I dont want to drone on but,
Here is my very last ever request on behalf of Phil at CHC. (first time on here)
If you have read the newest magazine you will see inside the front cover that he has once again called for collectors to try and do an article.
Without boring you all, (this thread title usually gets a max of 6 responses on the other forum), but on all three forums there are people doing just what he is asking us to do for the pages, every day many collectors in all gauges sit in front of a keyboard and do items on here, so why not do it for the magazine.
Not all readers have a PC so some of the great tips, projector repair guides, projector reviews, film reviews and story's in fact everything would be welcome by many.
With the invention of the PC you dont have to dedicate hours every night, you can do it on a word document and do a few minutes a night and save it bit by bit, there is no excuse.
There is only so many times you can read a film review or how a collector got into collecting, (& there is nothing wrong with that, i do them myself so do not take that in the wrong context),
What CHC wants is more meaty items, projector mods or repair guides, where you can get spares etc, its all on here but not in the book. With cheap digital cameras repair and service guides can be photographed step by step in pixel perfect quality.
I will copy this onto the other two forums and promise not to ask again, I will also post Phil on this item so he can see my request on the magazines behalf, that way he will be sure that his message is out loud and clear, however, if in the future Philip stops the mag due to lack of collectors input i will be on to say i told you so, please lets not let that happen.
BTW, thank to those who have contributed, I received mine today and its great & i like looking forward to it.

Tom I am coming away from a very important 20 something minutes of my year to say Tom, in view of your continual pleas and constant support for this plight, I Will, I promise sometime in my next block off.....

Be back after the game!

Phew, that was a bit too close for comfort but as ever, cometh the hour..cometh the MAN!

Happy bunny now!

Very commendable Tom, I do agree on points raised, by the same token, there are many members of these film forums that hardly
ever contribute a view or even if they are still alive. Forums keep alive by input, the most recent is the one here, a minor miracle
that evolved from a chap not of our shores, he gets no profit from it, he has the headaches of keeping it all together, and when you
look at the input, it is the same little group that contribute. It would be nice to have an article from yourself even, just to keep things
ticking along. Poor Robert slogged away at a super piece of penmanship for the latest copy, and his name was omitted from his efforts.
When you ask for members help, that is commendable and I'm sure there will be a response, but I hope its better than the one Robert
got in his enquiry for a postage quote.

I agree entirely Hugh. Anybody taking time from their lives to fulfil that of others is an unselfish act that ought to be recognized, acknowledged, thanked and in some instances it would be nice to think, rewarded, even if only in the guise of a free copy of the magazine for regular contributors who help the cause and future of the magazine.

As and when people do their bit, surely it's only fair to say Phil should do his by way of an acknowledgement.

Thanks boys

Tom ... if its any comfort to you I have subscribed to the Film Collector Magazine since issue # 1 and am still
on the subscription list.
What worries me though is that I hope it does not go the same way as Film For The Collector published by
Derann Films. Poor old Ged Jones had to write up some articles himself to plug the gaps made by lack of
input from subscribers.
Anyway I have something planned for the next issue of FC so long may it continue as it would be sad to lose the
only ALL FILM collectors magazine published in the UK. Three Cheers for Phil and others like him including you Tom.

As a matter of fact David, I used to be a subscriber to FFTC, from issue #1 back in '85, Dave Worrall was editor and it went
from strength to strength, some issues were outstanding, printed on glossy paper, photos you could actually make out etc.
All good things come to an end, Dave now produces his own magazine, a very professional product. FFTC carried on, the same
heartfelt message kept being repeated like a mantra, "its your magazine", " we need your articles ", "use it or lose it", yeah how true.
I wrote two articles, long hand, I didn't have the use of a computer then, I rewrote 'em, just to make them punchier, grammar
and spelling checked, sent them in to Steve Wellings, the editor then, I'll put them in, the next issue, then the next issue, then he was on holiday. Needless to say, I could have spent my time better on other things instead of a fools errand for Derann, I let my subs lapse
and thought if my reviews are not good enough, I doubt my money is either, I didn't buy from them again. As it turned out, the afore mentioned articles were published in Phil's mag, so I had little sympathy when Derann dropped off the twig, If that was a sample of
their customer care, it was as dead as poor Derek.

I don"t know whether my congributions were good or not, but after the customer service I received recently I won't be contributing anything else.

Hugh would that Dave Worral magazine happen to be Cinema Retro ? I have been getting it since issue # 1.
However I feel its losing it a bit as its supposed to be for films of the 60s and 70s but some 80s stuff has been
creeping in the back door.

Hugh ...Sorry to hear about the problems you had with Derann. I dealt with them from the late 1960s up until their sad
demise without any problems and made a lot of friends along the way.

Robert, your contribution was superb and I do hope you have a rethink and do some more, I thoroughly enjoyed it, on reading the bit
where Louis Mayer was trying to humiliate Balcon, reminded me of an argument one of "my lads" had with two of our bosses, he kicked open the door and said "Who the hell d'ya think you're talking to, I've a good mind to put you through that bloody window!!" the other
boss said "you can't talk to him like that", to which the reply, "open your gob again, and you'll follow 'im!!" Somehow I don't think Louis
would have lasted long in that environment.
Hi David, yes it is Cinema Retro that Dave Worrall edits now, as well as a Bond mag. I sent him some stuff years ago for a thing he was doing on Clint Eastwood, although the special he did on Leone's westerns was fabulous.
As for Derann, I too dealt with them from '69, remember the A4 typed sheet of secondhand bargains, typed one side only, we had no telephone then, so it was a gamble sending off your postal order on the off chance some little gem was still available, happy days,
but after Derek went, it wasn't the same, the impetus was lost, combined with the dreaded unmentionables, the writing was on the wall,
but I still resented being played about, their loss.

