Silent Photoplay Forum

It does sound odd, because you expect a cute child's voice from a doll, not an adult woman shouting.

I wonder how long it was before talking dolls were tried again. I thought I had remembered seeing some in a fairly early catalogue I was looking at somewhere; but I was just glancing at the ‘27 one and didn’t see any. They do sell, however, a nice collection of doll heads without the bodies (Why?) They talk a lot about dolls with unbreakable or metal heads, so maybe those were replacements?

I’m about to go to bed...and now I’ve a feeling I’m going to see and/or hear strange things in my dreams tonight... Oh well, that’s nothing new.

I'm sure they were replacement heads. Dolls usually had breakable body parts. I wonder why they'd make them like that?

Well, I didn't have any dismembered doll heads screaming Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at me last night. I guess a lot of the heads may have been made of porcelain or china of some type because modern plastics hadn't been invented...but then they had celluloid, so I'm not sure.

Kitty wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:33 pm

Yes! There's a Wikipedia page on them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison% ... graph_Doll

That IRENE-3D technology is so cool. I've read that Edison's very first recordings were made on sheets of tinfoil which he wrapped around a cylinder, but once the foil was taken off the cylinder it could never be played again. It would be amazing if someone bothered to preserve that first sheet of foil where he recited Mary Had a Little Lamb, since presumably it could be scanned and listened to. But most likely they were discarded long ago.

dachshundonstilts wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:51 pm

It would be amazing if someone bothered to preserve that first sheet of foil where he recited Mary Had a Little Lamb, since presumably it could be scanned and listened to. But most likely they were discarded long ago.

He later re-created it. When I heard that some years ago, I was excited, believing to be the real original.

I would like to know more about that French experimental technology for recording sound in the 1860's. They have been able to "play" that rendition of Au clair de la lune. And here's something really fascinating—I think I read there is some speculation that Abraham Lincoln's voice could conceivably have been recorded with that technique. Probably a pipe dream that such a thing would ever turn up and be able to be reconstructed—but it's a fascinating possibility to think about.

donnie wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:26 am

dachshundonstilts wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:51 pm

It would be amazing if someone bothered to preserve that first sheet of foil where he recited Mary Had a Little Lamb, since presumably it could be scanned and listened to. But most likely they were discarded long ago.

He later re-created it. When I heard that some years ago, I was excited, believing to be the real original.

I would like to know more about that French experimental technology for recording sound in the 1860's. They have been able to "play" that rendition of Au clair de la lune. And here's something really fascinating—I think I read there is some speculation that Abraham Lincoln's voice could conceivably have been recorded with that technique. Probably a pipe dream that such a thing would ever turn up and be able to be reconstructed—but it's a fascinating possibility to think about.

Wow, I'd never heard of those French "phonautograms" before. Apparently they were never intended to be playable, but someone finally found a way. Neat stuff.

I got that DVD on the Kinetophone. The documentary is especially interesting, as it explains why the technology didn't catch on... not only was it a great hardship to operate the projection equipment, but nobody liked the static-camera setup it required. Essentially it pushed cinematography back into the days of the Lumiere brothers, when audiences had grown used to the achievements of D.W. Griffith and the like!

Interesting stuff!

dachshundonstilts wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:59 pm

I got that DVD on the Kinetophone. The documentary is especially interesting, as it explains why the technology didn't catch on... not only was it a great hardship to operate the projection equipment, but nobody liked the static-camera setup it required. Essentially it pushed cinematography back into the days of the Lumiere brothers, when audiences had grown used to the achievements of D.W. Griffith and the like!

Glad you got the dvd! I've just got round to watching the documentary—it is indeed interesting. What a complicated and finicky process—it does seem that Edison, once he had his mind made up about something, pushed on and on despite impracticality. I guess that was both a strength and a weakness of his.

I do hope some cylinders turn up for others that are currently missing sound, especially the two he talks about at the end.

The Favorite Nursery Rhymes Kinetophone from 1913 is now posted on YouTube. Viola Dana and her sisters are in this, but I've not been able to determine which is Viola. I'm guessing Little Miss Muffet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQEImz2P8Cg

Ah, this is the one Viola talked about in the Hollywood series. I can't remember if it was her sister Shirley or Edna who played the fairy, though.