Forbidden Microphone

Bob Crowley had done a post a few days ago on his Microphonium blog about the Telefunken MD 418-4 microphone that I've been meaning to collect some vaguely related images for.

This is a shot of Leslie Nielson holding a movie prop microphone in the film, "Forbidden Planet". The film was made in 1956, back before Nielson discovered greater success as a comic actor. But that microphone, which was a prop made for the film, always intrigued me.

Basically, it was a hand-held that, when the actor pressed a button, illuminated the clear plastic head. The style of the prop microphone was very close to a real microphone that had been used by amateur radio operators for years, and manufactured by Astatic.

The D-104 had a venerable history and was one of the most often seen microphones for two-way radio over the years. This is probably why the 1956 prop guys designed the "futuristic" version for spaceship C57D's intercom and radio systems to look like a D-104. At least, that's what I've always speculated...

I wonder whatever happened to those prop microphones that were made for the movie? They made at least two of them. One had a clip holder on the wall of the control room, and the pilot's console had a clip holder for one on the desk. Both were used during the first ten minutes of the film a number of times.

If you've got any sort of interest in sound engineering, by the way, Bob Crowley's Microphonium blog needs to be added into your online "favorites" list. Bob is an absolutely brilliant inventor, and in collaboration with Hugh Tripp, has built up a line of top performing microphones using cutting edge technology.

Based in Ashland, MA, Crowley & Tripp may not be strictly on-topic for the Wormtown Taxi blog, but that's right in my back yard as far as operating amateur radio is concerned.