New Owner of the NYU Colortran Mini Crab Dolly

Hello friends....Meet the new caretaker of NYU's Colortran Mini Crab Dolly! Noah Elliott Morrison, an accomplished filmmaker from the Detroit area.

Hopefully, you've seen the previous post of me acquiring mini crab # I-20 back in October 2024. The original plan was for me and my son, Adam, to refurbish this dolly and eventually share it with the Greater Cleveland filmmaking community. 

In case you haven't read the previous post, in short, my friend, Zul Atmosudirdjo, Teaching Soundstage Manager at NYU was nice enough to gift this special dolly to us. This dolly was used at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and was part of Tisch's filmmaking curriculum for the better part of 40 years. 

Many world renowned filmmakers who attended Tisch during the past 40 years, in all probability, used this very same dolly for their coursework and to complete their Reels. Prior to that, it was involved in NYC's independent filmmaking movement during the late 1960s and 70s. What makes this dolly even more rare, is that the serial number has the letter (I) followed by the number (20). Typically, all of the mini crabs that I'm aware of have only numerical serial numbers. 

Years ago, I remember a phone call I had with the late Joseph Tawil, who was not only a life-long friend of William Sargent (designer/inventor of the mini crab) but was also the president of Colortran. 

Mr. Tawil oversaw the launch of the mini crab. During a discussion we had on how many dollies were manufactured, he mention that dollies with serial numbers that started with a letter, were part of the first run of dollies made. (P.S. if you haven't read Mr. Tawil's fascinating account of unveiling the mini crab, please scroll down to the December 2021 post to read his story on the beginnings of the mini crab).

When my son and I were getting ready to refurbish # I-20, we realized there were some tune-up issues that were way beyond our scope. Mainly, the steering mechanism would not engage the front or rear steering modes and the hydraulic system needed attention. Afterall, this dolly is pushing 60+ years of continued service!

                 Noah and the NYU dolly right after we wheeled it onto his grip truck.

During a conversation I had with Noah, he said he would be willing to take on the task of refurbishing NYU's dolly. Noah mentioned he had contacts that were skilled with hydraulics and also knew a great machinist. Since dolly I-20 was originally gifted to me, Noah simply paid me for the costs I incurred of picking the dolly up from NYU.

So far, Noah and his machinist have successfully repaired the complicated steering mechanism to its original functionality. Noah is now planning to upgrade the hydraulic system that raises and lowers the camera pedestal with modern state-of-the-art hydraulics.

Thanks to Noah, I will be posting useful repair information and diagrams he drew when he and his machinist disassembled and repaired the dolly's steering mechanism. This info will prove to be useful to others that may encounter steering issues with their mini crabs. 

In the meantime, if any of you have questions about the steering mechanism, i.e., not being able to engage the dolly's steering modes, please email me at gzaryk118@gmail.com and I will reach out to Noah regarding steps on how to diagnose these issues.