Vigo County Historical Society

Reginaphone still plays tunes

As you ascend the stairway to the second floor of the Historical Museum, you may be surprised to hear mellifluous music rising from below. It is a kind of music unheard these days except in establishments dedicated to the preservation of objects that speak persuasively of a style of life that has long since disappeared.

The source of these melodies is a Reginaphone, the great grandfather of today’s stereos, which was donated to the museum by the A.J. Jewett family. This queen of music boxes was manufactured by the Regina Co. of Rahway, N.J., commencing in the 1890s.

It fashions its tunes by plucking notes from perforations in metal plates ranging in size from 8 1/2 to 36 inches in diameter. While the one you are hearing is typical of those made for the home, coin-operated instruments were also produced for commercial use.

The company generated more than 10,000 machines before it succumbed to the gramophone and the raucous harmonies of the jazz age.

Among the discs included in the museum’s collection as such 1910 chart busters as "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," "The Blue Bells of Scotland" and "It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight."

Surprisingly, these copper discs are still being offered by various manufacturers throughout the county. The Porter Music Box Company of Randolph, Vt., lists more than 500 titles that run the gamut from turn-of-the-century chestnuts--"My Sweetheart’s the Man in the Moon"--to up-to-date chestnuts like "Hey, Won’t Somebody Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song."

The list is also notable for the number of egregiously politically incorrect tunes that apparently still available. Fortunately, this kind of material is no longer acceptable except for its value in revealing the callous social posture of the period.

One can, however, take heart in noting that some progress has been made in this respect in spite of the atrocious cacophony that passes for popular music today.

Need relief from the jangle of the daily grind? Come to the museum and let the dulcet melodies of a music box transport you into the parlor of a century ago.