Photoweigh Photobooth At The Palace Pier, Brighton – A Guest Post by David Simkin of Sussex PhotoHistory

From Katherine’s collection

The now extinct Photoweigh photobooth machine took a photograph of the customer as he or she sat on a weighing machine. Photoweigh photos are rare enough, but even more so the one from my collection above, as it includes the “negative” and a branded folder.

From Katherine’s collection

It is very difficult to find information about Photoweigh machines. I approached UK based photo collector and writer, David Simkin for more information, after finding his online article Automatic Portrait Photographs in which he mentioned the machines. His website Sussex PhotoHistory is designed to be used by people researching their family history, who wish to date family photographs and also for those interested in the history of photography.I highly recommend a visit.

David kindly did this guest post for me –

I am working on the assumption that a Photoweigh machine was installed on or near Brighton’s Palace Pier, (England) sometime in the early or mid 1930s.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Anatol Josepho, the inventor of the first automated photobooth, opened his “Photomaton Studio” in New York City in September 1925. In March 1927, Josepho sold the rights of the Photomaton process to Henry Morgenthau’s business consortium.

By the end of 1927, a British investor group purchased rights to distribute the Photomaton in Europe and Canada.

In 1928, Josepho sold the European rights for the Photomaton to an English/French consortium.

The Photomaton Parent Corporation Limited was set up by Clarence Hatry in 1928 to operate automated photograph machines in hundreds of public places such as railway stations and amusement parks.

PHOTOWEIGH LIMITED

I presume that by 1930, the novelty of the coin-operated photobooth had waned and that entrepreneurs were looking for a novelty or gimmicky variation on the self-operated portrait photo booth. Someone came up with the idea of a “Photoweigh” machine, a piece of apparatus, which took a photographic portrait of a customer as he or she sat on a weighing machine. The resulting photo strip would give details of the weight of the sitter as well as displaying the usual photographic portrait.

The earliest evidence I have found of an apparatus in England that took a small photographic portrait, while recording the weight of the sitter, is a photo of a bespectacled man wearing a trilby hat, with a tobacco pipe clamped between his lips. According to the printed display, the photograph was taken on 29th October 1931 at Selfridges Department Store, London. The photobooth photo (below) was sold on eBay in May 2014 for £10.50, (US $17.85). This early example does not carry the trademark of Photoweigh Limited.

Ebay scan

Photoweigh Ltd. is mentioned as a recently established business in the 1933 edition of the British Journal of Photography. A firm called the American Automatic Photoweigh Company Inc. was listed in the American State of Delaware in 1934.

The 1933 edition (Volume 80) of the British Journal of Photography lists Photoweigh Limited as a recently registered company (viz. ” Photoweigh. Ltd. (276,512). — Private company. Registered June 1. Capital, £5,000, in 4,000 5% redeemable non-cumulative preference shares of £1, and 20,000 ordinary shares of 1s. each. Objects: to carry on the business of manufacturers and dealers in optical, scientific, photographic and industrial instruments, cinematograph and other films, projectors, cameras and magic lanterns, etc.”).

Presumably, Photoweigh Ltd. set up a booth near or on Brighton’s Palace Pier between June 1933 and 1938.

In his 1938 novel “Brighton Rock“, the writer Graham Green mentions the Photoweigh kiosk being located in the tunnel under the Palace Pier in “the noisiest, lowest, cheapest section of Brighton’s amusements”.

A Photoweigh booth (owned in the 1960s and early 1970s by George Keeble) was situated on Brighton’s Palace Pier until 1972.

I very recently received a Photoweigh photo from Clifford Groves of Brighton. (Above) The photograph was taken in 1964. Cliff Groves explained the circumstances in which it was taken.  ”I am the good looking one on the right, the other chap is Gil Tipping – a good friend of mine still after 50 years. We were both working the summer season on the Palace Pier, in the “Palace of Fun”. There were no gaming machines only what we called “gaffs”. These were very similar to fairground stalls. Gil was running a bingo stall and I was on air rifles. The mods and rockers were creating havoc on the seafront the day the smudge (photo) was taken and it was  (as the Chinese say) an interesting time – battles galore!

Once again, here is the Sussex PhotoHistory link. Please explore this wonderful photographic resource.

