Artifacts From The Early Days
I apologize in advance if these items from my laser archives have been posted on this forum previously. More than likely, the blokes across the pond are very familiar with these items, and I know I've seen mention of the "Lovelight" shows in some threads.
For me, playing with HeNe lasers began in 1975 or 76. And the entire year of 1977 was devoted to R&D, financing, acquiring and building equipment for starting my own laser shows that opened in January 1978.
In the summer of 1977, I had the privilege of going on a college sponsored trip to Europe (England, France, Spain and Italy). While in London, a magazine in a store caught my eye. I bought it, and in addition, coincidentally a London theater marque also caught my eye. I purchased tickets for a performance and attended a "Lovelight" show at the Metropole Victoria Theatre, renamed the Metropole Laser Theatre especially for this engagement.
Here is the magazine cover JPG of the cover and PDF article "Laser Days Of Summer" from the "What's On IN LONDON" magazine. The ZIP file includes a hires JPG scan of the mag cover, the PDF scan of the cover, article and the "Lovelight" brochure (front and back) at the end.
Early Days.zip
The thing that stuck in my mind about the "Lovelight" show when I saw it was the realism of the computer animation, in particular, a swimming shark coming towards you. It was truly the bleeding edge of laser animation. But having seen Laserium, twice (Denver and LA), I didn't want to see swimming sharks. But it made me realize there was definitely a place in choreography for real imagery.
There is rich historical information in the "Laser Days Of Summer" article. The statement "...mankind has now a new standard of physical vision from this year on." is still true today.
Hey, and some of you old farts are indirectly referred to as well.
Enjoy.
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