ROLLAPRINT ad from LIFE magazine
Toronto. George Dunbar threw a challenge the other day. He asked if anyone knew about or heard about the ROLLAPRINT system as advertised on page 4 in the May 26, 1961 issue of LIFE. It is full page so it must have cost a bundle!
From what I could learn, the system was made in France and imported to the States by the U.S. Photo Supply Co. of Washington D.C. The ROLLAPRINT system’s fresh egg was its ability to make copies of prints in 10 seconds for pennies each – and in room light at that. The system consisted of a fixed size enlarger to make 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 prints from 35mm negatives (Like the c1925 Leitz FILAR, etc. line), The ROLLAPRINT print copier and processor, 100 sheets of printing paper, and the developer and fixer/stabilizer bottles.
You could buy just the print copier and processor, or both it and the enlarger. The system was tested commercially in the USA late in 1960. Given its rapid disappearance and rarity here, suggests the system sold poorly in the stores. I remember the ads but not seeing the actual product although I was busy buying film gear in the early 1960s. Today there is very little on the internet of either the system or the importer.
The title for this post is the title of a song by Kid Rock – never heard the song before but it fits the post…
