My First Phonograph.

Way way back, when I was only two years old, I was forever getting my fingers caught, not in the proverbial cookie jar, but messing around in someone's HiFi.  The photo at left will contest to that. I guess it's true what they say about music soothing the savage beast, because once I was given a  little record player of my own, I would sit for hours at a time playing records. This kept me out of trouble and everyone was happy. Everyone bought me those "kiddy" records.  But guess what, I grew very board very fast. This was kids stuff, give me something to swing my hips too. I still remember the racks of 45's hiding at the top of my aunt Shirley's closet. Six golden racks full, each holding, I believe, 50-60 records. These were my dad's and aunt's collection from when they were in high school. This collection of music would be the foundation of a very deep love and obsession that continues yet today. While most kids were buying bubble gum cards and comic books and playing outside, I was buying 45's and sitting for hours on end playing my music. Birthdays, Christmas, whatever the holiday, either give me a record I wanted or give me money to increase the size of my own collection. I still remember the first 45 I bought with my own money was Elton John's Crocodile Rock, the first LP, Donna Fargo's Greatest Hits.

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Once I started first grade, there was very little about school that really grabbed my attention. About the only classes I really enjoyed and could sink my teeth into were Art and Music. At a parent/teacher conference, it was mentioned that my parents hadn't yet decided what to get me for Christmas. My music teacher suggested a new record changer.   That's just what Santa put under our tree that year. And by this time I was no longer begging for 45's, now I was into LPs.    My mother was thrilled with my improved attention. Once I was home from school, she'd take a nap until my father arrived home from work before finishing supper. I'd sit at my record player with instructions to wake her up if I needed anything. Hours later dad would come in the front door and mom would wake to find me in the exact same position I was in when she first nodded off. This was around the time my mom was pregnant with my future baby sister. Everyone was pleased with my hobby. The only complaint, mostly before I started school, was I never let a song play all the way through to the end. What my mom couldn't grasp was, all those Elvis 45's looked alike and I couldn't read the labels, so it was trail and error until I found the one I wanted. Later, I used crayons to mark the side I liked and this helped out until I hit grade school.

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I love anything mechanical that plays music, from wind-up musicboxes to Victrolas.  While my Uncle Eddie was my favorite uncle because he always left me play with his trains at Christmas, (see my Train essay), I guess the reason I was so found of my aunt Bertha was because she had a Victrola. The model she had was very cool because unlike most of the earlier models which rarely made it to the end of a song before "winding down", her machine could be wound tight and play several before needing to crank the handle again. It also saved "spring power" by stopping when the needle hit the end of the record. When my Uncle Fauss died, my aunt lost most of her stuff at a public auction. I of course begged my parents to bid on the Victrola, but they didn't take me serious and it was bought by someone else for $15.00.  Aunt Bertha did give me two of my favorite 78's, "Bimbo" (which was the name of a little black boy doll I had) and a "parakeet teach to talk" record with drove everybody crazy including the parakeets we used it on. "Hello....Hello Baby...Want a Kiss?.......Hello....Hello Baby...Want a Kiss?.......  Hello....Hello Baby...Want a Kiss?.......  Hello....Hello Baby...Want a Kiss?.......  Hello....Hello Baby...Want a Kiss?.......   Hello....Hello Baby...Want a Kiss?.......  ", you get the idea. These two 78's, when dropped, of course broke. We tried glue and freezer tape, but they just didn't last. I did many years later find and replace the song Bimbo.

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