AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 12-30-2024

e e hello everybody excuse me uh I'm skip Alzheimer welcome to the AV Geeks lunchtime streaming show where I'm still sick uh today is better than most of the weekend but uh still suffering from covid so I'm quarantined in my bedroom so I can relax and not infect my wife um who has not gotten it thankfully I hope everybody had a good weekend uh rest in peace Jimmy Carter uh I was looking to see if I have any films with him and I haven't found them yet hello everybody but today is a theme show I'm skip alimer let me mute this sorry about that uh anyways uh today it's films about hands enjoy [Music] have you ever thought about what hands can do the joy and music music they bring their usefulness hands that build a home a heart cities a nation hands for The Great Outdoors moments of beauty hands for love family or prayer Hands Extended in Fellowship there are other Hands Extended across the seas where American soldiers [Music] fight hands bound with pain hands crippled never again to be used for the countless things we take so much for [Music] granted hands torn Away by the likes of these and these for them there are fists the mighty hands of America doubled into fists of anger the hands of millions of workers hands to give their skill and their love and their strength hands to grind to fit to hammer to F to forge to pour to test to build to fight hands to deliver the knockout [Music] punch hands to deliver The Knockout Punch that's great so that was of course uh trying to uh encourage people citizens to buy war bonds uh this next film uh we'll see if uh the French archive takes this down but here we go this is the hands enjoy [Music] [Applause] [Music] the P have chosen to show you now is called the hands it has been created in par in 1968 and of course the created for for you specially in this new production the hands are the struggle of Good and Evil revealed by the force of the hands themselves through symbolic movements I have chosen to accompany the struggle of Good and Evil Russian religious music because I find that Russian religious music expresses very tragically The Passion of man it is like a heavy Veil an outcry coming from the soul and going beyond the fs and coming out like a spirit here are the hands [Music] all [Music] [Music] GL [Music] GL [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] I e look ma no hand hi everybody I'm Vicki car I sing but I do not play the piano like pevi believe it or not that's who's playing this piano right now this is a 1923 performance by The Immortal ignas Yan parki interpreting Chan's polles just as if he were here today playing this golden piano with invisible hands there is no intermediary such as a phonograph you're seeing and hearing this piano recreate pev's performance half a century ago with none of the nuances lost or changed but you know this reproducing piano is just one of the inventions you'll hear today all played by invisible hands of fine musicians here we are amidst the world's greatest collection of automatic musical instruments in fully restored perfect working condition in the Merl Norman Tower of beauty at San Silmar California imagine if you can the days before television movies radio and Stereos humans have always needed music and have played it themselves when they could those with enough money hired live musicians to play for them and many people turned to the Forerunner of today's photograph the automatic musical instrument middle class parents saved for years to buy a play of piano so their families could enjoy good music and Emperors and queens and multi-millionaires bought full reproducing pianos like this one or miraculous orchestrions which I'll show you later let's see how these instruments worked peski signed each piano rooll after he cut it then on this full expression piano it reproduces not only all the notes he played but also all the complex expressions of tempo phrasing and dynamics that make each musician's performance unique this brass track has 80 holes representing individual piano keys if a perforation in the piano roll corresponds to a hole in this bar it will play that piano key now when these little holes appear on the piano row certain notes on the piano will play louder than others I'm sure you're wondering how a tiny perforation on a paper roll can move these piano keys with a force of pes's powerful hands the answer is called pneumatics it's the same principle that plays nearly all automatic instruments pneumatics means using the action of air pressure or vacuum to make something move you see these Bellows when a hole on the paper roll is open a little bit of air moves down through the tube to a valve which opens up a port and applies vacuum suction to a Pneumatic Bellows each Bellow applies the force needed to push a certain key or pedal want to see what makes the r move to create this pneumatic action the role is driven by this little electric [Music] motor thank you Mr pevi and now I promised you orchestrions an orchestrion is like an automatic Orchestra this hufeld Excel is equal to an 18-piece orchestra it could play anything from a symphony to a popular song notice the Exquisite craftsmanship every item in the Merl Norman collection was chosen for visual Beauty as well as musical quality this