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Leonard Lipton (May 18, 1940 – October 5, 2022) was an American author, filmmaker, lyricist, and inventor. At age 19, Lipton wrote the poem that became the basis for the lyrics to the song "
Puff, the Magic Dragon "Puff, the Magic Dragon" (or just "Puff") is an American folk song written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary from a poem by Leonard Lipton. It was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1962 recording released in January 1963. Lipt ...
". He wrote books on independent filmmaking and was a pioneer in the field of projected three-dimensional imagery. Leonard Lipton developed 3D cinema technology that is used in
RealD 3D RealD 3D is a digital stereoscopic projection technology made and sold by RealD. It is currently the most widely used technology for watching 3D films in theaters. Worldwide, RealD 3D is installed in more than 26,500 auditoriums by approximatel ...
cinemas. His technology is used to show
3D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema and later experienced a worldwide r ...
s on more than 30,000 theater screens worldwide. In 2021, he published ''The Cinema in Flux'', an 800-page illustrated book on the history of cinema technology.


Early life

Lipton was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. He majored in physics at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
after starting out in electrical engineering. A self-described "mediocre student", he only excelled once he found a field he loved. Lipton urged schools to be more "accepting of eccentric people with a different point of view because we are the people who make the difference."


Career


Puff, the Magic Dragon

Lipton was 19 when he wrote the poem that was adapted into the lyrics for the 1963 song "
Puff, the Magic Dragon "Puff, the Magic Dragon" (or just "Puff") is an American folk song written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary from a poem by Leonard Lipton. It was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1962 recording released in January 1963. Lipt ...
", performed by
Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary were an American Contemporary folk music, folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival. The trio consisted of Peter Yarrow (guitar, tenor vocals), Paul Stookey (guitar, baritone vocals), ...
. His inspiration was a 1936
Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his Light poetry, light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyme, rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York T ...
poem, "
The Tale of Custard the Dragon ''The Tale of Custard the Dragon'' is a poem for children written by Ogden Nash. A picture book of the 1936 poem with illustrations by Lynn M. Munsinger was published in 1995. The poem has been described as "probably his most famous poem for kid ...
". "Pirates and dragons, back then, were common interests in stories for boys", Lipton said. "The Puff story is really just a lot like
Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...
." Lipton spent decades denying that the song was about marijuana and believed that the myth was created by New York columnist
Dorothy Kilgallen Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 – November 8, 1965) was an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist. After spending two semesters at the College of New Rochelle, she started her career shortly before her 18th bir ...
.


Independent films

In the 1960s, Lipton shot several
experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...
s on 16 mm stock, most with running times of less than 10 minutes. The best known, ''Let a Thousand Parks Bloom'', a 27-minute film about Berkeley's People's Park, played at the Tate Liverpool Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The following decade, he wrote two books on technologies and methods for independent filmmakers: ''Independent Film Making'' (1972) and ''The Super 8 Book'' (1975). ''Lipton on Filmmaking, a'' compendium of his magazine writings, was published in 1979.


Stereography

Lipton was a pioneer in the field of projected three-dimensional imagery and was one of the creators of the electronic stereoscopic display industry. His interest dated back to his childhood in New York where he attended movie palaces, with some films shown in 3D. He drew his own 3D comics using red and green crayons on tracing paper, which were viewed using primitive glasses constructed of cardboard tubes and magnifying lenses. Royalties from "Puff the Magic Dragon" and ''Independent Filmmaking'', which remained in print for 20 years, gave Lipton an independent income that allowed him to follow his interests. His career in stereoscopic display began to gel around 1972. In one early stint, he served as the "convergence setter" for the 1983 3D film Dogs of Hell, determining for each shot the optimal position at which to cross the dual lens axes. Previewing a scene from the film, technical staff from
Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...
were impressed by the stereoscopic imagery. He built a prototype of a flicker-free, field-sequential 3D display system and founded StereoGraphics Corporation in 1980 to fund development. The system worked by doubling the display rate of images, thereby overcoming a problem inherent in 3D motion picture projection, where each eye views only half the available images. In 1989, he patented the active
ZScreen ZScreen is a push-pull electro-optical liquid crystal modulator that is placed immediately in front of the projector lens or computer screen to alternately polarize the light from each video frame. It circularly polarizes the frames clockwise for ...
polarization filter that uses a
circularly polarized In electrodynamics, circular polarization of an electromagnetic wave is a polarization state in which, at each point, the electromagnetic field of the wave has a constant magnitude and is rotating at a constant rate in a plane perpendicular to th ...
liquid crystal Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal can flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a common direction as i ...
filter placed in front of a projector, which can then display both the left and right halves of a stereo pair. After
Real D Cinema RealD 3D is a digital stereoscopic projection technology made and sold by RealD. It is currently the most widely used technology for watching 3D films in theaters. Worldwide, RealD 3D is installed in more than 26,500 auditoriums by approximately 1 ...
acquired StereoGraphics in 2005, the technology became the basis for the RealD cinema system. The system is in use in more than 30,000 screens worldwide. Lipton was the chief technology officer at RealD until 2009, when he left to do independent consulting. Lipton published his definitive treatment of the subject, ''Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema: A Study in Depth'', in 1982. In 2011, the International 3D Society gave him its Century Award for Lifetime Achievement. As of 2015, he held 68 stereography-related patents.


