Sixteen Magic Lantern Slides 1924-1927
Early this morning I won 16 new-to-me Magic Lantern Slides used to promote movies made between 1924 and 1927.
During those years these slides were single pane glass held by the larger cardboard frame. As such, if the glass is broken it is the image glass and not a cover glass. Conserving these will be a challenge when broken.
Of the 16, six had cracks or even missing pieces. Yet I still got them!
The ones with just cracks, I hope, can be conserved.
The ones with missing pieces should also be conserved.
Digitizing the images and repairing the images digitally partly drives my interest in these handicapped slides.
For instance, from 1925 there is the slide for Colleen Moore's 1st National picture The Desert Flower. A large chunk is missing, but it is only typography: no image. Her name is mostly gone. However, we can probably reconstruct her name digitally with a red background.
The ones with missing pieces and cracks all seem to be from major studios (1st National, as mentioned, MGM, Fox, Paramount). The others which appear to be intact are often by FBO and PDC. PDC is Producers Distribution Corporation, which appears to be for independent producers. FBO is Film Booking Offices, which is the predecessor to RKO.
I have a particular interest in FBO because not much has been written about it, yet it is important in several ways:
* predecessor to RKO.
* the initial studio for Joseph Kennedy, JFK's father.
* producer of the initial series of movies by Gene Stratton Porter.
* producer of westerns by Fred Thomson.
* created a series of boxing movies by Lefty Flynn
* apparently few of its movies still exist.
Also of interest to me is how FBO fit into the business and how it affected independent movie theaters. I suspect FBO was particularly important to rural theaters as the big chains probably felt such locations would be too marginal.
The slides this time from FBO are:
* All Around Frying Pan (1925)
* Going the Limit (1926)
* Laddie (1926)
* The Harvester (1927)
These will add to more than 15 FBO films made between 1923 and 1929 for which I already have slides. Could be more than just 15: I did not always keep accurate records regarding the distributor/producer.
Because I purchased all at once I was able to reduce postage per slide, so the cost was $10.68 each for eight slides and $10.67 each for the other eight.
It has been months since I last purchased any new-to-me MLSs: I have looked, but no one offered them at my budget point. Usually the only way to hit my budget was to get the low bid for multiple slides from one seller so I could have them combined and shipped at a lower cost.
BTW, I decided to search online for articles about how to conserve my slides and found an article I wrote almost seven years ago! I added a few more thoughts to that article from my new research. Still looking for ideas about conserving "framed" MLSs.
During those years these slides were single pane glass held by the larger cardboard frame. As such, if the glass is broken it is the image glass and not a cover glass. Conserving these will be a challenge when broken.
Of the 16, six had cracks or even missing pieces. Yet I still got them!
The ones with just cracks, I hope, can be conserved.
The ones with missing pieces should also be conserved.
Digitizing the images and repairing the images digitally partly drives my interest in these handicapped slides.
For instance, from 1925 there is the slide for Colleen Moore's 1st National picture The Desert Flower. A large chunk is missing, but it is only typography: no image. Her name is mostly gone. However, we can probably reconstruct her name digitally with a red background.
The ones with missing pieces and cracks all seem to be from major studios (1st National, as mentioned, MGM, Fox, Paramount). The others which appear to be intact are often by FBO and PDC. PDC is Producers Distribution Corporation, which appears to be for independent producers. FBO is Film Booking Offices, which is the predecessor to RKO.
I have a particular interest in FBO because not much has been written about it, yet it is important in several ways:
* predecessor to RKO.
* the initial studio for Joseph Kennedy, JFK's father.
* producer of the initial series of movies by Gene Stratton Porter.
* producer of westerns by Fred Thomson.
* created a series of boxing movies by Lefty Flynn
* apparently few of its movies still exist.
Also of interest to me is how FBO fit into the business and how it affected independent movie theaters. I suspect FBO was particularly important to rural theaters as the big chains probably felt such locations would be too marginal.
The slides this time from FBO are:
* All Around Frying Pan (1925)
* Going the Limit (1926)
* Laddie (1926)
* The Harvester (1927)
These will add to more than 15 FBO films made between 1923 and 1929 for which I already have slides. Could be more than just 15: I did not always keep accurate records regarding the distributor/producer.
Because I purchased all at once I was able to reduce postage per slide, so the cost was $10.68 each for eight slides and $10.67 each for the other eight.
It has been months since I last purchased any new-to-me MLSs: I have looked, but no one offered them at my budget point. Usually the only way to hit my budget was to get the low bid for multiple slides from one seller so I could have them combined and shipped at a lower cost.
BTW, I decided to search online for articles about how to conserve my slides and found an article I wrote almost seven years ago! I added a few more thoughts to that article from my new research. Still looking for ideas about conserving "framed" MLSs.