By Joe Rinaudo

CHAPTER 1   CHAPTER 2   CHAPTER 3   CHAPTER 4    CHAPTER 5   CHAPTER 6   CHAPTER 7   CHAPTER 8   CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10   CHAPTER 11 

Chapter 13

To say that the collectors and film dealers that Dave and I met along the way were interesting and sometimes very unusual would be an under-statement.

There was this film collector Dana who was blind! Yes, a blind film collector! You would go over to his apartment in Glendale (California) and ring the doorbell three short times. This would alert Dana that it was a fellow film collector outside and not a salesman or some other riff-raff or person he might not want to see (pun intended). If Dana couldn’t get to the door his wife would greet you. Yes, she could see. You would then enter the living room where Dana was seated in a big easy chair pointed toward a very large window. Dana would sit and listen to the people and traffic going by outside. This other than film collecting this was his major form of entertainment. He especially enjoyed it when the children would walk by his window on their way to and from school. So as the kids would walk by, they would see this skinny balding old man staring out blankly at them. He never wore glasses to cover his blind sunken eyes which made his look a bit more disturbing. A stoic figure with arms resting on each armrest of the chair with his long boney fingers hanging over the front of each armrest. Of course, this always got some kind of negative reaction from some of the bolder kids. It got more disturbing in the summertime. Since his apartment didn’t have air conditioning he would perform this routine shirtless!  One time on one very hot summer day when I was standing near the big window and bearing witness to his shirtless performance (in his chair with his skeletal sunken chest exposed and staring blankly out the window) The crypt keeper had nothing on him! I saw some kids walk by and one made a comment: “There’s that spooky old man again and it’s not Halloween!”

Normally the kids would make faces or stick out their tongues at him thinking that he could see them. I assumed that the kids were trying to get a reaction out of him which, much to their chagrin, never happened. Some of the girls would not look at him but scream and run by quickly! Each to his own as to what one might consider entertainment.

So now it was time to talk business. You would then follow Dana into a back bedroom where he had as 16mm projector set up. He would point to a stack of film that contained the one that you wanted to purchase. You would then find the film and hand it to him. He would ask you which is reel one. He then would completely thread the film on to the projector flawlessly! Once the film would start, he would ask you about the print quality. Like if it was a dupe print or had some scratches, etc. Of course he could hear the quality of the sound. We would usually watch the entire film or just spot check the reels as necessary. Dana would have already run all of the films that he wanted to sell so he could know how many jump splices or missing scenes the print might have by listening to the sound track. Dana always gave a return/refund policy if you were not happy with the print quality once you screened it at home.

Now comes the money part. Dana always preferred cash. Once the deal was made, he would trust you to hand him the correct amount of money. If change was to be made, he would hand you his wallet and you would take the correct amount of change. Remember this was all on the honor system. The world of the film collector was a small one and any wrong doing got around fast. Once you are on the bad boy list most collectors would have nothing to do with you. We all assumed that of the end of the day Dana’s wife could do a full accounting of the daily receipts.

Speaking of the film collector’s world being a close knit one. There was one collector who Dana had made a big deal with. This collector stole several hundred from Dana’s wallet and put back ones in their place! Once Dana’s wife found the discrepancy the word went out about what this collector had done. Two collectors (who were good friends with Dana) went to this collector’s home (with a baseball bat) and got all of the money back! No one wanted to deal with this collector after that. This reminds me of a quote I once heard: “No three things keep a person more honest than a strong set of principles, a good upbringing and witnesses.”

There was another collector that Dana told me about. He was called “the postman”. This is because he was a postman in real life. Dave and I called the postman and dropped Dana’s name. We were invited over to his house in Los Angeles. He lived in an old bungalow at the top of a set of stairs that seemed to go on forever. He worked the late shift at the post office so he would sleep during most of the morning then after work would watch films. You could never call too early and only go over to climb Mt. Stairs in the evening. It was quite a challenge to descend the zig-zagging stairs with an arm full of film. Did I forget to mention that there were no railings? During this time in my life, I suffered from bouts of insomnia. The postman said that I could call him during these moments of unrest. We would talk about old films and sometimes he would run a film while on the phone so I could hear the sound and his narrative as to the quality of the print. This would go on into the wee hours of the morning until I could hardly hold the phone to my ear and finally drift off to sleep. One time the postman called to say that he had some “fun films” that we could show at a party. As it turned out the films were porno! At the same time friend of mine was getting married and he wondered if I could show a porn film at his bachelor party (which was to be held the house of one of his friends). So, I bought some of the porno films.

