SubscribeListening to the sounds of noisemakers
My auction buddy Janet seems to like noisemakers. She’s always picking up a few here and there at auctions. Usually, she chooses the tin toys with black images on them.
Clackers, clippers and clappers, that’s what they’re sometimes called, depending on what type you’re holding. They should also be called racket-makers, because they are very very loud and annoying. You can find them in various types: rachet, rattle, shaker and paddle.
She found six of these noisemakers in vivid lithographic colors at auction recently, three with black figures and three with Halloween witches, blacks cats and pumpkins.
The black noisemakers appeared to be from the 1940s or 1950s, and the men painted on them were singing (they were described on the web as minstrels). The sound that came out of them was not harmony but ear-splitting noise – the kind you’d expect when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. Curious me, I decided to listen to their sounds.
I gave the ratchets a twirl. Listen for yourself. Click on the Play button to the right on the player (you may want to turn down the Volume at the left to keep from disturbing your neighbor):
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I also shook the witch noisemaker. You can listen to that one here:
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And I paddled the ball:
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Like just about everything else, noisemakers are collectors’ items. From my research, I found that collectors are always looking for the tin ones, which were made by several U.S. manufacturers. The name you find most often on them is Kirchhof of Newark, NJ, with its trademark wording ”Kirchhof ‘Life of the Party.’ Kirchhof, Newark, NJ. Made in USA.”
The company began making them in the early 1900s, according to the the website Country Joe’s Collectibles. Its earliest ones were made of tin with wood handles, according to the website, and they were later made with plastic handles. This site has some neat noisemakers for sale and also for viewing, including one with clowns. You can view more with black images on this site, and this one has some early wooden noisemakers (search for the word “wood”).
Other U.S. makers included T. Cohn, J. Chein & Co., and Bugle Boy. The black ones that Janet likes were made by U.S. Metal Toy Mfg. Co. I also came across some noisemakers made in Japan.
I also found Grogger, the Purim noisemaker, that worshippers sound when the rabbi mentions the name “Haman”in the reading of the Megillah on Purim at synagogue. The idea is to drown out the name ”Haman,” the villian of the story and an enemy of the Jewish people.
The website Welcome to Halloween noted that Halloween noisemakers likely began in Germany. You can see some images on the site.
If you’re not a collector, there are plenty of websites that will show you how to make your own, and the process seemed very basic. There are also sites that will show you how to teach your children to make them.
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I started going to auctions to fuel my love for African American art – but at a bargain. I love the old masters: Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith. I wanted to find their works and discover other veteran artists whose works may have been hiding in an attic or basement, and forgotten.
