Chapter 1 Page 6
The base of operations for Cinetron shifted now to the Howard Johnson’s Motor lodge on 8th Avenue at West 51 st. HOJO’s was chosen because it was fairly close and it offered parking for guests. The morning after the equipment was dropped off, Charlie and George walked the eight blocks to the Optical House to conserve their dwindling cash.
Once there, they met with the Dicks, as their employees sometimes joked, Dick Swanek and Dick Rauh, their company machinist, Fred Loeb and with some of the animation camera operators. As a part of the agreement, the installation of the system was to take place during the hours when the camera was not being used for production. This was roughly between 9PM and 8AM weekdays and usually on weekends. Also, the installation had to be done so that the computer system could be disabled to permit manual operation if the system failed. Ever the optimists, the Cinetron crew saw no problem with the arrangement.
The Optical Houses’ machinist, Fred Loeb was greatly helpful during the entire process of taking the camera apart, making modifications and then putting it back in manual operating condition every day. It was more than a merely painful endeavor, it was agonizing.
Every night Charlie and George would show up and dismantle the animation camera, mount motors and cables, tweak the software, install electronics, rewire the camera’s controls and then reverse the procedure so that the camera could be used manually the next morning. This went on for weeks on end with periodic midnight phone calls to Gene when minor problems with electronics arose.
On a number of occasions, Gene would fly to NY after working all day. He stayed all night working with Charlie and George to solve a few of the more serious electronics or mechanical issues. He then took a red-eye flight back to be to work at Lockheed the next morning.
One particularly painful event occurred when the control panel, which was a pre-wired printed circuit finished in Atlanta, had to be completely redesigned to meet a new customer requirement. Gene and Charlie got on the phone and Gene described the circuit modifications as Charlie took notes. Next, Charlie took the plans for the original circuit board and drew in the modified traces and components. The following morning, George and Charlie went to an electronics store nearby and purchased the necessary components and chemicals to fabricate a new board. The photosensitive circuit board was exposed with a desk lamp and chemically etched in the bathtub of their hotel room. The next night the new board was installed and miraculously, it worked. In fact, it worked without maintenance or modification for nearly 20 years.
The tedious and frustrating work dragged on for weeks with George and Charlie canvassing the New York production companies by day in attempts to find their next customer and working all night to complete the installation and wind up with a working system in New York. The Optical House partners and all the people who worked there were very helpful and patient through the process and finally, it was done.