[photo-3d] Lions in Your Lap

[Ray Zone <r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Herbert Maxey wrote:

>INCIDENTALLY, I know that American Cinematographer is publishing a book
about stereo and someone you all know is writing it. I will not mention
the name because it might generate e-mail that the author really does
not. No, it is not me. Should be fascinating to read.<

Ray Zone responds:

I am compiling and editing the book about stereo you are referring to, Bob.
It will be out from ASC Press shortly. It will be titled "A Lion in Your
Lap, 3-D Films of the 1950s" and is a collection of articles from the pages
of American Cinematographer magazine from 1951 to 1953.  Here are some of
the articles that will appear in it:

Stereoscopic Motion Pictures by J.A. Norling
Hollywood Launches 3-D Film Production by Joseph Biroc ASC
The Story of Natural Vision by Dr. Julian Gunzburg
Practical Filming Techniques for Three-Dimension and Wide-screen Motion
Pictures by Charles G. Clarke ASC
Terror in 3-Dimension by Herb Lightman
Three-dimension Movies, In Color by Robert V. Bernier

I am writing an introductory essay to this volume as well as including new
interview material from Lothrop Worth ASC, the camera operator on the
Natural Vision rig who shot Bwana Devil, House of Wax and other 3-D films of
the 50s.

I will post to this list when the book is available for purchase along with
ordering information.

Note from Ray Zone to Jack Feldman who wrote:

>I find that I often
have forgotten, or had false memories. Is this one of them? I remember that
one of the effects was a killer lion jumping out of the stereo window at the
audience.<

That was no false memory Jack!

Herbert Maxey also wrote:

>As for Bwana Devil, a friend had a set of
stereo slides taken on the set. I would like to see the movie.<

Ray Zone responds:

Your friend wasn't Joe Biroc, was it?  In April of this year I discovered
(Kodachrome) stereo slides shot by Joe Biroc (DP on Bwana Devil) on location
in the Malibu hills of the making of Bwana Devil in 1952.  I subsequently
had these stereo slides copied and projected them for ASC membership in May,
SCSC and the Y2K NSA Convention at Mesa.  If there are additional stereo
slides shot of the making of Bwana Devil (or any other 3-D films of the
1950s) they are historically important and people should be given an
opportunity to see them.


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"It is difficult to break through the wall of usual seeing and begin to
discover how many other things there are to see.  It requires practice and
special information--you have to know what you're looking for--and it also
requires energy, since it involves special concentration."
    --from "The Object Stares Back" by James Elkins (Simon & Schuster: 1996)

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