Remember these? This photo wasn't taken in the 70s but in my living room about 10 minutes ago!
Turns out you can buy a new version, although this is one of those were you just can't beat the original. Apparently the new one has batteries, but I remember one of my favorite things was turning the crank. Sometimes I wouldn't turn it enough and the song would stop playing too soon, but I loved winding it up all over again. I had the British version of this, so the songs are probably different from the one that was available in the U.S. those many years ago - London Bridge, Camptown Races, Edelweiss...
Such a lovely piece of nostalgia and I'm very thankful to my mother for storing it away all these years. When I bought it home from England in my carry on luggage, I watched the guy at the x-ray machine stare at it for a while and tap his co-worker to ask an opinion on what it was, before passing it through. Glad I tend to pack light because it was totally worth it to bring this home.
