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Posted: 22 Jan 2015

Taken: 22 Jan 2015

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talking dolls •
expositions •
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Uncle Sam Automaton at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893

Uncle Sam Automaton at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893
Although I haven't uncovered any specific information regarding Thomas Edison's Uncle Sam automaton at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, I suspect that it wasn't too far removed from the inventor's unsuccessful talking doll, which appeared in 1890. For info on this, see Gaby Wood, Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life (Knopf, 2002); Edison’s First, Less Scary Talking Doll Recording, a posting on The History Blog; a page dealing with the Edison Talking Doll - 1890; and, finally, a short segment on Edison's Talking Doll (with a demo of the doll!) that aired on Discovery's Oddities show.

Uncle Sam

The wonderful Edison talking automaton at World's Fair, delivering 40,000 speeches during the Exhibition, about Highest Award, Gold Medal, Hub Gore.

Hub Gore Makers, Elastic for Shoes. Hub Gore A. Trade Mark.

Highest Gold Medal Awarded. Elastic for Shoes, Highest Award to Hub Gore Makers. Columbian Exposition.

Smiley Derleth, , , John FitzGerald and 2 other people have particularly liked this photo

Comments
 Allen Koenigsberg
Allen Koenigsberg
This is a fascinating trade card. Although it is frequently dated to 1893 because of the obvious reference to the World's Fair in Chicago, it was not printed by the Hub Gore Co until 1894.

It is very difficult to find an actual photo of this phonographic automaton in action on the Midway. The actual contents of the advertising speech were printed on a small card with a red heart.

The phonograph ran on a sulphuric-acid battery!

Allen
allenamet@aol.com
3 years ago.
 Allen Koenigsberg
Allen Koenigsberg
More information has developed. This Talking Automaton in the shape of Uncle Sam was on Display only in the Shoe & Leather Building from Sep-Oct 1893. Visitors to the Exhibit were each given a card imprinted with a Red Heart on one side, and a transcript of the recording: the words began with: "Hello! Here I am again..."

The Trade Card was printed AFTER the Fair was over, and were distributed with individual pairs of Hub Gore Shoes, starting on Mar. 1, 1894. There are several different varieties, single and double panels.

There is an article on this Automaton at Academia ("So Long at the Fair"), which was published in 2004, and an update by the same author (on the inventor etc) will appear in March 2023.

Allen
allenamet@aol.com
17 months ago.

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