What's that camera? #2, and harder than Arnold's Yashica

[Trask]

This one I really don't know. Here's the caption of the photo: The jazz pianist and composer Erroll Garner, foreground, in 1946 photographing a mixed-race couple dancing in a Paris club, a rare sight at home in the United States then.

As a collector I know something about classic cameras from the 30's and 40's, but I also know that there were a lot of now-unknown manufacturers who made cameras in the post-war years for a while and then folded. What strikes me as odd is that it looks like a flat camera kind of like a much-later Rollei 16, one that does not use a normal 35mm cartridge. Also, you'd think that Erroll Garner could probably afford a pretty nice camera.

Any thoughts?

 

[snapguy]

micro

I suspect it might be a Whittiker Micro 16 camera which came out in ... 1946.

 

[AgX]

What makes you date that photo at 1946?

I would date it rather at 1960.

 

[AgX]

The camera is a GAMI 16

 

[AgX]

And here is the telltale back view:

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/GaMi-16-subminiature-Camera-Instruction-Manual-B-Stock-/24/!B612Y+wCWk~$(KGrHqEOKpwEy+jC0Lj+BMyfvo,lrw~~-1_35.JPG





EDIT:
That photo is from the manual, it can thus be looked at the Butkus site in much better quality.

 

[snapguy]

46

Is it 1946? The New York Times caption says it is.

 

[AgX]

All the clothing, the hairdo of the women or the decoration do not fit France in 1946.

Neither does the camera.

 

[Trask]

Doing a search on google.fr, in French, I find a report that Garner played the theatre Marigny in 1948, and it's well known he was there in the 50's. I agree that it's a bit hard to see Garner showing up in Paris within 12 or 18 months of the end of the war. The Gami reportedly came out in 1953, so it seems likely this photograph is from the 50's. My wife, who is a native French speaker, was born in the 1950's and has followed French fashion since her childhood, thinks this is from the 60's, based on the clothing and hair styles.

Good eyes, AgX!

 

[AgX]

You don't how many glasses I've put on...


But the essential thing is, never to trust the first sight. I wondered what 16mm camera of that look could have been used in 1946. And just then I looked at the surrounding scene and it became obvious that it does not fit 1946. Thus a chance to think of the heydays of such cameras.

 

[John Koehrer]

So! What music were they dancing to?. Not style, but specific song.

 

[Steve Smith]

So! What music were they dancing to?. Not style, but specific song.

And key!!


Steve.

 

[ic-racer]

The camera is a GAMI 16

Good call.

 

[cliveh]

Oh,Lady Be Good - Charlie Parker, not sure about the key.

 

[paul ron]

Minox?

 

[Trask]

At the time we think this picture was made, Minox didn't make anything nearly that large. Even a more modern C or LX wouldn't be that big.

 

[PaulC]

The Minox Riga subminiatures were made from the 1930s. http://minoxriga.atwebpages.com/

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Such a ugly , cigar smoking place and such a ugly people, I did not suprise , there were lot of americans there , than americans went to Iraq also , watch there Luckily we were throwing the americans to the sea , mother natures arms at these years

 

[AgX]

Umut, sometimes you really can be funny. But this time even your smilies don't make me smile.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Cry for throwed american soldiers to the sea than.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I am hearing an black helicopter to take me to your most scared guantanamo , you were right

 

[AgX]

The Minox Riga subminiatures were made from the 1930s. http://minoxriga.atwebpages.com/

As I said three weeks ago:

The camera is a GAMI 16.

 

[removed account4]

Umut, sometimes you really can be funny. But this time even your smilies don't make me smile.

he hasn't been funny in a long time