A comment from Robert Louis Grew;.. I had the privilege of knowing John and Russel's Mom and Dad when they were special pioneers in my home town of Waterbury Connecticut in the late 1930's. Then I got to know Russel at Bethel in the 1950's, a wonderfully cultured man who incidentally performed my brother's marriage to Mina Menard, and who gave my Dad's funeral talk in 1952. A good friend. I most of all grew to respect the humility and genius of John Kurzen with whom I was assigned to assist while at Bethel. I helped him modify a Singer Sewing Machine which we used to sew the end signature of the Deluxe New World Translation so that it could withstand usage. Knowing and loving the Kurzen family was a joy for my whole family.
PLEASE lubricate that motor and spindle and the slide bearings, these things actually sound really good when working properly and are easy as heck to service, Kurzen was one really good engineer and if you are using a steel needle replace it every two sides of a record. I actually find Japanese knot weed here in the summer, let it dry out and cut needles for these type of phonographs, it works really well and the stuff grows everywhere and it doesn't damage shellac, it's basically bamboo but an invasive weed.
What a wonderful and pleasant surprise, coming across this video about the upright phonograph. I remember John very well. As already stated, he was s quiet, modest, humble man. When I lived at Brooklyn Bethel durung the mid to late 60s John would come in most days, but lived outside. It was his brother Russell that I first met in 1963. I had moved from my home town of Bournemouth, England to live in New York. I was just a lad of 17 and Russell kinda adopted me and when I moved into Bethel some years later he and I continued to be good friends. So finding this lttle gem has really cheered me as I now have a terminal disease and all those good times are now but happy memories.
Sadly no. John was a very private person so cameras were not part of the mix. Whereas with Russell I have a number of photos. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Holly Kurzen Nice to hear from you. Perhaps you can contact me through my website, MrMovieMaker.com (I just realized that you're probably addressing Mr Robinson here.)
That's so cool. You never know what you're going to run into with this stuff. I've never seen one like this before. It seems to play really well. You could say this was the first Close and Play.
Totally amazing. The man and the machine. We each leave our mark on this world. Some more boldly than others. RIP John G. Kurzen. I wish I had known you.
The fidelity of this phonograph with no amplification just blew me away. It sounds incredible. Great video and I'm glad you found this and shared it with us. Randy McDaniels, TLC.
Absolutely amazing video. Thanks for the very well documented research and for showing us this wonderful machine. are you considering selling the phonograph?
Did you know? The basic mechanism was adapted from "Beach Phonographs" produced in the 1940's ? I found one in the mid 1960s, my mother had one of these in the basement from her youth. She was a Roman Catholic so there is little chance of these being one produced for the J W's. It's fine that he adopted the mechanism but that was not the original iteration of it's production.
Amazing machine with a similar process used for the montgomery phonocone or the pathe diffusor (before), but boxed into a case . Very interesting machine
I am trying to replace a spring on one of these, but can't figure out how to remove the turntable to get into the mechanism. I'm afraid if I do it wrong, might break it. Anyone have a thought?
That probably had better tone quality than most of the horn record players made. Though I never owned one, the earlier versions of the Kenner Close'Nplay seemed to have about the same design as this, though most had a sliding stylus with the track attached to a stationary speaker cone (the pull-string dolls of that era also had that design). There was a company called "Chad Valley" that sold a product similar to the Kenner Close'Nplay that used the sliding speaker design from this model. By the late 1970s, the Kenner version had been fitted with a solid state amplifier and dynamic speaker.
I would love to sell mine. I just threw away huge watchtowers and a lot from my collection from the 1800's but I kept this. Who wants it for 400.00 or make me an offer,
@@ft040806745 I am www.askjacqueline.life Ithink I still have the records and they play on it. I also have so very old typewriters. Say hello Jacqueline in the comment section of any article and I will answer and wecan exchange info or meet on the zoom platform and I can show it to you etc.
My Grandparents, as well as my Father, remember these being a notable feature of the JW's back in the Thirties, very iconic of the time. My Methodist Christian Grandma said: "they really used them well in their day to day activity of being a total PEST.!!!"
I've heard of at least one Jehovah's Witness playing such a machine through the letterbox when the occupier refused to answer the door. Not sure if this was intended in the design, but it certainly would be possible!
ChannelofMarvin, I also picked up a tiny typewriter where I got my phonograph. I need to pull it out but itis circa 1905 I think. I will pull it out if you might want it.
At the beginning of this video I see a 'rod' extending to underneath the turntable next to the crank. My machine does not have that. Wonder what it is and what it does? I am guessing some sort of speed control which mine has none of any kind.
Man, those loudspeaker mobiles must have gotten the Jehovah's Witnesses a lot of complaints from irate homeowners. No wonder they took to the phonograph :)
