REVIEW: 3D: The Kilburn Brothers of Littleton (aired on NH Public TV)

[P3D Bill Costa - NIS/CIS - University of New Hampshire <Bill.Costa@xxxxxxx>]

    The NH Public Television show "3D: The Kilburn Brothers of Littleton"
    had its first airing last night.  Here's a brief review.

    This program tells the story of the Kilburn Brothers who at one time
    were the largest manufacturer of stereo views in the world.  Featured
    on the show were interviews with Linda McShane and Paul Wing.  Ms.
    McShane is the author of "When I wanted the Sun to Shine", the
    definitive work on the Kilburn brothers and other Littleton New
    Hampshire Stereographers.  Paul Wing is the author of "Stereoscopes -
    The First One Hundred Years" and according to the show's host, Fritz
    Wetherbee, "is considered the most knowledgeable peson in America on
    the subject".

    Throughout the program, over 50 old time stereographic views are
    presented in anaglyphic format.  Each view is held on screen for at
    least 5 seconds, and some as long as 20 seconds giving you plenty of
    time to study the photograph.  

    All in all, this was a very well produced program.  One of my favorite
    effects, which was done with a few of the card images, was to show the
    stereo card in its normal side-by-side format, only as red and blue
    images, and then the images were moved towards each other to merge and
    make the resulting anaglyphic image.  A really classy effect.  The
    host, Fritz Wetherbee, during the course of the program, also took a
    few moments to explain in simple terms the basic principles behind
    stereo photography for both stereo pairs and anagraphs.

    One historical fact that surprised me was how the old stereo card
    prints were made.  I guess I should have thought of this, but these
    prints were made before the advent of the electric light.  The factory
    that made the prints had a special shelf below the factory windows that
    were used to expose the prints to the sun, thus making the exposure. 
    There were a couple of nice exterior photos of the workers, each
    sitting by her window (most of workers were women), placing frames out
    on the shelf for exposure to the sun.  This, no doubt is the meaning
    behind McShane's book title "When I wanted the Sun to Shine".

    For those of you who can pick up New Hampshire Public Television (which
    should include many folks in Maine, Vermont, and Mass), the next
    airings are:

    	Monday, May 19 at 8:30 PM
    	Friday, May 23 at 9:00 PM
    	Sunday, May 25 at 5:30 PM
    	Monday, May 26 at 8:30 PM
    	Friday, May 30 at 9:00 PM
    	Sunday, June 1 at 5:30 PM

    (This program is also available on video tape.  Call 1-800-639-2721 and
    ask for New Hampshire Crossroads, show #1626.)  

    For more information about this program, including some of the images
    used which are also presented in anaglyphic format, visit their web
    page at:

    	http://www.nhptv.unh.edu/productions/xroads/xroads.html

    (Note that this page is updated on a regular basis. If you check it at
    a date much later than this posting, it will probably have been
    changed.  In which case you'll need to search their archives.)

    Disclaimer: I work at the University of New Hampshire but am not
    otherwise associated with the public television department.  I was
    pleasantly surprised, however, to find out that a long time friend had
    a hand in creating this program -- I discovered this reading the
    credits!  (Nice work Kristi!!)  In any case, I suppose that may make me
    somewhat biased in my reporting.  ;-)

    							Later...BC

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