8mm Forum: Musical Miniatures

This is topic Musical Miniatures in forum 16mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on September 07, 2012, 05:46 AM:

I have just purchased a 1600' spool with four musical items, one of which took me back to 1960 when I purchased a "Musical Miniature" from the firm of Frank E. Jessop of Leicester, here in the U.K. (Now well known as Jessops.)

It was Johnny Long & His Orchestra playing, and singing, "In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town".

These were 100 feet in length and cost 37/6 (£1.88). The opening title said they were from Pictorial Films Inc, however, the end title said it was a Frank E. Jessop release.

I understood that these releases were probably taken from the 16mm films used in American musical juke-boxes and were called "Soundies".

My new acquisition is Larry Clinton's orchestra playing "Deep Purple".

Does anybody remember these little gems and may perhaps still have a list of the released titles?

Were they ever released in the USA as package films?

Posted by John Davis (Member # 1184) on September 07, 2012, 07:16 AM:

I didn't realise Jessops produced (or at least distributed) films. My first experience of Jessops were those massive map-like sale sheet with screeds of 3mm high writing.

Posted by David Guest (Member # 2791) on September 08, 2012, 07:17 AM:

i have quite a few of the these about 30 off then they are on 100 ft spools quite good my favorite is listen to the mocking bird where one of them blows up a balloon and slowly lets out the air and make the same tune as the emerson moutaineers are playing

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on October 11, 2012, 05:05 AM:

Here's a quote from Amateur Movie Maker (March 1961)

"More 8 mm Sound
Frank E. Jessop, who launched his 8mm, sound film hire service with a 250ft colour film of Princess Margaret's wedding is now in the process of adding more 8mm, magnetic films to his library."

Didn't realise they also did 16mm though.

Looking for their old advert as I look through the old issues. I'll scan & post.

Were the 'Soundies' printed reversed or something like that, I believe they had magnetic sound.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 11, 2012, 09:08 AM:

Some years ago, probably twenty to thirty, a number of 100' musical 16mm sound films were for sale. They had come out of visual juke boxes.

I have three of these spliced together of Acker Bilk & his Paramount Jazz Band from the film "It's All Over Town" (1963).

As David said, they were reverse printed, not sure if some had a magnetic track, but mine all have optical tracks.

Posted by Tom Whiteside (Member # 3294) on October 11, 2012, 09:53 AM:

In 16mm some optical track soundies were "reversed" for use in back projection machines (ie, through a mirror) and some were not. I believe the mag track titles were Scopitones, released in France.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on October 11, 2012, 10:47 AM:

There were a lot of Musical miniatures available in STD 8MM snd
in the UK showcasing the likes of Petula Clark,Lance Percival,
Screaming Lord Sutch etc.There was even a full feature of these available from Mountain Films.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on October 11, 2012, 11:14 AM:

Yes remember them 'Enfield Film Services' used to advertise them Bridgit Bardot was listed singing Phew!

Wonder if these are what Hugh mentioned? EBay

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on October 11, 2012, 12:17 PM:

Absolutely bang on David,well spotted.I think I remember the Bardot film " The Ballets of Brigette Bardot" in col/snd.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 11, 2012, 03:20 PM:

The Bardot film was a Film Office release in colour which they called "Les 4 Ballets de B.B."

This ran for 8 minutes and was taken from her 1955 film "Cette Sacree Gamine" which was released in the U.K. as "Mamzelle Pigalle".

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on October 12, 2012, 07:06 PM:

As stated, the original 'Soundies' from the players are reverse printed but plenty are available in the USA in non-reversed prints and I believe they were released on 16mm in the USA by Castle Films. I expect they were individual songs on 100' reels but I'm not certain if that applied to all releases.

I believe the 8mm 'Musical Minature' releases were all films from Cinebox players, which competed with Scopitones but are not much fun to own on 16mm as they are reversed AND out of sync if you screen them via a projector!

Scopitones are the only films that are 'normal' if screened with a projector, which helps makes some titles very collectable and valuable, especially the USA releases that were Technicolor prints.

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on October 14, 2012, 12:07 PM:

I have a few of these "soundies". Acker Bilk playing "Stranger on the Shore", "Bobbies Girl" and a couple of others. I obtained them some years ago as re perfs to 9.5mm from Larry Pearce. The sound tracks are optical, variable area type and were on the opposite side to the normal 16mm, which is the normal side for 9.5mm so the titles are not reversed. However the sound is out of sync by 26frames on 16mm and 9.5mm projectors because the scanning point for the machines they were intended for must have been at the frame displayed. Hope this makes sense! Have never seen the insides of one of them. Ken Finch.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on October 19, 2012, 01:27 PM:

This page should be of interest it features Scopitone If that link does not work try this http://www.filmprojectors.eu/
Just found this link http://scopitones.blogs.com/scopitonescom/scopitones_on_dvd/

You can watch a couple of them on this site.

Would you class Sheila B Devotion's Singin In The Rain as a "Musical Miniature" it was 200ft super 8 bought from Perry's Movies.

SUPER-8-mm-3-x-400ft-sound-MUSICAL-MOMENTS
Ended: 11 Oct, 2012 19:26:23 BST
Winning bid: £31.55

I should have bid on these, always wanted some from when I first started collecting, in fact before I started used to buy Movie Maker magazine while still at school.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on November 10, 2012, 02:24 PM:

What a wonder full thing this internet is! And this forum in particular. You read a topic, do a bit of research and find some wonderful stuff.

On youtube there are lots of Scopitone's you can watch, some of the artist's I had never heard of. One Jody Miller sings 'Things' What a beautiful voice she has, and I enjoyed the 'filmeo' too.

They still turn up for sale too here's one on 8mm La Boheme and here's one on 16mm MON AMOUR

I'll properly buy some on film of coarse, after looking at them. I might even buy them on the DVD's that are for sale.

One I watched 'These Boots was in stereo. Were the 16mm prints in stereo too? They could be if they were magnetic sound I suppose.

I find them really fun to watch. Here's where I watched them Scopitone

Why do things seem to go back! Back in the 60's you could put your money in the 'Movie Jukebox and watch your artists, now its back to just audio. Unless I miss something and go in the wrong places? I have never seen one though I must admit.

If you visit these Scopitone Musical Miniatures please tell me what think of them?

Me I love them, fun to watch.

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