The wax on the cylinders was apparently thick enough that after a recording was made and no longer wanted, the outer surface with the grooves could be shaved off in that special machine, leaving fresh wax for a new recording. So it could apparently be re-recorded 100 times.
That is so cool! Love learning about old technology.
One thing I like about this film is that it shows details of how things were in a typical business office of that day. I always like to see things that show the details of life, don’t you?
I do. I find myself staring at the scenery and background in old photoplays all the time when they were filmed outdoors. You can never really know what life was like back then, but things like this give us a good idea.
Side note: Have you seen Man With A Movie Camera (1929)? I think you would like it.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Side note: Have you seen Man With A Movie Camera (1929)? I think you would like it.
YES! I LOVE that film—one of my very favorites. I'm glad you have seen it! I think it is fascinating on several different levels, and it certainly does give a microscopic picture of life in Russia at that time. That was a work of genius.
And by the way, this is one of the few films that I like seeing with a modernistic (as opposed to period) score. The version with the Alloy Orchestra score really makes the film.
I was watching Match Game '76 and Slide, Kelly, Slide was mentioned. Gene Rayburn couldn't quite remember what it was from, though he mentioned it might have been a song. Later he said it was also a baseball term. Interestingly, there was also a 1927 baseball film of the same name.
This song from the cylinders archive is performed by Al Bernard and Ernest Hare. It sounds like a typical vaudeville routine in parts, with white men doing exaggerated accents in the way of Amos 'N Andy. It's interesting for historical reasons.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
But I wonder if the date is right on that. The sound quality sounds awfully primitive for 1926, and the style of singing sounds more like an earlier era. Also, with the higher hemlines of the late '20s, would the lyrics apply? What do you think?
The song was made famous by Billy Murray (although this version is not by him) in 1925. The higher hemlines of the dresses makes it even more scandalous because they're rolling down their stockings, therefore showing their bare legs. Regarding the sound quality, remember that this is a cylinder, probably used a good amount of times.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
"Although his cylinders continued to be sold in steadily dwindling and eventually minuscule quantities, Edison continued to support owners of cylinder phonographs by making new titles available in that format until the company ceased manufacturing all records and phonographs in November 1929."
"The Edison Company did not desert its faithful cylinder customers, however, and continued to make Blue Amberol cylinders until the demise of the company in 1929, although most from 1915 on were dubbed from the Diamond Discs."
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
That's surprising, you think about cylinders becoming obsolete much earlier. I guess it makes sense, though, considering how other recording methods continued to be manufactured years after their heyday (like the 45 rpms we were discussing).
They would have seemed really archaic in the late '20's I guess, because the old acoustical process had been replaced by electrical recording by that time, and lots of high fidelity 78's were being manufactured. I wonder how many people there were still using the old cylinder players by that time—maybe quite a few. I'll bet some were still using them up into the '30's.