8mm Forum: Collectors Club

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on January 24, 2008, 04:00 AM:

In a recent topic Lee was reminding us about the Collectors Club who issued standard 8, super 8, and later sound films.

I would like to ask Lee about the Club. Did it have a membership like a Book Club with a minimum number of films to buy within a certain period? Did a purchaser have to have the Club's choice or could he select other films? How long did the club continue? How did prices compare with other firms' releases of the time?

The boxes give no information about the Club with the same front to all releases. (Mine, anyway.)

I have a nice 200' in super 8 sound of W.C. Fields' THE DENTIST. The quality is good with very crisp sound, something necessary with the star's drawl.

Best wishes. Maurice

Posted by Jonathan Sanders (Member # 478) on January 24, 2008, 08:17 AM:

Although this question was addressed to Lee, I hope nobody will mind if I also answer, as I was a member of Collectors Club from 1971 until its (gradual) demise. I also still have almost every newsletter they issued from June 1974 (no.1) to November 1979 (no.69)! It may have continued beyond that but I started university that autumn and perhaps lost interest.

When I joined (through an advert in Exchange & Mart offering an initial film for less than £1) there was no general newsletter, simply a monthly offering of a one-reel silent comedy as the Film of the Month and a two-reel silent comedy as the Alternative Choice. If you did nothing, you got the one-reeler automatically, but you had to post off a slip if you wanted the two-reeler, or both, or neither! Occasionally, there were feature films like THE GENERAL, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, THE GOLD RUSH and METROPOLIS, all helpfully available on a "reel-a-month" basis (you were sent one reel each month automatically) if you couldn't afford them in one go. There were also a few non-comedy silent shorts available. Occasional lists of previous releases were issued. I don't recall having to buy a minimum number of films.

Prices were generally about 50% of the most expensive companies (e.g. Walton). In 1974 the films were about £2 per reel (silent) with Super 8 a bit more expensive than Standard 8. Most films were available in both formats.

When the newsletter was introduced (or perhaps shortly after this), they abandoned the "Film of the Month" procedure and you simply listed the films you wanted - they would even supply up to three reels on credit!

In July/August 1976, Collectors Club issued their first sound films, TRAILS OF TERROR (horror trailers, price £4.99) and Buster Keaton in THE CHEMIST (price £9.95). The sound catalogue gradually expanded and they also sold releases from other companies (including Walton) at a discount. So the "Club" idea gradually disappeared and they even opened a shop at 389 Kilburn High Road, NW6, though as I lived in Lancashire I never visited there.

Most of the films I bought as a teenager came from Collectors Club. They kept prices low by releasing everything in plain boxes - and perhaps by cutting corners a bit on print quality, but some of their releases were remarkably good - a nice print of Keaton's silent feature SEVEN CHANCES, for example, which I don't think was issued elsewhere.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on January 24, 2008, 08:21 AM:

Would you might know of a WALTON 200' S8Sound release "Beauty And The Bath"? - This was a caut from some Abbott & Costello feature I think - Long have I been looking for this to complete my series on the team - Cheers, Shorty

Posted by Jonathan Sanders (Member # 478) on January 24, 2008, 08:28 AM:

Joe, did you see the new posts (one from myself) to the thread you started in the Trade section about BEAUTY AT THE BATH? Unless you know for sure it was a 200ft release, it looks like it may have been only a 50ft silent newsreel that Walton issued.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on January 24, 2008, 06:27 PM:

Yes Jonathan, that was the one, possibly issued in sound, now where to locate a print in box, that is the question - Help? - Cheers from Shorty

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on January 24, 2008, 11:32 PM:

I used to shop at the Kilburn High Road store as I used to live quite close to it. It was a very friendly store and I bought a few of their super 8 sound releases. I visited their premises in the City somewhere in the Islington area if I remember correctly where I was showed how they slit the films double printed on 16mm film into 8mm prints. Next to Perry's Movies they were the friendliest "Home Cinema" producers. They released "The Vampire Bat" on 3x400ft reels, "White Zombie" and "The Most Dangerous Game" and "Dark Eyes of London" on 4x400ft reels and an excellent and underated Alec Guinness comedy "The Card" all of which I have purchased. I found their print quality to be very good (much better than some of the muddy prints that Mountain Films and even Derann were releasing at the time). Their release of the "All Star Bond Rally" is memorable for Bela Lugosi menacing Betty Boop. "Betty Boop, you have booped your last doop!"
Excellent stuff.
Paul.

