Biophone

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Blimpy
Victor O
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Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:40 pm

Biophone

Post by Blimpy »

Just read about this at Rene Rondeau's site:
http://www.edisontinfoil.com/biophone.htm

What an interesting device! I never knew it appeared in My Fair Lady (although I've never seen it outside of the odd 5 seconds of it when I'm flipping channels, and besides, I don't really scan movies intently for phonographs :roll: ). Someone should go though those old prop dept.'s or inquire about it sometime (anyone here have access to that sort of stuff? :lol: )... I do remember this one movie about a professor who tried to take a trashy British woman and turn her into a charming, polite girl that had lots of phonographs and gramophones used for elocution and dancing lessons. Can't recall the title, though :oops:

Any chance of a video demo, Rene (if you're on this board)?

JohnM
Victor VI
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Re: Biophone

Post by JohnM »

When I taught at USC Cinema & TV school in the early 1980's, I had occasion to visit a number of prop houses -- but certainly not ALL of them -- and while I saw a number of desirable phonographs in them, I never saw Rene's Biophone (although I do remember when Pat acquired it).

The film you are describing IS My Fair Lady!
"All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds." Richard Brautigan

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Blimpy
Victor O
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Re: Biophone

Post by Blimpy »

Blimpy wrote: I do remember this one movie about a professor who tried to take a trashy British woman and turn her into a charming, polite girl that had lots of phonographs and gramophones used for elocution and dancing lessons. Can't recall the title, though :oops: /quote]
JohnM wrote: The film you are describing IS My Fair Lady!
:oops:
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JohnM
Victor VI
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Re: Biophone

Post by JohnM »

Lol! Not to worry -- the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain!
"All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds." Richard Brautigan

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TinfoilPhono
Victor V
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Re: Biophone

Post by TinfoilPhono »

I've been intending to make a Youtube video of that machine for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. I'll try to get off my butt and do it. It will require my doing quite a bit of maintenance as it has been sitting on a shelf for quite a while. It's a very finicky machine. It has to be very clean and very well-lubricated to work, and even at that it's hardly stellar. It's not surprising it was such a flop, it's not an easy rig to adjust. I laugh when I read the original ad that says it's a simple matter to swap back and forth from cylinders to discs. Hah! It takes forever to get it set up just right to power a disc all the way through. It's damn-near impossible, in fact! But the reproducer sounds remarkably good.

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