90. Today in 1920s Turkey: 1 June 1927 (Gramophones Are Everywhere: Even in the Villages)

(Cartoon, Karagöz, 1 June 1927, no. 2004, page 3.)

English
Gramophone-curiosity has started even in villages!
Where is our money going?
Karagöz: What’s up Uncle Villager, where are you going with your playing set all packed up?
Uncle Mehmet: I’m going to the village, Karagöz. Sure, we used to pick up gifts items like henna, combs, printed materials, and bracelets from the town when we made the journey. Now that is no longer fashionable, my daughter Ayşe expects a Gramophone.

Türkçe
Köylerde bile “Gramfon” merakı başladı!
Paralarımız nereye gidiyor?
Karagöz: Hayrola köylü dayı, oyun takımını düzmüş nereye gidiyorsun?
Mehmet Dayı: Köye gidiyorum Karagöz Çelebi. Malum ya eskiden kasabaya geldikçe hediyelik kına, tarak, basma, bilezik alırdık. Şimdi modası geçdi, bizim Ayşe kız da Gramfon bekliyor.

Comments:
This is a compilation “news” snippet that includes a cartoon, a ticker-style title, and a dialogue between Karagöz—the magazine’s namesake and mascot on the left—and the fictional villager included in the accompanying image. The cartoonist draws the reader’s attention to the story with his incongruous illustration which consists of the villager riding a donkey with a gramophone strapped to the “ass.” Broadly speaking, this very brief story is about the increasing ubiquity of new technologies in Turkey, especially non-essential, recreational items such as gramophones/phonographs which have managed to reach even the most far-flung villages in Turkey. What is the reason provided for this new “interest/curiosity” in gramophones? Why, trendiness, of course!

The text affords the reader other interesting contextual details such as the fact that villagers brought gifts home when they had to make the arduous trip to the nearest town. The list of gifts is endearing and includes recreational or ornamental necessities such as personal care products (combs, henna) and adornments (bracelets). The list also includes “printed materials” which could include items such as postcards or even magazines such as Karagöz. Perhaps suspicious that phonographs may make print publications like Karagöz obsolete, the piece criticizes such ostentatious purchases with the words “Where is our money going?” below the title.

Karagöz and other journals often underline various “changes” in society through their shifting material demands and desires. In this case, Karagöz is probably jumping the gun a bit too early. Perhaps a few dozen phonographs made it to far flung villages in the 1920s but they were by no means becoming a common household item for anyone but those who occupied the highest income brackets. After all, a gift is a gift, but there is a massive price difference between a phonograph and a comb. You would still have to be a rather wealthy villager to afford that kind of gift for your teenage daughter.

Today in 1920s Turkey has already covered a whole list of other “technological wonders” that made it to the pages of Turkish journals for one reason or another. Below are some of the most obvious ones:

Automobiles and Trollies: #85, #55, and #2.

Telephones and Phonographs: #79, #70, and #48.

Airplanes and Zeppelins: #88, #14, #5.

(Entire page, Karagöz, 1 June 1927, no. 2004, page 3.)