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The Modern Miracle Of Today's Newspaper (1971)

🕑 Added 2021-11-27 05:53:25 +0000 UTC

Comments

Mike O'Dell

Did you lift and reverse the music on the soundtrack?

Mike O'Dell

Taste the molten lead and hear the noise! You, Fran, have the soul of a poet (driving pair of KT88s in tweed).

Ewen McNeill

This is by far my favourite of the 16mm finds: both my parents were journalists, my father at a newspaper, so I getting a tour of a lot of these things as a child. Thanks for sharing! Ewen

BobC

Wow, does this bring back memories! I remember a day-long field trip in in 8th grade (1970) spent touring our local paper and seeing everything mentioned in this film. We got to perform many of the steps shown, including typing Linotype paper tapes. I particularly remember being taught how to fold a pressman's hat before we were allowed onto the press floor. The pressmen were still grumbling about the transition to soy-based inks: While they liked the result, the process was very trying, as only one press was switch over at a time, and didn't always go well. Their approach was to keep an "old-ink" press lightly loaded, so it could take the plates from a failed soy-ink press.

Philip Stephens

It always amazes me how fast the paper moved through those gigantic printing presses without tearing.

John Parker

I remember actually using a teletype machine to compose messages. It would output a 7 level baudot coded tape. You would butterfly wrap the tape between your thumb and pinky for sending later. 75 Baud was equal to 100 words per minute. I could bog the TTY machine because I could type faster than 100 wpm. Those were the days! LOL

BiggieJohn

lead typesetting . . . no PPE in sight, OSHA wouldnt allow you in the room without a full hazmat suit now

lohphat

There’s a great documentary available on YT, “Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu “ when the NYT switched from Linotype production to computerized typesetting on July 2,1978. Seeing old Linotypes discarded and scrapped is heartbreaking. https://youtu.be/1MGjFKs9bnU

So true. Fran is the Mistress of nostalgia... Thanks Fran!

Tori

Execellent film. I miss the 70s.

Dr Andy Hill

I remember reading a story of an old Fleet Street Hack reminiscing of the times before the printing was moved out to Wapping. When the floor would shake indicating that the presses had started and it was too late to meet this edition and it was time to go to the pub.

David Peaker

Punched tape and the like may seem quaint by today's standards, but this was cutting edge back in the day.

Always wished I could toss my papers onto my customers lawns like those American kids. They would have got wet, shredded by rose bushes, gone into the wrong house or eaten by the neighbours dog. Had to push every one through the letterbox🤣🤣🤣. Fun times. Great work Fran! Gold medal stuff this!!!

I was a paper boy!