Neuchâtel (10/2/1983)

Sunday, October 2, 1983
Marsha C called at 11:00 to say she didn’t feel well enough to go to Neuchâtel today. So I went by myself, taking the 13:33 train for the half-price round trip fare of 6.60 CHF/$3.25. I arrived shortly before 14:00 and took my time walking to the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire/Art & History Museum that didn’t open until 14:00. There were carnival rides left over from the grape festival the week before. At the museum I bought a 4 CHF/$2 ticket and the lady asked if I wanted to see the “automates.” Yes!

Musée d'Art et d'Histoire/
Art & History Museum ticket

She had the guard direct me to where the 14:15 performance was beginning. There in a corner behind felt covered stairs (for sitting) were the three automatons in old French costumes. The female pianist turned her head slightly and breathed the whole time! First there was a slide show in French giving the history of the watchmaker Jacquet-Droz and his “dolls,” made in the 1700s. The mechanisms were explained, similar to the workings of a clock. And the history of each automaton was given. They have changed costumes and wigs a few times! Then a couple men came out to demonstrate the automatons. First the pianist: her various movements were shown like the head and eyes following the hands, the breathing, and the slight bow after the performance, the arms moving side to side, and the fingers each moving. They showed that the piano could be played by anyone. Then they would up the pianist and she played an unfamiliar tune. She got stuck once, but one of the men quickly prodded her on. She bowed and was made to play another tune. The man tilted her back to show that if her fingers didn’t hit the keys, no sound was made, thus, she really was playing the piano. Another bow.
Next they brought forward the automaton that draws. He drew a profile of Louis XIV on a tiny piece of paper. His basic movements were side to side, forward and back, and a combination to draw a circle, which was demonstrated when a man fiddled in the back of the automaton. Also the downward motion to bring the pencil to the paper. As it drew, the automaton was wheeled around the railing where we were allowed to stand for a closer look. At certain moments, the automaton pulled back his head and a sudden forward movement created a puff of air through his mouth to blow away graphite dust. He did this regularly as he drew. Next he drew a dog and wrote “Mon Toutou.”
He continued drawing as the writing automaton was brought forward. We were shown the complex mechanism inside the back of the automaton. Wow! He could be programmed to write up to 42 characters lines by the insertion of certain tabs in a disc. This regulated which discs on a circular column was to be followed to create a letter. But first the automaton swung his feather pen over to dip in the tiny inkwell. He did this twice and the man blotted the pen for him. The automaton positioned his slate over and down and began to write “Les automates.” He moved to a new line after dipping for ink. Zing! It was almost like a typewriter with the slate moving over and up. Then he stopped. The man wound at a couple places. The automaton continued to write “de Jacquet-Droz.” Zing! Another line: “a Neuchâtel.” Finished. The man showed us other examples of the writing, in German, English, Latin, etc.!
As a finale, the man pulled out a tiny music box and popped it open to reveal a tiny bird who chirped and sang remarkably like a real bird. The miniscule beak opened and closed, the head weaved around, the whole bird twirled, and the tiny wings flapped. The bird was no more than an inch tall! He stopped twittering. “Forgot to feed him,” the man said! He took a key out of the box and wound it up. We all got a close-up look at the bird. Then they sold the “original” works of the artist and the writer and the show was over.
I went through the rest of the museum with its beautiful displays. Clocks and watches, ceramics, toys, armor and swords, uniforms, clothing, furniture, coins, gold plates, etc. I went upstairs to see the other rooms and look down on items displayed on the top of the display cases below! There were several giant music boxes you could “wind” to play the songs. I went across the lobby to the other side of the museum to see modern paintings. Then upstairs to see a row of tiny paintings by big names. like Renoir. The top floor was closed off. I went to look at the postcards to see what I was missing. A lot! When buying a couple postcards, the lady explained they were rearranging the upstairs, and that the museum was open Thursday nights for free, and did I live in Neuchâtel? No, Bienne. Jabber, jabber! I left about 15:00 and walked through the carnival up the hill to catch the 15:40 train for Biel, arriving at 16:10.
Later I walked down to the Palace Cinema and bought two tickets for the movie “Flashdance” at 18:30. I waited for Marsha who drove up with Urs. He had to buy his own ticket! I thought it would be in the genre of “Saturday Night Fever,” but it was a bit different! Marsha drove me home.

Flashdance movie ticket