International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Thirty-two Th INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER October, 1934 Ql IGCWS so-enJEJ^ By Otto Phocus SENSE OR CENSOR? }{ /> A {prf&S^ pny \\irr. r '■$) hit C -.1 his i r\ A Z/7^ present this issue a near likeness of Air, AleWilliam Fitzwhistle , President of the Sons and Daughters of the Society for the Presentation of Clean, Immaculate, Unpolluted , Unadulterated, Spotless Pictures for Twenty-five Cents. Heil! Mr. Fitzwhistle At last the cameramen have a champion. For years they had been working silently to get clean pictures, but it had been an "up stairs" battle. Since the advent of sound pictures, more has been heard, but it is still an "up stairs" battle because most of the offices are on the second floor. Every precaution known has been used to keep pictures clean from the cameramen's angle, and we welcome Mr. Fitzwhistle, like a 1 :00 P. M. call, after working all night. It might interest Mr. Fitzwhistle to know that a speck of dust is as welcome in the manufacturing of film as a buckle when photographing a train wreck. That the film is wrapped in cellophane, sealed in tin cans, packed in cartons and handled with care until it is delivered at the dark room door. In fact it is a shame to have to open it and expose it to the world, the way things are these days. Magazines have been known to be cleaned up by the assistant cameramen and aperture plates have been polished so much that they have been worn thin and had to be resurfaced again to get proper registration. In the laboratories they start the day by cleaning the air. The water has been purified, pasteurized and sterilized. The chemicals are so pure it seems a shame to have to mix them. Men with flashlights go around looking for dirt and inspectors with large ears go around listening for it. At certain studios they change the administration regularly and as soon as the new administrators arrive on the scene they proceed to clean out all the heads of departments. As soon as the new heads of the departments arrive they continue the cleaning process. Most of the camera departments have little rooms nearby where the cameramen can be cleaned. Especially on pay days. At some of the larger studios they list the units working on blackboards ; the blackboards have been almost clean for some time. In handling the film, the workers wear white gloves and in most of the scenario departments they have been cleaned out of ideas for some time. This is the situation, Mr. Fitzwhistle, and any suggestions you can give us will be appreciated provided they are sent prepaid and in addition, we have no appropriation to pay salaries for additional help at the present time. So-o-o our hands are clean and most of our thoughts, except when we read the demand for "cleaner" pictures when we are doing everything possible to make them clean. Hell! Mr. Fitzivhistle. JUDGE PRIEST Irvin S. Cobb's stories of Judge Priest are woven into N. Walthall shows fine restraint in the part of Rev. a story that will entertain and enthuse from start to finish. The locale is the good old south after the Civil War and Will Rogers is so superlatively Judge Priest that one forgets he is Will Rogers. And that's saying a lot. Henry Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers Ashby Brand, while Stepin Fetchit provides much of the humor. It's one of those stories which prove that a picture which will pass the censors a hundred percent can be even more entertaining than the other kind. It is a Fox masterpiece.