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The Birth Of Video Assisted Movie Making…Jerry’s Noisy Toy

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Eyes Of A Generation.com


The Birth Of Video Assisted Movie Making…Jerry’s Noisy Toy

This video clip is cued to start at our first look at Jerry Lewis with his custom built video assist equipment…a long rack called Jerry’s Noisy Toy.

This is from a 4 minute film featurette for 1966 movie audiences, but Lewis had been using this, or a similar configuration of these elements, since around 1960. As a director, producer and talent, he needed a way to be in three places at once and this was his solution.

With a small RCA camera mounted on the movie camera (seen in first minute of the video), he could see how a shot was framed in the monitor. With video and audio tape, he could instantly play back scenes and not have to wait for the film to be developed to see if he got his shots.

Lewis was the first director-actor to make use of a “closed circuit television preview system” (now commonly referred to as video assist) with his 1960 film “The Bellboy.”

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6 responses to “The Birth Of Video Assisted Movie Making…Jerry’s Noisy Toy”

  1. Janet Leigh Icon

    Fab…..sharing.

  2. Dale Warshaw

    Jerry is still touring, showing film clips on a big screen and then sharing his memories of the clips. Then he does a Q&A with the audience. I saw him at the Arizona State Fair this past October, and he’s still sharp as a tack and funny as all get out!

  3. Terry Wilkie

    Is that a wireless mike being loaded on him at around 4:23 in the video?

  4. Dale Warshaw

    This is fantastic!!! Thank you for sharing!

  5. John Bolin

    Jerry Lewis was far more innovative in the production of film and television than most realize. Most thought he was just the goofy partner of Dean Martin and later the goofy Jerry Lewis. His work on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy is nothing less than spectacular, Jerry is 88 and thankfully still with us. Thanks for the post.

  6. Bruce Hansen

    That VTR looks like a Sony 2″ helical VTR. I have a couple of those in my basement (somewhere).

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