Photo (left): Normal Rockwell, "Boy in a Dining Car"
Story below: written by my father-in-law
We are adding a little twist to our website here by including delightful nostalgic sound of dinner chimes. This sound may evoke memories of travelling by ship or train and the call for meal time.
I was born in Victoria BC, 1933, and can remember the latter part of the 1930's quite well. Cars were elegant, homes were built with the hopes that families would live in them for a long time and enjoy them for generations. To travel by ship or train generally was a wonderful and relaxing experience and I was fortunate to travel both mediums on quite a few occasions. The meals were presented with the best of dinnerware and surroundings. The meals were announced with beautiful sounding tone bars that were manufactured by a musical instrument company in Chicago, Illinois. Over the years, I have been able to collect four of these wonderful instruments so I am able to create those pleasant sounds from 70 years ago.
These dinner bells are based on the style which J.C. Deagan Company (Chicago, Illinois) made and supplied for railroad and steamship dining rooms and other formal settings. John Kohler worked for Deagan company and joined Otto Liebich for twenty years to produce musical instruments. These dinner chimes are still being used today to announce meal time. A very nostalgic and welcoming sound to introduce dinner or before announcing a message on board ship.
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