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What if a simple visit to an antique store could ignite an unexpected passion? During a rainy day adventure, we uncovered the captivating world of phonographs, transforming a chance encounter with a Victrola 11 into an exhilarating hobby. Join us as we explore this newfound obsession, alongside insights from seasoned collector-dealer Wyatt Marcus and the New Jersey-based duo, Joe and Tracy. Together, we'll uncover the allure of these vintage marvels and the magical community that surrounds them.
Our journey through the phonograph landscape is one filled with romance, restoration, and the rediscovery of early 20th-century life. Experience the joy of bringing forgotten machines back to life, with Tracy's meticulous focus on reproducers and Joe's passion for mechanical repairs. From navigating auctions for the perfect Edison Standard to the camaraderie of FaceTime repairs with fellow enthusiasts like Wyatt, our adventure is as much about the people as it is the machines themselves.
Let us transport you to the Edison National Historic Site, where Edison's legacy comes alive, not just in technology but in the stories told through the records we play. Embrace the charm of Uncle Josh records, and find yourself captivated by the histories each disc holds. Whether you're a seasoned collector or a curious newcomer, this episode promises a heartfelt exploration into a world where history, technology, and community collide in the most enchanting ways.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello everyone and welcome back to A Better Life
New York.
This has been a great journeyand, as you and some of you have
noticed, this is a new name andit's meant to reflect a little
bit more of the changes thathave gone.
Through our podcast.
(00:25):
We've covered more and moresubjects.
We've covered lots of thingsthat are different than a food
and restaurants where we allstarted out Not that those are
going away.
We have some great episodescoming up.
I have a winery in Italy we'regoing to do a live video podcast
with.
We have some great Italianrestaurants in this area and
(00:46):
throughout New York and we'regoing to have a lot of food
things coming up real soon.
I'm hoping that we're going toswitch to video.
That has been held up,partially because I had COVID
and partially the result of myCOVID gave me Bell's palsy, so
I'm having a little difficultytalking, which you may be very
(01:07):
well aware of.
Also, it has some results on myvisual, my face.
So for now, at least for alittle while, we're going to
continue with the audio andthere may be some video coming
up real soon because I have somethings scheduled so they're
going to have to be filmed.
Hopefully I'll be a littlebetter and we'll move right
(01:28):
along.
Today is a special episode.
It's the beginning of anothersegment of A Better Life.
New York and all of you thatare regular listeners of the
program know that I collectantique phonographs and I've
gotten a lot of requests formore information about those
phonographs.
And I've gotten a lot ofrequests for more information
about those phonographs.
So today's episode that's goingto be in two parts.
(01:51):
They're both going to bereleased simultaneously.
It's just so long that I'mgoing to cut it in half, because
it's an hour and 20 minutes oran hour and a half, so I'm going
to cut it in 45 minutessections.
It's an arbitrary cut, but justso it's not so long.
It's with three people I knowfrom the hobby, wyatt Marcus,
(02:16):
who is a very learned,distinguished collector dealer
out there, collector-dealer outthere.
He is known for his collecting.
He's known for his qualityreproducers, which are an
important part of an antiquephonograph it's the part that
converts the grooves into soundand he is known throughout the
(02:40):
country and throughout the worldas being the best at it.
You will routinely see peopleselling machines and them
mentioning that Wyatt hadrebuilt the reproducer.
Also, two collector dealersfrom New Jersey, joe and Tracy,
(03:02):
are a team.
Joe works on the mechanics andTracy rebuilds reproducers.
They specialize in more discthan Edison reproducers and they
specialized in Xenophones,which are a small segment
manufacturer.
I actually have a couple andtheir story is great.
(03:22):
We go to our first part.
Thank you for listening, andnow our interview with Wyatt,
joe and Tracy.
Thanks for joining us tonight.
Wyatt, hello, thank you.
And also with him is Joe andTracy.
I admire his ability to findmachines, machines, and I love
(03:44):
the opportunity to purchase themas well.
So welcome as well, Steven.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
thank you very much for that.
I think you're way too kind inwhat you just said right there.
So thank you for allowing Tracyand I to be a part of your show
.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I hope we could do more.
I think that I get questionsall the time in the podcast
about antique photographs.
I think there's a lot of people.
I think this hobby, even thoughI've only been in it over a
little over a year, isincredibly interesting.
There's so much to learn andit's great that I have people
like you guys that I can learnfrom.
It seems every day there's onething you learn and would breed
(04:24):
10 more questions that you wantto know Certainly Whether it's a
person's name, whether a towermachine works, whether the
differences in things and whythings were built and where they
exist.
And it's my understanding todayyou guys went to Edison's house
(04:44):
.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, we went to the edison's house, is that
correct?
Yeah, uh, yeah, we went to theedison national historic site,
which, uh, that's west orange,new jersey.
Yes, yes, and joe and I spent,uh, most of the morning touring
through the buildings and thecollections there and shortly,
just to speak about it for amoment, we got to see the first
(05:07):
phonograph that Edison and hisguys produced in 1877.
And I guess I don't know if Ireally make fun of it, but it
changed the world.
And there it is, just sittingon a table behind a simple glass
panel so you can't touch it,and it has a little placard next
(05:29):
to it that says Edison'soriginal phonograph, 1877.
And it's so easy to walk by youwouldn't know its significance
unless you were like us, unlessyou collected these machines.
But anyway, we saw his workshopand then we went up to Glenmont,
which is his mansion that helived in Llewellyn Park, new
(05:50):
Jersey, which is just a fewminutes around the corner from
the historic site.
We had a really, really longday and we learned a lot.
It was a wonderful experience,it was a sensory experience the
smell of grease and old wood andjust using your imagination to
see Edison and his family livingin that enormous house that
(06:11):
they had.
It was really something special.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I was there in grammar school and it was in a
total disarray and even thoughit was a national park they
didn't have money to restore itand actually it was hillary
clinton that helped about thegovernment to to give them money
to to fix it up into thecondition and that it is now I.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I was very impressed by just and maybe I should have
known this, but it wasn't justthe the phonograph that Edison
had his fingers in and obviouslythe light bulb, but there were
so many other inventions that hecame up with dozens and dozens
or hundreds and hundreds.
What got him going was with theticker tape machine, originally
when he was 20 or so, and thenthere was a waffle iron in the
(07:01):
lab.
He had quite a large R&D labthat was very impressive and
basically my understanding, hegave his guys the carte blanche
to have at it and so he came upwith so many different
inventions.
But certainly, as Wyatt said,you saw the first tinfoil
machine sitting there behind apiece of glass and I agree with
Wyatt, it changed the world.
Here we are, 120 years later,recording on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
It's true, we get it with Wyatt.
What got you into this hobbyand what possessed you?
I don't know the hush of yourbackground, to be honest how you
got into this.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I've been asked that question for many years and it
used to start out with it usedto be like a 10-minute romantic
recitation.
My grandmother passed away20-plus years ago and in her
collection of stuff there was abox of 78 RPM records.
Now in her house there was anold 1949 Magnavox record player
(07:58):
and I put these records becauseI didn't know anything about
Victor Talking Machine and I sawthese labels.
It said Victor, some of themsaid Victrola.
I didn't know anything aboutVictor Talking Machine and I saw
these labels.
It said Victor, some of themsaid Victrola.
I didn't know anything aboutold records, but this is by
complete random act.
I put one of the records on theMagnavox and I played it and I
noticed, okay, there's a littlebit of noise there.
(08:20):
It doesn't sound right.
You couldn't listen to thismusic that I was hearing.
So I remembered and I guess Iam giving you somewhat of a long
version here that one of myfriends.
He had in his house a Victrolathat belonged to his grandmother
, my friend Scott.
So I called him up I said doyou still have the Victrola?
(08:40):
And for your listeners, aVictrola is a floor model windup
phonograph that doesn't have abig external horn but it has an
internal horn, because theexternal horn was considered a
little unsightly.
He said, yeah, we still havethe Victrola.
My father moved it into thebasement.
We want to get rid of it.
So that's another coincidencethat I got these records.
(09:05):
I discovered them by accident,I listened to them, just by
random act, and he just happensto have this Victrola that
they're going to sell.
And I knew inherently thatplaying these records on this
machine that it would soundauthentic because these records
were from that same era.
So his father showed me themachine.
(09:27):
I put my hand on what's calledthe tone arm, which is the first
part of the amplifying system,and it broke immediately.
