Friends of the Phonograph™ is a society dedicated to celebrating the phonograph. The society's red-letter days each year are celebrated as birthday parties. On April 9, Friends of the Phonograph celebrate the recording made in 1860 by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville's of Au clair de la lune. On December 6, Friends of the Phonograph annually sing Happy Birthday to the Phonograph, blow out the candles, and listen to Edison's recitation of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." But other events and phonograph memorabilia (which Friends call "Phonographia") also preserve its legacy. The following links all show how the phonograph is remembered, even in the post-phonograph era.
Click the Phonographia logo on any page to return to the previous menu.
At his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, on December 6, 1877 Charles Batchelor, an Edison assistant wrote in his diary that Edison's assistant John Kruesi had completed his assignment: "Kruesi finished the phonograph" read Batchelor's entry. This Birthday of the Phonograph link (click above sketch) is dedicated to that historic event.
The first known sound recorder: The Phonautograph (above)
Leon Scott's Phonautograph produced what is now being called the first record, 'Au claire de la lune", perhaps sung by his daughter. Scott called his records 'phonautograms'. It took 150 years before it was possible to listen to this recording as it was not Scott's intention to reproduce sound but rather to visualize it. (Click Here or on the image of the Phonautograph (above) to learn more about this historic event that made the headlines in 2008 when Scott's recording was first heard by anyone, even its inventor).
The Phonograph began a revolution. It played at many speeds that have come and gone. If there is a mission statement for Friends of the Phonograph it would simply be that the Phonograph is an invention worth remembering and celebrating. Hopefully, these pages will support that mission and help preserve the phonograph's legacy.
Thomas Edison (left) at the Brady Studio in April 1878 with his tin-foil Phonograph that would become known to later collectors as the Brady machine. On this trip to Washington, D.C., Edison would demonstrate this Phonograph to President Rutherford Hayes and his wife at the White House.
Friends of the Phonograph sponsor Phonographia as their homepage for phonograph memorabilia and phonograph related connections. Links take you to all kinds of phonographia: phonographs in art (PhonoArt), literature, cartoons (PhonoToons), jokes, movies, greeting cards, postcards and various contemporary references (PhonoLinks).
Memories of the Phonograph
A variety of recollections, short stories and memories of the Phonograph by Friends of the Phonograph.
Favorite Movies
The favorite movies list allows friends to rate movies and share their movie reviews. In a round-about way the movie list also celebrates the close connections between the early phonograph and talking movies, beginning with W. K. L. Dickson's Kinetophonograph.
Why a Favorite Movies List for Friends of the Phonograph?
The Friends of the Phonograph Society is about celebrating the phonograph. So any excuse to mention the phonograph is probably justified to a true friend. But the question might still be asked, why have a listing of member's favorite movies? The answer is that there is statistical evidence that Friends of the Phonograph members love movies and they all find it interesting to see what other friends rate as their favorite movies. That might seem like more than six degrees of separation, however, the phonograph and talking movies are actually very closely connected, beginning with W. K. L. Dickson's Kinetophonograph. So this round-about way to celebrate the phonograph actually does lead Friends rather quickly to another important phonograph connection.
Celebrating the merging of sound and film, Friends of the Phonograph member's honor Edison's assistant, W. K. L. Dickson, and share their phonograph and talking picture enthusiasm by submitting their list of favorite movies. This can be done by simply sending the movie list to friendsofthephonographia@gmail.com and they will be added to the Favorite Movie List - Friends of the Phonograph. Movies should be ranked, with movie reviews also encouraged.
Selecting favorites and making lists obviously requires making choices. Two examples provide inspiration: The 2000 movie "High Fidelity" and the 1977 launching of the Voyager spacecrafts.
In the movie "High Fidelity" a record store owner (John Cusack) creates many top five lists during the movie, raising list-making to an art form. Cusack's specialty was to choose songs for friends, then make tape recordings of those selections as gifts. Based on his love for phonograph records and his record store, and for his expertise in creating and sharing recordings, John Cusack would be a worthy member of Friends of the Phonograph.
The second example of selecting favorites is the 1977 compilation of what one might call Earth's Greatest Hits. In 1977 (100 years after the invention of the Phonograph), two Voyager spacecraft were launched, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. On the outside of each was attached a golden phonograph record protected by an aluminum cover. Etched on the cover were instructions for playing the record. On these phonograph video disks (not laser discs) were images, sounds, music and words from around the world (see Carl Sagan's "Murmurs of Earth," for additional details about the Voyager record project). It was an attempt to share with the universe, using multimedia, a sampling of what Sagan's team thought best defined the Earth, i.e., who are humans and what have we created.
The mission of the Friends of the Phonograph is not as cosmic as the Voyager Interstellar Record project. But like the Voyager project, the Favorites Movie List gives each member an opportunity to make selections and share those choices with whomever visits this site, even if they aren't extraterrestial. Not as social, perhaps, as attending a Phonograph birthday party but nevertheless another example of how Friends of the Phonograph are always looking for any excuse to celebrate the Phonograph.
Want to Learn more about the Phonograph? Join Friends of the Phonograph today and support this unique Society that celebrates the Phonograph, only asking you to Remember the Phonograph!
Links to Friend's of the Phonograph personal websites
