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Bell & Howell Filmo 8mm magazine camera 172

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Type: Movie Camera

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Manufacture :   Bell & Howell

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Production Date :  Manufactured in 1950

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Acquired at :   Long Island New York, Garage sale

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Acquired Date :   2000

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Filmo is a series of 16 mm and 8 mm movie equipment made by the Bell & Howell Company. The line included cameras, projectors and accessories.

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Founded more than a century ago in 1907, the Bell and Howell brand is globally renowned for its high-quality flashlight production. They have built a solid reputation as one of the best flashlight brands in production today.

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The Filmo Auto Load  8mm 172 camera came along a few years after WWII.  Offering unprecedented ease-of-use and middle class affordability, this equipment was almost standard issue for the modern, suburban American family, with its 2.5 baby-boom kids in tow. Soon, every attic had stacks of home movie canisters with taped-on labels: “Trip to Grand Canyon, 1952,” “Bobby’s Birthday, 1949.”

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“NOW— a new Bell & Howell easy-loading movie camera for only $129.50. . . Never before has there been a real Bell & Howell at this low price with all these features:
      Easy magazine-loading. Load and unload in full daylight
      No threading, no bother
      Low-cost operation. Uses inexpensive 8mm film
      Single lens quickly interchangeable
      Five speeds, including true slow motion
      Single frame release and Selfoto lock
      Positive type viewfinder
      Accurate film footage indicator & Built-in exposure guide
      Beautiful, lightweight and modern design”

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Now, a price tag of $130 in 1950 equates to about $1,300 in today’s money after inflation, so while the model 172 was set at a relatively “low price” compared to the old industry standard, it was hardly an “impulse” sort of purchase. But, much in the way we pony up for a new laptop or smart phone, the hi-tech novelty and excitement created by a pocket-sized movie camera was more than enough to move units in the ’50s. A guaranteed warranty also suggested that the investment would be worth its weight in captured memories. Half a century before Youtube, the era of documenting one’s life in moving pictures had begun.

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Source : The Made-in-Chicago Museum

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