THOMASCOLOR
35MM MULTICOLOR PROJECTION LENS
Thomascolor, Hollywood, California 1945-1947
Thomascolor
35mm multicolor projection lens, believed to have been manufactured by
Thomascolor, Hollywood, California, somewhere between 1945 and 1947.
One of at least eighty-six such color processes developed
between 1899 and 1977, Thomascolor
was an additive color motion picture film system, whereby a single image was
individually run through red, green, blue and violet filters before coming
together to create four distinct images within the space of one standard 35mm
frame of black-and-white film. After developing the film negative in the normal
manner, a positive print was made. The
four images clustered within each frame of the black-and-white positive were
then projected through the same color filter array to produce a single image on
the screen having the "color" film effect. Magazine articles through October, 1945 still
reference the use of four colors in describing the system, which by then was
being planned for use in the 16mm amateur format. The projection lens shown here, with only
three color filters (red, green, blue) and three lenses, is believed to be an
evolution of the original four-color arrangement.
Richard Thomas of Los Angeles, an optical engineer,
conceived the process and was granted at least eight patents relating to color
film systems:
|
1,949,339 |
2/27/1934 |
Double Lens System |
|
2,097,706 |
11/2/1937 |
Method of and Apparatus for Multicolor Photography |
|
2,145,437 |
1/31/1939 |
Apparatus for Multicolor Photography |
|
2,152,224 |
3/28/1939 |
Multiple Image Optical System |
|
2,251,177 |
7/29/1941 |
Optical System for Photography and Projection |
|
2,281,607 |
5/5/1942 |
Multiple Photography |
|
2,491,018 |
12/13/1949 |
Method of and Apparatus for Producing Motion Pictures in Color |
|
2,553,285 |
5/15/1951 |
Apparatus for Producing Colored Pictures |
The Thomascolor process was initially conceived for widescreen
film, Thomas having outfitted one Fearless 65mm Superfilm Camera with his lens
with enough components to complete six additional Fearless cameras. Thomas
conducted tests in 1942, apparently shelving the 65mm format. Theatrical and
film producer Michael Todd would end up acquiring these cameras some eight
years later, modifying them to create the first cameras used in the 70mm
Todd-AO widescreen format.
At various points, the company apparently operated under
the names of Richard Thomas Enterprises, Inc., Thomascolor Corporation,
Hollywood, California, and by September, 1947, Thomascolor, Inc. Patent
information indicates Richard Thomas was a resident of Los Angeles and Westwood
Village (a commercial district of Los Angeles) with two of his patents from
1941 and 1942 having been assigned to the Thomascolor Corporation, a
Corporation of Nevada. On January 25,
1951, the State of Delaware repealed the charter for the Thomascolor
Corporation, for failure to pay taxes during the prior two years.
I have yet to determine more about the Thomascolor company, how long it lasted and whether any motion pictures
ever materialized using this process in either 65mm or 35mm film. In 1948, the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) investigated the practices of the company's certified public
accountant, taking issue with a 1947 audit that grossly overvalued the
company's patents and patent applications. The audit issues came about, just as
Thomascolor was registering to issue securities,
based on the strength of these financial statements.
A notation in Popular
Photography, November, 1947, stated that "Application for approval
of a 10-million-dollar common stock issue has been made by Thomascolor Corp.,
formed for the manufacture of equipment for making color pictures on
black-and-white film. The process, invented by Richard Thomas of Los Angeles,
was described in detail in the October, 1945 issue of Popular
Photography." Thomascolor
reportedly issued 200 shares before the SEC rescinded their approval.
An article in The CPA Journal, July, 2016 by Dale L. Flesher, PhD, CPA and Gary
J. Previts, PhD, CPA, states that "The
company’s patented process had the potential to transform Hollywood’s
production routines, but the organization was strapped for cash, and because
Technicolor was already an entrenched process, competition was fierce." Technicolor, founded in 1914 as the Technicolor Motion Picture
Corporation, would go on to become a highly successful company that is still in
operation today.
This is the only Thomascolor
projection lens I have ever encountered.
In fact, prior to acquiring it, I had never even heard of Thomascolor. Again,
just one of many great concepts that never caught on, disappearing into the
pages of cinematic history.
For more information and greater detail on the Thomascolor process, please check out
these web addresses:
Wikipedia's
list of color film processes for motion pictures:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_color_film_systems
Article
on Thomascolor from Popular Science, August, 1944:
in70mm.com article on the beginnings of the Todd-AO
process, which utilized Thomascolor 65mm prototype cameras:
https://www.in70mm.com/news/2017/brian_obrien_jr/uk/index.htm
Article
on Thomascolor from Popular Photography, October, 1945:
