Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |
Subject: Dead Media Working Note 04.9
Dead Media: Kids' Dead Media 1929: The Mirrorscope, the
Vista Chromoscope, the Rolmonica, the Chromatic Rolmonica
From: SeJ_AT_aol.com (Stefan Jones)
Source: _The Whole Fun Catalogue of 1929_, Chelsea House,
New York, 1979 (ISBN 0-87754-079-9)
If you have ever read a comic book, then you almost
certainly know about the Johnson Smith Company. They're
the folks that have been placing jam-packed advertisements
in the backs of DC and Marvel comics since the dawn of
time. You know: the ones that push whoopee cushions,
fake dog crap, ventriloquism kits and glow-in-the-dark yo-
yos. In addition to supplying generations of class clowns
with stink bombs and squirting daisy buttoneers, Johnson
Smith's mail order business offers more respectable
educational and recreational items.
I recently reread my reprint edition of the 1929 Johnson
Smith catalog -- and a genuine copy of the 1947 catalog
that my brother picked off a garbage heap -- with the
intention of finding some examples of Dead Media. I was
somewhat disappointed, particularly in the 1947 catalog,
but I did find some items of interest in the 1929 reprint
edition.
Note: I'd love to supply page numbers, but there are none.
The reprint is at least 300 pages long, with no index or
table or contents. I am still finding new things after
owning the thing for over a decade.
In blocks of quoted copy, my comments are in (((triple
parens))).
Many of the media we are familiar with today were
already well established by 1929. The catalog offers:
Two portable, spring-driven phonographs. Nothing radical
here. If it weren't for the crank, one of them would look
like the Beany & Cecil portable my sister and I got when
we were toddlers.
Two movie projectors ("Be a Movie King. Oh Boy! Some
Sport! Surprise the bunch--have a barrel o' fun!" Keystone
Moviegraph, No. 6575, $5.75; Keystone Rewind Model Moving
Picture Machine, No. 6198, $12.50. ). These had electrical
lamps, but were hand-cranked. The kits came with a free
roll of film (Johnson Smith's choice, apparently),
tickets, badges and arm bands for the crew, and a "U-Draw-
Em" slide for announcements. Both models could also be
used to project "lantern slides."
Johnson Smith sold "Extra Reels of Movie Film" for
$5.00. These were _generic_ pieces of motion picture
entertainment; the buyer got what the folks in Racine had
on hand. (Note that if these potluck offerings were on
nitrate stock, an unlucky junior theatre operator would be
getting bombs even if the features on the reels happened
to be good.)
Interestingly, the projectors -- and all other
electrical devices in the catalog -- had power cords that
ended in screw-type plugs shaped like the base of a light
bulb.
Two opaque projectors. ("The Mirrorscope or Projecting
Lantern: The MIRRORSCOPE is a great improvement upon magic
lanterns because you have an UNLIMITED SUPPLY OF PICTURES
free of cost. Post-Cards, photographs, engravings from
illustrated papers and, in fact, any opaque object, such
as moving works of a watch, living insects, and so on, can
be projected upon the screen in exactly the same manner as
the transparent slides in a magic lantern.") The cheaper
model (No. 6011, $5.00) had one "carbon electric" bulb;
the fancier two.
Stereoscope slides were still around. A two-page
spread invited browsers to "See the Wonders of the World
Through THE VISTA CHROMOSCOPE. Magnified Life-Like Views
and Scenes of America, Europe, The Holy Land, The World
War, etc. Interesting! Instructive! (((DRUM ROLL
PLEASE!))) Educational!"
Despite the hype, this appears to be a standard
stereoscope. Its chief advantage was that it was cheap
(No. 6608, Vista Chromoscope (without the Views), $1.50).
