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Although many thousands of playroom projection devices must have been manufactured over the
years a mere fraction endured the passage of time. This is no doubt due to the flimsy construction
of these devises coupled with the harsh treatment dished out by their youthful guardians. This
applies even more in the case of the primitive 'software'. Films made specifically for these machines
where of standard 35 mm gauge but printed mechanically (E.I. not photographically), on a slow
burning base. It is a wonder that any examples of these frail strips remained intact after suffering
numerous passes across those rudimentary sprockets in such close proximity to a naked flame.
(Perhaps there could be merit in reprinting these examples of these embryonic motion picture
cartoons while some still survive).

After World War I at least two toy projectors were manufactured, which ran 28 mm film, apparently
to use up leftover stock of this obsolete Pathé gauge.

Later, Japanese manufacturers copied the products of Bing and others with brand names such as
‘King', 'Lion', and 'Fairy Maid.' Usually, these imitations were even less sturdy than the German
originals. These factors combine to place toy cinemas in the scarce, although not rare, category.

Such scarcity is possibly more evident here in Australia due to the sparser population and cultural
leaning toward outdoor recreation. Aussie Christmas stockings were far more likely to include a
cricket bat than a magic lantern.

For anyone with
regard for the history
of cinema technology
or a passion for
collecting juvenilia,
such items are
intriguing. Little
wonder, with my
wife keen on the
latter and myself with
film dust coursing
through my veins, we
are forever on the
lookout for
unfamiliar toy
projectors.

As a further attempt
to justify this odd
British made DUX CINE with 35 mm strip of 2-phase animation film. habit, I must add
that, as youngster
growing up in the
early '50s, I had at British made DUX CINE with a 35 mm strip of 2-phase animation, and at
various times have own latter day equivalents of those elementary projectors. A misspent youth,
drooling over ads for cinematographs, 3D viewers, filmstrip projectors, in fact anything that used
film or slides, created an ongoing addiction that still demands occasional gratification. This
infatuation with cinematic toys began, not with the tin-plate and kerosene lamp variety, but with
a latter-day Bakelite counterpart which ran on batteries.

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