Seguin Cine Museum Expands

[Davideo]

SEGUIN CINE MUSEUM EXPANDS

-Seguin, Texas- A project of Seguin-based Davideo Productions and Seguin Theatres, Inc., the Seguin Cine Museum is pleased to announce its expansion which took 3 years of planning and development. The museum’s home is at the Historic Palace Theatre on 314 South Austin Street in Seguin, Texas.

The Seguin Cine Museum, first launched in 2009, is a collection of historical motion picture films, cameras, editing equipment, and related memorabilia. It covers the history of entertainment mediums since 180 A.D. to the present. Various film formats are included such as 70mm IMAX, 65mm, 35mm, 28mm, 22mm Kinetoscope, 17.5mm, 16mm, 15.5mm, 13mm, 11mm, 9.5mm, Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 4.75mm widescreen, UltraPan8 widescreen, paper roll films, zoetrope strips, praxinoscope discs, magic lantern slides, and the like. Unlike other “movie museums”, this museum focuses on the “behind-the-scenes nuts and bolts” of the film industry rather than glamorous movie stars. Here, the real stars are the cameras and projectors.

Museum co-founder David H. Pierce of Davideo Productions, states that "it's important to document and preserve these historical artifacts of motion picture history especially in this digital age and to show what the equipment looks like that has helped create memorable moving images since their inception. We are pleased to be able to educate the public about these technologies."

Museum co-founder H.A. “Dan” Daniels of Seguin Theatres, Inc. adds that "we are excited about the expansion of this museum at our theater which has a lot of history of its own. The theater was built in 1948 and we have firsthand seen many evolving technological changes in the film industry since that time. We are happy to share that history with the public.”

The museum also has opportunities for educational institutions to bring students to the museum for field trips. It has hands-on interactive items for students to inspect and will provide stop motion animation workshops on a request basis.

It also presents special programs about film history in the theater. On the slate is a new short film produced by Daniels and Pierce which is entitled A FEAST FOR THE EYES. This film is a history of the development of motion pictures since 180 A.D with various early films highlighted. Special presentations of historical films are planned for the future as part of the museum’s educational mission.

The museum is open for viewing on an appointment basis or during events being held at the Palace. For more information, contact David H. Pierce at david@davideo.tv or visit www.seguintheatres.com or www.davideo.tv.

[Will2]

I was just down that way this summer. Beautiful part of Texas.

I'm headed down to Austin next week for Masters in Motion...if I was taking a car (instead of Amtrak) I would drive down to check it out.

[Nicholas Kovats]

Congratulations, David!

[slashmaster]

When and where does 15.5, 13 and 11mm come from?

[Davideo]

The 15.5mm is from the Movie Projector Gun made in 1937, 13mm from the early 1930's Irwin hand-crank toy movie projector which uses continuous loops, and the 11mm from the Kenner Real Sound projector in 1967.

[Davideo]

Shot of the museum with co-founders David H. Pierce (left) and veteran 35mm projectionist H.A. "Dan" Daniels (right):

DavidnDanSM.jpg

[Davideo]

With the recent talks about telecines and film scanners, I thought I would share this photo of a 1970's Laird Optical Multiplexer film chain system which was used in broadcast television stations for TV shows on 16mm in the days before videocassettes. It was later modified for realtime and frame by frame film transfers. It handled 24fps sound as well. It also handled 35mm slides for advertiser billboards. Now retired in the museum.

LairdTelecine.jpg

[vintagefilm]

Thanks for posting that David. That looks just like the one we used to have...oh, wait. That is the one we used to have. It was with a transfer house in Santa Ana Ca that we bought out back in 1999 I think. Before that I don't know. And we used it for quite a while, until we bought our first FDL-60 telecine. When we sold it, David was the buyer. Thanks for taking care of it David. we have some memories there.

[Will2]

Hope you're keeping the cameras dry down there. These storms are turning Dallas into a swamp.

[Davideo]

The museum is on the second floor of the Palace Theatre. Seguin is doing okay in this weather (knock on wood).