This afternoon, 19 July 2006, PBS broadcast an episode with Huell
Howser interviewing restorer Joe Rinaudo of Montrose, California.
It's likely it will be repeated, so watch for it.

I missed the beginning of the program but I came in as Joe demonstrated
his Style 20 Fotoplayer and a fabulous early 1912 hand-cranked movie
projector for silent movies.  Joe also played an Edison cylinder of
"Come Josephine In My Flying Machine".

I have only heard of the Fotoplayer through MMD, but had no idea of
what it entailed: a two-tracker bar player piano-organ with an attached
toy counter for accompanying silent movies.  According to Joe, of the
45,000(?) that were produced, there are only about 35 in existence, and
of those maybe a dozen are in working condition.

Joe runs a restoration shop specializing in antique lighting fixtures,
but apparently does not restrict his business to that, as there were
also old movie projectors being restored.  I would guess that his
Edison and Victrola record players were restored in his shop, but
I didn't hear anything about if he had restored the Fotoplayer himself,
or if it was an outside job.  Upon looking at the web site, it states
Joe restored the Fotoplayer himself in 1976.  Check out the site for
some pictures of same:  http://www.rinaudosreproductions.com/

There is good MP3 of "Come Josephine In My Flying Machine" at
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/music/titles_noncopyright.cfm

Tom Lear
San Francisco, Calif.

 [ At http://www.calgold.com/calgold/Default.asp?Series=8000&Show=804
 [   California's Gold #8007 Photoplayer -- Huell meets Joe Rinaudo
 [   whose passion is a 1926 Fotoplayer, which uses music rolls like
 [   those for player pianos to provide music and sound effects to
 [   silent films.  Joe spent thousands of hours restoring his
 [   Fotoplayer and although the "talkies" made them obsolete in the
 [   late 1920s, Huell discovers there is still no better way to enjoy
 [   a silent movie than with Joe, his hand cranked projector and his
 [   Fotoplayer.
 [ -- Robbie