And his father looked up at meand said I guess you just bought
it.
I said how much?
He's 300 bucks.
So I bought it, brought it homeand I learned to adore the
smell of the old oil and grease,the smell of old wood and the
(09:52):
opportunity to take somethingthat was broken and to bring it
back to life.
So I started.
This is back when the internetof phonographs was in its it was
in its infancy.
This is the AOL days that we'retalking about and I was able to
locate various individualhobbyists across the country
(10:12):
that made parts for these 90 and100-year-old machines and I was
able to procure the parts, getit playing when I heard my first
record being playedmechanically and not just
winding it up and winding up theclock motor that's in it to
turn the turntable.
But the reproduction of therecord is also mechanical.
(10:35):
There's no electricalcomponents in this.
You take a steel needle, youput it in a groove, the needle
vibrates, it makes the diaphragmvibrate and through the horn
that's in it it amplifies thesound.
And I was hooked and that ledand you asked me how did I get
started in this?
So I'm giving you the story.
(10:55):
I started putting ads in thenewspaper Wanted Antique wind-up
phonographs, cash paid.
I started getting calls and Iwould be buying these old
machines.
I'd pull them out of basementsattics.
Individuals would find them inclosets.
I was buying them and now I'mlooking for more parts and in
(11:18):
the early internet I found onewebsite and it was a fellow that
lived 10 minutes from my house.
I thought he would be across thecountry and he provided me with
parts for these machines.
So I started going to his houseonce every two months, then it
became once a month, then itbecame once a week, then twice a
week, and then he said you'reworking on these machines all
(11:41):
the time.
How would you like a job?
On these machines all the time?
How would you like a job?
And from there I worked for himfor almost six years restoring
these machines, learning a lotabout them and how to fix them,
the techniques and then myobsession became a lifestyle
going to shows, meeting people,working on my interpersonal
skills, learning how to relateto people, learning how to buy
(12:03):
things with confidence and notbeing a nervous Nelly how much
is that Victrola you have in theliving room?
I don't have much money, stufflike that.
And over time I amassed apretty significant collection of
things and then like anythingfrom baseball cards to
collecting beanie babies orwhatever.
There's variation and there'sdifferent levels, from the very
(12:26):
common to the very rare, and ittook me 15 years to figure that
all out.
And now, 20 plus years later,I'm still finding things that I
didn't know existed, and this iswhat keeps me in this hobby.
It's addictive, is what it is.
I hope that's a good enoughanswer for you.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
That is a great answer.
I've been in it only a shorttime, but many years ago, before
I even went to law school, so Iwould have to be in my 30s
because I went to law schoollate in life.
I was working as a buyer forNordstrom's and in short Hills,
New Jersey, and I went.
(13:08):
There was a display of Edisonphonographs that were for sale
in one of the stores that hadclosed and they were ridiculous
amounts of money, Like I want tosay like an Edison standard at
$3,500 or something.
So it was a very long time agoand there were other things and
(13:30):
I'd become enamored with it.
Of course I was about to getmarried, so I really didn't pass
the muster where I couldexplain buying a $3,500
phonograph or whatever it was,so it never happened.
I've always been interested inEdison.
I grew up in New Jersey.
I used to go to the museum allthe time.
I'd been to the places where hemade movies in Fort Lee, I'd
(13:54):
been to his warehouse in FortLee it's still there and then
one day I think it was last Julyor August, about 15 months ago
now I think it was last July orAugust about 15 months ago now
and I saw a New Jersey auctionhouse, Willow.
I don't know if you've everbought anything from there, but
I bought a lot of things that'sin there recently and it was an
(14:14):
Edison standard with a horn andit came with a handful of
cylinders and the initial bidwas a couple of hundred bucks.
I don't remember how much itwas exactly and I did the
initial bid and I forgot allabout it, but nobody else bid on
it, so I got it.
I went and picked it up.
I like cranked it up in theback of the car.
(14:35):
I couldn't even wait until Igot home.
I put the cylinder on and itplayed.
It's amazing, even when they'renot in good shape, when they're
in as-found condition, theystill work to some level and
I've showed it to so many peoplelike mechanics and things, and
they're amazed at the simplicityof the engineering, Amazed at
(14:57):
how basic things are and howthey still work 120 years later
in some instances yeah, it's allcast iron and steel and brass
and how they still work 120years later in some instances.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, it's all cast iron and steel and brass and the
only thing that can rot is thewood.
But if it's kept inside it'sgoing to last almost
indefinitely.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And then I realized that the horn was a reproduction
, because I learned a little bit.
So I saw an auction where theyhad a real horn, and that
auction ended up coming withfive other horns.
So I said, gee, I have theseother horns, I might as well get
machines for the horns.
Everybody knows this story.
So I'm still buying machinesfor those horns and it just goes
(15:39):
on and on it is.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It's a lifetime pursuit.
It's a lifelong pursuit.
You're in it.
I don't think there's any outfor you at this point.
You're now part of the fold.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think I am definitely in it.
There are machines in everyroom of my apartment.
There are machines in my officehere.
There are machines in my officeand I just the only thing there
isn't any and there was, but Itook them out was in my bedroom.
But I have a whole bedroomthat's entirely machines and ads
on the wall.
And I sat in there this morningand someone called me on
(16:14):
FaceTime to see how I was.
And they go what is that?
And I did an hour and a halfwith two people on FaceTime,
went through, gave a story,played a bunch of machines, and
people are like I have to comeover and see him and I'm like
it's amazing.
But, joe and Tracy, I know yourstory is a rather romantic one
(16:34):
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I don't know if I put it that way, Stephen, but I
think our story.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Well romantic in a way that you've turned it into a
lifestyle and enjoy it andwelcome these kinds of that's
perfectly true.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I think it's romantic because we both like it,
whereas most of the time it'sone-sided.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I would agree with you there.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Tracy and I are very fortunate.
We got into the phonographhobby, if you will, together,
and it was by accident.
We were living in Charlotte.
I had just accepted a new jobwhich would have us moving to
New Jersey, where we are stilltoday, and this is during COVID
in early 2021.
And Wyatt had a story.
(17:16):
I'll give you the quick story.
But we were living in a littlerental house waiting for the
movers to show up.
We had three dogs, two cats andno furniture, because
everything was packed and it wasraining and the dogs were
driving us nuts.
And Tracy said hey, let's getout of here.
Have you been antiquing in awhile?
And I said, no, let's, whatever, let's go antiquing.
(17:38):
Next thing, you know, we runinto an antique store in Monroe
which outside of Charlotte, andTracy calls me from the other
side of the store and says comehere and she's standing next to
an upright.
I didn't know at the time, butshe's standing up next to an
upright Victrola 11, which is avery basic upright, victor
(18:01):
machine.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Maybe you should explain to these listeners that
may not know what an upright is.
We use this terminology andwords in the hobby and some of
your listeners will be like whatdoes?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
he mean it's a phonograph in a box that is
about four feet tall.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Yeah, so it looks like a piece of furniture, more
like a intricate cabinet, if youwill, and the top will come up
on the top and that's where youhave your tonearm and where your
turntable is.
And then, if you open two doorsin the front, that is your
volume control, if you will,because the horn is internal and
(18:39):
when you close the doors itgets quieter.
When you open the doors it getslouder, and then below that is
an area to store your records.
So it looks like basically afancy cabinet when you look at
it, until you open it, which iswhat I did, and then went.
Is this what I think it is?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
And it was yeah, we called the owner over of the
antiques store because it didn'thave a crank arm on it and we
wanted to hear it play.
And he came over and put thecrank arm in, cranked it a few
times, put the needle to therecord and Tracy and I were sold
.
That's all it took.
It was that cool of a machineand we knew nothing about them.
We just thought, wow, this isneat, it's a piece of history,
(19:18):
it looks like a artwork as well,and we got into it at that
point in time together.
And long story short, we foundanother little tabletop machine
which is just like what Imentioned, what Tracy described
earlier, but it's short.
And now we had two machines tomove to New Jersey and Stephen I
think how many we have now,it's probably 70, 80 machines
(19:42):
around the house to get itrepaired and then showed us his
collection.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
And from that point we were pretty much hooked,
because we'd never seen acylinder machine or anything
else.
