Nickelodeon

A one machine band, a Direct Mechanical Action Piano, or more commonly called a Nickelodeon. This one instrument plays all the instruments in a piece of music. The Nickelodeon works like a music box with a ‘movement’ or cylinder. Strips of metal protrude from the cylinder, and when they are plucked as the cylinder rotates, this moves the levers. These, in turn, play the piano keys or move other instruments. You would need a few strong people to lift the giant cylinders, each of which contains 10 musical pieces. Restaurateur Bernardo Molinari originally owned the machine, and it was played in his restaurant in Perth from the late 1920s. In 1966 the Nickelodeon was gifted to the Geraldton Historical Society where it was restored. It made an appearance in the Sunshine Festival in Geraldton and then went on display in the Cue Museum.