Then at the Wallet Instant Wallet Nose Flute, at the Snoot Flute, and at the Numero 9, my koa uke built by master Gérard Guasch:
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Showing posts with label Snoot-flute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snoot-flute. Show all posts
Jul 23, 2016
Selfie with Uke Master Will Grove-White
NoseFlute.Org was honoured by the visit of Mr. Will Grove-White (and family), respectable member of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) and reknowned nose flute enthousiast! Very proud of this unmerited honour, Noseflute.org associated with the incomparable Nosy Diva to take a fluty selfie with Will's pair of young bodyguards, in front of the Neptune fountain (Nancy, France).
Then at the Wallet Instant Wallet Nose Flute, at the Snoot Flute, and at the Numero 9, my koa uke built by master Gérard Guasch:
Then at the Wallet Instant Wallet Nose Flute, at the Snoot Flute, and at the Numero 9, my koa uke built by master Gérard Guasch:
Jul 8, 2016
The Rare, Amazing and Ugly Snoot-Flute!
To fish a Snoot-Flute was a quest. Do you remember the highly desirable Snoot-Flute, kind of a Nosy Grail for the nose flute collector ?... We had published the beautiful advertisement (see here) which was published in the Kenner toy catalog. We also had written a long article about Nelson Ronsheim (NFHoF), its funny and creative inventor (see here)…
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Well, we just were incredibly joyful when we recently found a Snoot-Flute!
It was very dirty and the cardboard was a wreck, having enormous moist blotches. I cleaned it a bit with a soft eraser, tried with diluted Hydrogen peroxide, but was not able to get the brown blotches to a lighter color. So, I just passed it a minute over steam, then carefully ironed it. Too bad that this card is so damaged, the design by Nelson Ronsheim is so great...
1.- The Cardboard
The design is tremendous, very vintage, with its oblique lines separating colored areas. Many of the typographics were hand drawn, including the adorable big logo. Here is a scan of my board. But I didn't resist providing also a 'digitally restored' version (yes yes, some work again:), to show how the paper should have looked when still new:
The first thing I noticed gave me an 'official' answer to the question of the date. I thought the Snoot-Flute was dating of the early 1960s, and a reader of this blog then posted a comment asserting « that is a page from the 1963 Kenner catalog. It's not in the '62 or '64 catalogs so it looks like it only lasted a year.». It would need some investigation to check if the Snoot-Flute ad really appeared in the 1963 catalog then, and above all, in other vintages. But... One thing is now sure and ascertained, the Snoot-Flute dates of 1959!!
The 'Pats. Pend.' should never have been registered, since I never found any traces of them and the date is not so far to have disappeared from the patent office.
Indeed, this part of the cardboard was totally unknown to me. The only picture I had was the catalog advertisement which showed the nose flute clipped on the paper, masking this essential info. Then, Mr. Michael Smith (Nelson Ronsheim's grandson) had sent me the only picture he had, and there again, the flute was clipped on the board (there).
By the way, please note the differences (colors, text, oblique lines) between the cardboard design on the catalog ad and the one that was actually printed:
Another nice surprise was to discover the user manual, announced by the mention 'Directions underneath', but also masked by the flute. I was surprised to read « To play different notes, breathe harder or softer » which is only really true associated with « and change the shape of your lips. » I think it is the very first time I read this advice in a nose flute instructions sheet.
Also hidden under the Snoot-Flute, a nice little drawing:
2.- The Nose Flute
On that topic also — the instrument by itself – a great mystery was still laying: on the catalog ad and on Michael Smith's picture, as well as on the pictures of the advertisement I got the Snoot-Flute from, the flute is displayed reversed side, showing its back only. How was the front ? The only design that was helpful for imagination was the one on the cardboard with the kid playing: rather flat front on its top part...
Have you seen how ugly it is ?? Hahaha! That was my first surprise when I open the parcel I received. The front of the flute is never shown, because it looks horrible! Very funny, and I love this flute even more. Have you seen the very crappy and distended yellow plastic sheet covering the front?
The second thing that surprised me is that, I was expecting a sturdy and thick plastic nose flute, and I got the lightest instrument. Among the plastic nose flutes, it is the lightest I know, even lighter that the Humanatone (3g) that is much smaller. The Snoot-Flute weight 2.5 grams!!
