The Novelty Act

Today we live in the so-called Information Age, but a better title might be The Age of Novelty as the Internet provides us with an endless parade of wonders. From the singular and fascinating, to the inane and stupid, we will look at anything. But it's hardly a modern concept, as the Novelty Act has been an entertainment since ancient times. Here are three  German novelty acts from a century ago.

In this first postcard from 1904, we see an odd musical contraption with its proud inventor standing beside it. This freezer-sized assembly appears to have only percussion instruments - bass drum, snare, bells, cymbals. Perhaps there are more instruments hidden in the lower box because the caption makes a grandiose claim.

Hub. Dünnwald mit seinem Wunder Orchester 

eine vollständige Kapelle in einer Person

Hub. Dünnwald with his Wonder Orchestra

a full band in one person

This could be a mechanical music box that uses a perforated paper roll like those on player pianos. A pneumatic system would activate various levers and linkages which then strike the musical rhythms on the drums or keyboards. Or it may be an elaborate one-man band machine with Herr Dünnwald playing several instruments linked together. Though he keeps his standing address in Düsseldorf, the flags on his Wunder-Orchester appear to be those of the Kingdom of Prussia, which would explain his mustache. He wears the uniform of a military bandsman., so perhaps he was seeking favor from the Kaiser's royal court in Berlin.

The back shows it was sent from Spich, which is a small town only a short distance east of Düsseldorf, to Fraulein Maria Creischen (?) in Eilendorf.

Percussion instrumentalists have always been a popular choice for novelty acts, and this duo has a full stage of them. There are various jingles, bells, glasses, and sauce pans tuned in different sizes. The two musicians hold a mandolin and a guitar and displayed on the floor are other string instruments, including a violin and some odd folk type instruments. The rhomboid shaped table on the right is a cimbalom, a type of hammered dulcimer played in Hungary and Eastern Europe. The caption tells us who they are.

Gisela u. Hugo Hostowsky, Original Topfschläger

Gisela and Hugo Hostowsky - Original Pot Beater

Were Hugo and Gisela, husband and wife or brother and sister? They do not have any wind instruments, so it's likely they also sang while they played their bells and pots.

The postcard was sent from Hannover to Fraulein Mathilde Rossig in Delligsen, Lower Saxony on 20th February 1911.

This last novelty musician has an elaborate display that includes handbells, wine glasses, and bottles. On the floor are a snare drum and a kind of foot pedal with a small pair of cymbals. There is also a long necked string instrument with a bow that looks like it's made from a cigar box. On the table to the right are two unusual horn shaped instruments. Can you guess what they are?

The caption reads:

O. Joston, Spez. Instrumentalist u. Musik-Clown
auf 12 Phantasie Instrumenten

O. Joston, Special Instrumentalist and Music Clown
on 12 Fantasy instruments

Herr Josten lived in Dresden, but he also sports a fine mustache of the German Empire style. The flags that decorate his bottle and bell rack look similar to the Prussian state flag but lack the Imperial Eagle symbol.

The instruments on the table? They are Mundharmonika - harmonicas with added megaphones for amplification. The box next to them looks like an accordion type instrument powered by Herr Joston's breath.  I would bet he also made his own custom traveling trunks for all his fantasy instruments. What kind of clowning or jokes did he add to his performance?

The handwriting on this card defeats me, but it was postmarked on 18 April 1911 from Züllchow which is now in Poland, but during the German Empire before WW1 it was in the Pommern or Pomerania district of Germany.

Judging from the numerous promotional postcards for one-man bands and musical duos using unusual instruments, novelty musical groups were very popular during the 1900s in the German and the Austrian-Hungarian empires. Undoubtedly many emigrated to Britain and America before the war years, and continued their show business careers on the vaudeville stage.

Let us imagine Herr Joston, Herr Dünnwald, and the Howstowsky Duo meeting up one day, perhaps at a Bahnhof cafe. They would compare notes and programs. Certainly they would complain about the struggle of managing their equipment through stage doors and rail platforms. I'm sure they would have exchanged a few glasses too. 





As a demonstration of this Age of Novelty that we live in today, YouTube presents some Australian humour with their version of an expanded Wonder Orchestra from Melbourne.

WARNING: Some good beer was sacrificed in the making of this video.

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This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

Click the link for more novel inventions.