My first 8mm rental shop!!

[Steve Klare]

The only film rental libraries I remember here were 16mm. I don't think they even catered that much to private parties, more institutional customers.

Years ago a friend of my parents worked at one. As a fringe benefit she was allowed to bring home a feature and a projector over weekends. One time she invited a bunch of us to see Superman down in their rec-room. I still remember how in order to get a long enough throw to fill the screen, they had to project diagonally across the room.

-I was in my mid-teens at the time: call it a formative experience!

[Osi Osgood]

Your right about that, Steve. Our high schools had those catalogues for 16mm rentals! I was enthralled with those catalogues, as they were in full color with lots of pictures. I was allowed to take home and keep old copies of the catalogues, when they received new ones. They were really thick books. I wonder if there might have in face been one here in the states. I remember once, on ebay, there was a feature of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" starring Jeff Goldblum, and it was in those Technicolor cartridges. Usually, those films in cartridges were reserved for film libraries. Having said that, it doesn't automatically follow that that specific title originated here in the states.

[Douglas Meltzer]

I recall that Willoughby-Peerless, my favorite camera shop, had a rental department in the store but it was only for 16mm. Like Osi, I was fascinated by 16mm feature rental catalogs, especially those from Modern Sound Pictures, based out of Nebraska.



I would read every description, filling my head with all sorts of film trivia.



They even rented reels that paired Castle Films 16mm horror & comedy digests with Warner Bros. cartoons!
When they quit the 16mm rental business, they sold off their prints and I was able to pick up a few titles.

[Osi Osgood]

It's fascinating as to how similar a lot of our lives have been! It reminds me of my childhood in Eagle River ...

[Bill Taylor]

Random FYI that my dad used to work at Willoughby's/Select Films (Bill Taylor). Loved working there and heard some great stories over the years.

[Joe Caruso]

One great Powell release was a Std 8Sound 400' RKO Comedy; HOW TO CLEAN HOUSE, with Edgar Kennedy...looking to buy...Cheers, Shorty

[Paul Adsett]

Back in the 1950's I used to rent 9,5mm films from Salanson's Photo shop on Queen Street, Cardiff Wales. They had a great silent library of nearly all the Pathescope titles. So I spent all the money I made pumping gas at a garage on weekends on renting all those great classic silent abridged features, Popeye cartoons, etc. All hand cranked on a Pathescope Ace projector. What great fun it was!

[Osi Osgood]

Long after the rental shops closed up, for many years, in some cases, all the way up to around year 2000, libraries used to have super 8 film libraries, until VHS and DVD took over, and hey, rental was free! To this day, you still find exlibrary prints on eBay, which are kind of obvious, as most sellers do not get rid of the card catalog and check out slips on the boxes.