Film-to-Tape Transfer Service VHS
Fotomat (1980)
This tape was on the donation wall at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater snack bar last month. I've gone through a lot of VHS tapes over the years, but this is the first time I've come across one of these labels, so I had to look it up.
Fotomat, who is best known for their film developing drive-thru kiosks, offered their customers a film-to-tape transfer service in the late 70's and early 80's. You could drop off 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, or Super 8 film which the company would transfer to either a VHS or Beta tape. The could also scan your 35mm photo slides and produce a slideshow of still images on a tape. This service wasn't cheap. I wasn't able to find a full price list, but their pamphlet gives an example of "your 15 minute sound movie transferred to a Beta cassette for less than $45, including the cassette". Apparently, whatever was originally transferred to this tape when it left Fotomat wasn't worth the money because someone decided to tape over it with the 1990 blockbuster The Hunt For Red October.
