blast from the past

len

Well-Known Member
Got a call yesterday and the customer said she needed some "kliegl" lights. It took about 10 minutes to figure out what she wanted, because she wouldn't answer my questions directly (indoors or outdoors, what do you want to light up, etc.). She just kept asking for "the same kliegl lights we got from you last year." The other odd thing is she wouldn't identify herself, the venue, or any other info about the event.

So I finally dragged it out of her that she wanted an outdoor searchlight, which we don't rent.


Being in business would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to have customers. :)
 
Are "We Light the Way" and "Hollywood Nightlighter" still operating in the Chicago area? They're to whom we would refer clients in the mid 1980s for outdoor searchlights. Both used carbon-arcs. I suspect they have migrated to Skytrackers by now.
 
Carbon arc Sky Pans! Nobody has built any of those in over 50 years, yet there are still tons of them out there... Tells you something about how they were built! (Most of them from GE) Since they are used outdoors as a stand alone unit with their own generator, I think they have a loophole. Saw my last one being used at a store opening only three months ago. I think being an auto mechanic goes along with owning one ;)

That being said, I still think they have a more visible output (in miles) than most of the newer stuff that looks like a bunch of gnats flying around. Oh boy, here I go down memory lane again!
 
Are "We Light the Way" and "Hollywood Nightlighter" still operating in the Chicago area? They're to whom we would refer clients in the mid 1980s for outdoor searchlights. Both used carbon-arcs. I suspect they have migrated to Skytrackers by now.

Never heard of either one. I just pass them along to Big Sky Balloons. They're the only ones I know of around Chicago that do that any more.
 
I saw one of those epic search lights about a year ago at a local high school dance. Huge white flame carbon arc. Wow. It had it's own generator and everything, and an operator who looked about as old as the searchlight.
 
and an operator who looked about as old as the searchlight.

Yea! That's the thing! Every time I see one, it looks like the operator may have had it when it was new. Lots of WWII vets. I always think to myself about how the guy is thinking of how much more "fun" it was when he was spotting planes for AAA.
 
Oh, I had to google these things.

I know what I"m going to be up all night reading about.

Check out this link It's like a 60" Beam Projector!

Ohhhhh! Lightbroker has some. (Almost half way down) Get yours now for $15,000. I'll take 5.

I think this is genuine new material on CB.
 
Ha! They even give you a recipe for cooking up your own carbon rods! (for the German 45kw carbon arc.) Excuse me, I have to go to the kitchen now! ;)
 
I wonder how Derek's Super Trouper feels about these bad boys.
 
If anyone comes across any 60" reflectors let me know, I have two searchlights in the front garden but the reflectors are a bit "pre-loved"
Back to the original thread my customers seem to think "Strobe" covers anything from mirror-ball UV,or effects, I always interrogate strobe customers to find out what they really want.
By the way the searchlights are older than me.
 
The last one of those dudes I talked to was about 6 years ago, and I remember him going on and on about how it cost him $5000 to get the reflector re-plated, so someone out there dose reflector restoration. If I remember, it’s a big brass dish with a chrome plating. As long as there isn’t some deep corrosion, I would think someone in the biz of doing chrome plating would do it. These biker shops get some pretty big things plated, might be a good place to start., especially if you own two of them!

Then again, GE is still in business, you could order the part number and if nothing else blow the mind of some guy at a GE parts warehouse ;)
 
Oh, I had to google these things.
I know what I"m going to be up all night reading about.
Check out this link It's like a 60" Beam Projector!
Ohhhhh! Lightbroker has some. (Almost half way down) Get yours now for $15,000. I'll take 5.
I think this is genuine new material on CB.

Well, by posting that link Greenia forced me to read/glance over every product on LightBroker.

However, two mysteries have been solved in the process:

1. This little gem of a product hidden on their site: "Latest Ver of Palm Pilot". Go read its description.

2. That elusive "LEKO" I have in my 3rd AP that I could never figure out:

proxy.php


Colortran 30 degree LEKO - 4pcs available - like new. Probably with lamps..... $165 each or the lot for $600 - no frames it appears!
 
The description is WRONG! There's obviously no such thing as a "Colortran LEKO." What is pictured is the last fixture series to carry the Strand "LEKO-LIGHT" name. (Be careful, the shutters fall out easily--other than that, not a bad fixture at all. Assembled in Mexico, IIRC).

R.I.P., Mssrs. Levy and Kook.:(
 
our old theatre manager used to get funny emails, he would remove personal infomation and forward them onto us.

here is one i can remember of my head

"We are looking for a high tech lighting rig, i have heard about some high end DL1's, we want 5 of them and a big pig desk (wholehog we're guessing)

so he emailed them back a quote and stated we can't get any DL1's for them, and maybe some high end studio beams would do the job, price $5000aud.

the reply said something like

we thought maybe 300$, is that the best deal you can do?

to cut a long story short, they got 15 parcans (mostly o/w) because they couldn't decide on colours.

grrrr
 
Quoted from a NY times story:

Mr. Obama walks out, left hand stuck in his suit pants pocket, looks around, the klieg lights casting him in a bright glow.

by Michael Powell, 2/24/08
 
LOL, like Leko the old name Kleiglight still gets thrown around a fair amount ... and always gives me a chuckle. I still remember our booth in Morris before we upgraded the lighting system, with a 48 channel, 3 scene preset board from 1973, the name on the top: "Kleigl Brothers - the finest name in lighting" :grin:

R.I.P., Mssrs. Levy and Kook.:(
Agreed. Actually, Levy's and Kook's design was roughly based off a house-light prototype designed by none other than Stanley McCandless.

Amazing the names that come back in lighting again and again ...

Clark
 
Most of the trucks I see are pick-ups. No one uses the bit 60" reflectors any more. They have 4 beams mounted in the bed that rotate in a cloverleaf pattern. Power comes from a small genie behind the cab. They're typically 3 - 5k xenon lamp products.
 
Len, those to what you refer are Skytrackers, see my post above for the link.
 

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