ADVERGRAPHS
Phonograph advertising
slogans, phrases and logos
The following are a few
examples of slogans, phrases and logos associated with the phonograph
industry. It's another one of the lists of Phonographia that is
not intended to be definitive or even original but instead shows
how the phonograph was a product that was competing with other products
inside and outside of the phonograph industry for attention and
consumer dollars.
In 1914 Edison published
advertising "suggestions" in his trade magazine The
Edison Phonograph Monthly which were called "adver-graphs"
and said to provide helpful ideas that might be used in sales-talk
and local advertising.
Adver-graphs, Edison Phonograph
Monthly, November 1914
Adver-graphs Edison
Phonograph Monthly, December 1914
Advergraphs (1),
Edison Phonograph Monthly, March 1915
Ultimately the dealers' success was
dependent on their product and the advertising of that brand. Like
other consumer products, a brand having a memorable advertising
phrase or slogan was considered part of phonograph marketing. There
were many themes that the phonograph could use to promote the necessity
of the phonograph in the home. But a simple and catchy phrase could
become its identity and the repetition of slogans and associated
images in newspaper and magazine ads was included in the standard
marketing formula for the phonograph industry in the United States.
"His Master's Voice"; "None genuine without this
Trade-Mark"; "Note the Notes"; "Hearing is Believing";
"Clear as a Bell"
and many other phrases and associated logos became highly recognizable
in daily life and part of popular culture.
It is unknown how much the phonograph's
advertising slogans actually contributed to sales but the following
are some of those phrases. For
the most part the slogans, phrases and logos of these phonograph
ads are now artifacts and ephemera of companies that are gone. Advertising
slogans, however, have not disappeared, phonographs and records
are still made, and the descendent home entertainment technologies
dependent on recorded sound continue to display their faith in advertising
and its use of slogans and trademarks for marketing in a competitive
consumer world.
| "Plays
all Records - Never Scratches" - Americanola |
| The
Artist in Reality - L'Artiste, 1929 |
| "Baly
Records" - Baly Records, 1972 |
| "The
Tone That Thrills" - Blue Bird Talking Machine Co.
1919 |
| "All
Phonographs in One" - Brunswick 1918 |
| "The
Nightingale of Phonographs" - Carola |
| "The
Phonograph with a Personality" - Cardinal 1919 |
| "The
Phonograph of the Century" - Century Phonograph 1917 |
| "The
longer you play, the sweeter it grows" - Cheney 1922 |
| "The
Master Instrument" - Cheney 1922 |
| "Speaks
for Itself" - Cleartone Talking Machine - Lucky 7 Phonograph
Company 1919 |
| "Note
the Notes" - Columbia and Columbia Records |
| "Note
the Notes" - Columbia Graphophone Co., 1916 |
| "The
Stage of the World" - Columbia Grafonola 1916 |
| "Hearing
is Believing" - Columbia Grafonola 1912 |
| "Crosley
Floating Jewel Tone System" - Crosley 1946 |
| The
Master Musician" - Da-ven-ola 1919 |
| Duck
Records - Duck Records, Ltd., 1983 |
| "Echo
All Over the World" - Edison 1899 |
| "Looking
for the Band" - Edison 1901 |
| "The
Acme of Realism" - Edison 1901 |
| "The
Phonograph with a Soul" Edison 1916 |
| "The
Machine that Plays any Record" - Empire Phonograph
Company |
| "Hear
that Tone" - Fuehr & Stemmer Phonograph |
| "The
FORD of Phonograph world" - KOCH-O-PHONE |
| "Leads them
all" - Keen-o-phone 1911 |
| "Nothing
But Class" - Lampagraph |
| "Never
Scratches" - Lyric Records |
| "Speaks
for Itself" - Mag-Ni-Phone |
| "The
Music Without the Blur!" - Magnola 1918 |
| "Built
by Tone Specialists" - Magnola 1918 |
| "Magnola's
Tone Deflector eliminates the scratch" - Magnola 1918 |
| "The
Music Master of Phonographs" - Manograph |
| "3-Dimension
Vita-Tone" - Motorola Phonograph Radio 1941 |
| "Golden
Voice" High-Fidelity System" - Motorola Hi-Fi
Tone 1953 |
| "Sings Its Own
Praises" - Nightingale Mfg. Co., 1916 |
| "Pathé
is Supreme" "Costs No More than the Ordinary Phonograph"
- Pathé 1920 |
| "Music
on a Beam of Light" - Philco Radio-Phonograph 1941 |
| "The
Talking Machine With a Soul" - Ramosola Phonographs
1919 |
| "The
Golden Throat" Tone System - RCA Victor 1947 |
| "The
RCA Service Man" - The RCA Service Man character trademark,
