Talk:Organ grinder

Clean Up
This page could handle some clean up. Sentences such as "The picture on this page is a good example for a modern organ grinder, as he is very well dressed." do not look very appropriate in an encyclopedic format. Also, the Modern Usage section is rather unorganized and almost superfluous. Centrisian (talk) 00:17, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

I agree. This sentence in particular sounds more like opinion than fact: "Often, they would make more money than was earned by the people who made donations. Of course, they dressed shabbily to conceal this fact. City dwellers who needed some measure of quiet for their writings or their scientific reflections could absolutely loathe organ grinders." --DOHC Holiday (talk) 14:43, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Public affection
The article gives the strong impression that organ grinders were an utter nuisance in the urban west of the 19th century, but presumably enough people enjoyed their performances to support a large concentration of them, so I wonder if any expressions of esteem can be found in contemporary sources or how else their survival can be explained. The statement about New York having one on every block needs a source: that is really remarkable if true. If indeed they were so widespread and yet so reviled this needs to be explained somehow. Why didn't they simply pack in the organ-grinding and become straightforward beggars if their music was so unpopular? Beorhtwulf (talk) 18:45, 27 February 2011 (UTC)