So at that point we wanted themall so it's funny.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
You said that because what happened to me was that
after I happened to go onfacebook and some kid really was
a kid, a guy in his like 20years old was cleaning out his
grandmother's house who had justpassed away, and he listed a
victrola and a basic one I thinkit's an 80 and that's 80 or
whatever it is as basic as hecan be for a box and for upright
(20:42):
he wanted $200 for it.
So for $200, I said, yes, whatcould it be?
I'm not going to get.
What do I get burned?
50 bucks, a hundred bucks, whatdo I care?
I went down there and he hadthis old big house in short
hills and he goes yeah, mygrandfather bought this a
hundred years ago and and hereit is.
(21:05):
I don't know anything about it.
It works.
Oh, and I got these records andI'll put it in your car.
He was a beast of a kid, pickedit up, put it in my car, I gave
him the 200 bucks and I got outof there as fast as I could and
I got it home and I cranked itup and I never did it.
I've never done a thing to it.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
It worked perfectly yeah, the the thing that tracy
and I we decided we just didn'twant to be finding machines.
We decided that we also wantedto clean them up, we wanted to
fix them, we wanted to repairthem getting into tip-top shape.
And so Tracy decided she likesto work on the reproducers,
(21:46):
which is the small sound box atthe end of the tone arm, and I
like to do the springs and allthe mechanical gearing type
stuff.
So we not only got into ittogether, but we also have a
little workshop in the basementof the house here and we fix
them up for people.
And that's how we met Mr Wyattnext to us.
He actually bailed me out of aBrunswick repair one evening
(22:08):
over FaceTime on my phone whileI was struggling trying to get a
little Brunswick motor to turn.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Is that Brunswick to my house now, or is it a
different one?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It could be or it's the ones that's still downstairs
, but nonetheless, Wyatt wasfantastic.
He's the one that said you knowwhat, Joe, just put your phone
on FaceTime and show me what'sgoing on, and I didn't scold him
.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I didn't scold him much at all.
And yeah, for the uninitiated,if you hear something on this
podcast that you don't knowabout, please email your kind
host and he will tell you what aBrunswick is or what any of
these other words that we'reusing.
But Brunswick is a make.
They made pool tables and theywent into the phonograph
(22:59):
business and they had acabinetry shop.
So they started making thecabinets and they went forward
to make clockwork motors to putin them and they were a
contender in the talking machinebusiness.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I I love mike brunswick, I and all the
machines.
I don't have as many as you.
I think I have 48 or 49, maybe50.
We can change that?
We're working on that.
And listen, taxes are dueOctober 15th.
After I get past that, I'll beall right, we'll see you on the
16th.
(23:29):
So it's funny how your favoriteor the one you want to listen to
just changes.
It doesn't matter, it's themost rare.
And, frankly, when I firststarted collecting, a lot of
people on Facebook said what doyou collect a note for?
They're common.
I love the common ones, I lovethem all.
(23:52):
They're all pieces of history.
The point of having them all isyou're telling a historic story
.
You're going through howAmericans, people all over the
world, first heard recordedsounds, voices.
Think about when the biggerVictors we have, or Victrolas
(24:16):
some of them were very expensiveat the time, some of the fancy
ones, and people were listeningto opera.
But regular people could listento opera.
They never heard that before.
They couldn't afford to go toCarnegie Hall and see an opera
because it cost a fortune, youhad to dress a certain way.
And now in your own home youcan hear Caruso Exactly like I
(24:40):
hear Caruso today bands orinstrumentalists or singers.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
You had to go to your local phonograph dealer and buy
the records and bring them home, and records were like 35 cents
to 50 cents a piece, which isstill a lot of money.
And we last night we were Idon't know how late it was, it
was very late at night we werecalculating how much a 100
machine was.
And what, joe, what was that?
Was it like 1900?
Yeah, it was like $3,725 intoday's money with inflation,
(25:32):
and that is a tremendous amountof money.
And one thing that yourlisteners should know is there
wasn't just a hundred dollarmodel.
They made phonographs that werefive dollars back then, which
was still considerable amount ofmoney.
But you could buy an edisoncylinder, a wax cylinder record
(25:55):
and play it on your five dollarmachine or your hundred and five
dollar machine.
Not only was the music theycould purchase whatever they
wanted to listen to, but theycould also purchase the manner
in which you listen to it withsmall horn, bigger horn if you
wanted it louder, or if youwanted a wooden horn because it
matched the interior of yourhouse.
(26:16):
And, like cars today, you couldmodify these machines and there
was a whole secondary market ofcompanies that allowed you to
purchase accessories, because itjust can't.
You can't just use it with alittle 14 inch horn that came
with it.
You could get a bigger horn,that was more stylish, that
sounded better, and they evenhad volume controls.
(26:38):
After market volume controls,you can put it, but it's, this
is endless, this is endless.
And I have friends that are intheir 90s that are still in the
hobby, and this is such a bigsubject I can spiral out into
seven hours just talking aboutit, but maybe on another episode
(26:59):
in the future, sure, and covera different aspect of this.
But clearly, the three of us Ithink addiction is a good word,
definitely we're addicted to itand it's the hunt, the find, the
kill, so to speak, and thenbringing it back and taking
something that was long silentand bringing it back to life.
(27:22):
That's my payback.
I do get paid to repair thesefor people, but my true payment
is getting something to singagain.
And also when I show themachine to the family this is
something else that we were justtalking about today on a car
ride, getting a machine that afamily's owned for decades and
(27:43):
decades, or even a hundred yearsthat they've never heard, and
play it for them for the firsttime.
Or there was this lady.
She was in her early eighties.
She's owned a machine since shewas five.
It was in her family and as afive-year-old she knew how to
use the machine.
A couple months ago she heardit again for the second time in
(28:03):
her life and it was long silent.
She started weeping.
It was a very emotional andpersonal experience for her, and
that was really my payment.
It's nice to have the money, ofcourse, but it lacks meaning.
But yeah, so it's emotional forme.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I take pride it comes out in your work right oh yeah,
nothing is done.
If it isn't done the way it wayand you're not happy with it,
it's not going to be out therenow, that's just my ocd, yeah
that's part of the gate.
We all know people in thishobby that do things right.
Look at john duffy, who makesdoes the warns all you know that
(28:44):
he's a master at it.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You've seen some of his work and I can't wait to
bring him up, and I'm gonna workaround my entire collection and
bring him to you a couple at atime yeah it's, he's a
specialist like I'm, aspecialist in the needle head or
the reproducer, which is thepart that actually takes the
physical, the graph, the etchingthat's in the disc record or
(29:10):
the cylinder record, and ittakes that mechanical shape and
turns it into a sounddisturbance that we our minds as
music.
But there are specialists, andwhen you restore these, like
what Tracy and Joe do, a lot ofpeople think, oh, they're just
fixing a machine.
They don't realize that it'sactually a multidisciplinary art
(29:33):
.
You're dealing with color,furniture refinishing, you're
dealing with fabrics, you'redealing with different types of
adhesives, chemicals, glues,cleaners, and then, on top of
that, you have to understand theprinciples of operation and how
they work.
And as soon as you learn theprinciples of operation, you
(29:54):
find that, oh, by the way,there's 500 different companies
that made these and each one wasa little different and each one
has its individual quirks andthey all use different parts,
and that's part of what createsa lifetime pursuit.
But, as you see, I really cantalk about this for five hours.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
That's the point, right, that's the point we
talked about.
But to that point, a woman hada laboratory model and Joe's
seen it.
I don't know if you've seen it,why it's at Ed's house and I
just sold it to him.
By the way, he really wanted it.
So what was I going to do?
And it didn't really come outthe way I wanted it, but it
plays wonderfully.
I had it was shrink wrapped inher basement and the thing
(30:39):
weighed a ton.
I couldn't even move it.
So she had a handyman workingon the house, him and I and the
woman carried it across graveland threw it in the back of my
car.
I didn't think I was ever goingto get it out, it was so heavy.
So we got it back to my officebecause I didn't want to bring
it home because it was a messand a dirt.
It had mice stuff on it.
(30:59):
I took the shrink wrap though,opened it up and it had a
hundred discs in it and thosediscs aren't light.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
The other, oh my god, I don't even know how we got it
up to a piece or a poundthey're a pound, they're one
pound a piece, so you had ahundred pound records plus the
machine yeah, the records were adollar each.
Back in the day you went toyour dealer with 20 and you came
back with 20 pounds of recordswhich is 40 songs.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
So I I have those, so I got those records.
