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\nThe idea of the film is simple: You place your bets, then randomly run one of the animated \u2018horse race\u2019 reels of film. Each has a different outcome- with a different horse winning. There were four 50\u2019 reels that were part of this set. It looks like, from the article below (from a 1931 Cine-Kodak News magazine) show how the films were sold, and two sets of two films.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cine-kodak-newsSweepstakes-600.jpg\")
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This same idea was repeated many years later with the much more popular Broadway Handicap<\/em> game, sold for many years starting in the late 40s (in sound and silent versions). Here\u2019s the setup of that game- including betting slips, fake money and 6 different races. <\/p>\n \n If you look at the comments in the Cartoon Research<\/em> article from six years back, you\u2019ll notice the first comment is from artist\/cartoon collector Mark Newgarden- saying the search is over for all four of these Cinegraph shorts. I responded below that (with excitement), and somehow over the years didn’t ever get to it. Now, all these years later, Mark was kind enough to lend the film to me this week. He\u2019s written a note saying the film has some damage… so I needed to inspect it and prep it for the scan. Kodak printed these films on cellulose diacetate- and the films all have a strong smell like mothballs\/ camphor. I’ve always kind of liked that smell – but you don’t want to leave them out too long or you’ll have a whole room smelling like the film.<\/p>\n I had meant to take it to scan earlier in the week, but stopped until I had time to check out the issues that need to be fixed before scanning. You don\u2019t want a rare film to break while on the scanner, leading to more possible damage. Thankfully we\u2019ll be scanning on a Lasergraphics scanner- and that\u2019s very gentle on films that are shrunken and have damage. It’s a sprocketless system without much tension at all- but I still will need to do some simple things to insure it runs fine as it goes over the rollers. I’ll supervise this one. I thought it might be fun to show taking a first look at it. A giant thanks is owed to Mark Newgarden for lending this incredibly rare short for the set.<\/p>\n This is the very last film to finish for the More Stop Motion Marvels<\/em> Blu-ray. I\u2019m hoping to put the four films on the set as both a play-though *and* a game, so it can be played at home as intended back in the late 20s. I\u2019m hoping I can figure out how to randomize the play button to make it work\u2026 we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be giving an update on the after scanning coming up next week – and when More Stop Motion Marvels<\/em> will be all finished. In the meantime, let’s look over this reel together right now and see what is what.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/broadway-handicap-set.jpg\")
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