A historical question: "Leicas and Fresnels" ?

Hi all,

I am editing a text on stagecraft that was published in 1941. In a section on stage lighting, the text mentions "Leicas and Fresnels." I strongly suspect that this is a misprint, and "Leicas" is supposed to read "Lekos." Does this seem likely? Was "Leko" a widely-used term in 1941? Was there ever a stage light called a "Leica"? (The camera is presumably irrelevant.)

Thanks as always.

Josh

Likely a misprint. The elipsoidal fixture with shutters was developed around 1933 by both Kliegl and Century. Century's brand name was LEKO ( For their inventors Mr Levy and Mr Kook. Kliegl's brand name was the Klieglight. I think that the Centry model was more ubiquitous, and the name more euphonious.

Edited thanks to Bill Conner's note to name.

I think named for Joseph Levy, not Leman, and Edward Kook.

BillConnerFASTC said:

I think named for Joseph Levy, not Leman, and Edward Kook.

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You are correct. I will update the original post.
Thanks.

Joshualangman said:

Was "Leko" a widely-used term in 1941?

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I think it was. "Ellipsoidal reflector spotlight" is just too much of a mouthful. Note that Century Lighting itself never called it a Leko--the users shortened it from Lekolite®.

derekleffew said:

I think it was. "Ellipsoidal reflector spotlight" is just too much of a mouthful. Note that Century Lighting itself never called it a Leko--the users shortened it from Lekolite®.

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I agree.

ST

Every ellipsoidal--of whatever manufacturer--that I ever worked with from the mid '50s until 1979 was referred to as a "leko."

What were they called after 1979?

Wasn't that the year Strand-Century introduced the "black Lekolite®," (axial, FEL-1000W)?

derekleffew said:

What were they called after 1979?

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Source 4 Lekos.

Let me rephrase. @JonCarter , "What were they called from 1979 to 1992 ?"

A quick search for Leica and "stage lighting" or "theater lighting" did not return any hits relevant to theatrical lighting. As Leica was a major optical house I wouldn't have been surprised to see them involved, somewhere, some how, but didn't find anything in a quick lookie-loo.

derekleffew said:

What were they called after 1979? . . .

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I wasn't in the biz after 1979.

Any possibility that Leica was referring to the lens manufacturer? The closest thing I can find is slide projectors, but the company had several different names until the 80's, it is all very confusing. Still a thought.

Robert said:

Any possibility that Leica was referring to the lens manufacturer? The closest thing I can find is slide projectors, but the company had several different names until the 80's, it is all very confusing. Still a thought.

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I found some projection optics by Leica, lots of camera and microscope lenses, but nothing that appeared to be used in theatrical stage lighting, which makes me think the reference was in error; possibly some editor had never heard of "Leko" but had a Leica camera, perhaps, and decided to correct the headline.

Thank you all for your input and knowledge. I will most likely go ahead and change the term to Lekos, with a note explaining the change. I appreciate the discussion!

Josh

Is it possible to get the full context of the quote?
If the passage is talking about lens type and Leica was a manufacturer of lenses, it's entirely possible that the text is correct, and the fact that Leica dabbled in stage lighting (which could make sense as it wasn't uncommon for manufacturing companies to dabble in different areas of production during WW II) could be lost to history, but for this single mention in a stagecraft book.
If the author is talking about types of lighting fixtures, then the likelihood of it being a typo is probably greater, but still not certain for the reason mentioned above.
Not having the context of the reference, and if I was the one editing the text, I would leave the reference to Leica and make a note indicating that I was uncertain of the reference but highly suspect that it is a typo and the author meant to indicate Lekolite

derekleffew said:
What were they called after 1979? . . .

A lot of us kept using the term "Leko" for anything with an Elipsoidal Reflector, Lenses and Shutters.
In 1978 Berkey-Colortran introduced the "Luminaire". This had an improved aluminum housing to dissipate heat, Shutters in separate planes to prevent jamming, Swappable lens barrels and "A spotlight housing that has a rear section in which a lamp socket is accommodated. The lamp projects forwardly through the back of a reflector. The lamp socket is mounted on a heat sink. A coil spring is interposed between the heat sink and the rear section of the follow spot housing. A screw threaded rod projects from the back of the heat sink, through the spring and through a large clearance opening in the rear section of the housing where it connects with a positioning knob. The knob is urged against the outside surface of the housing, which is spherically formed with a geometric center located near the access opening to the reflector. By shifting the knob along the surface, the lamp filament can be moved laterally in any direction relative to the reflector axis or focus. By rotating the knob, the rod length changes as the spring compresses and expands, thus moving the filament more or less into the reflector housing as the heat sink limits rotation." (quote from the patent)

busparking said:

If the passage is talking about lens type and Leica was a manufacturer of lenses, it's entirely possible that the text is correct, and the fact that Leica dabbled in stage lighting (which could make sense as it wasn't uncommon for manufacturing companies to dabble in different areas of production during WW II) could be lost to history, but for this single mention in a stagecraft book.

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It did make me wonder if Emil Niethammer had ever used Leica lenses but I can't find any reference to them being used.

BillConnerFASTC said:

Source 4 Lekos.

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Good Morning Bill
It was Source 4 Elipsoidal
I don't think ETC would use some one else's brand name in their product name
;/

The question was what were they called, not what did the manufacturer name them. And it was strictly a humorous response.

Lots of (older) people still call them Lekos, just like many say Kleenix, and not tissue, or Masonite, not hardboard.