The Phonograph's Birthday, December 6, 1877
At his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, on November 29, 1877, Thomas Alva Edison gave a sketch for his tin-foil phonograph to John Kruesi and instructed him to build it. On December 4, 1877, Charles Batchelor, an Edison assistant, wrote in his diary "Kruesi made phonograph today." On December 6 Batchelor's diary reads: "Kruesi finished the phonograph."
December 6, 1877 is celebrated as the birthday of the phonograph by Friends of the Phonograph. It's a day that honors completion of the phonograph and the successful recording and play back, word for word, of what Edison says were his first words spoken to the Phonograph, "a little piece of practical poetry:
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
To hear Edison's words repeated back from a sheet of tin-foil wrapped around a cylinder amazed everyone in the room. Even Edison was astonished when he heard his phonograph speak for the first time. "I was never so taken aback in my life," Edison later recalled.
Click on the Harper's Weekly newspaper (below) for how the invention was reported in March 1878.
Image courtesy of tinfoil.com
The Phonautograph and the "Au clair de la lune" Birthday, April 9, 1860
The exciting discovery of a recording made by the French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville that could reproduce sound has added a new dimension to phonograph history. Scott's Phonautograph has always been recognized as a machine that was able to capture sound but there was never any evidence that his machine could make recordings that could be played back...until March 27, 2008. With the use of computer technology and with the demonstration of someone (perhaps Scott's daughter) singing the words "Au clair de la lune, Pierrot respondit" captured on a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp, phonograph history has been forever changed.
The birthday of "sound writing" on April 9, 1860, is now a red-letter day on the Phonographia Calendar. Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville's 'Au clair de la lune" and Thomas Edison's "Mary had a little lamb" each now have Birthday Party's celebrated by Friends of the Phonograph.
Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville invented the phonautograph in 1857. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Home of the Phonograph's Birthday
The Phonograph first spoke in Menlo Park, New Jersey on December 6, 1877. Below is Edison's Menlo Park laboratory reconstructed at Henry Ford's Greenfield Village. The second floor of that building is where the Phonograph first repeated back Edison's words "Mary Had a Little Lamb." A closeup on Edison's tinfoil machine and horns is shown in the last picture. Photos courtesy of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.
Don't forget to visit Greenfield Village on your next visit to the Detroit area - a MUST for Friends of the Phonograph.
Phonograph Birthday Parties
Since 1980, Friends of the Phonograph have celebrated the Phonograph's birthday in a variety of ways. During many of those years it has been a party noted for the artistic creations inspired by the phonograph. Food shaped like phonograph records, phonograph inspired pottery and glass records, tapestry and needlepoint, and other kinds of unique presentations have highlighted birthday parties. Though calling it the social event of the year may seem overly enthusisatic, the birthday parties have served well in gathering friends together and promoting a little phonograph education.
Some years have been simple gatherings. But each party always includes one event: The singing of "Happy Birthday to the Phonograph." There have been attempts to sing "Mary had a little lamb" at several parties but the recitation has always been more socially accepted...and is certainly more historically correct (HC) since Edison did not sing those words. With the discovery in 2008 of Leon Scott's "Au Claire de la lune" recording (which was sung) perhaps singing will become part of future birthday parties.
This Friends of the Phonograph wooden sign (left) was created by two charter members of the Friends of the Phonograph society. Thanks Debbie and Joellen for your artistic work! The sign continues to be annually hung at Friends of the Phonograph birthday parties. In the middle are Axel and Betty Boilesen presenting a framed record at the 1987 Phonograph birthday party. To their right are their sons, Doug and James, circa 1980.
The theme of the birthday celebrations is simple. Just as I did in 1990 on the Black Rock Desert, with morning-glory horn in hand, I remind all Friends to Remember the Phonograph!:
On April 9, wish the Leon Scott's 'recording' a Happy Birthday.
On December 6th, wish Thomas Edison's Phonograph a Happy Birthday.
The legacy lives.
The original Friends of the Phonograph sign is still hung on the porch each December 6th, along with decorating the Phonograph Tree.
Phonograph Jingles (1907)
When the day is cold and dreary, When the day is warm and cheery, When you want a hearty laugh, Remember the Edison Phonograph.
The "Wizard" has invented many things; But my favorite invention is the one that sings. It can also talk and whistle and laugh -- This wonderful Edison Phonograph.
Washington Evening Star jingle competition, Edison Phonograph Monthly, December 1907
Phonograph Birthday Party Photos 2008
