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Panoram was the
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from other ...
name of a visual
jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...
that played short-filmed musicals (the effect being the equivalent of 1980s music videos) popular within the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
during the 1940s. It was conceived and produced by the Mills Novelty Company under several patents, including 123,473 and 2,286,200, which involve the cabinet design and endless reel workings. Development took place in the late 1930s with production and sales beginning in 1940. A Grand Premiere took place on September 16-19, 1941, in
Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with i ...
. The company wrote over $3 million in Panoram orders that week. The Panoram used
RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Com ...
projectors, amplifiers, and speakers. The successful launch of the Panoram allowed for the largest single order of these RCA products up to that time. A Panoram measured tall by wide by deep, and employed a series of mirrors to reflect the image from a projector onto a , rear-projection, ground-glass screen in a tight, enclosed cabinet. Costing $1,000 to end-use locations (or $695 to regional distributors), the popular machines found their way into countless soda shops, taverns, bus and train stations, and other public places across America. The specially made
16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It is ...
s ran in a continuous loop and stopped when a notch cut at the end of each film tripped a microswitch, engaging a step-back relay. The patron could put up to twenty dimes in the machine at a time. However, the Panoram had no selector mechanism, so there was no choice of film title. The patron would see whatever film was next in the queue. The Panoram mechanics were housed in an
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
design, high-quality wood cabinet. This cabinet included an advertising banner located at the top of the unit. This banner rotated through a series of rollers, driven by a motor, and was backlit. Color cylinders also rotated behind the screen creating colored flashes on the screen while the unit was not being played. When a patron inserted a dime, power to both the banner and colored lights was interrupted and power was applied to the
projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...
and
amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost th ...
, thereby initiating play. With the beginning of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, production of the Panoram machines was drastically reduced due to a wartime shortage of raw materials, and the Mills Panoram's 1940 success started to fade.
Soundies Soundies are three-minute American musical films, and each short displays a performance. The shorts were produced between 1940 and 1946 and have been referred to as "precursors to music videos" by UCLA. Soundies exhibited a variety of musical ge ...
(the 16mm media used in the Panoram) continued to be produced and distributed to Panoram locations until 1947. By then, the novelty of the visual jukebox was compromised owing to the availability of the
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
. Panoram machines were repurposed as educational film-playing units or, more commonly, as adult peep shows. The latter caused the introduction of regulation of Panorams to control placement of the units in many cities. The Panoram is now best known for the vast library of short, three-minute music videos that were created for it. Called
Soundies Soundies are three-minute American musical films, and each short displays a performance. The shorts were produced between 1940 and 1946 and have been referred to as "precursors to music videos" by UCLA. Soundies exhibited a variety of musical ge ...
, these films featured many of the great musical stars of the period, including
Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...
,
Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and t ...
, and
Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...
. Most of the approximately 1800 Soundies films survive and are considered a priceless archive of 1940s popular music and performers. The Soundies films were printed backwards (mirror image) so that they would appear in a correct orientation when played in a Panoram machine. Several of the short films were wound on a roll and delivered to Panoram-hosted locations as replacement media. In this manner, new Soundies could be viewed at the location and the entertainment would remain fresh. Many Soundies can be viewed on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
today, including some by bandleader
Al Donahue Al Donahue (June 12, 1904, Dorchester, Massachusetts - February 20, 1983, Fallbrook, California) was an American violinist and big band leader. Donahue got his start playing in Boston-area campus bands and led a band at Boston's Weber Duck Inn in ...
, who made 7 or 8 of the first Soundies at
Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...
. The basic concept behind the Panoram would be revived in the early 1960s with the Scopitone.


References

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External links


Mills Panoram
– A site for information and parts for the Panoram Visual music Art Deco Jukeboxes Music videos