What powered the Silent Film Projector?

On Sep 18, 10:02?pm, sir michael cat <mccro....DeleteThis@adam.com.au> wrote:
> On Sep 19, 6:01 am, bigsilent....DeleteThis@aol.com wrote:
>
> > I thought of this when thinking of the Warner brothers, traveling in
> > their wagon and setting up to exhibit "The Great Train Robbery" in one
> > small town after another. A lot has been said about filming with hand
> > cranked cameras, but I don't remember any information on how the early
> > theaters powered their projectors. For example, Cecil B. DeMille's
> > "The Squaw Man" (1913) would have been a real chore to manually
> > project for over an hour, even with reel changes.
>
> > Can anyone reference a book on this subject?
>
> > Rich Wagner
>
> There is the book by Lyle Penn based on his experiences as a youth
> travelling with his showman father.The film " the Picture Showman"
> 1977 is based on this book.

Thanks. Couldn't find the book, and I'm not willing to pay $65.00 for
the used VHS copy of the film available at Amazon. It's not on
Netflix's list and probably never will be.
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

On Sep 18, 10:59 pm, bigsilent... DeleteThis @aol.com wrote:
> On Sep 18, 10:02?pm, sir michael cat <mccro... DeleteThis @adam.com.au> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Sep 19, 6:01 am, bigsilent... DeleteThis @aol.com wrote:
>
> > > I thought of this when thinking of the Warner brothers, traveling in
> > > their wagon and setting up to exhibit "The Great Train Robbery" in one
> > > small town after another. A lot has been said about filming with hand
> > > cranked cameras, but I don't remember any information on how the early
> > > theaters powered their projectors. For example, Cecil B. DeMille's
> > > "The Squaw Man" (1913) would have been a real chore to manually
> > > project for over an hour, even with reel changes.
>
> > > Can anyone reference a book on this subject?
>
> > > Rich Wagner

>
I imagine it was limelight. That was the type of light used to power
early
traveling slide presentations.

http://www.magiclanternshows.com/history.htm

"By it's heyday at the end of the nineteenth century, magic-lanterns
were everywhere -- in homes, in churches, in fraternal lodges, in
schools, in large-scale halls and theaters, and as a regular part of
home and public entertainment. Lanterns came in all sizes and shapes,
from toy lanterns for children, to those used in large halls -- huge
brass-and-mahogany, double-lens machines lit with "limelight."

The limelight was created when oxygen and hydrogen were squirted on a
piece of limestone which turned incandescent once the gases were lit,
and produced a light as powerful as that in a modern movie projector.
The lantern projected hand-colored slides on a full-sized screen."
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

handcranked but the light was usually carbon arc.


Darren
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

Imagine what a projectionist in 1903 was:
a) a mechanical whiz (he had to be able to fix primitive film
equipment).
b) an electrical whiz (he had to be able to understand carbon arcs and
how to get them going).
c) very strong (he handcranked all the reels)
d) no slouch on chemical stuff (he had to understand a little about how
nitrate film could combust)

These guys were technicians AND showment, as opposed to the popcorn
monkeys named DUDE that work in theaters today.

Eric


In article <1190170741.316755.43270.RemoveThis@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com>,
<bigsilentfan.RemoveThis@aol.com> wrote:

> On Sep 18, 10:02?pm, sir michael cat <mccro....RemoveThis@adam.com.au> wrote:
> > On Sep 19, 6:01 am, bigsilent....RemoveThis@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > > I thought of this when thinking of the Warner brothers, traveling in
> > > their wagon and setting up to exhibit "The Great Train Robbery" in one
> > > small town after another. A lot has been said about filming with hand
> > > cranked cameras, but I don't remember any information on how the early
> > > theaters powered their projectors. For example, Cecil B. DeMille's
> > > "The Squaw Man" (1913) would have been a real chore to manually
> > > project for over an hour, even with reel changes.
> >
> > > Can anyone reference a book on this subject?
> >
> > > Rich Wagner
> >
> > There is the book by Lyle Penn based on his experiences as a youth
> > travelling with his showman father.The film " the Picture Showman"
> > 1977 is based on this book.
>
> Thanks. Couldn't find the book, and I'm not willing to pay $65.00 for
> the used VHS copy of the film available at Amazon. It's not on
> Netflix's list and probably never will be.
>
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