From David’s collection. Like mine with the negative and folder, (top of page) this is a very rare item.

Another Ebay item

Charlie and Me – 9 October 1999

June 20, 2014

Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)

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9 October 1999, Melbourne

This is seven month old guide-dog puppy, Charlie. He was my pride and joy for twelve months when I was his puppy-raiser. He was a very diligent worker. He became a professional dog after graduating with flying colours from his full training at Guide Dogs Victoria.

Charlie became a lifeline for a lovely woman whose eyesight had deteriorated rapidly in the years leading up to her application for a guide-dog. I imagine he would be well and truly retired by now, if not already in doggy heaven.

Although not recorded on the back of the strip, this was most likely taken in one of the Flinders Street photobooths, as I made every effort to get Charlie into town regularly for his socialisation and traffic training.

This strip of photos is from my series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

Bonnie Baby Barb

June 17, 2014

Vintage Photobooth

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Pretty little Barb is posing so beautifully in this photobooth image, that it is tempting to assume that she had already been in a booth on more than one previous occasion. Barbara’s full name is hand written in ink on the back of this photo but unfortunately the script is mostly illegible after her first name. At some point someone has added in pencil, Barb, aged 4 1/2.

This is a large format photobooth photo that has been hand coloured. It could possibly be an enlargement of a smaller booth photo, however as there were some machines that produced larger size images, I would say from the quality and crispness of the photo that this is indeed the original size.

Barb is wearing what I think is a lapel boutonniere, which I believe is the correct term for a flower that has a small tube water supply, that can be attached to clothing. I am not sure of this interpretation, so please take a look at the detail below and let me know what you think.

Detail

The photo measures 60 x 83 mm and came from the USA.

The Kills – Rock and Photobooth Art

June 16, 2014

Photobooth Art, Photobooth News

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The Kills are an indie rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince. They used photobooth photos to promote their albums and concerts for many years. The collection they present on their website, here, is extensive and fun for a lover of booth photos to explore.

The sleeve of their début EP (2002), Black Rooster, (below) featured manipulated photos of Mosshart and Hince taken in a photobooth.

Their second single, Fried My Little Brains (below), from their first album also featured a photobooth photo for the cover art.

With not a clue in the world what the band sounded like, I took a punt and purchased their début album (below) Keep on Your Mean Side (2003) from which the above single was taken. I thought that if I didn’t like the music, the cover would be a nice addition to my photobooth ephemera collection. I loved it on the first listening. I was very happy that their music rocked as much as their obsession with photobooths!

POST SCRIPT – Since writing this post a fortnight ago, I have bought a second album, Midnight Boom (2008). I love this band!

My Other Blog – Mugshots and Miscellaneous

June 14, 2014

Random Posts

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My Other Blog – Mugshots and Miscellaneous

For those of you who don’t know, I have another blog called Mugshots and Miscellaneous which concentrates on miscellaneous photographic items and ephemera from my personal collection. It also includes photos from my family’s archive.

I have sometimes added additional information and images related to people in my photobooth photos. For example the studio portrait of Vic Parks (above) was posted on Mugshots and Miscellaneous, here, on the same day I did a post about booth photos of Vic, (also above), here.

I also have a lot of additional and fabulous photos of Horton Spurr (above) that compliment his photobooth photos. The story about Horton and the booth photos are here and the studio and snapshot photos are here.

Today is one of the rare days when I have added a new post to Mugshots and Miscellaneous. Please check it out.

After “The Mummy” – 3 July 1999

June 13, 2014

Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)

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photobooth03:07:1999

3 July 1999, Chadstone, Melbourne

This is my brother-in-law, Timo and his son Cal, with me peeking in from the side.

There was a booth outside the cinema complex at Chadstone Shopping Centre that I used whenever I could. This was taken after seeing the movie The Mummy with Brendan Fraser. Baby Calvin slept through most of the film. If he squawked he was taken out briefly for a stroll by one of his parents, until he settled.

This strip of photos is from my series Photobooth 41 Year Project which documents my life from the age of 11, through photobooth photos. You can see all the posts in the series by clicking here.

Tracey Emin and the Photobooth

June 11, 2014

Photobooth Art

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And who would have thought that emminent British artist Tracey Emin would take after me?