At the party I ran old films that had a wedding theme with Laurel & Hardy and Buster Keaton. After running the old films as a surprise, I ran the first porn film. As the porn film was running I heard a voice behind me ask: “Is running film like this illegal?” When I looked back, I saw the person who asked this question doing a line of cocaine!   

There was a film company that rented copyrighted films and sold films that were in the public domain. Or so we thought. You see, once you had dropped enough names and the owner of the company began to trust you, he had “under the counter” films (that were still under copyright) that you could purchase at a very reasonable rate. These films were really under the counter. Once he showed you the secret list of films that were available, he would then reach under the counter (which was the front desk) and hand you the film that you had picked out from the list.

Dave and I had purchased a few Laurel & Hardy and Three Stooges two-reel films this way. As I recall all of these were $35.00 each.  Some of the Three Stooges films were pretty nice. He told us that somewhere along the line he had made his own dupe negatives. One time when Dave and I went in to get a few more under the counter two-reel films we were told by the owner that Columbia Pictures had found out about his under the counter deals with the Three Stooges films. Instead of confiscating his negatives and remaining prints, Columbia just said sell off the remaining prints and don’t make any more! So, with Columbia’s blessing, we purchased as many of the Three Stooges films that we could afford to.

There was always the rumor of a big-time dealer who was very eccentric. He was extremely secretive and hard to contact. He could get you almost anything you asked for because he was somehow connected with the big Hollywood elite film collectors. Dave and I had asked around as to how to contact him but no one seemed to want to divulge this information.

One day Dave and I were at the home of Mr. Nobel Hickie getting our R.C.A. projectors repaired, as you might remember from Chapter# 11 Nobel was the R.C.A. technician for the M.G.M. Studios and was connected with the Hollywood “in crowd”. Nobel is going through the usual amplifier sound checks (without his teeth) when a tall distinguished man walks in and politely sits down. Nobel finishes up his toothless amplifier test and calmly puts his teeth back in and says: “Hello Bob”.  The man nods to Nobel and says hello to Dave and I. Nobel introduces us to Bob. Bob asks about our R.C.A. projectors and what kind of film do we collect. We told him that we like the early comedies of Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, W.C. Fields, The Little Rascals and Etc.

Bob then asks Nobel: “Are these guys okay?” I wondered just how Bob meant that. Much to my relief Nobel responded that we were good guys to deal with. Bob goes on to say that if there is any film that we find hard to get he can help us get a copy but only under the strictest secrecy. Nobel says that Bob is a great contact for many of the big Hollywood film collectors. Dave and I realized just who we were talking to. Bob was most likely the eccentric film dealer who we had been trying to get in touch with!

There was an early sound feature that I was always looking for. Bob told me he only gets “top drawer” prints. There is a money back guarantee if there was something wrong with the print. As a note in hindsight there never was a problem with the quality of Bob’s prints. It was cash only and delivery must be in a neutral place. Never at Bob’s house.

It was agreed that a neutral meeting place (for the exchange of the film and money) would be in front of Roads End market in Glendale. Near the corner of Roads End Street and Glendale Avenue near Forest Lawn Cemetery. Bob drove an older Cadillac four door sedan. The blue paint was slightly faded and the off-white layer that was on the roof of his car was pealing in spots. His car was not hard to miss. At this time, I am still driving my 1929 Model A Ford. So, the routine that Bob required for our clandestine meetings was for whoever arrived first was to pull into the Roads End Market parking lot and wait for the arrival of the second half of the meeting The first car was to flash its lights followed by the second car flashing its lights as a signal that we were meeting with the correct car. Of course, I always thought that this was a bit odd as how many other black 1929 Model A Fords would be in the same area at this exact moment. This was the routine that Bob required for our meetings to continue. I figured that this cloak and dagger approach to our meetings a bit strange but this was part of the eccentric nature of Bob. So, I thought, what the hell, this is fun!

