The venerable ol' cue marker, for 35mm work. Did Phare ever make a version for 70mm? Anyone ever see one? I know they made a 16mm version because I had one... it looked like the 35mm version, except it had a registration pin in the middle of the casting for 16mm offset, and it was finished in red crackle paint instead of black.
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Yes. the 70mm version is Green and I do own one. It only does three frames, instead of 4.
The 16mm red one is really just a 35mm with the pin moved, as you noted. However, the holes placed it every other frame (unless you stepped the film through. The registration to 16mm was awful. -
Yes, indeed, they did make a 70mm version.
I've got one here, still with the original box, and instructions:
I bought my 35 & 70mm Signo-Markers back in the mid 1970's at a
cinema supply store for less then $20. The last time I saw a 70mm
one show up on e-bay, it sold for $250. The first advertisement I
was able to find for one of these appeared in a 1940 issue of
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST. (even though the SMPE had
codified cue-mark placement a decade earlier, in 1930)
I had always been curious to know more about Mr Phare. If you
Googlize the address on the instructions, it shows a nice, old style
single family home in residential Euclid, Ohio, USA. Did he make
these in his garage? - Or did he have them made at a machine shop
and simply sell them out of his home? A couple of years ago, I did
some online research and found a post that had been written by
one of his nephews in 2024, which answered most of my questions:
(slightly edited here for brevity)
[ "Clint was a theater projectionist and an inventor. Almost certainly, he is
best known for his Signo-Marker, introduced in 1940 and still in some
use today.
Uncle Clint manufactured the product in the basement of his Euclid
(Cleveland) home. After Clint and Aunt Bernice retired to Tucson in 1955
one of their daughters and her family moved into that home and continued
to produce the product. One of his granddaughters eventually took over and
continued to produce the product from that same basement until the 1990s." ]
His nephew also wrote:
> "As far as I can tell, Clint never patented the Signo-Marker.'"<
Which would explain why I was never able to find a patent despite
numerous online searches.
Bonus Prattle
I vaguely recall when I first started in this business that you could send
the scriber-thingy back to C Phare and they would sharpen it or send you
another one for $5, or somesuch amount but I've never seen that in print.
I do know that the large cinema supply store in New York CIty where I bought
mine kept a stock of spare scribers for people who lost theirs or maybe wore
one out. As Steve said, the 70mm version only scribed 3 frames. But If you
really wanted that 4th frame, you could just move the film down one frame after
scribing the first 3, to add the 4th. (which was also mentioned in the instructions,
if you couldn't figure that out for yourself)
70mmQMarkSheet.jpg
The first mention of the Signo-Marker appeared in the March 1940
Issue Of INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST, pg 24. (FYI: By Sept
1940, the "ridiculously low" price of $1.98 had been raised to $2.50.)
CueMarker_IntProj031940.jpg
And finally, a tip-of-the-hat to a man whose work was probably seen
on more screens than all the directors in Hollywood and around the
globe combined-- Mr Clint Q. Phare:
ClintPhare.jpg
(Ok- - his middle initial wasn't actually "Q", but it should have been! )
Mr Phare was born in 1887 and passed away in November 1962, at the age of 75Last edited by Jim Cassedy; 06-09-2026, 11:53 AM.Comment
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The Griswold Splicer was much the same deal, it was built by a bunch of old ladies in a dreary room at the back of a Long Island movie theatre. The last days of its manufacture were captured in a short documentary, viewable here:
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That thought occured to me too. That movie theater was in Port Washington, NY.
When I first started my projection "career", I was in a Long Island Union (Local 640)
and before I was finally assigned to my own 'permanent' theater, I used to do a lot
of relief shifts for men who were on vacation or on their day off. I was sent to work
at the Port Washington theater 3 or 4 times one summer, and I had no idea that the
Griswold Splicer "factory" was behind the theater. I wish I had known this back then,
because I certainly would have checked it out on one of my visits.
> For those who weren't around back then, the two items you could find in just
about every projection room in the USA, and probably in many other countries,
were a Griswold Splicer, and a Clint Phare "Signo-Marker". (also a Goldberg
enclosed rewind machine, often with the door(s) removed, a Neumade film
storage rack, a bucket or two of sand to drop hot carbon butts in, and a
covered, fireproof, "oily rag" bin, usually also made by Neumade, which was
required by fire code in most cities I worked in. )
ahhhhh. . . the smell of a fresh bottle of film cement still brings back memories. . .
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We have a couple 35mm ones in our booth still too. Have not seen evidence of a 70mm, but we were never a 1st run house in 70mm that I am aware of.Comment
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Yes. I got to where I just used one hole for 16mm and marked it on 4 consecutive frames. I also have a casting they messed up while machining it. When they drilled the 4 holes, they drilled down a bit too far and dished the flat area beneath the holes. So, whenever I make a cue mark, the scriber hits the film, but walks around in the little craters, which makes a terrible circle!
Wow, Jim!!! Thanks for such great and thorough info!! (Btw, it looks like some of your photos aren't showing up.) Yes, indeed, they did make a 70mm version.
I've got one here, still with the original boxComment
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Same here. All the rest are good.
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