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Built like a battleship,
the splicer was designed
for Studio Production
work and for use in Film
Exchanges where high
volume film splicing was
the order of the day.
Designed by Albert
Howell in Chicago,
USA, I believe that with
normal use this machine
would last a thousand
years, but its raison
d’etre would not.
From the sublime to the A combination of gross over design, very hard metal. and fine
ridiculous. On becoming precision engineering would ensure a lifetime of use that could
an Assistant Operator span centuries.
with Hoyts Theatres Pty
Ltd in 1949, I was
shocked to discover that
there were no film
splicers used in their
theatres. As a Relieving
Assistant I worked in
many of Hoyts Theatres
over the years and I
never saw a film splicer
in the whole of that time.
All the splicing was done
by hand. Of course, a
well trained Assistant
could make an excellent This model splicer has retractable pins for both 16 and 35 mm
hand splice, but there operation but no provision for 16 mm diagonal splicing. The fixed
were some who were film platen is heated to speed up drying time.
very slipshod in their
work. A bad splice coming apart in the theatre fires were the result of a film break
projector could at best cause a long in or around the gate.)
blackout in the show while the projector
was re-threaded, and it could cause So the Assistant had to check the thou-
serious film damage. At worst it could sands of feet of film* used in every show
break in the projector gate and catch fire. for broken sprocket holes and bad splices
(Remember, in those days we were using - and there were often dozens of old
highly flammable nitrate film and many splices to be checked.

6 REEL DEALS March 2024