|
Author
|
Topic: Pathe 'Son'
|
Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler
Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010
|
posted March 19, 2012 02:21 PM
OK, I've had a couple of glasses of red, I'm in a good mood, sitting by the frenchie windows with a cool breeze coming in from the garden-it's 7pm) and I'm thinking; 'what would I really like to have that I've always wanted?' (film wise of course!) Up pops a real nerdy home movie type thought - I'd like a Pathescope Son projector. Before you hardened 9.5vers tell me that this was the most troublesome machine ever invented, I have to say that it's the gadget that I wanted as a youngster from the time I saw it in a catalogue, yet I have never even seen one in the flesh, and I'm now bloomin' old!
So there you have it, it must be a working model, and not cost a king's ransom (I'm not that drunk!)
Will I get killed in the rush, or will I die waiting?
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler
Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010
|
posted March 21, 2012 03:47 PM
This is all terribly nostalgic! My 9.5 library was R.Middleton, a chemist in the Goldhawk road, Shepherds Bush. It was a great thrill taking home the latest film. His collection was silent only, and you're right, Ken, my 1956-7 Pathescope catalogue shows that out of 133 libraries in the British isles only 30 handled sound prints, ironically one being in Bromley before I moved here.
Your fairs sound great, Lee, I joined group 9.5 some time ago, but haven't been to a meeting for ages due to leg problems, though hope to return soon. Their quarterly magazine is very interesting to an old film fuddy duddy like me.
Incidentally, while on the subject, the lace up on the 'Gem' looks more or less the same as the 'Son', being a silent version, so has this proved equaly damaging to the film?
[ March 26, 2012, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: Allan Broadfield ]
| IP: Logged
|
|
Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
|
posted March 26, 2012 04:19 PM
I share Allan's passion for the 'Son' projector. When I was into 9.5mm as a teenager, I had a Pathescope ACE and a Dekko projector. I used to rent silent Pathescope films every weekend from a photo shop in Cardiff. It was magical, and I never tired of cranking those 300 foot reels of Popeye, Charlie Chaplin, Hopalong Cassidy, Betty Boop, and the edited Hitchcock silent films such as Blackmail and The Ring, and the German 'Mountain' films such as 'White Hell of Pitz Palu'.
But these were all silent films and I knew that sound was where it was at, thus the yearning for the Pathescope 'Son', which to me was the ultimate home cinema projector. I would spend hours gazing at one in a shop window of a Cardiff arcade, but it was forever beyond my reach.
I have read the horror stories of the 'Son'. Kev F bought one a few years back, and gave up trying to restore it. But I love the look of the 'Son, it is very elegant and quite different from any other sound projector ever made. It even has an 'eye'! It makes a great display machine.
--------------------
The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler
Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010
|
posted March 31, 2012 06:33 AM
Wow, the bodywork looks pretty unscathed apart from the missing lens. Also of interest on the list under 'Pathescope' is the Pathescope Mark VIII 8mm projector, which looks like a hybrid of the 'Son' and 'Gem' family. I wish my home was big enough to create my own little museum!
Update-the 'Son' went for £93 at the end of the auction. Not a bad price, but the seller had no idea of the condition and there was no lens supplied, so it could have been good for nothing. A chance you take, I suppose, though there were some films supplied too. If the buyer is a member of the forum perhaps he'll let us know.
[ April 04, 2012, 03:42 AM: Message edited by: Allan Broadfield ]
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
