Breaking News! Mini-Crab Dolly #157...maybe sold!

The famous #157 Mini-Crab, which was once owned by a Academy Award-winning producer, David L. Wolper, will soon have a new home in the Seattle, Washington area!

The ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly that's pictured above and throughout this Blog was first purchased and owned by Oscar winning-producer, David L. Wolper. Presently, #157 is under negotiations to be purchased by Steven Mahoney, a filmmaker from the Seattle area.

If all goes well, Mini-Crab #157 will be going to it's new home sometime in mid-October. Incidentally, there will be a total of two Mini-Crab's living in that area as our good friend and blog contributor, Steven Bradford, caretaker of Mini-Crab #34 also hails from the Seattle area. More information will be forthcoming regarding Steven Mahoney's plans in using #157 and what type of film project he will be using the Mini-Crab for.

I'm also hopeful that Mr. Mahoney will be able to further research and document if #157 was used by it's first owner, David L. Wolper in making 'Roots', 'North and South' or the original 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' movies. There's a good chance that #157 was in fact used in these productions...if it was...this dolly is even more cool!

Congratulations, Steven!

Sarkell Society Welcome's Leif Peterson and his Mini-Crab Dolly #118

Sarkell Society will soon be welcoming it's newest member...Leif Peterson, who is the owner of HCD #118 (tag-photo above). More photo's of both Leif and his Mini-Crab will be forthcoming. Leif will become Sarkell Society Member # 11.

Welcome aboard, Leif!

Remember, if you're the owner/user of a ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly...become a member of the Sarkell Society by registering today! For membership information, see archived blog-post from September 3, 2010.

ColorTran Mini-Crab 1966 Debut Article in AC

This is the September 1966 issue of AC debuting the ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly. My apologies, but the AC issues of the 1960's were over sized and cannot be easily scanned into a standard format. I will work on getting the entire article scanned and will post when finished.
That's Mini-Crab inventor William Sargent, pushing the dolly with his partner Robert Kelljan peering through the BNC viewfinder.
More to follow as there were a total of four pages of this very interesting AC story. Click on any image to enlarge content.

The Most Extreme 'Pushable' Dolly Ever Built

Speaking in terms of dolly sizes....here's one that may have been the largest 'pushable' dolly ever used. This one and three like it were part of the dolly inventory at Universal Studios back in 1943. As you can see, it can hold a BNC camera, a collection of lights, and practically the whole crew!

Thanks to my very good friend and Blog contributor, Rudy Goldberg of Beverly Hills, California for sending this rare image to us.

Pictured here is one the best directors of all time, 'Hitch', standing next to what the grip crew dubbed the 'car-dolly'. According to Rudy, it took about 10-people to push this monster. All but one of these dollies still exists and can be found today inside one of Universal's sound stages.

Thanks for the 'inside-story' Rudy!

If you have stories or photos of using a dolly, especially our favorite and this Blog's namesake...the ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly...please send them in! We would love to share them with other dolly enthusiasts.

As always...click on this or any image to enlarge.

SarKell 'working the crowd' in Los Angeles

Riding high-atop the Mini-Crab Prototype's hydraulic lift is none other than Robert Kelljan. Behind Mr. Kelljan is William Sargent the genius inventor of the Mini-Crab Dolly (partially obscured). Mr. Sargent was operating the lift-control from the dolly's seated position and gave his partner a lift!

Both men were demonstrating the attributes of using the self-contained CO2/hydraulic camera lift on the Mini-Crab Dolly. This early image was taken during the dolly's demonstration in front of a live audience at the SMPTE show in Los Angeles.

It's plain to see that the inventor and his partner had a lot of fun working together. It's also evident these guys were true professionals and knew how to work a crowd! Click on this image to enlarge..once it's enlarged, click again to super enlarge.

Numbering of the ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly

The manufacturer's tag on the back panel of our dolly. The SarKell designed ColorTran Mini-Crab Dollies were numbered from 1 to "possibly" 250. No one knows exactly the final build-to number, but it's been speculated to be around 250.

There's a total of three stampings on each Mini-Crab Dolly. The dolly's serial number is stamped twice...once on the manufacturers tag which is located on the rear panel of the dolly (top photo) then, the same number is stamped a second time on-top of the dolly's deck. This is at the base of where the steering control fastens into the dolly's internal steering mechanism (photo above). If you look closely, you'll see 157 stamped on the base. Click on any image to super enlarge.

The two images above are of the same stamping.

Now, there is a third stamping and it's an entirely different number than the dolly's serial number. This is the serial number of the hydraulic camera lift (in this case, #144) which can be found on the hydraulic lift just above where the lift meets the internal hydraulic connection.

The hydraulic lift number is not the same as the other two 'identical' numbers found on the dolly. Hope this sheds some light on the stampings you'll find on the Mini-Crab.

If you have a Mini-Crab and have not yet registered with us, please do so and e-mail the dolly's serial number and a photo to: gregoryz@centurylink.net

General Cleaning of the Mini-Crab Dolly

Like all production equipment, the Mini-Crab should be no exception, it should be wiped down, cleaned and checked after each use. We use a detail cleaner made by Turtle Wax (shown) to clean the deck, push bar and tires. We then do a visual check on all moving parts to insure they are tightened and properly functioning.

Aside from cleaning the deck, we'll wipe down all 8 tires, which incidentally, our dolly needed recently due to the fact we had to briefly push the dolly on a 'salted' sidewalk. This was to get it from the drop-off point and into the building we were dolly-gripping in.

As you can see, the rubberized deck of the Mini-Crab cleans very well, maintains the original luster and looks like new...not so bad for a 40-plus year old dolly!

Once we've cleaned and checked #157, we'll put the cover on it to keep the dust off. Mini-Crab #157 is now ready for its next assignment.

Many people have repainted their dollies to modernize and freshen them up. In fact, it's hard to find a Mini-Crab that has not been repainted.

We've chosen to keep our dolly in its original condition with its factory trademark 'ColorTran-Blue' paint finish intact. It's a little scuffed up, but not too bad considering its age. Some Mini-Crab owners have done an awesome job sanding and repainting their dollies making them look good as new.

Given the fact that #157 was once owned by Academy Award winning filmmaker, David L. Wolper, (first owner of #157) tells me it would be best to keep the 'pedigreed' dolly in its original condition. More to come...in a future posting about #157's previous owners including the late and great, Mr. Wolper.