Random photos, comics, etc.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Jebus, the same seller also has a complete Western Electric/RCA Photophone rack. We still have the art-deco gold and black grill covers for ours but most of the internals are long gone, handful of odds and ends floating around we could maybe "fake" one with. Ours were built into the booth walls, we still use the rack frames, had no idea they were designed to be free-standing too.


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[Ryan Gallagher]

When Vitaphone was in mainstream use, I wonder how often the wrong side of a record was accidentally placed on a turntable. The only complete set of 16" Vitaphone discs I've seen did not have consecutive sides on a record (it couldn't, or else it would be impossible to prepare sides 1 and 2 for playback on a pair of projectors, etc.) - they were 1-10, 2-9, etc. - and the side/reel number was not marked on the label in very large print. I remember thinking that selecting the wrong side would be a very easy mistake to make.

I've never seen any of that in person. But considering your concerns, it kinda shocks me they even offered them as 2 sided for that exact reason. I have plenty of EPs in my 33rpm collection that were released as a single sided 12" disc. Or multi disc sets where the last disc is only one sided.

It would make sense that back then prints would "accumulate" a bunch of markings... cause prints tended to "tour", unlike in the modern climax of film where they were released somewhat nationwide simultaneously. A release print might only play a single venue before ending up in the bin. Now in the tail end of film projection, we are back to touring prints again... thank god for the standardization of leaders and cues.

Ohh forgot this is a random photos thread. Here ya go. Someone has this well cared for brenograph F7 on ebay. At a steep collector price (probably cause tons of effect accessories are included). Too bad... our booth used to house one or two of those also in the vaudeville days, would be a great lobby display partner to the Brenkert 80 Supreme.

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[Leo Enticknap]

According to Wikipedia, the "Academy leader" standard, including the placement of motor and over cues, was first published in November 1930, revised in 1934 (though not significantly), and is now codified by SMPTE 301:2005. From my unscientific memory, Hollywood release prints containing cues made by punching holes in the dupe negs from which they were struck were commonplace by the early to mid 1930s. All Quiet on the Western Front was released on April 21, 1930, so likely just before prints started to be shipped with standardized cue marks on them from the lab, hence that cue sheet. Agreed with your speculation that the reason for the standardization was likely botched changeovers and/or prints accumulating a blizzard of homebrew cues in all sorts of different places plaguing the industry.

When Vitaphone was in mainstream use, I wonder how often the wrong side of a record was accidentally placed on a turntable. The only complete set of 16" Vitaphone discs I've seen did not have consecutive sides on a record (it couldn't, or else it would be impossible to prepare sides 1 and 2 for playback on a pair of projectors, etc.) - they were 1-10, 2-9, etc. - and the side/reel number was not marked on the label in very large print. I remember thinking that selecting the wrong side would be a very easy mistake to make.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I've noticed that changeovers on fades to black happens on about 70-80% of reel ends in "classic Hollywood" (1920s to '50s) movies, after which editors seemed to stop caring and they happen at random positions.

I would be tempted to speculate that they were perfectly capable of dreaming up scribed cue marks from the get go... but at some point in the early presentation history they "cared" enough to not blemish the presentation with visible cue marks. But over time the number of missed cues and bad screenings convinced them it was the lesser of two evils?

Or perhaps projectionists typically made some kind of visible mark, but it just didn't "come from the lab" that way... and the cue sheet was more intended to instruct where they should take place, projectionist marks or not.

[Leo Enticknap]

I've noticed that changeovers on fades to black happens on about 70-80% of reel ends in "classic Hollywood" (1920s to '50s) movies, after which editors seemed to stop caring and they happen at random positions.

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No ... really?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Before there were cue dots. Change the reel, change the record.

fascinating history! That reads more like a stage managers cue sheet (whom either had to watch the action on stage or read the sheet music!). These are pretty normal skills in the live theatre world, I guess it makes sense that film exhibition once it moved to cange-over longer films would have started out that way!

I would have assumed silent pictures, but this example is obviously from a talkie! Although 1930 is not too far removed from the first talkies.

Makes me want to print that and watch it for fun, see if I could have managed:
https://archive.org/details/All.Quie...nt.1930_201605

[Mark Ogden]

Before there were cue dots. Change the reel, change the record.


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[Leo Enticknap]

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So in this neighborhood, if you want to cause an horrific pile up, total a dozen vehicles, and send a bunch of people to the hospital, remember to do so on the Sabbath if you don't want to be sued.

[Leo Enticknap]

Apart from the infamous toilet paper shortage during covid, this must be the first time I've seen a supermarket try to discourage buying in bulk...

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[Frank Cox]

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............

[Jim Cassedy]

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"That's All Folks!"

[Leo Enticknap]

This is more likely to get a giggle from UK and European readers. As a note of explanation for those on this side of the pond, Ryanair is infamous for customer service and junk fees that would make Spirit and JetBlue look like private jet operators....

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[Jim Cassedy]

I don't think the manager of my local supermarket majored in geography at college...

In my local supermarket over the weekend, for the upcoming July 4th holiday I saw
some "patriotic" red, white and blue Italian ice cups- - that were made in Mexico !

[Leo Enticknap]

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From Mark's letter above, interesting that Disney had their London offices on Pall Mall, and not Wardour Street, which was considered the epicenter of the British film industry at the time, and where all (well, it seems nearly all) the Hollywood distributors had their London offices, along with Rank and the other domestic ones.

[Martin McCaffery]

Be interesting to see what the end up with. RKO used to distribute Disney films before Disney created Buena Vista. Sure RKO never owned the rights, and I wonder what similar deals they had.