OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Collectables Qualcast Cinema Slides.

Hi everyone! Its been a little while since I last posted on ODK, I have had some computer issues

However I recently bought these in an online auction and I thought yous would love to see them!

They are original Qualcast cinema advertisement slides, I am guessing from the 40s-50s or so? I love that they state "All leading ironmongers stock them", instead of the term mower specialists or dealers, seen in alot of later advertising. This could hint towards their age. They also mention 'On the market at last.' so if the info is correct, these would have been from around the time these mowers first appeared in Australia. Also pointed out by a member of my Facebook page 'Vintage Mowers Buy, Swap & Sell Australia' is the fact that Qualcast didn't make this model in white paint (At least thats what the member said, so don't shoot the messenger!), my guess would be that the images were hand coloured, so they left the mower white to make it stand out from the grass.

They are still in the original cardboard box! Even the cardboard surrounds are in perfect condition, these surrounds are completely missing on all my other slides. Hopefully the pictures work so you can all see them.

'Even a child can use it'

G'day Kye and members,
This is a real treat - and I am envious.

I have good reasons to believe these slides date to the 1920s!
They cannot date after about mid-1930. [that's the year 1930].
Best guess - mid to late 1920s.

I will need a few days to make my arguments coherent.
There are so many clues for dating in the slides and their
packaging.

These are the earliest theatre slides for lawnmower ads
we are likely to ever see. How about that!

Brilliant!
-------------------------
Jack

p.s. I do believe the mower depicted is a Model K.

Thanks heaps Jack!

Deep down inside I was thinking 30s but I didn't want to sound too hopeful All my other slides are from the 40s-50s. That is amazing information! I never would have thought they were that early.

That is super awesome to hear! They are being places in my cabinet to be protected and later displayed, I have some display stands for them somewhere, I bought them from Ikea a few months ago and they work perfectly on cinema slides. I feel like they deserve to sit in more than just a cardboard box.

Thanks again Jack! I love your work!


- Edit - in the auction they were listed as '1950s movie slides', perhaps that helped keep the bids low for me

Hello Kye and CyberJack,
just zooming in on them on my phone transports me to what going to the pictures would have been like so long ago. I never expected they would go that far back.
I assumed the 1940s when my dad was born (1942).
Would there have been a voice over as the ad was projected like budget still advertisements today, before the movie starts? Thanks for showing us these stunning item's from the mower-verse.

I was just wondering the same thing actually! Would they have had sound or did they just flash an image at you and hope it sticks. Being from the 20s I would guess the latter.

I did film at school, they said something about sound and that, I can't remember though, it was the only subject I failed The old 'you will need this information one day' has hit me!

Cheers.
Kye.

Sound as well as image quality are aspects that always interested me about movies and television.
I have only recently learned that most sound and noises you hear in movies and shows are inserted in post production, rather than the actual sound at the time of filming.
The musical score in a film is one of those things you don't realise is so vital at the time. I would say some sort of music would have been playing as they showed still advertising like this in succession.

G'day Kye, Mowerfreak and all theatre lovers

'Talkies' came to Australia in 1927, but expensive changes meant a slow uptake.
The 1920s was still the era of the 'silents' - and silents needed live music!

These slides would have been augmented by the theatre musician - most probably a
theatre organ in the cities, and pianos in the towns.

Just imagine a large theatre organ rising from the floorboards as
these slides were projected, Amazing!

Cheers
----------------------
Jack

I love it Jack! That makes alot of sense and brings back a bit of what I 'learnt' at school

Thanks for the info!
Kye.

G'day Kye and all collectors.

Well, theatre slides of garden machines aren't exactly common are they?

These ones must date to the 1920s, but could (conceivably) have been used
up to 1930 - when Qualcast (Australia) was formed. But there are other clues ...

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=75454

So, let's look at the clues.
[1] "All British lawnmower" and "Made for Australian conditions"

That copy could never be used after 1930.
Qualcast capitalised upon being 'Australian -made"

Before this, it is true that Qualcast UK did make a pushie claimed
to be suitable for our conditions.

After this, Qualcast 'pushies' were AUS made and advertised as such.

[2] The first Australian importers, promoters, and distributors of
Qualcast here was Gibbs Bros of Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
[Later, they would have Sydney offices as well].

After Qualcast Australia was formed, Gibbs Bros (not the Bee Gees) would
remain the AUS Qualcast distributor.

[3] A note on "ironmongers".
An ironmonger was a seller of ironware - early 'hardware' items.
'Hardware' was the North American equivalent to the British 'ironmonger'.

It is no surprise that Australia used 'ironmonger in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. But the reality is that the North Americans dominated the hardware
market here from about the 1890s. Ironmongers moved from being ironmonger
stores to become hardware stores!