orchestrion took 3 years to make and was completed in 1926 a few years later later production of important orchestrions ended completely and today most Americans have never even heard of them you can choose from 10 different roles at a time just like a jukebox in fact when Americans stopped making orchestrions the biggest company switched to jukeboxes these are real accordion which could be taken out and played by hand this orchestrion uses 20 of those black pipes to represent the sound of one OBO each pipe plays a different OBO note and there are several hundred pipes here watch this my hand is covering up this little hole that makes the drum beat now I pull my hand away from this hole and let air move through to the pneumatic Bellows see kind of sounds like the natives are coming aren they they're here this orchestrion played for 40 years in a restaurant in Holland and boy did it have fun people came from all over Europe to see and hear it couples used to hold hands to its music or dance but now we're going to try something different I don't think it's ever been done in the movies before a singer for the first time is going to sing with an orchestrion music Mr hufeld please [Music] when it's spring time in the Rockies I'm coming back to you little sweetheart of the mountains with your bny eyes of blue once again I'll say I love you while the birds sing all the day when it's spring time in the Rockies in the Rockies far away [Music] fantastic did you ever think the Rockies could swing like that you know I haven't enjoyed such a fascinating partner since I danced at the White House the first orchestrion was invented in Sweden in 1789 the year our American Constitution was born Beethoven he composed music especially for an orchestrion and the ground heads of Europe all hurried to buy one this is why these music roles were like early computer programs in fact the first big American computer company took over an orchestrion Factory and used its expert workers to make Computer Logic systems look at these huge Bellows that pump air and a Crea a vacuum for this entire [Music] orchestria while these orchestrions and pianos enjoyed their Heyday the photograph was still a squeaky squawky box here's a very early Columbia gramophone in case you can't understand the voice on the cylinder uh he's singing anyone's welcome at my house come after breakfast bring your lunch and leave before [Applause] [Music] supper and now let's look at some of the earliest automatic Music Makers oh here is a rare musical watch from France made before 1800 and Charming little music boxes like this were the play things of royalty in ancient times automatic pipe organs were programmed to play Simple Tunes by placing pin in a pattern on a revolving Barrel then came the music corillian and churches which used the same principle to play church bells protruding prongs on a revolving cylinder were the heart of this 1880 music box these pins pluck the teeth of two identical cones for twice as much sound as you'd get from one [Music] comb I wondered why a Cosmetic Company like Merl Norman displays music instead of makeup and they explain that these instruments symbolize dedication to Excellence and beauty and craftsmanship and a company should strive for those goals [Music] too and now let's return to a really special piano it was presented to Emperor France ysep ruler of the Austrian Hungarian Empire on the 50th anniversary of his Reign apart from its beauty it's just an ordinary piano but you can see see it's being played in an extraordinary way this automatic player built especially for the France Yos piano is called a for zitzer in German that means something that is set in front when this for zitzer is set in exactly the right position it plays the keys with felt covered fingers guess whose hands are guiding this for ziter the great Norwegian composer Edvard Greek playing his own album blot Opus 28 now here's an orchestrion made in 1921 right here in America this Wonder life of colorful gems would revolve as the music played and the automatic role changer could play 30 songs without repeating itself so would you like us to perform another song we're so glad you asked okay fascinating rhym You' got me on the go fascinating rhym I'm all a quiver what a mess you're making the neighbors want to know why I'm always shaking just like a fli each morning I get up with a sun start hopping never stopping to find it night no work has been done I know it didn't matter but now you're going when you start to P I'm so unhappy won't you take a day off DE to run along somewhere far away off and make a Snappy oh how I long to be the one I used to be fascinating Rhythm or won't you stop picking on me thank you thank you and now let's look at some other instruments that entertained our grandparents [Music] now let me show you what a nickel could really get you in the good old days this self-playing violin has its own piano accompanyment people used to dance to these violins in restaurants and in private homes you see that's a real violin each string is stopped at the correct interval by electromagnetically controlled fingers the Boeing action of a human artist is duplicated by these four rosin Celluloid discs that revolve and play one to four strings at a time would you [Music] believe aha now here's an automatic banjo these