Life, 1915-11-11 · page 3 of 44
Life — November 11, 1915 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily an advertisement for Columbia Records, priced at 65 cents for double-disc sets. The image shows an elegant early 20th-century parlor scene with well-dressed people gathered around a gramophone. The ad's main argument concerns **tone quality**: Columbia claims superiority through scientific precision in both recording and reproduction. The text emphasizes that listeners comparing records will recognize Columbia's "perfect recording means" produces sound that is "round and brilliant, less true and natural" than competitors. The advertisement addresses the competitive market for phonograph records and the emerging consumer preference for high-fidelity sound reproduction. The fashionable setting suggests Columbia targeted affluent, cultured audiences. This reflects the early gramophone era when recorded music was a luxury product and home listening was a status symbol.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Those who make comparisons find it the easiest thing in the world to prove the superiority of Columbia tone. Hear a Columbia record played on your instrument, and you will realize what perfect recording means. You will never again be satished with a tone less round and brilliant, less true and natural. Tone superiority depends as much upon the scientific exactness of the original recording process as upon the quality of the reproducing mechanism of the instrument. Any Columbia dealer will gladly play for you any number of Columbia Records in avy class of music. And of course they will play on your talking machine if any standard make. Columbia Graphophone Company Box K 270, Woolworth Building, New York comicbooks.com