TODD-AO FEARLESS 65MM MAGAZINE

Fearless Camera Company, 8570 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, California 1931-1932?

Black-finished 1,000-foot 65mm magazine used on the first Todd-AO Cameras, originally manufactured by the Fearless Camera Company for their Fearless 65mm Super-Film Camera.

From The International Photographer, June, 1930 Courtesy of The Online Books Page

Ralph G. Fear was granted Patent No. 2,007,468 dated July 9, 1935 for the magazine's design. Many of these later production black magazines, which have no Fearless maker's tags, found new life when Fearless Cameras were being reconfigured for use in Thomascolor about 1942, and again when these same Fearless Cameras were once again being reconfigured in the early 1950's by Mitchell Camera Corporation for Todd-AO.

These first (or prototype) Todd-AO cameras used Fearless-built magazines, two of which are shown here with Todd-AO markings. During this period, these magazines are believed to have been equipped with "feet" like a pot trivet, allowing them to be placed on a flat surface for loading/unloading without the pulleys touching the surface. This is presumed, since photographs found of Todd-AO Camera magazines show them with "feet", whereas Thomascolor magazines don't appear to have been equipped with them.

Seven of these first (or prototype) Todd-AO Cameras are believed to have been constructed from a complete Thomascolor Camera and enough components to construct six more cameras. At least one is known to exist in a museum.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office