It didn't really work, but I Icould identify what it was doing
.
I went on youtube, I searchedthis issue and who came up?
Of course, just plexiginous.
And yeah, yeah, he had so manyhow-to videos, hundreds if not
(31:48):
thousand, and it was one exactlyabout my problem.
Yeah, I loosened the screws, Ipushed the rod to the position
he told me, I tightened it backup, I cranked it up and it
worked yeah the that that fellowthat steve mentioned his.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
His youtube name is dyslexic genius, because he's a
very smart guy, but he isdyslexic, so much.
What's so wonderful about thesevideos?
And again, this is part of ourecosystem.
He makes videos showing peoplethat may not have mechanical
skills, or he's teaching peoplehow to fix their machines, which
(32:25):
is wonderful, because this isan old skill set and today
people know how to use theiriPhone or their Android better
than they do a machine.
But he's keeping the knowledgealive so these machines can
continue singing for many moreyears, and it's a wonderful
thing that he's done.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
And it's a ridiculous collection he has.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
It's delightful.
Every time I go there they makeme shrimp and grits.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
That's one of my favorite things.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
And then he shows me his latest find and it's really
wonderful.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
He not only does, he do demonstrations on how to fix
certain things or restoringthings for customers, he picks a
machine every week and playsmusic.
So you also get to enjoymachines you may never see,
depending on who you are andwhere you go.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, and that's one area of the hobby that Tracy and
I are getting more into, andthat is actually listening to
the records.
We got into the hobby, moreintrigued with the machines, the
beauty of the machinesthemselves, that we are now
trying to come up to speed onall the various types of records
cylinders, discs we're going byour ear which one sounds the
(33:35):
best, and we have hundreds ofdisc records and probably a
hundred or so cylinder recordsand we're trying to prioritize
them and sort them and see whichones we like and then learn
more about them.
That's the next stage of thematuration of our hobby.
Yeah, that's a whole anothercan of worms.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
Right there is the people that know the records.
Like joe said, we listen tothem and play the ones we like,
and we do play our machinesquite often, but at christmas
there there's Christmas recordson pretty much every machine and
we walk around the house andplay different machines to get
different sounds and differentrecords.
But there are people that areextremely knowledgeable, wyatt
being one of them, that can justtell you a record and the
(34:16):
number.
And it's pretty amazing when itcomes to that end of the hobby,
which is a whole otherwheelhouse that we have not
quite gotten into, but we'reslowly dipping our toe in it,
because it is nice to know thehistory of the records, not just
the machines themselves.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
You start to get deep into it.
It's like those young childrenthat can rattle off every
president of the United Statesgoing back to Washington, or the
people that can tell you, ohwhat is it?
Speaker 2 (34:48):
What's the other thing?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
that, oh, the plot of a Legos movie.
There's a certain type of I'mgoing to say the word there is
in some instances, and mostinstances there's a diagnosis
that goes along with the personlike myself that obsesses over
this.
We were going through recordsthe other night, for example,
(35:10):
and one of I think Joe or Tracysaid oh, Silent Night, oh,
that's record 1606, recorded in1912 or 1913.
And they're like what's wrongwith you?
We were separating the I callit the good records from the bad
.
The bad ones are actually stillgood, but they're just not fun
to listen to for most people.
And I've just gone down thatrabbit hole to finding out who
(35:32):
these long dead performers are,what type of music, what genre
of music I want to listen to,and again, it's one of those.
It's an obsession.
I can say that legitimately.
It's an obsession for me, themusic.
So I have people all the timethey say, oh, I found this
record by this guy named KelStewart who's that?
And I'll be like oh, he was aperformer, he recorded for
(35:54):
multiple labels, he did ruralcomedy and what's wonderful
about Uncle Josh Records is thathe talks like a rube or a
country person from a high grasstown in the middle of nowhere
and he talks about thesesubjects that we don't think
about today.
And one of his more famousrecords was Uncle Josh, which
was his character, and theautomobile.
(36:15):
And I'll just take a momentjust to say that it was a
commentary on how a small townreacted when they saw their
first car, and it wasn't a buggywith a horse in front of it.
It made noise, it made poppingnoises, it went at speed down
the road, it made a ruckus andit upset the farm animals.
And four minutes of thisstorytelling and it's
(36:37):
entertaining, it's charming andyou get pulled in to the stories
, you get pulled into the music,you get pulled into everything.
I say this with conviction.
There is something out there onan antique record for everybody
.
If you like opera, we've got it.
(36:58):
You want to listen to a banjo?
Great, there's thousands ofbanjo records.
If you just want talking.
One of the things that I do ishome recordings.
They sold home recordingequipment back then and you
could sit around with yourfamily and make a record and
play it back.
So it introduced magic into thehousehold for just a few
(37:23):
dollars and we still do it today.
I push recording pretty hardonto people as an activity they
can do for joy.
See, I birdwalk a lot, so youmight have to hold your hand up
and make a stop sign so I cansee on the screen.
Otherwise it's going to beanother hour.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
No, I don't care, I could turn it into two parts,
that's not a problem, enjoyingthe conversation.
We never spoke like this before, so we're always seeing each
other or talking for fiveminutes on text or in messaging
on Facebook.
So it's nice to talk aboutthings that we all.
I spent time with Joe.
I've been with Pacey a coupleof times, but we all have that.
(38:01):
We all have that gene.
I like buying machines frompeople who had them in their
lives from when they were achild, across generations.
It's preserving the history.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
This was a time from its inception in 1877, if you
will, into the beginning ofradio is really where we sit
right, where the only recordedmusic and voice were phonographs
and they were the center ofeveryone's existence and as an
interesting side note and I'mjust going to go back to William
(38:38):
Jennings Bryan and TheodoreRoosevelt, president Taft, there
were presidents that maderecordings on cylinder records
back then, and if you were againin a town far off Teddy.
Roosevelt as well.
Yeah, you could hear both sidesof the conversation, the
political conversation.
(38:58):
You would have to pay a pennyto go into a business and they
would play the Democratic.
You would have to pay a pennyto go into a business and they
(39:20):
would play, you know, thedemocratic argument.
And then you would go intoanother room to listen to the
Republican argument.
And it was.
It had it played a role inspreading ideas, which that's
another.
They are.
These are talking machines.
The word phonograph was actuallyan Edison term, but whenever I
write the word phonograph down,I always make it with.
I write it with a capital P,but the term is talking machines
In the American.
Is it vernacular?
Is that the right word?
That's the right.
(39:44):
A lot of people for the last 45, 50 years have been saying
victrola.
They see anything with a cranksticking out of the side and
they crank it and they call itoh yeah, that's my
great-grandmother's victrola,but it may be an edison or a
machine made by my columbia oranything like that.
So you have the culturalsignificance, the political
significance, the politicalsignificance, the entertainment
significance.
(40:04):
But also for people that didhome recordings, you're
preserving memories.
There was no tape back then.
You didn't have an iPhone oranything like that.
And when I had children, when Ihad two young children we sat
around the phonograph and wemade a cylinder and the kids
(40:25):
were five and six and a halfyears old and we just I wrote a
script they could both read andwe made a two minute record.
I still have that record today.
It's now 14 years later and Ican still play it and I can
still hear their little voicesand remember the day that we
(40:47):
recorded it together.
And every once in a while, whenyou're out buying records,
sometimes you'll come upon ahome recording.
I came upon a dozen homerecordings from the year 1900,
and they were made over thecourse of two years.
It was a big family gettingtogether on Christmas Day and
singing Christmas songs, and thehair just stood straight up on
(41:11):
the back of my neck.
You're dealing with one of themore important aspects of the
talking machine their ability tobe a time machine.
It only works in one direction,but I can record something
today and if you take reallygood care of the record, in 100
or 150 years, someone else inthe future can play it back and
(41:33):
hear me and whatever I have tosay.
So that's part of the magic ofthese things your chair, your
kitchen table or your bed, yourantique bed frame, doesn't talk.
But for just a couple hundredor a couple thousand bucks you
can get one of these really neatmachines and get entertained by
(41:54):
whatever you find.
And it's wonderful, I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
I love it a lot, so one thing for the listeners.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
most of you know what a record is.
We talk about records, discsand cylinders.
Cylinders is something weweren't familiar with when Joe
and I started.
If you imagine, this is goingvery basic.
Take a toilet paper roll.
Imagine you have two days oftoilet paper left on it but it's
made out of wax.
