CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH: 3-D COMES TO HOLLYWOOD New Book for 2024

[bavanut]

I am proud to announce my new book, Close Enough To Touch: 3-D Comes to Hollywood, coming in 2023!

• The complete history of 3-D filmmaking in the English-speaking world from 1950 to 1975--not just dates and events, but behind-the-scenes info on personalities, clashes, and triumphs.
  
• Detailed chapters on 3-D camera rigs, 3-D transmission systems, 3-D projection, 3-D animation, and a very special chapter revealing the untold story of the Polaroid-Technicolor joint venture to develop Vectograph 3-D printing in 1954.
  
• Dedicated entries for each English-language 3-D feature, many containing never-before-published data from original production records.

This book is the result of years of research, including information gleaned from archives in England, Scotland, Canada, and throughout the United States. Plus, my colleagues in the 3-D Film Archive have thrown their many years of careful research, rare documentation, and hard-won expertise into the mix!

Keep watching this space… you will not want to miss Close Enough To Touch: 3-D Comes to Hollywood, coming in 2023!

[petergee]

Now this will be THE 3-D reference book we’ve all been seeking! Time and again you’ve provided us with amazing insights and knowledge - you’re obviously an expert in the field. Thank you so much Mike (and all your fellow contributors). Can’t wait to get my copy.

[Robert Furmanek]

I’ve been privileged to read some samples and have been absolutely blown away with the amount of new information that Mike has discovered.

I sent him all the primary source documents that we’ve accumulated over the last five decades as this will be the definitive tome!!

[petergee]

And I’m assuming we know know the nature of Mike’s big, new, project!?

[petergee]

Will this be a Kickstarter campaign Mike? You’d be able to setup some really nice stretch goals - hardback edition, signed copy etc etc. I guess it’s probably too early to speculate, sorry, I’m getting too excited!

[dooblehorn]

Originally Posted by bavanut

I am proud to announce my new book, Close Enough To Touch: 3-D Comes to Hollywood, coming in 2023!

• The complete history of 3-D filmmaking in the English-speaking world from 1950 to 1975--not just dates and events, but behind-the-scenes info on personalities, clashes, and triumphs.
  
• Detailed chapters on 3-D camera rigs, 3-D transmission systems, 3-D projection, 3-D animation, and a very special chapter revealing the untold story of the Polaroid-Technicolor joint venture to develop Vectograph 3-D printing in 1954.
  
• Dedicated entries for each English-language 3-D feature, many containing never-before-published data from original production records.

This book is the result of years of research, including information gleaned from archives in England, Scotland, Canada, and throughout the United States. Plus, my colleagues in the 3-D Film Archive have thrown their many years of careful research, rare documentation, and hard-won expertise into the mix!

Keep watching this space… you will not want to miss Close Enough To Touch: 3-D Comes to Hollywood, coming in 2023!

A MUST have for sure!!

[bavanut]

Thank you for your kind remarks, maxkvinton.

I'd like to take this opportunity to provide a bit of an update. I hope you will all understand if I have to remain vague about some details.

I have made a number of research visits to two major Los Angeles-area archives since April. A third archive is not yet open for research, but I am very hopeful I will be able someday soon to look at crucial documents they hold.

The cooperation and assistance I’ve had from Bob, Greg, Jack, Hillary, and others in the 3-D community have been amazing. As Bob has mentioned, he very generously entrusted to my temporary care tons of research documentation that he personally had gathered over the years. There are mind-boggling facts in his collection that he has never mentioned publicly but which will be brought to light in my book.

I have interviewed several people with firsthand stories to share about key 3-D luminaries of the past. Only a few weeks ago, I made contact with a crew member who played an important technical role behind the scenes of a circa 1970 3-D movie that has not been written about much before now. I am looking to establish contact with several other such folks in the days and weeks to come.

The manuscript right now numbers about 15 chapters in various stages of completion. The text runs to hundreds of pages. I well know that some paring down will be necessary, but I expect it will still be an impressive tome, at least as measured by weight. All kidding aside, I want this to be the best book I can possibly make.

I must say a word to acknowledge the memory of the late Lenny Lipton, author of Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema and an extremely important inventor of stereoscopic systems and gear. My last memory of him is bittersweet: Mr. Lipton gave me a few minutes of his time on the telephone on a Sunday afternoon not many weeks ago to answer some queries for my book. I had no idea his health was in decline. If those few minutes were precious to me, they must have been very dear to him--and not on account of my charming company. How gracious of him to answer my questions and leave me with his earnest best wishes for the success of my book.

