Interesting. I remember reading about such devices in one of my Graphic Arts textbooks when I was in high school – 1965 – 1968. Your description of how they worked helps me understand it better than I did then. (I admit I may have just skimmed those chapters, as I was more interested in typesetting and presswork.)
Ray, that’s interesting. Thanks. Perhaps also it is related to the fact that most TV shows have sets with the 4th wall never shown, because that’s where the cameras are. There are a few exceptions. The Andy Griffith show had the front room of the Courthouse complete all the way around. I’ve often wondered how they did that – it must have added to the expense of filming the show.
Not with a good operator! After all, big city dailies used to print that way, complete with edition changes. (Granted, they had more than one machine on the floor.) If a major story broke, they could tear out the front page and re-plate in a remarkably short time.
(I know, I know, you were just kidding. But it gave me a chance to comment some more about the printing trades. Thanks!)
If our villain is planning to run those pictures (if his victim doesn’t “buy advertising space” in TTTT) – I wonder where he will be able to get photo-engravings for his letterpress printing process. I wonder if there are any actual engravers still in business, outside of those who make plates for our currency. They were fading away as far back as 2011, when I retired. We hadn’t used any for years even then, relying instead on photo-mechanical- transfers, and then on digital pictures direct to film.
Although I know there are still quite a few hobbyists and boutique letterpress printers, so perhaps there is a source for photo engravings. But those pictures would raise a few eyebrows, I would think.
Well, the Law & Order franchise has been successfully showing Police Procedure in some detail for over twenty years. They also have lots of chases (mostly because the cops call out the name of the person they’re approaching while they’re still yards away, instead of waiting until they’re close enough). Tracy and Sam spent lots of time in the lab under Gould’s direction.
But I agree that there needs to be some movement to keep the daily comic strip interesting. I still think all of these writers should spend some time rereading classic Tracy from the 40s and 50s. Then they should take what they learn about pacing, etc. and apply it to new modern stories about crimes which would be considered topical today.
This story is interesting, even if the pacing seems slow right now.
We had a ginormous box full of assorted comic books
I’ve shared this here before, but my pal in grade school and Jr. High had a big wicker vat for all his comic books. He and his brother would toss them all in there after reading them. We used to sit in his breezeway, between the house and the garage, and while away a summer afternoon with all those comics. I especially liked the Superman and Batman books. But one day I found a Harvey re-print of Dick Tracy! I vaguely knew about Tracy from the Sunday comics, but reading a whole story in book form is what got me so interested in the character. Harvey was re-printing Gould’s best material, from the late 40s thru the 50s.
We had two Linotype operators during the 80 – early 90s, and exactly the same situation as you described. Joe would make corrections to grammar or spelling, or at least ask the boss about it. Phil was strictly a “that’s copy” guy, as I remember it.
Interesting. I remember reading about such devices in one of my Graphic Arts textbooks when I was in high school – 1965 – 1968. Your description of how they worked helps me understand it better than I did then. (I admit I may have just skimmed those chapters, as I was more interested in typesetting and presswork.)