Voices and music on very old recordings sound like they are made by ghosts composed of dust and ectoplasm, being listened to at the end of a very long tunnel. And they are. They have traveled through time and space to reach your ear right at this present moment. It makes me think of someone in the past getting into a primitive, steam-powered time machine. Of course they look and sound odd to us, and their technology strangely laughable, but the amazing thing is that they made the trip at all.
The anticipation of listening to very old recordings is akin to having a séance where you are trying to summon up the spirit of, oh say, your great-great-great-great aunt Margaret. You hope, perhaps, she might divulge where she hid her cigar box filled with pearls. But, instead she decides to tell you about playing jump-rope with her cousins. You’re not disappointed to have contacted her, but secretly hoped the news would be more exciting.
This artifact from the 1939 World’s fair is an audio snapshot of the music and announcements played at the "circus" performed there, highlighting the Equestrians of the World. All music and commentary should be taken in context of the time period. Though it contains nothing earth-shattering nor revelatory, it still has fascinating, transportive quality to it. As future-oriented as that fair was, this seems kind of quaint in it's old-fashioned, nostalgic "days of yore" circus feel. Many thanks to the New York Public Library and their free audio downloads from Itunes for sharing this with us. Bless those obsessive archivists.
My Trusted MOGs
This is also the reason that I sometimes seek out TCM for the obscurities from the early days of talkies. They're almost invariably stagy, static and wooden, but they do impart a musty perfume that is the time in which they were made. There's a double spell, though, too - because these were also the kinds of shows they used to fill up the airwaves with when I was a child (back when there was barely any original TV programming), they also offer a narrow path back to childhood moments. They're like the smell of your grandparents' house. Thanks much for this, LMI....
My Trusted MOGs
The anticipation of listening to very old recordings is akin to having a séance where you are trying to summon up the spirit of, oh say, your great-great-great-great aunt Margaret. You hope, perhaps, she might divulge where she hid her cigar box filled with pearls. But, instead she decides to tell you about playing jump-rope with her cousins.
I like it! Intestesting stuff...
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That's right in my sweet spot. Someday when I have a proper amount of time I'd love to go through that stuff. I remember when the Library of Congress started putting their photos on line..Not famous folks or beautiful landscapes..just regular stuff. I don't have the link, but like this, it is awesome. Nice one. Then again, I'm one of those people who doesn't mind looking at someone's (a stranger) vacation slide show. It seems like you can get a clearer vision of the past from the mundane..oh, whatever. I can't explain it...but I dig it.
My Trusted MOGs
One of the many reasons I head to my local library to see what treasures I can find. Every so often you see something that catches your eye, and when you bring it home it always is a pleasure to listen to
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Hey Gents - thanks for the nice comments. As a kid who grew up pawing through the obscurities of the local public library record section, I'm really glad this kind of stuff is becoming available online. Even the most mundane thing feels like it has significance, just because it made it this far. Someplace recently posted a recent discover of a recording that pre-dates the earliest known recording. It's barely audible and reminds of those audio recordings ghost hunters capture. Spooky.
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On top of everything else cool about this post, I have a real thing for the New York World's Fairs from the late '30s and the early '60s. Still flip out whenever I see images or models of the Trylon & Perisphere, and the Unisphere - the symbols of those respective fairs.
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Wow Uncle C - that's both fascinating and scary. What an amazing piece of primative animatronics. Wouldn't it be interesting to find out about who recorded Sal's laugh? They probably had no idea how far into the future their voice would be heard.
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Whoever recorded Sal's laugh probably had a good sense of humor, or then again...
The story goes that Sal traditionally wore garb identifying her to others as a loon, or more correctly put, as an in-patient of certain late 19th century asylums...
I'm thin on specifics, clearly more research needs to be done on the crazy house (fun house) lady.
It would be interesting to find out who that laugh belonged to.
It's haunted rubes for years.
Laughing Sal still chills children who toddle along beaches and boardwalks that blair hurdy gurdy calliope cacophonies with those loopy chortles echoing from the last dark ride limbo lairs.
I'm just a walking Charlie revolving round and round her world.