Vintage Lighting Identify this lightboard (1963 Oscars)

[derekleffew]

This one's for @JonCarter among others...

Front view:

Well, I guess we know where they came from:

BTW, that's (supposed to be) Olivia DeHavilland.

There are actually two boards side by side. Have to be the most art deco piano boards I've ever seen. Did any really look like that? Or is it some 2017 propman's idea of what they looked like? Dimmer, resistance or dimmer, autotransformer? And where ARE the electricians? Probably in the alley out back smoking, drinking, and playing cards.

(Pictures from FEUD: Bette and Joan.)

 

[derekleffew]

As long as we're on the subject of the Academy Awards, why does the 1966 presenter's lectern

look exactly like a 1979 Strand-Century Light Palette?

 

[JonCarter]

OK, Derek, I'm going to guess that it's a "home brew" board whipped up by MGM. Most likely 2kW resistance dimmers (a deuce was a pretty common small inky and looks too small for 5s or 10s) (no interlocks or master handle) & knife switches. Would have been used to balance intensities for B&W filming but not much use for color due to color shift when lamps were dimmed. I'm kinda surprised that they were dimming things in '63 for color TV--must not have made the video operators happy!

 

[JD]

In answer to question #2- The designer of the Strand board may very well have seen that lectern 13 years prior and the shape resonated with him.

 

[JohnD]

Since this post involves MGM and dimmers, In The Wizard of Oz there is a light cue, a crossfade on the large set. The story goes that not even MGM had enough dimmers to accomplish this, partly because the color process required very high light levels. So the scene was set up with two sets of lights, gelled to the proper colors and each set was powered by separate generators. For the crossfade they fired up the second generator and killed the first generator getting a perfect crossfade, with much very expensive practice.