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Mike Todd -
Idea Man behind The New Big Screen System
22. June 1909 - 22.
March 1958
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The 70mm Newsletter
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Written
by: Showmen’s Trade Review, October 15, 1955 |
Date:
01.07.2008.
Updated 20.03.2021 |
Mike
Todd with the Todd-AO "Bug Eye" lens in Spain during production of
"Around the World in 80 Days", August 1955. Picture from Susan
M. Todd's collection
It's a toss-up whether the most remarkable achievement in
TODD-AO is the
huge "bugeye" lens capable of king panoramic shots over an angle of 128°
or the selling-job Mike Todd did on the University of Rochester
scientist, Dr.
Brian O'Brien, when he first induced this eminent man of
optics to produce a process whereby the effects of
Cinerama could be
obtained on one piece of film photographed by one camera and thrown on
the screen by one projector.
Mike Todd, a fabulous showman, has his name imprinted on the bands of
his imported cigars and for these cigars he has a built-in humidor in
his private plane. Crates of caviar go with him wherever he goes. He has
a string of fast convertibles garaged in at most every capital
throughout the world. He has a Cadillac in New York, a Thunderbird in
Los Angeles, a Ferrari in Rome. He also has one of the world's most
beautiful and efficient private secretaries, a Japanese-American girl
named Midori Tsuji.
Enter, The Scientist
Dr. Brian
O'Brien, on the other hand, is calm and deliberate in speech and gesture. He
is a stereotype of the American university professor. He is a slender, quiet
man in his mid-fifties and wears quiet clothes. Although the American
Optical Company, of which he is vice-President in charge of research,
manufactures eyeglass frames of assorted styles and shapes, O'Brien's
spectacles are in a simple steel-rimmed frame. Before his association with
Todd, O'Brien's only connection with movies had been the invention of the
fastest cameras in existence, the slowest of which takes 10 million pictures
a second.
O'Brien had never heard of Cinerama or Mike Todd until Todd's first visit to
him. The Einstein of the optical world was unimpressed when Todd told him
about the wonders of Cinerama and its flaws. He was uninterested when Todd
asked him if he could come up with a process where everything would come out
of one hole. But as Todd pounded him relentlessly with sales talks of
mounting intensity the doctor gradually began to weaken, and after five
weeks of holding out against Mike Todd's persistence and showmanship, Dr,
O'Brien acquiesced. The results of his labors soon will become moviedom
history.
Now that Todd had successfully completed his mission with Dr. O'Brien, he
began working upon his next problem: money. For, a man who began working at
the age of five, Todd's age when he was out helping a fruit peddler on his
rounds and delivering packages for neighborhood merchants, this was not as
difficult a project as acquiring Dr. O'Brien's services. He rounded up a
group of backers and early in 1953 they group formed the Magna Theatre
Corporation.
The Play’s the Thing
The next thing
on the TODD-AO agenda was an opening vehicle and everybody concerned agreed
that the musical, "Oklahoma!”, would be a natural. The process was shown to
Rodgers and Hammerstein and these gentlemen, sold on the
TODD-AO system,
sold "Oklahoma!" for $1,020,000. In the transaction, Rodgers and
Hammerstein purchased a substantial block of Magna stock
Out of all this, Todd has done very nicely for himself. He has 31% of the
shares of Magna, and Magna owns almost two-third of TODD-AO, He has a five
year franchise from Magna to make two TODD-AO pictures a year and when
"Oklahoma!" has run its long course at the theatres, Jules Verne's
"Around the
World in 80 Days" will be ready for distribution. Tolstoy’s "War and
Peace" will be the third TODD-AO production. Robert Sherwood has already
completed three-fourths of the screen play.
Mike Todd has already raised millions for TODD-AO ventures, Millions more
are available, he says, and who can deny it. For as a showman and promoter,
Todd is second to none.
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More
in 70mm reading:
Todd-AO
Mike Todd's "Around the World in 80 Days" in
Todd-AO
"Around the World
in 80 Days" with Michael Todd
Gallery: "Around the World in 80 Days"
"Around the World in 80 Days"
70mm & Cinestage Seasons
Working for Mike Todd
Showmen’s Trade Review, October 15, 1955:
Oklahoma! in Todd-AO
Todd-AO
Magna Theatres
Todd-AO Corporation
Philips Collaborated On Projector Design
Todd-AO Projection and Sound
Six track recording equipment
All-Purpose Sound Reproduction
Rodgers & Hammerstein II
Six track recording equipment
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Updated
28-07-24 |
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