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on January 25, 2008, 01:32 AM:

Some of the things I liked best about Collectors Club were that they offered affordable vintage titles, and later when the sound prints came in you could build your own library for a very modest sum which suited my very small pocket at that time.

Subject matter varied from documentaries about museums to classics of the silent screen, and it was probably CC who were responsible for my interest in Bela Lugosi as fans were well catered for here.

I signed up via an advert in the paper and your first
Prints were variable, but at the price they were excellent value for money I would say. As I mentioned previously, all my Collectors Club prints still run perfectly and I would not part with a single reel of pure nostalgia for me.

Prices were kept low by using yellow or later blue boxes and just printing the films title on the white flap at the front. These were printed by hand and with a simple rubber stamp, and all this simple packaging helped to keep the price low. Spools were quite brittle, clear and you may find a film where the reel has cracked.

Monthly advertising was always sent to members promptly, simply printed and with clear information. I retained much of these over the years and they still make good reading even today.

Happy days they were….

[ March 30, 2012, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: Lee Mannering ]

Posted by Jonathan Sanders (Member # 478) on January 25, 2008, 01:43 AM:

Paul, I think the Lugosi/Betty Boop encounter was in a HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE short from around 1933. I used to have CC's release of ALL STAR BOND RALLY which was of course a wartime short, with Bob Hope et al.

I have a Collectors Club short called DOWN MEMORY LANE which I think was another of those HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE shorts. Artists appearing include Wheeler & Woolsey, Ed Wynn, and even the boxers Jack Dempsey & Max Baer.

If anyone else has this, can you identify the very camp guy at the end who talks of his "lavender" autograph book? I think it may be the risque nightclub comedian Ray Bourbon, whose surviving film appearances are very rare. Amazingly, Robert Mitchum began his showbiz career by writing material for him!

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on January 25, 2008, 05:49 AM:

Yup !
Quite a few Hollywood on Parade's from CC.

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on January 25, 2008, 06:23 AM:

I also joined CC in the early 70's.
'White Zombie' was supplied on 8 x 200ft spools ans I had a few problems because the sound was way out of sync on two parts and part 4 carried the sound track for part 6. (also had Stepping On the Gas)
Happy days
Mal

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on January 25, 2008, 07:07 AM:

This thread brings back memories from my teenage years... packs of film catalogs arriving on my doorstep.

Anyone remember Mailmaster films. Or Erne Films, based in Northern Ireland?

Happy days indeed!

-Mike

Posted by Colin Robert Hunt (Member # 433) on January 25, 2008, 07:27 AM:

Must back up all that's said about Collecters club. Did visit the shop a few times and still find there sound prints very well recorded. Still have there Sherlock Holmes trailer reel and the Bette Davis trailor reel. Nice fun way of collecting film in a much more simpler world.

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on January 25, 2008, 08:58 PM:

You're quite right Jonathan it wasn't the "All Star Bond Rally" with Lugosi. As my hair gets greyer my memory gets a bit "greyer" too. [Smile]

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on June 24, 2013, 12:53 PM:

I joined Collectors Club in 1973: I used to buy Exchange and Mart in the 60s while still at school and read their adverts and dream one day of owning my own film collection. The films were always supplied on 200ft spools, so a 400 footer was supplied on two reels, when I joined the films together I found the frame lines needed adjustment. The copy of The Great Train Robbery (1903) was the only disappointment with its comic comments and jumpy picture (I eventually got a print issued by Perry's). I remember it being announced in Movie Maker that the proprietor was having new negatives made; after this, all 2 reelers and features were supplied on 400ft spools, and the quality was greatly improved. They had William S. Hart's last film Tumbleweeds taken from the 1925 release, rather than the 1939 reissue, issued by Niles Films. I bought quite a number of their sound films, L&H interviews, Popeye cartoons, and L&H in Tree in a test tube. Their release of Ain't Misbehavin, starring Fats Waller, along with a few L&H silents, were issued in plastic library cases. Happy days.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on June 24, 2013, 01:20 PM:

Have "Stepping On The Gas" from the 'Club' Mailmaster were they part of Mountain Films?

One of my projects for The Reel Image(UK) is to put some of the old adverts from the film magazines.

