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THE MOTION PICTURE BOOTH
G. FRANCIS JENKINS
The motion picture booth was inaugurated several years ago when motion pictures began to be used in "Picture Parlors." The pictures were popular and the demand for projecting machines grew faster than the supply with the result that even the poorest kind of machine was saleable.
These poor machines with half inclosed arc lamps and the tissue-like film, only then available, was the cause of too frequent fires.
A still further factor of hazard was the type of man who first took up the public exhibition of this new show device, a type of man who did not build solidly and for the future but for a **front" and the quick dollar.
So to confine the fire which was almost sure to ensue sooner or later from this combination of flimsy machine, tissue-like film and careless handling, the fire authorities of a large city inaugurated the booth inclosure of metal or asbestos and the regulation was more or less copied by other cities, the idea being to confine such fire as might occur.
But as years passed the machines improved and the film was strengthened, until today the film is twice as thick as it was at first, and machines are now available which totally inclose the film at all points. The machine manufacturer has, therefore, gone about as far as he can go, and it is squarely up to the authorities to make the handling of the film safe, and this can be done most successfully by making the operator work in sight all the time.
The modern machine and film is not a hazardous combination. Whatever danger there is today comes about by the operator fastening the magazine doors open, by smoking, by failure to immediately return the film to its metal container when taken from the machine magazine after its showing, and such like disregard of ordinary caution. This is recognized by municipal authorities and regulations to this effect are almost universal.
But laws will no more stop such practices than laws will prevent theft; and we all unconsciously confess, daily, that, better than law, the way to protect one's personal property is to watch it.
For the same physiological reason the projection room should be wire-glass-walled on two, or three, sides. And also because it would please the skilled, conscientious operator who is proud of his work and workroom, and it is only fair that this justifiable pride should be rewarded by easier public observation.