The Talking Machine

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 7 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #824 in Music, #21,092 overall

Also Known As The Victrola!

victrola (plural victrolas)
In common usage, any upright or console model phonograph from the early 1900s, usually with a wooden cabinet body and an interior horn for the projection of sound, that plays 78 rpm records using a steel needle.

History 

The Victor Talking Machine Company

The Victor Talking Machine Company
(1901-1929) was an American corporation,
the leading American producer of
phonographs and phonograph records
and one of the leading phonograph
companies in the world at the time.

The company was founded by Eldridge R. Johnson, who had previously made phonographs to play Emile Berliner's Berliner Gramophone records.

Photo: A Victor Talking Machine

Some sources also claim Berliner as a co-founder; others say Berliner was never connected with the Victor company, though that may have been part of a ruse by Johnson to defeat the Zonophone lawsuits that had put Berliner Gramophone out of business (in the U.S. but reestablished in Canada) and threatened Johnson's phonograph business. (Zonophone had used patent ruses to defeat Berliner, the inventor of disc records whose technology Zonophone had copied.) In any event, Victor ultimately acquired the remaining assets of Berliner Gramophone; it also acquired Zonophone after defeating it in court.

 

Name and logo

There is some controversy as to how the name came about. Fred Barnum gives various possible origins of the "Victor" name; in "'His Master's Voice' In America", he writes, "One story claims that Johnson considered his first improved Gramophone to be both a scientific and business 'victory.' A second account is that Johnson emerged as the 'Victor' from the lengthy and costly patent litigations involving Berliner and Frank Seaman's Zonophone. A third story is that Johnson's partner, Leon Forrest Douglass, derived the word from his wife's name 'Victoria.' Finally, a fourth story is that Johnson took the
name from the popular 'Victor' bicycle, which he had admired for its superior engineering. Of these four accounts the first two are the most generally accepted."

Victor had the rights in the United States and Latin America to use the famous trademark of the dog Nipper listening to an early disc phonograph. The Nipper dog logo remains on the 1915 factory building, now converted to luxury loft
apartments by Carl Dranoff.

 

Acoustical recording era

After increasing the quality of disc records and phonographs, Johnson began an ambitious project to have the most prestigious singers and musicians of the day record for Victor Records, with exclusive agreements where possible. Often these artists demanded fees which the company could not hope to make up from sale of their records. Johnson shrewdly knew that he would get his money's worth in the long run in promotion of the Victor brand name.

 

Love is Mine

Enrico Caruso sings Love is Mine on Victrola single sided red label record. #87095

Runtime: 171
171 views
1 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

 

These new "celebrity" recordings bore red labels, and were marketed as "Red Seal" records. For many years these recordings were single-sided; only in 1923 did Victor begin making double-sided "Red Seal" records. Many advertisements were printed mentioning by name the greatest names of music in the era, with the statement that they recorded only for Victor Records. As Johnson intended, much of the public assumed from this that Victor Records must be superior to cylinder records.

 

VictrolaTube!

YouTube thumbnail
Victor 812X Orthophonic Victro...

Runtime: 3:05 | 3495 views | Comments

YouTube thumbnail
Chuck & Blair - 'Victor/Victro...

Runtime: 2:18 | 70119 views | Comments

YouTube thumbnail
Victor Victrola XVIII

Runtime: 3:25 | 2827 views | Comments

automatically generated by YouTube"

 

Electrical recording era

In 1925, Victor switched from the old acoustical or mechanical method of recording sound to the new microphone based electrical system developed by Western Electric. Victor called their version of the improved fidelity recording process "Orthophonic", and sold a line of new designs of phonographs to play these improved records, called "Orthophonic Victrolas".

The large top-of- the-line "Credenza" models of Orthophonic Victrolas had a 1.8 m (6 foot) long horn coiled inside the cabinet, and are often considered the high point of the development of the commercial wind-up phonograph, offering audio fidelity seldom matched by most home electric phonographs until some 30 years later. They were introduced on "Victor Day", November 2, 1925.

waring2
On April 4, 1925, Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians recorded Collegiate, a song written by Moe Jaffe, which was the first electrical recording of a song, using Victor's new electrical microphone technology, rather than an acoustic horn.

 

First Electrical-Process Record -- Leopold Stokowski 1925

curated content from YouTube

 

Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra made a series of recordings for Victor, beginning in 1925, first in Victor's Chicago studios and then in Orchestra Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alfred Hertz made a few acoustical recordings early in 1925, then switched to electrical recordings in Oakland, California, that continued until 1930. Within a few years, Serge Koussevitsky began a long series of recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston's Symphony Hall. Toscanini made his first Victor electrical recordings with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1929.

In 1928, Johnson sold his controlling interest in Victor to the banking firm of Siegelman & Spyer, who in 1929 sold to the Radio Corporation of America, which then became known as the Radio-Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America later RCA Victor. (See RCA and RCA Records for later history of the Victor brand name.)

Victor (Japan)
The Japanese Victor Company (JVC), founded in 1927, severed its ties to RCA Victor at the start of World War II, and is still one of the oldest and most successful Japanese record labels as well as an electronics giant.

