The Super Mini cassette player has no controls. After inserting the tape, simply turn the volume knob to click the device on.
Bare Bones Pekoscope 16mm Projector From 1932
This diminutive Pekoscope 16mm projector was made right in Chicago back in 1932, back when we knew how to make more than just backroom deals about the city's parking meters. It's such a simple system, there's good potential that it still works, though I'm terrified to try. Why? Lots of exposed moving parts, and a pair of cloth covered power cords to juice the lamp and external motor.
I couldn't find much about the Pekoscope on the internet besides the likely date of manufacture. From looking at it, I think that you could have bought it unmotorized. A crank with some sort of flywheel action moves the sole sprocketed roller. It also moves a grooved wheel in the back that's attached by a spring-belt to the take up reel. Another belt attached to the top reel for rewinding in some way I haven't exactly quite worked out yet.
After you've put on enough backyard kiddie shows, perhaps you'd have enough cash to get the external motor. Looking like a mini dynamo, this bolts onto the base driving the various external belts. The arms for the reels also are removable. Perhaps this was for easier storage or upgrade to the playback of larger reels (imagine cranking through 200 feet of film by hand going too slowly and letting it burn!).
All in all this is one of the simplest projectors I've ever come across, making me wonder if it was intended as a kiddie unit. It's well built, and would have been an expensive item even if made for children, but the simplified construction as well as the hand cranking makes me wonder. With so many children's favorites available as cut down 50 foot shorts in toy & hobby stores back then, I wouldn't be surprised. Whomever it was intended for, the projector has the potential to be a real film scratching monster – there's not a very good load path for the film. Let's hope that the 50 foot reel that came threaded on this particular Pekoscope doesn't have missing footage from Metropolis on it...
related:
Muplet cheapo projector that I still hope to find one day
Gakken projector kit is even more basic than the Pekoscope
Montgomery Ward's surprisingly simple projector in a surprising color
Tobin's new TVT-S8C ($1495) is intended for serious hobbyists and low-volume transfer houses. The all-in-one design incorporates a high resolution 1 CCD camera with 490 lines of resolution. The camera is crystal-synchronized to the film and captures individual frames in real time. 
Amazingly they did actually finish the film. Fortunately the project is charming enough that you can ignore the amateurish moments, admire the surprisingly accomplished low-tech effects, and forget that the principal actors seem to vary wildly in age and appearance from scene to scene. Just check out 
The movie has been wildly popular at SF & fantasy conventions. It was even screened at Skywalker Ranch for employees of a Mr. George Lucas. Everyone loved The Adaptation so much they clamored for the video's release. The filmmakers flippantly answered “Ask your boss”. As it turns out, both Lucas and Spielberg have seen the video with Spielberg calling it “the best piece of flattery that George and I have ever received”.
The filmmakers named their group Rolling Boulder Productions, and in the space of a few years went from being a sci-fi convention whispered oddity, to internet notoriety, to actually meeting Steven Spielberg. As if that weren't enough, get this... their story has been optioned by a Hollywood producer, and a screenplay is currently being written by Daniel “Ghost World” Clowes. How Spielberg-ian an ending is that?
Whether their small town video will ever turn into Tinseltown celluloid is anyone's guess. The story is such an odd Moebius of logic and self-reference that it might be hard to sell as a true story. It does make me smile to think of how many projects similar to this one we have all naively hurled ourselves at as kids. How many of us could finish even one of those projects decades later? Is the Hollywood myth true? If we work hard enough can we all accomplish our dreams and befriend our heroes? Or is it that the boys from Rolling Boulder have used up all the good luck for the rest of us?
After a few minutes of introduction, "Multiple Sidosis" becomes one of the most amazing home movies ever. Ever. The movie not only shows Laverents using his new reel-to-reel to create a charming multi-layered version of "Nola" (by using the tape deck's sound-on-sound recording feature), but the film then turns into an elaborate and sophisticated multi-image performance film.
The rewards for "Multiple Sidosis" stretch beyond scholarly infamy, and it's more than just a cult oddity. In 2000 the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation as being culturally significant (the same year as "Apocalypse Now" & "Shaft"). Better still - Sid can enjoy his notoriety in person. He just celebrated his 100th birthday, and he's still creating films. 
Its best feature (speaking from personal experience) is that the film is hand-cranked, allowing kids to morph everyday Warner Brothers cartoons into bizarre reverse slow-motion cinematic works of art.
Before it can be loaded, the new film needs to be spliced into a continuous loop. Loading it into the cartridge is guaranteed to be a fiddly process, and paying careful attention to how the prepackaged film is positioned will definitely make the replacement process easier.
First up is Claudia Bestor & Tony Hall's look at the world of model trains, thanks to the members of the Pasadena
Model Railroad Club. Giles describes it as "a retro mix of old school hobby and those who
clearly enjoy it and a lovely example of a single cartridge documentary." 
Yesterday I wrote 
but the feed reel is replaced by a socket for the special film cassette. The idea is that you'd load up all of your home movies into special cassettes ahead of time, then just snap one in on home movie night and the show begins faster and easier than ever.
Projector cassettes seem to be a solution in search of a problem - I don't think that it's the threading up of the projector that kept people from making home movies. The fact that these formats are a rarity today is testimony to how uninteresting the idea was to amateur filmmakers. Then again, making this crucial step a little easier would make for smoother running on movie night, and allow your guests less time to make their escape between reels..
Some of these smaller magazine 8 cameras were marketed towards women as "fitting in your handbag" and "no complicated controls to master". Uh, okay - points for getting dad out from behind the camera, but let's be a little more enlightened about it.
Of all of my home movie gear, this screen may be my favorite. It's only 1" thick, and at about 31" wide it's small enough to store easily while remaining large enough for watching movies with a group. Since it's all one solid piece it never wrinkles. Being freestanding makes it surprisingly versatile, but the best part is just how darned classy it looks.
