THE
"CUB SPECIAL" 35MM MOTION PICTURE CAMERA
U.S. Cinematograph Company, Chicago,
Illinois 1916
The U.S. Cinematograph Company's "Cub Special" utilized 200-foot coaxial magazines, and was advertised as having all the important features of more expensive equipment. Advertisements touted its ability at direct focusing through the film, the use of aluminum magazines to prevent fogging, a Bausch & Lomb Tessar f3.5 Anastigmatic lens, and an "exposure meter" mounted to the front of the camera. This "exposure meter", essentially a nameplate with exposure modes in addition to an aperture scale, is the camera's most prominent feature and a bit of marketing genius. With the company's name proudly displayed, it's the first thing that hits your eye. Enhancing an otherwise plain exterior, it has no doubt raised the camera's appeal among collectors. The nameplate on this example is stamped "Copyright 1916":
One version of the "Cub Special" was marketed under the "Davsco" name by the David Stern Company of Chicago. A Davsco advertisement in a David Stern Company catalog for 1917, references an intermittent with a "newly patented cam and shutter type". With the front panel removed "PAT. APPLIED FOR" can be seen stamped on the shutter assembly. This patent has yet to be located:
The Davsco 1917 catalog
ad, together with the fact that by September 30, 1916, the camera was now being
marketed under the "Davsco" name, may
suggest this U.S. Cinematograph example dates to no later than September 30,
1916. I've been unable to learn more about the 1916 copyright or to locate the
patent for the referenced cam and shutter design. Both magazines are stamped "U.S. Cinematograph Co.,
Chicago", with diameters of 5-1/4". Measuring
10-5/8" long, 5-1/2" wide and 6-3/8" high, the camera weighs in
at approximately 9 pounds with its film magazines unloaded.
Despite having professional attributes such as
through-the-lens focusing, the "Cub Special" didn't have a wide range
of lenses, higher capacity magazines or the quality of construction found in
the Debrie Parvo, as an example. The
majority of coaxial magazine-styled cameras during the late teens and early 1920's,
were utilized for documentaries, news work or as a director's personal
camera. While some of these were used in
professional filmmaking, compared with the Bell & Howell 2709 and the
Mitchell Standard, they were the "amateur" cameras of their era. This was just prior to the introduction of
16mm film in 1923.
The David Stern Company was in business from 1885 per one
of their 1918 advertisements, selling cameras, lenses and other photographic
equipment. A September 30, 1916 ad in The Moving Picture World, offers
for sale the "Davsco Kine camera 200 ft capacity, up to the minute,
$110.00 " by the David Stern Co., The National Camera Exchange, 1047-R,
Madison Street, Chicago, Illinois".
Stern marketed the camera through at least 1918 (David Stern Company
1918 catalog as the "Davsco Professional
Kino"), and elsewhere under various names as the Davsco,"a camera for
motion photography", as the "Professional Kino", or simply the
"Kino Camera". Under the U.S. Cinematograph name, the camera has been
seen in both single-lens and 3-turret lens models, and single-lens models under
the Davsco name. An excerpt in The
Photographic Journal of America, Volume LV for 1918, notes that the
David Stern Catalogue No. 102 "includes a large line of standard supplies.
This enterprising firm has instituted a free service department to answer
inquiries of any nature pertaining to photographic matters".
David Stern was selling talking machines in 1919, and
it's not known if they were still marketing photographic goods at that
time. By October, 1921, their business
was selling boots and shoes, and they were filing for bankruptcy.
Captain L.(Louis) A. Boening was associated with the
camera's design or development (Louis Boening owned the Roseland Theatre in
Chicago, circa 1914), as his name is referenced in a testimonial written by
Charles Bass in the David Stern Company 1917 catalog. Bass rented and sold motion picture equipment
in Chicago from 1910 into the teens, offering many makes of cameras including
the Prestwich, for which Bass had a licensing agreement. In 1919, Bass Camera
Company, Chicago, continued marketing the U.S. Compact Motion Picture Camera,
by U.S.M.P. Camera (U.S. Motion Picture Camera Company ??). There is a Bass ad from Motion Picture News
1919 listing a 200-ft. capacity U.S. Compact M.P. Camera with a f3.5 Tessar
lens, slightly used, for $82.50.
The Certified
List of Illinois Corporations for 1913, shows L.A. Boening, 2335 Berlin
Street as Secretary of the American Cinematograph Company, 617 W. Jackson
Boulevard, Chicago. Reference was found to a Captain L.A. Boening who became
Treasurer of the National Projecting and Producing Company, Chicago, in
1911. That same year, Boening is shown
as Secretary of the International Projecting and Producing Company, 109
Randolph Street, Chicago, with J.J. Murdoch as President. Boening was also the
Treasurer of the Reel Fellows Club in 1915, an organization for those with an
interest in the creation and production of motion pictures in Chicago. This
information on Boening suggests a connection between
American Cinematograph and U.S. Cinematograph, and raises questions as to who
actually manufactured the camera over the entire course of its production.
The example shown here is in poor cosmetic condition,
missing a significant portion of its leather covering and having a broken strap
at one end. It's missing its hand crank,
but is otherwise complete with two 200-foot coaxial magazines, a Newton-style
viewfinder and a 50mm Bausch & Lomb Tessar Series 1c lens, all original
equipment for this camera.
The "Cub Special", under the U.S. Cinematograph, Davsco or U.S. Compact Motion Picture Camera names, is a quite rare American motion picture camera. Only a handful of examples under some of these names are known to exist.
From the David Stern
Company catalog 1917
Testimonial letter from Charles
Bass in the David Stern Company catalog 1917
David Stern
Company Catalog 1918
From the David
Stern Company Catalog 1918
From the David
Stern Company Catalog 1918
From the David
Stern Company Catalog 1918
SIDE
STORY
Purchased on eBay, this Cub Special
was admittedly, not in the best of shape. Some leather was gone, and it was
missing its crank and one of the aluminum film magazines, both necessary for
the camera to function. For me, these shortcomings factored little into the
final bid because I already had an example of the missing film magazine...which
just had to be reunited with the camera.
This film magazine was acquired about
twenty years ago, long before I had a serious interest in early motion picture
equipment. It was purchased along with other photographic items as part of a
junk lot, and although prominently stamped "U.S. Cinematograph Co.,
Chicago", I had no interest then in its identity. At one point, I even considered posting it on
eBay in an effort to dispose of some odds and ends.
As I gained a little knowledge, I
eventually realized what it fit. I
reasoned that, finding the camera would be a remote possibility and that owning
the film magazine was about all I could hope for. I even thought, should I ever
be lucky enough to acquire the camera and it was missing one or both of its
magazines, I'd be ready.
And then this camera shows up...what
are the odds, and who would have ever guessed!