In fact, this nose flute is really clever. The plastic is very thin… because the Snoot-Flute was produced by thermoforming! Not injected plastic. As you know, the thermoforming uses a hot shape upon which is placed a sheet of thin plastic, while vacuum is produced in order to stick down the sheet and form it according to the shape. It is the only nose flute I know made this way. This explain why the front is so flat. The (red) bottom was thermoformed and at the same time the (yellow) flat top was superposed and glued by fusion on its sides. I suppose that it is at this very moment that this softened (yellow) part got a bit bulged (Some air was probably blown into the nose intake, to avoid the yellow sheet to stick the red one).
There are still some embossed points visible on the red part: the points where ejection pushrods did their work. There are 3 pairs of them (top, middle, bottom). If you take a look, they are also visible on the Michael Smith's picture, as well as the bizarre kind-of-boomerang shape. But this weird shape is not at the same place on both flutes, and it should be a mark made from but after ejection:
Oh! The sound? Well the sound quality is not so bad and quite powerful, just a bit sqwacking in the sharps:
---
Don't you think it looks much like a...
---
Now, let just make a fake picture, just for the pleasure of looking at a mint Snoot-Flute:
---
Well, we just were incredibly joyful when we recently found a Snoot-Flute!
It was very dirty and the cardboard was a wreck, having enormous moist blotches. I cleaned it a bit with a soft eraser, tried with diluted Hydrogen peroxide, but was not able to get the brown blotches to a lighter color. So, I just passed it a minute over steam, then carefully ironed it. Too bad that this card is so damaged, the design by Nelson Ronsheim is so great...
1.- The Cardboard
The design is tremendous, very vintage, with its oblique lines separating colored areas. Many of the typographics were hand drawn, including the adorable big logo. Here is a scan of my board. But I didn't resist providing also a 'digitally restored' version (yes yes, some work again:), to show how the paper should have looked when still new:
The first thing I noticed gave me an 'official' answer to the question of the date. I thought the Snoot-Flute was dating of the early 1960s, and a reader of this blog then posted a comment asserting « that is a page from the 1963 Kenner catalog. It's not in the '62 or '64 catalogs so it looks like it only lasted a year.». It would need some investigation to check if the Snoot-Flute ad really appeared in the 1963 catalog then, and above all, in other vintages. But... One thing is now sure and ascertained, the Snoot-Flute dates of 1959!!
The 'Pats. Pend.' should never have been registered, since I never found any traces of them and the date is not so far to have disappeared from the patent office.
Indeed, this part of the cardboard was totally unknown to me. The only picture I had was the catalog advertisement which showed the nose flute clipped on the paper, masking this essential info. Then, Mr. Michael Smith (Nelson Ronsheim's grandson) had sent me the only picture he had, and there again, the flute was clipped on the board (there).
By the way, please note the differences (colors, text, oblique lines) between the cardboard design on the catalog ad and the one that was actually printed:
Another nice surprise was to discover the user manual, announced by the mention 'Directions underneath', but also masked by the flute. I was surprised to read « To play different notes, breathe harder or softer » which is only really true associated with « and change the shape of your lips. » I think it is the very first time I read this advice in a nose flute instructions sheet.
Also hidden under the Snoot-Flute, a nice little drawing:
2.- The Nose Flute
On that topic also — the instrument by itself – a great mystery was still laying: on the catalog ad and on Michael Smith's picture, as well as on the pictures of the advertisement I got the Snoot-Flute from, the flute is displayed reversed side, showing its back only. How was the front ? The only design that was helpful for imagination was the one on the cardboard with the kid playing: rather flat front on its top part...
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The second thing that surprised me is that, I was expecting a sturdy and thick plastic nose flute, and I got the lightest instrument. Among the plastic nose flutes, it is the lightest I know, even lighter that the Humanatone (3g) that is much smaller. The Snoot-Flute weight 2.5 grams!!
In fact, this nose flute is really clever. The plastic is very thin… because the Snoot-Flute was produced by thermoforming! Not injected plastic. As you know, the thermoforming uses a hot shape upon which is placed a sheet of thin plastic, while vacuum is produced in order to stick down the sheet and form it according to the shape. It is the only nose flute I know made this way. This explain why the front is so flat. The (red) bottom was thermoformed and at the same time the (yellow) flat top was superposed and glued by fusion on its sides. I suppose that it is at this very moment that this softened (yellow) part got a bit bulged (Some air was probably blown into the nose intake, to avoid the yellow sheet to stick the red one).
