Ok, gang. It’s time to roll out the blog projector and have another movie. This time, it’s an animal film made on location in East Africa over 50 years ago: HATARI (which is Swahili for “Danger.”) The plot centers around an African game ranch that captures animals for zoos BTD (before tranquilizer darts.) Exterior location filming took place in Tanganyika (which is now part of Tanzania.) |
Friday, March 30, 2012
Blog Projector (From Eric Beheim)
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4 comments:
Wow this is a Super Simplex 35mm
projector sitting on an optical
sound box & fired by a 100 amp DC
Peerless Magna-Arc lamp house
These machines were the workhorse
of the industry & remained in
service for 50 or 60 years with
very few maintenance problems
The only better machine was the
improved E7 model that was more
easily fitted for magnetic sound
I learned to thread these & to
change carbons when I was about
9 from my grandfather who was a
NY union projectionist
Nowadayz they are platter type
automatons fired by xenon until
it all goes digital
There are 2 of these (or similar
machines) on display down in the
"Hollywood & Vine" subway station
across from the Pantages Theater
along with about 8 gazillion empty
35mm film reels covering the walls
& ceilings (pretty impressive)
The upper reel magazine had a
following roller device that rode
the film & rang a bell when the
amount left was at about 3 min
to wake up the projectionist in
time to strike the other lamp &
to be ready for the crossover
Most reels ran about 22 minutes
The average feature was on 4 to 5
reels that came in tails out to
rewind onto house reels
Chic,
One item to add to your fantastic description of the old 35mm carbon arc projectors.
The covers on the film magazines are there for a reason as films way back were on nitrate base which burns real easy.
So having alot of heat from the carbon arches could cause a fire and if the film caught on fire all these covers might help save the theather from catching on fire.
I helped the local head union projectionist here in town and to see what went on behind the scenes and it is not easy.
And you got to be quick.
Harry in Texas
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