Page 5 - RD_Dec2012.pdf

models came out with improved
The success of their efforts was in no small
part due to their production and release of
professionally made movies for screening in capacity. Finally, in the late 1920s, the need
the home. Initially many of these short films
were edited extracts from some of the
Pathé actuality or documentary films which
they made over the preceding 10 or so
years.
Examples such as
The Fly’s Eye, Making
Glue, Stone Carving,
Dissection of a Frog,
must have kept the
family riveted to the
small screen on cold
winter nights. In
fairness, there were
quite a lot of
entertaining and interesting films released
by Pathé in the 1920 – performers like
Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and the
French comedian Max Linder were the most the worst pieces of equipment ever
popular.
The films were initially sold in small 30 ft.
enclosed cassettes, the film being fixed to
the internal shaft. At the end of the reel, the brought home movies to the masses to end
film was rewound back into its cartridge
before removing it from the projector.
Pathé had another ace up their sleeve –
their Notched Title system! By cutting a
small notch in the side of the film adjacent
to a title or still image, a sensor in the
projector would stop the mechanism and
hold that frame still until the mechanism re-
engaged and then returned to ‘normal’
operation. Of course the illumination was
quite low in these machines so the film was
not damaged. (See article RD Sept 2011).
The Camera:
A camera was release about 12 months
later, it was hand turned and took 30ft
cassettes of film – a clockwork motor later
became available.
The Pathé Baby projector went through a
number of transitions over time. It originally
had 30ft. capacity, in the mid-1920s newer
performance and with an increase to 60ft
for longer running films became apparent,
the little Baby was fitted with an optional
Super Attachment and a motor. It was now
possible to run a
full 300ft reel of
film either by
hand rotating or
by motor if fitted.
Pathé went on to
produce some
very nice 9.5mm
projectors,
including sound
machines before
their demise in the late 1950s.
Unfortunately, Pathé also produced some of
manufactured for 9.5. Their efforts like the
Ace and the Imp were nothing more than
toys and their last hurrah, the Princess was
certainly not a nice way for a company that
their run.
Pathé’s enclosed film cassettes.
Left 60ft. and right 30ft.
*
Generally, Australian collectors refer to
the projector as a Pathé Baby.
In other parts of the world, especially in
the U.K. it is often referred to as the
Home Movie