[78-L] acoustic vanity

[neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com]

Recently I happened to catch an ep of COLD CASE, a crime drama about 
some detectives who solve old murder cases. This one is called "Torn", 
#91, from April 8 of 2007. I don't care for this series, but this case 
happened in 1919-20 (which is why it even caught my attention, I was 
hoping there might be a phonograph sighting) and involved the murder of 
a suffragette. There were a few scenes with records and machines, and as 
one might expect, the historical accuracy was somewhat lax. The first 
scene in question (remember, 1919) used Al Jolson singing "You Made Me 
Love You" with a big band accompaniment as background.  In another scene 
we see a close up of an Edison Disc, Sophie Tucker "Some of These Days" 
on 4M-691 (???) and quickly a character plays it on an early external 
horn machine, steel needle out of focus in the distance. I'm no expert 
on Edison labels, but surely this was a prop person's creation. Did 
Edison have a double strobe on his label ever? It looks like a double 
strobe anyway. I think it was 12".

But the real question is about something that happens at the end of the 
show. A detective has found a record and comments that it had been made 
by the deceased person's mother. What we see looks like shellac with a 
printed label - "Market Street Recording Studio" in big letters. Was 
there such a studio? Would there have been a sound studio in 1920? Or a 
place to make a personal recording? There's even an address in Philly 
but most of it is not visible. Date of recording is August 18, 1920 
(date of 19th amendment ratification). Sounds and looks like vinyl to me 
when the fellow puts it on the same phonograph to play it, and I don't 
think it is turning at 78 rpm. Certainly it's a prop. As far as the 
story goes, it would have required plating and pressing to produce a 
shellac record, and the time and expense for one disc would be way out 
of line, even if someone provided this service in 1920.

So here's the question - in 1920, would it have been possible to make a 
vanity record or a home recording on disc? I know it could be done on a 
cylinder, I've heard those played at an ARSC Conference. Was there a way 
to make a single home-recorded disc for family use? And if so what 
material would this be? Certainly not shellac.

joe salerno