11 Jan 2023 - LRS Video Night - "A U.S. Selection"

Details: Written by Alan GM3PSP; Published: 13 January 2023; Hits: 490

The LRS 2023 Video Night was held, as usual, in the screening room of the Edinburgh Cine and Video Society at 23a Fettes Row, presented by Peter Dick GM4DTH who is a member of both societies.

Click for newspaper article about the ECVS screening room.

After resolving the small issue of the double-booking of the room with the Edinburgh Archaeological Society (!) the LRS screening got under way at 8:45pm. Peter had loaded the entire program onto a 32GB compact Flash Card (amazing) and it ran faultlessly.

Program Title - " A U.S. Selection"

01 - Communism 10:41 Coronet Instructional Films 1953
02 - The Big Bounce 15:23 A Jerry Fairbanks Production sponsored by Bell Laboratories 1960 (Project Echo)
03 - Atlas in Orbit 5:37 Universal Newsreel 1958
04 - Kennedy on Telstar 1:19 Universal Newsreel 1962
05 - A Day in History Telstar. 3.18 Universal Newsreel 1962
06 - On Guard! - The Story Of SAGE 12:14 IBM Corporation Military Products Division 1956 (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment)
07 - Plane Talk 21:30 1965 AT&T

08 - UK Public Information Film 1948

09 - Sopwith Strutter WW1 Biplane Reconstruction

Comments by Peter:

"The film 'Communism' was made during the period when the United States of America was openly acting against communism as illustrated by Senator McCarthy. The Cold War drove the direction of many countries took despite recovering from WWII. The Soviets lead in space research and launched Sputnik in 1957. Many believe that this triggered the space race. While space was primarily of military importance its non military use was highlighted by the US development of spaced based communications in the form of artificial satellites. The following films 'The Big Bounce', 'Atlas in Orbit', 'Kennedy on Telstar' and 'Day in History Telstar' all illustrate the US catching up and trying to outshine the Soviets. Back on ground 'On Guard!' shows investment in air defence detection of aircraft which would speed up the response if they proved to be 'hostile'. The final film from the mid sixties escapes from the Cold War and concentrates on civil aviation and the role that telecoms played in its support.

"I think that the horn aerial shown in the 'Big Bounce' was use in experiments in later years and suffered from unexplained extra noise. This turned out to be the Cosmic Microwave Background a remnant of the Big Bang".

Selection of iconic frames from the videos:

01 - Communism 10:41 Coronet Instructional Films 1953