The Camera Man / Lee Industries / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
The Made-In-Chicago Museum has collected, so far, 17 bakelite minicams, all produced by the same Chicago manufacturer in the 1940s, but sold under roughly forty-two gazillion different brand AND manufacturer names. You can read the entire, quite fascinating story of Jack Galter and his budget goods empire on our main Spartus Camera Corp.
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
The Churchill mini-cam is merely one of dozens of brand names slapped on the lens plates of this and other similar 1940s bakelite molds. Known as the “Chicago Cluster,” the cameras patented and mass-produced by Jack Galter at his 711 W. Lake Street factory were famously marketed under numerous brand AND manufacturer names.
General Products / Metropolitan Industries / Utility MFG Co / Spartus Corp, 711-15 W . Lake St., Chicago, IL
The Clix Minicam is part of the infamous family of bakelite minicams produced out of the same Lake Street factory in the late ’30s and 1940s. These cheap-o “candid type” cameras were marketed under literally dozens of different brand names AND manufacturer names, with no rhyme or reason as to which name would appear on which model type.
Elgin Laboratories / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL
The Elgin Miniature Camera is part of the infamous family of bakelite minicams produced out of the same Lake Street factory in the late ’30s and 1940s. These cheap-o “candid type” cameras were marketed under literally dozens of different brand names AND manufacturer names, with no rhyme or reason as to which name would appear on which model type.
Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp, 711-715 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL
The Falcon Minette was, in theory, just another of the many cheap bakelite camera brands produced out of Jack Galter’s Lake Street factory during the late 1930s and early 1940s. You can get the full crazy story of this photo industry phenomenon on our main Spartus Camera history page.
As for this model,
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co / Spartus Corp, 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
Lee Industries / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
Metropolitan Industries / Utility MFG Co / Spartus Corp, 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago IL
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
DeLuxe Products Co. / Utilty MFG Co / Spartus Corp., 711-715 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
Rolls Camera MFG Co. / Utility MFG / Spartus Corp., 711-715 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