… it’s striking that there are so many photos of Tracey alone in photo booths, when most people are always crowded out with friends.

‘I was trying to see what I looked like. It was almost like the mirror didn’t work and I had to have this other proof of who I was.

‘I don’t like looking in a mirror. I look because I have to make sure my hair is tidy and my spot isn’t too big and I haven’t got any junk in the corner of my eye, and to make sure everything’s tucked in and it looks all right, that’s it. I’m not interested in looking in the mirror to see my reflection, I don’t think I ever have been.’

Image and quote taken from this Mail Online article. This is a link to Tracey’s website.

“Old People”

June 11, 2014

Vintage Photobooth

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Beautiful Jazz Age Dude

June 10, 2014

Vintage Photobooth

17 Comments

Cool tie, cool hat, sharp lapels – what a dude. And such a beautiful sanguine face! I love his slightly raised eyebrows, almond eyes and half smile. I feel very warm towards him, as there is something in his expression that suggests kindness and charm.

The background in this booth photo is very unusual, so I would suggest it was added by the owners of a club or bar where the booth was situated. It is undated but I would guess, based on the quality of paper and the clothing style, it was taken sometime in the 1930s. There is self-adhesive album residue on the back (those albums date from the 1970s) which suggests it was loved and cared for for many years after it was taken.

The photo is of a slightly larger size than most of my booth photos. It measures 65 x 78 mm and came from the USA.

Cyril Astor’s Photobooth Business

June 9, 2014

Vintage Photobooth

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Please scroll down for more photos after the article.

Cyril Astor ran a photography business that was exclusively dedicated to photobooths. In partnership with a Mr Leach, Cyril hired out booths to tourist venues and special events,as well as having a number of booths in permanent locations. The business no longer exists but was located on Cefndy Road Industrial Estate in Rhyl in the county of Denbighshire in North Wales. Rhyl is a seaside resort town and an ideal place for booths that supported the local tourist industry.

Inscribed on the back “To Mother From Edwin”

I was unable to find a record of when the business started but his booths were used at the Cardiff venue for the Festival of Britain in 1951, so the business was in operation at that time. In 1972 the business still existed when Irish lass, 20 year old Patsy Furber worked there. I am very grateful to Patsy for her help in my research for this post.

Patsy has shared some of her personal memories of Cyril’s business with me –

“The managing director was a Mr. Leach, the manager was Gwyn. Mr. Leach’s secretary was Cathy and the telephonist and office worker was Nerys. I was a shorthand typist and part of my job was to type order forms for the chemicals they needed for the booths.

I liked working for Cyril Astor’s business in the beginning but left with extremely bad feelings. I come from Belfast, Ireland and I am afraid I fell foul of political bullying caused by misinformation given by the Special Branch Police in Wales.

I really did enjoy myself at Astors but felt it very unfortunate that things turned out the way they did. Unfortunately, it was the political atmosphere at the time. It was a thing a good many Irish in Britain had to endure….”

Mr Astor had booths in Margate (UK), Ramsgate (UK) and Rhyl in Wales. One of the prime spots for his booths was on the ‘Great Orme’ in Llandudno in Wales. Without Patsy’s help, it was difficult to find information about Cyril’s business but I did find that he was an exhibitor at a trade fair at Alexandra Palace which was advertised in Billboard magazine on the 26 November, 1966. Presumably this event promoted his booths for hire.

In addition to being a photographer, Cyril was an inventor. He made a patent application in 1966. The Patent Index says that he applied for patents to make improvements to the Photomaton machine in the early 1960s.

“Abstract of GB962798 962,798. Rollerways. CYRIL ASTOR PHOTOMATON (LONDON) Ltd. March 2, 1962 [Dec. 16, 1960], No. 43458/60. Heading B8A. [Also in Division G2] Film is conveyed through a processing tank by a plurality of vertically-spaced sets of rollers, each set being individual…”

On the back of each of the cardboard photo frames it says, “Photographer: Cyril Astor. You can obtain three beautiful postcard sized enlargements by sending this photograph with name and address to Cyril Astor, 28, North Drive, Rhyl, North Wales. Together with postal order valued 5/-. It is never too late to send and you get this photo back.” Of course it is too late now, despite the claim, but it does make me think there could be some fabulous photobooth postcard gems out there to be discovered!