Shopping for a Phonograph
"This Columbia Grafonola looks mighty good to me. Let's go down town and hear it."
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By Doug Boilesen 2019
Phonograph advertisers had many themes to choose from to encourage the purchase of a phonograph. But an important goal in phonograph advertisements was to get consumers to visit a dealer and listen for themselves. "Hearing is Believing" said the Victor and Columbia ads.
Let's go down town and hear it," says the husband to his wife in the above Columbia Grafonola ad.
Courtesy of Collections of Maine Historical Society (2)
1908 C. B. Haynes & Co., Richmond, Virginia
Hannibal, Missouri Music Store with Phonographs, 1910
Phonographs and records for sale as part of a general store (see cigars, Orangeade, etc.), unknown location, ca. 1910
"Ritt's Music Store, St. Peter, Minnesota," 1912. Courtesy Nicollet County Historical Society, via Minnesota Digital Library and DPLA Exhibitions Golden Age of Radio
Once in a store how should a shopper choose a phonograph? A 1926 Crescent Phonograph ad offered this explanation: "People make mistakes in choosing phonographs because they do not know how to choose. "Ask a dealer to play a Crescent Phonograph side by side with any other instrument that you have in mind. Play the same record on each and let your own ear judge which tone sounds best to you."
One could also simply order a phonograph by mail and have it delivered without even entering a phonograph store which is what Mari Sandoz father did at the beginning of the 19th century in the sandhills of Nebraska as described in her The Christmas of the Phonograph Records.
The following advertisements feature scenes of 'shopping' and reasons identified by the phonograph companies for selecting their machine.
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"Can you send it home today?" - The Ladies' Home Journal, December 1918
"Buy Edison Records. Dealers everywhere have them." Munsey's magazine, 1900
"Look for the Dog if you want to hear this music at its very best." The Booklovers Magazine, 1904
"Only asks a hearing." McClure's magazine 1904 (PM-0974)
"Hearing is Believing" Victor Talking Machine Company, Munsey's Magazine, 1905
Cholly Cashcaller Selling a Phonograph (the machine that makes records)
Omaha Daily Bee, November 27, 1904 Courtesy of University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
Columbia Dealer Signage (PM-0768)
Columbia's 'Music Master' helping Madam with her record selection, 1906
Why the Graphophone is the Best - The Music Master Visits the factory. 1906
