Vitak – earliest movie projector for home use
Toronto. As mentioned in an earlier post, in issue 25-1 we have a collection of reprints from exchange organizations. This one originally appeared in sixteen frames – the journal of the Movie Machine Society (MMS). In “The Vitak Story”, Alan Kattelle, tells the story of ‘America’s First Home Movie Projector’.
Alan begins his tale, “The next time you are planning a trip into New England, you owe it to yourself to include a stop in the pleasant town of Bucksport, Maine, located north of Portland at the head of Penobscot Bay.
“Bucksport is the home of Northeast Historic Film, an non-profit organization founded in 1986 by David Weiss and Karen Sheldon, dedicated to the collection and preservation of film and videotape of interest to the people of northern New England.
“The organization is housed in what used to be the 70 year-old Alamo Theatre, which has been transformed under the leadership of David and Karan into a modern movie theatre and a state-of-the-art film archive, with holdings of over four million feet of film and video tape. Much of the archive is available to qualified researchers.
“Natalie and I visited “Northeast” last summer looking to renew our friendship with David and Karan and seeing all the progress since our first visit, several years ago. After the pleasantries, David remarked that someone had called to say they had a Vitak projector, and David wondered if I was familiar with that machine?” …
Of course members read the issue 25-1 pdf file on the free member-only DVD/memory stick and learned about the 1902 Vitak home movie machine and the beginning of motion pictures for the home. See Membership above or at right to join, Email your membership questions to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
