Life, 1917-10-18 · page 3 of 40
Life — October 18, 1917 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement**, not satire. It promotes Thomas A. Edison's phonograph technology by claiming the New Edison can "Re-Create" performances with such fidelity that listeners cannot distinguish recorded voices from live singers. The ad features four performers (identified as Ciccolini, Alcock, Verlet, and Middleton) performing the famous quartet from Verdi's opera *Rigoletto*. Edison's marketing pitch emphasizes that the phonograph reproduces music "with absolute realism"—so convincingly that direct comparison between live and recorded performances proves the technology's superiority. The tagline "The Phonograph with a Soul" positions Edison's device as capturing not mere mechanical sound, but genuine artistic expression. This represents early 1920s advertising rhetoric celebrating technological advancement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ciccolini, Alcock, Verlet and Middleton have sung this world-famed number for the New Edison in a way that will stir your emotions to the uttermost depths. The New Edison Re-Creates their performance with absolute ‘from Rigo tto realism. The acid test of direct comparison between their living voices and their Re-Created voices has proved this to be true. The illus- tration is from an actual photograph of this test. Only the New Edison can sustain such a test. Lhe NEW EDISON “The Phonograph with a Soul” Visit the Edison Dealer in your vicinity and ask him to let you hear the Quartet from Rigoletto. Write us for the brochure, “Music’s Re-Creation,” and a complimentary copy of the new musical magazine, “Along Broadway,” which will interest every music lover. THOMAS A. EDISON, INC., ORANGE, N. J.