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Woody Logback
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
| April 6, 2003--All Woody Logback needs is a nickel and his complicated hard-carved amusement boxes come to life. On Hatteberg's People this McPherson man says he is a tinkerer. |
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And if you like all things mechanical then Woody is the King of the tinkerers.
Standing in his back yard where a 'yard' windmill takes on the Kansas breeze Woody Logback says he like's the wind, but wishes he had built that windmill a little better.
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It's beautiful, what would we do without the wind. I'm really never happy with anything; it's kind of crude. I should have taken a little more time building it." |
The little windmill is the result of Woody Logback's Tinkering. It's OK, but it's nothing compared to what is inside his workshop.
What Woody has inside -- is a museum of mechanical boxes. Also included are slot machines, carnival toy machines—anything that took ingenuity to build. But his love is 'amusement boxes'.
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Made out of wood, they tell a little story. The figures move, controlled by a complicated set of levers, joints and gears.
They were popular a couple of hundred years ago in Europe. In this country, not many are aware of this art form.
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"I've had some on the workbench a year to a year and a half."
In one creation, a man holding a bottle of liquor has a visit from the devil and pours out the liquor and a flower grows.
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"It is almost like heaven...it is peace."
"I don't know why but it seems like I have to be different. I get absorbed in my own stuff and then when you get it together and it works in sequence, then I appreciate it."
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In Woody's workshop, he has a tool for everything. The shop is so neat, you wonder if he ever works in it. However, just take one look at what he creates and you answer that question. |
Currently, Woody is concocting his latest moving creation; two women who rise from their coffins to get another word in, as a frustrated mortician looks on.
"It makes it fun. I enjoy it."
Fun is what Woody's work is all about---simple to look at but so complicated underneath.
"Seems like I can do about anything but make money." |
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On one shelf, is an amusement box that was a commercial venture in the '40's and '50's. They were usually found in soda shops, hooked to a jukebox. |
| When someone put a nickel in to play a song, a curtain would open and a miniature band would begin to play.
Woody restored the moving parts and the figures of the men in the band.
You can spend hours in Woody's garage wide-eyed as Woody drops nickels into his fantastic creations. Woody has built a life of satisfaction based on his creative mind.
"Somebody told me you have reached success when you have a hobby and other people can enjoy it."
Woody has success! |
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