Excellent work Greg. Having the opportunity and taking the time to bring and set up so many machines might very well help educate a few eyes about the diversity of what to look for when they think to buy one down the road. Being able to have the historical society provide some help is good to hear.
You mentioned that few people had ever heard a cylinder machine prior to your presentation. Recently, I was invited by the music librarian at Gettysburg College to come as a guest speaker during Alumni Week to give a presentation on antique phonographs for a course called, "From Edison to iPod". I only brought an Early Standard A, a small 14" horn, and some early marching band cylinders, but it was welcomed with excitement. (I only had 15 minutes to speak or I would have brought a dozen machines.) The 20-some alumni in attendance ranged in age from about 23 to well over 80. Just like your crowd, few of them had ever heard a cylinder player but many remembered Victrolas in their parents and grandparents homes as an everyday entertainment device. This is the good part: After the demonstration wrapped up several of the older alumni were asking me more questions. One man who was from the class of 1952 came over to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said, "What I want to know is...what's an iPod?" I tried to suppress my laughter... Tim (the instructor) had used one all throughout the class but I don't think he ever verbosely stated, "This is an iPod" at any point, probably assuming that since it was the 21st century that everyone would know. (That guy understood how to get sound on and off of records with grooves, but he couldn't figure out for anything how you could get music out of that IPod box that didn't have a turntable on it...) Walt -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gregory Acker Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 8:37 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Phono-L] Phonograph Display Our small town features an annual weekend festival known as Victorian Days. With the help of the local historical society, I spent the weekend doing a presentation on the early history of phonographs. I displayed and demonstrated 6 cylinder machines and 6 disc machines. I was busy Saturday and Sunday afternoon and although I didn't keep count, I would estimate 200-300 people came and heard the machines. Ages ranged from 8-80, and while a lot of the older folks remembered a Victrola or Diamond Disc in the family, almost no one had ever seen a cylinder machine, and even after a thorough (I Thought) explanation, many couldn't understand how it worked. A lot of people were amazed at how loud a machine could play that didn't use electricity. I had a lot of fun and I hope sparked a little interest in phonographs. I have done this display in the past but the attendance and interest this year was a lot better than I ever had before. Greg Acker _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.16/914 - Release Date: 7/23/2007 7:45 PM
