Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1916)

42 Making a Million Dollar Picture was difficult to prune down and eliminate acts, which, if it had not been done, would have furnished a show longer than the famous Chinese plays — plays that last never less than a week for one performance. The bill, as finally presented, set forth a variety of acts that were each notable of their kind, and aroused the vast audience to a high point of enthusiasm. The band from the Royal West Indian Regiment was present, and furnished the incidental music. His Excellency Sir William Manning, governor general of the island, and his worship the mayor, as the program described him, were the honor guests, each occupying boxes that they had paid five hundred dollars each for. The black population packed the big galleries, where Electrician Jimmy Sullivan had installed a battery of spot lights to illuminate Miss Kellermann's ballet number, which was the bright particular spot of the entire bill. Nearly every artist on the Fox staff contributed their talent, and made a wonderful success of the affair. As the governor general declared, amid the storm of applause, it was "the greatest show ever seen in Jamaica!" A vote of thanks was tendered Mr. Brenon for the entertainment, which resulted in the handsome receipts of nearly four thousand dollars. Some days later, I collared Johnny Schneiderman, who is in charge of the laboratory work in William Fox's Jamaica plant. "Howt do you ever manage to get good films in this tropical climate?" I questioned him. His answer should be of unusual interest to all lovers of the photo play : "The perfect development of film and the proper care of it in tropical climates has heretofore presented a practically insurmountable obstacle to the producer of the feature pictures, for which reason such perfect and exotic scenes as those presented by the Island of Jamaica have not been utilized. Since being engaged by Mr. Fox to supervise the erection of an analytical department in order to secure the most perfect moving-picture prints hereto turned out, I have made a careful and detailed study of the conditions surrounding picture making in the tropics. "One of the most important matters to be observed is in the shipping of the raw film from the point of production, for, if the raw film is shipped from the manufacturer already perforated, it will have a decided tendency to shrink, as the air of the tropics is almost sure to penetrate the shipping cans. For producing a film which will result in perfect projection, the perforation should be made upon the spot when working in tropical climates, as otherwise the shrinkage of the film will cause a great deal of unsteadiness when projection ensues." Greatly interested, I asked him to what use they put the refrigerator plant that has been installed. "Our refrigerator plant is a very important factor in securing perfect results, as the temperature in Jamaica is very rarely lower than eighty degrees, but with the developer and other chemicals controlled at sixty-five degrees through the use of our refrigerator, we are able to get the best results. "Mr. Fox has had installed a filtration system which removes from the water all dust, dirt, deleterious matter which might have a tendency to affect the perfect development of the finished picture. My analysis of the water here discloses the fact that it is strongly alkaline. Such being the case, we must reduce the strength of the carbonate of sodium, and it is important that this work be done at night, as the air conditions then are much better for good work in the laboratory for the purpose