That's what a cylinder lookslike.
It's a wax round record in theshape of a toilet paper roll, if
(42:29):
you will, just to give you avisual.
And that's what they recordedon, and Wyatt here does
recordings on them to this dayand does demonstrations which
are amazing, and that's what acylinder is.
So if you hear us talking abouta cylinder, it is different
than a record.
It is not flat like the commonday record that you would
imagine today.
It is a round cylinder.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
That's the end of part one, the next episode where
we continue our conversationwith Wyatt, Joe and Tracy.
Thank you for listening.
We look forward to yourcomments and questions.
Thank you again.
Hello everyone and welcome back to A Better Life
New York.
This has been a great journeyand, as you and some of you have
noticed, this is a new name andit's meant to reflect a little
bit more of the changes thathave gone.
Through our podcast.
(00:25):
We've covered more and moresubjects.
We've covered lots of thingsthat are different than a food
and restaurants where we allstarted out Not that those are
going away.
We have some great episodescoming up.
I have a winery in Italy we'regoing to do a live video podcast
with.
We have some great Italianrestaurants in this area and
(00:46):
throughout New York and we'regoing to have a lot of food
things coming up real soon.
I'm hoping that we're going toswitch to video.
That has been held up,partially because I had COVID
and partially the result of myCOVID gave me Bell's palsy, so
I'm having a little difficultytalking, which you may be very
(01:07):
well aware of.
Also, it has some results on myvisual, my face.
So for now, at least for alittle while, we're going to
continue with the audio andthere may be some video coming
up real soon because I have somethings scheduled so they're
going to have to be filmed.
Hopefully I'll be a littlebetter and we'll move right
(01:28):
along.
Today is a special episode.
It's the beginning of anothersegment of A Better Life.
New York and all of you thatare regular listeners of the
program know that I collectantique phonographs and I've
gotten a lot of requests formore information about those
phonographs.
And I've gotten a lot ofrequests for more information
about those phonographs.
So today's episode that's goingto be in two parts.
(01:51):
They're both going to bereleased simultaneously.
It's just so long that I'mgoing to cut it in half, because
it's an hour and 20 minutes oran hour and a half, so I'm going
to cut it in 45 minutessections.
It's an arbitrary cut, but justso it's not so long.
It's with three people I knowfrom the hobby, wyatt Marcus,
(02:16):
who is a very learned,distinguished collector dealer
out there, collector-dealer outthere.
He is known for his collecting.
He's known for his qualityreproducers, which are an
important part of an antiquephonograph it's the part that
converts the grooves into soundand he is known throughout the
(02:40):
country and throughout the worldas being the best at it.
You will routinely see peopleselling machines and them
mentioning that Wyatt hadrebuilt the reproducer.
Also, two collector dealersfrom New Jersey, joe and Tracy,
(03:02):
are a team.
Joe works on the mechanics andTracy rebuilds reproducers.
They specialize in more discthan Edison reproducers and they
specialized in Xenophones,which are a small segment
manufacturer.
I actually have a couple andtheir story is great.
(03:22):
We go to our first part.
Thank you for listening, andnow our interview with Wyatt,
joe and Tracy.
Thanks for joining us tonight.
Wyatt, hello, thank you.
And also with him is Joe andTracy.
I admire his ability to findmachines, machines, and I love
(03:44):
the opportunity to purchase themas well.
So welcome as well, Steven.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
thank you very much for that.
I think you're way too kind inwhat you just said right there.
So thank you for allowing Tracyand I to be a part of your show
.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I hope we could do more.
I think that I get questionsall the time in the podcast
about antique photographs.
I think there's a lot of people.
I think this hobby, even thoughI've only been in it over a
little over a year, isincredibly interesting.
There's so much to learn andit's great that I have people
like you guys that I can learnfrom.
It seems every day there's onething you learn and would breed
(04:24):
10 more questions that you wantto know Certainly Whether it's a
person's name, whether a towermachine works, whether the
differences in things and whythings were built and where they
exist.
And it's my understanding todayyou guys went to Edison's house
(04:44):
.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, we went to the edison's house, is that
correct?
Yeah, uh, yeah, we went to theedison national historic site,
which, uh, that's west orange,new jersey.
Yes, yes, and joe and I spent,uh, most of the morning touring
through the buildings and thecollections there and shortly,
just to speak about it for amoment, we got to see the first
(05:07):
phonograph that Edison and hisguys produced in 1877.
And I guess I don't know if Ireally make fun of it, but it
changed the world.
And there it is, just sittingon a table behind a simple glass
panel so you can't touch it,and it has a little placard next
(05:29):
to it that says Edison'soriginal phonograph, 1877.
And it's so easy to walk by youwouldn't know its significance
unless you were like us, unlessyou collected these machines.
But anyway, we saw his workshopand then we went up to Glenmont,
which is his mansion that helived in Llewellyn Park, new
(05:50):
Jersey, which is just a fewminutes around the corner from
the historic site.
We had a really, really longday and we learned a lot.
It was a wonderful experience,it was a sensory experience the
smell of grease and old wood andjust using your imagination to
see Edison and his family livingin that enormous house that
(06:11):
they had.
It was really something special.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I was there in grammar school and it was in a
total disarray and even thoughit was a national park they
didn't have money to restore itand actually it was hillary
clinton that helped about thegovernment to to give them money
to to fix it up into thecondition and that it is now I.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I was very impressed by just and maybe I should have
known this, but it wasn't justthe the phonograph that Edison
had his fingers in and obviouslythe light bulb, but there were
so many other inventions that hecame up with dozens and dozens
or hundreds and hundreds.
What got him going was with theticker tape machine, originally
when he was 20 or so, and thenthere was a waffle iron in the
(07:01):
lab.
He had quite a large R&D labthat was very impressive and
basically my understanding, hegave his guys the carte blanche
to have at it and so he came upwith so many different
inventions.
But certainly, as Wyatt said,you saw the first tinfoil
machine sitting there behind apiece of glass and I agree with
Wyatt, it changed the world.
Here we are, 120 years later,recording on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
It's true, we get it with Wyatt.
What got you into this hobbyand what possessed you?
I don't know the hush of yourbackground, to be honest how you
got into this.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I've been asked that question for many years and it
used to start out with it usedto be like a 10-minute romantic
recitation.
My grandmother passed away20-plus years ago and in her
collection of stuff there was abox of 78 RPM records.
Now in her house there was anold 1949 Magnavox record player
(07:58):
and I put these records becauseI didn't know anything about
Victor Talking Machine and I sawthese labels.
It said Victor, some of themsaid Victrola.
I didn't know anything aboutVictor Talking Machine and I saw
these labels.
It said Victor, some of themsaid Victrola.
I didn't know anything aboutold records, but this is by
complete random act.
I put one of the records on theMagnavox and I played it and I
noticed, okay, there's a littlebit of noise there.
(08:20):
It doesn't sound right.
You couldn't listen to thismusic that I was hearing.
So I remembered and I guess Iam giving you somewhat of a long
version here that one of myfriends.
He had in his house a Victrolathat belonged to his grandmother
, my friend Scott.
So I called him up I said doyou still have the Victrola?
(08:40):
And for your listeners, aVictrola is a floor model windup
phonograph that doesn't have abig external horn but it has an
internal horn, because theexternal horn was considered a
little unsightly.
He said, yeah, we still havethe Victrola.
My father moved it into thebasement.
We want to get rid of it.
So that's another coincidencethat I got these records.
(09:05):
I discovered them by accident,I listened to them, just by
random act, and he just happensto have this Victrola that
they're going to sell.
And I knew inherently thatplaying these records on this
machine that it would soundauthentic because these records
were from that same era.
So his father showed me themachine.
(09:27):
I put my hand on what's calledthe tone arm, which is the first
part of the amplifying system,and it broke immediately.
And his father looked up at meand said I guess you just bought
it.
I said how much?
He's 300 bucks.
So I bought it, brought it homeand I learned to adore the
smell of the old oil and grease,the smell of old wood and the
(09:52):
opportunity to take somethingthat was broken and to bring it
back to life.
So I started.
This is back when the internetof phonographs was in its it was
in its infancy.
This is the AOL days that we'retalking about and I was able to
locate various individualhobbyists across the country
(10:12):
that made parts for these 90 and100-year-old machines and I was
able to procure the parts, getit playing when I heard my first
record being playedmechanically and not just
winding it up and winding up theclock motor that's in it to
turn the turntable.
