Thursday, May 16, 2013

At The Enrico Caruso Museum of America

Filming here in Brooklyn at The Enrico Caruso Museum of America. A wonderful micro-museum dedicated to the opera singer and recording star of the era of acoustically produced audio.

The museum displays a wealth of Caruso-related items, and quite a few phonographs, gramophones, music boxes, and an elaborate 1920s 78rpm jukebox, all in working order. Of course there are many Caruso recordings; and so visitors to the museum get to have the experience of hearing the records played on the technology for which these were made, and experience the sound of Caruso as he was heard back in his own time.

Interviewed the museum's founder and curator, Aldo Mancusi.  Among the interesting stories was how when Caruso was making records in Camden at the Victor Talking Machine Company's recording studio, he would sing into horn protruding from a curtain; behind the curtain was the recording apparatus, concealed from view, to keep the company's technological trade secrets from being revealed.

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Five film shoots taking place for the project over the next three weeks, so more updates in the near future.

But for now (in the words of jazz-age singer, Annette Hanshaw) "That's all."

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