Judge, 1916-10-14 · page 28 of 28
Judge — October 14, 1916 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**, but rather a **full-page advertisement** for the Columbia Grafonola (a phonograph/record player). The image shows an ornate arched gateway—evoking exotic, Orientalist architecture reminiscent of "A Thousand and One Nights"—with a silhouetted figure standing in the opening, gazing at a distant cityscape. The visual metaphor suggests the grafonola as a "gateway" to diverse entertainments and worlds of sound. The advertising copy emphasizes the device's versatility and fidelity, claiming it reproduces sound with perfect "reality." The tagline "Hearing is Believing" plays on the notion that recorded sound is now indistinguishable from live performance. The $200 model advertised was positioned as a premium, cabinet-style instrument. This represents early 20th-century consumer marketing that used aspirational imagery and grandiose language to sell emerging audio technology to middle and upper-class households.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gateway to a Thousand-and-One Enterfainmé nts HE Columbia Grafonola is an instrument of infinite possibilities. | Its power to thrill, amuse, inspire — its mastery of evefy sound and emotion —and, above all, its sheer-perfection in all the numberless roles it plays, make the Columbia Grafonolathe one incomparably versatile and delightful entertainer. The Columbia Grafonola, playing Columbia /Double-Disc Regords, is the living, breathing embodiment of art; for the tone of Columbia Double- Disc Records is /ife itself—REABITYL “Hearing is Be- lieving.”’. Arrange a hearing at your dealer’s today. New Columbia Necords on sale the 20th of every tnonth COLUMBIA GRAFONOLA The instrument illustrated above_is the $200 Grafonola— the apex of achievement in cabinet instruments MA ADRARLAAAAL AAALAALAA AAA LAD Comicbooks gop