Just going to post this brief update for now, and will go into more depth tomorrow or something. And just to say that there's just something special about some ghosts that just don't go away with time, or with distance (this, too, was in Tulsa, and it was just today)...
Regular readers of this blog already know that I'm a big Walter Van Brunt fan, so there ya go, folks. And don't be misled by the word "Re-Creation" on the label, this is NOT a latter-day remake fake. What you see here is a genuine Diamond Disk, and that's the kind of player he's referring to.
Here's another gem at his location--a Victrola after Victor was spun off by Emile Berliner, but before RCA took over:
Detail shots...
So yeah, like so many of the other trips I take, this one definitely turned out to be an adventure.
Mid-August Postscript: This just in at the local thrift shop:
Mechanical volume control that variably mutes the horn. Now, that speed adjusting mechanism looks like an easy fix from my vantage point. It appears to me that the knob's pointer needs to be atop that pin.
Ongoing UPDATE: The gent in the above video also stated that he had a large collection of 78 rpm records and some cylinders, which he donated to Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum, and that Gilcrease did indeed have a laser player for them. Therefore it's official--I'm going to visit Gilcrease again, with that specifically in mind, and, as you might guess, with Walter Van Brunt specifically in mind, ha.
As for my latest trip to Tulsa, here are some visuals from the Philbrook Museum:
They were sponsoring a free-to-the-public event in the garden, for which this was one of numerous announcements:
Got there early myself, and below was the scene as guests started filing in after 7 pm. And they were still coming in by droves when I took this pic:
Left early to beat the stampede, only to discover that the optimum parking spot I found below the top deck of the parking area meant that upon exit, I had to drive by the loads of overflow parking out on the streets, and that extended for many blocks! Wow.
The Philbrook gardens are just spectacular all year 'round, and the setting sun put a gilded edge on things besides. Breathtakingly gorgeous out there.
Gilcrease, on the other hand, sustained significant storm damage, and one of the galleries that got hit was their awesome Vista Room. It was empty of displays but it wasn't closed off to the public as a couple of other of their galleries were.
Sometimes having electronic eyeballs in the form of a camera can be applied to great advantage in this situation on the main floor of Gilcrease:
...because with electronic eyeballs, you can get a much closer look...
One of the many things that makes Gilcrease cool is that they have an open-to-the-public archaeology section down in the basement, and you can bet I went down there, too.
Another iron in the fire is tracking down what the hell happened to Enid TV station, KXOK, and so far from the FCC I found a license, but it expired in June 2014, and it's also on an FCC list of translators. Something is badly screwed up somewhere.
....but back to Gilcrease, actively involving both kids and adults in some interesting historical venues including archaeology, and some of this stuff Gilcrease does is of relatively recent vintage.
Some of these would do better as an archaeology category, IMHO...
It's been long, LONG overdue for Oklahoma to get serious about its French history and the only museum that looks like it's doing any kind of good in that department is Gilcrease. Anyway, here's the vid in stinky Windows WMV format so expect blurry detail--I'll have to come up with something else, I suppose, but not just right now. Meh.
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