the late Robert Gutteridge with his book ‘Magic Moments’
Toronto. Most of us have fond memories of visiting a movie house as a kid and cheering on the ‘hero(s)’ as they thundered across the screen.
Member Robert Gutteridge was our resident movie expert of the day. In January 2000, his book titled “Magic Moments” was published. The book covers the first two decades of movies here in the big smoke (1894-1914). Bob was a teacher, movie creator, hardware collector, speaker at our meetings, writer, and participant in our fairs, displaying unique movie gear along with François LeMai of Montreal, another serious collector of movie gear.
I wrote the odd book review for the journal, including Bob’s book when it was first released: “Robert Gutteridge is an educator in visual art and film, collector of motion picture apparatus and optical toys, a filmmaker, and a member of both the Movie Machine Society and the Photographic Historical Society of Canada.
“I first met Robert Gutteridge at one of our photo fairs; later, he was a guest speaker at a Toronto meeting. Along with his submission for a PHSC Publication Grant, Robert provided a short extract from his book-in-progress. I read the extract and decided then and there to order a copy of his history of the early years of moving pictures in Toronto.
“He is a natural storyteller, making the dry historical writings come alive. The copy was delivered last night (early in 2000) –what a great book! I spent hours browsing through Magic Moments, and I was intrigued to read more the next day during breaks and lunch.
“The book is the culmination of two decades of research into early cinema, especially of the technology and films.” …
Members read all of the book review in the 25-5 pdf file on the free members-only DVD/thumb drive. Not a member (yet)? See above and at right to join. Questions can be sent to member@phsc.ca. PS – Bob’s book, while long out of print, is still available as a used copy (see ‘Magic Moments’ link above).