But the reproduction of therecord is also mechanical.
(10:35):
There's no electricalcomponents in this.
You take a steel needle, youput it in a groove, the needle
vibrates, it makes the diaphragmvibrate and through the horn
that's in it it amplifies thesound.
And I was hooked and that ledand you asked me how did I get
started in this?
So I'm giving you the story.
(10:55):
I started putting ads in thenewspaper Wanted Antique wind-up
phonographs, cash paid.
I started getting calls and Iwould be buying these old
machines.
I'd pull them out of basementsattics.
Individuals would find them inclosets.
I was buying them and now I'mlooking for more parts and in
(11:18):
the early internet I found onewebsite and it was a fellow that
lived 10 minutes from my house.
I thought he would be across thecountry and he provided me with
parts for these machines.
So I started going to his houseonce every two months, then it
became once a month, then itbecame once a week, then twice a
week, and then he said you'reworking on these machines all
(11:41):
the time.
How would you like a job?
On these machines all the time?
How would you like a job?
And from there I worked for himfor almost six years restoring
these machines, learning a lotabout them and how to fix them,
the techniques and then myobsession became a lifestyle
going to shows, meeting people,working on my interpersonal
skills, learning how to relateto people, learning how to buy
(12:03):
things with confidence and notbeing a nervous Nelly how much
is that Victrola you have in theliving room?
I don't have much money, stufflike that.
And over time I amassed apretty significant collection of
things and then like anythingfrom baseball cards to
collecting beanie babies orwhatever.
There's variation and there'sdifferent levels, from the very
(12:26):
common to the very rare, and ittook me 15 years to figure that
all out.
And now, 20 plus years later,I'm still finding things that I
didn't know existed, and this iswhat keeps me in this hobby.
It's addictive, is what it is.
I hope that's a good enoughanswer for you.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
That is a great answer.
I've been in it only a shorttime, but many years ago, before
I even went to law school, so Iwould have to be in my 30s
because I went to law schoollate in life.
I was working as a buyer forNordstrom's and in short Hills,
New Jersey, and I went.
(13:08):
There was a display of Edisonphonographs that were for sale
in one of the stores that hadclosed and they were ridiculous
amounts of money, Like I want tosay like an Edison standard at
$3,500 or something.
So it was a very long time agoand there were other things and
(13:30):
I'd become enamored with it.
Of course I was about to getmarried, so I really didn't pass
the muster where I couldexplain buying a $3,500
phonograph or whatever it was,so it never happened.
I've always been interested inEdison.
I grew up in New Jersey.
I used to go to the museum allthe time.
I'd been to the places where hemade movies in Fort Lee, I'd
(13:54):
been to his warehouse in FortLee it's still there and then
one day I think it was last Julyor August, about 15 months ago
now I think it was last July orAugust about 15 months ago now
and I saw a New Jersey auctionhouse, Willow.
I don't know if you've everbought anything from there, but
I bought a lot of things that'sin there recently and it was an
(14:14):
Edison standard with a horn andit came with a handful of
cylinders and the initial bidwas a couple of hundred bucks.
I don't remember how much itwas exactly and I did the
initial bid and I forgot allabout it, but nobody else bid on
it, so I got it.
I went and picked it up.
I like cranked it up in theback of the car.
(14:35):
I couldn't even wait until Igot home.
I put the cylinder on and itplayed.
It's amazing, even when they'renot in good shape, when they're
in as-found condition, theystill work to some level and
I've showed it to so many peoplelike mechanics and things, and
they're amazed at the simplicityof the engineering, Amazed at
(14:57):
how basic things are and howthey still work 120 years later
in some instances yeah, it's allcast iron and steel and brass
and how they still work 120years later in some instances.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, it's all cast iron and steel and brass and the
only thing that can rot is thewood.
But if it's kept inside it'sgoing to last almost
indefinitely.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And then I realized that the horn was a reproduction
, because I learned a little bit.
So I saw an auction where theyhad a real horn, and that
auction ended up coming withfive other horns.
So I said, gee, I have theseother horns, I might as well get
machines for the horns.
Everybody knows this story.
So I'm still buying machinesfor those horns and it just goes
(15:39):
on and on it is.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It's a lifetime pursuit.
It's a lifelong pursuit.
You're in it.
I don't think there's any outfor you at this point.
You're now part of the fold.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think I am definitely in it.
There are machines in everyroom of my apartment.
There are machines in my officehere.
There are machines in my officeand I just the only thing there
isn't any and there was, but Itook them out was in my bedroom.
But I have a whole bedroomthat's entirely machines and ads
on the wall.
And I sat in there this morningand someone called me on
(16:14):
FaceTime to see how I was.
And they go what is that?
And I did an hour and a halfwith two people on FaceTime,
went through, gave a story,played a bunch of machines, and
people are like I have to comeover and see him and I'm like
it's amazing.
But, joe and Tracy, I know yourstory is a rather romantic one
(16:34):
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I don't know if I put it that way, Stephen, but I
think our story.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Well romantic in a way that you've turned it into a
lifestyle and enjoy it andwelcome these kinds of that's
perfectly true.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I think it's romantic because we both like it,
whereas most of the time it'sone-sided.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I would agree with you there.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Tracy and I are very fortunate.
We got into the phonographhobby, if you will, together,
and it was by accident.
We were living in Charlotte.
I had just accepted a new jobwhich would have us moving to
New Jersey, where we are stilltoday, and this is during COVID
in early 2021.
And Wyatt had a story.
(17:16):
I'll give you the quick story.
But we were living in a littlerental house waiting for the
movers to show up.
We had three dogs, two cats andno furniture, because
everything was packed and it wasraining and the dogs were
driving us nuts.
And Tracy said hey, let's getout of here.
Have you been antiquing in awhile?
And I said, no, let's, whatever, let's go antiquing.
(17:38):
Next thing, you know, we runinto an antique store in Monroe
which outside of Charlotte, andTracy calls me from the other
side of the store and says comehere and she's standing next to
an upright.
I didn't know at the time, butshe's standing up next to an
upright Victrola 11, which is avery basic upright, victor
(18:01):
machine.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Maybe you should explain to these listeners that
may not know what an upright is.
We use this terminology andwords in the hobby and some of
your listeners will be like whatdoes?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
he mean it's a phonograph in a box that is
about four feet tall.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Yeah, so it looks like a piece of furniture, more
like a intricate cabinet, if youwill, and the top will come up
on the top and that's where youhave your tonearm and where your
turntable is.
And then, if you open two doorsin the front, that is your
volume control, if you will,because the horn is internal and
(18:39):
when you close the doors itgets quieter.
When you open the doors it getslouder, and then below that is
an area to store your records.
So it looks like basically afancy cabinet when you look at
it, until you open it, which iswhat I did, and then went.
Is this what I think it is?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
And it was yeah, we called the owner over of the
antiques store because it didn'thave a crank arm on it and we
wanted to hear it play.
And he came over and put thecrank arm in, cranked it a few
times, put the needle to therecord and Tracy and I were sold
.
That's all it took.
It was that cool of a machineand we knew nothing about them.
We just thought, wow, this isneat, it's a piece of history,
(19:18):
it looks like a artwork as well,and we got into it at that
point in time together.
And long story short, we foundanother little tabletop machine
which is just like what Imentioned, what Tracy described
earlier, but it's short.
And now we had two machines tomove to New Jersey and Stephen I
think how many we have now,it's probably 70, 80 machines
(19:42):
around the house to get itrepaired and then showed us his
collection.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
And from that point we were pretty much hooked,
because we'd never seen acylinder machine or anything
else.
So at that point we wanted themall so it's funny.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
You said that because what happened to me was that
after I happened to go onfacebook and some kid really was
a kid, a guy in his like 20years old was cleaning out his
grandmother's house who had justpassed away, and he listed a
victrola and a basic one I thinkit's an 80 and that's 80 or
whatever it is as basic as hecan be for a box and for upright
(20:42):
he wanted $200 for it.
So for $200, I said, yes, whatcould it be?
I'm not going to get.
What do I get burned?
50 bucks, a hundred bucks, whatdo I care?
I went down there and he hadthis old big house in short
hills and he goes yeah, mygrandfather bought this a
hundred years ago and and hereit is.
(21:05):
I don't know anything about it.
It works.
Oh, and I got these records andI'll put it in your car.
