And the music (still) plays on

MILLBROOK — With song lists just a tap away on a laptop, iPhone or tablet, it’s hard to imagine the apparatus that was needed in the olden days to hear music. The machines were complicated, to say the least, and often delicate, hardly easy to carry around, and for the most part, expensive and out of reach to a great many people.

In discussing music makers from 1820 through the early 1940s, presenter Craig Marshall played and talked about some exquisite music boxes whose sounds were still incredibly clear and a joy to hear. The first was a Swiss-made cylinder model, made, not surprisingly, at a Swiss watch and clock shop. They were made from 1796 to 1879, used Regina discs that played 12 songs over four hours after being cranked. That one was from 1875; two others were from 1879: a Regina made in Rahway, N.J., in 1879, and another from 1903.

Player pianos were a huge hit and worked with foot pedals, bellows and some had the words to the songs that scrolled across a front panel. These could be found in saloons, amusement parks, dance halls, movie theaters and many other places. Some allowed the public to play songs for a nickel, thus was born the “nickelodeon.” A roll would have 10 songs on it, but the payer had no choice about the selection.

Reed organs, popular from the 1850s through the 1920s, worked with foot pedals, were played everywhere from churches to saloons and were light weight, so easily portable, even traveling west on wagons as people moved from place to place. One that cost $50 back then was expensive, that would fetch about $1,500 in today’s economy.

There was also a table top roller organ, which had pins, much like music boxes, and had cobs, similar to cylinders with pins that created the music — one per song.

From 1877 to 1912, Edison put out a cylinder phonograph. In 1890 a cylinder cost about 35 cents, equivalent to $10 today. They worked with a crank and a spring, and had wax cylinders that would turn. Early on a cylinder would play for two minutes, but later, the time increased to four minutes.  

The cylinder machine Marshall brought, which still worked, had a tinny sound, but actually played a recognizable tune. Marshall played a tune called “Dreaming,” the singer only identified as Tenor 9726. These were made and sold until 1925. From 1890 through the 1940s Berliner made 78 record players, working again with cranks and springs and a needle.

The Victor Company manufactured a machine known as the Victrola from 1900, the records costing about 35 cents, or $10 in today’s money. They had 10 inch or 12 inch records made of a shellac compound. The acoustic variations were available from 1877 to 1925, when electric machines became available. The early models worked on the reverse of playback and each record was individually recorded. These machines were portable; many of them made it overseas during World War II.

Marshall and his co-presenter, David Schmidt, love these old machines, and they take care of them. They also like to talk about them, with much admiration for the music and the history. The knowledge they imparted to the Millbrook Historical Society was detailed and fun, and proved the music and machines from long ago still create  much enjoyment today. The machines can even be beautiful; some of the horns attached to them are hand-painted and delicate. And today, thanks to their preservation, many can still hear some of the tunes that their great grandparents possibly danced to.