On Sep 18, 4:01 pm, bigsilent... DeleteThis @aol.com wrote:
> I thought of this when thinking of the Warner brothers, traveling in
> their wagon and setting up to exhibit "The Great Train Robbery" in one
> small town after another. A lot has been said about filming with hand
> cranked cameras, but I don't remember any information on how the early
> theaters powered their projectors. For example, Cecil B. DeMille's
> "The Squaw Man" (1913) would have been a real chore to manually
> project for over an hour, even with reel changes.
>
> Can anyone reference a book on this subject?
>
> Rich Wagner

The 1913 projectors were hand-cranked. They're surprisingly small &
delicate in their appearance - just small skeletal brass & steel
clockwork-looking things with a crank which were mounted in front of a
variety of light sources on a pedestal.

The breakthrough was the invention of the take-up reel. I'm not
kidding. Previously, it typically ran through the projector into a
bag, & you had to be quick & catch the end when it went through.
Otherwise, you had to hunt in the bag, a tangle which impeded
rewinding occurred, etc.

F. H. Richardson's projection handbooks from this time would be good
sources, but the best are trade magazines from the time like Moving
Picture World.

Electric motors for projection have a spotty entrance. They were
outlawed by fire codes for a good while, & of course cheaper shows
used older, less expensive equipment like old hand-cranked projectors.
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

What about the light source on the projector? When did it switch from
carbon arc to a more traditional light bulb?

The scenes in the projection booth in Sherlock Jr, is that a carbon
arc he's setting up as he throws the various levers at the back of the
machine (I'm going a little from memory here).
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

On Sep 19, 8:51?am, Robert Moulton <robertjohnmoul....DeleteThis@gmail.com>
wrote:
> What about the light source on the projector? When did it switch from
> carbon arc to a more traditional light bulb?
>
> The scenes in the projection booth in Sherlock Jr, is that a carbon
> arc he's setting up as he throws the various levers at the back of the
> machine (I'm going a little from memory here).

I think that this subject should have had a lot more exposure than
it has. Today, we're able to watch so many of these films and yet
little has been said of how they were actually projected back then.

I had never imagined that they ran the film into a bag before the take-
up reel was invented.

Rich Wagner
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

On Sep 19, 7:24?am, William Hooper <rotoflexSPAMT....RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Sep 18, 4:01 pm, bigsilent....RemoveThis@aol.com wrote:
>
> > I thought of this when thinking of the Warner brothers, traveling in
> > their wagon and setting up to exhibit "The Great Train Robbery" in one
> > small town after another. A lot has been said about filming with hand
> > cranked cameras, but I don't remember any information on how the early
> > theaters powered their projectors. For example, Cecil B. DeMille's
> > "The Squaw Man" (1913) would have been a real chore to manually
> > project for over an hour, even with reel changes.
>
> > Can anyone reference a book on this subject?
>
> > Rich Wagner
>
> The 1913 projectors were hand-cranked. They're surprisingly small &
> delicate in their appearance - just small skeletal brass & steel
> clockwork-looking things with a crank which were mounted in front of a
> variety of light sources on a pedestal.
>
> The breakthrough was the invention of the take-up reel. I'm not
> kidding. Previously, it typically ran through the projector into a
> bag, & you had to be quick & catch the end when it went through.
> Otherwise, you had to hunt in the bag, a tangle which impeded
> rewinding occurred, etc.
>
> F. H. Richardson's projection handbooks from this time would be good
> sources, but the best are trade magazines from the time like Moving
> Picture World.
>
> Electric motors for projection have a spotty entrance. They were
> outlawed by fire codes for a good while, & of course cheaper shows
> used older, less expensive equipment like old hand-cranked projectors.

Thanks for the tip about Richardson. Searching his name, I found
lots of information in addition to this link that shows many of the
early projectors developed by Porter for Edison.
http://www.silentmovies.com/edison/chronology/edison.html

This gives me a lot of information without too much detail.
Rich Wagner
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

On Sep 19, 11:22 am, b... DeleteThis @wjv.com (Bill Vermillion) wrote:

> I was last in a projetion booth in the mid-1950's and they were
> still using carbon arcs then.

