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Welcome to ScopiBlog!
This blog is intended to document the restoration of a collection of Scopitone 16mm film jukeboxes and their
media. These machines, though virtually unheard of even by avid coin-op collectors, are historically relevant for
a number of reasons. Perhaps most importantly, they provided a platform and business model that drove the creation
of a new art form - the short form "music video." While the machines themselves had an extremely
short lifespan in the marketplace, the artform it gave rise to later re-emerged as a major force in television
and popular culture. Long before MTV there was Scopitone.
On this site, you'll have the opportunity to follow along with the research and restoration process, only
recently begun.
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006
And I think it's going to be a long, long time...
It's been a while since I posted here. Have been very busy with other things in my life, hence little time for
the Scopitones. They sit waiting in the barn for my love...
Unfortunately, I lost some docs on this site (the first two schematic PDFs) and somehow I also lost my backup.
If you downloaded those files previously please let me know and pass them along so I can put them back up for others.
If nobody hollers I'll have to rescan...
More later.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Finally, a schematic
Folks-
Been so busy, haven't had time to do much. I thought it would be good, however, to post a schematic of the
Scopitone (the American model we are talking about). So, for your pleasure, and in four pages, here is the schematic:
More to come this coming weekend.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
It goes very slowly..
Haven't done much of late. I found the book of collected Scopitone information (see picture!). This was ordered
around the time I found the Scopitones in Kalamazoo about 2 years ago. It can be obtained  by emailing dannym991@removethis.comcast.net (of course, remove the 'removethis' part!) and asking for the "Tel-A-Sign Scopitone Model 450 1965 Juke
Box Install & Operating Instructions Video (film) Juke Box," It's about $60 but well worth it. It is a
collection of manuals, service info, pictures, and other related documents for the Scopitone. It was put together by
Gerlold and Linda Koehler with photos by J. Ronald Bopp - though it looks like the photos are the only original content (the
rest is copied from Tel-A-Sign manuals, etc). Highly recommended - more soon.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Getting the word out
It's of little use to post manuals, photos, comments, etc if nobody can benefit....SO....I spent a few minutes trying
to get this blog pointed to be something that searches. There is a pointer page at scopiblog.blogger.com that is indexed
by Google (Google owns Blogger) and hopefully this should help. Also have left notes for the more "popular" Scopitone
related blogs that focus on the movies. Hoefully they'll link to us and we'll get indexed...
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Did some work this weekend...
I received the rewinds, blank reels, and cleaner several weeks ago, but have been too busy to do anything on it.
This weekend I had a chance to catalog the films in Scopitone #1 and empty them onto the 5" reels. It is a long, trying
process that will be described in next post. The films retrieved from #1 are in carying states -- some look great physically,
others are clearly faded or ruined by mold and environmental factors. The list of films retrieved this weekend is as
follows:
| Title |
Artist |
Position |
Machine |
Code |
| Zizi la Twisteuse |
Glen Jack & Flenners |
28 |
1 |
A-119 |
| El Gato Montes (Spanish
Bull Fight) |
El Trumpet Girana: Leo Vidal |
27 |
1 |
A-146 |
| School is Over |
Shiela |
6 |
1 |
A-15 |
| The Hully Gully |
Line Remaud |
29 |
|
A-16 |
| La Marie Jocunde |
Alaine Barriere |
20 |
1 |
A-191 |
| Snappez a Mes Cotes
(Snappy) |
|
23 |
1 |
A-199 |
| I Love Paris |
Michel Legrand |
12 |
1 |
A-203 |
| Belly Dancer |
|
36 |
1 |
A-22 |
| Ole' |
|
19 |
1 |
A-260 |
| Garde-Moi la Derniere
Danse (The Last Dance for Me) |
Maya Casablanca |
13 |
1 |
A-43 |
| He's Got the Power |
Les Exciters |
4 |
1 |
AGB-3 |
| Empty |
Empty |
30 |
1 |
Empty |
| Empty |
Empty |
31 |
1 |
Empty |
