[78-L] Cylinder machine sighting

Philip Carli Philip_Carli at pittsford.monroe.edu
Fri Jan 21 09:43:34 PST 2011


Cylinder machines seem to have ominous or highly dramatic roles in films, to wit some early examples:

1) _Traffic in Souls_ (1913) uses a cylinder machine and a telephone bugging device to entrap the "social reformer" who is in reality a white slaver...

2) In _The Goose Woman_ (1925) Louise Dresser, once a famous opera singer, is now a hopeless drunken slattern whose only pleasure is hearing her old records on an Edison Home; one of them is smashed in a confrontation with her son.

More happily, a Louis XV style Edison Disc machine plays a prominent part in _The Innocence of Ruth_ (1915) in being the music provider for Viola Dana's dance lessons on her way to stardom. (Not coincidentally, it's an Edison film, directed by John Collins).  Discs are a cheerier medium.

________________________________________
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of David Lennick [dlennick at sympatico.ca]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 12:22 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Cylinder machine sighting

Say, maybe it IS Brahms......

"The piece of piano music played by Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) and later,
his disembodied left hand, is the Bach Chaconne in D minor, as arranged to be
played by the left hand alone by Johannes Brahms. It was selected by Max
Steiner because the story required a piece of music that could be performed by
a pianist with only his left hand, and Steiner, who was born in Vienna and
whose family were friendly with Brahms, rather than composing his own original
piece, immediately recognized its potential in underscoring such a grim tale."

On 1/21/2011 12:18 PM, David Lennick wrote:
> On 1/21/2011 12:13 PM, Michael Biel wrote:
>> On 1/21/2011 10:31 AM, David Lennick wrote:
>>> Just recording "The Beast with Five Fingers" on TCM checking to see if it was
>>> still playing, and noticed someone removing a cylinder from a machine. Well, well.
>>>
>>> Wonder if it's Brahms or Buddy Bolden?  dl
>>
>> Was he holding the cylinder with that famous two-finger grip?
>>
>> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
> Who? Brahms, Buddy, Robert Alda or J. Carroll Naish? It also looked like a Blue
> Amberol, not that you can tell in a B&W movie. Looks like fun.
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038338/
>
> dl
>
> ______________________
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