. Several downtown buildings were used, most notably
the Gilbert and Klingman Exhibition Buildings and the Furniture
Temple. By the late 'teens the talking machine industry had
taken over most of the exhibits, companies competing with elaborate
machine displays and demonstrations. The Otto Heineman Company
(later the General Phonograph Corporation) turned over the first
floor of its Okeh Building to exhibits. Other areas of Michigan
produced phonographs. In mid-1919 the Sonora Phonograph Company
opened an assembly factory in Saginaw and the company headquarters
were finally moved, in the summer of 1927, to Saginaw. The Brunswick-Balke-Collender
Company had major facilities in Muskegon. The Bush and Lane
and Cecilaphone phonographs were made in Holland, the Delpheon
in Bay City, the Dulcitone in South Haven, and the Manophone
in Adrian. When were machines being sold? H. B. Bibb, sales
manager of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, produced a
pie chart for the June 1919 issue of TMW. Each of the chart's
twelve
|
|
slices represents a percentage
of sales of a given month. The chart, prepared from data collected
from all parts of the U.S. and from merchants selling various
makes of talking machines, shows that nearly half of the annual
sales of talking machines were made in November and December.
Manufacturers and dealers knew well in advance to have abundant
supplies ready for holiday sales. Because many homes had new
machines in December, January was generally good for record
sales. Because the Christmas season was universally recognized
as the year's most important season for sales, new companies
often introduced their models in the autumn, in time for dealers
to place orders. If we can judge from advertisements in TMW,
more new companies introduced machines in the months of August,
September and October of 1917 than during any other quarter
year of the acoustic era. Had the industry not suffered severe
shortages in 1918, the autumn months of 1918 might have matched
those of 1917 in the introduction of new companies. By mid-1920
signs of an oversold market and a general business slow-down
were evident. On June 5, 1920, A. J. Kendrick of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender
Company sent this message to Brunswick dealers: "It is
quite reasonable to anticipate that some manufacturers will
shortly find themselves seriously presented with a condition
of overproduction, and unless he has fortified himself against
such a period he and his dealers must inevitably suffer when that time
|
|
comes." By 1921 overproduction
and a business depression marked the end of the phonograph boom.
Most of the 260 plus companies were forced out of business.
Some companies of the late 'teens did
not last as long as 1920 despite a boom. Bankruptcies were routinely
announced in TMW. For example, the October 1917 issue announced
the auctioning of the Flemish Phonograph Co. to take place on
November 20 at 10:30 AM at the Flemish factory in Brooklyn.
The inventory included 2,000 "complete" phonographs
and 40,000 records.
The original
list of machines are located here. We
have taken it upon ourselves to expand this list on another page to
include every brand ever made and you can find the start
of this list on this page!
You can see a complete
list of all
R. J. Wakeman's and Tim Gracyk's
work at Tims
webpage!
|
|
|
|
|
