photo #8567040

Mills Novelty produced these wonderful machines from 1939 to 1940. Patrons drop in a dime and a film begins to play. Up to 20 dimes can be deposited at once for continuous play. The Panoram Soundies was first produced in 1939 by the Mills Novelty Co. of Chicago; although production was reduced with the outbreak of war, the Panoram was in proudction until 1946. Intended for public venues, the Panoram was the audio-visual equivalent of the jukebox, designed to play short sections of film (soundies) which were usually spliced together into a sequence of eight films and played on a continuous loop. The RCA 16mm. rear-projection mechanism played via two mirrors to sound provided by speakers in the front. In order to achieve wide distribution, the soundies featured a variety of popular acts, including jazz bands, musicals, strip-tease and short comic sketches in what was the equivalent of the modern music video.