In the early or mid '70s -- it was the year FANTASIA was reissued -- I
was part of a four-walling venture involving the showing of midnight
movies at a local theater. I became friendly with the projectionist
and occasionally dropped in to visit him in the afternoons. He
allowed me to project FANTASIA one afternoon (strictly against union
rules, of course) on the house's carbon-arc projectors. After years
of handling 8mm and 16mm, I found it almost absurdly easy to thread
the 35mm projectors and make changeovers.
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

In article <1190206317.922019.304720.TakeThisOut@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
Robert Moulton <robertjohnmoulton.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
>What about the light source on the projector? When did it switch from
>carbon arc to a more traditional light bulb?

I was last in a projetion booth in the mid-1950's and they were
still using carbon arcs then.


--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

Bill Vermillion wrote:
> In article <1190206317.922019.304720.DeleteThis@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> Robert Moulton <robertjohnmoulton.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
>> What about the light source on the projector? When did it switch from
>> carbon arc to a more traditional light bulb?
>
> I was last in a projetion booth in the mid-1950's and they were
> still using carbon arcs then.

My favorite theater still uses carbon arcs. It's the Stanford Theatre
in Palo Alto, California.

http://stanfordtheatre.org/stf/

-Neil Midkiff
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

<bigsilentfan DeleteThis @aol.com> wrote in message
news:1190221054.315572.108420@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 19, 7:24?am, William Hooper <rotoflexSPAMT... DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote:
>> On Sep 18, 4:01 pm, bigsilent... DeleteThis @aol.com wrote:
>>
>> > I thought of this when thinking of the Warner brothers, traveling in
>> > their wagon and setting up to exhibit "The Great Train Robbery" in one
>> > small town after another. A lot has been said about filming with hand
>> > cranked cameras, but I don't remember any information on how the early
>> > theaters powered their projectors. For example, Cecil B. DeMille's
>> > "The Squaw Man" (1913) would have been a real chore to manually
>> > project for over an hour, even with reel changes.
>>
>> > Can anyone reference a book on this subject?
>>
>> > Rich Wagner
>>
>> The 1913 projectors were hand-cranked. They're surprisingly small &
>> delicate in their appearance - just small skeletal brass & steel
>> clockwork-looking things with a crank which were mounted in front of a
>> variety of light sources on a pedestal.
>>
>> The breakthrough was the invention of the take-up reel. I'm not
>> kidding. Previously, it typically ran through the projector into a
>> bag, & you had to be quick & catch the end when it went through.
>> Otherwise, you had to hunt in the bag, a tangle which impeded
>> rewinding occurred, etc.
>>
>> F. H. Richardson's projection handbooks from this time would be good
>> sources, but the best are trade magazines from the time like Moving
>> Picture World.
>>
>> Electric motors for projection have a spotty entrance. They were
>> outlawed by fire codes for a good while, & of course cheaper shows
>> used older, less expensive equipment like old hand-cranked projectors.
>
> Thanks for the tip about Richardson. Searching his name, I found
> lots of information in addition to this link that shows many of the
> early projectors developed by Porter for Edison.
> http://www.silentmovies.com/edison/chronology/edison.html
>
> This gives me a lot of information without too much detail.
> Rich Wagner
>
If I recall correctly, the beginning scenes of "The Spiral Staircase" (1945)
show a silent film being projected in a small venue, like a residential
hotel(?) while a handicapped girl is killed upstairs in her room. As I
remember, the projector was hand-cranked.
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector? 

Not unlike setting up my childhood "N" gauge trains versus my son's "O"
gauge. There's something to be said for larger formats.

--
Yours for bigger and better silents,

William D. Ferry

"Ed Hulse" <bnteditor.RemoveThis@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:1190233966.893455.125500@e34g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 19, 11:22 am, b....RemoveThis@wjv.com (Bill Vermillion) wrote:
>
>> I was last in a projetion booth in the mid-1950's and they were
>> still using carbon arcs then.
>
> In the early or mid '70s -- it was the year FANTASIA was reissued -- I
> was part of a four-walling venture involving the showing of midnight
> movies at a local theater. I became friendly with the projectionist
> and occasionally dropped in to visit him in the afternoons. He
> allowed me to project FANTASIA one afternoon (strictly against union
> rules, of course) on the house's carbon-arc projectors. After years
> of handling 8mm and 16mm, I found it almost absurdly easy to thread
> the 35mm projectors and make changeovers.
>
 >> Stay informed about: What powered the Silent Film Projector?