Edison Silhouette
Ads
By Doug Boilesen, 2020
Edison used silhouettes
in 1906 and 1907 with advertisements showing the phonograph providing
home entertainment befitting a king; entertaining and thereby keeping
the man of the house at home; and John Philip Sousa saying that
"people will no longer go to concerts if they can have music
in their own homes so easily and as cheaply as they can with the
Edison Phonograph." That Edison ad, however, also turned Sousa's
concerns around by pointing out that if people no longer went to
concerts because of the phonograph that was actually a recognition
of Edison's Phonograph being a formidable competitor to live music.
Silhouettes had been
a popular art form in the United States during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries (and beyond - see 1920's scissor-cut silhouette
of Thomas Edison).
"Shadow" performances
had also provided entertainment for generations (see the 1861 Punch
and Judy woodcut "Shadow
Dance," (Illustrated London News, December 1861).
The following Edison
phonograph advertisements are examples of Edison's ads using "silhouttes"
with their distinctive black cut-out images on white paper.
Edison Ad, Ainslee's
Magazine, 1900 (PM-0938)
The Red Book, 1906 (PM-0949)
Edison ad, December 1906
The Edison Phonograph Monthly,
Edison ads for January 1907
The Edison Phonograph
Monthly, Edison ads for February 1907
Cosmopolitan Magazine,
1906?
The Ladie's Home Journal,
February 1907, p. 59
The National Magazine,
Edison Phonographs, National Phonograph Company, 1907 (Disclaimer)
"Round the horn
with Edison, a delightful voyage --
sail into our Phonograph department and hear the latest records."
Edison ad by local jobber
as seen in The Edison Phonograph Monthly, March 1907
Advertisement by Iver
Johnson's Sporting Goods Co., 163 Washington St.
System Magazine,
1909
