PHONOGRAPH RECORDS

Low Fidelity

Sales of phonographs and records decreased during the early years of the 1920s after reaching a peak in 1920. The chief cause of the decline was the radio craze, but the poor sound quality of the recordings and the phonographs impeded the growth of the industry. The recordings were made by the acoustical or mechanical system, which did not use amplifiers or micro-phones. These records did not reproduce the overtones of the sound, and the players used a large horn to magnify the sound. The result was scratchy and failed to provide a realistic sound reproduction. Most phonographs had to be hand-cranked every three or four records. In 1925 the wind-up cabinet-model Victrolas were priced from $110 to $250.

Victor

The industry was stimulated by the development in 1925 of an electrical recording process by Western Electric Company, which also developed the all-electric Orthophonic phonograph with a loudspeaker. Victor, the largest record-phonograph manufacturer, was the first to bring out electrical recordings for the Orthophonic Victrola. Sales increased steadily until 65 million records were sold in 1929, almost half of which were from Victor.

Inconvenience

Even at their best, records in the 1920s were fragile, short-lived, inconvenient, and relatively expensive. The lacquer or wax records were easily cracked; they melted in hot weather; they became scratchy after a few playings; the ten-inch records played for four minutes. Popular music and comedy routines were recorded on the ten-inch disks that sold at an average price of seventy-five cents. Classic or serious music was on twelve-inch disks that cost $1.25 or $1.50. There were no record changers.

Recording Stars

The leading producers were Victor, Columbia, Okeh, Gennett, and Brunswick. The best-selling orchestra leader of the 1920s was Paul Whiteman, whose "Whispering"/"Japanese Sandman" sold more than a million copies for Victor in 1920. Dance-music records were very popular throughout the decade, and Victor had another best-seller in 1920 with bandleader Ben Selvin's "Dardanella." Victor also introduced the yodels of Jimmie Rodgers. Columbia lured Whiteman away from Victor in 1928 and gave him his own label. Singer-bandleader Ted Lewis ("When My Baby Smiles at Me") also had his own Columbia label; one of his hits was "Goodnight" in 1928. The Columbia roster boasted Bessie Smith. Brunswick hits included Isham Jones's "Wabash Blues" in 1921 and Al Jolson's "Sonny Boy" in 1924.

Race Records

The major companies developed "Race" series aimed at black buyers. Okeh was particularly attentive to black performers. Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues"/"It's Right Here for You" sold an exceptional seventy-five thousand copies in 1920. Okeh sought out what was described as "Americana" (music by obscure or local performers) and had country and western and Yiddish record series. Black Swan, launched in 1921, was the first black-owned label. Its biggest success was Ethel Waters's "Oh Daddy"/"Down Home Blues." Records enlarged the audience for black jazz and blues—exposing whites to music they had never before heard and could hear only on records. Gennett recorded some of the most famous jazz figures of the 1920s, including King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton. Bix Beiderbecke made his early records for Gennett.

Radio Stars

Most of the recording stars of the early 1920s—for example, Al Jolson, Bessie Smith, and Eddie Cantor—had previously made their reputations on the stage. However, at the end of the decade the reputations of the most popular recording entertainers had been achieved through radio exposure. Billy Jones and Ernie Hare (The Happiness Boys), Moran and Mack (The Two Black Crows), and Charles Correli and Freeman Gosden (Amos 'n' Andy) were obscure vaudeville performers before radio made them national figures.

Source:

Roland Gelatt, The Fabulous Phonograph: From Edison to Stereo (New York: Appleton-Century, 1966).

314. Phonograph Records

audiophile

a person especially interested in high-fidelity sound equipment and recordings on tape or disks.

audiophilia

1. the state or condition of an audiophile.

2. the state of one who listens to high-fidelity equipment solely for the quality of reproduction. —audiophilic, adj.

discography, diskography

1. a list of musical recordings, usually with commentary, often concerning one composer, performer, or performing group.

2. the analysis, history, or classification of musical recordings.

3. the methods of such analysis or classification. —discographer, diskographer, n. —discographical, diskographical, adj.

discophily, diskophily

the zealous study and collection of phonograph records. Also called phonophily . —discophile, diskophile, n.

gramophile

British. a lover and collector of phonograph records.

gramophone

British. phonograph.

graphophone

an instrument for reproducing sound from records; a phonograph; a gramophone.

nickelodeon

a juke-box, record-player, or player piano operated by the insertion of a nickel or other coin. See also 159. FILMS .

phonophily

discophily.

pho·no·graph / ˈfōnəˌgraf/ • n. a record player. ∎  chiefly hist. an early sound-reproducing machine that used cylinders to record as well as reproduce sound. DERIVATIVES: pho·no·graph·ic / ˌfōnəˈgrafik/ adj.

phonograph. Same as gramophone and used in USA. The term was devised by Edison for his recording machine, the record or wax cylinder being called a phonogram.

phonograph see record player .

phonograph •barf, behalf, calf, chaff, coif, giraffe, Graf, graph, half, laugh, scarf, scrum half, staff, strafe, wing half •headscarf • mooncalf • bar graph •telegraph • polygraph • epigraph •serigraph • cardiograph • radiograph •spectrograph • micrograph •lithograph • heliograph •choreograph • tachograph •stylograph • holograph • seismograph •chronograph, monograph •phonograph • paragraph •cinematograph • pictograph •autograph • photograph • flagstaff •jackstaff • distaff • tipstaff • epitaph •pikestaff • cenotaph