The use of 'ironmongers' in the slides helps date these to the 1920s.

[4] A note on 'Qualcast'
Qualcast, itself, dates to 1920. The first Qualcast mowers were made by
the Derwent Foundry of Derby. Qualcast was a product name!

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Qualcast

[5] "On the market at last".
Well, isn't that remarkable!!!

Qualcast, first made in 1920 was sold here from about 1923.
So, Kye's slides suggest these are early 1920 slides that introduce
the 'British Qualcast' to Australia!

How about that!
--------------------------------
Jack.

Afterthoughts:-
"Even a Child can use it".
This is an early instance of this advertising trick.
[Use children and women as examples of 'simplicity].

Many companies, including Victa, made this claim!

[2] This slide is colourised.
The colours had to withstand the high temperatures of projectors.
White was a good contrast to the 'green' world for presentation.
The image was probably sourced from British UK stock. Who knows?

[3] The mower model is more likely to be the 'Alpha Special'.
Later, it would become the Model K (best guess).

The last ironmonger store in Dandenong closed probably 20 years ago, it was like walking into a timewarp where old Gerald knew where everything was and then he would blow the dust off it to reveal the price still in pounds shillings and pence. He was sharp as a tack and if you needed something made he would go out the back and make or find something to get you out of trouble. From what I remember he took over the shop from his father and it had survived from the early days of the town of Dandenong. I think I have seen the shop in very old photos with just horses and carts in the street. It may have been his grandfathers originally

Hey Norm,
Do you mean Gerald Maggs P/L? I remember that shop; and still have a couple of Coleman kero stove parts I bought there!

Museum Vic has a collection of trade brochures from Maggs'; https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/search?collection=Gerald+Maggs+Trade+Literature+Collection

Arkana Hardware in Dandy was also a bit old-fashioned, and had a lot of stuff that you wouldn't find in a Bunnings or the like.

Hi Gadge, yes it was Gerald Maggs P/L that type of store have all gone now, maybe Modac in the city is hanging on still, haven't been there for a few years and Mrs Modac died a couple of years ago, she was in her 90's and still worked in the shop every day. I said to her maybe 10 years ago that when we were teenagers and went to the shop she scared us with her abrupt attitude, but she didn't scare me anymore. She laughed it off. They had no computer or even a half modern cash register and she had a machine with a big roll of tape on it that was their adding machine receipt print off. I went in there with my brother from Sydney around the same time and when we walked out he said he thought the motor sitting on the end of the counter was the one sitting there the last time he went in and that was at least 20 years ago.. The thing is with Modac, they owned the building and several around it in the middle of Elizabeth St worth multi millions of dollars and I don't think they had a calculator in the shop, just the adding machine.
Yes Arkana was also a good store but sadly this type of store can no longer survive in the modern world

In the Sydney suburb of Eastwood where I grew up in the 70s and 80s , there was a long established independent hardware business called Complete Hardware which comprised three main shop fronts next to each other. One was general hardware, a paint shop and plumbing supplies from memory.
I didn't go there very often but if you needed a one off item like a bolt or screw, they always had the size you required on hand and the staff were efficient and knew where to fetch the item you needed and didn't require you to buy a pack of 12 or more of a certain screw when you would only ever need the one.
Developers inevitably took over the site some time in the late 1990s and it's now a mini retail centre with Asian eateries and an Aldi supermarket. Eastwood lost a great facility all in the name of so called progress. It doesn't help that it is under a council with no vision for the area.

G'day Norm,
I've never had much to do with Brit bikes [Honda, Suzuki and nowadays Moto Guzzi for me], but Modak were legendary for old Brit bike parts - and the old girl's knowledge of such parts was also legendary.

Nor did she suffer fools gladly - as you no doubt have encountered many a time, there are far too many folk around the car/bike parts scene who pretend to know a great deal more than they actually do.

It was a bit that way with Preston Honda, back in the day - Eddie had a computerised inventory system long before Honda MPE did, and he had lots of older parts in stock that they could only get ex Japan, if at all. And that's from the perspective of a Honda dealership, which my family had back in the 70's- early 80's.

Thanks heaps for all the information Jack! That all makes alot of sense now!!! It blows me away a bit knowing how old they actually are.
They will be preserved as best they can here, away from any animals, moisture or heat.

I will keep in touch if I find anymore interesting mower finds.

Cheers.
Kye.

Hi Kye and theatre lovers

These are century-old cinema slides.
They are significant pieces of history, seen by numerous cinema goers of the day.

Maybe, they would look fantastic as mounted in a nice varnished wooden box,
with cold-light back lighting.

In any case, you have made a great find.

Congratulations
------------------------
Jack