when new things are actually old...

recently noticed an article on the great music blog disquiet about an advertising promo piece in the form of a record player made out of cardboard... you can see it in the top image, and also take a peek at with more info here

i wasn't quite sure if i should bash the thing for its faux "new invention" or give it props since it involves a vinyl record, but everything about it seemed too familiar to ignore, and after a few minutes of scouring the archives, i was able to locate the precendent...

pictured is a phonograph, coloring book and record contraption made by the barker greeting card company in 1955. this thing was quite an invention - a simple cardboard covered book with a tiny "needle" (that seems like a nail), and a rivet to hold a 7"record that could freely spin upon it. the record also has a tiny hole in it so you can turn it with a pencil... replicating the cranking activity of an old gramophone. its ingenuity and simple materials is worthy of tim hawkinson's work.

if you look at the picture of the new version, you will see that even the pencil turning mechanism has been cribbed from the 1955 version - not to mention the inclusion in the new version of a kid's record as well... so it seems hardly a coincidence of the design minded.

what this little story shows us is that all "new" ideas aren't necessarily new at all, and if you think you got there first, you probably got there third or fourth... or maybe it is that if you arrive third or fourth but you are quiet about precedent and wait long enough for the first to be forgotten, people will re-discover your old as new...