There are still some embossed points visible on the red part: the points where ejection pushrods did their work. There are 3 pairs of them (top, middle, bottom). If you take a look, they are also visible on the Michael Smith's picture, as well as the bizarre kind-of-boomerang shape. But this weird shape is not at the same place on both flutes, and it should be a mark made from but after ejection:
Oh! The sound? Well the sound quality is not so bad and quite powerful, just a bit sqwacking in the sharps:
---
Don't you think it looks much like a...
---
Now, let just make a fake picture, just for the pleasure of looking at a mint Snoot-Flute:
Sep 6, 2012
Nose Flute Pioneers : Nelson Ronsheim
With the "Nose Flute Pioneers" series, Noseflute.org enters a little cycle of research. I hope it won't be too arid for a blog, but I really think that the facts I found have to be published. The sources : Google patents, US Census and an access to newspaper archives. But also, depending on the topic, correspondence by e-mail with descendants. Let's better say : internet searching tools available for a Frenchie not able to access US real paper archives.
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You certainly remember the Snoot-Flute, which advertisement was presented here one year ago. Ans as we wrote at that time : « Dating of early 1960s (?), the Snoot-Flute was made by PAR Beverage Corp, Cincinnati, OH. This company was actually the predecessor of Kenner Toys (the prefix "PAR" were the initials of the company founder Joseph Steiner's associates : his brother Philip and Albert, and their cousin Robert).
PAR Beverage, and then Kenner Toys, produced many plastic toys, the Bubble-matic gun, the Give-a-Show projector, the Easy-Bake and the famous Spirograph. »
The Snoot-Flute was designed by Nelson Ronsheim (1905-1981), and I retrieved his grandson, Mr. Michael Smith, who gently sent me a biography of Nelson, and also this picture of the actual Snoot-Flute with its packaging (Michael doesn't own himself a Snoot-Flute, and thus cannot send more pictures) :
About the name "Snoot-Flute", Michael wrote :
« My grandfather, Nelson Ronsheim, was quite fond of classical music and had a large collection of recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Dvorak. It was with the intention, perhaps, of adding another instrument to the wind section of the orchestra that he invented the snoot flute.
Another possibility is that my grandfather "invented" this instrument as a bit of humor, he was somewhat of a jokester and enjoyed making a play on words. I'm not certain how "snoot" translates in French, Antoine, but in English it is a somewhat obsolete reference to one's nose, a bit like the word "keister" for the derriere.
However, take just one of the two "o"s out of "snoot" and you have "snot", which is a crude reference to the bodily fluid which resides in the nose and may be blown into a handkerchief. But that's not all; place an apostrophe in the word "snot" and you have "s'not", as in "s'not (a) flute" or, more clearly, "it's not a flute". »
We do not contest Michael Smith's statement, but we would like to add that the name "Snoot-Flute" was however already used as a nickname for the nose flutes (notably for the plastic Humanatone). Here are 2 ads dating of 1950 (much earlier than the PAR Bev. Snoot-Flute) in which appears the name (Sedalia Democrat, Apr. 4 & 6+7, 1950):
Nose Flute Pioneers : Nelson Ronsheim
Nelson Ronsheim's self portrait (oct 1937)
About Nelson Ronsheim's life, the best is to quote Michael Smith writing :
Nelson Ronsheim (1905 - 1981) attended the Cincinnati Art Academy when still in elementary school, perhaps the youngest student ever to do so. After working a short while for an advertising firm, at the age of 23, Ronsheim set out on his own as a commercial artist.
Nelson Ronsheim (foreground) at the Cincinnati Art Academy (1922).
From his High School year book :
Though skilled with pen and brush, Ronsheim gravitated to photography as a means of artistic expression. From as early as 1923, he mastered the use of a complex camera to record life in Cincinnati. After acquiring additional photographic equipment in 1938, Ronsheim embarked on an intense effort to capture on film the familiar scenes of his native city. As a student of history, Ronsheim appreciated the transitional nature of the late 1930s and sought to preserve in photographs the city as he knew it, anticipating that these images would become more fascinating with time.
