# Does anyone remember elementary school movie projects with built-in screens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 20, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003 "2024-10-20T18:48:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/1 "2024-10-20T18:48:58Z")
Today I was thinking of 1970s AV equipment. We certainly had free-standing film projectors that projected to screens in front of the room (to screens that pulled down, or mobile screens), but I’m recalling something a bit different: A cart that had both the projector and a builtin translucent screen that the projector projected to the back of, allowing the whole class to view it on a screen the size of (what would be today) a moderately sized flatscreen tv. Does anyone else know what I’m talking about? What were these called? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/2 "2024-10-20T19:22:48Z")
Are you thinking of a [filmstrip (back) projector](https://youtu.be/DX0tE5LPPaA?si=c7XSe91QDlwNTWQ9)? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/3 "2024-10-20T19:33:16Z")
I’m remembering it as bigger, but that’s basicall it. I thought it was for film, but I could easily be misremembering omething that in fact was only for film-strips. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/4 "2024-10-20T23:40:36Z")
I remember them it was about 3-4 feet across and for movies not filmstrips. Had two big doors on the front. It was sort of like a big TV, I guess so you didn’t need a screen. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/5 "2024-10-20T23:44:15Z")
Something like this: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DX0tE5LPPaA/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwE7CK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAy0IARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD8AEB-AHUBoAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgYihOMA8=&rs=AOn4CLB71DsEAn-N1l3H1oeEPZcNymiZXg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DX0tE5LPPaA/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwE7CK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAy0IARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD8AEB-AHUBoAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgYihOMA8=&rs=AOn4CLB71DsEAn-N1l3H1oeEPZcNymiZXg) Or this (links won’t preview) [https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cragstan-total-action-color-show-1789183380](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cragstan-total-action-color-show-1789183380) [http://www.jackbergsales.com/toys/8mmcolorshow.htm](http://www.jackbergsales.com/toys/8mmcolorshow.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/6 "2024-10-20T23:58:04Z")
I’m thinking of something about twice as high and twice as wide, so a whole class could watch at once. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/7 "2024-10-21T21:41:33Z")
I remember us calling the larger TV-sized one a Caramate. Had a cassette player built into the side that would play the associated audio for the slide or filmstrip (not motion picture, just slides on a strip). You could either advance the slides manually or the cassette would beep and advance the slides for you. Not sure if that was a brand name or just a local corruption of another name. ETA - Caramate is the correct name, made by the Singer sewing machine people, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/8 "2024-10-22T11:40:55Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Does anyone else know what I’m talking about? What were these called? I don’t recall anything like it, but I think I’m a bit older than a lot of people on this board. I’m pre-video cassette. We had filmstrips (with an accompanying record “Move to the next slide – _BING!_”) or, more rarely, movies. They never would have used a device as small as the one pictured – our AV presentations were for classes of circa 30 kids. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/9 "2024-10-22T11:53:51Z")
Could it be something like the Technicolor Movievision? [https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/technicolor-magi-cartridge-console-1846785972](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/technicolor-magi-cartridge-console-1846785972) (Sorry, can’t get it to generate a preview even with a direct link to the image file. But have a look at that.) ETA: Let’s try another link for the preview: [![](https://brisray.com/house/images/timp-bsm-28-7-november-1967-web600.jpg) ](https://brisray.com/house/images/timp-bsm-28-7-november-1967-web600.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/10 "2024-10-22T14:11:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > We had filmstrips (with an accompanying record “Move to the next slide – _BING!_”) My grade school was still using those at least into the late 90s. Both reel to reel and the ones you manually advanced frame by frame. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-elementary-school-movie-projects-with-built-in-screens/1009003/11 "2024-10-23T01:49:19Z")
Yeah, the one I’m thinking of wasn’t small, but I think it was better than the “ting, go to the next slide please” version (which I remember too). If I recall correctly, the device was simply a projector inside an enclosure with a translucent screen - I wonder if the school just created that screen part themselves.