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The
The

Amazing Brenograph
Amazing Brenograph

Only the best theatres had them, ahead of any other projector with a
they looked like a ‘Heath Robinson turret – and be forgiving of its
contraption’ and required careful weaknesses.
maintenance, but the illusions possible A Brenograph operated on a
with a Brenograph or Brenkert Effects horizontal plane. It could not be
Machine impressed projectionists and tilted down to the screen like a film
amazed audiences. projector. The light was angled via
The hey-day of this equipment was reflecting mirrors, which required
the picture-palace era. In Melbourne constant re-surfacing.
they were installed at the State, Regent, Another fault was low-
Capitol and the Palais Pictures St. intensity carbons (they were not
Kilda. The company slogan - Projects copper-coated), inclined to give out
Everything but the Motion Picture was a yellowy, flickering light. Chief
almost understatement. Some of the projectionist at the Palais, Albert
effects listed in the 1928 catalogue Wright converted his Brenograph
were: Auroa Borealis, Babbling Brook, lamp houses to high-intensity,
Blizzard, Flying Angels, Aeroplanes, copper-coated carbons by installing
Birds, Butterflies and Fairies, Fire and the innards of Hall & Connelly arcs.
Smoke (unlikely ever to be used in a By the time the Palais converted to
theatre), Lightning, Descending clouds, Cinemascope in 1954, this theatre
Fast Moving Storm Clouds, Slow had the finest conventional slide
Melbourne’s State, was told by one of
Moving Fleecy Clouds (possibly the projection in the country.
the technical staff who was on duty at
effect conjured in the State theatre), Where are these machines today?
the opening in 1928 that the Capitol
Moving River, Ocean Waves, Rain, The Palais Brenograph (above left) was
had two ‘cloud’ machines, one each
Sand Storm, Snow, Volcano in Eruption donated to the Performing Arts
side of the balcony. They were
(includes lava, and rain of fire and Museum at Southbank. One cloud
originally spring wound and later
ashes) Waterfall, Falling Rose Petals, machine from the Sydney Capitol went
converted from mechanical action to
Twinkling Stars, Rainbow and Rising to Mr. George West’s Majestic at
electricity. It is likely that the State
Bubbles. Pamona in Queensland. The fate of the
used identical machines.
If this wasn’t enough, the company others is not known. ★
Although clunky in appearance, the
offered do-it-yourself effects. One
Brenograph was a precision instrument REFERENCES
involved a refillable glass reservoir. The
respected by projectionists. They were The Last Remaining Seats Ben Hall
instruction to the projectionist was to
the ones who could appreciate the Prentice Hall 1976.
add a droplet or two of Condy’s ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
engineering behind the effects – the
Crystals to water in the reservoir and Gordon Evans, Don Kennedy, Russ
see-saw action for ocean waves, the
project the magenta swirls. Robinson, Les Tod, and at the
clockwork colour wheel wound like a
Manufactured in the USA, the Performing Arts Museum, Joanna
mecano set and the turret lens, years
machines came in two forms. The large Leahy.
machine for the projection room was
simultaneously a superior slide
projector offering many variations for
fading, wiping or dissolving between
slides; and the carriage for the complex
of lenses, slides and irises that were the
basis for the other optical tricks.
The company also manufactured the
Brenkert spotlight. This spot, and later
the rival Stellmar, were the best in the
business. In the 1940’s Brenkert also
turned out a line of 35 mm projectors.
The so-called Baby Brenograph was
designed to be concealed within or
behind the ornamentation of the walls,
usually for the projection of simple
cloud effects. Mr. Russ Robinson, a
former projectionist at Sydney’s
Clouds scud across the sky at the Capitol Sydney. Image courtesy of Les Tod.
Capitol, the sister theatre to
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