In the first half of the 20th century, there were quite a few music stores selling gramophones, phonographs, and records in our beloved city. Since the competition was fierce, store owners did everything they could to attract Kharkiv residents.
The owners of the store, “Central Depot of the Gramophone Joint-Stock Company,” emphasized that their store was “the first specialty gramophone store in southern Russia.” They also promised customers “ALWAYS a wider selection of new, unplayed records bearing a security seal.”
A. Werner’s store might have advertised, “New! Micro-gramophones featuring the latest technology and sheet music for them.”
The “Polyakine & Sons” trading house proudly named its store the “Music Store and Gramophone Warehouse,” informing customers in large letters that “installment payments are available on favorable terms.”
However, against this general backdrop of promises of “low prices” and “a huge selection,” one advertisement really stands out.
M.K. Torsky’s wholesale and retail store on Universitets’ka Street attracted customers not only with a set of standard slogans, but also with creative advertising poetry like this:
Down with hostility!
All of nature rejoices
in the Resurrection, but throughout the ages,
only restless man remains
at odds with it.
There is a way for man to forget this enmity forever,
to soothe the passions of the ages
and bring all people together;
And then all people, without exception,
Will live together under the moon
Just like loving brothers,
Without that evil, fateful struggle.
The people’s malicious
anger Will fade like a springtime dream;
There will be eternal
peace on earth, And no groans will be heard.
Where, then, is this miraculous
remedy? Who possesses such a thing?
Well, of course, it would do no harm
for everyone to acquire this remedy.
I’ll show you, if you wish
(to soothe the groans of humanity):
ask at Torsky’s shop—this remedy is the gramophone.
Here’s an unusual advertisement we saw in our favorite city…
Sources:
- GAHO
- The newspaper “Utro,” 1912–1913
- Kharkiv Calendar, 1903, 1905, 1906
- About the military pilot school and the airfield in Kharkiv… - 04.11.2020
- Nikanor Savich—A Political Career by Mistake - 13.07.2020
- And once again, about the Cavalry Guards… - 21.01.2020