AXEL BOILESEN

Memories of the Phonograph

 

My name is Axel Boilesen.

I was born on a farm near Cotesfield, Nebraska on April 18, 1923.

Axel age 4 (center of picture) with brother Lester on left and Floyd on right and his two sisters, Lois and Fern (circa 1927).

 

When I was a growing up we had an Edison Amberola, which I think was a Model 30, that was tucked away in a bedroom closet. I never saw it in the parlor as we had a radio and if there was going to be any entertainment, it usually came from the radio. But I do remember my older sisters getting the Edison out from time to time and dancing around the bedroom.

 

The Jolly Coppersmith was a song I can still hear playing. We didn't listen to it very often but the Edison always worked very well.

My grandmother also had a phonograph in their home, a large upright disc model which might have been a Brunswick. I still fondly remember her sitting in her rocking chair with me on her lap listening to the phonograph together.

When World War II began there were paper drives and scrap iron drives and other activities to support the war effort. My Dad had alot of scrap iron and machinery parts around the farm and he was very willing and proud to donate all that he could.

Included in those war-time donations was our Edison Amberola. It was said that donating phonographs would help entertain the troops and I think my Dad believed that our Amberola would make it to some USO or army camp site. Perhaps he remembered scenes or stories from World War I and support efforts for entertaining the troops with phonograph music.

1919 postcard showing US Army personnel listening to a disc playing "Victrola"

Looking back, it seems unlikely our Amberola ever played music for any soldier in the 1940's. By 1942 Edison Blue Amberol cylinder records, the record format used by an Amberola, hadn't been manufactured by anyone in over 14 years so the music selection of an Amberola would have been very limited and dated.

But if our Edison did survive the army's scrap pile I'm sure it's still hammering out those "la la la's" of the Jolly Coppersmith.

 

Amberola record from 1918

Listen to the "The Jolly Coppersmith" or "Kreuzfidele Kupferschmied" played by Edison Military Band (1)

German postcard titled Liebesgaben (alms) - Children participating in a World War I war-time drive to support their troops (including the donation of a gramophone).

Axel Boilesen, a Friend of the Phonograph

The Edison Amberola 30 and Axel's grandmother's Brunswick phonograph were his first memories of the phonograph. But they wouldn't be his last. Little would he know that his son Doug would have a life-long interest in the phonograph, recorded sound and any phonograph connection in popular culture. One of the early family traditions initiated by Doug was to annually celebrate the birthday of Edison's Phonograph on December 6. When Doug moved to California in the early 1980's the Friends of the Phonograph was founded and its annual event of the year was to celebrate the Phonograph's birthday. Family members in Nebraska likewise continued to celebrate that birthday.

After Axel moved into his retirement home at Legacy Estate two rooms were provided by the owner of Legacy Estate's for displays of phonographs and radios. The Phonograph room was officially designated as the Axel and Betty Boilesen Phonograph Exhibit on August 6, 2006 with a kiosk implemented to provide music and information about the collection and about Axel and Betty.

Axel in the Legacy Radio Room - Photo by Doug Keister

Axel in the Legacy Phonograph Room - Photo by Doug Keister

2011 at the Legacy