Editing Scopitone

{{Short description|French 16mm color film video jukebox of the 1960s}}
[[File:Scopitone 02.jpg|thumb|upright|Scopitone machine]]
'''Scopitone''' is a type of [[jukebox]] featuring a [[16 mm film]] component.  Scopitone films were a forerunner of [[music video]]s. The 1959 Italian [[Cinebox]]/Colorama and [[Color-Sonic]]s were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time one year before the Scopitone in France.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scopitonearchive.com/cinebox/index.html|title=Scopitone Archive: Cinebox/Colorama/Cinejukebox|website=Scopitonearchive.com|accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref>

Based on [[Soundies]] technology developed during [[World War II]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/9.4/scopitone/scopitone-09.4.html|title=Le Scopitone!|website=Stim.com|accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref> color [[16 mm film]] shorts with a magnetic [[soundtrack]] were designed to be shown in a specially designed jukebox. The difference between the [[Panoram]] and the Scopitone jukebox was that with Panoram the 16mm films were black and white with optical sound and there was no selection among the 8 short films in the jukebox, whereas Scopitone featured color (in the US produced films [[Technicolor]]), with Hi-Fi magnetic soundtracks, with selection available between all 36 Scopitone films in the Scopitone Jukebox. Scopitone films, like Soundies, featured recordings that performers lip synced to, with at least one exception; [[Billy Lee Riley]] was recorded live performing the song "High Heel Sneakers" in his Scopitone. <ref>Jack Stevenson, The Jukebox That Ate the Cocktail Lounge, included in Land of a Thousand Balconies, page 31, A Critical Vision Book, {{ISBN|1-900486-23-7}}</ref>

Between 1940 and 1946, three-minute musical films called Soundies (produced in [[New York City]], [[Chicago]] and [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]) were displayed on a [[Panoram]], the first coin-operated film jukebox or ''machine music''. These were set up in nightclubs, bars, restaurants and amusement centers.

After 2005, the word 'Scopitone' was dedicated as a name for type of music video which is highlighted on musicians, playback artists, and composers on screen. Composer and conductor [[James Horner]] first used the Scopitone name for his video as a remembrance of the Scopitone jukebox.

==History==
[[File:Scopitone-quando-quando.jpg|thumb|A Scopitone film spool]]
The first Scopitones were made in France by a company called [[Cameca]] on Blvd Saint Denis in Courbevoie, among them [[Serge Gainsbourg]]'s "Le poinçonneur des Lilas" (filmed in 1958 in the [[Porte des Lilas (Paris Métro)|Porte des Lilas Métro station]]),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.forumdesimages.net/fr/alacarte/htm/ACTUALITE/GAINSBOURG.htm |title=Serge Gainsbourg |access-date=2008-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051120123449/http://www.forumdesimages.net/fr/alacarte/htm/ACTUALITE/GAINSBOURG.htm |archive-date=2005-11-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Johnny Hallyday]]'s "Noir c'est noir" a French version of [[Los Bravos]]' "[[Black Is Black]]") and the "[[Hully Gully]]" showing a dance around a swimming pool.

Scopitones spread to [[West Germany]], where the [[Kessler Twins|Kessler Sisters]] burst out of twin steamer trunks to sing "[[Quando quando quando|Quando Quando]]" on the dim screen that surmounted the jukebox. Scopitone went on to appear in bars in [[England]], including a coffee bar in [[Swanage]] where "[[Telstar (instrumental)|Telstar]]" was a favourite. By 1964, approximately 500 machines were installed in the United States, most of which were deliberately targeted at [[cocktail lounge]]s and adult establishments, in part to avoid competition with the jukebox industry for the teen audience.<ref name=fifties>{{Cite web |url=http://www.loti.com/fifties_jukebox/Scoptione_The_Visual_Jukebox.htm |title=Scopitone: The Visual Jukebox|access-date=2008-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605070925/http://www.loti.com/fifties_jukebox/Scoptione_The_Visual_Jukebox.htm |archive-date=2008-06-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1966, reportedly 800 machines were installed in bars and nightclubs in the US, at a cost of $3500 apiece.<ref name="Billboard">{{citation |title=Cinema Juke Box: Just a Novelty? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UykEAAAAMBAJ&q=cinema+juke+box%3A+just+a+novelty%3F&pg=PA48 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |first1=Ray |last1=Brack|page=48 |date=July 10, 1965 |accessdate=November 7, 2012 }}.</ref> This, in turn, required production of new Scopitone films for the American audience, many of which were produced on contract with [[Debbie Reynolds]]'s production company.<ref name=nprscopitones>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5630027 NPR: Rise and Fall of the Scopitone Jukebox]</ref>