Once the headlight flashing confirmed who we were, I would get into the passenger side of his car and make the cash payment and we would discuss the print that I had just purchased. We would then go to the trunk of his car and he would open it and hand me my 16mm print. His trunk was always full of film. Mostly 35mm prints. One time Dave and I saw a 35mm print of something called Star Wars in his trunk. Bob said that he also had a 16mm print for $600.00 and this film was not in theaters yet. Dave and I both passed on the offer as new films were not something we wanted. Besides we certainly didn’t have the $600.00 to spend on an unknown film!  

As the years went on Bob would feel comfortable enough to drive over to my house in Glendale to make his deliveries. He would pull his Cadillac into the driveway and honk twice (two shorts as I remember).  I would go out to sit for a while in his car and consummate the deal.

Bob was always impeccably dressed. He always had a crisp shirt with a starched collar and wore a tan golf cap with pressed pants and polished shoes. However, the lack of up keep of Bob’s car did not match how he was attired. I am reminded of a quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Never judge a man by how he dresses but by what he drives.” So, Dave and I always wondered what Bob’s house must be like? Little did we realize that we would soon have the answer.

After years of gaining Bob’s trust Dave and I were finally invited over to Bob’s house. Bob wanted me to look at some exterior lamps that he wanted me to restore for him. We were also   to pick up a print that Dave wanted to buy. The house was a reminder of the days of old Hollywood gone by. It was a two- story Spanish and (like his car) care worn, a bit tattered and needing paint. As we rang the bell at the front-door we heard dogs barking inside and Bob yell in a very loud voice: “SHUT UP!”  Then the barking ceased. Bob opened the small viewing door to see who it was.  He asked if we liked dogs. We both agreed that dogs were alright by us. Bob slowly opened the door. When we walked into the entry-hall we were met with the horribly strong smell of dog feces! Dave and I didn’t know what to do! Hold our breath or leave. We decided to endure this trial as we had made the trip for two important reasons. Lamp repair and film pick up.

As Bob led us into the living room, he explained that his wife had passed away and he had met a younger German woman that had the same love of doge as he. They both go to the pound and rescue dogs that are about to be euthanized. They had about 30 dogs in the house kept in the back rooms. When I asked where are the lamps that he wanted restored (hoping that they were outside so we could get some fresh air). Bob took us up to the second floor where we were introduced to his younger dog loving companion. Fortunately, the lamps were on an outside balcony. So, Dave and I got a reprieve of fresh air from the horror awaiting us below. Dave and I both agreed that when we go back into the house, we must conduct his film purchase as quickly as possible. Once back down in the living room, Dave asked for the film. Upon hearing Dave’s voice the dogs began barking uncontrollably. Bob yells: “SHUT UP!”  Then all was quiet on the western front! As Bob handed Dave the film he began to explain the condition. As Bob was doing so a dog walks into the middle of the living room and takes a huge crap on the carpet then calmly walks off. Now Bob doesn’t skip a beat in his explanation of the film’s quality paying no attention to what’s just transpired on his carpet. Was this a common occurrence?  We suspect the answer would be YES! We thanked Bob and the dogs started barking again. With Bob’s “SHUT UP!”  Dave and I quickly made our escape to the outside atmosphere.

Another film collector (sometimes dealer) was Martyn Kearns. Marty was a great guy and very knowledgeable about film history.  He contributed a lot to the film hobby and was always willing to try and find a print that a collector might want. Marty was one of the original film collectors visited by the F.B.I.

