Root Brooklyn Profoto Assistant Party

It’s safe to say that 99 percent of the young people attending Root Studio’s opening blowout weren’t even a gleam in their parents’ eyes in 1943, the year the novel by the same name was published. Authored by Betty Smith, it described a family struggling against poverty in the Williamsburg section of the borough in the early 20th century. It was later adapted to film by Elia Kazan.

Profoto demonstrated the awesome capabilities of its Pro-8a Air generator. Cliff Hausner and crew had worked for three days building a beautiful set: A Brooklyn brownstone in the 1940’s, with a tree and its roots, of course. A swing hung from one of the branches and hordes of smiling, laughing and even screeching people submitted themselves to the Pro-8’s awesome 20 fps capacity. Sony was on hand to make prints and the smiles grew even wider when folks saw what 12,000th of a second stopping power could do.