The Rank Strand MMS
My Favourite Desk
My first serious encounter in the world of theatre came in 1975 when at just 15 years old, I walked into the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, to ask if there was any work available. I was told not at the moment and they took my phone number. To my astonishment three weeks later, a gentleman called Michael Ives phoned me to ask if I could start work that Tuesday morning, which I did. That is where all this started!
The first thing that caught my eye as I wandered around the stage was a large green piece of equipment which I now know was the MMS. The lighting designer at the time was Nigel Blatcher, as with a lot of designers, he would not let anybody near his desk, and I just longed to have a play with it. I asked him many questions about it, and learnt a bit about its operations from his answers. (I must have got on his nerves at times!).
To cut a long story short, in 1979, Nigel suddenly left the Pavilion for another career. This left the Pavilion without a lighting operator. Peter Knight, who was Stage Manager at the time, asked me if I felt confident enough to operate the desk for the show that evening (this was Rod Hull and Emu). Whether I felt confident or not, I was not going to turn this opportunity down, so it all began.
I got through the show without any problems and designed and operated the lighting with this beautiful piece of equipment for the following six years. I also repaired and serviced the desk when it went wrong!
History of the Desk (at the Cliffs)
As far as I am aware, this MMS was the second one to be installed and commisioned, in 1973, it was very basic, handling 120 channels with 130 memories. It had the basic channel control module and manual playback module, but sufficed until the Cliffs Pavilion opened following refurbishment in 1991.
In 1986 I decided to build a programmable chaser module to fill in the empty module position and interface directly with the MMS. I also built a portable desk that could be taken out into the auditorium as the MMS was situated at the prompt corner of the stage, and for certain events was restrictive for viewing. Once we had entered the now New Empire Theatre in 1998, I contacted the local council who own the Cliffs Pavilion to ask them if they still had in their possession the old MMS, and was told that it had been scrapped the previous year.
During my employment at the Cliffs Pavilion, I worked with a colleague called Robert Gooch, who at the time when we were fitting out the Empire was working at the Aldwych Theatre in London. His parents had been sending him the newspaper clippings detailing the progression of the Empire project, he phoned me one day and asked if I would like an old MMS, which was the former desk at the Aldwych. He explained that the desk was not complete and in the best of condition, but the old operator was loathed to scrap it, but it now needed to go. Of course, I didn't hesitate to say yes. The desk arrived late one evening in a truck borrowed from Fisher lighting by Hannah. When we unloaded it, I noticed that the most important module was missing, this being the playback module. After making enquiries, I was advised to phone Jim Laws Lighting (see acknowledgements) in Suffolk. To my surprise he said that he had many spares and old desks of that type. He invited myself and Trudi to drive up and spend a day there.
We returned to the Empire following our excerusion with a car load of modules and spares. Amongst these were the desperately needed rate playback module. After my excitement had died down, further inspection of the module revealed two missing PCBs, I once again contacted Jim, and once again I found myself on the way to Suffolk with Trudi and a trailor in tow.
We returned that evening with yet another playback module, this time complete with PCBs, and other equipment.
The restored desk in 2002
If anybody has any old MMS desks, modules or spares lying around and wishes to give them a good home, or if anybody is still using an MMS, or require any help or information on them, please e-mail me.
This page is going to be updated as we get a chance to include information, please visit it again.
Just a note, the output from the MMS is 0 to -10v, I have designed and built an interface to directly control newer dimmer racks using 0 to +10v. Alternatively the same interface can be used with just one modification, (this being to reverse the polarity of the output diodes on the PCB) to control older racks such as the JTM and STM type from a desk supplying 0 to +10v.