Edison Talking Doll - FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions -

Answers (with references) by Bill Klinger

 

Historical and Cultural Value

• Why is the Edison Talking Doll historically significant?
• What makes the Edison Talking Doll Recordings historically and culturally important?

Concept, Design, and Technical Development

• Who invented the Talking Doll Phonograph? Who further developed the Talking Doll Phonograph?
• When were prototype mechanisms made?
• What types of doll records were developed, and when?
• When were "sample" and "model" mechanisms and Talking Dolls delivered?
• Who decided that the performance of the Talking Doll Phonograph was acceptable, and therefore approved the mass-production of Edison Talking Dolls?

Industrial Production

• Who manufactured the Edison Talking Doll Phonograph?
• Where was the phonograph manufactured?
• Who made the dolls?
• Where were the dolls made?
• Who assembled the dolls and phonographs together?
• Who packaged and shipped the dolls?
• How long was the Edison Talking Doll in production?
• Why did production end so soon?
• How many Edison Talking Dolls were completed?

Marketing and Sales

• How was the Edison Talking Doll marketed?
• Was it marketed to children or to adults?
• Where or how did people buy the dolls?
• Were the dolls sold only in high-end stores?
• When did sales begin?
• When did sales end?
• Why wasn't the Edison Talking Doll a big seller?

Economics

• What was the retail price of the Edison Talking Doll?
• What was the wholesale price?
• What would the equivalent prices be, in today's dollar?
• How much did it cost to make the phonograph and assemble it in the doll?
• How much did the doll alone cost? (without phonograph)
• What percent profit was guaranteed to the Edison Phonograph Works for manufacturing Talking Dolls?
• What percent royalty was allocated to Thomas Edison, personally?

Sound Recordings

• When were the Edison Talking Doll Records made?
• Who performed for the recordings?
• What titles were offered?
• What was the typical duration of the doll recordings?
• Would the records have sounded better in 1890 than what we hear today?
• What did people say about the Edison Talking Doll's sound, back in 1890?

Product Operation

• How does the Edison Talking Doll work?
• How is the phonograph mounted in the doll?
• Could the doll owner change the record?

Product Durability

• How fragile was the Talking Doll?
• What parts broke most often?
• How did the wax record hold up, with repeated plays?
• Why didn't Edison fix the problems and try again with an improved design?

Customer Service

• If the doll broke, where or how did the owner get it fixed?

Business, Corporate, and Legal Matters

• What was the business relationship among Thomas Edison, W. W. Jacques, and the Edison Phonograph Toy Manufacturing Company (EPTMCo)?
• Who founded EPTMCo?
• EPTMCo had ties to three cities: Boston, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; and New York, New York. How?
• Who funded EPTMCo?

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Bill Klinger is a consulting engineer who researches the history and technology of sound recording in the cylinder format. He is a founding member of the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.

This FAQ was published on April 13, 2015.