Page 6 - RD_Template

Letter to the Editor

Hi Mike,
The Gebescope projector on the cover of RD seems the same as the GB L516 which came to New
Zealand and was used by the Ministry of Transport here. Perhaps the Australian version was made
under licence to English Gaumont British.

It was the first film projector I saw at the age of 6 years and made an incredible impression. I can
remember a traffic officer bringing it to our school and showing road safety films. Most schools
had projectors as audio visual aids but those in small country settlements like Paraparaumu where
we lived for three years, didn't.
One film was called Monkey Tale. I was thrilled to get a copy on 16 mm at a Film Buffs
conference in Christchurch. I hadn't seen it since 1952. My grandchildren enjoy it as much as I
did as a child. https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/monkey-tale-1952
What I enjoyed even more however, was seeing a beam of light produce a moving picture on a
screen from a hole in front of a black box. A speaker propped up on a classroom chair emitting
sound from the film, completed the magical experience. I didn't see the whole film as my attention
was drawn to the rear of the classroom where reels rotated, feeding the narrow ribbon into the box.
The best part was seeing Officer Stuart open the side to reveal the workings of the machine and
thread the next reel of the programme. From that moment, I was hooked.
Although unaware of its function as a child, I remember the characteristic curved gate of the GB
L516. Some years later I visited this traffic officer in Palmerston North with my uncle who had
served overseas with him in the war. This was a reunion of two old soldiers. I told then retired Mr
Stuart of this wonderful memory of him with the GB L516. He was really pleased that his efforts
had such a positive impact but in an unexpected way.
In high school I became the projectionist using a 16 mm Debrie. This is another projector which
used the projection lamp as an exciter lamp. One of these is on display, mounted on its stand in
my office where I edit video.
I only used a L516 once and was not very impressed with the sound quality. This one had terrible
wow but that may have been caused by an incorrectly installed or broken spring linked to the
sound roller. They did however have some interesting features such as the curved gate which was
probably ahead of its time.

I remember them being advertised in the early sixties in Amateur Cine World which I used to
read. There was almost a permanent advertisement at the back of each issue. They were priced in
England at 60 pounds for "new" surplus stock from the admiralty. They probably had hundreds
of them and that's probably how some of them came to NZ. It would be interesting to compare the
price with the Australian ones at that time.

All the very best
Warren Smyth
Auckland NZ
6 REEL DEALS June 2019