ABSTRACT
A New Orleans firm established ca. 1891 as one of the affiliates of the North American Phonograph Co. The company took an independent stance, and not only leased business machines but sold cylinders and phonographs, leased coin-ops, and made records for sale. In 1891 it was making about $500 a month from each coin-op on location. The firm’s own records featured Paoletti’s Southern Band, performing marches, waltzes, polkas, and the like. And there was a series of “Brudder Rasmus Sermons” delivered by Louis Vasnier (“very humorous,” stated one advertisement, and “faithful reproductions of a dusky style of pulpit oratory that is rapidly passing away”). H.T. Howard was president of the firm in 1891-1893.
