Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1930)

«y%Mi«;AiK^ir 1930 AMATEUR CLUBS San Diego Begins OVER fifty amateur enthusiasts attended the recent pre-organization meeting of the San Diego Amateur Motion Picture Club in southern California. At this meeting a nominating committee was selected to present a slate of officers at the next club gathering. For the present,. Howard E. Jope is serving as temporary chairman pending the elections. The initial program featured a screening of The Fall of the House of Usher and a talk on color motion picture photography by Max B. DuPont, accompanied by the projection of demonstration reels. Future programs will include the screening of members' films, technical discussions and cooperative filming experiments. The new club has secured excellent press aid. News Of Group Filming By Arthur L. Gale Jersey City Ready . UNDER the leadership of Clarence W. Winchell and William J. Shannon, the new Hudson County Cine Club has recently been formed in Jersey City, N. J. The organization meeting was held in an amateur movie theatre in the home of Joseph A. and Edward G. F. Schlitt of the same city. The meeting, attended by fourteen pioneer members, featured a discussion by Dr. Winchell of the aims and opportunities of the club in Hudson County, a screening of Dark Shadows, first production of the Cine Amateurs of Westchester, and of the amateur in EVERYTHING SWAM ABOUT HER How The Film Guild Of London Cleverly Suggested Illness In Waitress. Wilmington Plans THE last meeting of the Amateur Cinema Club of Delaware, in Wilmington, featured an address on lenses by E. A. Ervin and the reading of a paper on planning and editing city films in preparation for the coming club contest. The contest, open to all members of the club in good standing, limits the entries to two hundred feet on 16 or 9.5 mm. stock. The subject must be the city of Wilmington. A silver cup has been offered as first award by W. C. Spruance, honorary president of the club, with blue and red ribbons going to the second and third place winners. The meeting was held in the new Y. M. C. A. on its opening night. 28 dustrial, The Making of a Steinway. Other films on the program included a comedy and a four hundred foot newsreel, the latter the work of Joseph and Edward Schlitt. Officers chosen are Dr. Clarence W. Winchell, president; William J. Shannon, vice-president; Joseph A. Schlitt, Jr., secretary; Edward F. Schlitt, treasurer. The club plans its second meeting early in December, with R. G. Hanson appointed to arrange for a program in which a clinical screening of members' films will be included. Membership in the Hudson County club has been limited to owners of amateur cameras, with all widths accepted. To Film Mardi Gras MEMBERS of the Orleans Cinema Club in Louisiana are planning to make a film record of the annual Mardi Gras. The film, representing the work of several amateur cameramen, aims to be as complete and interesting a record of this gala event as can be made. A copy has already been promised to the Club Film Library. At the last meeting of the club Headlines was screened and the current film discussed. Ideal Method ABOUT nine hundred attended the premiere of Galleon Gold held recently in the auditorium of the State College at San Jose, Calif. The film, made by the San Jose Players under the direction of John C. Waterhouse, is based on a tale of buried treasure, the rise and fall of stock prices and a competition for mining rights. This fast moving picture was shot at Bonny Doon near Santa Cruz, where the bold cliffs and brush-covered hills gave the background for the action. The scenario called for interiors in an old ranch house but there was no electricity for miles around. Nothing daunted, the production staff rented a twelve and one-half kilowatt generator from a San Francisco electrical house, belted it to a F'ordson tractor and, after a few tentative experiments, the engineering problems were solved. The scenario was planned in advance and the working script annotated with technical directions so that everything possible would be decided before a single frame was exposed. About three weeks were spent ih production. The story, written and directed by John C. Waterhouse, was photographed at all times by three different cameras. In the cast were Dick Lewis, playing the lead, Eurcel Bossi, Ruth Johnson, Bod Smith, Russell Cody and Elgie Ogier. Preceding the production of this feature length picture, the same group filmed a short blood-and-thunder comedy on the same location. In Springfield AN enthusiastic group of amateur movie camera owners in Springfield, Mass., has recently organized the Springfield Cinema Club under the leadership of James V. Zeo. A discussion of the purposes of the club, screening of members' films and a film record of the Springfield Airport made up the program of the first meeting. Nino Moretti is presideint, Lillian Spadoni, secretary, James Zeo, treasurer.