Several well-known acts of the 1960s appear in Scopitone films, ranging from the earlier part of the decade [[The Exciters]] ("[[Tell Him (Bert Berns song)|Tell Him]]") and [[Neil Sedaka]] ("[[Calendar Girl (song)|Calendar Girl]]") to [[Bobby Vee]] ("[[The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (song)|The Night Has a Thousand Eyes]]" and "[[Baby Face (song)|Baby Face]]") and later 1960s acts such as [[Gary Lewis & the Playboys|Gary Lewis]] ("[[Little Miss Go-Go]]"), [[Jody Miller]] ("[[The Race Is On]]" and her biggest hit "[[Queen of the House]]") and [[Procol Harum]] ("[[A Whiter Shade of Pale]]"). In one Scopitone recording, [[Dionne Warwick]] lay on a white shag rug with an offstage fan urging her to sing "[[Walk on By (song)|Walk on By]]". Another had [[Nancy Sinatra]] and a troupe of go-go girls shimmy to "[[These Boots Are Made for Walkin']]". Inspired by [[burlesque]], [[bombshell (sex symbol)|blonde bombshell]] [[Joi Lansing]] performed "Web of Love" and "The Silencer", and [[Julie London]] sang "Daddy" against a backdrop of strippers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vt-xeVrI3c|title=Daddy by Julie London|date=18 July 2006|accessdate=2 August 2018|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> [[Dee Dee Phelps|Mary "Dee Dee" Phelps]] of [[Dick and Dee Dee]] recalled in 2006 being asked to record a Scopitone for one of their more obscure records and not their biggest hit; when she saw the finished product, she was appalled by its disjointed appearance.<ref name=nprscopitones/> The artifice of such scenes led [[Susan Sontag]] to identify Scopitone films as "part of the canon of [[Camp (style)|Camp]]" in her 1964 essay "[[Notes on 'Camp']]".

The medium's focus on adult audiences, and the resulting avoidance of or inability to lure the superstar American or [[British Invasion]] acts of the era, was a factor in its demise;<ref name="AVCLUB">{{citation |title=Let's all watch the Scopitone! 15 never-too-popular obsolete entertainment formats |url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/lets-all-watch-the-scopitone-15-nevertoopopular-ob,57012/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609175723/http://www.avclub.com/articles/lets-all-watch-the-scopitone-15-nevertoopopular-ob%2C57012/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 9, 2011 |publisher=[[The A.V. Club]] |first1=Noel |last1=Murray |first2=Keith |last2=Phipps |first3=Scott |last3=Tobias |date=June 6, 2011 |accessdate=June 6, 2011 }}.</ref> for example, when [[The Beatles]] decided to enter the music video business in 1965, they opted to bypass the Scopitone and distribute their promotional films via television. Other factors included the declining taste and poor quality of the productions (particularly those made in the United States), changing taste toward [[psychedelic rock]] and a late 1960s sting that revealed that the Scopitone business had deep ties to the [[Sicilian Mafia]].<ref name=nprscopitones/>

Even though the popularity of the Scopitone had faded away by the end of the 1960s,<ref name="AVCLUB" />the same concept was still in limited use throughout the 1970s by acts such as the [[The Carpenters|Carpenters]] and [[ABBA]], both of whose early productions were shot on 16mm film before transitioning to [[videotape]]. Toward the late 1960s, films produced for the rival [[Color-Sonic]] video jukebox were adapted to the Scopitone. The last official film for a Scopitone was made at the end of 1978. 

[[File:Jewelbox Scopitones 1990.jpg|thumb|Jewelbox Scopitones 1990]]

In 1990, a selection of Scopitones was screened at the Jewel Box theater in [[Seattle]] by [[Dennis Nyback]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moviemorlocks.com/2010/07/01/scopitone-a-go-go/|title=Scopitone A Go-Go|website=Moviemorlocks.com|accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://scopitones.blogs.com/scopitonescom/2010/12/the-day-i-discovered-scopitones-with-jack-stevenson-dennis-nyback-films.html|title=Scopitones.com: The Day I Discovered Scopitones With Jack Stevenson - Dennis Nyback Films|website=Scopitones.blogs.com|accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref>

In 2006, French singer [[Mareva Galanter]] released several videos which mimic the Scopitone style. Galenta's album ''Ukuyéyé'' features several songs in the French [[Yé-yé]] style. She also recently hosted a weekly French television program called "Do you do you Scopitone" on the [[Paris Première]] channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paris-premiere.fr/cms/display.jsp?id=p2_802761|title=6play : Replay Paris Première et direct des émissions et séries|website=Paris-premiere.fr|accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref>

As of 2012, one of the few Scopitones not in a museum or private collection in the United States is at [[Third Man Records]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].<ref>[http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2012/11/20/third-man-records-opens-novelties-lounge-on-black-friday/?repeat=w3tc "Third Man Records opens ‘Novelties Lounge’ on Black Friday"], ''[[The Tennessean]]''</ref>  Many Scopitone films have been released on [[DVD]] or made available on the [[internet]].<ref name="AVCLUB" />

The Swiss technology museum [[Enter (museum)|Enter]] has one Scopitone on display.

==See also==
{{Music video}}
* [[Panoram]]
* [[Cinebox]]
* [[Soundie]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Scopitone}}
* [http://www.scopitones.blogs.com/ Scopitones.com has many Scopitones available for viewing, downloading & purchasing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050708081625/http://www.scopitones.blogs.com/ |date=2005-07-08 }}
* [http://www.scopitonearchive.com/ Scopitone archive]

[[Category:French inventions]]
[[Category:History of film]]
[[Category:Music videos]]
[[Category:Visual music]]
[[Category:Jukeboxes]]