Edison’s Demon Dolls

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

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4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1890, Americans were delighted when they heard the news that Thomas Edison was using his phonograph technology to give voice to porcelain dolls. But their delight turned to horror when they got their hands on his dolls. In this episode of Sidedoor, we’ll hear a short story that imagines what happens when two little girls receive one of Edison’s talking dolls as a holiday gift, as well as meet one of these dolls with an expert from the National Museum of American history.

To see one of these dolls, check it out on our website.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is SideDor, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX, I'm Lizzie Peabody.
0:15.3	Okay, it's the end of a long year, and if you're anything like me, you're probably
0:29.2	feeling exhausted. Like the kind of sugar-drenched post-holiday limbs melting into the couch
0:34.9	of poultry kind of tired. Which means it is the perfect time to curl up with a blanket
0:41.0	and a warm drink and listen to a story. And luckily for you, we have just the one, an
0:47.7	old favorite from the SideDor Vault. This story begins at an auction for toys.
0:55.6	Best, what does it like to go to a toy auction? Well, there are a lot of old ladies, usually.
1:03.6	I fit right in. Me too. And you know, I was seven or eight when I was going to these auctions.
1:11.5	This is author Best Winter. They were specifically doll auctions. I think your eyes would water
1:18.6	at the amount of money that is spent. There are certain American dolls that are like American
1:24.2	folk art. And those go for like $10,000, $15,000. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So it's a lot for a doll.
1:33.9	It is a lot for a doll. It basically is an investment piece, like buying a piece of art.
1:40.0	As a kid, Best didn't go to auctions to diversify her art portfolio. She was there because her
1:45.1	mom was an antiques collector. And when you're a kid, you pretty much go where your parents go.
1:50.0	Best learned to recognize valuable dolls. But she didn't have much money.
1:55.1	So I knew what kind of doll was valuable and appealing, but I couldn't afford the actual good
2:01.3	versions of those. So it would be like, oh, this one's been squished into a box for 50 years
2:06.0	and its head's kind of square, but it's still a lensey. Best took her oddly shaped antique dolls
2:12.0	home and made up stories to bring them to life. Yeah, I grew up as an only child.
2:19.2	So I did a lot of solitary, imaginative play. And I played with all kinds of things, but I was
2:26.1	attracted to dolls, I think, because they were a bit like puppets or characters that I could make
2:30.7	stories about. These days, Best writes her stories down. Mostly she writes about people,
	...

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