Pretty pleased to have stumbled over this beauty - a pretty slick Suisse Boomerang Chromorgan. This model and the Grand Chromorgan (there was no De Luxe model) were briefly produced in Switzerland after WWII. Albert’s Boomerang mouth organs were manufactured by Seydel, who were under occupation by communist Russia after WWII - so briefly Albert’s … Continue reading Suisse Piece
Aerial view of Atheneum (front) and Coliseum (behind) -corner of Little Bridge and Grenville Streets in Ballarat Welcome to the house of Spouse a large edifice that went under an even larger title, the Coliseum. It was on a cool, late October afternoon in the historic gold mining town of Ballarat that P. C. Spouse … Continue reading The House Of Spouse
Left: My recent acquisition Right: Echophone graphic from a 1953 Hohner catalogue. By happenstance I was able to add this beauty to my collection. I think part of my fascination with the Echophone is the link back to Sydney Dickens of Carlton, Melbourne who had an invention of the same name and type back in … Continue reading Tubular Organ
W H Paling & Co was founded by William Henry Paling, who was born in Rotterdam Holland in 1828. When he turned thirty, he headed to the 'Great Southland' disembarking in the Port of Sydney. His first enterprise (pictured top left) consisted of not more than a tin shed in York Street, Wynyard. In 1883 … Continue reading Topnotch Palings
Picked up this harp and box for a starting bid of a fiver. Well, I thought I did. Three times he apologised and said it would be in the next post - never did see it in the flesh. An Australian Job! I knew they weren’t a perfect match, but I was still interested in … Continue reading The Italian Job
With the Australian Rules football season commencing, I thought it appropriate to fly this article from the grand old (flag) days of the great game. Who would have thought footballers and umpires singing from the same hymn page. I don’t reckon the Mordi Bloods or Frank Vergona ever did. From 1935 to 1940 a Melbourne … Continue reading Football Notes
Melbourne, 1909 1909 was an eventful year for young newsboy Jack Church and his Crackajack mouth organ. He was providing news content in all the Melbourne papers he was selling; The Herald, The Punch and The Argus. It’s probably fair to say Jack had been dealt a pretty rough hand in life with little chance … Continue reading Jack’s Congregation
Shep’s La Traviata The Box top sticker for my model. Several years back I picked up this La Traviata mouth organ for a couple of bucks from The Amazing Mill Markets in Daylesford, Victoria. It was nothing fancy, but a model I wasn’t familiar with. I certainly had no plans to write anything about it … Continue reading The Dog Went Nuts!
I viewed a repeat episode of American Pickers awhile ago where they stumbled across a Cracker Jack vending machine. It set my brain cogs into motion (backwards) revisiting our famous Crackajack mouth organs sold by Allan’s of Melbourne. The cogs clunked to a stop on both why the name Crackajack and why advertising featuring the … Continue reading Nautical Jack
W V Robinson (1869-1926), a Canadian raconteur and mouth organ exponent, spent nearly a year ‘Down Under’ late 1924 into 1925 performing on the Tivoli circuit with J C Williamson Limited. He was on the undercard for popular Scottish comedian and singer Harry Lauder. W V was born in Quebec and lived in London opposite … Continue reading Robbo’s Lauder Melodies
Harmonica Riff Raff 