There was a negative for one of the films on ebay a few weeks ago.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on June 24, 2013, 01:58 PM:

A thing I remember about Collectors Club,was the fact that you
could buy your feature a reel at a time, as your budget permitted.
I have one of their films "Carry On Doctor", that I got secondhand,
and the dates that the previous owner purchased each reel are
written on the back of the boxes.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 24, 2013, 04:12 PM:

thats correct Hugh, we ourselves purchased the 4 x 400 footer of The magnificnet two from CC, this was only in b/w but later they released the first reel only as a stand alone extract in colour. Unlike the usual plain boxes this feature and carry on Dr both had picture covers, (the same image used for all four parts)

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on June 25, 2013, 12:29 PM:

David, Mailmaster were the outlet of Mountain Films; I still have one of their leaflets somewhere advertising digest versions of Errol Flynn movies. Is 'Stepping on the Gas' a Keystone Kops film?. I have a couple of Keystone films. Mailmaster became Portland Films, I went to their shop when it was closing down, it was very sad to see just a few boxes left, these were mostly Castle Films cartoons and boxing films. I did buy a feature Little Lord Fauntleroy (1935) 5x400ft in one box, similar to the Niles films. They also had the feature Tom Sawyer from the same distributor. I noticed on a top shelf they had a few 16mm films, which they never used to advertise, one was 'Brats' with L&H. I still have the last issue of Film Making Magazine, and one now battered issue of Movie Maker.

Posted by Mark L Barton (Member # 1512) on December 27, 2018, 02:50 PM:

Jumping on this thread of rememberence, and teh names of Collectors Club and Mailmaster. Does any one remember the adverts by Scientific and Technical (Of Southend on Sea, if memory serves) who used to advertise in teh Sunday papers, offering a projector, camera, roll up hanging screen and several 50' films, all in COLOUR (no sound) for about £19.99 plus postage. I bought this back in the early 70's (The projector and camera were Italian, the projector only ran forward, swap the reels to rewind, the lamp was 10 watts, a Gioca make and the camera was a ZETA, which always stopped with the shutter open, so every scene change was butted against a flash frame) I eventually upgraded to a Royal Sound projector (50 watt lamp) I happy introduction to a hobby i have been in for over 40 years now.

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on December 27, 2018, 04:15 PM:

I`ve just bought Stepping on the Gas collectors club sound for my eldest son. On Super 8.

For the princeley sum of £5, sounds nice order too.

The only other sound one of their`s I`ve ever had myself, I think, was a 200 feet super 8 sound with some Basil Rathbone S,Homes trailers.

Best Mark.

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on December 27, 2018, 05:56 PM:

Mark L.Barton - You have just answered a question for me that I had wondered about for the last 40 years!
In the 1970's my friend started out in super 8 by investing in this offer by Scientific and Technical. And, yes, HIS super 8 camera did the same thing.... flashed before each change of scene signifying the shutter stayed open and not shut. I had just assumed he had just got a naff camera, even though it still pleased him, but now appears they were all like that. Question now answered!!
I always thought it was a shame that so many people then were introduced to super 8 through this offer as, quite frankly, the projectors and cameras were a complete pile of crap. The Royale was no better regardless of the "bright" 50 watt light output, as I discovered when he "upgraded." Pleased to say that when he ventured into sound, he bought a "proper" projector...a Chinon...and a "proper" Bell & Howell camera.

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on December 27, 2018, 06:08 PM:

I bought several films from the Collectors Club in the early 1980s as far as I can remember. They were usually Super 8s, 200 ft and B & W. You could buy one reel a month of longer features as said above. The quality was usually pretty good as was the price. My projector went to the great cinema in the sky later but I'd managed to capture our family cine films on video by then. I sold several films nearly twenty years ago for much needed cash but still have "Easy Street" and "Cops" now mounted on 7" reels.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on December 28, 2018, 06:08 AM:

I seem to remember a "glamour" film advertised (often on the opposite page to the Collectors Club(typo) one in Movie Maker. This was run on the same terms and from the same address (41 Mitchell St). Though I never bought from them I have several Collectors Club 200ft reels and the 2 reeler of Chaplin in A Night Out.

Posted by Nigel Higgins (Member # 4312) on December 29, 2018, 08:00 AM:

Did collectors club do 16mm as ive had steppin on degas on 16mm in the past.

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