Phonoland

We are presenting Moliere's MISANTHROPE at The New Repertory Theatre in Boston and we are looking for a Gramaphone that will be featured in the production. The play is set in the Edwardian period which spans the popularity of the cylinder player and the disk player. We would like advice on what might be the most attractive or most typical Gramaphone that might be found in a wealthy household in the early 1900's.

But... even more, we are looking for a special collector or a dealer who would like to have their machine featured in this production... or a referral to a authentic looking reproduction or stage prop.

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this.

You may wish to contact me directly at <vigus (at) bc.edu>

or call me at 603-335-0668
or on my cell phone at 310-766-3311

Hi Larry:

If you haven't already done this, also try posting your request on the local (Boston) craigslist board. I believe there's a "wanted" section in the "for sale" items area. You may also try The Old Time Victrola Music Message Board -- http://sonoraman.proboards107.com/ -- which also has a wanted section.

By the way, the type of "gramophone" used would depend on the year in which the play is set. In the United States, for instance, outside horn type talking machines were displaced in well furnished parlors starting around 1908-1910 by enclosed horn models. The first enclosed horn talking machine, the Victrola, hit the market in 1906. Households that would never consider an "ugly looking contraption" with a large horn sitting in the corners of their living rooms (or music rooms) were far more willing to embrace the expensive wood veneers and cabinetry of the larger, enclosed horn models.

You can find out quite a bit of information about this at http://victor-victrola.com . (Also see http://victor-victrola.com/new_page_2.htm which provides a list of the various models, along with illustrations and production dates.)

A well to do family, circa 1908 or before, would likely have had an outside horn model similar to a Vic. V or Vic VI (see list above), especially one equipped with a matching wooden horn, even if this meant the maid had to dust it off once a day.

While I am not recommending you use this, there are also so-called "reproduction gramophones" that appear in the hundreds on eBay at any given time, and sell for well under $100. They are equipped with cheap brass looking horns and cabinets slapped together with parts culled mostly from junked 1940s/1950s portable wind-up phonographs. (Google "crap-o-phone" to find out more about these.) These turn up from time to time in movies and television shows, theatrical productions, etc. To the knowledgeable collector, they are a laughable prop; but the average person seated in the audience probably wouldn't know the difference.