- Thomas Edison, doll maker.jpg (20.24 KiB) Viewed 1213 times
It just goes to show that adults have been working on ways to simulate womanhood, including giving her a voice, for as long as people have had the technology to do so. The jointed doll was 22 inches tall and designed to look like a French girl.
From an article appearing in the New York Evening Sun, on November 22, 1888:
New York Evening Sun wrote:...Then Mr. Edison wound up a brunette doll with jet black curls and sparkling brown eyes. This doll started off at a brisk rate with the following: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are, Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky," and she recited it with feeling and expression... There were two young ladies in the room at the time who were continually talking to the tiny speaking machines, which a skilled workman was turning out in great numbers. The cylinders were in reality bands of metal about 2-1/2 inches in diameter, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and half an inch wide.
- Thomas Edison's talking doll tin cylinder.jpg (42.84 KiB) Viewed 1213 times
You can listen to the recovered recording as an MP3 here:CBS News wrote:Scientists using advanced imaging technology have recovered a 123-year-old recording made by Thomas Edison that is believed to be the world's first attempt at a talking doll and may mark the dawn of the American recording industry.
In the sound recording, a woman can be heard reciting a verse of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Historians believe Edison hired the woman to make the recording less than two years before he unsuccessfully put the first talking doll on the market.
"Based on the date of fall 1888, it is the oldest American-made recording of a woman's voice that we can listen to today," said Patrick Feaster, a historian at Indiana University in Bloomington.
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/mp3/NRR_Edisondoll.mp3
The recording has been added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
