The Moving Picture World (May 1908)

THE MOVING'PICTURE WORLD 389 naught. Some of the men'have played one-night stands, and anvone cognizant of the requirements for such a tour knows that a man must know his business to hold his job under such conditions. It is also understood .that a part of the examination enforced by one of the Boards, and which,has been responsible for the failure of some of the veterans, as they may be called, is directed to the applicant's knowl- edge of the equipment of a machine as required by the local regulations. In other words, he is shown an ap- paratus that the authorities conducting the examination know does not comply with the regulations in say fifteen or twenty particulars. Some of the unsuccessful vet- erans could only point out six or eight. Getting down to fundamental principles, it is very doubtful if a refusal of a license for such a lack of knowledge is justifiable. In the first place the equipment of an apparatus does not rest with the operator. He is not the responsible person. It is the exhibitor who is answerable and it is the duty of the official inspector to determine whether or not the apparatus is equipped according to the regulations. If it is intended that the license is issued to the applicant to have him do the work of the inspector as well as the operator then such an examination would be proper. But no such intention has been contemplated. The license is a permit to operate a machine and, the operator is not accountable for any compliance with eqipment regulations until after his machine is set up and passed upon by the duly authorized inspector, and then only when the inspector declares through the regular channels that on account of certain defects or violations the machine must not be used. In such an event he must respect the notice. He owes this as a duty to himself, to nobody else. If he ignores it he must expect to lose his license. It is not intended to criticise any Boards that have conducted examinations on the line referred to, but rather to point out that the examination takes up valuable time that could be directed to better learning the real qualifica- tions of the applicant. Let him take a dissembled ap- paratus and set it up ready for operation, including the making of all connections, whether for electricity or calcium gas. Too much time cannot be expended on this branch. Let him be closely questioned as to his knowl- edge of the different electrical currents that are met with and how he would act and operate under the various contingencies. These and many more questions of a similar character will bring out the defects and good points of the applicant and they have not only a direct bearing upon the real qualifications, but also test his experience, good judgment and resources. When This line is followed out it becomes perfectly proper to ask him why this or that appliance is required to be placed on a machine and he should be able to tell, but it is not fair to have him struggle in the dark over something in which he is not really concerned. Editorial Notes and Comments Local Operators* Union. Two representatives of the Boston Local Union called m this office in the early part of this week and informed us that an Operators' Union had been organized in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan. Harry Danto was elected president and Louis Kuhn, secretary. AH operators who wish to join this,union should send their ^fP 1 ^ a «d addresses to Mr. Louis Kuhn, secretary, 245 West 37th street, New York City. . Judging from the tone of a letter in our correspondence columns, a mutual protective association is needed among the lantern slide makers just as bad as it is among any class of men connected with the moving picture business. Who will take the initiative and start one? * * * Pythagoras said: "Ridicule is the argument of fools -and ignorant persons." Socrates said: "The minute a fool finds himself contradicted he offers a wager, and in ninety-nine times out of a hundred he is wrong." The man who never bets is sometimes not afraid of taking long chances'. These chunks of mundane wisdom are respectfully referred to those who are fond of quoting Scripture out of place. * * * Next week the Lessons to Operators will be resumed, Hans Leigh will tell what he knows about Condensors and Carbons, and Mr. Wm. H. Hamilton will answer the question, Has the Moving Picture Business Come to Stay? Mr. Reader, you who may not yet have entered your subscription to the "World" or placed your order with your regular news dealer, DO IT NOW, before it again escapes your memory. * * * Our attention has been called to a statement in the Views and Films Index that the original model of a cinematograph camera on which is based the claims to priority of invention and consequent rights, was really stolen from C. Francis Jenkins. If this is so, why does not Mr. Jenkins come.forward and claim his own? This is a serious allegation, and if Mr. Jenkins can prove the statement, it will set at rest many anxious minds. * * * We cordially invite the attention of the daily press to an article on another page on the "Safety of Moving Picture Theaters." When we asked the writer of this article to submit his views on the matter it was while the public pulse was palpitating with excitement over the scare headings in the press in reference to the Boyer- town disaster. Knowing the great harm this business suffered by these and other distorted reports of acci- dents, in.no way attributable to the moving picture ma- chine, we invite full and free quotation from the article, in common justice. Our readers will be supplied with any number of reprints of the article if they desire them for distribution. * * * It is not the man who keeps up an uproar, making a noise all the while like a ten thousand dollar bill, tha't is always in at the finish of the race. He shoots ahead for a time, but the man who keeps at it, gaining steadily inch by inch, is always the winner. If the hare had not stopped to take a sleep under a shady bush he would have won the race, but the tortoise won because he kept at it. It is well to observe that the proverbs of Esop are just as applicable to-day as they were a thousand years ago. No one seems to realize this better than Mr. George Kleine, and he is certainly slowly but surely planting his foot all over this broad domain. Keep at it, Mr.