During his 63 years, Gus contributed hundreds of improvements and innovations in the areas of stage lighting, scenery arrangement and backstage efficiency. He helped introduce the use of real furniture on stage instead of just painting it on the background. Gus's theories on scene shifting reduced the time required for these operations from several minutes to a handful of seconds.

Gus's greatest interest was in stage lighting. He worked through the eras of gas and calcium light to the advent of electricity and continuously made improvements to make the world of make believe seem as real as possible. He developed reflectors that helped focus the open flame of the gas light. He also designed and built fasteners, housings, and supports that enabled ever greater control over the fixtures that lit each performance. Gus had the talent to transform an old sheet, properly draped, into a thing of beauty by applying his expert knowledge of lighting.

Gustave Wandrei, Jr. ("Little Gus"), followed in his father's footsteps first as a soundman recording the Big Band sounds of Goodman and Tommy Dorsey and later as a stage hand and lighting director in many Detroit area theaters. He also had a talent for working magic with light and ultimately became a gaffer.

While working for the Jam Handy Organization, Little Gus was instrumental in the production of military training films that helped win World War II. Gus helped develop and build the rigs used to simulate air, sea, and ground combat conditions.

Doug and his brother Karl continued the family tradition of working in stage and film production. Doug served as a combat cameraman during the Korean War and then worked as assistant camera on features and series TV for about 10 years. From his position next to the camera Doug was able to observe and learn the camera and lighting techniques of some of the world's best practitioners. He took a little from each of these people and amassed a wealth of valuable knowledge on lighting and production.

Doug went on to become a film editor, a production manager, and a producer. But he eventually returned to his first love – lighting. Doug realized that good lighting is an art form. "With the proper equipment you can literally paint a scene with light," he said. "It's most gratifying when you finish your work because you can see the results and know that you truly contributed to the success of the film or video production you're working on."

Like many other gaffers, Doug often ran into problems because the tools needed to do the job did not exist or were not very reliable. Out of need and necessity, Doug went into the equipment business. His initial goal was to make the equipment that was commonly used in Hollywood available to industrial and commercial producers in Detroit.

Today, Mid America Cine Support has grown from a single small grip truck back in the 70's to a fleet of fully equipped grip trucks and a warehouse packed with everything imaginable. Each truck carries hundreds of items and draws from a centralized pool of equipment.

Mid America often supplies numerous large production jobs at the same time. Our large inventory allows us to do this while keeping prices at a very reasonable level.

Doug knew from personal experience how frustrating it is to have equipment break down on the set. That's why we're dedicated to keeping our equipment serviced and tested. Each light and each piece of equipment is inspected before it goes out on a job. We have a very talented and dedicated staff and we're committed to customer service.