four banjo strings are plucked by tiny little fingers little leather covered buttons stop the strings along the Fret at the correct spot this paper roll calls the tomb these banjos oh they were popular around the turn of this Century but they're very rare today in case you want to know more about the Merl Norman Tower's Beauty it's quite new and it's located near Los Angeles group Tores can be arranged by appointment this Grand salon displays some of the world's loveliest classic automobiles all in restored driving condition each car here is able to drive out for a spin at any time another example of functional fine art created in a spirit of excellence and [Music] elegance this Avan Wan touring car once belong to Rudolph Valentino [Music] now back to the golden Steinway and the invisible hands of psky I hope you've enjoyed this visit to romantic past when skilled Craftsmen joined with talented musicians to generate Beauty for Eye and Ear they devoted their art to the vision of the poet who proclaimed music the greatest good that Mortals know and all of heaven we have below testing testing I'm sorry uh there is uh I don't know I'm doing this from my bed and uh I thought that I was hitting the mute button and an unmute button but I didn't uh so what I had said before was like what you know why did Merl Norman make this film uh the Cosmetics company and uh Miss Carr explains it in the film but I it doesn't justify in my mind it doesn't quite seem right so there you go uh it's all in my hands I've shown this one before and I love it enjoy and a of in the shoe maker shop this refrain would never sto as he tapped the way working all the day at his bench there was he just as busy as a be little time to lose with the boots and shoes then he tapped and he stitched for his fingers were Bewitched and he a dream into [Music] every sure repairing to me is a living well it's honest work it's honest work and hard work and from day to day uh you just you just don't know once you open up the door of that store you don't know what to expect every day is a different challenge in this business the average person today doesn't like his job isn't happy I enjoy coming to work in the morning because it's a challenge that's why I like my work I like working with my hands a lot of my customers uh take my advice in repair and shoes course a lot of customers have faith in my work usually when they come in they give me the bag and say please take care of them whatever it needs it needs because they know I'll do a good job today there's modern machinery and there's a whole different way of fixing shoes when you finish a pair of shoes at least today you could uh notice the difference the shoe looks snow it doesn't look like it's been repaired well when I first started in this business my father told me he says John he says you have to take a trade and he says this is a good trade it's good as any he says because don't forget you have to remember one thing people are always walking and he says as long as they're walking you'll be working and he says just take a little pride in your work and you'll be a success well all the way I've been say and I talk to my son John that in the future this is going to be good trade Bo still don't want to listen to me but little by little he put on his head to Lear the trade and today I want to say that he come out a really profession you and I'm a proud over here when I'm working on a pair of shoes I feel it's like living life I I take my heart and soul into that shoe and I treat it just like it was my own and I make a good job of it and I do the best I could the best of my ability the best of my cra shoe repairing is more than just fixing a pair of shoes it takes a lot of work a lot of knoow some people just don't understand what goes into it they think that's all it is is just banging on a hammer and and that's it or banging on a pair of shoes and putting a nail in a shoe but it takes more to it than uh just that there's not too many shoe repairing men around today opening up stores or anything because once the old time is go on that's it what remains is an empty store with a lock on it I think today more young kids should go into this business or they should have schools for them to learn the trade because it's a good trade and after all I mean like I I said you we all can't be doctors or lawyers are You're My Success to my father because when I was young I never wanted to pick up a hammer or read a book or nothing I was just like every other kid at 15 years old stand on a corner but today I thank my father for break me into the business and showing me how that there's more to it in life than just stand on a corner I feel I'm playing an important role in society because when I do a pair of shoes and they come out nice I know the average guy outside can't do the same either that's why I feel important I feel like I'm wanted the average person hasn't got the craft I have it's all in my hands shoe maker today will always be you'll need them today and you'll need him years to come because as long as people are walking they're wearing shoes and as long as they're wearing shoes they're going to need somebody to fix them and that's me in theer this refrain would never stop as he tapped away working all the day at his bench there was he just as busy as a be little time