One day I went to Marty’s apartment to pick up a print that he had found for me. Marty lived in a secure apartment complex where he had to buzz you in. While I was visiting with Marty his bell rang and when he asked who was there? A very loud gruff voice exclaimed: “This is David Bradley! I’m here to pick up my print of the Mummy!”. Marty looked worried and quickly searched around for the 16mm print. I have heard of David Bradley. That he was a big film collector who had mountains of money. He seemed to spend this mountain on film and making copies for his collection. As a matter of fact, he would go to one of the largest film labs in the Los Angeles area. Since he spent so much time (and money) there, he and his little dog (which he carried in with him) had free run of the entire lab. He was also very generous about lending film to collectors that he knew. His prints were always excellent “top drawer” quality but if you didn’t return his film to him in the time you promised, he would call you and raise holy hell about you not returning his film! That’s a call no collector wanted to have happen as David was a force to be reckoned with! Marty once told me that when David was at his apartment dropping off a film. David had asked to use Marty’s phone. While talking pleasantly to Marty (as David was dialing the number) the victim answered the call, David suddenly said in a very gruff and loud voice: Where is my god damn Film! You had better get it back to me today! When he hung up David continued the conversation with Marty where he had left off. Of course, in the same pleasant tone that he was using before the call. No wonder why Marty was in such a hurry to find David’s print!  

So now I was about to meet the famous David Bradley! When there was a loud knock on Marty’s door and as he opened it there was David Bradley dressed in a white 1920’s sailor’s costume complete with a sailor’s cap and an Oliver Hardy mustache! I looked at Marty and Marty just looked at me as he handed the print to David. David then tipped his sailor’s cap and walked away without saying a word.  I asked Marty why David was dressed like that since this was the middle of July and any Halloween costume party was months away. Marty said that David always liked Oliver Hardy’s sailor character in “Men O’ War” (1929) and this must be David’s tribute to Ollie because he had heard stories of David going around town dressed like this.

A good friend of mine since middle school was Elaine Labby.  Elaine and I always had the same interests we both liked old film and records. We both collected Edison phonographs.  When in high school, I went over to Elaine’s house to hear her Edison Diamond disc phonograph.

  I got to meet her parents. Her father Dave Labby was working at the channel nine television station as a sound engineer. Dave’s hobby was photography and liked anything photographic. Dave was always bringing home old films that were being discarded by the T.V. station. In those days a show like The Twilight Zone was printed on 16mm film with the sponsor’s commercials printed in as part of the half hour show package. Because the sponsor paid for the entire print it belonged to the sponsor and not to the studio. The sponsor usually never wanted the show back and left them at the T.V. station. After so many shows piled up, the station had to dispose of these shows due to needed room and storage costs. So, these shows were usually thrown away. I purchased many old television shows from Dave. Dave also had old projectors, projection lamps and projection lenses for sale. On weekends I would drive over to Dave Labby’s house to watch some old television shows and other items that he had for sale. This was in a back bedroom where he had a projector set up with cans of film all over. As I entered the house, I would greet Mrs. Labby who was always seated in the living room sorting through her religious papers or reading the bible. Both of Mrs. Labby’s parents were in the ministry.  

On this particular day I was meeting with Dave to watch some old black and white Popeye & Betty Boop cartoons from the 1930’s. I was also going to look at a zoom lens that Dave had found for my projector. There was a large reel on the projector. Dave said that the cartoons were spliced together as the reel was too large for just one cartoon. Dave said that he did not have time to watch the cartoons but we could screen them together. At the same time, he could demonstrate the zoom lens. So, the projector flickers to life with a great Popeye cartoon from the 1930’s. The film was projected on a back wall of the room. Dave produces a piece of white card board. He demonstrates how the zoom lens can go down from a four-foot square picture on the back wall to one foot square by focusing the image on the white card board held one foot from the lens. Dave then refocuses the lens back to a four-foot image on the back wall so we can watch the rest of the cartoons with a larger image.

We watched three or four cartoons when suddenly a color image that was spliced on the end of the reel appeared showing women in tight leather bikinis doing somersaults and other interesting gyrations! This must have been some kind of S. & M. soft porn. Probably shown at a bar or men’s club as a gag reel with the cartoons in the beginning! Just then as Dave and I were watching in somewhat entertaining and stunned surprise. Who should walk in but Mrs. Labby! Without missing a beat, she starts screaming: “NASTY! NASTY! NASTY BOYS!” As she starts hitting Mr.  Labby with her bible! Dave lifts up his right arm fending off the blows and with his left hand reducing the picture as small as it can get with the card blocking the image. all the while describing how small he can make the picture with the zoom lens (or in this case the small size of the card).  Through the whole ordeal Dave was looking at me making his pitch about the zoom lens totally ignoring the screaming and pummeling he was receiving! What a salesman!  

