We are going to finally, officially say it:
Spring is here, at last:
It was late, but is not here to last. We’ll probably move directly into summer in a week or two. But for the moment, you revel in it. This is what I was doing on Saturday. Outside, dancing between the daylight and the shade, enjoying the breeze and the temperature and my sunglasses and the sun, waiting on a donor to show up to our building on campus.
A gentleman wanted to give something to the Media School. It fell to me to help get the thing in the building. The gentleman chose Saturday, so there we were. And he was on his way, late, but on his way.
He hopes out of his SUV, his two middle school children and a film student, and they all start offloading chunks of cast iron. I knew what it was, or what it would be again when he had it indoors and reassembled, but in its constituent parts it didn’t look like much. And then you started looking at details. It’s an old car:
It has great tags, and easy-to-use controls:
The thing still worked, the donor said.
And this particular tag gave you the timeline. This is from about 1937. Still in working conditioning. Mechanically mint.
It was all made in the US. The East Coast and the Midwest. Do you know what it is yet?
The only problems are a few scratches on the finish, like this one:
And some peeling 80-year-old paint:
It has a glass piece on top, still original, still pristine:
And if you’re still trying to figure it out, this piece should look a bit familiar:
Here’s the top part, beneath is the big heavy cast iron setup:
And here’s the full machine:
This is a movie projector.
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It was donated by a locally-based actor, James Lee Guy, who is very successful in Chinese cinema. He donated it to The Media School because he is a passionate, passionate film fan. He’s owned it for several years, having picked it up from a man who was running a private screening room in his home a few towns away. Before that this had been in a drive-in theater. Guy estimates it was made in about 1937. It still works and now is a fine display piece.
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A most generous donation, indeed.
