Orson Welles’ Steenbeck
A couple years ago I was lucky enough to acquire the Steenbeck that once belonged to Orson Welles and his DP/editor Gary Graver. It had languished in a dark, dusty storage unit deep in the San Fernando Valley. It is fully functional and carries the cinematic history of very special hands working magic upon it. I decided to give it a proper home so other filmmakers could at least see the behemoth of analog editing in person.
This Steenbeck has the distinction of being used to edit several of Orson Welles’ films including: ‘The Other Side of The Wind’ and ‘F is for Fake’. Orson and Gary Graver worked on this 350-pound beast during the 1970’s to cut some of the most iconic films of the era. Gary Graver passed away in 2006 and his son Sean told me that the Steenbeck his father used to edit with Orson was one of his most prized possessions. I promised to give it a good home and to share the importance this filmmaking tool had on the history of motion pictures.
Click to enlarge
I asked Jacob Rosenberg at Bandito Brothers if they would be interested in displaying it at their offices in Culver City. He graciously agreed that a historic relic of its stature should at least see the light of day and allowed me to position it in their post-production offices. It carries with it an aura of days gone by and everyone that passes by it wants to know its history. Few if any films are cut on Steenbecks anymore…but if the need arises…this legendary six-plate beauty sits at the ready.
-Vashi Nedomansky
Picking up from the Graver Family
Orson Welles editing
My Steenbeck relaxing at Bandito Brothers
Steenbeck living large at Bandito Brothers
Orson Welles’ Steenbeck and Act of Valor
UPDATE: The Orson Welles Steenbeck was just moved to a glamorous new downtown L.A. location. Old school filmmaking!
Old school filmmaking. No CPU. No RAM. Film only.
Steenbeck Users Guide (PDF) courtesy of The University of Texas – Austin
Until next time…
There are 5 comments
Truly awesome! Man, the stories that thing could tell (LOL). So cool that you have that. And Bandito gets major cool points as well when people enter their lobby! Just don’t let Jacob put an Adobe sticker on it!
[…] editing when you had to scan through reels of footage to get to a certain shot. On a Moviola or Steenbeck you were forced to see all the footage over and over as you hunt for that one shot. By sheer volume […]
Thank Brian! It’s a nice bridge from the past to the future to have it at Bandtio Brothers. Also…less dust in the air than when we worked together at Bandito!
[…] The L.A. offices of Bandito Brothers presumably have on display memorabilia from such features they worked on as Act of Valor and Step into Liquid. And now, thanks to editor Vashi Nedomansky, they have Orson Welles’s Steenbeck as well. […]
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