There are no concrete plans yet for the publication of my book, but I have had warm and encouraging interest from several fine folks. I feel I am still on track to publish in 2023.

[Obler]

I look forward to reading your book, and I've heard that the projection of dual-strip 3-D was botched in the fifties, even in cities like Los Angles. However, I was ten years old when Bwana Devil was released in 1952, I instantly fell in love with 3-D, and I saw almost every major 3-D film made in the fifties in their original dual-strip polarized theater presentation. I saw at least 20 classic 3-D films between 1953 and 1954 and I have to say that I personally never saw a single 3-D film where there was any projection problem. Perhaps it was because I lived in Houston, which was a major market that got the films before they were hacked up, or maybe it was because I saw the films at first-run downtown theaters that had the most skilled projectionists and the best equipment, or maybe I was just lucky. In any case, I want to say from first-hand experience that not all 3-D films were plagued with projection problems in the fifties.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Obler

I look forward to reading your book, and I've heard that the projection of dual-strip 3-D was botched in the fifties, even in cities like Los Angles. However, I was ten years old when Bwana Devil was released in 1952, I instantly fell in love with 3-D, and I saw almost every major 3-D film made in the fifties in their original dual-strip polarized theater presentation. I saw at least 20 classic 3-D films between 1953 and 1954 and I have to say that I personally never saw a single 3-D film where there was any projection problem. Perhaps it was because I lived in Houston, which was a major market that got the films before they were hacked up, or maybe it was because I saw the films at first-run downtown theaters that had the most skilled projectionists and the best equipment, or maybe I was just lucky. In any case, I want to say from first-hand experience that not all 3-D films were plagued with projection problems in the fifties.

Lucky! That’s amazing. I didn’t get to see a 3-D film proper until I saw JAWS 3-D in the theater in 1983, when I was fourteen. Before that I watched a couple of those anaglyph television broadcasts with the cardboard glasses, but those don’t really count. I’m so so glad that the Blu-ray3D format came about, and that Bob Furmanek and his team have rescued so many stereoscopic classics from oblivion!

[bavanut]

Mini update:

Just had a terrific interview with a significant crew member on the set of Domo Arigato. What a treat for me... and what great memories he shared!

[petergee]

Shaping up to be THE bible of all things 3-D. Can't wait for this.

[Zivouhr]

Congratulations on completing your new 3-D History book, Mike. That is great to hear it will contain years of research and insight. 1950 to 1975 is a solid range for 3D films. Best success with the publication aspect as well for 2023.

[bavanut]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Congratulations on completing your new 3-D History book, Mike. That is great to hear it will contain years of research and insight. 1950 to 1975 is a solid range for 3D films. Best success with the publication aspect as well for 2023.

Thank you, Zivouhr. I'm sorry I missed your kind words when you first posted a week ago. To explain, I was busy at a Los Angeles-area archive this week doing deep research, plus juggling the unceasing demands of my day job. Otherwise, believe me, I would have thanked you immediately for such wonderful encouragement!

But let me offer a friendly correction: My book is still only half complete. The rough draft is shaping up nicely, and trust me when I say there is information in those pages never published or even mentioned anywhere else. In fact, tonight I am working on a chapter that will cover the attempts by Arch Oboler to sell BWANA DEVIL to a major distributor. There were several studios and indie outfits eager to lay hands on it, and plenty of amusing events and outrageous drama transpired in December 1952 and January 1953...!

[petergee]

The more you talk about this book Mike, the more exciting a prospect it becomes.

[globalimages2]

Can't wait. And would also gladly kickstart a part-two 1976-2000 sequel, no questions asked!!!!

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by bavanut

Thank you, Zivouhr. I'm sorry I missed your kind words when you first posted a week ago. To explain, I was busy at a Los Angeles-area archive this week doing deep research, plus juggling the unceasing demands of my day job. Otherwise, believe me, I would have thanked you immediately for such wonderful encouragement!

But let me offer a friendly correction: My book is still only half complete. The rough draft is shaping up nicely, and trust me when I say there is information in those pages never published or even mentioned anywhere else. In fact, tonight I am working on a chapter that will cover the attempts by Arch Oboler to sell BWANA DEVIL to a major distributor. There were several studios and indie outfits eager to lay hands on it, and plenty of amusing events and outrageous drama transpired in December 1952 and January 1953...!

Cool, thanks, Mike. That sounds great. I bet your book will be excellent when it's completed and available. Halfway complete, that's a great start!