Her attack complete Mrs. Labby exits the room slamming the door behind her! Now I have to ask Dave if there is any way out of the back bedroom without having to traverse the gauntlet by seeing Mrs. Labby. Dave said that the only way out is through the living room. I asked if I could climb out the window? Dave said you only have to go quickly by her and face the music once but I have to live here! So, with a deep breath I ran the gauntlet. All I can remember is passing by her as she screamed at me: “YOU ARE A NASTY, NASTY BOY!” I knew that I couldn’t go back there for several months!

To be continued…

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Do You Have
— EXPERTISE in NON-PROFITS? —

Joe Rinaudo, founder of Silent Cinema Society, is currently forming a non-profit which he calls SCAT —Silent Cinema Art and Technology — to fund the restoration and preservation of the actual machines and media of the silent era.

Advice and suggestions in the area of non-profits are most welcome. Contact Joe Rinaudo here.

Through Silent Cinema Society, which is comprised of you, the fans and supporters of silent cinema, Joe will continue to enlighten and entertain with The Newsreel newsletter; this Silent Cinema Society website; and hopefully soon, live shows where audiences are once again able to wear big hats that block the screen. SCAAT.ORG, the non-profit, will also support Silent Cinema Society so that information and entertainment will continue to be presented to you, silent cinema fans. Lady, will you please take off that big hat!

By Joe Rinaudo

CHAPTER 1   CHAPTER 2   CHAPTER 3   CHAPTER 4    CHAPTER 5   CHAPTER 6   CHAPTER 7   CHAPTER 8   CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10   CHAPTER 11

Chapter 12

One day, I asked Dave why he liked old comedies so much and how he was first introduced to them. Dave said that when he was about seven years old, his family took a road trip to visit his uncle in Iowa. While roaming around in his uncle’s attic looking for a treasure, he found an old Kodak hand crank toy 16mm projector. There were several small reels of films with short clips from old silent movies. He remembers threading the projector, turning the crank, and witnessing little scenes of magical motion on the wall as people and images came to life before his eyes! This was the beginning of his fascination for motion pictures. When he was about twelve, he bought a motorized 16mm Excel projector and films for $5.00. The films were from Castle Films, and he remembers how he used to watch Hopalong Cassidy with this projector. When he was in high school, in around 1956, he bought a Keystone hand crank 35mm toy projector for fifty cents. The only film that came with the projector was a very badly scratched print of an ad for a Blondie & Dagwood film. Many years later, while he was working at Carty Piano, He noticed that Dick Carty had an old Ampro 16mm sound projector and some Laurel & Hardy sound films stored in the office. Dave asked Dick if he might be able to borrow them for a while to run them for his family. Dick said that his friend Milt Larson, who was the owner of the Variety Arts Theater and the Magic Castle had given them to him so Dick could run them for his family. Later Dave had to return the projector and films when Dick needed to run them for a party he was having. I was very surprised to hear about the hand crank Kodak toy projector as I also had one when I was about twelve years old and would show films on the wall. I was glad that Dave shared my passion for early film and that the same Kodak toy projector had influenced both of our lives. It is so funny how things come full circle in our travels. Now because of my passion for film, Dave is collecting and running his own films!  

Kodatoy

Dave asked me how I got bitten by the film bug. Like Dave, I always enjoyed old films that I had first seen on black and white television. My earliest memories of watching daytime television, in around 1954, is that there wasn’t much to watch. I remember my mother changing the channels and only finding Sumo wrestling, old films and cartoons. So, these were my daytime babysitters. Many of the channels were just static or some kind of a test pattern with an Native American in it. Later in life I found out this test pattern allowed you to tune and sharpen the image on your television screen. I remember my father adjusting and fine-tuning the television almost every day by turning various knobs and moving the rabbit ear antenna to get the best reception.

