Life, 1928-04-12 · page 3 of 42
Life — April 12, 1928 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page**, but rather a **straightforward advertisement** for Edison phonographs, specifically the "Edisonic" model. The page promotes the phonograph's audio fidelity by emphasizing "close-up" sound quality—the illusion that a famous pianist performs live before you. The photograph of pianist hands at a keyboard illustrates this appeal. The ad references E. Robert Schmitz's piano recordings, suggesting listeners can hear classical music with remarkable clarity and presence. The product shown is a wooden cabinet-style phonograph. The ad's target audience is affluent home consumers desiring high-quality music reproduction. This represents early 20th-century consumer marketing celebrating technological advancement in sound recording and playback—no political satire is present.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ile The Pianist is “Close-up” at your side! Hear piano selections on the new Edisonic! -} It is as though a superb grand piano... a famous artist ... were before you. - You almost sce his hands go pearling down the keys. -+ “Close-up” music is so vivid! | The Edisonic gives throbbing realism—like a heart sings. So true, so perfect, is the Re-Creation movie close-up—depth and form, color and that you hear the artist himself, when you hear life—to your favorite selections, whether the Edisonic “Close-up” music. +} + Think what classics or jazz. Hear E. Robert Schmitz’s piano it would mean to have such beauty in your recordings for the Edisonic, Listen to home—to be able to hear just the his playing of the “Arabesque in music you like, whenever you like! +} G Major”! It is so splendid that your Thomas A. Edison, Inc., Orange, N. J. The Schubert Edisonic— Compact, beautifall; two-tone Engllch Thoms Bim The EDISONIC comicbooks.com