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This brochure and technical manual describes the features and operation of the Bell and Howell Model 'D', a continuous contact printer which was the mainstay of film laboratory release printing in the US during the classic studio era.

It will be of interest mainly to hard-core techies, for whom this brochure provides a lot of interesting information about the nature and extent of image duplication and manipulation which was possible in the film laboratories of the period. The Model 'D' is still in use by some labs, mainly for creating archival preservation masters.

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This 63-page consumer guide was published in April 1950. The bulk of the booklet consists of a technical manual, covering topics such as the choice of television set, the geographical coverage of the BBC's transmitters, tips for installing your aerial and related background information (e.g. how a cathode ray tube works). It also offers a fascinating glimpse into the broadcasting culture of the late 1940s/early 1950s in the UK, decsribing the type of programming on offer, when the broadcasts took place and how much a TV licence cost.

Scheduled TV broadcasting in the UK began in 1936, following a series of experiments carried out to establish which of two competing technologies would be adapted by the BBC. It was suspended for the duration of World War II, and restarted in 1946. Between two and three hours a day of programming was broadcast until the early 1950s, and historians point to the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952 as being the event which stimulated large sales of receivers and led to the establishment of TV as a routine fixture in middle-class living rooms.

This booklet, published on the cusp of the TV revolution, was probably aimed at radio listeners who were thinking about purchasing their first TV receiver but had not yet taken the plunge. The limited extent of the service as it then existed is dismissed ('How many people, except invalids, listen to sound broadcasting for three whole hours a day?'), while its quality is emphasised ('It brings entertainment, and that word is used in its widest sense'). The first chapter finishes with a description of a typical evening's broadcasting.

The second chapter describes the basic technical processes, before the booklet moves onto the issues involved in choosing and installing a set. The reader is assured that 'a 9-inch tube gives an acceptable picture, provided it is viewed from the proper distance'. Finally, in a chapter entitled 'Your Questions Answered', the author provides what would now be called a FAQ page. In an illustration of how few people must have experienced TV at the time, he seeks to assure the prospective buyer that TV receivers aren't dangerous, '...provided you don't remove the back of the set and poke about inside while it is working.'

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In the decades following World War II, demographic changes (e.g. servicemen returning from the war) and the emergence of television threatened the viability of cinema as a mass-medium. The film industry fought back with technology, principally in the form of widescreen, stereo sound and (with significantly less success) 3-D.

VistaVision was one of four widescreen processes to be launched by the American film industry during the 1950s, the others being Twentieth Century-Fox's CinemaScope, Cinerama and Todd-AO. These materials were produced in order to persuade journalists, film-makers and cinema owners of the technical benefits offered by the system in comparison with standard 35mm film. The booklet has a date stamp from 1954, the year of the first commercial VistaVision release.

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PDF 7.0 format, 2,187kb
Download time: 8-14 minutes with a dial-up modem, 35 seconds on broadband approx.