Mechanical Music in the Movies
By Peter Wellburn
Greetings fellow MMD-ers
Apologies for the lateness in responding to these threads but I have been on leave. I was intrigued by the references to mechanical music on the big screen. The film which has always stuck in my mind was Sleuth which was mentioned by Pete Woodworth. MM enthusiasts should not miss it as it is set in a big rambling country house, full of automata. What has always interested me is where they came from. There were so many that presumably it was someone's private collection which had been loaned. My recollection is that at the end a fight develops and the automata are knocked and set in motion. It always make me shudder to see such valuable items treated with less than due respect. Apart from that the film is worth watching with a curious twist at the end.
Somebody asked about videos of mechanical music. By coincidence I have recently purchased 2 excellent videos from a firm in the UK (Paul Donoghue, Rallyscene Video Productions, PO Box 171, Rotherham S65 1YP, England). He specializes in videos of fairground items (steam machinery and rides) but these were videos devoted to organs only, including street organ meetings in the Netherlands (Openluchtmuseum Arnhem and at Haarlem) and a visit to the Fair organ museum in St Albans, England (this museum includes other mechanical music items - music boxes, organettes etc. These also appeared in the video). The videos were excellent quality, about 1 hr long and very reasonably priced at 22.50 for the 2 (inc postage). There is a discount if you order several at the same time. I don't know whether he has these in NTSC format as well as PAL.
Speaking of automata reminds me about the York Museum of Automata which some of you may know has now closed. On retirement my brother decided he had better look for another job and was put in charge of security at this museum. Just the sort of job I would have liked! At least I got a few special tours of the place and bought the video. They are very informative if you can find copies of these. The story seems to be that the collection has been sold possibly to a far east buyer so presumably we will not see the museum open again. The collection had originally belonged to Jack Donovan, a well-known mechanical music dealer in London's Portobello Road.
Finally I had better disclose my very personal details which are 53.2 yrs (and still going strong!), resident in Edinburgh (UK) and my guess 47.7 (maybe it isn't fair to guess now so many of you have already responded).
Many thanks to Robbie and Jody for all their good work.
Peter Wellburn
p.wellburn@nls.uk |
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