It’s an anniversary year for Shure (or Shure Brothers for those still around).
Mrs. Rose Shure is celebrating her 65th year with the well-known microphone, headphone and maker of other audio equipment. Rose Shure was the wife of Shure Founder Sidney N. Shure. She’s also the Chairman of the company.
What kind of watch do you get for 65 years’ service?
As if that wasn’t enough, it’s a big 75th birthday for the legendary Shure Model 55 Unidyne microphone.
Introduced in 1939, “The Unidyne microphone was the first directional microphone that used a single dynamic mic element. Using a single element reduced the size, weight, and manufactured cost, increased reliability, and significantly improved the acoustical performance,” a release succinctly explains.
The Unidyne also looks really cool. Too burly to be Art Deco or Art Moderne, its chrome grille, really more like a knight’s helmet, looks like it can stand up to anything. It was several years ahead of the similar beefy chrome auto grilles that post-war cars would sport until everyone decided tailfins were where it was at … For want of a better phrase, call it Techno Moderne or Techno Deco.
Shure happily lets you know that everyone from Frank and Elvis to presidents (and a few dictators) along with assuredly a lot of bands used the Unidyne to deliver the audio goods.
It’d be hard to make a 1940s–50s movie and stage a scene in a radio station or with a singer and not have something looking like the Unidyne in it.
So happy birthday, Unidyne. Check this photo out.