This period of intense photographic activity lasted just four years, brought to an end by World War II's rationing of fuel and raw material. Yet Ronsheim created roughly 800 images of Cincinnati during this time. Ronsheim entered photographs in the Master Photo Finishers of America annual contests in 1939 and 1940 and each year received several awards.
(...)
Here are some (beautiful!!) pictures by Nelson Ronsheim. You can watch at much more of them on these pages.
As a commercial artist, Ronsheim was successful and well regarded. Baby-boomers who acquired Kenner toys in their youth may have admired Ronsheim's work, as he provided all the artwork for Kenner's packages, advertisements and instruction material. Ronsheim, in fact, is credited with naming the company, albeit unintentionally. When dispatching art proofs to the firm's office on Kenner Street, Ronsheim wrote the address "1026 Kenner St.", later shortening it to "Kenner St." and finally just "Kenner", the name that stuck. Ronsheim was mechanically minded and his tinkering resulted in a number of patents. He also authored and illustrated several children's books.
Indeed, here are 2 patents filed by Nelson Ronsheim. The first one, in collab. with Charles Metzler, for a mount for films, and the second, as assignor to Peters & Russell Inc., for a cleat :
Nelson Ronsheim in 1958 :
Fellow Cincinnatian Henry Levison, founder of Permanent Pigments Co. and developer of Liquitex high-viscosity acrylic artist's paints, invited Ronsheim to create paintings demonstrating the advantages of acrylics over traditional oil paints. Having just retired, Ronsheim accepted Levison's challenge and between 1970 and 1974 produced over 160 paintings, including the "Genesis Series" featured in the Sunday Enquirer Magazine of September 21, 1975 and a "Best of Show" winner in the 1977 Ohio governor's senior citizens art contest.
Nelson Ronsheim in 1962, and his commercial sign :
A lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ronsheim encouraged appreciation of the city's beauty in features large and small, both natural and manmade. A script he wrote near the end of his life to accompany a photo presentation begins: "Herein speaks the camera, in phrases bright and terse; it supplants the illustrator's brush, his picturing to disperse, and supplements the author's pen, for better or for verse."
in 1976 :
Nelson Ronsheim is elected to The Nose Flute Hall of Fame !
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On the same topic :
- The Rare, Amazing and Ugly Snoot-Flute
---
- Nose Flute Pioneers: William G. Carter - Part I
- Nose Flute Pioneers: William G. Carter - Part II
- Nose Flute Pioneers: William G. Carter - Part III
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Ernest W. Davis - Part I
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Ernest W. Davis - Part II
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Nelson Ronsheim
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Garrett J. Couchois
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---
You certainly remember the Snoot-Flute, which advertisement was presented here one year ago. Ans as we wrote at that time : « Dating of early 1960s (?), the Snoot-Flute was made by PAR Beverage Corp, Cincinnati, OH. This company was actually the predecessor of Kenner Toys (the prefix "PAR" were the initials of the company founder Joseph Steiner's associates : his brother Philip and Albert, and their cousin Robert).
PAR Beverage, and then Kenner Toys, produced many plastic toys, the Bubble-matic gun, the Give-a-Show projector, the Easy-Bake and the famous Spirograph. »
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Michael Smith also answered my question about PAR Beverage, the Cincinnati company which "signed" the Snoot-Flute : « Kenner didn't start out as Kenner, but as a number of different companies all run by Joseph Steiner, his brothers Philip and Albert and nephew Robert. These companies included PAR Beverage (Philip, Albert, Robert), Bromo-Mint, Grandpa Brands, and Cincinnati Soap Company, among others. When Kenner hit it big, they mostly were folded up, except for Grandpa, which was sold, and PAR, which my grandfather took over. PAR continued to make mostly humorous novelty items sold through the national travel chains, such as Stucky's. »
About the name "Snoot-Flute", Michael wrote :
« My grandfather, Nelson Ronsheim, was quite fond of classical music and had a large collection of recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Dvorak. It was with the intention, perhaps, of adding another instrument to the wind section of the orchestra that he invented the snoot flute.
Another possibility is that my grandfather "invented" this instrument as a bit of humor, he was somewhat of a jokester and enjoyed making a play on words. I'm not certain how "snoot" translates in French, Antoine, but in English it is a somewhat obsolete reference to one's nose, a bit like the word "keister" for the derriere.
