American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 84

New Products & Services

Mole-Richardson Relocates to the Valley
By Andrew Fish
It was the mid-1960s when recent USC graduate and future
ASC associate Michael Parker strode into the Mole-Richardson Co.
facility for his first day of work. With a degree in industrial management, he made it his top priority to counsel his dad, company President Warren Parker, on the state of the modern corporate world
and its shift toward multinational conglomerates. "My father said,
'That's nice,'" Michael recalls. "'But what I want you to do,' he told
me, 'is to go down the hall, open the third door on the left and walk
in the office. At the desk there's going to be a phone, and when it
rings I want you to answer it.' I said, 'What do I say?' He said, 'Talk
to the person. If you answer his question or give him a solution to
the problem he's working on, you will have a reason to be in business. That person is why this business is still here today.'"
Mole-Richardson's beginnings can be traced back to 1897,
when Michael's grandfather, future ASC associate Peter Mole,
arrived at Ellis Island from Sicily at the age of 6 with his father, two
brothers and a sister. He left school after the 6th grade but later
returned to earn an electrical-engineering degree from Union
College in Schenectady, N.Y. Employed at General Electric when
Thomas Edison still walked the halls, Mole worked on World War I
military searchlights. As the story goes, dissatisfied with the oldguard mindset of GE at the time and likely pining for warmer
weather, he won $1,000 at the local parish lottery in 1923, split the
winnings with the church, and he and his wife, Cecilia, drove to Los
Angeles with their 3-year-old daughter, Anna - Michael's mother.
Mole found work as an electrician at MGM Studios, which led to his
employment at a Hollywood rental house, where he met Elmer C.
Richardson. When their boss decided not to transition the
84

October 2015

Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.

company's war-surplus carbon-arc lights as Kodak introduced its
new tungsten-balanced film stock, Mole and Richardson spun off to
form a new operation with a mandate to provide the studios with
lighting solutions based on the very latest technologies.
Michael joined Mole-Richardson shortly after his grandfather's passing. His brother Larry, a future honorary ASC member,
had started working at the company a couple of years prior, right
out of high school. The two began with the basics - "learning how
to load a truck, pull parts, make materials and handle receiving,"
Larry explains - and grew into respected leaders at what became
arguably the oldest family-run entertainment-industry company in
Hollywood. Indeed, the Mole-Richardson logo has been an abiding
symbol on production stages since 1927. "Engineers like my grandfather interpreted the technology of the time," Michael says, "and
for the past 88 years, that's what we have continued to do."
Now, after nearly nine decades on North Sycamore Avenue,
Mole-Richardson is open for business at a new state-of-the-art facility in the San Fernando Valley city of Pacoima. "The new building
represents the family's commitment to sustaining this business for
the future," says Michael, who chatted with AC alongside Larry in
the old boardroom shortly before the move. "This place is going to
get torn down and disappear; it's going to be a memory here in
Hollywood. And everybody that was involved in it will always say, 'I
loved that old factory.' It had the grit; you could wipe your finger
across the dust and say, 'This dust has been here for a heck of a long
time, and I was able to touch it.' But in the end, you're going to give
an opportunity to that person who walks in and wants to work for

Mole-Richardson's new soundstage will serve as a classroom for Larry's
lighting classes, as well as a workshop for ASC-related projects.

you, who looks at the new shop and says, 'Wow. This is up to
date.'"
Throughout the siblings' tenure - much of which they
shared with their father, who ran the company for more than 40
years beginning in 1960 - Mole-Richardson has been instrumental

American Cinematographer

Mole-Richardson photos by Kelly Brinker.

Michael Parker (left) and Larry Mole Parker on the factory floor at the new
Mole-Richardson facility in Pacoima, Calif.

* SUBMISSION INFORMATION *



American Cinematographer - October 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2015

Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Intro
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 8
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 10
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 12
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 20
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 30
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 31
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 32
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 34
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 35
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 36
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 37
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 40
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 41
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 42
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 46
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 47
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 50
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 50a
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 50b
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 64
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 66
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 67
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 68
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 69
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 70
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 71
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 72
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 76
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 86
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 87
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 88
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 89
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 90
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 91
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 92
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 93
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 94
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 95
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 96
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1218_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1118_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1018_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0918_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0818_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0718_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0618_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0518_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0418_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0318_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0218_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0118_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1217_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1117_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1017_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0917_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0817_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0717_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0617_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0517_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0417_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0317_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0217_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0117_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1216_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1116_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1016_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0916_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0816_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0716_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0616_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0516_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0416_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0316_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0216_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0116_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1215_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1115_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1015_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0915_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0815_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0715_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0615_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0515_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0415_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0315_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0215_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0115_v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1214
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1114
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0914
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0814
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0714
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0614
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0514
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0414
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0314
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0214
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0114
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1213
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1113
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0913
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0813
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0713
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0613
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0513
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0413
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0313
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0213
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0113
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0912
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0812
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0712
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0612
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0512
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0412
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0312
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0911
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0711
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0511
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0411
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0311
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac1010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0710
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0610
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0510
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac0110
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com