1947 |
| "The
Silent-Sapphire" pickup - RCA Victor, 1947 |
|
|
| "Clear
as a Bell" - Sonora |
| "The
Instrument of Quality" - Sonora |
| "The
Highest Class Talking Machine in the World" - Sonora |
| "My
Partner" - Southern California Music Company Trademark |
| "The
Singing Throat of the Starr Phonograph" - Starr Phonograph,
1915 |
| The
Sign of the Starr Store - Starr Phonograph 1916 |
| "The
Finest Reproducing Phonograph in the World" - Steger |
| "Known
for Tone" - Stradavira |
| "CHAT"
- The Tea Tray Company's Little Representative (Makers of Horns
and Horn Cranes) |
| The real "Music-Makers"
- Theiryola 1917 |
| "His
Master's Voice" - Victor Talking Machine Company |
| "Victor
Supremacy" - Victor Talking Machine Company |
| "Victrola"
- Victor Talking Machine Company |
| "The
Phonograph of Marvelous Tone" - Vitanola 1919 |
| "Plays
ALL Records - Natural as Life" - Vitanola 1919 |
| 'Super-Fidelis'
record changer with Siesta-Matic - "V-M High-Fidelity
1956 |
| "None Better"
- Yankee Prince made by O'Neil James Co., Chicago 1904 |
| Cobra
Tone Arm - records play via Radionic wave - Zenith 1946 |
| "World's
Fastest Record Changer" - Zenith 1946 |
| "Silent-Speed"
record changer - Zenith 1946 |
| "Floating
Filament" rides lightest on the record - Zenith 1946 |
| "Charming"
- Jame I. Lyons, Edison Jobber, Zonophone Distributor, 1908
|
| "On
Speaking Terms" - Zon-o-phone, October 1905 |
"The Singing
Throat of the Starr Phonograph," The Talking Machine
World, 1915
The Sonora Phonograph
was known by its Sonora Bell logo and the phrase "Clear
as a Bell'
Other slogans included
"The Instrument of Quality" and "The Highest Class Talking
Machine in the World"
"The Music
Without the Blur!"
The Talking Machine
World, June 15, 1918
"Looking
for the Band" - "The
Acme of Realism" - Edison
Advertising Form No. 410, circa 1901
"The Acme of Realism"
Edison poster
.
"His
Master's Voice" Victor Talking Machine Co.
RCA magazine advertisement,
1946
"The Victrola -
The most famous musical instrument in the world" The Ladies'
Home Journal, October 1919
Victrola 1921
Lucky 7 Phonograph Company,
The Talking Machine World, May 15, 1919
Lyric Records "Never
Scratches," The Talking Machine World, June 15, 1918
Empire Talking Machine
Company, The Talking Machine World, May 15, 1919
"All Phonographs
in One," Photoplay
Magazine, January 1918
Sales Pamphlet courtesy
Antiquepianoshop.com
Steger Phonographs are
an example of piano company's making phonographs - "If it's a
Steger--It's the most valuable piano in the world."
Vitanola - "The
Phonograph of Marvelous Tone" - November 8, 1919
"The Artist in Reality"
- L'Artiste, 1929
Motorola 3-Dimension
Vita-Tone, The Saturday Evening Post, October 25, 1941
 
The Crosley "Floating
Jewel® Tone System" - Crosley Radio-Phonograph, Ads L-R 1946
and 1945
Zenith Record-Playing
Radios, 1946
RCA Victor - "The
Golden Throat" Tone System with the "Silent Sapphire"
pickup - 1947
The "Victrola®"45
complete automatic phonograph - RCA Victor -1953
Pathé is Supreme
- Costs No More Than the Ordinary Phonograph 1920.
.
"The Phonograph
with a Personality" - Cardinal - The Talking Machine World,
September 1919
.
.
.
"Hearing is Believing"
- Columbia Grafonola, Cosmopolitan, 1912
"The Tone That Thrills"
- 1920
Blue Bird ad from Buffalo
Courier, November 14, 1920 (Courtesy The78rpmrecordspins)
"Note the Notes"
- The Talking Machine World, November 1916.
The Sign of the Starr
Store - The Talking Machine World, November 1916
"My Partner,"
Talking Machine World, April 15, 1908
"Charming,"
Talking Machine World, April 15, 1908
"The longer you
play it, the sweeter it grows" - The Cheney The Master Instrument,
1922
"The Talking Machine
With a Soul," The Talking Machine World, June 15, 1918
 .
"Known for Tone",
Stradivara, The Talking Machine World. July 1919
"CHAT" --
The Tea Tray Company's "Little Representative," The
Talking Machine World, January 1907
.
Postcard advertisement
for Voice of Music Record Player with 4-speed 'Super-Fidelis' record
changer with Siesta-Matic.
V-M
1280 Record Player introduced in 1956
"The RCA Service Man" (2) RCA Industrial
Music Service, Camden, NJ - Music Services c. 1947 (2)
Duck Records Ltd., London,
England - Phonograph records and tapes, 1983 (3)
Baly Records Ltd., North
Hollywood, California, 1972 - Records (4)
Phonographia
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