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Director’s Statement

THE COMET MODEL NEWS tells a story of people who came of age when flying was a new adventure. After Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 1927, millions of people had to fly. If they couldn’t afford the real thing, they built and flew model airplanes.

Some of these flying enthusiasts were equally excited about their new home movie cameras, which they used to record, in 8mm color, the joys of flight. My dad, who became the Los Angeles salesman for the Comet Model Airplane & Supply Co. in 1933, took his movie camera with him to model airplane meets and company gatherings in the 1930s and 1940s, and informally captured on film a bit of the magic of his time and place. With THE COMET MODEL NEWS I want to share some of the magic that I found in his movies and in the company newsletters, photographs and personal letters that had been resting quietly in an old trunk in a garage since the 1940s.

Much of THE COMET MODEL NEWS is made up of 8mm film clips shot by my dad and 16mm black and white footage shot by one of the Comet Model Airplane & Supply Co. founders, Bill Bibichkow. My short film says as much about the historical significance of motion picture film shot by non-professionals during the first half of the 20th century as it does about the early days of flying.

My film also reflects the possibilities that exist today for filmmakers with big historical ideas and small budgets. To tell the story of the Comet Model company and its impressive founders and employees, I have used the vintage film clips in combination with today’s computer technology designed for the do-it-yourself filmmaker—a Mac PowerBook and the editing program, Final Cut Pro. I have produced a film in the style of the newsreels of the Depression and World War II eras, times when flying was still new and thrilling. Flying on commercial airlines hasn’t been much fun in recent years; regardless, flying is still the marvel that it was when two high school boys opened a model airplane business in 1929 with $5. And seeing is still believing.


--Nancy Kapitanoff