Farmer Al Falfa

So, my new friends were old black-and-white silent cartoons. Farmer Al Falfa and Felix the Cat are two that I can remember well. My other “silent” friends were Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Snub Pollard, Charlie Chase, Fatty Arbuckle, and Ben Turpin. There were also many other comedies like the ones made by Mack Sennett. What young kid of my generation didn’t like the crazy cartoon   like antics of the Keystone Cops! 

My father was a shutterbug. He was always taking still photographs, and shooting 8mm film of our family outings and gatherings. Almost every Saturday night at our house was movie night. My father would set up the screen and thread the Kodak 8mm projector with his latest (Kodachrome color) family movie masterpiece. There were 8mm films of our family from the 1940s that he had shot. On one such occasion, my father said he had found a very rare old film of our family shot many years ago! When the projector flickered to life, up on the screen was not the usual color film but a black and white film with Charlie Chaplin! My father tried to lie and said something like we had famous people in our family and here is the proof! Of course, I knew right away that this was just one of my dad’s usual bad jokes. I asked him where he had found this film. He said that he bought it at Sears & Roebuck for $.99! This was a magical and pivotal moment in an eight-year old’s life! I realized that I could actually own a film of one of my friends that I grew up with that was on television! The next day I asked my mom to take me to Sears so I could see for myself if this was really true. When I got to the store, I was met with a whole rack of 8mm films of all my friends! Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton and so much more!  There were the small reels and longer ones by Castle Films that had all of these magical images that I could now own! My mind went blurry with all the possibilities of what I could now possess and watch anytime I pleased! I asked my mom to buy as many as she could afford. Seeing the kid in a candy store look in my eyes, knowing that I had to be put on a film diet, she wisely said that I could only buy one a week and this would have to come out of my allowance. Every Saturday was a magical day. When I would accompany my mom to Sears so she could buy necessities for our family and I could buy a small reel of magic. Of course, every Saturday movie night, I got to premier my latest slice of movie history. What a wonderful time! 

Johnny Coons

As I got a little older, about eight or nine years old, I started showing the 8mm films in my bedroom. I had a small screen permanently mounted on the wall. I had a vinyl record player set up with silent movie-type music and my dad’s trusty old Kodak 8mm projector by my side. I would charge the kids in my neighborhood ten cents a show. With the money I made, I could buy more films!                              

