[rollei_list] Re: (OT) Rilex Press Cameras
- From: David Sadowski <dsadowski@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:51:17 -0500
Looks like Doyle Riley was actually born on 10 November 1925,
according to the Social Security Death Index, meaning he was in his
early 20s when the Rilex camera was being sold. Curtis Riley Jr., who
is supposed to be the man behind the Rilex press camera and Riley
Research, was born in 1906 in California and died in 1983. There does
not seem to be a direct relationship between the two Rileys.
The notion that this was a company involved in defense work, that then
had to try and sell consumer products after the war, sounds very
plausible.
Doyle Riley did have a California connection, however, since that is
where Vivitar was located. That firm started out in 1938 as Ponder
and Best, importers of camera equipment from abroad. At one time,
they were US distributors of Rollei equipment, but had lost that
product line by 1964. A trademark filing said they had first used the
Vivitar name in November 1963.
Company histories do not mention Doyle Riley, but history is written
by the living and Doyle has passed on. He told me personally that he
had coined the Vvitar name. In the photo industry, he was widely
known as the main man behind the Vivtar 283 flash.
I think the Japanese firm that made the Rilex pro strobe equipment in
the early 1990s was called Sun Star. These were very compact units
compared to their competitors.
---
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