| The Best is Yet
to Come |
Barbara McNair |
24 |
1 |
S-1001 |
| The Other Side of
the Tracks |
Barbara McNair |
33 |
1 |
S-1003 |
| Won't You Come Home,
Bill Baily? |
Della Reese |
5 |
1 |
S-1005 |
| C'Est Si Bon |
Jane Morgan |
9 |
1 |
S-1007 |
| Under Paris Skies |
Jane Morgan |
2 |
1 |
S-1008 |
| If I Had a Hammer |
Debbie Reynolds |
18 |
1 |
S-1013 |
| That Old Gang of
Mine |
January Jones |
22 |
1 |
S-1015 |
| High Heeled Sneakers |
Billy Lee Riley |
11 |
1 |
S-1016 |
| The One I Love Belongs
to Somebody Else |
Joi Lansing |
17 |
1 |
S-1025 |
| The Lady is a Tramp |
Buddy Greco |
15 |
1 |
S-1030 |
| I Cried for You |
Sonny King |
1 |
1 |
S-1033 |
| Sea Cruise |
The Hondells |
16 |
1 |
S-1034 |
| Everything I've
Got |
Vikki Carr |
21 |
1 |
S-1038 |
| I've Got That Feeling |
Ethel Eunis |
35 |
1 |
S-1039 |
| Keep You Eyes on
the Hands |
Princess Leilani & Alex |
3 |
1 |
S-1041 |
| Bellazza |
Bobby Rydell |
10 |
1 |
S-1043 |
| Where Did All the
Good Times Go? |
Dick and Dee Dee |
14 |
1 |
S-1044 |
| Where Do You Go
to Go Away? |
Gale Garnette |
34 |
1 |
S-1045 |
| My Teen-Age Fallout
Queen |
George McKelvey |
25 |
1 |
S-1046 |
| Five Card Stud |
Merle Kilgore |
32 |
1 |
S-1052 |
| Love for Sale |
Frank Sinatra Jr |
7 |
1 |
S-1055 |
| Calendar Girl |
Neil Sedaka |
8 |
1 |
S-1062 |
| Cabaret |
Marilyn Maye |
26 |
1 |
S-1073 |
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2006.06.01 |
2005.11.01 |
2005.10.01 |
2005.09.01 |
2005.08.01
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One of the biggest challenges in this project is the "data" aspect. The soul of the Scopitone machine is the collection
of films that run inside it. Each of these films is a 3-4 minute short recorded on 16mm film with a magnetic soundtrack
(the magnetic track is on the edge of the film -- picture later). The Scopitone machines to be restored came almost
completely loaded with films. The films are in one state or another -- some totally complete (including special
leaders) and some only in pieces.
The real "first step" is to recover the films from the machines. There hasn't been a tremendous rush on it - these
films were left to degrade in a dark, highly moldy basement for over 30 years (in the rotting machines) before they were found,
thus these aren't wonderful from Day 0. Nevertheless, we want to extract the films from the machines,
stop any further decay, and restore them as best possible.
Where are the machines currently? In a non-temperature controlled (but dry) barn in Michigan. This means that
they are in a fairly warm environment with high humidity - not good at all.
Initially, the author planned to pull the reels from the machines with the films on them. Upon closer examination,
however, you learn that you can't do that - the design of the Scopitone is such that the reels are integrated into
the mechanisms and one is supposed to load/unload films from other storage reels. There is even a little hand winder
that extends inside the back of the machine to assist in the loading/unloading.
Approximately two weeks ago, the author ordered and received plastic film reels and cans from Larry Urbanski - who seems to be an excellent source of low-volume film handling/restoration materials. Several films were extracted
from Scopitone #1 using the built in loader/unloader winder - the technique will be shown in an upcoming entry here on ScopiBlog.
Today I ordered a more supplies to assist with the extraction, storage, and restoration of the scopitone films,
including:
- Film reels and cans - 5" plastic
- Cleaner for the film (Filmrenew)
- A pair of rewind, hand-crank reels (one geared, one dummy) to build a rewind/handling table.
It is unclear whether the cleaner will be the "best" for our restoration work, but that is secondary right now. The
first thing is to get those reels, pull the films, and take some inventory!
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In this area I might put links, or not. Most importantly, I'll put a note: don't email me trying to buy my Scopitone
machines or films. I'm not selling. Sorry!
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If you are interested in Scopitone machines, the films, or anything related, please feel free to contact
me at:
mrohde AT verizon DOTDOT net.
Before MTV - There Was Scopitone
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