Cinerama Pioneer Richard C. Babish Passed Away |
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| Written by: - | Date: 02.11.2017 |
 Dick Babish
(left) and Borden Mace in Bradford, March 2002. Image by Thomas HauerslevHusband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, patented inventor. Richard Constantine Babish passed peacefully at home. He was a MIT graduate, class of 1940 and was a Radiation Lab member and an optics developer for the Cinerama and Cinemiracle movie companies. He joined the Perkin-Elmer Corporation in 1954 and worked in the optical department providing technical expertise for numerous commercial and government projects. He was very proud of his recognized work on the now de-classified U.S. government Hexagon (KH9 or Big Bird) reconnaissance satellite program which provided the allies with crucial information during WWII. He also provided technical guidance for the Hubble Space Telescope mirror which has provided all of mankind with amazing views of the universe. |
More in 70mm reading: Cinerama This is Oyster Bay "Windjammer" How Cinerama got the name Internet link: wiltonbulletin.com |
 Dick
Babish returned to the Cinerama Barn - birthplace of Cinerama - on Long
Island in May 1997. He enjoyed his first visit in 40 years. Seen here
with Willem Bouwmeester (right), two nuns, and Denis Furbush, and the editor
far left. Image by Thomas HauerslevPredeceased by the love of his life, Josita, his brothers, Frances and Robert and sisters, Connie and Gloria. He is survived by his son James (Anne-Marie) and daughter Tina (Ted) Sonntag; grandchildren, David Babish (Angela), Christina Coccia (Vincent) and Michael Babish (Kerri), Aislinn, Cara, and Emmett Sonntag. Great grandfather to six, uncle to nine. He was an amazing life well lived. He will be missed by many. Career: Laboratory assistant Paramount News, New York City, 1940—1942. Engineer to vice president Vitarama Corporation, Huntington, 1942—1945. Staff member Radiation Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1944—1945. Engineer Perkin-Elmer Corporation, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1949—1961, branch chief, 1961—1968, technical director, 1968—1985, principal consultant, since 1985. Technical director Cinerama, Inc., Oyster Bay, New York, 1952—1954, Cine Miracle Corporation, New York City, Los Angeles, 1954—1956. Private practice consultant, since 1985. Chairman advisory board optics Norwalk State Technology College, since 1985. Technical advisor This is Cinerama, Cinerama Holiday, Windjammer. |
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Dick Babish remembered |
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 Dick Babish
in the middle between Greg
Kimble, Randy Gitsch,
Chris O'Kane and Dave Strohmaier
at the Midland Hotel bar, Bradford, 2002. Picture by Thomas HauerslevIt was the Golden Jubilee of Cinerama back in 2002. Fifty glorious years of Cinerama were being celebrated at the Bradford International Film Festival. It was at Wide Screen Weekend strand of the BIFF that I had the immense good fortune of meeting Dick Babish, in the lobby outside the Pictureville Cinerama. He could not stop talking, I could not stop listening. I learned a great deal about Cinerama that day, from one great teacher. He was also one of the greatest innovators and inventors in history. Some of his work remains classified to this day. We owe him a great deal in many ways and will miss him a lot. Mark Lyndon, London, UK I last talked with him was in 2005-ish when he and his family came to a Yale University screening of "Cinerama Adventure". During Q&A afterwards I told the audience that one of the inventors of Cinerama was here at the screening, and had Dick stand up for an applause. Many students swarmed around him afterwards. Yes he had a great big smile on his face. Dave Strohmaier, LA, USA |
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 Dick Babish
next to his CINERAMA camera #1 on the stage in Pictureville cinema,
Bradford, 2002. Picture by Henry TaylorDick Babish welcomed me into the Cinerama Barn on a winter day in 1951 and from then on was always open in helping a bewildered assistant editor find his way amid the myriad perforations. Dick Babish - A splendid human being. James Morrison, USA Sad news when someone so important to this era of cinema has to leave. A life well lived indeed. Again, a couple of really great photos to rekindle fond memories. At times like this I am sure that friends and family of those who have passed will have been glad for your photographic endeavours. David Page, Bristol, UK Thank you for sharing the news, which I was very saddened to receive. I called him a year ago at his care home to wish him a Happy 98th birthday, he said he was looking to make it to 100! I guess 99 is not too bad. I sent some of these pictures to remind him of his great response at Bradford. He was proud of all his work, but beyond Cinerama and C'Miracle he was happy to have worked on the secret project that prevented the necessity of WWIII as he put it. (His obituary mistakenly puts this in the WWII era). I talked with his son last year who has fond memories of him working in the basement to develop Cinerama as well as taking family pictures on borrowed film ends and attaching them to Cinerama camera film for processing! You should be able to find another local obituary in the hometown newspaper as well as an article describing his 99th birthday noting his accomplishments. Henry Taylor, USA |
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