Vintage Underwater Movie Making

[urmaddad]

 

[Sam Miller III]

Interesting--
Do you knw who the divers are/were?
Where taken ? tropics ???

I suspect the might (?) have been the Texas tribe from Houston lead by George Yeomans ????
They were active in Cozumel and Vera Cruz in the early 1960s.

A little UW archeology

Camera housing
Samson made in Costa Mesa California by Herb Samson

(FYI Herb also produced the Samson World record Spear gun and the famed Samson38 Cal Power head aka point impact head - He set and held for some time the first worlds spearfishing record of the Black Sea Bass)​

Camera -
16 MM Bell & Howell (aka Bellow and Holler) 70 DR- running time 3min 25 sec @24 frames per sec
Cost- over $1000.00 in 1950s & early 1960s--very expensive - but best ever produced

Note the snippet of the homemade housing
Film-
The overall cast of the movie was cool with a slight blue tone
Indicates Kodak Ectachrome which was not available until after early 1960s


Equipment
Regulators - 2 hose - last produced in quantities in us early 1970s
Voit tanks circa ?
Aluminum back pack ?
Sraps & bands ?

Footage possibly from early to mid 1960s

SDM

 

[urmaddad]

I have had these two film reels, both 16mm double sprocket color, about thirty-five minutes running time per reel, for quite some time. The only clue is on the film leaders which is written "Cozumel Underwater" along with some catalog numbers. I recently spent the money to transfer the first reel to video. Mostly, the film shows fish and coral, but there are quite a few scenes of divers spearing fish and lobsters, using an underwater sled, playing with a turtle, and of course, the underwater motion picture photographers. So far, I have made six short clips and uploaded them to youtube. In the next few weeks, I will make possibly three or four more clips.

 

[flyboy08]

Nice, thank you...I guess the theory of boyance control had yet to be taught....

 

[DavidFL]

...I guess the theory of boyance control had yet to be taught....

I'm pretty sure the theory of bouyancy was around and "taught" [see 'Density, Bouyancy, and Viscosity' in The New Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving from 1957 onwards]. Bouyancy (under) control, on the other hand.....

 

[simonbeans]

Buoyancy was part of early scuba, but not to the extent that it is today. No such thing as a buoyancy compensator, just estimate your planed depth and you weighted accordingly. Also, you didn't hover as we do today, i.e., you kept swimming. If you stopped you usually sank, so like Dora,"keep swimming". Also wet suits did compress, but not to the extent of today's super stretch, soft material. Physics of scuba was taught, Boyle's, Charles' laws were memorized and applied. I dare say most modern open water divers have never heard of them, let alone Archimedes.

 

[Luis H]

Did anyone else notice the backpack/ back-plate with the red tank at about 2:05 to 2:08 minutes. It holds the tank with a couple of interesting metal bands on the bottom and maybe a cord around the tank neck.

It also as some interesting metal (at least it looks like metal) wrap-around support on the sides of the diver around his waist.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Luis,

Yes I noticed it
I mentioned it under equipment in my post.

it was a production made pack in the early 1960s which dates the movie , I have seen the pack in a number of SDM advertisements- but do not have the time or interest to research the introduction date.

Perhaps your experts at Vintage Double hose can research it?

Enjoying is the snow? Ready to move to SoCal?

Cheers
Sam

 

[Luis H]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the reply.

And thanks for the invitation. If I move anywhere it would be back to the Caribbean (where I grew up)... where the water is actually warm.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Luis

Just so you know you are always welcome here...You would be an asset to US Divers and the diving community

Cold water, some times crystal clear water, warm sunny days cool nights, no humidly temperature never over 75-- well on occasion 80 , no bugs but a lot of nuts running the state into the ground.

My wife assumed presidency of the local college from the former president who was from Puerto Rico via NYC,
So yes we have Puerto Ricans in Kalifornia

SAM