White Whale Acquired! Minirama Cartoon Theater!

[The Nawd]

WOW! A cartoon booth!

There used to be one at the old Sears store I would go to with my mom as a kid back before the Sears store moved into the mall.

[megomania]

WOW! A cartoon booth!

There used to be one at the old Sears store I would go to with my mom as a kid back before the Sears store moved into the mall.

Yep same here that was awesome

-Chris

[mazinz]

WOW! A cartoon booth!

There used to be one at the old Sears store I would go to with my mom as a kid back before the Sears store moved into the mall.

Yep same here that was awesome

-Chris

Ditto. The Sears by me had one till roughly the mid 80's or so. I use to see these machines all over the place (mostly at malls). Back then everyone would watch the cartoon of the person before them to save money and see more. Actually a few weeks ago I was describing this machine to someone since they are younger and have never heard of such a thing

ddgaff1132: the machines were I think 16mm (or super8) full sound and you got one full cartoon. Of what I can recall most machines showed Terry Toons (like Heckle and Jeckle) .

MPM1972- what an amazing find and I hope you can get the thing up and running. Be awesome to record one of the toons off the screen and help a lot of us go back in time--

[Bruce Banner]

I fondly remember those cartoon booths. I saw quite a few at malls and in airports.
Great memories.

[MPM1972]

Thanks everybody for the kind words! I just got the Theater to the workshop this afternoon from the office. I will post more pics of the clean out as I get time to work on it. I still have not had much time to mess around with it this weekend as my Saturday was pretty busy. Garage sales in the AM (very good day, no Megos but alot of good stuff!) then to my mother-in-laws houst to help clean the pool (she has MS and is wheelchair bound) and go for a much needed swim as it was 97 degrees. Had to work with my father this AM and did not get done until 1 pm then had to work on the old Honey-Do list.

MAZINZ: the theater is fully functioning. It just needs a GOOD cleaning and a few cosmetic fixes.

MEGOAT: I work for a Record Shop. The owner has been in business for 35 plus years and my good friend started working with him about 3 years ago. When the owners main guy left I came on and took over his position. All the new releases and tons of vintage vinyl.

DDGAFF: The machine projects an 8mm sound print from a continious loop cartirdge. I will post pics as I start to clean up the Theater.

There were about 4 Cartoon Theaters at Penn-Can Mall back in the day. I have been on the look out for one forever. I am told that this one came from the closed down Rollerskating Rink in Mattydale, NY.

[turnbolt]

Wow. What a find. I have been looking for one of those for years. Congrats. Keep posting pics as you get her working.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Very neat. I remember one at our local Zayres (late 70's early 80's) that had Chilly Willy painted onto it. If I recall correctly the cartoon was a Walter Lantz Wally Walrus.

[cjefferys]

That is awesome! What do you plan to do with it?

Make your own peep show booth! (sorry, it's the first thing I think of when I see one of these...)

But seriously, that is a really cool find.

[Wee67]

That is super cool!!! Hopefully you can find a nice spot for it and enjoy some toons. Closest thing to a time machine you may ever own!

[ddgaff1132]

Thanks for the update MPM. I wish you all the best luck on the restoration and would love to see as many pics as you can post. I remember the 8mm movies offered in magazines like famous monsters and I think K-mart used to sell some also when they had a real photo department. The closest experience I could relate to this vending machine. Is the old Penny-flickers that you viewed while cranking a handle. Kennywood park PA. had several in the many arcades throughout the park. Everytime I visit the amusement park I make a point to view as many as I can. So I can truly say that I'm envious that you have one of these machines to yourself. I also hope you can find more of those old 8mm cartoons so you can have a bunch of cartoons to choose from.