A Kodak Christmas - made right here in Rochester.
This is a photo that my Dad took back in 1961 in the photo studios at Kodak Office on State Street. It was then blown up to 18 x 60 feet and displayed in Grand Central Station as a back-lit transparency. And as many of you know, it was called the Kodak Colorama. My brother Danny is the blond haired boy inside.
From 1950 until 1990, Kodak’s Coloramas were familiar to millions of commuters in New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The panoramic photographs—18 feet by 60 feet—presented an idealized view of life in 20th-century America and promoted photography as an essential leisure activity.
Coloramas were promoted by Kodak as “the world’s largest photographs” and called “technically remarkable” by Ansel Adams, who photographed several. The towering backlit transparencies were 18-feet high and 60-feet wide, each illuminated by more than a mile of tubing.
A total of 565 Coloramas were publicly displayed, changing out every three weeks. Neil Montanus shot 55 of the 565 Coloramas that were displayed in Grand Central Station. When each new Colorama was unveiled, it often received ovation from New York City residents and travelers. Photographer Edward Steichen telegraphed Kodak upon viewing a Colorama in 1950, stating, “EVERYONE IN GRAND CENTRAL AGOG AND SMILING. ALL JUST FEELING GOOD.”
“These illuminated images reflected and reinforced American values and aspirations while encouraging picture-taking as an essential aspect of leisure, travel, and family,” said Dr. Alison Nordström, Eastman House curator of photographs, “The Coloramas taught us not only what to photograph, but how to see the world as though it were a photograph.
They served to manifest and visualize values that even then were seen as nostalgic and in jeopardy, salvageable only through the time-defying alchemy of Kodak cameras and film.” A constant in the first two decades of Colorama was a model using a Kodak camera, photographing family, an activity, or beautiful scene. “Coloramas resonate with nostalgia, a staple in Kodak advertising since at least 1900, reminding us to pause, via photography, in the midst of present enjoyment to record it for later remembrance,” Nordström said.
In addition to Adams, well-known names associated with Colorama include photographer Elliot Porter, artist Norman Rockwell who art-directed a Colorama, and TV’s Ozzie and Harriett who appeared in several. Colorama was a technical feat undertaken by Kodak’s advertising and photography teams. Making the exposures for each display was a full day’s work in almost total darkness. In early years the wet 20-foot transparencies were dried overnight in the swimming pool at Kodak’s employee recreation center — the only building large enough to accommodate Coloramas-in-the-making.
The 1990 renovation of Grand Central Terminal to landmark condition marked the end of the Colorama. The final display was a glittering nighttime view of the New York City skyline, with an oversized red apple nestled among the buildings — the only digital enhancement ever created for the Colorama program. The accompanying copy read, “Kodak thanks the Big Apple for 40 years of friendship in Grand Central.”
If you'd like to see more Coloramas by Neil Montanus and a cool documentary with vintage footage of my Dad, visit
http://www.montanusphotography.com/neil_montanus_bio/coloramas.htmPretty cool!!
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