Story-Telling Machines Once Brought In Customers; Now It’s Collectors

Jo and William Snyder have a collection of machines, vintage 1930 to 1950, in their home in Orange, machines that only the more mature among us would recognize or remember.

Those fortunate enough to get an invitation to view their 38 Baranger Automata Motion Machines would get an eyeful of the genius of the craftsmanship of those days. They also might wonder why only 3,300 of the intricate machines were made.

Or for that matter, why no one has made anything like them since.

Even more amazing, none was ever sold, only rented. And of the 110 designs, only 30 of each were made.

“We like to call them our big boy toys,” said Jo Snyder, who revels in the intricate workings and the acted-out stories involving small figures powered through their routines by electricity.

For instance, one is a young man who brings a ladder to a second-story window to elope with his fiancee only to be caught in the act by the girl’s father, dressed in nightcap and nightshirt, who sends him packing.

“We just never get tired of watching them,” she said, noting that the Pasadena-made devices have become prized possessions of collectors who pay thousands of dollars for the electric-powered machines, which came with their own custom-made shipping cartons.

They once were rented for $25 to $45 a month by jewelry stores, where they were used as window displays to attract customers.

“I think jewelers of today would love to rent them,” Snyder said, pointing out that they operated 24 hours a day. “Once you see them in motion, you would understand why they attracted so much attention during those years, and why we collect them. They’re just utterly charming.”

They said they feel the same about their other collections: their “eight or nine” restored Packard cars, antique toys, silver spoons, perfume bottles, car-hood ornaments and William Snyder’s massive automotive library.

But for their major at-home enjoyment, Snyder said, “We just never tire of watching the machines, and watching people enjoy themselves while looking at them.”

Finding the machines “proves our theory that if you do something nice for someone, it comes back to you,” she added, referring to the time they were doing a favor for a friend and happened to run into an estate sale that included the motion machines.

“We got hooked on them, but it’s been sheer joy.”

Marge Hansen of Fullerton is making plans to get her mother together with her six sisters and brother for a sort of reunion.

“They all got together two years ago, and they ought to see each other again in a group,” the 51-year-old Hansen said. “When they get up in age, you never know.”

Her mother, Trilby Easton of Fullerton, is the oldest at 85. The youngest is 70.

Not to worry, though. “Mother’s doctor told her she’s (from) good stock,” Hansen said.

Douglas Arthur of Placentia is in serious practice for his 10th annual 100-mile solo bicycle run. It’s sort of a short ride, though, considering that he took a solo 2,500-mile bicycle tour of England a couple of years ago.

It took two months from start to finish, Arthur said.

He expects to do this year’s 100-mile trip in one day, as he has for the most part in the past. He says he does it “just so I can brag about it. Besides, there’s lot of us doing it these days.”

Arthur is 80.

You see, there were these six colorful mandarin ducks in the atrium of Embassy Suites Hotel in Santa Ana. None had a name.

So the Suites people asked the Santa Ana Unified School District, with which they are associated as a learning program partner, to hold a contest to name the ducks.

Embassy Suites spokeswoman Karen Cope said the six winners of the duck-naming contest were invited to a duck party and were driven there in a limousine. They also were given a mug with their winning duck’s name, goodies and a tour of the hotel.

The students were Jeremiah Chavarria, Pedro Gonzales, David Hernandez, Joseph Gardea, Ivette Arteaga and Carlos Bravo.

The winning names? Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Golda Meir, Betsy Ross and Martha Washington.