Ted Churchill 1988 3A

[Janice Arthur]

Hi all;

 

I've been going through some old files and of course have run across some great pieces.

 

This one made me smile.

 

It was so Ted; beginning computers graphics era and he had it nailed; details that we never thought to put on paper and explain; the urge to help other and to teach; and just fun parts included that was his personality.

 

I liked to the don't poke around inside the electronics of a 3A "unless you know what you are doing and wearing rubber gloves".

 

His Christmas cards were wonderful each year and a treat when you got one!!

 

Janice

 

 

3A 1988 Ted plate 1 .pdf

3A 1988 Ted plate 2 .pdf

3A 1988 plate 3 ted .pdf

3A 1988 plate 4 ted.pdf

[Sanjay Sami]

Fantastic ! thanks for sharing .

[Charles Papert]

Somewhere around 91 or 92 I was at my friend's graphics studio and in came a series of faxes from Ted: his computer drawings of the PRO which I think were used for the first manual. As each page came out of the fax machine my jaw dropped as I gazed upon that machine for the first time. If I can find I will scan and post.

[Peter Abraham]

Great stuff ! I used to have a printed set of these. Interesting that in Plate #1, Ted indicates that an X/Y Top stage is a "mod", when in fact the IIIA Stage was the first Steadicam rig to present side to side adjustment on the stage. I wonder if he was using his Model III for these templates and by the time they were released, the IIIA was out with that feature?

[RonBaldwin]

I noticed the mod thing too...funny how operators would do their own nods in their basement/garage or go to people like Seitz or Derose or Russel to make stuff for them that we take for granted today. Seems that most of those cool mods ops came up with were copied and integrated by CP

 

I have a copy of the first Pro manual somewhere...love flipping through it. Imagine Teddy when he first saw the pro sled...I would have LOVED to have been there to hear the discussion

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Great stuff ! I used to have a printed set of these. Interesting that in Plate #1, Ted indicates that an X/Y Top stage is a "mod", when in fact the IIIA Stage was the first Steadicam rig to present side to side adjustment on the stage. I wonder if he was using his Model III for these templates and by the time they were released, the IIIA was out with that feature?

You are correct Peter, the 3A played catchup with both the panaglides X/Y camera mount, and the Derose side to side mod that was originally built for the model 2

[Peter Abraham]

I noticed the mod thing too...funny how operators would do their own nods in their basement/garage or go to people like Seitz or Derose or Russel to make stuff for them that we take for granted today. Seems that most of those cool mods ops came up with were copied and integrated by CP

 

I have a copy of the first Pro manual somewhere...love flipping through it. Imagine Teddy when he first saw the pro sled...I would have LOVED to have been there to hear the discussion

I owned one of the DeRose XY plates. It was a solution, though it was neither elegant nor lightweight. Bob did deliver some remarkable mods in there early on- and I was glad to put out the sheckels needed to buy his plate. Larry McConkey turned me on to his XY plate before Bob was making the one he sold. Larry's was a one-off and when Bob produced his I heard about it from Derrick Whitehouse immediately, and bought one.

 

I wasn't in Ted's apartment when he brought his first PRO Sled home but I was at his place when he first got the MovieCam Compact. He was the first person/ company to own one in the United States. He'd not even had it a week when we went to visit him. Chuck Jackson, myself, one or two other Ops...I cannot remember why Chuck was in NYC?.... Might have been the trip he made with Chris Haarhoff when Chris did some instructing and I helped out. Not sure. Anyway, we all trooped up to Ted's place in the WestBeth building. Stood there admiring the damned thing. Sitting there. On his sled. On the docking stand.

 

Then Ted says, " It's running". My jaw dropped. Next to every 16mm and 35mm body I'd ever stood next to, I could have sworn this device was not on. He put my palm against the door. VERY faintly I could feel the movement. I asked, what about a flashing light to be able to TELL you've got the film running? He cracked up and said it could be dimmed and disabled, and he'd done so just to have it purring along without our being able to tell.

 

For me, that evening and the concept of a Compensating Pendulum set the bar high in terms of gear geek.

[Charles Papert]

Great story, Peter. Immediately conjured up images of Ted's apartment--I used to love going over there and looking at all of his framed pictures from different shoots and whatnot, and the various bits of gear, telescopes etc. I was there one night when a bunch of CP emissaries were over including Chuck and "good ol" Jesse Garfield; I believe it was during the SMPTE show so who knows, perhaps that was the same time of year.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Oh man, this is a great thread. I've heard these stories firsthand from Charles and Peter, years ago - when I was kid doing mods to my already ancient Model 2 (and later 3a). These were the days of everyone knowing everyone - all on a first name basis. These were the days where operators stuck together like glue; these were the days where we all knew our gear inside and out and modified it according to our taste. These were the days where people didn't freak out at minor problems presented to us; these were the days when we didn't feel entitled - we were all in it together.