ABOUT RADIOS.
WELL, TURNS OUT HE KNOWS AND COLLECTS A LOT MORE THAN THAT.
SEAN: FROM MICROPHONES TO TV’S, TELEPHONES TO CALCULATORS, BRUCE KNOWS THEM ALL, AND, EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVELY, THE STORIES BEHIND EACH ONE.
♪ ERIN: FROM TELEGRAPHS TO TV’S, COIN-OPERATED JUKEBOXES AND CALCULATORS, BRUCE PHILLIP’S HOME-BASED MUSEUM OF VINTAGE ELECTRONICS SPANS CENTURIES.
BRUCE: THIS IS A -- AN EARLY PRE-CIVIL WAR DYNAMO, AND IF YOU WERE A DOCTOR OR DENTIST, YOU HAD YOUR PATIENT HOLD ON TO THESE, YOU WOULD HAVE YOUR ASSISTANT TURN THE CRANK, AND
THEY WOULD GET A REASONABLY DECENT SHOCK.
NOT GOING TO HURT THEM, AND IF THEY ARE DRILLING INTO YOUR TOOTH, NO ANESTHESIA.
NO ETHER OR ANYTHING BACK THEN.
THIS IS THE BEST YOU GOT.
AFTER THIS, THE NEXT THING PEOPLE RECOGNIZE IS TELEGRAPHS.
I LIKE THIS PERIOD, TOO, AND I COLLECT THESE IN PARTICULAR, . AS YOU BROACHED FROM HERE, YOU WENT TO TELEPHONE.
IT BRINGS BACK YOUR PAST.
IT BRINGS BACK -- ALWAYS TALK ABOUT IT IS HISTORY, IT IS ART , AND IT IS TECHNOLOGY.
I LOVE ALL THREE OF THOSE, SO YOU WILL LOOK AT SOMETHING AND SAY, "THAT IS COOL." IT IS THE COOL FACTOR FOR SOME PEOPLE.
FOR OTHER PEOPLE, IT IS THE TECHNOLOGY FACTOR.
HOW MANY TUBES DOES THAT HAVE?
WHAT DOES THAT CIRCUIT LOOK LIKE OTHER PEOPLE, IT IS SPECIFICALLY ART.
IT IS JUST -- HOW DOES THAT LOOK?
IS THERE A FAMOUS DESIGNER INVOLVED?
HOW WAS THAT MADE?
IT THE FIRST ONE OUT THERE?
SO THERE IS A PLETHORA OF DIFFERENT REASONS WHY PEOPLE LIKE THIS STUFF.
ERIN: EVER WONDER WHAT THOUSANDS OF PIECES OF MEMORABILIA SPANNING HUNDREDS OF YEARS LOOK S LIKE?
IT IS ACTUALLY NOT AS CLUTTERED OR CRAZY AS YOU WOULD THINK.
THAT IS BECAUSE BRUCE IS A CAREFUL CURATOR, MAKING SURE EACH PIECE OF HISTORY HAS THE RIGHT SPOT IN HIS HOME.
BRUCE: I COLLECT THINGS FOR THE TECHNOLOGY, FOR THE ART, AND FOR THE LOOK, AND THE LOOK IS WHAT SELLS ME MORE THAN ANYTHING.
ELSE, I MEAN, THERE ARE PLENTY OF TV’S OUT THERE THAT ARE JUST BOXES THAT, UNFORTUNATELY, NO BODY CARES ABOUT ANYMORE, BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS, YOU GO, "THAT IS AN INTERESTING TV."
WE FIRST INTRODUCED YOU TO BRUCE BACK IN 2013, WHEN HE SHOWED US HIS EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF VINTAGE RADIOS.
BRUCE: THIS IS THE WORLD SERIE ROGER MARIS, MICKEY MANTEL.
YOU HAD LITERALLY YOUR BAT THAT DID YOUR TUNING UP HERE, AND THE BASEBALL DIAMOND DID YOUR TUNING DOWN HERE.
ERIN: MORE THAN JUST BRUCE’S HAIRSTYLE HAS CHANGED IN THE PAST SIX YEARS.
BRUCE: MY WIFE WILL TELL YOU THERE ARE 3000 PIECES HERE, AND SO I WILL JUST HAVE TO TAKE HER WORD FOR IT.
I HAVE TO GET THIS OUT THERE, THERE IS LESS NOW THAN SIX YEARS AGO WHEN YOU WERE HERE.
ERIN: HIS FOCUS HAS CHANGED, TOO.
BRUCE: WHAT I ALSO NOTICED IS WHEN I SPOKE THE WORD "ANTIQUE RADIO" TO A YOUNG KID, I COULD NOT GET HIM TO LOOK UP FROM HIS CELL PHONE, BUT IF I SAID, "VINTAGE ELECTRONICS," HE WOUL
GO, "WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?
RECORDS OR HI-FI?" AS THAT WENT ON, I REALIZED WE SHOULD CHANGE FROM A RADIO CLUB TO A VINTAGE ELECTRONICS CLUB.