Enrico Caruso with a "Victrola" phonograph

 

1917 Victor Record label

The Victor recordings by Enrico Caruso between 1904-1920 were particularly successful, many of them conducted by Josef Pasternack. They were often used by retailers to demonstrate Victor phonographs; Caruso's rich powerful low tenor voice highlighted the best range of audio fidelity of the early audio technology while being minimally affected by its defects. Even people who otherwise never listened to opera often owned a record or two of the great voice of Caruso.

Caruso and Victor Records did much to boost each other's commercial popularity. He made his final recordings in September 1920, only three months before his final appearances at the Metropolitan Opera. Some of these recordings were remastered by RCA to the 45-rpm format and rereleased in the early 1950s as companions to the same selections by Mario Lanza in the "Red Seal" series. Interestingly, however, the labels for the Caruso versions, although designated "Red Seal," were printed on a lighter (gold) background to distinguish them from the Lanza records. Many of both were also pressed on translucent red vinyl.

Victor recorded numerous classical musicians, including Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Victor Herbert, and Sergei Rachmaninoff in a series of recordings at its Camden, New Jersey studios. Rachmaninoff, in particular, became one of the first composer-performers to record extensively; he first made several recordings for Thomas Edison in 1919, then became an exclusive Victor artist from 1920 to 1942.

Orchestras were at a disadvantage in acoustical recordings, due to the limited frequency range of the recording equipment. Musicians had to gather as closely as possible around the recording horn. Percussion instruments, in particular, were used sparingly since many of them could not be heard on the recordings. However, Victor began making recordings of the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Karl Muck and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski in 1917. In 1920-21, Arturo Toscanini made his first recordings, conducting the La Scala Orchestra, which was then on an American tour.

The origins of country music as we know it today can be traced to two seminal influences and a remarkable coincidence. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are considered the founders of country music and their songs were first captured at an historic recording session in Bristol, Tennessee on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist for Victor Records.

During the 1920s Victor also released "race records" (that is, records recorded by and marketed to African Americans).

Victor acquired its Canadian counterpart, Berliner Gramophone of Canada, in 1924.

The Victrola 

Above: Cover of The Voice of the Victor (February 1927).

In September 1906, Johnson and his engineers designed a new line of phonographs with the turntable and amplifying horn tucked away inside a wooden cabinet. This was not done for reasons of audio fidelity, but for visual aesthetics.

The intention was to produce a phonograph that looked less like a piece of machinery and more like a piece of furniture. These internal horn machines, trademarked with the name Victrola, were first marketed to the public in August of that year and were an immediate hit.

(R) The Victrola Victrola Model XVI, 1910s

Soon an extensive line of Victrolas was marketed, ranging from small tabletop models selling for $15, through many sizes and designs of cabinets intended to go with the decor of middle-class homes in the $100 to $250 range, up to $600 Chippendale and Queen Anne-style cabinets of fine wood with gold trim designed to look at home in elegant mansions.

Victrolas became by far the most popular brand of home phonograph, and sold in great numbers until the end of the 1920s. RCA Victor continued to market phonographs with the "Victrola" name until the late 1950s.

Further Reading 

Books about Early Recording & Recordings

Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Music in American Life)

Amazon Price: $23.07 (as of 12/01/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $34.95
Used Price: $24.97

An act of cultural reclamation - the great lost heroes of black performance." New York Times "Brooks has uncovered a wealth of fascinating detail about the record business, its artists and the range of music they recorded 100 years ago. This engaging work of thorough scholarship is essential reading for anyone interested in the birth of commercial recording and African American music in the early part of the 20th century.
~Samuel Brylawski, Head, Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress

 

Spotlight

Popular American Recording Pioneers: 1895-1925 (Haworth Popular Culture)

Amazon Price: $47.50 (as of 12/01/2009)Buy Now

Popular American Recording Pioneers (winner of the 2001 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award of Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research) covers important musicians who made popular records from 1895 until 1925. You will explore a compilation of facts on these musicians and their records that were scattered in hundreds of record catalogs, trade journals, newspaper clippings, hobbyist magazines, and other sources. Many of the sources used are so rare that only one known copy even exists. An ideal music history reference, Popular American Recording Pioneers is also for collectors of old phonographs, 78s, and cylinders. Some of the artists you will learn about include Billy Murray, Collins & Harlan, and Ada Jones.

 

Spotlight

A World of Antique Phonographs

Amazon Price: $32.97 (as of 12/01/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $49.95
Used Price: $61.89

Enter the fascinating and beautiful world of antique phonographs. Brimming with visual delights, this volume boldly goes into the priceless collections of dedicated enthusiasts from around the globe, documenting the amazing rarities and charming curiosities of the phonograph. In this, their eighth collaboration for Schiffer Publishing, the award-winning authors have assembled over 400 full-color images of historic music machines, many never before photographed. The substantive text and captions add much previously unpublished information.

