Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

REEL and SLIDE 21 Romance of Business-Film Subject How Remington Company Visualized Development of the Modern Typewriting Machine Three Reels Contrast Historical Scenes With Present Day Industrial Magnitude of Processes By J. R. Hessey (Advertising Manager, Remington Typewriter Company) IN producing the two well-known Remington moving pictures, we have seized upon an idea to which no doubt much of the success of our campaign has been due. We have developed two "stories" which combine all the interest holding features of the romance of modern business and which, at the same time, are highly instructive. And we have managed to so interweave the Remington idea in our productions without giving offense to the audience, that the pictures have served as a form of publicity on which we have enjoyed excellent returns. Our two productions are entitled, "The Evolution of a Stenographer" and "The Story of the Typewriter." The former is 2,000 feet in length and the latter 1,000 feet. Both have been produced from the "human interest" standpoint and we have found ready Dramatic incidents in the early history of the typewriter are featured in one of the Remington productions. response even from the owners of commercial moving picture theaters. Pictures offer an excellent opportunity to show the development of such a well-known product as the modern typewriter. We have adopted this idea in our film showning the "story of the typewriter" from the very beginning to the present day, its crude ancestors, its pioneers, its brilliant successes and its moments of failure. Big Demand for These Reels We have developed our story with great clarity so that anybody may get a ready grasp of the facts and we have maintained continunty of interest by im folding the "story" gradually and with the dramatic phases featured in every case. The demand for these two productions in educational institutions and theaters has made necessary the addition of several copies. We have experienced no difficulty in reaching the kind of audiences we desire to reach with our films. As the campaign has proven itself to be a success, we now consider moving pictures an integral part of our regular advertising campaign. The Remington films radiate a strictly Remington atmosphere. The films are institutional and have treated a big subject in a big and interesting way. They were prepared for general publicity purposes. Both films were staged on Remington property — the industrial, "The Story of the Typewriter," was photographed at th;r Remington Typewriter Works at Ilion, N. Y., amid the whirr of the huge machines, and impresses the audience with the vastncss of the typewriter industry. These films are loaned free to any school, theater or other place of exhibition upon request. Originally they were distributed through circuits direct from the executive offices of the Remington Typewriter Company, but recently this procedure has been changed and this work now is in the hands of the Internationa? Committee of the Y. M. C. A., which can handle the routing of the films with greater convenience and despatch, owing to their volume of moving picture business and their past experience in this line. Scenario Plan of Production, "Story of the Typewriter :" "The Std'ry of the Typewriter" depicts the early struggles of the inventors of the typewriter, Glidden and Sholes, in their endeavor to perfect the writing machine. It shows the historic meeting of Remington and Sholes in 1873, and the interest that Remington manifests in the enterprise, which culminated in his agreement to manufacture the machine. Then follow hundreds of feet of interesting views showing how the typewriter is at present manufactured. These views begin with the pouring of the castings for the frames and show the subsequent stages of manufacture up to the finished product. The film also contains views of the Remington employes leaving the factory and sections of the Remington Annual Field Day exercises, held at Ilion, N. Y., in which the Remington factory operatives take an active part. As the typewriter is in universal use to-day in every office, school and many homes, everyone is more or less interested in obtaining comprehensive knowledge of how the machine is made. Scenario Plan of "Evolution of a Stenographer:" "The Evolution of a Stenographer" is an educational .film, relating the experiences of a young woman from her start in business school to the securing of her first position. This film contains much Remington talent — almost all of the characters are typewriter experts of one kind or another, and peculiarly fitted for the part they play in the story. It contains many suggestive and constructive hints to the experienced as well as the embryo stenographer and typist. It is lively and furnishes entertainment. The Remington Typewriter people introduce human interest into their productions. This "field day" scene ivas included in one of their moving pictures