History of motion picture technology

In 2021, Lipton published ''The Cinema in Flux: The Evolution of Motion Picture Technology from the Magic Lantern to the Digital Era.'' In the 800-page illustrated book, Lipton argues that film scholars mistakenly consider inventions that preceded the 19th century motion picture cameras from
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
and the
Lumières The Lumières (literally in English: ''The Lights'') was a cultural, philosophical, literary and intellectual movement beginning in the second half of the 17th century, originating in France, then western Europe and spreading throughout the rest ...
brothers as prehistory. Lipton sets the genesis of the medium to 1659 and Dutch physicist
Christiaan Huygens Christiaan Huygens, Halen, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , ; ; also spelled Huyghens; ; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor who is regarded as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution ...
' invention of the
magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...
, marking the first time moving images were projected on a screen. The book divides the history into three eras: glass, celluloid, and digital. ''Flux'''s origins date back to 2009, when Lipton was speaking at the
Cinémathèque Française A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
, whose museum happened to be exhibiting a history of magic lantern technology. His subsequent research led him to the
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
'
Margaret Herrick Library The Margaret Herrick Library is the main repository of print, graphic and research materials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The library contains a digital repository of historical materials, including those relating ...
, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers digital library, The Library of Congress's collection of motion picture periodicals, and some 400 books. Film historian Laurent Mannoni, the curator of collections at the
Cinémathèque Française A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
, wrote that the book represents "the first time that this vast technical and aesthetic history has been told by an inventor-technician-physicist-industrialist, who has himself filed patents for cinematographic inventions, run a company and made films. His point of view is both authoritative and fascinating since, until now, no conventional historian has had such varied credentials...." In his foreword,
Douglas Trumbull Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and visual effects supervisor, who pioneered innovative methods in special effects. He created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', '' Close Encounter ...
wrote that Lipton "is on the trail of a vitally important nexus between the illusion of motion and the story contained within that illusion." Each new innovation raises the question of whether cinema will become "an even more high-powered juggernaut of immersive and experiential technical perfection"—a theme park ride with no heart—or remain an emotional experience relying on the traditional talents of screenwriters, directors, and actors. "Lenny Lipton delivers the background we need to help make sure that our beloved art form does not go off the rails."


Personal life and death

Lipton was married to Julie and had four children. He died from brain cancer in Los Angeles, on October 5, 2022, at age 82.


Books

* ''Independent Filmmaking'' (1972) * ''The Super 8 Book'' (1975) * ''Lipton on Filmmaking'' (1979) * ''Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema: A Study in Depth'' (1982) * ''The CrystalEyes Handbook (1991) * ''Puff, the Magic Dragon:
Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025) was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk music, folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. Yarrow co-wrote (with Lenny Lipton ...
, Lenny Lipton, Eric Puybaret'' (2007) * ''The Cinema in Flux: The Evolution of Motion Picture Technology from the Magic Lantern to the Digital Era'' (2021)


References


External links


Lenny Lipton, Official Website: LennyLipton.com


October 21, 2022 * ttp://www.nab.org/nabshow/conferences/participantbio.asp?id=20997 Lenny Lipton, Real D CTO, bio* ttps://player.captivate.fm/episode/c0c8118c-2f83-41b9-bfa8-34b060271638/ Lipton on The History of Movie Making The Advanced Imaging Society podcast * ttp://videotechnology.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-is-lenny-lipton.html Who is Lenny Lipton?About Inventor and Chief Technical Officer of RealD through 2008
Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Virtual Library
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipton, Lenny 1940 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American physicists 3D cinema Filmmakers from New York (state) American inventors Cornell University alumni Deaths from brain cancer in California Flushing High School alumni Writers from Brooklyn Writers from Los Angeles Scientists from New York (state) Puff, the Magic Dragon