09/29/2026
Happy National Silent Movie Day! 🎥
September 29 is National Silent Movie Day, celebrating early cinema while raising awareness of the importance of preserving surviving silent films—and the history and technology that made them possible.
Today we're highlighting one of our visitors' favorite exhibits at the Hollywood Heritage Museum: our collection of early motion picture cameras. These remarkable machines offer a glimpse into the ingenuity of the filmmakers who created movie magic more than a century ago.
📷 Photos 1–8: The Herbert O. Carleton Camera Collection
Four of these historic cameras came to Hollywood Heritage through Herbert O. Carleton (1887–1962), an early motion-picture cameraman, inventor and technician who began his career working for Thomas Edison and later developed important motion-picture printing technology.
Photo 2: Pathé 28mm Camera, c. 1922
A smaller version of Pathé's famous 35mm field camera—the type used to photograph The Squaw Man in 1913–14. Introduced in 1912, Pathé's 28mm system used safety film and helped bring motion pictures beyond professional studios and theaters.
Photos 3 & 4: Prevost 35mm Camera, c. 1912–13
Its unusual mechanism is believed to have been developed at the request of Universal founder Carl Laemmle as filmmakers sought alternatives to technology controlled by the Edison-associated Motion Picture Patents Company. It even includes an early matte slot for creating effects such as keyhole and circular images.
Photos 5 & 6: Williamson Tropical Model 35mm Camera, 1909
Innovation in 1909! This camera could actually be mounted upside down to photograph reverse action and featured a “trick” crank for exposing film one frame at a time. The numerous brass inlays were to reduce expansion and shrinkage in the wood cabinet to allow for use in tropical climates.
Photos 7 & 8: Prestwich 35mm Camera, 1908
With its wooden body and 300-foot film magazines, this camera dates from cinema's pioneering years. A built-in film punch allowed the cameraman to physically mark sections of film requiring special instructions at the laboratory.
Carleton himself went on to develop the Duplex Automatic Technicolor Printer, used to print the color sequences in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923).
📷 Photos 9 & 10: Charlie Chaplin's Bell & Howell
Our Bell & Howell 35mm camera, “The Bullet,” was used by the Charlie Chaplin Film Company and was likely operated by Chaplin's longtime cinematographer Rollie Totheroh. After Chaplin's studio property was sold at auction in 1954, the camera was eventually donated to Hollywood Heritage and is now preserved in our permanent collection.
Photo 10: Rollie Totheroh's grandson, David, stands with his grandfather's "Bullet".
These cameras remind us that preserving film history means preserving more than the films themselves. The cameras, equipment, artifacts and stories of the people behind the lens are part of that history, too.
While the Hollywood Heritage Museum at the Lasky-DeMille barn is closed for restoration. Keep your eyes on posts like these as we make the museum virtual for the time being.
