Something that would be useful either on Main Street, Carthay, or El Capitan....

[techskip]

These days I don't usually author wish lists or concepts... but what I saw tonight really made me smile. It reminded me of the era Main Street strives to showcase... and made my kids run into the bedroom to find out what was making all that racket! If I had a wish list, this would be at the top. Assuming of course Carthay was designed to show movies, or even an early film museum...



During the show they go on to explain it is a photoplayer, only about 34 of that American model still around (that's out of 4500), and only about 12 that still play. The units were used from the 1910's through the early 1920's. The other 22 are literally "waiting to be restored", sad when you consider it. I usually don't plug things but track down the episode, I promise there's more. This intro is all I needed to show exactly what I'm talking about. I wish Disney was up to that challenge. That... in and of itself... is a show stopper. For that matter why hasn't someone started reproducing those? Farrells I'm directing that question at you.....

[jeremys]

Wow, someplace deep in my memory bank I want to say Disneyland had something like that in the arcade on Main Street. Not manual, but a fully automatic one.

[swampymarsh]

Wow, someplace deep in my memory bank I want to say Disneyland had something like that in the arcade on Main Street. Not manual, but a fully automatic one.

Was that a Band Organ? I have one from a old carousel that played on a long gone boardwalk. The photo is for reference.

[Second Star]

I recall hearing not long ago that one the early concessionaires on Main Street was I think a Wurlitzer(sp) dealer? Could it have been that?

But I agree with techship... that would be really cool!!!

[Baloo]

That's cool, love it. Speaking of main street I wish they would bring back all the penny arcade games even if it was set up somewhere in Paradise Pier. I loved those old machines that have been slowly disappearing.

[Mr Wiggins]

I wish Disney was up to that challenge. That... in and of itself... is a show stopper.

In the Market House on Main Street, the small room near the party-line wall phones once was filled with all sorts of mechanical music machines. For decades they performed whenever a dime was dropped in their slots. As you passed by, their music could be heard in the Market House and throughout the adjoining shops, blending with the period-appropriate loops that played softly in Main Street's background.

By the mid-'90s the music machines had been removed and the room was filled floor to ceiling with generic Disney merchandise. Another piece of Main Street's show which, like the Penny Arcade across the street, had fallen victim to the New Disney marketing-mall mentality of "every square foot of floor space must make a profit."

The sad fact is that when it comes to the themes of Disneyland's lands, the only challenge the Disney Corporation is up to is figuring another way to promote its brands and sell its merchandise.

[cakvalasc]

Those things are amazing I had seen a person using one of these in Florida during a show (I was around 8 or 9)

Oddly that memory is still with me, was a pretty fantastic player too!

[ttintagel]

Mechanically-recorded music is fascinating. If you've ever got time to kill, enter "marvels of mechanical music" into youtube for a multi-part documentary on the various instruments and devices that were out there.

I had never seen this type before, though, where some parts were recorded on the roll and others added live! Especially in a silent movie house, that would have given them the freedom to customize the sounds to the film even if they didn't have a skilled theater organist available. I'd love to see the Carthay become home to a mini-museum of early film technology.

[techskip]

Look at the right side of the player... I'm guessing the panel was being restored. The end result is a look at the cam and mechanism inside... and a pretty cool song while you're at it.