Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
CHINESE BAND OR ORCHESTRA MAKING RECORDS IN CHINA.
der. The first words of the reproduction were on
the faint side, but towards the end, when that
part of the cylinder we had treated with Recordezi
was reached, the volume was much increased.
We should mention that half-an-hour was allowed
to elapse between making the record and repro-
ducing it, and this should be done in all cases.
Following this, says the Talking Machine News,
we tested the further quality claimed for Record-
ezi of thoroughly removing the old record and
allowing the cylinder to be used a second time by
cleaning off all the old markings and making a
rew selection on the cylinder. Upon reproducing
in due course we found that no trace of the former
record remained to spoil the second. We should
add that some care is necessary in using the
solution, particularly with regard to shavings,
which have a tendency to cling to the moistened
surface.
BUSINESS GOOD IN GERMANY.
The accompanying photograph is that of a
Chinese orchestra or band, which George K.
Cheney is utilizing in Shanghai for making Vic-
tor records. In forwarding the picture to his
STIMULATING TRADE IN PITT ST.
A Story of the East Side—How Competition in
That Section is Being Met—Talking Ma-
chines Used to Draw Folks to Rival Shops.
Pitt street has its sorrows. This time it is an
overdose of music. Also there is unrest in the
Delancey street station house because the re-
serves never Know wnen they are going to be
called upon to quail a riot.
Cheap Joe, who has a little shop in the base-
ment of 9 Pitt street, started the trouble.
"My business," said Joe to a friend, "is on the
level, but the shop is six steps down and the
people don't come. I'm going to get a talking
machine."
Thai was last Monday. On Tuesday Joe went
to Grand street and got the best he could for $25.
When he started the machine in the afternoon
a small crowd gathered. Every time a song was
played the machine was stopped a few minutes
until Joe could wait on his customers. Then a
new record was nut in. Joe did a rushing busi-
ness on Tuesday night, and nearly all of Pitt
street for two blocks stood on the sidewalk or
stuck heads out of the windows.
There is another candy store at 10 Pitt street,
run by Isaac Sommit. Sommit wasn't to be out-
done, and long before the music store in Grand
street had been opened he was standing in front
of the door counting over the $30 he had re-
solved to invest in a rival barker for his business.
Wednesday afternoon he let the concert in Joe's
tegin first, but after the crowd of children had
attracted a number of grownups, Sommit put the
big brass megaphone attachment on and wound
up the instrument. Joe's machine was playing
"Meet Me down at Luna, Lena," when the strains
of the Yiddish wedding song, "Chusen und Kolle
Mozeltof" rent the air. Sommit's machine sound-
ed like a thirteen-inch gun beside the Krag-Jor-
gerisen crackle of Joe's, and the crowd made a
mad rush across the street.
All day Thursday there was a duel of flats
and sharps between 9 and 10 Pitt street. When
the sun had set and the tired residents had fin-
ished their suppers and were sitting on stoops
and fire escapes, a third phonograph joined in.
Rachael Rosenbloom, a t 15, had caught the fever,
and caught it bad. If Sommit's machine all but
drowned the music made by cheap Joe's sleep dis-
turber, Miss Rosenbloom's outdid both.
Pitt street was packed when the third instru-
ment butted in. The horses of the blue line cars
of Avenue D were picking their way through,
and big Sims the cop was trying to clear the
tracks without using his nightstick.
Miss Rosenbloom's machine struck up "Kim
Kim Smelke a Heim," Cheap Joe's was playing
"Bunker Hill," and Sommit's a musical parody
on the Russian national anthem. The pinochle
Talking Machine Dealers Report Expansion in
All Branches of the Business.
New York friends, Mr. Cheney writes an inter-
esting story of his experiences, and adds he is
The latest advices from Germany are to the
meeting with great success in that picturesque
effect that the talking machine business in that
land of the "Far East."
country is in a very prosperous condition. The
output and sale of machines have assumed enor-
game in Mandelbaum's broke up and everybody
mous proportions, and it is estimated that during
rushed into the street to see the parade they
the last year something like three million disc
thought was coming over the Williamsburg
records and an equal number of cylinder records
Bridge.
were sold. In fact, the dealers of Frankfort-on-
Pitt street couldn't get to sleep until early this
Main alone sold over $75,000 worth of machines
morning, and then Mandelbaum said:
and accessories during the past twelve months.