He was a beast of a kid, pickedit up, put it in my car, I gave
him the 200 bucks and I got outof there as fast as I could and
I got it home and I cranked itup and I never did it.
I've never done a thing to it.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
It worked perfectly yeah, the the thing that tracy
and I we decided we just didn'twant to be finding machines.
We decided that we also wantedto clean them up, we wanted to
fix them, we wanted to repairthem getting into tip-top shape.
And so Tracy decided she likesto work on the reproducers,
(21:46):
which is the small sound box atthe end of the tone arm, and I
like to do the springs and allthe mechanical gearing type
stuff.
So we not only got into ittogether, but we also have a
little workshop in the basementof the house here and we fix
them up for people.
And that's how we met Mr Wyattnext to us.
He actually bailed me out of aBrunswick repair one evening
(22:08):
over FaceTime on my phone whileI was struggling trying to get a
little Brunswick motor to turn.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Is that Brunswick to my house now, or is it a
different one?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It could be or it's the ones that's still downstairs
, but nonetheless, Wyatt wasfantastic.
He's the one that said you knowwhat, Joe, just put your phone
on FaceTime and show me what'sgoing on, and I didn't scold him
.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I didn't scold him much at all.
And yeah, for the uninitiated,if you hear something on this
podcast that you don't knowabout, please email your kind
host and he will tell you what aBrunswick is or what any of
these other words that we'reusing.
But Brunswick is a make.
They made pool tables and theywent into the phonograph
(22:59):
business and they had acabinetry shop.
So they started making thecabinets and they went forward
to make clockwork motors to putin them and they were a
contender in the talking machinebusiness.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I I love mike brunswick, I and all the
machines.
I don't have as many as you.
I think I have 48 or 49, maybe50.
We can change that?
We're working on that.
And listen, taxes are dueOctober 15th.
After I get past that, I'll beall right, we'll see you on the
16th.
(23:29):
So it's funny how your favoriteor the one you want to listen to
just changes.
It doesn't matter, it's themost rare.
And, frankly, when I firststarted collecting, a lot of
people on Facebook said what doyou collect a note for?
They're common.
I love the common ones, I lovethem all.
(23:52):
They're all pieces of history.
The point of having them all isyou're telling a historic story
.
You're going through howAmericans, people all over the
world, first heard recordedsounds, voices.
Think about when the biggerVictors we have, or Victrolas
(24:16):
some of them were very expensiveat the time, some of the fancy
ones, and people were listeningto opera.
But regular people could listento opera.
They never heard that before.
They couldn't afford to go toCarnegie Hall and see an opera
because it cost a fortune, youhad to dress a certain way.
And now in your own home youcan hear Caruso Exactly like I
(24:40):
hear Caruso today bands orinstrumentalists or singers.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
You had to go to your local phonograph dealer and buy
the records and bring them home, and records were like 35 cents
to 50 cents a piece, which isstill a lot of money.
And we last night we were Idon't know how late it was, it
was very late at night we werecalculating how much a 100
machine was.
And what, joe, what was that?
Was it like 1900?
Yeah, it was like $3,725 intoday's money with inflation,
(25:32):
and that is a tremendous amountof money.
And one thing that yourlisteners should know is there
wasn't just a hundred dollarmodel.
They made phonographs that werefive dollars back then, which
was still considerable amount ofmoney.
But you could buy an edisoncylinder, a wax cylinder record
(25:55):
and play it on your five dollarmachine or your hundred and five
dollar machine.
Not only was the music theycould purchase whatever they
wanted to listen to, but theycould also purchase the manner
in which you listen to it withsmall horn, bigger horn if you
wanted it louder, or if youwanted a wooden horn because it
matched the interior of yourhouse.
(26:16):
And, like cars today, you couldmodify these machines and there
was a whole secondary market ofcompanies that allowed you to
purchase accessories, because itjust can't.
You can't just use it with alittle 14 inch horn that came
with it.
You could get a bigger horn,that was more stylish, that
sounded better, and they evenhad volume controls.
(26:38):
After market volume controls,you can put it, but it's, this
is endless, this is endless.
And I have friends that are intheir 90s that are still in the
hobby, and this is such a bigsubject I can spiral out into
seven hours just talking aboutit, but maybe on another episode
(26:59):
in the future, sure, and covera different aspect of this.
But clearly, the three of us Ithink addiction is a good word,
definitely we're addicted to itand it's the hunt, the find, the
kill, so to speak, and thenbringing it back and taking
something that was long silentand bringing it back to life.
(27:22):
That's my payback.
I do get paid to repair thesefor people, but my true payment
is getting something to singagain.
And also when I show themachine to the family this is
something else that we were justtalking about today on a car
ride, getting a machine that afamily's owned for decades and
(27:43):
decades, or even a hundred yearsthat they've never heard, and
play it for them for the firsttime.
Or there was this lady.
She was in her early eighties.
She's owned a machine since shewas five.
It was in her family and as afive-year-old she knew how to
use the machine.
A couple months ago she heardit again for the second time in
(28:03):
her life and it was long silent.
She started weeping.
It was a very emotional andpersonal experience for her, and
that was really my payment.
It's nice to have the money, ofcourse, but it lacks meaning.
But yeah, so it's emotional forme.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I take pride it comes out in your work right oh yeah,
nothing is done.
If it isn't done the way it wayand you're not happy with it,
it's not going to be out therenow, that's just my ocd, yeah
that's part of the gate.
We all know people in thishobby that do things right.
Look at john duffy, who makesdoes the warns all you know that
(28:44):
he's a master at it.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You've seen some of his work and I can't wait to
bring him up, and I'm gonna workaround my entire collection and
bring him to you a couple at atime yeah it's, he's a
specialist like I'm, aspecialist in the needle head or
the reproducer, which is thepart that actually takes the
physical, the graph, the etchingthat's in the disc record or
(29:10):
the cylinder record, and ittakes that mechanical shape and
turns it into a sounddisturbance that we our minds as
music.
But there are specialists, andwhen you restore these, like
what Tracy and Joe do, a lot ofpeople think, oh, they're just
fixing a machine.
They don't realize that it'sactually a multidisciplinary art
(29:33):
.
You're dealing with color,furniture refinishing, you're
dealing with fabrics, you'redealing with different types of
adhesives, chemicals, glues,cleaners, and then, on top of
that, you have to understand theprinciples of operation and how
they work.
And as soon as you learn theprinciples of operation, you
(29:54):
find that, oh, by the way,there's 500 different companies
that made these and each one wasa little different and each one
has its individual quirks andthey all use different parts,
and that's part of what createsa lifetime pursuit.
But, as you see, I really cantalk about this for five hours.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
That's the point, right, that's the point we
talked about.
But to that point, a woman hada laboratory model and Joe's
seen it.
I don't know if you've seen it,why it's at Ed's house and I
just sold it to him.
By the way, he really wanted it.
So what was I going to do?
And it didn't really come outthe way I wanted it, but it
plays wonderfully.
I had it was shrink wrapped inher basement and the thing
(30:39):
weighed a ton.
I couldn't even move it.
So she had a handyman workingon the house, him and I and the
woman carried it across graveland threw it in the back of my
car.
I didn't think I was ever goingto get it out, it was so heavy.
So we got it back to my officebecause I didn't want to bring
it home because it was a messand a dirt.
It had mice stuff on it.
(30:59):
I took the shrink wrap though,opened it up and it had a
hundred discs in it and thosediscs aren't light.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
The other, oh my god, I don't even know how we got it
up to a piece or a poundthey're a pound, they're one
pound a piece, so you had ahundred pound records plus the
machine yeah, the records were adollar each.
Back in the day you went toyour dealer with 20 and you came
back with 20 pounds of recordswhich is 40 songs.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
So I I have those, so I got those records.
It didn't really work, but I Icould identify what it was doing
.
I went on youtube, I searchedthis issue and who came up?
Of course, just plexiginous.
And yeah, yeah, he had so manyhow-to videos, hundreds if not
(31:48):
thousand, and it was one exactlyabout my problem.
Yeah, I loosened the screws, Ipushed the rod to the position
he told me, I tightened it backup, I cranked it up and it
worked yeah the that that fellowthat steve mentioned his.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
His youtube name is dyslexic genius, because he's a
very smart guy, but he isdyslexic, so much.
What's so wonderful about thesevideos?
And again, this is part of ourecosystem.
