Alex Holman, first tenor Smith-Corona, Boston Typewriter Orchestra
Seems to be.
I note they use non-typewriter bells instead of the return bell on the typewriter. Bells fell out of favor with later electrics. Is that a problem?
Do activities like this preserve the culture of the typewriter, or burn out actual working typewriters at greater speed? The eternal problem of art versus conservation.
Tip of the old scrub brush to The Good Men Project.
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Machines, Music, Technology, Typewriters | Tagged: Machines, Music, Technology, Typewriters | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
You saw and loved Scorsese’s “Hugo.” You rushed home and Googled “Georges Melies,” and you rediscovered a thrilling character from history You wondered: Surely the automaton was wholly fictional, right? No one could really make something like that!
Oh, but they did. The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia has one restored. CBS Sunday Morning reported it:
(And then CBS disabled embedding — you’ll have to go watch at YouTube. Sorry.)
Here, watch this longer piece demonstrating the device:
Steampunkers everywhere are suddenly filled with hope.
But, should we be surprised that mere mechanical devices can do such seemingly wonderous stuff? Remember the “bird pistols” that were auctioned a few months ago? And what about all those mechanized clocks in towns and cities across Europe? See the clock tower in Poznan, Poland, for example:
At Mid day everyday, 2 mechanical goats bang their heads together and a guy plays a trumpet.
Amazing stuff was possible, without electronics. 2D animation on film is fantastic. 3d animation of a real object? It appears just short of miraculous, and then only because we know something about how it was done. Arthur C. Clarke’s famous Third Law screams to be noted here: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But of course, no one is making such automata today. Maybe they are miracles, no? Bugs Bunny sang, “Carrots are sublime/You get a dozen for dime/It’s magic!”
Magic of and on film, one of the great themes of the movie “Hugo.”
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1 Comment | animation, History, Machines, Technology, Video and film | Tagged: 3D animation, animation, Automaton, CBS, Franklin Institute, History, Hugo, Machines, Martin Scorsese, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 