However, take just one of the two "o"s out of "snoot" and you have "snot", which is a crude reference to the bodily fluid which resides in the nose and may be blown into a handkerchief. But that's not all; place an apostrophe in the word "snot" and you have "s'not", as in "s'not (a) flute" or, more clearly, "it's not a flute". »
We do not contest Michael Smith's statement, but we would like to add that the name "Snoot-Flute" was however already used as a nickname for the nose flutes (notably for the plastic Humanatone). Here are 2 ads dating of 1950 (much earlier than the PAR Bev. Snoot-Flute) in which appears the name (Sedalia Democrat, Apr. 4 & 6+7, 1950):
Nose Flute Pioneers : Nelson Ronsheim
Nelson Ronsheim's self portrait (oct 1937)About Nelson Ronsheim's life, the best is to quote Michael Smith writing :
Nelson Ronsheim (1905 - 1981) attended the Cincinnati Art Academy when still in elementary school, perhaps the youngest student ever to do so. After working a short while for an advertising firm, at the age of 23, Ronsheim set out on his own as a commercial artist.
Nelson Ronsheim (foreground) at the Cincinnati Art Academy (1922).From his High School year book :
Though skilled with pen and brush, Ronsheim gravitated to photography as a means of artistic expression. From as early as 1923, he mastered the use of a complex camera to record life in Cincinnati. After acquiring additional photographic equipment in 1938, Ronsheim embarked on an intense effort to capture on film the familiar scenes of his native city. As a student of history, Ronsheim appreciated the transitional nature of the late 1930s and sought to preserve in photographs the city as he knew it, anticipating that these images would become more fascinating with time.
This period of intense photographic activity lasted just four years, brought to an end by World War II's rationing of fuel and raw material. Yet Ronsheim created roughly 800 images of Cincinnati during this time. Ronsheim entered photographs in the Master Photo Finishers of America annual contests in 1939 and 1940 and each year received several awards.
(...)
Here are some (beautiful!!) pictures by Nelson Ronsheim. You can watch at much more of them on these pages.
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| The Immigrant - 1938 | Moonlight - 1941 |
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| Barrels of Drum - 1939 | Winter on the River - 1940 |
Indeed, here are 2 patents filed by Nelson Ronsheim. The first one, in collab. with Charles Metzler, for a mount for films, and the second, as assignor to Peters & Russell Inc., for a cleat :
 |  |
Nelson Ronsheim in 1958 :
Fellow Cincinnatian Henry Levison, founder of Permanent Pigments Co. and developer of Liquitex high-viscosity acrylic artist's paints, invited Ronsheim to create paintings demonstrating the advantages of acrylics over traditional oil paints. Having just retired, Ronsheim accepted Levison's challenge and between 1970 and 1974 produced over 160 paintings, including the "Genesis Series" featured in the Sunday Enquirer Magazine of September 21, 1975 and a "Best of Show" winner in the 1977 Ohio governor's senior citizens art contest.
Nelson Ronsheim in 1962, and his commercial sign :
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in 1976 :
Nelson Ronsheim is elected to The Nose Flute Hall of Fame !
-----
On the same topic :
- The Rare, Amazing and Ugly Snoot-Flute
---
- Nose Flute Pioneers: William G. Carter - Part I
- Nose Flute Pioneers: William G. Carter - Part II
- Nose Flute Pioneers: William G. Carter - Part III
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Ernest W. Davis - Part I
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Ernest W. Davis - Part II
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Nelson Ronsheim
- Nose Flute Pioneers: Garrett J. Couchois
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Aug 23, 2011
A desirable plastic novelty : the Snoot-flute
Dating of early 1960s [edit : precisely 1959, see here], the Snoot-Flute was made by PAR Beverage Corp, Cincinnati, OH. This company was actually the predecessor of Kenner Toys (the prefix "PAR" were the initials of the company founder Joseph Steiner's associates : his brother Philip and Albert, and their cousin Robert).
PAR Beverage, and then Kenner Toys, produced many plastic toys, the Bubble-matic gun, the Give-a-Show projector, the Easy-Bake and the famous Spirograph.
PAR Beverage, and then Kenner Toys, produced many plastic toys, the Bubble-matic gun, the Give-a-Show projector, the Easy-Bake and the famous Spirograph.
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