Eldridge Reeves Johnson was an American inventor, business executive, and engineer who founded the Victor Talking Machine Company and built it into the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records.
Background
Johnson was born on February 6, 1867, in Wilmington, Delaware, the only child of Asa S. and Caroline (Reeves) Johnson, both of colonial American descent. He spent his boyhood in Dover, Delaware, where his father was a moderately prosperous building contractor.
Education
From an early age the Johnson displayed considerable mechanical ability. At sixteen, after his graduation from the Wesley Conference Academy in Dover, Johnson went to Philadelphia, where he served an apprenticeship as a machinist with Jacob Lodge & Son. In addition, he took night classes in mechanical drawing at the Spring Garden Institute.
Among his substantial gifts to the University of Pennsylvania, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1928, was an $800, 000 donation in 1927 for the establishment of the Eldridge R. Johnson Foundation for Research in Medical Physics.
Career
In 1888, Johnson became manager of Andrew Scull's small machine shop in Camden, New Jersey. Within a year he resigned to go on a general scouting expedition through the West. In later life he observed that this trip, which lasted over a year, had been "a great education, as it lifted me out of mental ruts formed by a long apprenticeship and a narrow circle of acquaintances. "
Because Johnson thought that opportunities for advancement were more plentiful in the East, he returned to Philadelphia in 1891 and formed a partnership with Scull; he purchased his partner's interest in 1894. For two years the work of repairing factory machines and building experimental models for inventors yielded Johnson little financial reward. Early in 1896, however, when a hand-propelled Gramophone was brought to his shop, his fortunes began to change. Although it sounded like "a partially educated parrot with a sore throat, " Johnson became fascinated with this talking machine, which had been invented by Emile Berliner in 1887. Within a few months Johnson had developed a spring-driven motor and had secured a contract to supply the Berliner Gramophone Company with 200 of them. Continuing his experiments with talking machines and records, the following year he produced an improved sound box, developed jointly with Alfred Clark, and a better motor, which together formed the basis of Berliner's Improved Gramophone. By 1898 Johnson was manufacturing 600 complete Gramophones per week for the Berliner Company.
Because of the conflicting claims to basic inventions that were then plaguing the phonograph industry and the complex litigation over patent infringement that for a time prevented Berliner from selling his own product, Johnson in 1900 decided to sell talking machines and records on his own. In October 1901 he founded and became president of the Victor Talking Machine Company, and in return for 40 percent of the common stock, acquired title to the Berliner patents. Under the administration of Johnson, who had a substantial controlling interest, the Victor Company became a vast success. During its first two decades Victor was the leader of the American phonograph industry - in quality, artists, repertoire, advertising, and sales. This leadership was exemplified by the introduction in 1906 of the internal-horn Victrola, which revolutionized phonograph construction. Numerous other technical advancements by Johnson and his staff permitted Victor to produce disc machines and records of a generally higher quality than those of its competitors. Furthermore, by signing exclusive, long-term contracts with many of the best-known operatic, concert, and stage celebrities, Victor established the reputation of providing the best in recorded music. These factors, however, might not have ensured Victor's dominance of the industry without an effective advertising program. Through affiliations with foreign companies, the Victor trademark - a dog seated before a phonograph horn, his ear cocked to "His Master's Voice" - soon became famous throughout the world.
During the early 1920's Victor's creative role diminished. Although rival firms like Sonora and Brunswick were catering to a growing public taste for "period" cabinets with broad, flat tops, Johnson clung to the Victrola's traditional square, vaulted lid. The company was also slow to expand its recording repertoire of classical music, and obstinately disregarded the competitive potential of radio, leaving it to others to market radiophonograph combinations. By mid-decade Victor's sales had declined to $20, 000, 000, a decrease of 60 percent in four years. In 1925, however, Victor agreed to incorporate the Radio Corporation of America's Radiola into its consoles, and later the same year introduced the Orthophonic Victrola, with a new sound system and electrically recorded discs. With these developments, the company's sales rebounded. At this opportune time, Johnson, who had been ill for several years, retired as president and sold his controlling stock interest to a banking syndicate for an estimated $15, 000, 000. Two years later Victor was merged with the Radio Corporation of America.
Johnson died of a heart attack at his home in Moorestown, New Jersey, at the age of seventy-eight. He was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Achievements
Religion
Johnson was known to be an Episcopalian.
Politics
Johnson was an active Republican.
Interests
Among Johnson's varied interests were archaeology, yachting, fishing, and collecting prints, books, and manuscripts.
Connections
On October 5, 1897, Johnson married Elsie Reeves Fenimore. They had one son, Eldridge Reeves Fenimore Johnson.