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Author Topic: Seeking information on old projector equipment Michael Kenney Film Handler Posts: 5 From: Jamestown, NY USA Registered: Jun 2008 posted 06-23-2008 04:11 PM                     Bill: Thank you. I'm going to keep my eyes open for those books and snag them whenever I can. Thanks for the help on that. It may only be a little tidbit of info I need from each book, but it will help with making a timeline of ownership, and help fill in the overall picture of the theater's history. Jeff: That would jive with the impression I got from the plates on the RCA and inside the Brenkert. The Brenkert plate actually says.. quote: Brenkert Professional Projector For Use with 35mm Film Model BX-100 Designed, Engineered & Manufactured by Brenkert Light Projection Co. Detriot, Mich., USA For Radio Corporation of America Camden, NJ, USA Mitchell: Thank you. That virtual tour is spectacular. I know pictures can't replace actually being there, but this is pretty nice, nonetheless. Maybe someday when I am out that way, I'll have to stop by and check the place out. Tim: Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll have to look into that a little more. I'm going to try to get my pictures uploaded shortly. I definitely want to share these with all of you.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-23-2008 05:21 PM                     Simply amazing how Ashcraft and Christie are so similar!!! "They Cost Less To Buy", "They Cost Less To Operate" and so on. And the best part "Our Lamphouses Never Explode"! Mark  |  IP: Logged Larry Myers Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Herndon, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 06-23-2008 07:16 PM                 From an historical viewpoint, in 1913 Warner Brothers Studios was based in Pittsburgh. Louis Selznick who was David O Selznick's father worked for or was a business partner with the Warners. Some of the Selznicks still lived in Pittsburgh as lated as 1950. Just about everyone relocated to Burbank California in the early 1920's. The Warners retained control of most theaters in NY and PA area. Milt Selznick, a cousin of David O Selznick worked for the O'Hara/Schenley family of Pittsburgh as a horse trainer. There was a rather large race track where the new baseball stadium is now located on the Northside of Pittsburgh. Louis B Mayer who was David O Selznicks father-in-law owned War Admiral's son Brusher. War Admiral raced Seabiscuit in the 1930's. Seabiscuit was once owned by the O'Hara, Carnegie, Phipps family of Pittsburgh but was later sold to the Howard family of San Franscisco. Louis B Selznick tried to buy Man-of-War the grandfather of both Seabiscuit and War Admiral. The owners turned down an one million dollar offer in 1930.  |  IP: Logged Robert Madara Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Millville, NJ. USA Registered: Sep 2006 posted 08-25-2008 03:19 PM                        Hi, Michael. Your theatre sounds a lot like the Baronet in Asbury Park, NJ. Thanks to Gary Crawford for posting an ad on Film-Tech, I got to work in this carbon arc, change-over booth from time to time. I even got to run an independent film for Crispin Glover, & hung out with the crazy dude! The Baronet has a pair of Ash Craft Suprex Model D arc lamps, & Brenkert BX-80 projectors. The sound heads are the old RCA Photophone 1040's? In the rewind room sits one of the old machiness, a Super Simplex, on a 5 point base, with a Western Electric sound head. The theatre was built in 1913, & was remodled by Walter Reade around 1950. [ 08-29-2008, 10:01 AM: Message edited by: Robert Madara ]  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 08-25-2008 08:31 PM                       Hi, Bob! KF2IB de W3HR  |  IP: Logged Robert Madara Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Millville, NJ. USA Registered: Sep 2006 posted 08-26-2008 08:43 AM                        Hello, Tim! What an honor it is to meet you right here on Film-Tech! It's my pleasure, sir. I've been on the internet since 1996. My favorite web site was Tim Reed's drive-in answer man! I see that the site still exist under Brad Light. I use to read your stories about your drive-in experiences in KY. You spoke about working at a small radio station. I do board-op & fill-ins, etc. at WVLT Vineland, NJ, when i'm not trying to run a projector somewhere. I made my 1st change over at the Absecon drive-in near Atlantic City, in 1970. The film was Kelly's Hero's. My heart still skips a beat when I think about it. I'm now retired from the US Postal Service as a rural letter carrier. In 2004, a local doctor bought the long closed Delsea drive-in, in Vineland, NJ. I closed it in 1987 (Budco sold it to AMC). The doctor got in contact with me, & I helped him put it back together. We had sellout crowds of over 700 cars! I'm just a projectionist (Local 310 Atlantic City), not a tech. I now have a long trem lease on a drive-in near Willaimsport PA. I see that you are in PA. Please stop by for a visit sometime! I have flat-gate XL's. 4K sStrong X-60, & Xenex II. I just had Andy Mill install red readers (he's a ham, but I fogot his call sign.) The platters are Chrite Autowind II in booth 0ne, & Xetron XNR 335 in booth two. These old relics work great! I'd really like to make booth one back into a change over booth & switch the platters, putting the Xetron in booth one. The Xetron cannot hold a double feature. I could run my clock & trs. on the other machine, while I'm threading up the second fea. I brought my ICOM 706 (not MK II G) up there but I have to put up antennas. What repeater or HF frequencies are you on? I'd like to have field day or a big hamfest at my drive-in, in the future. 73 de KF2IB.  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 08-26-2008 01:58 PM                     Clarence Ashcraft actually made the first "Suprex" lamp in the early thirties.It was a "single screw lamp"similar to the 1kw lamps brought out by Brenkert, Strong/Simplex shortly before WW 2. It used 7mm posive and 6mm negative and would only feed right if the current was 42 amps because the feed ratio was fixed. I don`t know the birth and death dates of C.S. Ashcraft but he spanned a lot of years with his equipment. His rotating positive,condenser lens, high intensity lamps were in use in large picture palaces long before drive-ins were ever dreamed of.He also had a rotating positive lamp without the condenser lens that used a reflector and he called this Ashcraft "Hi-Lo"The later lamps, the one in this theatre and the Core Lite, Brite Arc were made up until a few years ago.  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 08-26-2008 06:01 PM                     Forgot to say the first Suprex lamp designed by Ashcraft was called the Sterling Suprex  |  IP: Logged Robert Madara Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Millville, NJ. USA Registered: Sep 2006 posted 08-26-2008 06:54 PM                        I've used a few different Ashcraft's over the years In Trenton, NJ. We had "Super Power" The Music Hall Theatre on the Steel Pier, in Atlantic City, Had "Super High". The Delsea drive-in, in Vineland NJ had "RCA Dyn-Arc's", but they looked like Ash craft. In Later years we had "Super Corlite's"at the Delsea, The Bridgeton, NJ drive-in had "Super Cinex". I ran "Corlite 135's" at the Fox Theatre in Langhorne, PA. The Levoy Theatre in Millville, NJ, has a pair of Suplex lamps, last used December, 1974. My head is full of info like this ...sorry.  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 08-28-2008 07:03 PM                     Robert; I`m like you, a goldmine of useless information.  |  IP: Logged Steven J Hart Master Film Handler Posts: 282 From: WALES, ND, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 08-28-2008 10:19 PM                        Michael, Welcome to the forums! I share with you the interest in old theaters, and have dug into the bowels of several, including the one I now manage, Roxy Theater. You state a common misconception in your original post, quote: Michael Kenney This is a big movie theater, so a very strong light source would be needed considering the distance from the projectors to the screen. The "projection throw" or distance from the aperture plate in the projector to the screen actually has almost no effect on the amount of light needed to properly illuminate the screen. The important thing is the size of the screen. For a fixed screen size, increasing the throw will require increasingly longer focal length lenses and vice-versa. What is the width of the screen at the theater you've been describing? Steve  |  IP: Logged

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