Business screen magazine (1938)

{Coiitiiiiicd jrom previous Page) l)i)tli the New York and San Franciseo Fairs earn National Biscuit the accolade for superb showmanship and what will undoubtedly prove to be among the outstanding selling accomplishments of the World's Fair year. Animation certainly has its day at the Fairs. General Motors, Metropolitan Life. Aetna, Planters Peanut, Addres.sograph, BromoSeltzer, Paraffine and the California Prune-Growers are among the sponsors of animated subjects. The prize-winning Once Upon a Time. Metropolitan Life's humorous fairy-tale of safety education, is ])rcsent at both Fairs. The Rromo-Seltzer exhibit brings a iirwconier, young Douglas Leigh, into the producing realm with an animated cartoon talkie embodying the same technique for which liis two animated cartoon signs on Broadway in New York are famous. A weekly audience of over l'>.').(l()l) ])ersons is .said to be recorded regularly before the six-byeight foot screen which is the label of a huge bottle of Bromo Seltzer. ♦ From tliis jKiiut on the Fair films seem to divide into two distinct classifications with a possible third for eomiiarison. First there is the pulilie relations film without diject bearing on the company's business such as Maefailden's /'// Tell the Wolrd and the Household Finance r(unpany's feature attraction, lluppilji Ever After with its aceoniijanying straight-entertainment subject. An Ei^ening witit Edgar A. Guest. The second group would inchule onl.y those straight .selling indu.strial presentations such as Yale & Towne's Httndred Horse po wer Hands and Horn e Dejence; Coty's Si/mphonies in Fragrance and Air-Sp}tn Flattery jiir Your Face: Johns-Manville's NEXT ISSUE: THE COMPLETE WORLD'S FAIR SURVEYS — II and the 1938-39 SELECTION of FILM SUCCESSES series of industrial-educational films showing uses for J-M products and Hills Brothers Cinecolor feature. The Story of Coffee. The possible third group would erabrace showings such as General Electric's Excursion,^ in Scie7ice, Du PontsIFonrfer World of Chemistry and the familiar LTnited States Steel color subject Men Make Steel. It is difficult though to separate these groups from this point on for all selling is comparatively "indirect" although the fruits of the showing may directly benefit the sponsor's business. Safety education benefits the insurance companies, improved public understanding helps the loan company, the steel corporation, and so on. It is also hard to find any fault with the many film showings. If any exist it is in the failure of a few to take full advantage of the medium's educational and entertainment force. This is one of the visible hazards of an over-arty animated subject, of a tedious unrelieved industrial of the "factory run-around" type. Fortunately there are few of these since the majority of subjects were entrusted to skillful, experienced producers. HollywiMxl "entertainment" producers have nothing of consequence on exhibition: practically every movie ami slidefilm is the work of a recognizctl commercial "major" and the results, in attendance and interest, seem to prove that the client and producer both knew their business and how to tell other folks about it. ♦ While most of the film stdijects at the World Fairs are acceptable entertainment (with a few notable examples to lie di.scussed later) , the New York Fair grounds offer .some of the finest examples of mechanical stupidity of operation and all-around bad showmanship to be found anywhere. The editor of Business Screen vLsited most of the well-publicized showings and interviewed many of the projectionists. As a member of these audiences, seeing excellent films prepared for entertainment, he was as sadly disappointed as they must have been at the careless operating technique. These findings have been borne out strongly in the careful survey and complete film now being concluded. Exhibitors accepted full union supervision and rates and are obviously finding that professional projectionists supplied them are less qualified to operate the average 16mni. equipment than schoolchildren. Careless .supervision of .sound is the most obvious failing. Although excellent equii)ment is available, apparently little attempt is made to check the reception of the picture and .sound, within the auditin-ium when each day's showings are begun. These failings in operating technique should be checked for the audiences cannot otherwise fail to carry away a bad impression of the whole performance. ♦ A vote of thanks goes to National Biscuit for helpful cooperation accorded Busi7iess Screen's fair representative. From the Simplex projector to the DaLite Screen to the Frick Air Conditioning to the 'id'i American seats, the National Biscuit show is a shining example of co-ordinated planning. (ABOVEJ PRODUCtR DIRECTOR JACK NORLINC SUPERVISES PROOUC. liiiii •<( llir Uinc-iliiiicnsiiiiial Clirysli-r film. In Tune Willi Timiinnnv anil I l»(■l(^^v J \ iliatzrain illiistratinfz the projection lerlini({Ut> cmijloyed for tliis picture. (Illustration courtesy of I'hoto-Tcchniqlle Mafiaziuc) T h r e e D i m e n s i 0 n s with Polaroid (Make 1 11 e Assembling of a Plymouth a Dramatic Hit POLAffo/D FILTER f\j\N^ ELECrmcALLY '"tehlocked DRtV£ * Playing to capacity at e\ery show, the Loncks and Norling-produced three-dimensional movie In Tune With Tomorrow is one of the outstanding hits of the New York World's Fair. Presented in the Chrysler building theatre, the "stereo" film introduces Major Bowes as commentator and proceeds to show the assembling of a Plymouth car. Parts appear to hang in mid-air: are thrust forward as if floating above the heads of the audience anil then magically assemble themselves into the finished automobile. On a "shooting script" based on the breakdown of the Plymouth ear. producer-director Jack Norling painstakingly developed the unusual sec|nences which are set to specially written music. George Steiner and Phillip Shell) wrote the score for the musical "action." For example the musical visualization of a .squad of bowlegged Scots on parade illustrates the situation where tires roll in, wobbly. Every foot of the animation was taken by stop-nioliou. Other "firsts" for this producer include the first use of dialogue shown in stereo ami the first use of stereo color. 18 Business Screen