I had the pleasure of attending the "Silent Movies in the Park" event at Two Strike Park in La Crescenta. This was a live performance of multiple films on a hybrid Magic Lantern and silent movie projector rig. The performance was facilitated by Joe Rinuado through his involvement with the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley. Joe brought along his 1909 Power's Hand Crank motion picture machine with a Magic Lantern sliding attachment to project vintage 35mm films and Magic Lantern slides.
The projector appeared to be a wonderful piece of machinery and a bit of an engineering marvel.
Joe carefully, and patiently prepared the machine for the show.
The film reels were brilliant and beautiful.
The show started with some fun Magic Lantern slides.
The hand cranked reels lasted for about 20 minutes. Joe took turns with his assistant Gary Gibson manually cranking the projector. You could tell it was a pretty good workout!
- The Mutt & Jeff cartoon "Playing with Fire"
- Harold Lloyd in "An Eastern Westerner" (Picture below)
- Buster Keaton in "The Haunted House"
- Laurel & Hardy in "Double Whoopie"
- Larry Semon in "The Bellhop"
Joe would then need to change out the reel. When this happened, he had the ability to slide away the movie projector and Gary would slide the Magic Lantern into service. It was a great setup!
This was a nice summer evening to go watch a show. Fortunately, we had just spent the day putting new webbing on some 1970's lawn chairs. Super light and easy to carry, they made a great way to watch a vintage show, in vintage style!
You can find more about Joe and his projector at the following links:
https://www.crescentavalleyweekly.com/news/07/18/2024/139796/
https://www.silentcinemasociety.org/joe-rinaudo/
https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2006/01/09/photoplayer-californias-gold-8007/
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