Linotype The Film

[Mechanic]

The URL below will take you to a trailer for an upcoming movie "Linotype Film" I'm sure most of our members will look forward to the completed film. I know I am.

http://www.futureburo.com/blog/linotype-the-film/

[Dave Hughes]

It certainly looks interesting George, although details about the project seem to be fairly scant at the moment.

The only info I could find online is this:

Linotype: The Film is a documentary about Ottmar Mergenthaler's amazing Linotype typesetting machine and the people who own and love these machines today.

Director & Editor: Doug Wilson

Director of Photography: Brandon Goodwin

Audio & Sound Design: Jess Heugel

Music on the Trailer: Iron & Wine "Freedom Hangs Like Heaven"

Linotype: The Film Trailer from Linotype: The Film on Vimeo.

[tjtrower]

I am the operator hunched over the keyboard in the still shot on the post above . . . about six years ago a young man came into my print shop, having been told that I might be able to help with setting up the printing equipment owned by a local university.  I gave him the two-bit tour and towards the end demonstrated the Linotype and Ludlow for him . . . and he's been hooked ever since.

Doug Wilson still lives here in Springfield, Missouri, USA, and together with two good friends decided this summer to make a five minute short film on the Linotype for release on the Internet.  The day that his crew came to the print shop and shot for eight hours was one of the hottest days of the year -- and the doors had to be shut to keep out noise, so it was rather toasty inside.  (You don't see the bottles of water and towels kept on ice that were ever present.)  My father, Guy Trower, has been a Linotype operator/machinist since he was 16 (in 1940) and he and I were interviewed and filmed running and demonstrating the machine.

Fast forward to later the same day, and Doug and his wife made the decision to expand the film into at least an hour long, properly done documentary (now probably running 90 minutes) and to move beyond a local focus to at least a nationwide look at Linotypes and those who have and those who do operate them.  

Right now, there is a long trailer of perhaps 2 1/2 minutes that shows quite a bit of footage of my Model 5 Blue Streak (1948) in action along with footage of my dad and myself (dad is wearing a reddish shirt) and other footage taken in Iowa at the recent Linotype University (and elsewhere).  Plans are for Linotype: The Film to be ready for release in August of 2011.  In the meantime, Doug, Jess and Brandon will be hitting the airways to both the east and west coasts of the United States with a possible trip to England in the mix.

Doug is producing this movie as a labor of love, and I'm quite impressed with what I am seeing and hearing from him.  Still a frequent visitor to the shop, I've supplied a great deal of historical information on the machine and Mergenthaler, and he is conducting quite a bit of research into primary sources as well.  The end result will be very good as he lets the machines and the operators tell the story of the Linotype, and what is being done to preserve and use them as well as teach a new generation about what Thomas Edison once called the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

I'd be glad to answer any questions that you might have (that I can, that is!) and if you've only seen the short teaser, then take the time to go by www.linotypefilm.com and see the revamped website and view the new trailer.

All the best,

Tim Trower
Springfield, Missouri

[Dave Hughes]

Thanks very much for the update Tim, and, of course, welcome to the Metal Type forum