Fig 1 - Peter Berry fitting an adapter plate to a Super
Simplex for fitting on to the Western Electric TA7400 sound head.
Fig 2 - a front shot of the mech mounted and on the back
is a Brenkert which was renovated a year or so ago by Mike Astley.
Fig 3 - the Simplex stand had to have a strap fitted to repair a
cracked casting as well as an internal bush to
eliminate
movement
due to a worn collar inside the vertical column.
Fig 4 - the pile
on the pallet was a Gaumont Chrono as it arrived from Elstree and just
tucked away until now.
Fig 5 - we had to make a
new platform to take the Chrono machine head and that is waiting to be
completed and sprayed to match. The lamphouse was going spare but we
hope to find a more suitable one shortly.
Fig 6 - a Zeiss 35mm portable which is in the process of being restored.
Fig 7 - the Zeiss with a stero cell fitted .
On Saturday 5 July:
Fig 8 - new LED exciter ready to replace old exciter lamp holder of Zeiss
Fig 9 - optical slit projected onto film on the Zeiss
Fig 10 - new Gaumont platform ready for painting
Fig 1: Allan Foster
sorting through some 35mm clips to make up a 35mm
demo reel for screening to visitors.
Fig 2 Peter Berry
getting to grips with the now functioning Steenbeck
and viewing unknown clips and shorts. Among the
clips he found was an old ATV reel featuring
interviews with Sid James, Kenneth More, and several
other old film stars regarding an up and coming
premiere.
Fig 3: Richard Hawley
showing new member Michael Baim (son of Harold Baim)
around the film archive in which are several of his
father's short films.
Fig 4: Dion Hanson trying to coax
an old Pathéscope back to life so we can continue to
copy some old Pathé cassettes, the 9.5mm Specto in
the background having already been resurrected for
the same reason.
From PPT Halifax
Coordinator Dion Hanson. 13 June.
A while ago we were given a
box containing quite a few silent 9.5mm films for a Pathé
Baby. The films were in mini cassettes and had to be removed
before we could run them. Member Peter England carefully removed one
and ran it on his 9.5mm machine and copied it to video.
The
films were very short and to save film the titles were only a couple
of frames each and a notch in the film sent the Pathé
machine into still frame. This enabled the titles to be read
before the projector was manually switched to run mode until the next
title.
Peter’s
machine, being a modern (?) 9.5mm one, did not have a pause facility.
Consequently, when he sent it to me I put it onto my video editing
software and added more still title frames where required. The
results are here for you to see. The film is called
‘Telephotographer’ and shows what must be the earliest fax
machine called a Belinogram. No doubt after the inventor.
Peter
tells me that as the film had been in its canister for a long time it
was coiled up like a spring and took some two hours to copy. But I
think the results are really good and allow us to view the film
today. Only another twenty or so cassettes to go!
PPT member Fred Fullerton has produced a version with music and commentary. It can be viewed on YouTube.
Dion Hanson describes activities on Saturday 24 May.
Image 1 shows Richard Hawley putting the 16mm Steenbeck through its paces ready for viewing some
of the miles of 16mm we have recently inherited.
Images
2-5 show more 16mm along with a mix of 9.5mm and 8mm all waiting to
be viewed and catalogued. Some for sale and some for our archive.
Image 6 shows Allan Allan Foster running test loops in the projection room for
Rob Younger (image 7) to align the Dolby CP650 ready for our Odeon Open Day on Sunday 1
June.
Image 8 shows Peter Berry creating a show reel of
old Odeon day titles/sales adverts/trailers etc. for screening on 1
June.
The open day was for a few ex-Odeon projectionists
and engineers who asked if they could have a look around our
collection in Halifax.
Click on an image to enlarge (depending on your device)
Attendees from Nottingham Odeon were, Trevor Sharpe, Stephen Swain, Mike Newell, and Bobby Robertson, shown in the photos.
With the trust having been given a large number of sep-mag 16mm films PPT Halifax Coordinator Dion Hanson and Richard Hawley spent Sunday 18 May replacing belts in the trusts Steenbeck viewer.
Click on an image to enlarge (depending on your device)
Dion
reports:
A
video of Richard
Hawley
running one of the Hartlepool 16mm sep mag BBC shorts on Staithes.
This was on the newly repaired 16mm
Steenbeck.
Going on from that we stripped one of the 35mm Steenbecks down and
fitted a new belt to that and now that is up and running also. I
wouldn't want to service Steenbecks for a living, basically you have
to pull the whole thing apart and remove the main drive to change a
belt.
All
in all a good weekend though.
us if you can...
We now have lots of 8mm,
9.5mm and 16mm films to view to see what they are, as many are just on
spools or in tins with no identification. So if there are any members
out there who can get to Dean Clough and just sit down and view films,
they will be more than welcome.
If you can help please give Dion a call on 07866 732779. And a big thank you to those who have already started to help.
Mike Taylor, PPT coordinator Northern and NI, reports - 8 July
Some
background information about the Birkenhead Town Hall and the PPT. Due
to financial problems, Wirral Borough Council has taken the steps
to close the Town Hall to the public and mothball the building. It will carry out repairs to the building.
The cinema facility
was installed in 1992 as part of the Wirral Museum within the Town
Hall and was operated and maintained by the PPT Northern region. I have been
here for the past 33 years so will be sorry to see it closed. The
equipment belongs to the PPT and will be safely looked after should it
be required in the future. This is the last facility on the Wirral where
35mm film can be shown. For the technical minded, the equipment consists of 35mm
Westars on Ross bases, with Century soundheads fitted with red readers.
Dolby sound rack and Omnex amplifiers. It is a dual installation so we
can run changeovers, or use a Potts long runner platter system.
Mike provided the following photos of the projection room and auditorium.
Jack Hadaway-Weller visited Dean Clough Mills in Halifax to meet Dion Hanson and the meeting was broadcast on BBC Radio Leeds.
This video uses the audio produced and broadcast by BBC Radio Leeds with images added by Dion.
We appreciate the coverage BBC Radio Leeds has given to the PPT.
The PPT Reference library contains 650 scanned documents consisting of sales brochures, service and operating manuals and information sheets.
Even if you are not looking for specific information, the library gives a stunning view of what was the vastness of the cinema industry and the many fields it encompassed.
PPT General Administration Secretary Fred Fullerton has been producing cinema related videos for many years.
They can be viewed here.
These specials are versions of our Rewind magazine covering selected subjects produced for online viewing. Click on an image to view/download. It will open in a new window/tab. To return to this page close the window/tab.