I had a small geek-out on the Scopitone this morning thanks to this video. A proper breakdown of which could probably fill a thesis:
The Scopitone was a sort of ‘video jukebox’ that was first started in France during the 60s then slowly made there way to the US for a short time (there were about 5-600 in the States until the 70s, maybe killed by cable and the beginnings of MTV?). It had a 26″ screen on which a special 16mm music film were displayed. It operated very similar to a jukebox so I sort of envision a moppy haired mass of teens crowding around it in some bar or coffee house. Checking out scopitones.com, looks indeed like the French really elevated this art form. Sort of makes one wants to dig up an old film camera and start a fake band. Who’s with me?
UPDATE! Martin Circus updated their ‘look’ for the 80s!