Joe K. Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 . A couple original photos: The Robert the Robot record, usually seen as a 7", 45 RPM, also was released as a 10", 78: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1953-ROBERT-THE-ROBOT-Vinyl-Record-with-Sleeve-Large-78-RPM-/291204786513?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43cd286951 Here's the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2bwB7oKYU8 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny Young Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Very nice, thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Nice additions Joe. I saw those pics on e-bay and immediately thought of you from our conversations at Botstock with Kelly about Robert the Robot. The record is a nice piece I'm sure. I collected early rock '78s back in the mid 1970s but I kept breaking the darn things either on my way home from the record shop or snapping them at home. I believe in Canada 78rpm records were made all the way up until 1962 a few years after the U.S. stopped producing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kirk Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Love the brother and sister with the small cow. The family under the tree feels like another world. Would this be 1954? I wasn't born, (though I suppose I was brewing) so for me, it was a different world. That Cricket label is very stylish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Hey Joe, thanks for posting. This robot has developed a soft spot in my heart over the last year. And you posted MY video for the song. COOL. I used the 45 to record those. It was in near mint condition and for some reason, the new record players that are supposed to play 78 don't play them to the end. The arm lift's off the record before it's done. ANd I own two of those players and it happens on both. It's like the grooves go past the auto reject of the turntable. But I was lucky enough to find it on 45...a pic of it is in the video as is one of my drawings of the robot. Anyway, I am proud to have in my collection all four versions of the big Robert (three from the 50's and the 2004 version) as well as the one on the bulldozer which is crank operated. The pics are great...nice to see him in his natural habitat...LOL. Here is a cleaned up version of the one pic through Photoshop. Take care Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Yes Ken, growing up I was always frustrated with the tone arm lifting up before the end of certain records on the fold-down stereos and portable record players...especially '78s with their wide radii grooves at the end. You could fight with the thing all you wanted and it would fight back. In 1977 I added an Empire 698 turntable (which I still use and flawless in operation at nearly 40 years old) 100% manual (after the cueing stopped working), that fixed that problem. Now another rears its head, being able to manage the 1.5 gr. headshell with old hands! Congrats on having all the generations of Robert. Must be interesting to have 'em side-by-side to see the changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 The problem is...these players are only about five years old or newer. I got the first one thinking my problems were solved when it came to playing my dad's old 78's after he passed because the box read "DON'T THROW AWAY THOSE OLD 78'S! PLAY THEM ON THIS BLA BLA BLA! And the 78's all ended before they were finished. So I held out and about two years ago I splurged and bought a higher end model making the same promise and it STILL does it. It's one of those combo turn table, cassett, CD player with radio, USB port for recording capabilities...all the toys. But the 78's aren't the only problem. I have a small collection of those cereal box records like the Archies or Bobby Sherman...and they don't play to the end either.. I wish there was away of turning off the auto reject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Here's the 30 lb monster. Hauled this home on a subway in '77. If anyone sees the glass/walnut cover for the 698 at a decent price please let me know. My Dad threw it out when I had it stored in the apartment locker a few years after I stored it so it wouldn't be broken. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 It's a beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Patroller Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I had this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QutMf9fegrw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blechroboter Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 That´s my contribution from 1956 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Great little pic. Never saw that before. Here's my little Robert army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe K. Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 . Here's a unique catalog sighting of Robert. It's a 1955-56 Toy-O-Rama catalog showing the salesman's sample Toy Fair version: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fineas J. Whoopie Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Looking over the record sleeve art just now I noticed that the remote to Robert that the little boy is holding looks like the early rocket shaped version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I noticed that myself. I have seen plenty of early pictures of the hand held remote looking like the gun, kind of like the one Dr. Atomic showed us at Botstock. It's almost like Ideal planned on using the same remote for both, but later came up with the "square" one. I don't know what changed their mind...I think it's more logical to have some space related remote. Well, I guess the other is somewhat space related with the knobs and stuff on it. But I think the gun would have been better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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