 

DVD Spotlight

Biography - Thomas A. Edison: Father of Invention

Amazon Price: $22.49 (as of 12/01/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $24.95
Used Price: $33.66

Further Listening 

Edison Sound Recordings - Bundle Pack (5 CDs)

Amazon Price: $74.75 (as of 12/01/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $74.75
Used Price: $114.62

 

Record Making With Duke Ellington (1937)

This promotional short for Irving Mills' short-lived Master and Variety labels not only gives us a glimpse of Ellington and his band in the actual Master/Variety studios (as opposed to a soundstage set), but is one of the very few film accounts of how records were recorded, plated and pressed in the long-ago age of analog, shellac and 78 rpm. Narration is provided by pioneer radio announcer Alois Havrilla.

curated content from YouTube

78s 

78 rpm Record Labels

curated content from Flickr

 

78s for sale on eBay

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

Poll 

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Victrolas on eBay 

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

 

Crosley Reproductions

Crosley CR49 Traveler Portable Turntable, Tan

Amazon Price: $120.12 (as of 12/01/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $129.95
Used Price:

Guestbook 

submit

Links 

The History of Recording

Milestones of the Millennium: The History of Recording
Listen as Lisa and Dennis Rooney cover the history and impact of music recording in this online feature from the Milestones of the Millenium series. ...
Technical history of recording -Introduction
The following overview is for those interested in the technical side of sound recording's history. Actually, that is this site's focus. ...
History of Radio
De Forest began the longest lawsuit in radio history in 1915 when he sued .... Return to Recording Technology History Notes | this page revised 8/29/01.
Recording: The History of Recorded Music (2010)
With Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones, Phil Spector. An eight-part documentary series that explores the interaction between technology and music in creating ...
History of Phonograph Record Technology - Introduction
There was sound recording before the phonograph, but not sound reproduction. In 1856 or '57, years before the invention of the phonograph, French inventor ...
Historical Review of the History of Technoolgies for Recording Music
Overview History of the Technologies for Recording Music and Sound. The first recording devices were scientific instruments used to capture and study sound ...
BBC - h2g2 - The History of Magnetic Recording
He published a description of magnetic recording in Electrical World magazine in 1888. In this article, Smith described the basic theory of all magnetic ...
A Selected History of Magnetic Recording
in magnetic tape recording history led to some pa-. pers on selected subjects (Oberlin Smith and Walter. Weber), of which this one is a preliminary version ...
History of Magnetic Recording
The following history was written by Semi J. Begun who pioneered magnetic tape recording at the Brush Development Company in Cleveland, Ohio. ...
Films and Videos and CDs on Sound Recording History
About A Hundred Years-A History of Sound Recording (Symposium CD 1222) marks a century of commercial recording in the United Kingdom, from Symposium Records ...
The history of the recording industry
The recording industry took off when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. Since then, the innovations have been increasingly dynamic.
78 rpm record labels
An A to Z

 

Internet Radio Stations

Radio Dismuke
Dismuke's Virtual Talking Machine
Rich Conaty's
"The Big Broadcast"
The Official Yesterday USA
Player and Homepage
WeimarRundfunk
20s & 30s Music
Elite Syncopations
Ragtime Radio!
Radio Moscow
Early 1900s
RADIOLA!
Andy Senior's radio broadcast!
Sweet & Lovely
Ian House's Radio Broadcast of jazz age music
Ken McPhersons' Red Hot Jazz Podcasts!
Ken McPhersons' Red Hot Jazz Podcasts!
A great selection of red hot jazz - always lots of new stuff to listen to!

 

On-Line Discussion Groups

RedHotJazz
This group is dedicated to all styles and aspects of pre-war jazz. It was named after the Red Hot Jazz Archives, with kind permission of Mr Scott Alexander.
phonolist
Antique Phonograph Afficionado List
American Dance Bands
In the first half of the 20th century America was a melting-pot of different cultures, and nowhere was that more apparent than in its music. The purpose of this group is to celebrate the huge variety of dance bands which existed at that time, as well as current bands that recreate their sounds.
australian-dance-bands
A discussion forum/website for all who loved the Australian Dance Bands and band vocalists of the 20's to the 70's,other bands and vocalists can also be discussed from the same era.
british-dance-bands
The forum for all who love the Great British Dance Bands of the 1920's,1930's and 1940's ( relevant bands thereafter) as well as the popular music of that era known as The Golden Age of British Dance Bands.
Vintage Audio Circle
A group that will discuss all aspects of vintage audio recordings and the artists and people who made them. Focusing on recordings from the earliest Edison experiments to cylinder recordings to 78s.
78-C-2
For collectors of early sound recordings, including 78's to buy/sell or trade vintage recorded music - OPEN TO EVERYONE. This list is for anyone interested in buying/selling or trading early vintage sound recordings and related material.
RED HOT JAZZ
Dedicated to the preservation of jazz video and audio files from the 1920's to the present.
hotjazzrecords
Hot Jazz Records 1917-1937

 

The Red Hot Jazz Feed!

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

 

On This Day In Jazz Age Music!

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

 

Featured Lenses...

 

Lensmaster confetta has been a member since July 27 2007, has rated 419 lenses, favorited 285, and has created 123 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "SUPERBATONE RECORDS". See all my lenses

Explore related pages

confetta Recommends...

Create a Lens!