Stereo pairs, also offered in the catalog, cost $.35
for a set of 25. Thirty-nine sets are offered. They range
from #48101, Historical Spots of America, to #48139, Big
Cities of Europe. Some of the sets caused me to raise an
eyebrow (#48108, "A Trip to the Philippines with Uncle
Sam's Soldier Boys," #48121, "French Cook and Comic Lover
Series. No. 1"). Hmmm.
Near the beginning of the catalog is a small section
devoted to musical instruments. Most of these are variants
of the kazoo and harmonica. The capper: two nifty items
that qualify as genuine dead media: The Rolmonica and
The Chromatic Rolmonica.
(No. 4470, THE ROLMONICA, Complete with 1 Roll, $1.50)
The engraving shows a flat box, opened clamshell style,
with a projecting mouthpiece and two metal crank handles.
A sliver of a roll is visible within; it looks quite a lot
like a small player piano roll.
"ROLMONICA
The Pocket Player Piano
Mouth Organ that Plays with a Music Roll
ANYONE CAN PLAY IT WITHOUT PRACTICE
A Wide Selection of Rolls to Choose From
A VERITABLE POCKET SIZE JAZZ-BAND!"
"Rolmonica is an automatic harmonica, that plays a music
roll just like a player piano. It is a whole brass band
all in one -- the biggest sensation of the musical world
in the last few years." (((etc.)))
"The Rolmonica has a very simple mechanism, yet so
strongly built that it may be entrusted without hesitation
to children. The volume can be regulated by the user. When
sounding at is [sic] full power reproducing a band
performance, it can be almost deafening in the strength of
its tones, yet it will deliver with perfect clearness a
pianissimo passage in an instrumental solo." (((I imagine
parents regretting the Rolmonica's sturdy construction
after a few nights of "Turkey in the Straw" played at
"deafening" power.)))
Over a hundred rolls are offered at $.10 a piece. They
range from the familiar ("Swanee River," "Yankee Doodle,")
to the obscure ("It's Unanimous Now," "True Blue Lou,"
"Chant of the Jungle"). It's possible that a _lot_ more
than the hundred or so titles shown in the reprint version
were available; the numbering scheme runs from 201 to 263
on one page and 477 to 536 on the second page. A
significant number of the popular songs of the day may
have been transcribed on these things.
(No. 4471, THE NEW CHROMATIC 16-NOTE ROLMONICA, $2.50)
The first part of the copy, verbatim:
"The tremendous success and popularity of the Rolmonica
has induced the manufacturers to bring out this new 16-
note CHROMATIC ROLMONICA. This new model is larger than
the $1.50 12-note model described on the following page
and is ENTIRELY CHROMATIC. (((Do not confuse this with
cheap imitations that only have a thin _veneer_ of
chromatic!)))
"This enables you to get a larger range of music, to
play in various keys, and to get the beautiful tremolo
effects as produced on the regular harmonica, which is
impossible with the lower-priced Rolmonica. The CHROMATIC
ROLMONICA is a bigger and better Rolmonica, still built to
conveniently slip into the pocket upon the same happy
principle of the player-harmonica operating with a music
roll, but with certain additions and refinements of its
tone varieties and combinations, so that now in the
CHROMATIC ROLMONICA you have an instrument that enables
you to play your favorite composition, either classical or
jazz, with all the trimmings."
(((If you can read that last sentence of copy out loud
without taking a breath, YOU may have the lung capacity
required to take full advantage of the CHROMATIC
ROLMONICA!)))
Only sixty rolls are available for the Chromatic
Rolmonica; they are apparently incompatible with those
made for the lesser model ("Do not confuse these with the
Rolls for the ordinary Rolmonica.")
Judging from the trademarked Rolmonica logo proudly
displayed on the top of the page, these were gadgets with
name recognition. The Rolmonica company also had heavy
hitters pitching product for them: In one of the very few
photographs in the entire catalog, five of the early
Little Rascals are seen blowing and cranking away. Their
ring-eyed dog, Pete, is seen cowering at the bottom of the
picture, a paw over one ear.
Stefan Jones sej_AT_aol.com
Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |