The stage of Aeolian Hall, Manhattan, was set for a concert. On it loomed no pianoforte's harp-shaped shadow; no fiddlers tried their strings; no brisk conductor raised his arm. It was bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboard. At the back of this bare stage, there stood a huge screen, black-bordered; down by the footlights were certain metal boxes, each topped with a keyboard of sliding buttons. Before the concert began, a man made a speech. He was Thomas Wilfred, Danish singer, who invented the instrument so curiously composed of the metal boxes, the great screen. He explained his invention,...
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