Victrola

On February 19, 1918 as on some other days, Mary's diary entry mentions playing her Victrola.  These were the days before commercial radio and of course before television and other electronic media that we take so much for granted today.

The Victrola was made by the Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, NJ.  On the first of every month the Evening Public Ledger would have an advertisement for new Victrola record offerings.  For example, the March 1, 1918 Victrola advertisement touted "Jascha Heifitz again displays his genius.  The wonderful young Russian's mastery of the violin is evidenced in this brilliant rendition of Elgar's dainty 'La Capricieuse' which cannot fail to captivate you."  Also "Sousa's band plays two stirring Sousa marches" and others.

Here is an ad from the February 10, 1918 The Philadelphia Inquirer for a Victrola "talking machine".

 

 

The player is on top of the console, the console being used to store the records.  This complete unit selling for $79.50 would be the equivalent of nearly $1,300 USD today.  A YouTube sample of how a record might sound can be found here.