TELEPHONE IS ANOTHER FAVORITE IN THE VINTAGE ELECTRONICS LINE.
MOST PEOPLE RECOGNIZE OLD PHONES LIKE THIS.
[PHONE RINGING] BRUCE: THE CHANGE THAT HAPPENE IN THE TELEPHONE WAS THE TUBE FINALLY CAME ALONG THIS WAS YOUR FIRST TUBE, ABOUT 1908, AND THIS WAS THE FIR
TIME ANYBODY EVER HAD AMPLIFIED VOLTAGE.
ERIN: THE NEW ENGLAND VINTAGE ELECTRONICS CLUB HAS ABOUT 400 MEMBERS, AND THEY LOVE TO GET TOGETHER TO SWAP STORIES AND TREASURES.
BRUCE: ANOTHER ONE OF FAVORITES IS MICROPHONES.
I JUST LOVE THESE, BECAUSE EVERY MICROPHONE I SEE, I THINK ABOUT HOW MANY PEOPLE TALKED INTO IT.
WHO WERE THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE , WHO WAS DOING THE NEWS?
SOME OF THESE ARE FROM NEWS STATIONS LIKE WMUR.
THE STORY IS THE BEST PART.
I MEAN, MY FATHER WAS A BIG HISTORY GUY, AND, YOU KNOW, WE WENT ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, LOOKING AT HISTORICAL PLACES.
TO ME, THIS IS HISTORY ALONG WITH TECHNOLOGY ALONG WITH ART.
,THAT COMBINATION OF THE THREE IS WHAT I LOVE.
ERIN: HE SAYS IT IS HARD TO PICK A FAVORITE, BUT HE IS PARTICULARLY FOND OF THIS RARE FIND.
BRUCE: THIS IS CALLED THE RADIO NURSE, AND IT CAME OUT AFTER THE LINDBERGH KIDNAPPINGS, BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE CONCERNED PEOPLE WERE GOING TO COME IN AND STEAL THEIR BABIES, SO THIS WAS THE
MONITOR.
THE PART I ENJOY ABOUT THIS IS THAT THIS WAS DESIGNED BY A FAMOUS DESIGNER, NAGUCHI NAGUCH WAS AN EXCELLENT DESIGNER.
BUT AT THE TIME, HE WAS A JAPANESE-AMERICAN WHICH WAS FROWNED AT AFTER PEARL HARBOR, TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY WOULD TAKE THESE AND SMASH THEM IN THE STREETS TO PROVE THEY HAD NO
INTEREST IN JAPANESE AMERICANS.
SO WE HAVE GONE BEYOND THAT NOW, AND, AGAIN, ONE OF THE BEST DESIGNERS OF THE MID-CENTURY WAS MR. NAGUCHI.
ERIN: BRUCE LOVES TO EDUCATE PEOPLE.
SPEND A DAY WITH HIM, AND YOU REALIZE YOU ARE JUST SCRATCHIN THE SURFACE OF HIS VINTAGE ELECTRONICS KNOWLEDGE.
BRUCE: I WAS AN ELECTRICAL DESIGNER FOR YEARS.
THESE THINGS CAME FROM BEING VERY PRIMITIVE TO VERY WORTHWHILE AND WORKED THEIR WAY UNTIL KIDS COULD HAVE ONE OF THESE IN THEIR HAND.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHONOGRAPHS IS THIS ONE HERE.
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL RECORD PLAYER, A.M. SHORTWAVE RADIO COMBINATION, MADE BY BRAUN IN THE LATE 1950’S, EARLY 1960’S.
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL DESIGN OF FORM AND FUNCTION.
THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS NOT NEEDED.
THE AESTHETICS ARE AWESOME.
THIS IS A DESIGN DONE BY DETER ROHMS, WHO WAS THE LEADER IN THE MINIMALIST MOVEMENTS.
AS YEARS WENT ON, AND STEVE JOBS PUT TOGETHER THE ORIGINAL IPOD HE FOLLOWED DETER ROHMS’ CONCEPTS, NO MORE THAN IS NECESSARY, NO BIG KNOBS.
ERIN: AS BRUCE GETS OLDER AND STARTS TO PASS HIS COLLECTION ON, IT IS IMPORTANT TO HIM TO FIND THE RIGHT HOME FOR HIS PIECES, A HOME THAT WILL LOVE, APPRECIATE, AND PASS ON THEIR
STORY TO GENERATIONS TO COME.
BRUCE: I LOVE THIS OLD STUFF, I AM GETTING OLDER, YOU KNOW, AND I KNOW I AM JUST A CARETAKER OF THIS OLD STUFF.
I DO NOT OWN ANY OF IT.
SOMEONE ELSE WILL OWN ALL OF IT AT SOME POINT IN TIME, SO I TRY TO ADJUST TAKE CARE OF IT WELL AND KEEP IT IN GOOD SHAPE, SO THE NEXT PERSON CAN ENJOY IT.
>> ♪ BECAUSE YOUR MINE, I WALK THE LINE