[bavanut]

Another brief excerpt to whet your appetite, from CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH: 3-D COMES TO HOLLYWOOD. Copyright 2023 Mike Ballew. All rights reserved.

The Achilles heel of 3-D in the early 1950s was projection. The left and right stereo pairs were printed on separate bands of film, to be shown using two synchronized projectors. Practically every cinema in North America and Northern Europe already had two projectors, by which alternating reels of standard 2-D films were shown in succession for seamless feature presentations. Many presumed it would be a relatively simple matter to link these machines together for stereoscopic projection. But wise voices gravely cautioned, "Every care must be taken to keep the two pictures on the screen identical. Any difference in brightness, framing, focus, or synchronization will result in an unsatisfactory presentation."

Unfortunately, numerous and frequent complications did arise, ultimately fatal to the success of 3-D in the 1950s. Film prints arrived at theatres in a condition completely unsuitable for 3-D projection, hopelessly mismatched with regard to splices and missing frames. Logistical pressures thwarted consistent inspection and repair of these prints. Even when pristine prints were provided, perfect synchronization of any given pair of projectors was never absolutely guaranteed. And for 3-D shows, most every piece of equipment in the projection booth had to run continuously, despite the fact that projector heads, sound heads, lamphouses, generators, and rectifiers were all typically designed for alternating periods of work and rest. More than mere machinery was being overtaxed. While most projectionists gamely rose to the challenge of 3-D, its demands could be baffling, overwhelming, and exhausting, even for the best in the field.

The near-hysterical clamor for 3-D by theatres and patrons in the early months of 1953 turned to disappointment and outright hostility when all these problems proved too great to ignore. While film professionals of every rank had risen quickly to the initial challenges of 3-D production, the established infrastructures of distribution and exhibition could not cope with the intractable demands of dual-strip projection. In the absence of practical single-strip solutions, and in the face of coincident industry innovations in widescreen projection and stereophonic sound, 3-D was more or less phased out by the end of 1954.

At first, this appeared but a temporary setback. The announcement in early 1954 that the Polaroid Corporation, working in cooperation with Technicolor, would someday soon introduce integrated Vectographic prints, making 3-D films just as simple and easy to show as any 2-D film, gave hope for an early revival of the medium’s fortunes. But this revolutionary development never materialized. As years, then decades passed with few significant technical developments and no unimpeachable aesthetic achievements in stereo film, the collective appraisal of the medium was steered by hostile critics and scholars who had never actually seen a wide range of 3-D movies and could not properly analyze or appreciate them.

In the decades since its initial heyday, 3-D has been summarily dismissed as a panicked response to the industry’s postwar decline—a silly fad, a gimmick hastily weaponized in the fight against television, a subject for momentary derision along the way towards discussion of more "serious" developments in film history. A more charitable view might hold that 3-D was—is—a legitimate art form that got off to a false start, dragged down in its introduction by technical challenges all but impossible to manage.

From "Section II, Chapter Three: Dual-Strip Projection."

[petergee]

Thank you Mike. This is destined to be a fact-filled tome and I for one cannot wait for the KS to begin. How are you tracking for release this year?

[bavanut]

Originally Posted by petergee

Thank you Mike. This is destined to be a fact-filled tome and I for one cannot wait for the KS to begin. How are you tracking for release this year?

Thank you for the kind words, PeterGee!

One very significant Los Angeles-based archive just reopened in January, so I'm really only beginning my research in that specific place. They happen to hold production, budget, and distribution records for a number of important 3-D films. I hope to visit a number of times in the coming months to gather as much data as possible.

Later this month, if all goes well, I will pay follow-up visits to two other local archives. One archive has production records for one very well-loved 3-D movie from 1953. These records only recently became available! The other archive has a number of photographs and a ton of records, many of which I've already seen, some of which I have not. One key mission for me at that archive is to read a certain unproduced screenplay very pertinent to the story of 3-D.

My manuscript already has somewhere north of 1500 footnotes, which I think is a good indication of how much research I've poured in. Most of the industry people I've reached out to for interviews or for comments have not only been cooperative but enthusiastic. I'm hoping my luck in this regard holds out-- I just learned that a very famous filmmaker who never made a 3-D film was actually involved as a young man behind the scenes on a stereoscopic film in the late 1960s. You can believe I want to find out the story there if there is one!

I say all this to say, if publication is delayed until 2024, it will only be because more and more and more information keeps piling in. Even in the last few weeks, I have learned important facts about three Warner Bros. 3-D films no one seems to have known--details never mentioned anywhere else.

[Deciazulado]

As long as you don't become the Mark Lewisohn of 3-D

.