He makes videos showing peoplethat may not have mechanical
skills, or he's teaching peoplehow to fix their machines, which
(32:25):
is wonderful, because this isan old skill set and today
people know how to use theiriPhone or their Android better
than they do a machine.
But he's keeping the knowledgealive so these machines can
continue singing for many moreyears, and it's a wonderful
thing that he's done.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
And it's a ridiculous collection he has.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
It's delightful.
Every time I go there they makeme shrimp and grits.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
That's one of my favorite things.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
And then he shows me his latest find and it's really
wonderful.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
He not only does, he do demonstrations on how to fix
certain things or restoringthings for customers, he picks a
machine every week and playsmusic.
So you also get to enjoymachines you may never see,
depending on who you are andwhere you go.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, and that's one area of the hobby that Tracy and
I are getting more into, andthat is actually listening to
the records.
We got into the hobby, moreintrigued with the machines, the
beauty of the machinesthemselves, that we are now
trying to come up to speed onall the various types of records
cylinders, discs we're going byour ear which one sounds the
(33:35):
best, and we have hundreds ofdisc records and probably a
hundred or so cylinder recordsand we're trying to prioritize
them and sort them and see whichones we like and then learn
more about them.
That's the next stage of thematuration of our hobby.
Yeah, that's a whole anothercan of worms.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
Right there is the people that know the records.
Like joe said, we listen tothem and play the ones we like,
and we do play our machinesquite often, but at christmas
there there's Christmas recordson pretty much every machine and
we walk around the house andplay different machines to get
different sounds and differentrecords.
But there are people that areextremely knowledgeable, wyatt
being one of them, that can justtell you a record and the
(34:16):
number.
And it's pretty amazing when itcomes to that end of the hobby,
which is a whole otherwheelhouse that we have not
quite gotten into, but we'reslowly dipping our toe in it,
because it is nice to know thehistory of the records, not just
the machines themselves.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
You start to get deep into it.
It's like those young childrenthat can rattle off every
president of the United Statesgoing back to Washington, or the
people that can tell you, ohwhat is it?
Speaker 2 (34:48):
What's the other thing?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
that, oh, the plot of a Legos movie.
There's a certain type of I'mgoing to say the word there is
in some instances, and mostinstances there's a diagnosis
that goes along with the personlike myself that obsesses over
this.
We were going through recordsthe other night, for example,
(35:10):
and one of I think Joe or Tracysaid oh, Silent Night, oh,
that's record 1606, recorded in1912 or 1913.
And they're like what's wrongwith you?
We were separating the I callit the good records from the bad
.
The bad ones are actually stillgood, but they're just not fun
to listen to for most people.
And I've just gone down thatrabbit hole to finding out who
(35:32):
these long dead performers are,what type of music, what genre
of music I want to listen to,and again, it's one of those.
It's an obsession.
I can say that legitimately.
It's an obsession for me, themusic.
So I have people all the timethey say, oh, I found this
record by this guy named KelStewart who's that?
And I'll be like oh, he was aperformer, he recorded for
(35:54):
multiple labels, he did ruralcomedy and what's wonderful
about Uncle Josh Records is thathe talks like a rube or a
country person from a high grasstown in the middle of nowhere
and he talks about thesesubjects that we don't think
about today.
And one of his more famousrecords was Uncle Josh, which
was his character, and theautomobile.
(36:15):
And I'll just take a momentjust to say that it was a
commentary on how a small townreacted when they saw their
first car, and it wasn't a buggywith a horse in front of it.
It made noise, it made poppingnoises, it went at speed down
the road, it made a ruckus andit upset the farm animals.
And four minutes of thisstorytelling and it's
(36:37):
entertaining, it's charming andyou get pulled in to the stories
, you get pulled into the music,you get pulled into everything.
I say this with conviction.
There is something out there onan antique record for everybody
.
If you like opera, we've got it.
(36:58):
You want to listen to a banjo?
Great, there's thousands ofbanjo records.
If you just want talking.
One of the things that I do ishome recordings.
They sold home recordingequipment back then and you
could sit around with yourfamily and make a record and
play it back.
So it introduced magic into thehousehold for just a few
(37:23):
dollars and we still do it today.
I push recording pretty hardonto people as an activity they
can do for joy.
See, I birdwalk a lot, so youmight have to hold your hand up
and make a stop sign so I cansee on the screen.
Otherwise it's going to beanother hour.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
No, I don't care, I could turn it into two parts,
that's not a problem, enjoyingthe conversation.
We never spoke like this before, so we're always seeing each
other or talking for fiveminutes on text or in messaging
on Facebook.
So it's nice to talk aboutthings that we all.
I spent time with Joe.
I've been with Pacey a coupleof times, but we all have that.
(38:01):
We all have that gene.
I like buying machines frompeople who had them in their
lives from when they were achild, across generations.
It's preserving the history.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
This was a time from its inception in 1877, if you
will, into the beginning ofradio is really where we sit
right, where the only recordedmusic and voice were phonographs
and they were the center ofeveryone's existence and as an
interesting side note and I'mjust going to go back to William
(38:38):
Jennings Bryan and TheodoreRoosevelt, president Taft, there
were presidents that maderecordings on cylinder records
back then, and if you were againin a town far off Teddy.
Roosevelt as well.
Yeah, you could hear both sidesof the conversation, the
political conversation.
(38:58):
You would have to pay a pennyto go into a business and they
would play the Democratic.
You would have to pay a pennyto go into a business and they
(39:20):
would play, you know, thedemocratic argument.
And then you would go intoanother room to listen to the
Republican argument.
And it was.
It had it played a role inspreading ideas, which that's
another.
They are.
These are talking machines.
The word phonograph was actuallyan Edison term, but whenever I
write the word phonograph down,I always make it with.
I write it with a capital P,but the term is talking machines
In the American.
Is it vernacular?
Is that the right word?
That's the right.
(39:44):
A lot of people for the last 45, 50 years have been saying
victrola.
They see anything with a cranksticking out of the side and
they crank it and they call itoh yeah, that's my
great-grandmother's victrola,but it may be an edison or a
machine made by my columbia oranything like that.
So you have the culturalsignificance, the political
significance, the politicalsignificance, the entertainment
significance.
(40:04):
But also for people that didhome recordings, you're
preserving memories.
There was no tape back then.
You didn't have an iPhone oranything like that.
And when I had children, when Ihad two young children we sat
around the phonograph and wemade a cylinder and the kids
(40:25):
were five and six and a halfyears old and we just I wrote a
script they could both read andwe made a two minute record.
I still have that record today.
It's now 14 years later and Ican still play it and I can
still hear their little voicesand remember the day that we
(40:47):
recorded it together.
And every once in a while, whenyou're out buying records,
sometimes you'll come upon ahome recording.
I came upon a dozen homerecordings from the year 1900,
and they were made over thecourse of two years.
It was a big family gettingtogether on Christmas Day and
singing Christmas songs, and thehair just stood straight up on
(41:11):
the back of my neck.
You're dealing with one of themore important aspects of the
talking machine their ability tobe a time machine.
It only works in one direction,but I can record something
today and if you take reallygood care of the record, in 100
or 150 years, someone else inthe future can play it back and
(41:33):
hear me and whatever I have tosay.
So that's part of the magic ofthese things your chair, your
kitchen table or your bed, yourantique bed frame, doesn't talk.
But for just a couple hundredor a couple thousand bucks you
can get one of these really neatmachines and get entertained by
(41:54):
whatever you find.
And it's wonderful, I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
I love it a lot, so one thing for the listeners.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
most of you know what a record is.
We talk about records, discsand cylinders.
Cylinders is something weweren't familiar with when Joe
and I started.
If you imagine, this is goingvery basic.
Take a toilet paper roll.
Imagine you have two days oftoilet paper left on it but it's
made out of wax.
That's what a cylinder lookslike.
It's a wax round record in theshape of a toilet paper roll, if
(42:29):
you will, just to give you avisual.
And that's what they recordedon, and Wyatt here does
recordings on them to this dayand does demonstrations which
are amazing, and that's what acylinder is.
So if you hear us talking abouta cylinder, it is different
than a record.
It is not flat like the commonday record that you would
imagine today.
It is a round cylinder.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
That's the end of part one, the next episode where
we continue our conversationwith Wyatt, Joe and Tracy.
Thank you for listening.
We look forward to yourcomments and questions.
Thank you again.
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