Life, 1919-10-30 · page 36 of 36
Life — October 30, 1919 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a full-page advertisement for Victor Talking Machine Company (phonographs/gramophones), featuring their famous trademark: a dog listening to a gramophone horn with the caption "His Master's Voice." The ad emphasizes the trademark's meaning: quality assurance and responsibility. It claims Victor products represent the greatest musical talent, scientific research, and manufacturing standards available. The pricing ($12–$950) indicates products ranging from affordable to luxury models. The "His Master's Voice" trademark was iconic and literal—it symbolized a dog recognizing and responding to recorded sound, demonstrating the phonograph's fidelity. For modern readers, this is recognizable as RCA Victor's famous logo, though the company name and branding have changed over decades. This appears to be early 20th-century advertising, when phonographs were still relatively new technology worth elaborate marketing claims.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“HIS MASTERS VOICE” REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. “Chat this trademark means To you—an assurance of quality. To us—an acceptance of responsibility. It identifies the products of the Victor Talking Machine Com- pany. Yes, but’ it goes further than that, for it is the symbol of achievement. Products bearing this mark have their origin and are manufactured complete in the greatest and most efficient plant of its kind in the world. They are created by the greatest array of musical talent ever drawn together-by any one for any purpose. They represent the greatest investment of time, money and scien- tific research that has ever been made with absolute singleness of purpose in this particular line of human endeavor. In these pro- ducts are embodied practically all of the basic improvements which have given the talking machine its patent of nobility among musical instruments and have established the Victor as a standard of com- parison for all other such instruments, Victors and Victrolas $12 to $950. Victor dealers Leyahare Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N.J comicbooks.com@y