8mm Forum: A Day at Eumigland Vienna

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Posted by Martin Dew (Member # 5748) on December 10, 2017, 12:03 PM:

Over the summer, I made an enquiry about the Eumig Museum on the website (www.eumig.at), asking when the museum was open, as there were no details in English.

A few days later, I got a message from Werner Schoefnagl, former director of after-sales support at Eumig. It transpired he had been at the company for 20 years right up until the doors closed on the factory in 1981. He asked if I would be interested to attend an ex-employee get-together, known as 'Veterans Day', on December 6th.

Of course I said I would love to, so planned a trip a couple of months ago, which included taking the train from Zurich to Vienna.

Last Wednesday (6th), Uschi Seeman-Fockenhuber, granddaughter of the founder of the company in 1919, Karl Fockenhuber, and daughter of long-time CEO, also named Karl Fockenhuber, picked me up from my hotel in Vienna, with her husband Gus. They drove me first to the Vienna Treasures Museum in Vienna itself, where several original Eumig products are on display (and which sees some 10,000 visitors per year).

Gus then drove us to the Wiener-Neudorf site of the original Eumig 'Hochhaus', or high-rise, where the head office was located and where all assembly of projectors, cameras and stereo equipment took place. During Eumig's heyday in the mid-1970s, not only was the company producing more than 500,000 Super 8 projectors a year, it had no less than 6,800 employees located at 6 locations around Vienna and beyond. To say the operation was massive, is an understatement. The city council of Wiener-Neudorf even laid on special buses for Eumig employees from nearby train connections.

Eumig began life in 1919 manufacturing metal lighters and other products, and during the WWII was instructed to supply bullets and armaments for the war effort. After the war, the company specialised in the manufacture of radios, and moved on to making amateur cine cameras, including the ground-breaking 16C 16mm camera. Many of you will be familiar with the large range of Super 8 cameras and projectors which started to emerge in the 1960s. With the exception of commodity screws and some standard metal fixings, 95% of all parts were fashioned by Eumig itself, from its own plastic injection-moulding machines and magnesium production plant (much of which was used for projector frames and casings).

By 1979, the company had seen the writing on the wall, not just because VHS was on the horizon, but simply because sales fell off a cliff. The sell-off of assets and contractual obligations were completed in 1985.

After looking at the old Eumig HQ, I was driven to the nearby Eumig Museum, where I was introduced to other veteran employees, and was shown round the exhibits. Werner also showed me the extraordinary archive of former products, which the museum is amassing for posterity.

Uschi and Werner and the team were so friendly, and they helped me with a couple of requests concerning my fantastic Eumig PJs here in Blighty. Stories abounded during the day and on the car journeys, including Uschi telling me that, somewhat naively, her father and the Eumig executives had allowed the Japanese to visit the factories, only to find that many of their IP and patents had been copied by Elmo and other S8 manufacturers.

I became a member of the Eumig Museum (which opened in 2009) for EU20, and if any of you can stump up for such a donation, please do so. It's fantastic that Eumig is creating this legacy, and I believe that as enthusiasts we should help them as far as possible. The museum is also constantly receiving free donations of former products for the archive, and the arrangement of the displays in the rooms is always being diligently attended to by Uschi (who is passionate about the project). I have also volunteered to work with other members of my family who speak German, to translate the eumig.at site into English.

Please let me know if you have any questions. A series of photos of my trip last week are below...

Werner Schoefnagl, me and Uschi Seeeman-Fockenhuber

A Display at the Vienna Treasures Museum

The disused car park at Eumig Wiener-Neudorf HQ - the large Eumig assembly factory was formerly housed on this car park behind the high-rise

This is the Eumig HQ high-rise or 'Hochhaus' - the building was 'glassed' over during the 1990s

And another...

Eumig Museum (Wiener-Neudorf) pics...

More pics to follow, which I can only post if there are replies to this thread...

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on December 10, 2017, 12:51 PM:

Wow Martin, what a fabulous visit to Vienna! How I envy you!
I am a frequent visitor to the Eumig museum website, and it would be great if there could be an English version available.
Even after all these years it is still heartbreaking that such an amazingly successful company went down almost overnight (thank you Polaroid!). [Frown]

But their fabulous products live on. [Smile]

The 'Wizards of Vienna' indeed!

ps. I wonder which projector was their biggest seller?

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on December 10, 2017, 01:17 PM:

Martin

Thats brilliant...they also have a Eumig Museum "Facebook" page worth joining. I offered them old Eumig ads a while ago, and made those photos "public" through my Facebook, so they could take them, which they now have.

Its great to support them even in a small way and to see how the museum is building up its exhibits.

PS. Paul there is a English translate option on there Facebook page.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on December 10, 2017, 01:44 PM:

Reading through the Eumig history through their website, it says that Eumig filled the bankruptcy in 1981.

IMHO, that year was still the heyday of 8mm films. In fact, my parents bought us our first projector in 1980, it was a Sankyo 502. We started using VHS/Betamax in 1984sh.

Why Eumig fell so quickly at that time, a mismanagement?

[ December 10, 2017, 04:50 PM: Message edited by: Winbert Hutahaean ]

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on December 10, 2017, 01:58 PM:

Polaroid did them in with their abortive Polavision instant movie system. Eumig had contracted with Polaroid to make all the cameras and player systems.
The Polavision system was an instant failure, and both companies paid the ultimate price.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on December 10, 2017, 04:08 PM:

Fantastic topic, Martin. Thanks !

Posted by Martin Dew (Member # 5748) on December 10, 2017, 06:26 PM:

Yes, Paul is right, and also sales of Super 8 nosedived in 1979, even though VHS machines weren't yet affordable for the majority.

Here are more pics of the museum:

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on December 10, 2017, 08:23 PM:

That S940 is a stunning looking machine.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on December 10, 2017, 09:23 PM:

Fascinating post - you could perhaps consider making it an article for Film Collector magazine, as I'm sure Phil S would love to include it.

Does the museum have a shop with souvenirs likely to appeal to collectors? I see the website has some interesting-looking DVDs.

Posted by Martin Dew (Member # 5748) on December 11, 2017, 03:13 AM:

Yes, Adrian, there are a number of DVDs, but all in German. Plus Eumig-branded wine, but I didn't get a chance to ask about its origins!

Look carefully at this photo from a museum display and you can see examples of the huge tradeshow booths that Eumig built at Photokina expos in the 1970s

More images of ex-employees and museum interior

The Archives

More to follow...

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on December 11, 2017, 06:54 AM:

Thanks for those pictures !

Posted by Martin Dew (Member # 5748) on December 11, 2017, 07:01 AM:

And a few more from The Eumig Archive...

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on December 11, 2017, 01:36 PM:

British advertisement for a Eumig radio from 1960's seen in the Science Museum, London.

Posted by Guy Taylor, Jr. (Member # 786) on December 11, 2017, 07:04 PM:

Thanks for the posts. Eumig was a brilliant product.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on December 12, 2017, 03:51 PM:

excellent thread. [Wink]

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