I eventually graduated to 16mm silent films. When I was in the fifth grade, around 1963, I used to watch a show on channel 9 called the Uncle Johnny Coons Show. Uncle Johnny was supposed to be an old film collector with a projector in his garage and would show old silent films with a projector that had a funnel attached to the back of it which resembled a meat grinder funnel. He would stuff a wad of film, not on a reel, into this funnel and start the projector. On one of his programs, he showed one of the craziest films I had ever seen. It was called School Days starring Larry Semon. I remember howling with laughter as there were very wild antics with a lot of great unbelievable stunts with people flying through walls, massive things flying through the air, bowls of goo flying on people, and a tower falling on a house totally destroyed it in full scale and real-time! This was a living cartoon! I had to see more of this Larry Semon guy! After checking with the usual places where I bought my 8mm films, Sears, camera shops,  etc., I couldn’t seem to find any Larry Semon films. So, in desperation, I called Channel 9 to find out where they rented the film. I got a call back from Johnny Coons himself! He told me that School Days was rented from a company by the name of Film Classic Exchange in Los Angeles. Johnny asked me if I would like to be a guest on his show. I agreed and found it to be a very interesting experience to be on live television but that is a story for another day. My mother drove me down to 1926 South Vermont and there I met Mr. Charley Tarbox, the owner of Film Classic Exchange. When I walked into the little storefront, I was met with films stacked all around on desks, shelves, and the floor. There was an odd smell of old film and lingering cigar smoke. There was a little old man seated at a desk dressed in a black suit with a very thin black tie. He had a shock of white hair, a red nose, and a cigar in his mouth. He was typing, single finger, on an old Underwood typewriter.  When he said hello his voice reminded me of a cross between Don Addams and W.C. Fields. Every time the phone would ring, he would answer it, with that great voice, “Film Classics!” When I asked about School Days Mr. Tarbox said he only had it in 16mm. He had a used print that I could buy for $15.00. This was my introduction to 16mm!  I already had an old 16mm silent projector that I had never used. I cleaned it up and ran my very first 16mm print! What an improvement over 8mm! So now I collected 16mm prints from Film Classic Exchange. I purchased some very rare and interesting films from Mr. Tarbox. During summer break Mr. Tarbox hired me to sort and repair some of his films that had been damaged. There was this dark and dimly lit basement, that I worked in, that was full of his nitrate prints and negatives. I remember him (with cigar in his mouth) showing me how to handle nitrate 35mm film. He taught me how to wet splice film and repair torn sprocket holes with special tape.  In return for my labor, I built up a credit account in which I received 16mm and some 35mm film. Mr. Tarbox said that he knew Mack Sennett! He also told me that when Sennett was having financial troubles he let Mr. Tarbox buy some of his original 35mm silent material. The Film Classic Exchange had some very rare and interesting films for sale that no one else seemed to have.  Owning 35mm silent film at this time in my life was a magical experience. To own the king of film was something that I could only dream about. I had no 35mm projector. I thought that, in the future, these might be quite valuable to me. Little did I know that I would make the transition from 16mm to 35mm and these 35mm film elements would come in very handy. I remember my first 16mm sound film that I purchased from Blackhawk Films. It was Laurel & Hardy’s The Music Box. This was the only film that won them an Academy Award. It was an all-talking sound film! When it arrived, I opened the box and was transfixed by this reel of a magical “TALKING” picture! My first sound film! What a wonderful feeling of joy and excitement came over me. I could really own a sound film of my comedy heroes that I grew up with on television! In 1963 there was no video available to the average person. The only way you could see a film was to go to a theater, see it on television, or own a film print. Since I didn’t own a 16mm sound projector I asked my mom to drive me down to a local camera shop to rent one. What a great Saturday night show my family had when I premiered my first talking film. My dad was amazed that I could buy a great-looking print you could only see on television. My dad said: “You have to get more of these!” 

Since Dave and I shared the same passion for film it was only natural to find more for our collections. This brought us into the very crazy world of film collectors.   

Back in the 1970’s you were something special if you were a film collector. A film collector would be very popular because they had a stock of films and a projector to be used as a source of unique entertainment at private parties and special events at churches and schools. In fact, I made money showing films that I purchased from Blackhawk Films and Film Classics Exchange at these special events. The money I made would go toward the purchase of more Laurel & Hardy films to be used for future screenings and to increase my film collection.  As I mentioned before, films were not available to the average person. Videotape, computers, and DVDs were not around. The only way to see an old film was in a theater or on television. New or ”first run” films were printed in 16mm for use on airplanes and for military. This, brings us to the above-ground and the underground worlds of film collecting. The above ground sources were places like Film Classics Exchange, Blackhawk Films, and Castle Films. These types of film dealers sold films in the public domain or in the case of Blackhawk Films, licensed copyrighted films for home and non-theatrical use. These would be films like Laurel & Hardy and Our Gang. 

As for the underground sources, most older films from the big studios that were still under copyright were not available to own legally but there were 16mm prints of these older film classics made for television broadcast and 16mm prints of the latest new films made for the travel industry (trains, planes, and cruise ships) as well as for the military. Yes, they had 16mm film projectors on airplanes! Once a print was worn or not wanted by the television station, usually the studios did not want the films back due to storage concerns, it was sent into a recycle house to be destroyed. The same goes for the prints of new films made for the military and travel industry.  These recycle houses were under strict orders that a film must not get out of their control and must be destroyed. Of course, many prints of the old classics as well as many brand new films made their “saved” journey from destruction and into the hands of film collectors. This was due to bribes paid to the recycle houses and sometimes theft of prints, during transport, prior to the arrival for destruction. 

