Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

16 REEL and SLIDE Thousands of Methodist Churches to Show Show Films to Get Money for Their Equipment Moving Pictures LEADERS of the Methodist Episcopal Church crossed the continent to ask David Wark Griffith to become their adviser in introducing motion pictures into every church of that denomination in the country. Dr. Christian F. Reisner, executive chairman of the Methodist Minute Men and prominent member of the Centenary Committee, acted as the spokesman for the church in the conferences with the famous producer. When the plans of the church mature, it will become one of the most important film distributing concerns in the world, having more churches in America where screens will be maintained than there are motion picture theaters at the present time. A producing organization will be controlled by the church. For this service a vast sum of money is to be raised, but arrangements will hardly be completed for the installation of the motion pictures in the church buildings this year, as every church is to have a hall equipped with projecting machine and screen. When interviewed in Los Angeles for Reel and Slide Magazine, Dr. Reisner said: "The time has come for the church to enlist the best brains of the wrorld and the most effective forces of education and entertainment. For that reason we are after David Wark Griffith and motion pictures. "We recognize Mr. Griffith as the dominant genius of this tremendous force, and we recognize motion pictures as the most powerful medium for general entertainment ' and education. Mr. Griffith is one of the world's very greatest men. We have asked him to advise with us regarding our plans, and we hope to have even more benefit of that remarkable mind. "The church, and by that I mean all Christians and, further, all who worship God, must acknowledge Mr. Griffith as the greatest preacher the world now provides, because he addresses the multitudes, millions upon millions, with a force that only genius can apply. "The world is very much better for having seen Griffith's films and I hope that his work has only begun. At this time society needs Griffith more than it realizes, and I am sure only dimly appreciates the vastness of his influence. I feel the church is most fortunate in having his cooperation, and I can wish nothing better for it than that it might have his assistance." The creation of a bureau of child hygiene, under the State Board of Health, was urged in a bill introduced recently by Mrs. Anna Saylor, the woman legislator from Berkeley, California. Assemblyman Saylor's bill provides for the establishment of clinics, the distribution of charts, slides, films and literature for the use in State Normal schools, orphanages and before women's clubs. It further provides for the education of the community to the value of birth registration, of the use of sanitary milk and the prevention of infant blindness through the use of these mediums. Presenting a summary of the work of American camoufleurs in the war, Maximilian Toch showed slides to illustrate his technical points in an address before the^New York section of the American Chemical Society recently A motion picture illustrating the work of the child welfare department of the State Council of Defense of Connecticut was shown at a meeting of the department in Bridgeport recently. The Hamilton Club of Chicago gave a motion picture show for the children of the members. "Fit to Win," a public health service film, was shown recently to the students and faculties of the professional schools of George Washington University, Washington, D. C. L. G. Turney, principal of Grammar School No. 6 at Oswego, N. Y., is giving a series of illustrated lectures on American war activities. The Central Baptist Church of Bristol, Tenn., has purchased a motion picture machine and will show pictures every Friday night. The entire ten reels of "Boy Scouts to the Rescue" were shown for the first time by the Boy Scouts of Oakland, Calif., at the Claremont School there. For the purpose of raising money with which to buy visual instruction equipment, the junior high schools and the seventh and eighth grades of the grammar schools at Allentown, Pa., recently gave two entertainments when the motion picture, "Paul Revere's Ride," was shown and Rev. Silas D. Daughtery of Philadelphia delivered a stereopticon lecture on "Panama, the American Link That Binds." One entertainment was given in the afternoon for the students and the other in the evening for the students' parents. Later a similar entertainment was given in the afternoon for pupils of the fifth and sixth grades. "Paul Revere's Ride" was shown again and H. R. Ruch gave an illustrated lecture on "Children the World Over." The program was repeated in the evening for pupils of the third and fourth grades and their parents. Shows Slides on Trees as Memorial for Heroes Illustrating his remarks with stereopticon slides, I. C. Williams, deputy forestry commissioner of Pennsylvania, told the Brotherhood Bible class of the First Presbyterian Church in York, Pa., that trees would be the finest memorials to American heroes who fell in the war. A long avenue of elms, each tree to honor a man, was one of the illustrations. Slides Used in Health Campaign for Negroes The city health department at Columbus, Ga., is using lantern slides in work among the colored population. Lieut. Hoskins of the United States Public Health Service was a leader in carrying the message to the peopfe. He spoke in the African Baptist Church on one occasion and showed with the slides the various kinds of diseases that were the principal enemies of the colored race. A large number of other speakers addressed audiences elsewhere. Will Have Largest Movie Screen in World The largest movie screen in the world is to be one of the features of the Methodist Episcopal Centenary celebration at Columbus, Ohio in June, which will follow the conclusion of the drive to raise $105,000,000 for social welfare and world betterment. The screen measures 90 by 100 feet. The pictures to be thrown upon it will depict native life and mission projects in the Orient and other parts of the world. In addition to the moving pictures more than 60,000 stereopticon slides will be exhibited during the exposition. L. D. S. University Adopts Motion Pictures The Latter Day Saints' University of Salt Lake City, Utah, has adopted motion pictures, both for class room and entertainment purposes. A large machine has been purchased for feature films and a smaller one for the class rooms. In presenting features an effort will be made to obtain picturizations of notable literary works. An outline of the educational films has not yet been made, but the university aims to show all films applicable to any study in the curriculum. Catholic Church Gives Film Shows Weekly Deciding to benefit his parishoners by showing the right kind of films and at the same time to realize funds for the church, Father Stachowiak of St. John Cantius Church, Indiana Harbor, Ind., purchased a projector and is now showing motion pictures in the church every Sunday. The first feature presented was the Catholic film, "The Victim." Admission charges are twenty-five cents for adults and ten cents for children. Shows are given Sunday afternoons and evening both. Everett Dean Martin, director of the Cooper Union forums, conducted under the auspices of the People's Institute of New York City, has just been elected chairman of the National Board of Review. Prof. Rubee Pearse, landscape specialist of the agricultural extension department of Iowa State College, is working out a plan for photographing farmsteads. Prof. Pearse has recently been discharged from the aviation service and is going to utilize some of his knowledge of aeronautics by applying it to aerial photographs to be taken from a captive balloon. Rev. W. H. Whear of Lanesboro, la., and Rev. A. M. Banker of Moulton, la., have installed projectors in their churches during the past month. Both are using the free educational film service supplied by the Visual Instruction Service of Iowa State College.