LOGAN SQUARE — A rare video Jukebox that has been called the ancestor to today's music videos will star at a Comfort Station event this week.
The Scopitone Party is part of The Vernacular Photography Festival, celebrating vernacular photography at the Comfort Station over 26 days.
On Wednesday all the focus will be on the vintage Scopitone video machine, which played 16mm films with magnetic soundtracks in the 1960s.
The rare video jukebox will be on display all month, but unfortunately does not work.
Instead, the Comfort Station will be screening the films on a 16mm Magnetic sound projector.
The machines were popular in Europe and eventually made their way to the U.S. in the mid-1960s.
By the end of the '60s Scopitones were gone, according to the Scoptione archive.
During Wednesday's Scopitone party rarely seen films from the collection of Nick Osborn will be shown that once played in a Scopitone video jukebox.
The Windy City Soul Club will provide pre- and post-show music during the event, which starts at 8:10 p.m.
The Vernacular Photography Festival is the first of its kind of Chicago and has included talks from vernacular photography scholars and other events such as a 3D slideshow and community home movie night.
Upcoming events include a talk by Vanessa Daou on Friday at 7 p.m. titled, "The Vernacular Effect: Anonymous Snapshots and the Unlearning of Everything" and a talk by Ron Slattery at 1 p.m. Sunday titled "Happiness in Moments, the Heart of Vernacular Photos."
Slattery, a collector of vernacular photography, curated the festival.
He is one of the three original collectors of Vivian Maier's photographs.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
