I was 16 and bought my first projector (Bell and Howell Lumina series) and picked up two Universal 8 prints: Frankenstein and House of Frankenstein. Both were Super-8 / silent. I ran those two films many times and wish I still had them!

I was 11 and bought my Elmo ST-600 with the B&W sound version of Island of Mystery in 1977. That was a movie I saw a lot at first :-)

You started off with a really nice machine Vidar!

It was very good and didn't have any troubles for the 6-7 years (I think) I had it. Still wanting one of those European model, black, not silver as that's what I had

I had my Bell & Howell (cannot remember the model number) for about a year then sold it.That was in 1979 and I wouldn't own another projector until I got my Eumig in 1986.

Before I even got a projector (only last year), I bought a 50' silent reel of "Have Badge, Will Chase" with Abbott & Costello. I had it for months before I bought that first machine. My next purchase after getting that first machine was "The Super Nanny" (Mary Poppins) 200' color/silent reel. Shortly after that the hopeless addiction began. My next purchase was "The Land that Time Forgot" 200'/b&w/silent reel. My first 400' sound reel purchase was "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", advertised on the unmentionable forum from a guy who was selling off his late brother's collection (from the U.K.).

Seems to be a lot of unmentionables.

It was in 1961. My parents had a Eumig P8. My first buy was a 50ft, B/W silent cutdown of How to play Golf with Goofy. Both the projector and the film are still in my collection

Robert, I didn't know if I should call the other forum by name here, so I call it the unmentionable forum.

My first projector was ELMO ST1200 MO my first films were hired though Kronos and a couple of shorts from Derann Hire. I think my first purchase was 400ft Hollywood and the Stars: Monsters. Hardly stooped since. It would be 1975 or 6 I think.

:-) Timothy, the 8mm forum is quite a good forum, just lately been too much digital for my taste. It's the round things they discuss that's unmentionable here ;-)

First projector was a toy Casdon standard 8mm silent projector.
It had no shutter, a whopping 6v bulb and 200ft reel capacity.

My first film for it was a 50ft B/W silent "highlights" reel of a 200ft film released by Castle Films called "Do You Like Snow"

By the time I got my Beaulieu Stereo, starting out from such humble beginnings, only served to make me appreciate these fine engineering works of genius all the more!

Way to go Andrew, your had a far bigger take up than mine, size doesn't matter, oh yes it does, I kicked off with a "HORIPET" battery operated scratching machine, bought as soon as I left school in '69, my viewing matter was a Keystone Cops 50' that came with the
projector, then 50's of "Teenage Frankenstein", "Deadly Mantis" and a 200' "Mummy's Tomb" put onto three 50' spools all std 8mm. After many showings on the tiny 12'' screen on the back of the box, it was difficult to tell one film from the other, like watching a film through a wig , there were so many lines, like Andrew's. it had no shutter, so bright areas had a light column, the light was so dim, anyone smoking would have washed out the picture by the light of their cigarette. Even so, I was sold, the only way was up.

Me and my mates used to huddle around my mum and dads kitchen table watching this thing on it's 18" diagonal plastic screen with green clip on feet. Ha ha ...happy days!

It wasn't long before I got my first big boys projector a dual gauge silent Cinerex 707 I think it was. That 50w spaceman lamp was almost blinding!

Just having a bit of fun Timothy. Reading a post in the unmentionable forum, I then decided to get out one of those unmentionable black plastic cassettes with tape inside and watch it on the unmentionable in the corner of the room. Did I mention before that I have a lot of unmentionables?

My first dabble with cine was a hand held viewer named 'Jollyfilms' made by Peak Films, this is 1967; then I bought 'The Trooping of the Colour', which I still have. I didn't get a proper projector until 1973; that was a used Hanimex from Dixons, with variable speed. It seemed wonderful watching 'Hopalong Cassidy' on a 40 inch screen; the TV at that time was 18 inch. Long before that I had a Chad Valley slide projector that had stills from Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland', and long before that when I was about 7, Woolworths were selling a hand held viewer that took strips of 35mm film with stills. I had some of Robert Shaw in the TV series 'The Buccaneers'.

What with Robert and his unmentionables, Andrew and Dave with top flight machines, in comparison I might as well have had a flick book, at least I'd have been able to see what was going on.

lol Hugh!

The very first print I bought was on Standard 8mm. It was a 50' silent edition excerpt of a Laurel and Hardy film.
It was called "Tree Fellas" and came from the short " The Hoosegow". It was on The Pyramid ( Dixon's Photographic ) own brand label.
I was only 12 years old and I still have it in its original box. The first projector I bought was the silent Pentax P80-1 Standard 8mm.
I was over the moon and have not stopped collecting since. It must have been around 1966.
I had a wall mounted roller screen 40inches X 30 inches on my bedroom wall and as I started buying more films and hiring them from our local
Film Libraries at the weekend I would charge the local kids to come in and see them. I would borrow my Mother's dining chairs to sit on.
Place the projector in a cupboard masked with an old long curtain with a gap for the light to come through. Played suitable music via an old record player and there you go my first Home Cinema. I would also post posters advertising that weekend shows. I was very popular with local Mothers as they would leave the kids at my shows while they went shopping. HAPPY DAYS !!!

The very first in the family was the 50ft b/s silent The defiant Virginian bought in 1971/2 from our local photographic store Frampton Camera's + a Eumig P8 to show it on.

My own first purchase was in 1977 when i started work and it was the 4 x 400ft feature of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I borrowed the money from my Grandad and paid it all back week by week.
I had so many showings to so many groups of people in our garage, it was the talk of the town that i had a copy, friends bought friends, Girls walked out at the end of reel 2, great days.

After much pestering ,when I was eleven,or ten,my dad bought me a MeOpta Optilux std 8 silent projector along with the two reeler Oeil Pour Oeil (BIG BUSINESS), the one reeler Les Cloches de Capistrano(a Kit Carson tv episode cutdown) and three 50 footers ,Charlot et le Magot(THE FLOORWALKER),Charlot s' Evade(THE ADVENTURER) and Charlot Soigne Son Foi(THE CURE). I still have them,although the projector needs some repair.

Panayotis! Were these Film Office prints. My career as a film collector started with a couple of their 50´ reels.

Yes,Film Office! My second purchases ,after pestering my uncle in America, were Knights of the Bath (IN SOCIETY) and Chimp the Fireman,two Castle one reelers.

I just knew there would be some Castle Films purchased as first prints. A great company very sadly missed.
The later Universal 8 never did come up to the high standard of Castle Films.

It was 1973 and one of ms First Prints ...
Oh, yes...
"Battle in outer Space"
By Columbia Pictures in color/sound...

Hi and welcome to the forum,
I owned a copy of that reel as well.I had the silent,subtitled version and remember enjoying it very much.