In a message dated 7/14/04 7:21:37 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: The Nov 1880 newspaper, if I recall, does mention what the contents are, in terms of what she sang and recited that night. That may help a bit. -----------------------
New York Herald, Monday, November 29, 1880: "BERNHARDT AND EDISON. The Clever Actress Pays a Visit to the Wizard of Menlo Park -- Inspecting the Curiosities of the Laboratory" [................] "Every now and again she made an effort to speak English to Mr. Edison, using the few words she knew with capital effect, winning hearts all round as she rattled on. The phonograph was the marvel of all. Mr. Edison spoke into it, one of his assistants spoke into it, and then they sang songs to it and whistled and chanted duets, which the instrument gave back again, to the intense amusement of all present. Mlle. Bernhardt then spoke into it, reciting passages from 'Phedre' and 'Hernani.' These the phonograph gave back as perfectly as it did the others, without a mistake of language or emphasis. Leaving the laboratory Mlle. Bernhardt declared that Edison was a sorcerer, and she knew he would do something one day that would astonish the world." ======== This leaves open the interesting possibility that the sheet at the Ford Museum might contain Edison's voice in addition to Bernhardt's. The article doesn't indicate whether the foil was replaced on the mandrel between their recordings, but we do know that the record was made on a brass Bergmann Exhibition machine with 40 threads per inch, which can give a recording of 3-4 minutes in length depending upon cranking speed. Best regards, Rene Rondeau From AllenAmet Thu Jul 15 15:05:35 2004 From: AllenAmet ([email protected]) Date: Sun Dec 24 13:10:47 2006 Subject: [Phono-L] wow! TAE on the front page of the SF Chronicle today! Message-ID: <[email protected]> In a message dated 7/15/2004 3:28:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > This leaves open the interesting possibility that the sheet at the Ford > Museum might contain Edison's voice in addition to Bernhardt's. > ************ "Tom and Sarah at Menlo Park" - yes, the first hit duet. She saw him as the Napoleon of Invention. What a tantalizing possibility! Did anyone bother to save that tinfoil recording made for the 50th anniversary - the recreated "Mary Had a little Lamb"? Allen
