Difference between revisions of "Phonograph Doll"
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Brief description and audio of a phonograph doll: http://exhibit.chautauqua-inst.org/doll.ram (Source: Chautauqua Institution at the Smithsonian) | Brief description and audio of a phonograph doll: http://exhibit.chautauqua-inst.org/doll.ram (Source: Chautauqua Institution at the Smithsonian) | ||
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+ | ==The "Talking Head" Realized: Beginnings and Patents== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==How The Doll Functioned== | ||
+ | |||
+ | passage from sci. american article | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Pops, Hisses, and "Voices of...Little Monsters"== | ||
+ | |||
+ | f-b book plus millard caption | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Dolls That Were "Made Into Machines"== | ||
+ | |||
+ | (aka the obvious) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Encoding/Formal Prohibitions== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==The "Click"== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Digital vs. Analog== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Remediations== | ||
==Works Cited== | ==Works Cited== |
Revision as of 04:21, 5 December 2007
The phonograph doll was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in the late nineteenth century, following his invention of the phonograph. The doll, normally around twenty-two inches in length, was "bisque-headed...with jointed arms and legs, but her body was made of thin strong steel capable of carrying the mechanism" (Hillier, Dolls 191). This mechanism, of course, was a miniature phonograph that functioned by being continuously wound from the doll's back. This phonograph normally played nursery rhymes, providing an unconvincing illusion of a "talking doll."
Brief description and audio of a phonograph doll: http://exhibit.chautauqua-inst.org/doll.ram (Source: Chautauqua Institution at the Smithsonian)
Contents
The "Talking Head" Realized: Beginnings and Patents
How The Doll Functioned
passage from sci. american article
Pops, Hisses, and "Voices of...Little Monsters"
f-b book plus millard caption
Dolls That Were "Made Into Machines"
(aka the obvious)
Encoding/Formal Prohibitions
The "Click"
Digital vs. Analog
Remediations
Works Cited
- Edison, Thomas A. "Phonograph-Doll." United States Patent Office. Patent No. 456301. July 21, 1891.
- Formanek-Brunell, Miriam. Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, 1830-1930. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
- Hillier, Mary. Automata & Mechanical Toys: An Illustrated History. London: Jupiter Books, 1976.
- Hillier, Mary. Dolls and Doll-makers. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968.
- Millard, Andre. Edison and the Business of Innovation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
- Welch, Walter L. From Tinfoil to Stereo: The Acoustic Years of the Recording Industry, 1877-1929. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994.