Bell & Howell was one of the top manufacturers who serviced the motion picture industry. TheY began with projectors, and then expanded their product line tp cameras, film printing and perforators (does anyone know what perforators did?) And it was housed in this beautiful building at 716 N. La Brea Ave. It was a striking building by day, but by night, it was gorgeous—especially the way they lit that central tower, which I imagine was merely decorative. This photo was taken in 1936. (Source: library.ca.gov)
Lew I. said: “Their principal clientele were upscale consumers and schools. B&H manufactured 16mm cameras and silent and sound protectors, and they distributed 16mm and 8mm home movie “shorts” — all available to the public at this location. The industry standard, however, was 35mm. B&H’s 35mm cameras were primarily handheld devices used by newsreel photographers.”
This is roughly how that view looked in July 2024
I believe perforators punched holes along the edges of the film stock so it would catch on the gears that moved it through the projector.
P.S. Are you on Substack yet? Great way to promote your books. You offer a free subscription to the newsletter and link to where to get the books. It’s a free platform and you own your subscriber list. You can use the photos you post in the Notes section to drive traffic.
I figured that’s probably what perforators did.
No, I’m not on Substack, but I’ll look into it. Thanks!
Thanks, Martin. Still a handsome building. You had to give the architechts credit for being mini artists in their own right, as compared to new structures today. If I am not mistaken, one of the famous Bell and Howell movie cameras are on display at the retail store at Warner Brothers. You can’t miss it, and it’s a gem. Bell & Howell cornered the market on movie projectors, and its amazing how today’s generation wouldn’t know what a movie projector was! The downside, yes, broken film, threading the projector, burned out light bulbs (lots) and putting up the dang movie screen! Remember those fun days??? With dvd and blu ray, kids today have it made.
Denise is correct. Sprocket holes or perfs were needed on all film to move it through cameras, still or moving, or projectors, moviolas, etc., and to line it up properly for accurate splicing, in the case of movie film where they acted as register marks, if you will.
Wasn’t The Federated Group located there in the 80’s?