Mitchell Model A, High Speed (GC) 35mm Movie Camera From Circa 1919 Design, Hand Crank. Display as Sculpture. Rare & Very Important Piece. Built 1953. Has Disney Provenance.

For your consideration, a 1919 designed and 1953 factory built 35mm Mitchell Model A, Hand Crank or Electric with High Speed movement (GC), feature motion picture film camera.

Originally sold to the US Air Force in 1953 and then to RKO Pictures from a government surplus sale.

These early Mitchell motion picture cameras shot nearly ALL of the early movies in Hollywood and around the world since their introduction of the Mitchell Standard 35mm camera in 1919.

This camera was used at RKO and Disney and then purchased and used by a Walt Disney Cinematographer, Stuart Jewell, in Hollywood for shooting film for Disney.

Stuart Jewell, a Disney DP, shot much of his work on this rig.

A Honolulu-born cinematographer, the son of an engineer who had contributed to the building of Pearl Harbour, Jewell was trained as a metallurgist and worked on the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, helping to produce weapons grade uranium for the atomic bomb.
He changed career paths by the end of World War II, becoming a pilot and specialist in aerial and time-lapse cinematography.

Under contract to Walt Disney for seven years, he was one of the cinematographers who worked on the iconic documentary “The Living Desert” (1953), filmed in the Sierra Madre.

He also shot:

“Islands of the Sea” (Documentary short) (photographed by) (1959)
“Mysteries of the Deep” (Documentary short) (photographed by) (1956-1957)
“The Magical World of Disney” (TV Series) (2 episodes)
“The Yellowstone Story/Bear Country” (1957) … (segment “The Yellowstone Story”, as Stuart Jewell, photographed by)
“Searching for Nature’s Mysteries” (1956) … (photographed by) (1956)
“Secrets of Life” (Documentary) (photographed by) (1954)
“The Vanishing Prairie” (Documentary) (photographed by) (1954)

Jewell had a reputation for being obsessively patient, when on his nature shoots, at times remaining for days or even weeks in the same spot to capture the moment.

After leaving Disney, he became a free-lance cinematographer, selling stock footage of animals, nature events and steam locomotives through an agency.

This camera was Jewell’s ‘A’ camera and retains the original design hand crank capability of a Mitchell Standard and is in generally unmolested original and working condition. It is a complete camera with cases, accessories, single lens, Mitchell original side finder, factory High Speed camera movement and motor, original factory hand crank, an original VERY RARE vintage factory built Mitchell Geared Head, an original VERY RARE vintage factory Standard Mitchell Wood Tripod and two film magazines.

In the hand crank set up mode, this camera is the iconic display piece of Vintage Hollywood.

It has a sculpture look second to none and can be displayed in many number of ways in a home, office, studio, media room, collection, screening theatre or in an industrial environment. We can supply this wonderful artifact of motion picture history ‘as found’ and pictured here or complete with a minor or full cosmetic refurbishment; as the buyer wishes.

~Like artifacts of an ancient civilization –
these rare legends
of early Motion Picture and related
production equipment technology –
have a secure and appreciating
place in history.~