AN INSPIRING OLD TOY
There was
no TV when I was a child. As a keen moviegoer though I longed to know how they
could make those pictures moving on the cinema screen.
This kind
of toy belonged to my father once. He gave me a short lesson in the principles
of film projecting.
I was eager to learn more and decided to be an amateur film-maker in the future.
I was eager to learn more and decided to be an amateur film-maker in the future.
Curiously
enough even the manual has survived after all these years.
Made c. 1925
by Leonhard Müller Blechspielzeug-Hersteller Nurenberg Germany. He started
making Magic Lanterns *) for children in 1895. This film projector
was distributed by the well-known toy company of Moses Kohnstam. The logotype
LM however still was used.
*) WHAT WAS A MAGIC
LANTERN?
The invention of the Magic Lantern is from the 17th century and seemed "magic" in those days. It was simply an optical projector like the slide projectors used for education and domestic entertainment until the end of the last century.
This toy
was made by Ernst Planck, Nuremberg Germany. Late 19th century? He produced tin
toy trains and boats, as well as Magic Lanterns projecting small glass slides.
A concave mirror behind the oil lamp gathered the light. That kind of light
source was quite inefficient and produced weak projections. But I like the
chimney and lion paws, so typical for its time.
Small
boxes containing a set of twelve strip slides were included. Each miniature
glass slide had a series of images. Pushed through the slide slit of the
projector one at the time, the pictures were supposed to illustrate a nursery
tale.
SAME IDEA IN "MODERN" PACKAGE
By the late 1950’s toy projectors
were still on the market. In those days made in Hong Kong of thin plastic all together and operated by four
batteries 1,5 V. Indeed there were an additional holder for real 35 mm photographic slides, but the light was very weak and the pictures appeared
slightly distorted on the screen too.
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