The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Thanks for posting Sonny. It's the first time I've actually seen video of someone recording on a tinfoil. Isn't it hard to get those videos perfect the first time? I wonder how Spielberg does it???

No digs on the recitation, but I'm glad the clothes dryer was stopped before it!
Thanks for the post--it's always great to see a tinfoil (repro or otherwise) in use.

Valecnik wrote:Thanks for posting Sonny. It's the first time I've actually seen video of someone recording on a tinfoil. Isn't it hard to get those videos perfect the first time? I wonder how Spielberg does it???

No problem! I really enjoyed learning how to use a tinfoil phonograph. There isn't too much on the internet that shows a step by step process or describes the best way to secure the tinfoil. So it was definitely a learning process to say the least. The hardest part was wrapping the tinfoil securely around the mandrel and securing it so it wouldn't move when recording. If there is a crease or if it isn't taught, the stylus would grab and tear the tinfoil. I'm glad it does indeed work though. I just took the owner's word for it and put that in the eBay listing. So thanks again for urging me to give it a try to find out for sure.

coyote wrote:No digs on the recitation, but I'm glad the clothes dryer was stopped before it!
Thanks for the post--it's always great to see a tinfoil (repro or otherwise) in use.

I realized that after filming that part of the video and turned it off for the other parts. You must have really had your speakers cranked up to hear it!

One of the many Edison biographies says that when Edison played back the first recording, he looked around at his men for their reactions, because he was already too deaf to hear it. Oh wait - maybe that was Spencer Tracy,in EDISON THE MAN. ( or EDISON EL HOMBRE, on my Mexican poster) It's on another computer, so I'll check that tomorrow.

haha: I still think he probably recited one of the dirty limericks he & his men liked to write, and had to clean up the story for the public. Charles Edison opened the Old Man's desk on live radio, some years after TAE died - and had to go through a goodly pile of papers, before he found one that could be read over the air!

Thanks for sharing the video !

I've read that the second thing recited into the Phonograph was "Mad dog! Mad dog!", and that the drum was then turned backward.

JohnM wrote:I've read that the second thing recited into the Phonograph was "Mad dog! Mad dog!", and that the drum was then turned backward.