A cylinder for the Lioretograph No. 2 phonograph. Lioret followed the Bébé Jumeau and Merveilleux toy phonographs with models meant for an older audience. These were larger machines with progressively longer cylinders: the no. 2, no. 3 and Eureka cylinders could hold recordings from 1 to 4 minutes in length. The No. 2 cylinder shown here was played at 120 rpm and held about 1 minute of sound.

Lioret cylinders were not compatible with Edison phonographs. Further, unlike wax cylinders, celluloid cylinders could not be recorded on a home phonograph. Lioret addressed this by allowing customers to submit text to be recorded at his studio for 5 or 10 francs. Additionally, for 10 francs a customer could record their own voice (Anton 2006, 110).

The Rowdy-Dowdy Boys was a music hall drinking song published in 1892 (Baxter 2024).