[78-L] The Butterfly Circus

[victrola78s at aol.com]

I just looked at this odd but interesting short film. The phonograph scene starts at 5:22 minutes. In the closeup it's hard to tell about the record itself, but from the back the tonearm looks like a Victor tonearm with a No.2 soundbox on it. It can't be an Exhibition because I don't see the usual thick rubber flange & two screws on the back that joins to the front of the reproducer. I think the whole unit is a "Crap-o-phone", because in the medium shot you can tell the cabinet is either a VV-IV or a VV-VI. There are the two little sound doors & knobs, easily visible. Someone has altered the back of the tonearm to accomodate a cheap metal horn to make it look like a $1,000 open horn machine instead of a $200 tabletop Victrola. Nothing wrong with a tabletop Victrola-none of the Victor machines were ever junk. But I think here we have the common situation where the film makers wanted a "vintage look", & to them that means some kind of phono with a horn-"His Master's Voice" be danged! I'm sure they never have a concern about what we of the "inner circle" think of their inaccuracies. Phono enthusiasts are of the minority in this sense.

Dennis "Tungstone" Forkel