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From Kev Franzi’s Journeys in Time –

The Saga of 16mm — Part 2

THE LOCATION – THE SAGA OF 16 mm PART 2.
A little hall in Exhibition St. (Melbourne)
By the mid 1920s thanks to the vision of
In the spring of 1944 I had just become a George Eastman and an army of others who
teenager and on this occasion found myself applied their talents to photography and the
once again sitting on a high stool between two production and exhibition of motion pictures –
16mm Bell and Howell portable projectors -- this industry had become one of the largest in
they were in turn sitting on two narrow boards the world. Apart from employing a vast
attached and braced to the front wall of a small multitude of people, it entertained millions
projection box. The stool I was sitting on around the globe. The 35mm format became
required a cushion to enable me to see the the most standard product in the world and
screen through the viewing port. could be screened anywhere in the world –
whatever the language. In “The Silent Era”
My Uncle Wal was about to start the show on you just replaced the titles to suit the language.
the No.1 Projector as a rather well worn “78”
of Offenbach’s Overture to Gaite Parisienne Now the introduction of 16mm film would add
neared its finale. a new dimension to motion pictures by
providing new and exciting fields of use in
This was always the cue for the audience to education, industry and promotion, it would
take their seats before the lights went out and entertain, inform and inspire generations of
the picture hit the screen – no frills – this was people for the next 60 years – and beyond. All
a screening of documentary films and what recorded history is made up of fragments – we
brilliant films they were – the British and can never tell the whole story – however, here
American wartime classics – Listen to Britain are a few highlights of 16mm film and its
– Fires were Started – The Battle of Midway journey. Let’s start with Home Movies.
– The Fighting Lady – and on this Below: The Cine-Kodak Model C. 16 mm Projector was a lighter
occasion one of the Why We Fight and simpler design than the previous models and I would think
series The Battle of Russia or was it cheaper to manufacture.
China, I don’t remember --.

For a lifetime, on hearing the Gaite
Parisienne I was instantly transported
back to that little projection box and
those 16mm films that struck such a
deep chord in me. Soon after that
early teenage experience –

filmmaking would become my
passion of a lifetime. Thanks Uncle
Wal – you don’t know what you
started – and at that time neither did
I.

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