The Moving Picture World (January 1908)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 19 Published Evsny Satubbay. ?ba Worifi Phe-ScgrapMe PnEsSSsaiag Coapaay, How For a J. P. C&almSTSt £csa-c£a5o EfiiSos ca3 Dcsincso Haaagsy. 'Vol. 2 JANUARY 11 No. 2 SUBSCRIPTION: $2.00 per year. Post free in the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. CANADA AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES: $2.50 per year. All communications should he addressed to P. 0. BOX 450, NEW YORK CITY. Net Advertising Rate: $1.75 per inch; 15 cents per line The Cigavette Smoker. Calling on a manufacturer the other day, the question of what to do with the cigarette fiend, as an operator, came to the front, and after expressing our opinion,, we were informed that the representative of a trade circular, combining one or. two remarks, that had been made by others, was making capital out of our reports of fires and other information of like nature. It was remarked that it was bad policy for us, as the leading organ of .the trade, to touch upon such subjects; that several adverse criticisms had been made as to the'propriety of reporting such information; that it had a tendency to frighten off a few prospective customers, and that there was no real danger from fires —at least, if there was, they should, be ignored, because there was no necessity for anyone to learn about them, on the principle that where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. This reminds us of the ostrich, whjch at the time of danger buries its head in the sand and imagines it is safe, forgetting its great bulky body is in full evidence to its pursuers. So long as we have the conduct of this paper, our pen will be used in the endeavor to eliminate all the folly of minimiz- ing that which every honest man in the trade must ac- knowledge is a very grave danger, and inimical to the best interests of those who have the uplifting of the cause at heart. When our editorials on this subject are being reprinted in the fire journals and quoted at meet- ings of the boards of fire underwriters as being to the point; the fact that fire inspectors are writing for our opinion, and that our attitude is being endorsed by our readers, is sufficient proof to us of the need for such reports we elect to publish. The case in point that orig- inated the above, is the recent fire in Joyland Amuse- ment Company's nickelodeon, Hudson street, New York. Benjamin Metzger, a boy nearly seventeen years old, was at the machine, smoking a cigarette, and the film running loose. He throws his cigarette away, it falls onto the film, and a fire is the result of this action. But this is not all. The machine, an up-to-date one,, fulfilling the requirements of the underwriters, is condemned as being faulty. Now,' gentlemen, use your common-sense and ask yourselves, What does this mean ? Is every machine to be again put to vigorous tests? Have you again to fight for existence ? And all the work to be begun again; time wasted; acrimonious remarks made and listened to in silence. Have you to go again, cap in hand, begging the powers that be to grant you a hearing?—and perhaps be snubbed for your pains. Is it right, or just, or sen- sible, to treat you thus? And for what? The folly of a boy who was smoking at work. It ought to be made a criminal offense, liable to imprisonment, for anyone to smoke at such a time. We have advocated, and still insist, that the only solution of the problem is to license the operator, who must be over twenty-one years of age, capable of passing any test submitted to him, and a non- smoker. "Yes," said our friend, "but if you get such operators, you will have to pay them." There's the whole crux of the problem—dollars and cents—and we emphat- ically assert that the man who for the saving of a few dollars jeopardizes the lives of the public, is as big a criminal as the cigarette fiend he employs, and should be held to his full modicum of responsibility. Yes, it means the employment of an intelligent, capable body of men, who know their business. What are a few paltry dollars compared with the satisfaction of knowing there is a man, and not a boy, in the booth? Not only in the booth, but in the workshop. It is still fresh in the minds of the trade how the fire in Attorney street was caused. If not, let us recapitulate. One of the employes was re- winding film and smoking a cigarette; another employe brought three or four reels more and the smoker put his cigarette on the bench in a position for the other man to put the reels of film on to it. Result: The whple place gutted—and in a crowded tenement locality. Honestly, now, ask yourselves, can you wonder at the action of the fire underwriters ? The cause you all know; the remedy lies with yourselves as above outlined. Eliminate the cigarette from among your films. And in conclusion: Don't smoke yourself when you go among your own films. It sets your employees a bad example. Illustrating a Lecture. By Burton H. Albee. Selecting the subject and preparing the lecture are really but a comparatively small part of the work. It is essential, as has been pointed out previously, that the subject be carefully selected and the preparation be as thorough as the lecturer is capable of making it. And yet, in an illustrated lecture, he has done only a part of his work when this is done. The illustrations, which are to appeal to the eye of the audience, are more im- portant than some lecturers appear to think. The mix- tures of good and poor illustrations, or those which par- tially illustrate the subject in some lectures, indicate that the lecturer had no clear idea of what he intended doing, or else did not understand the important art of making text and illustrations correspond. Many lecturers believe they can prepare a lecture and then go to some large slide house and pick out illus- trations. But judging from the botch generally made when lectures are illustrated in this way, no greater mistake could be made. Machine-made illustrations are not suitable. They show that something is wrong.' The individuality, the personal selection and characteristic il-