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MMD > Archives > March 2014 > 2014.03.02 > 01Prev  Next


Happy Birthday, Duo-Art!
By Rex Lawson

Hi Robbie,  I don't know whether you are besieged by postings about the
centenary of the Duo-Art today, but I've uploaded three of the original
ads from 1914, from the New York Sun.  They come from the Library of
Congress site, and I've cleaned them up a bit.  You'll find them at
http://www.pianolist.org/duo-art 

 [ http://www.pianolist.org/duo-art/nysun_1914.03.01_edit.tif 
 [ http://www.pianolist.org/duo-art/nysun_1914.03.15_edit.tif 
 [ http://www.pianolist.org/duo-art/nysun_1914.11.22_edit.tif 

I haven't uploaded the relevant Music Trade Review [MTR] pages, but the
first reference is in MTR-1914-58-10-42.pdf

The implication of the earliest Sun ad, published on March 1st,
1914, is that the Duo-Art was first presented to the world on Monday
2nd March, at 3 p.m.  That would mean everyone with a Duo-Art ought
to play it today at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and drink a toast!
Even if they haven't got a Duo-Art, they could still drink to it!

I note that the Duo-Art was first introduced in the Steinway, and that
the Steinway grand was first advertised in the Sun in November 1914.
Denis Hall's Steinway O grand is dated September 1914, according to
the serial number, 168475, and a two-month delay for installing the
Duo-Art and getting it into the showroom seems very reasonable.

Of course, no-one really knows who invented the Duo-Art.  People
often like to idolize named individuals, but presumably it was a team
that was responsible.  MTR does give one possible clue about the
leader of the team, in a report on a dinner for Aeolian employees,
after a baseball match that they played in the summer of 1914.  There
was a tradition to recite rhyming toasts on such occasions, so look at
MTR-1914-58-26-52.pdf, at the very bottom of the toast.  It also uses
the word "grand", which could be the first reference to a Duo-Art
grand, though it might just be an adjective, put in to scan!

The name "Duo-Art" is really silly, since the Aeolian Company
immediately talked about its threefold value, which would indicate
a "Trio-Art".  But they had been struggling unsuccessfully for some
years to produce a synchronised phonograph and player-piano, and the
name would make far more sense in that connection.  I imagine they
abandoned the combined phonograph, and rushed out the reproducing
piano, when they found themselves at risk of being overtaken by the
Ampico.

Best wishes,

Rex Lawson
London


(Message sent Sun 2 Mar 2014, 12:59:47 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Birthday, Duo-Art, Happy

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