The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The UK Drama TV Channel 20 has recently started broadcasting the Murdoch Mysteries, a crime series set in Toronto, on Sundays at 8.00pm.

The first episode, in which the murder victim was electrocuted, featured a lot of techno-babble about the battle of the currents i.e. Edison(DC) v Tesla(AC). Tesla even got a prominent part in the action.

In the second episode the attractive lady pathologist (were there such ladies back then?) was happily playing an Edison DD machine in the Path Lab! The episode also featured some unlikely looking representations of early motorcycles.

The series is enjoyable if lightweight viewing, but exactly when is it supposed to be set?

What model DD player was she playing? If that's true, it could be one of the first times a DD player was ever shown on a movie or series, at least to my knowledge. Although I think there was an Edison 250 model shown once in the attic of the Anderson family on "Father Knows Best" in an episode called The Old Days.

No doubt about it being a DD machine, but the shot of it (showing only the playing deck) was so brief that I just had time to note the gold plated fittings and the pale green turntable cloth before it was gone.

Unfortunately I watched the programme live. If I had recorded it I could have gone back for a closer look.

Hello,
The Murdoch Mysteries series is our favorite T.V. series. We have seen every episode once and many two or three times. The series starts in the year 1895 and progresses until the current season which is set in 1901. The Diamond disc player in question lives on the set of the city Morgue. Usually when it is shown playing in a scene you only see the turn table and lid. I have seen the complete machine panned in other scenes where it is not playing and it is an Edison A100. There are Phonographs used in other episodes such as a Columbia Q and an Amberola 30. The directors take a fair bit of artistic licence with the time span of technology. There is even an episode that is all about Edison style wax cylinder talking dolls.
Pete

Thankyou Pete. It sounds as though the series is worth persisting with, and I have just discovered that it is available from Amazon on DVD in the UK PAL format, including the pilot movies which preceded it. Well worth the cost just to eliminate the disruptive commercial breaks.

Roger.

marcapra wrote:What model DD player was she playing? If that's true, it could be one of the first times a DD player was ever shown on a movie or series, at least to my knowledge. Although I think there was an Edison 250 model shown once in the attic of the Anderson family on "Father Knows Best" in an episode called The Old Days.

There is a thread on the board devoted to sightings of old phonographs on TV and in movies.

A friend of mine works in the props department for that show here in Toronto. He tells me that if I don't stop ranting at him he's going to kill me. The show drives me nuts from the standpoint of the props. It's supposed to be set in the 1899-1903 era. It has an " everything but the kitchen sink approach in terms of props : everything from 1920 back to Genesis, it seems. But it's the costumes that drive me the craziest. In terms of female dress, the costume department seems to think if the skirts are long it's okay, so we see people wearing clothes which originate from 1890 to 1914. As I say to my buddy...they can have stuff BEFORE 1905 but not AFTER unless you're doing a show about time shifting. He tells me to shut up. I tell him that were they to set the thing in vaguely 1912-14 all these problems would vanish. He tells me to shut up . The things is I like the show....but oooooh the props!

Jim.

The wife and I enjoy this type mystery program even if there are errors in props (beats the heck out of watching nauseating reality TV shows). Netflix in the States has a 3 disc set that I just added to my queue. We've been watching the Poirot series set in the 30s.

Retrograde wrote:The wife and I enjoy this type mystery program even if there are errors in props (beats the heck out of watching nauseating reality TV shows). Netflix in the States has a 3 disc set that I just added to my queue. We've been watching the Poirot series set in the 30s.

Even the excellent Poirot series is not immune from errors by the props department.

In one episode the murderer cuts the brake pipes on the heroine's car, but no-one has noticed that the car is a Riley, and no pre-war Riley had hydraulic brakes!

In another episode, a motor cruiser glides majestically into harbour with it's radar scanner slowly revolving......