‘Better Music at Smaller Cost’

This chapter examines advertisements for mechanical musical instruments primarily from Moving Picture World, the leading trade paper for the motion picture industry at the time. These ads were directed at exhibitors and sought to convince them of the efficacy of supplementing or replacing their musicians with mechanical instruments. The chapter analyzes and categorises these ads in order to determine what needs firms specialising in mechanical instruments identified in the film industry, and how these firms advertised their instruments to construct and addresses those needs. It organises the ads into two large groups–those that focus on cost savings for the theatre and those that focus on increasing patronage at the theatre.