Cinerama Servo amplifier

[Bill Ryan]

Hi Mark,
Did yo you know John Mitchell?
Cheers,
Bill.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

No, not other than emailing with him. A collector friend did make it to his place back in the late 1980's and John ran a print while he was there. There were also a few articles written about John's installation, but a YouTube video of his system has been replaced with one containing still pictures.

[Bill Ryan]

Hi Mark,
That wasn’t Carey Williams? Because if it was that’s when I met John also.
Cheers,
Bill.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Hi Mark,
That wasn’t Carey Williams? Because if it was that’s when I met John also.
Cheers,
Bill.

Yes, it was. He had a huge projector collection and then sold it off and bought a miniature steam railroad in Michigan.

[Bill Ryan]

I am pretty sure that Cinerama machine mentioned elsewhere in this thread was actually one of Carey’s machines.This projector collecting is a bit of a disease.......

[Robert Sobin]

I was fortunate to be there when John Mitchell and John Harvey first met in Dayton, Ohio. I don't remember the exact date but I think it was in the mid 80's. I am not sure they ever met in person again after that. In later years Harvey used to refer to him as "Mitch." The attached pic is a photograph I snapped of the two in Harvey's "Wonderama" screening room in his basement. "Mitch" stayed for a few days in Dayton. Great memories.

[Bill Ryan]

Hi Robert,
One my associates down under has confirmed that John Mitchell and John Harvey did in fact meet again in Bradford in 1993.
Cheers,
Bill.

[Bill Ryan]

Does anyone here know what happened to John
Harvey’s gear after it was removed from the New
Neon?

[Paul H. Rayton]

A guy in Cincinnati (Ohio) by the name of Bob Sobal bought the equipment, reportedly for about $10K. John Harvey had helped set up a Cinerama theater in the guys basement. It's not known if Mr. Sobal ever uses it or not, although it seems unlikely, since nobody active with 3-strip restorations & screenings has ever heard about anything happening there, or received any requests for info or help.

[Robert Sobin]

Bill
I received the attached photo from John Mitchell in early 2020. It shows him as a younger man in what I call a "Cinerama Graveyard" (sad). The caption was provided by John as part of the photo.

Some time back I thought I remembered reading in an article on the "In70mm.com" website that John had donated his 3-strip print of How The West Was Won to the Museum in Bradford. However this past year I read on another message board that someone had gone to the Wide Screen Weekend in Bradford in October 2022 and attended a 3-strip screening of HTWWW with German subtitles. Today I searched the "in70mm.com" website but could not find the earlier article. Would you happen to know if John Mitchell actually did donate his HTWW print to Bradford? I don't believe his print had German subtitles.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I am pretty sure that Cinerama machine mentioned elsewhere in this thread was actually one of Carey’s machines.This projector collecting is a bit of a disease.......

I bought a number of Cinerama heads from Carey over the years. Also two or three 70mm only Cinerama heads. The latter heads were all converted to 35/70 and two were installed in thraters, one was in my home screening room. The Cinemiracle Projectors came from a fellow in Sun City, AZ whose name escapes me. I used to buy prints from the guy.

[Bill Ryan]

Hello Robert,
John had 4 prints of HTWWW in Cinerama. 1 went to Bradford. 1 went to a collector in the US.
I have the remaining 2. One has been shortened
by John. But I have all the out takes.
cheers
Bill.

[James Biggins]

Bill
I received the attached photo from John Mitchell in early 2020. It shows him as a younger man in what I call a "Cinerama Graveyard" (sad). The caption was provided by John as part of the photo.

Some time back I thought I remembered reading in an article on the "In70mm.com" website that John had donated his 3-strip print of How The West Was Won to the Museum in Bradford. However this past year I read on another message board that someone had gone to the Wide Screen Weekend in Bradford in October 2022 and attended a 3-strip screening of HTWWW with German subtitles. Today I searched the "in70mm.com" website but could not find the earlier article. Would you happen to know if John Mitchell actually did donate his HTWW print to Bradford? I don't believe his print had German subtitles.

Not quite true. The print shown at Bradford this October was originally obtained by the museum with a German Soundtrack. However, as the Cinerama soundtracks are on a seperate reel, they eventually obtained an English language reel to replace it.

The print was in excellent condition for a its age btw.(and no German subtitles).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The sound reels as far as I remember were duplicated at Teccon Enterprises in San Dimas, CA. Teccon also built special 7 track heads for that job and I saw that John Harvey had them on his dubber as well. Don't know if they have Teccon heads on the Bradford dubber...

[John Eickhof]

the collector in Sun City was Emil Varga, I knew him and his wife for decades, quite a film buff and historian, I bought many a rare 35mm print from him too! He had a pair of nichon-crown 35/70s in his screening room. He loved six track mag sound too! I was able to get his intro reel for cinerama with Lowell Thomas, it is now in the hands of a film archive friend in Cal.