to lose with the boots and shoes then he tapped and he stitched for his fingers were Bewitched and he a dream into every SE making shoes SOI just magic on he' know he L what a wonderful Slice of Life film as long as people are walking they'll need shoes it's great okay so this next film is uh a uh I feel like GM Jam handy Opus to the workers of at GM um it's called masterand and it was entered into the national film registry at some point I feel like in the early 2000s enjoy [Music] la a [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] w oh [Music] [Music] [Music] from the master hands of the tool makers to the hands that Master the great machines come the tools and patterns and [Music] dyes and then the factories start [Music] [Music] la n [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all [Music] Happ [Music] la n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Happ [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Applause] la a [Music] la [Music] Happ [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Music] the [Music] la [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] la n [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] a uh tell me Mr D how did you happen to discover this amazing talent of yours well I'll tell you Mr hegerman in the year of 1914 in the month of February I was coming home from school and my hands got very cold and you seen I had no mittens and I began of course pressing them together to get them war and that wouldn't do but pretty soon I began squeezing them and I was surprised to think that I could make a few different sounds well then I began playing every day and pretty soon I could play Yankee Doodle clear through and that was the only tune I could play for three whole years and the next tune I could play was marching through Georgia then the trail of The Lonesome Pine then for about everybody wondered then how I could do it would bother me so much that for about six years I put it away until I meant a old showman that come up to Travers once and he says can you do your old novelty anymore C I said I don't know but I'll try and I Tred tried the course and it come right natural to me after letting it go for 6 years he said well if I was you he said I would practice it up and see what I could do some time in a stage when I was in Chicago well I couldn't have a musical tribute to hands without having a tribute to musical hands um that uh was from a universal newsreel and uh I actually last year or this year paid uh to get an HD copy of that but I could not hunt it down I couldn't find it uh because I am stuck in my room and what am I doing being stuck in my room I'm watching a lot of YouTube I'm watching a lot of K Shack the nightstalker uh which is on peacock and I I saw these episodes when I was kid and they scared the hell out of me and what I realized is K Shack takes place in the same city in time as the Bob newart show and uh John feedler is in both both shows uh Mr Peterson plays a morg attendant uh in uh K Shack it's crazy and I I just want there to be this overlap because there's a lot of elevated train footage and I'm just hoping that K Shack would drive past Bob newart at some point uh anyways uh that's what my brain has been doing also to fall asleep I watch a lot of there's these channels on YouTube called uh like they're Asian uh Japanese called the process and there's a couple of variations on that different there's one base in Korea but if you want to see footage of of contemporary people uh Artisans making stuff kind kind of like with the shoe film that we showed um they show a lot of stuff there it's amazing and there's no narration so if there's anyone that you watch and there's narration don't watch it but uh some of them there's music which is kind of annoying but some of them it's just the sounds of what's happening so it's kind of amrish um and it's beautiful and it's also insane to see the amount of work that uh they take to make a ukulele or to make um a tent or you know all these different things so there are still people making things it's not all robots it's not all assembly line although I love me an assembly line uh so anyways uh that's what I've been watching um and hopefully this week I will get better um I'm already feeling better today than I did this weekend so uh that's good my sinus is I mean Co for me is just a like a really bad cold so uh it's out there also neov irus is out there so wash your hands uh and be careful handling children because they are uh sponges for these viruses and uh anyways thank you Kevin for donating to uh via the super thanks button um you can also go to ko-fi.com avgeeks or patreon.com avgeeks those are great ways to support us and that money is going to pay rent on seven storage units and uh I have not been able to go to the storage units recently because I have been sick uh and don't feel like doing it um but I'll get back to there soon enough and we'll start watching more new stuff uh you can also hit the like the Subscribe the Thumbs Up Button those are great ways to support us and we are uploading new stuff every day uh stuff that we've digitized over the last 10 years maybe longer um but anyways thanks again for tuning in I I always appreciate your eyeballs and your comments and we will be back again tomorrow everybody take care bye for