The studios feared that the new films could be copied and the bootleg copies sold to collectors. The type of individuals involved in this type of illegal activity would come to be known as film pirates. There were stories of 35mm film prints being stolen from first-run theaters as well as from film depots before their return to the studios. By bribing the projectionist, some prints were “borrowed” from the theater as the film was being projected. The already projected reels were sent to a pirate film lab to be copied before the next screening occurred! This meant these pirate film labs could be bribed to make an illegal “dupe” negative, from the stolen print, and subsequent illegal copies for sale. Some unscrupulous labs were making prints for the studios off of the original printing negatives and selling prints out the back door. So, there was a market for these illegal prints (of new films) that wealthy collectors would purchase for their private screenings of the latest “first run” films. There were many stories of collectors running first-run films in their private theaters while the film was still being shown in theaters!

There were many cheap labs set up to make illegal copies from these “liberated” films. One, in particular, comes to mind where two brothers in L.A. set up an illegal lab and were selling “dirty dupe” 16mm prints of the 1933 classic King Kong. The film was developed in several bathtubs in a garage and looked horrible. As I recall, it was very dark and blurry, but If that’s all a film collector could find to own this title, then it was $50.00 well spent!

The 1970s was a very scary time for film collectors as the F.B.I. was on the prowl to find these illegal labs and shut them down. Many collectors were questioned and (in some cases) had their homes raided and films confiscated (by the F.B.I.). The studios hoped to find the sources for the loss of their newer films. In an effort to curb the illegal film pirate trade, the F.B.I. decided to make an example of a high-profile film collector. Roddy McDowall, a child star who played Cornelius Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film franchise, was the target, and in 1975 the F.B.I. raided his home and confiscated all of his film collection. He had a very vast collection and was found to be reproducing them on large format videotape, used by the industry of that time, which he said was only for his use and to protect the film by not running the prints. Roddy claimed that the studios were not doing a very good job with film preservation and he was keeping his prints in pristine condition for the reason of future preservation. The I.R.S. still confiscated his entire collection of film and video. To avoid serious legal action, Roddy agreed to give up sources of his film library and names of fellow film collectors with similar collections. This high-profile case sent huge shock waves throughout the film-collecting community. Because of this many collectors went underground and hid their collections in “safe” places. In some cases, collectors were allowed to keep their older used television films as ownership, and making them available for illegal copying are two different things. Most collectors of old classics just wanted to have these films to show privately at film parties and for their own amazement and never wanted to have anything to do with copyright infringement. Roddy never got his collection back.

There was a dealer who lived in the Hollywood Hills who will remain nameless. He was known as the king of the dupers! A dupe print is a film made from a 16mm duplicate negative which is made from an original 16mm print. The sound was not re-recorded so it was a bit muffled and the picture was a little light and flat in contrast. He could get any black and white Paramount title from the 1930s for about $175.00. So, for the collector on a budget, this could work fine. An original used television print (if it was top drawer} meaning a few splices (for commercial breaks), no scratches, and in general, like new condition could cost as much as $275.00 to $375.00. He had two 16mm J.A.N. military projectors mounted behind a wall in his living room and would spot-screen the film that you ordered upon request.

There were many underground dealers. Most of the first contact with these dealers had to be by referral only. So, you couldn’t just call them cold without a name to drop or the dealer getting a pre-call from a trusted collector that could give the dealer the all okay for you not being an F.B.I. informant.    

So, this was the wonderful world of film collecting that Dave and I had to deal with. Fortunately, we pretty much stayed on the above-ground side but we had some interesting experiences nonetheless! 

To be continued…

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Joe Rinaudo, founder of Silent Cinema Society, is currently forming a non-profit which he calls SCAT —Silent Cinema Art and Technology — to fund the restoration and preservation of the actual machines and media of the silent era.

Advice and suggestions in the area of non-profits are most welcome. Contact Joe Rinaudo here.

Through Silent Cinema Society, which is comprised of you, the fans and supporters of silent cinema, Joe will continue to enlighten and entertain with The Newsreel newsletter; this Silent Cinema Society website; and hopefully soon, live shows where audiences are once again able to wear big hats that block the screen. SCAT, the non-profit, will also support Silent Cinema Society so that information and entertainment will continue to be presented to you, silent cinema fans. Lady, will you please take off that big hat!