Mole Richardson

Founded by Peter Mole, the first Mole-Richardson light was built in a small machine shop in a garage in Hollywood, California. It was just 8 years later that the company won the first of four Academy Awards for its creation of the first Fresnel Spotlight. In 1927, Peter published an article in the the Society of Motion Picture Engineers Journal on the cost savings of the new Incandescent Illumination. In 1928, Mole-Richardson was asked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the American Society of Cinematographers to participate in their first Technical Report on Incandescent Illumination. The report published a picture of the new line of Incandescent lights from Mole-Richardson. Peter Mole became President of the SMPTE from 1951 to 1952 and stirred some controversy by embracing Television as a viable compliment to Motion Picture entertainment instead of its rival.