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For most people, a phonograph appearing in a movie comes without fanfare. Sometimes the phonograph crank is turned and the machine has a speaking part. Sometimes it sits silently, merely a movie prop, a period piece backdrop. But even to people who are uncertain of timelines, the phonograph and its morning-glory horn is a recognized icon of another era...a pre-eminiment entertainer than came before the DVD, CD, VCR, TV...even before the radio. This gallery celebrates the Phonograph as a star in the movies, not some unknown supporting actor. The name of the Phonograph should share the theatre marquee and headline the movie credits. To the movie industry, the Phonograph provided a voice. To the home, it brought entertainment. And when we see the Phonograph in a movie, we should remember its place in history, as a star. |
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To celebrate the
phonograph's role in movies, an ongoing project has its home here: The
Phonograph in the Movies Database (PMDB). If you see a phonograph in a
movie, please send the name of the movie, describe the scene, and if it
is your calling, identify the machine. Database - Phonographs in the Movies <-- Two scenes from Edison, the Man - Spencer Tracy, 1940 MGM |
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Bolwieser, 1977 (as known as The Stationmaster's Wife) |
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Title Card from the movie "Song of Surrender." The movie featured Wanda Hendricks, Claude Rains, and MacDonald Carey. Pictured is a Victor II “humpback” phonograph. This lobby card measures 17” X 13” framed. |
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Sweet Land, Elizabeth Reaser as Inge |
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ET's home-made telephone adapted a children's Sears Record Player, a talking Texas Instrument's Speak & Spell, a walkie-talkie and an aluminum foil covered umbrella for the antenna (or to complete the homage to Edison's Phonograph, let's call it a tin-foil covered umbrella). E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982. The Phonograph, therefore, had center stage in one of the most famous phrases of the 1980's..."ET call home." Which is only natural since the Phonograph and the Telephone share the same phono etymology. ET memorabilia courtesy of the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL.
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| Ronald Colman (portable phonograph in corner) | Greta Garbo with record album |
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| International Newsreel Photo, Oct 1926, Hazel Newman, actress, tries out a newly discovered Edison tinfoil phonograph. Described on the back of the photo as Thomas Edison's second experimental phonograph, this machine was said to have been recently discovered in Los Angeles. Actress Hazel Newman appeared in the 1925 movie with Oliver Hardy titled "Stick Around" and the 1926 comedy "Somebody's Wrong". | Sophia Loren |
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| 1953 press photo of Jean Simmons standing next to a Zon-o-phone used as a movie prop in her MGM movie "The Actress" which co-starred Spencer Tracy. | |
Talking Moving Pictures - The Kinetophonograph
The Kinetophonograph was developed by W. K. L. Dickson at Edison's West Orange, New Jersey laboratory in the 1890's to combine sound with moving pictures. A later movie-sound device was marketed by Edison as the kinetophone but like the kinetophonograph, the kinetophone was a technology not really ready for movie theatres.
Though these first talking picture machines weren't completely successful in synchronizing sound and film, Friends of the Phonograph celebrate the Edison company's efforts as the beginning of the talking pictures. When audiences saw the movie "Jazz Singer" in 1927, the Vitascope was essentially using the same system as the Kinetophone, combining a phonograph record and film. Yet the words of Jolson, not Dickson, are remembered in popular culture as being the first of the talkies.
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<---Click to see and hear from Dickson's Kinetophonograph: "Good Morning, Mr. Edison, glad to see you back. I hope you are satisfied with the kinetophonograph." |
Celebrating the merging of sound and film, Friends of the Phonograph member's honor W. K. L. Dickson's role and share phonograph and talking picture enthusiasm in the following way:
1. If you see a movie with a phonograph in any scene, e-mail the name of the movie to doug@phonographia.com and describe the scene so that it can be added to the "Phonograph in the Movies" database.
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NEW USE FOR PHONOGRAPH AT MOVIES Edison Phonograph Monthly, August 1916 "Make friends of the Moving Picture shows. They are coming more and more to use the Phonograph between times...it's a mighty good advertisement for you." Advice to Edison dealers, Edison Phonograph Monthly, August 1909 |
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| Window Card, 1913 |
For a short history of Edison's early experiments with sound and film, see the Library of Congress article at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmrrg.html. Also available for download from the Library of Congress is an 1894 film showing an early attempt to create a sound motion picture as seen below.
The Black Maria, the world's first motion picture studio where Edison's kinetoscope movies were filmed. Built in December, 1892, in West Orange, NJ. Note the open roof for letting in sunlight.
Photo: Entertainment from an Edison Kinetophonograph, 1895: Moving pictures and sound! Note the listening tube providing the sound from an Edison cylinder phonograph located inside the kinetoscope. All for a nickel!
Magazine page from Popular Science, August 1930. The US government created this unusual experiment in the hope of understanding acoutistic "echo effects" said to exist in movie theatres with the introduction of talking movies.