Hugh it seems like your a Derann "old timer " like me then. I dealt with the other now long gone film sellers too though.
Perry's Movies , Powell Films , Watsofilms , P.M. Films , Movieland , Flesco Films to name a few.
I still have my old Derann newsletters in the attic somewhere. I also still have old catalogues from the others too.
I agree that things did change a lot after Derek passed away. For some strange reason I was informed Derek had died before
Ian at Perry's Movies did. It was me that informed him about it.
Its a funny old world eh ?

You've dug up memories there David, Flesco's was like a bible to me, I can still remember the white booklet stapled and quite thick, it was the first 8mm catalogue I had, I never dealt with Watsofilms, my loss, they turned out a 200' of "Playgirls and the Vampire", a nice little euro horror. Tony Powell later on I did, Perry's were there for me from the start, but the first chap I ever bought films from, I can still remember his address on Seaview road in Brighton and his post code, a Mr John Rowley, he had a weekly list of secondhand 200's and 50' sound & silent films, he even had the two Americom horrors in colour, way out of my league then, I was only on £4.00 a week then, this was before decimalisation as you know, when I think back, its a miracle we could afford film on such rubbish pay. Then on top of that, to watch them being scratched to death in that horrible little projector, "The Horipet", I just couldn't get a break. My old Dad, like Old Moore's Almanac, was full of advice, "Chuck the bloody thing away and get a good 'un", I did just that, a Paul Plus lasted one week then died, ended up with a Hanimex Dual, that came with obligatory tramlines, not on the plastic track, but a proud rivet on the gate. The common denominator in all this is Japan, I got away from them with Eumig S709, never a mark, a lovely
piece of Austrian magic, followed by Mark S standard 8 machines, solid blocks of happiness after the nightmares from the land of the rising sun, when ever I see Godzilla knocking hell out of them, they deserve it.

all good feedback here, the one thing to remember,(and i often forget it myself), is that the article can be anything film related, but also all gauges,in other words if anyone has good projector maintenance or restoration stories about there 35mm,9.5 or 16mm machines let's get them in. For those who attend many of the conventions how about some tales, maybe pictures of then and now conventions,.
Andrew, if your looking in on this one do you think one of your friends at Vn Ek could even do a page or two or more on what they offer, until you told me about therm i had no idea.
has anyone worked in or visited a major film studio and has stories or images? its actualy never ending what we could do.

I attended a great get together at Bray Studios for the Hammer stars & crew, asked Martine Beswick, while she was signing my book in
the grounds, if we could re enact the fight she had with Raquel Welch on the lawn, she looked at me and said "Certainly not, I have a white suit on", I was thinking, if it had been a pair of overalls, I might have been in with a chance. I also cleared the way for Dame Thora Hird, who was in a wheelchair at the time, they couldn't get through the cafeteria for tables and chairs, no one moved.......
until Scott said "Hang on Pet, I'll soon shift this lot", she must've thought, " My God, what a handsome chap this is, in a rough sort of way"
or probably "Who the hell is this?", anyway, job done, the rest of them just stood looking, but I did get a lovely smile from her and
Veronica Carlson who was pushing her along. No doubt Dame Thora recognised a Northern lads accent, her being from Lancashire and
thought, where are the bouncers.

I admire Tom's tenacity on his crusade for Phil's mag, "Are you after a job on it Tom?", is there something we don't know?

I hope Tom will support us on a regular basis: our membership slowly increases, but it seems to be the same half dozen or so making all the contributions. We are the last refuge for the dedicated film collector.

Yes, Tom has written some very informative articles for both magazines, although it would be nice to see him more on this little
forum, it too needs support, Vidar no doubt isn't getting this set up free gratis, so perhaps a little more input from members who have joined, looked over the fence then buggered off, what was the point? Putting your moniker on a roll call isn't supportive, it isn't a petition. you are required to give some input. Is it any wonder that Phil, who had the whole of JEF Films trailer library, gave up from
apathy from collectors, at least here there is no excuse, no one is asking fees, just support, a line here and there, or is that asking too much.

Hugh I guess I was lucky with my first projector. The Pentax P80-1 silent. Low light output but 400' spools, variable speed , manual
thread , and I never scratched a print on it. Cost me a Tenner secondhand from Dixons here in Aberdeen.

Sounds lovely David, I used to buy Amateur Photographer, 8MM Magazine, then Movie Maker, and drool over the stuff I couldn't afford.

When I was 12 years old I used to buy Exchange and Mart every week to look at the adverts for 8mm films, and just dream about the future.

Soooo,
Reading this threrad i can see there are many people who have something for the magazine.

Hopefully for this forum too Tom, it needs support every bit as much as Phil's mag
Yes I used to love E&M too Robert, I used to make for the films and projectors, then the book section, then the printing bit, as I wanted to be a compositor on leaving school, strange how your dreams get lost along the way.

I used to look at the secondhand books as well. I also used to pick up Walton catalogues from the local Dixons just to look at what was available; wanting, but never knowing if I would own such things.

Owning actual films was a dream too, I fell in love with a little Kodak projector in my Mother's club, owning that was out of the question.