Bill Parker
master brummie
I am posting this here simply because I cannot think of anywhere more appropriate. In the USA during the early 40s what could be called a "video Juke Box" was developed that allowed not just the sound but also an image of the artist to be seen.
The equipment was quite complex and used 16mm film in Black and White along with optical sound. I did find a website that showed the mechanism and from what I could see it appeared all the various film were spliced together, if I am correct then it would not have been posible to select a specific track but to just take pot luck on what was next. I suspect this was the case as having numerous spools of film that would have to be selected and threaded via an auto thread mechanism would have been increbibly complex and probably quite unreliable but I stand corrected.
I believe the company that built them was called "Pan-oram" and was based In Chicago. "Youtube" has numerous examples of these soundies easily recognised because if they are played back on conventional film projectors the image is reversed and the sound is out of sync . The image reversal was neccesitated by the mirror system used to deflect the image onto the built is screen on the player but I can only assume the sound heads were placed in a different position on the player.
The reason I am posting this long missive is to ask anyone if they have ever come across a later version of the system. I seen to vaguely remember a friend mentioning a Juke Box that showed pictures and I am sure he would not have been referring to the American ones.
I used to collect 16mm film and amongst my collection of odd bits and bobs is a colour film again with a reversed image and with the sound out of sync. I bought this becuase if its oddity value and assumed it was a faulty print that had accidently been printed in reverse but I now think this is not the case and instead have what is basically a younger version of the same thing. My film features from that i can remember the song "Up on the Roof" and Lional Blair and his sister demonstrating the latest dance, there are several other tracks but I cant remember precisely the details. I suspect this material would have dated from the early 60s.
So does anyone here remember a Juke box that showed films of the Artists around the early 1960s?
Here is a Youtube link to one of my favourites. Note that the sound is synched but the iage is still reversed, unless all those saxophonists are left handed!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS3ZiginrH0&videos=XJ04RZ11gbs
Shes quite a cutie eh chaps!!! BTW Im not old enough to remember this!!!!
The equipment was quite complex and used 16mm film in Black and White along with optical sound. I did find a website that showed the mechanism and from what I could see it appeared all the various film were spliced together, if I am correct then it would not have been posible to select a specific track but to just take pot luck on what was next. I suspect this was the case as having numerous spools of film that would have to be selected and threaded via an auto thread mechanism would have been increbibly complex and probably quite unreliable but I stand corrected.
I believe the company that built them was called "Pan-oram" and was based In Chicago. "Youtube" has numerous examples of these soundies easily recognised because if they are played back on conventional film projectors the image is reversed and the sound is out of sync . The image reversal was neccesitated by the mirror system used to deflect the image onto the built is screen on the player but I can only assume the sound heads were placed in a different position on the player.
The reason I am posting this long missive is to ask anyone if they have ever come across a later version of the system. I seen to vaguely remember a friend mentioning a Juke Box that showed pictures and I am sure he would not have been referring to the American ones.
I used to collect 16mm film and amongst my collection of odd bits and bobs is a colour film again with a reversed image and with the sound out of sync. I bought this becuase if its oddity value and assumed it was a faulty print that had accidently been printed in reverse but I now think this is not the case and instead have what is basically a younger version of the same thing. My film features from that i can remember the song "Up on the Roof" and Lional Blair and his sister demonstrating the latest dance, there are several other tracks but I cant remember precisely the details. I suspect this material would have dated from the early 60s.
So does anyone here remember a Juke box that showed films of the Artists around the early 1960s?
Here is a Youtube link to one of my favourites. Note that the sound is synched but the iage is still reversed, unless all those saxophonists are left handed!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS3ZiginrH0&videos=XJ04RZ11gbs
Shes quite a cutie eh chaps!!! BTW Im not old enough to remember this!!!!
