I had combed the auction floor desperately searching for something imaginative, hoping that I’d find an item that would force me to consider its uniqueness. I was doing a walk-through before a Decorative Arts sale at one of my regular auction houses, and was certain that something would turn up. Usually, a nifty lamp or an unusual piece of furniture or wall hanging would be lurking in plain sight.
All were apparently in hiding on this day because nothing was calling my name. Just as I was about to give up, an assistant mentioned that she wanted to see how much a set of Noguchi tables would go for. I hadn’t noticed the tables, so I followed her into the room where the sale of furniture and other top-named items was starting.
Along the way, I read the bid sheet, which described the tables as “Noguchi style,” so my interest waned. With their curved black bases and glass tops, the coffee and side tables truly did resemble the works of sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
As I stood near them, I noticed an item I had completely overlooked in my walk-through. It was a glass box with a turntable inside. In fact, it looked more like a work of art than a utilitarian apparatus for playing records. It was quite lovely in its transparency.
I had not seen so immodest a record player before, and was curious about the maker. The auction bid sheet described it as “Michel Turntable Record Player. High Quality Turntable in Custom Glass Cabinet. Michel Turntable was used in the movie ‘Clockwork Orange.'”
A guest appearance in Stanley Kubrick’s “Clockwork Orange?” Now, I was genuinely intrigued.
In Googling, I found out that the turntable was a Transcriptors Skeleton designed by the founder of the company that produced the one seen in the 1971 movie. That was actually a Hydraulic Reference turntable.
The Hydraulic’s origin was muddled on several websites, which had combined the design history of Transcriptors founder David Gammon and Michell Engineering founder John Michell. Both made high-quality turntables that were very similar. Their individual websites kept the histories separate.
According to the Transcriptors site, Gammon created his design of the Hydraulic Reference based on the look and workings of some 17th and 18th century clocks and watches. He eschewed the wooden cabinets of most turntables, wanting instead to allow buyers to see the parts.
Gammon started the business in 1960 in Borenhamwood, just north of London, making turntables and accessories. The Hydraulic was made in 1964.
In the late 1960s, Michell moved his company to the area and started making parts for Gammon and others, according to both websites. When Gammon moved to Ireland in the early 1970s, the two entered into an agreement licensing Michell to produce the Hydraulic Reference turntable. These were tagged J.A. Michell Eng. Ltd, according to the Michell website.
Michell built his own turntable in 1977, calling it the Michell Reference Electronic.
Both men seemed to have some connection to Kubrick. In 1969, the director approached Gammon about using a Hydraulic in “Clockwork Orange.” In the movie, the turntable turns up twice, the first time as actor Malcolm McDowell listened to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Michell built the spaceship Discovery for Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and provided models and parts for other films, according to the company website.
Gammon came up with the Skeleton – like the one sold at the auction – around 1973, and it became a hit when he moved to the United States a year later, according to the Transcriptors website.
Here’s a YouTube video of a Skeleton playing John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things.”
I wasn’t around when the turntable sold, so I’m not sure how popular it was among bidders.
