International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1950)

for removing dust and oil from theater trailers, date strips, etc. Not to mention its use in fire extinguishers (which should not be in any projection room). I knew that carbon tet was more poisonous than chloroform; but I did not realize it was so bad — the effects of the former, while similar to the latter, are much more severe. I still am interested in the bad effects of dioxane, and I fervently hope that the craft may depend upon the word of manufacturers of film cements that this ingredient is not used therein. Robkrt A. Mitchell To the Editor of IP: It is a great honor for me to write and thank you for the numerous technical materials you assembled and forwarded to me. Since the war, Japan has been striving to improve its culture, especially in the field of the motion picture. Through your excellent magazine, and other materials, we have learned that motion pictures have made outstanding progress since the war, especially in the educational and scientific fields. Here in Japan we feel that we are ten years behind. We do not enjoy the facilities that you in America do — magazines, laboratories, etc. — or even a forum for regular meetings for discussion and work. In the 16-mm field we are far behind, but our goal is to reach at least the minimum standards of your country. At present there are about 2000 theaters in Japan, with 40% of these showing American films. Your films are very popular and have great influence upon the Japanese, directly and indirectly. We hope in time to reach the high technical WESTREX MANAGERS CONVENE IN N. Y. Seven managers of Westrex Corp. foreign offices gathered around vice-president E. S. Gregg as he describes the new W. E. recording and scoring console. Left to right are: W. S. Tower, Jr., Australia; W. H. Meisel, Caribbean area; D. van Spankeren, Indonesia; H. v. Zeppelin, Argentina; J. J. de Boer, Cuba; D. L. Smith, Venezuela, and R. F. Crews, India. Conference spanned two weeks. standards maintained in America. Keinosuke Nakajima Tokyo, Honshu, Japan. To the Editor of IP: I was extremely interested in the exchange of views between James Card, assistant curator of George Eastman House, Inc., and Robert Mitchell which appeared in IP for October. I have read many books on the early history of the motion picture, but I have only once seen a reference to Leon Bouly, this being on page 150 of Magic Shadows, by Martin Quigley, Jr., published by the Catholic LOCAL NO. 380 MOVING PICTURE MACHINE OPERATORS UNION Oklahoma City, Okla. MOVING PICTURE PROJECTIONISTS LOCAL NO. 486 I. A. T. S. E. Hartford, Conn. (Sr^ttttgfi atth lest Utalfra from The Officers and Members of MOVING PICTURE MACHINE OPERATORS LOCAL NO. 182 Boston, Mass. University Press in Washington, D. C. This reference was related to the statement that the Lumiere "Cinematographe" was patented on February 13, 1895, in France, and that the name was derived from a French patent issued on February 12, 1892, to one Leon Bouly, who evidently had an idea for a camera which was never reduced to practice. Mr. Card describes the Bouly "Cinematographe" as being patented in France in 1893 or '94, it having been a camera-projector that used an unperforated film slightly larger than 35-mm, with the intermittent taking the form of broken rollers. Authoritative Book Needed The years 1889-94 cover the motion picture experiments of such people as Wordsworth Donisthorpe, W. C. Croft, John Arthur Rudge, William FrieseGreene, Mortimer Evans, Lionel Beale, Georges Deamny and others, most of whom employed unperforated film strips. I agree with Mr. Mitchell that someone should write a book on the motion picture projector covering the years 1889 up to the advent of sound motion pictures in 1927. Roy Brian Peoria, Illinois. Altec Mini Mike Wins Award Altec Lansing's miniature condenser microphone has been selected to receive an Electrical Manufacturing Product Design Award for 1950. This microphone is the smallest ever offered on the market. Its size is smaller than a stack of five dimes. Although not offered until last year, already the Altec miniature condenser microphone has found wide use in the theater, radio broadcast, television, public address and for scientific applications requiring unusual sensitivity. Its small size, which causes it to be practically invisible when used before performers on television and stage and by lecturers on the rostrum, has been one of the outstanding features resulting in its quick acceptance in all fields. 40 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • December 1950