"If I don't get an injunction, I'll get a brass Berlin has done even better, and wherever one
band!"
travels the talking machine is found to be a fac-
tor of tremendous importance. Many of the
novelties which were so much talked about for
TALKING MACHINE IN COURT.
the past few years have not been materializing,
Court Stenographer Uses it for First Time in
and attention is now being given entirely to the
Trial Cases—Talked Into Four Machines.
betterment of the machines and records. The
double-faced record is constantly growing in
favor, and the Beka Record Co., the makers, have
(Special to The Review.)
now decided to place a double-sided disc on the
Bridgeport, Conn., Nov. (i, 1905.
For the first time in this State, and it is be- market.
lieved for the first time in New England, the
MEDICAL MEN ENTERTAINED.
talking machine was introduced in the court
stenographer's office for the purpose of rapidly
During the recent meeting of the Medical So-
reproducing the testimony in a murder case
ciety
of the State of Pennsylvania, held in Scran-
heard a few days ago, and it worked so success-
ton, Pa., the members were entertained at a con-
fully that hours of time were saved in the tran-
versazione tendered by President Thomas J. Fos-
scription of the stenographic notes of the trial.
ter and the directors of the International Text
Four machines were in use.
Book Co., in the new large I. C. S. Instruction
After taking all the testimony in the court,
Building, at Ninth street and Washington avenue.
stenographer George Hawley would retire to his
The vast extent of this enterprise dawned upon
office, and there dictate into these four machines the visitors through the exhaustive "exhibits"
at the rate of 150 to 200 words a minute, the provided in the different lecture rooms, in which
testimony of the case; the record would repro- everything in the art and mechanical worlds
duce this testimony, and from these records the was demonstrated, and nothing was more en-
typwritist would take dictation. Thus by 10 joyed than Edouard Lar-.iaze's explanation of
o'clock each night during the trial was accom- the I. C. S. method of teaching language by
plished what hitherto it has taken two steno- phonograph. Music was provided by Bauer's
graphers, alternating, until 9 o'clock the next Orchestra and refreshments were served during
morning to dictate to the typwritists.
the evening.
To perform this truly marvellous feat of re-
The International Correspondence School or-
porting requires first a man of more than aver- ganized fourteen years ago in two small rooms,
age skill in note reading, for he has to dictate now own and occupy five buildings in this city,
from four piles of copy to four machines, and covering seven acres of floor space, and have
these machines are running at a fast speed and a capital of four millions of dollars.
there is no time for studying pot hooks. That
Mr. Hawley has done this so admirably as to win
THEY ENJOY THE MACHINE.
the commendations of the attorneys and all con-
nected in the trial of this case proves his effi-
"Regular customers? Well, I should say," re-
ciency and the important part that the talking plied the cashier in a Broadway automatic vaude-
machine is in future likely to play in court trials. ville place, to a Sun man. "There are people who
have been coming in at least once a week ever
ADJUNCT TO RECORDING.
since the place opened. They go the rounds and
pick out the music that suits them. The ma-
Very Handy for Amateur Record Makers as it
chines are changed weekly, and there is often a
Softens the Hard Blank.
special feature, like the voice of the Pope or Jo-
A handy adjunct to recording is Recordezi, seph Jefferson. The people have their fancies,
That young fellow over there with long
which we have received from Mr. R. S. Wilshere, too.
of Leicester. The purpose of Recordezi is to soft- hair combed back—d'ye think he'd listen to a
en the often too hard blank supplied for amateur ragtime song? Well, I think not. It's classic for
recording, so that a louder record may result his. And that old gentleman—he's one of our
from its use than would otherwise be the case, oldest and most regular customers. He looks
and experiments on our part have justified this grim, but he's got a sentimental spot in his
claim. We treated the second half of the surface heart and always picks out music like 'When
of a blank cylinder with the solution, and then the Harvest Days Are Over, Jessie Dear,' 'Take
used it to make a record covering the whole cylin- This Letter to My Mother," and the like."