| 1) A Big Book about Phonographs: Original
Articles & Rare Talking Machine Advertisements. The articles were
written by me and fellow researchers. The visuals are splendid. Gives
information about major and minor phonographs from 1893 to 1933. Lots
of info on Victrolas, Edison cylinder machines, Columbia models--machines!
244 pages, $30.
2) Popular American Recording Pioneers, 1895-1925.
Published by Haworth Publishing, Inc. This is my most important contribution
to the world of research--an encyclopedia giving rare biographical facts
about great musical artists who made records from 1895 to 1925. It covers
over 100 artists; softcover; $35 (a great index at the back!).
3) Companion to Popular American Recording Pioneers.
This is the COMPANION book to my encyclopedia. It is full of rare visuals
(photos, birth and death certificates, record industry literature, and
so on!) that the pioneers book above lacks; 340 pages; $36. Spiral-binding.
4) Blue Amberol Cylinders: Complete Index with extra
pages from phonograph trade journals--spiral; $28; 224 pages.
5) Cylinder Lists: Index to Columbia & Indestructible
Cylinders and extra pages from trade journals--spiral-binding; $28 postpaid;
220 pages.
6) The Talking Machine Industry: 1900-1930, a complete
index to U-S Everlasting cylinders plus nearly 200 other pages about
everything under the sun related to the talking machine industry, with
info about artists, records, and machines. Rare memos from phonograph
companies are duplicated. Spiral-binding; $28; 220 pages.
7) Talking Machine World. Two complete back issues
from 1916 of the rare phonograph trade journal. Two full issues in one
book. Spiral-binding; $28 postpaid; 216 pages.
8) Victrola and 78 Journal. $60 postpaid for complete
set of 13 back issues (most issues are 80 pages) plus loose pages duplicated
from rare trade journals. Lots or rare info about old 78s and phonograph
companies.
9) Country Music on 78s--numerical lists of all country
series on labels before 1940, by Robert Olson; $33; 310 pages.
10) The Master Musician, issues from 1919 and 1920
of musical trade journal edited by and for African Americans (do you
like jazz and ragtime?); $28. 210 pages. Spiral-binding.
11) Talking Machine World from 1918, the best pages
compiled from 12 issues. Thick--over 400 pages; spiral-binding; $35.
Ask for prices about other years--1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923,
1924, 1925, 1926, & 1927.
12) Instructions for the Setting Up, Operation &
Care of the Victrola; 16 page booklet from 1924 & extra pages. $5.
13) Extra copy of a Diamond Disc Index. Every Diamond
Disc listed, with other info! $35 postpaid; over 300 pages.
14) New steel needles made for old phonographs or Victrolas!
A total of 50 for $5 postpaid, or 100 for $10, or 150 for $15, or 200
for $18. When you receive the needles, you can easily verify for yourself
that they are new by examining them with a magnifying glass. You will
discover that tips on these needles have NO WEAR, no slanting. As a
steel needle enters the grooves of discs, it is subjected to a grinding.
The needle soon conforms to the individual wall design of a record.
But if a needle has never been used, it will have a rounded end instead
of two worn surfaces. Take a magnifying glass and examine an unplayed
needle--then examine a used one. You will spot the difference!
| My file cabinets store thousands
of rare items related to the early recording industry. They include
record catalogs, catalog supplements, photographs, letters, telegrams,
newspaper clippings, trade journals. In the past few years I've
published books that make available rare information about phonograph,
78s, cylinders, and the talking machine industry.
For example, one book reprints, among other items,
a rare National Gramophone Corporation catalog dated May 10, 1901.
I will someday write about these early Zon-o-phone discs, a topic
neglected by others. A surprising number of titles issued in 1900
were dropped from the catalog by May 1901!
Another book includes an index of all U-S Everlasting
cylinder indexes--by number, artist, title. The index was compiled
by Dr. Duane D. Deakins around 1960, shortly before he died in
a plane crash. Deakins was a physician at the Bret Harte Sanatorium,
Murphys, California.
I'll summarize what is known about the maker
of U-S Everlasting products (I use a hyphen in the name since
the company did). The corporate name United States Phonograph
Company was adopted on July 14, 1909, for a Cleveland company
run by president Kirk D. Bishop, vice president G. H. Worthington,
treasurer Thomas H. Towell (he also owned Cleveland's Eclipse
Musical Company, a shop that sold mostly Victor products), and
secretary F. W. Treadway. The pressing plant was at 1390 East
30th Street in Cleveland. U-S cylinders were first marketed in
May 1910.
The recording studio was in New York City at
662 6th Avenue, former location of the Norcross Phonograph Company.
Albert W. Benzler left the Edison company in 1909 to serve as
the new company's musical director (he had wanted to be Edison's
musical director--instead, Victor Herbert was appointed musical
consultant effective June 1, 1909). Charles L. Hibbard also left
Edison to serve the new cylinder company as sound engineer (he
later did superb work on Okeh discs). John Kaiser, who had managed
in the 1890s the New York brown wax cylinder firm Harms, Kaiser
and Hagen (he also made records, notably "Casey" monologues),
helped manage the New York City studio. Kaiser wrote a letter
on behalf of the U. S. Phonograph Company on December 17, 1910,
to the widow of Frank C. Stanley soon after that singer died.
The letter is duplicated in my Companion to the Encyclopedia of
Popular American Recording Pioneers, 1895-1925.
Due to Benzler's recruiting efforts, some Edison
artists made Everlasting cylinders. From mid-1910 through 1913,
slightly over a thousand U-S Everlasting titles were issued. Those
distributed by Montgomery Ward and Company were called Lakeside
cylinders. One of the last numbers is 1645, "You Made Me
Love You," sung by Helen Clark and Walter Van Brunt. Other
companies had cut it in June 1913, which suggests Everlasting
was making cylinders up to this date. Soon afterwards the U. S.
Phonograph Company ceased production.
Unusual performances are on U-S Everlasting cylinders
(all are celluloid). Elsie Baker sings "Till The Sands of
the Desert Grow Cold" on U-S Everlasting 1591 (also on Indestructible
3308--the two cylinder companies were separate but after the U.
S. Phonograph Company folded, some of its U-S Everlasting molds
went to the Indestructible company in Albany, which pressed records
from the molds and sold them as their own). The song was otherwise
cut by bass singers only.
Now for information about me. In 1985, at age
25, I began to collect 78s, cylinders, old record catalogs, and
phonographs. Ten years later, I began to write biographies of
the acoustic era's important recording artists, which forced me
to be systematic about gathering facts scattered in record catalogs,
trade journals, newspaper clippings, hobbyist magazines, and other
sources.
The result was a huge encyclopedia covering 250
artists (I self-published copies for some friends, and I have
a few available at $60 each). In May 2000, Haworth Press published
an abridged version covering the 100 most prolific artists. I'm
proud of the book, titled Popular American Recording Pioneers,
1895-1925. It is available from amazon.com and other internet
book dealers. You may buy a copy from me, and I’ll sign it
if you request this. Also, I am proud of my quarterly, Victrola
and 78 Journal. All 13 back issues are available as a set for
$60 postpaid.
Cited are postpaid prices for addresses in the
U.S. Please make payment by personal check or paypal for any of
the above products and please see my website for new and recently
available books for sale.
TIM GRACYK
tgracyk@garlic.com
http://www.garlic.com/~tgracyk
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