American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1924)

Eighteen AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER March. 1924 Reggie Lyons, A. S. C, Re-joins J. Stuart Blackton Department of Interior Films to Fight Disaster Resuming an association that had its inception when motion pictures were really in their "infancy," Reginald Lyons, A. S. C, is once again chief cinematographer for J. Stuart Blackton who has returned to Hollywood after several years in England to direct a Vitagraph production of "Between Friends." a Rohert W. Chambers story, with a cast of notables headed by Anna Q. Nilsson. Lyons filmed scores of Vitagraph productions in the early days of the industry in New York, innumerable notables having appeared before his camera, including Robert Edeson, James Morrison, Dot Kelly. Charles Richmond, Lillian Walker, Clara Kimball Young, .Maurice Costello, -Julia Swayne Cordon. Bill Duncan, Edith Storey, Syd Chaplin. .Mary Anderson. Belly Compson, Antonio Moreno, Alice Lake. Nell Shipnian, Carle Williams, Neal Hart and Arlinc Pretty. Lyons' last vehicle for Vitagraph was "Black Beauty," which commanded wide attention several seasons ago. When Uncle Sam entered the world war. Reggie decided to leave the peace of the studio behind and soon was in Prance on the tiring line, where he arose to the commission of lieutenant and was official photographer with the Tilth Division, A. E. P. Besides being an ace photographer with the A. E. P., Lyons is reckoned as an ace with the motion picture camera, his long list of productions having always stood out as distinct cinematographic achievements. (Continued from Page 17) with it, and the reproduction of the soft focus picture is a sorrowful affair indeed. Small Papers Handicapped There are very few newspapers which can reproduce a soft-focus still effectively, even in the largest cities. What happens when the small town papers, most of which do not even own their engraving plants, endeavor to reproduce the soft-focus picture may be realized by inspecting such a reproduction in the usual publication of that sort. Whenever stills for newspaper reproduction are made as they should be, then an important phase of efficient publicity will be solved. The only way in which the situation of which Mrs. Lawrence com plains is going to be remedied is by having someone directly responsible for the making of stills in every picture. And that person should know just which stills will be filmed for newspaper reproduction, which for bill posters, which for lobby displays or for other purposes. Unsuccessful is the practice of shooting merely an aggregate number of stills which are used indiscriminately for all purposes. Every channel of still outlet should be given the particular attention it deserves and the pictures made accord iugly. The person who is placed in charge of still making should possess something besides photographic knowledge. He should have a working knowledge A lengthy series of vivid and striking educational motion picture films, depicting the mining, preparation and utilization of the various mineral materials, is made more readily available to the public through a new system of distribution, arranged by the Department of the Interior, by which the many industrial films made by the Bureau of Mines may be obtained through state or sectional centers of distribution. Nearly a hundred educational films have been prepared in the past few years by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with industrial concerns. The demand for these films for showing by educational institutions and civic bodies has become so great that the original plan of centralized distribution from the Pittsburgh Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines has become inadequate. A selected list of the best of these films is now made available at twenty-seven cooperating agencies located in the different states. The films relate to coal, petroleum, sulphur, iron, ;isbestos. zinc, marble, copper, natural gas and other minerals. A series of films depicts most vividly such industrial processes as the manufacture of oxygen, the making of tire-clay refractories, the manufacture of automobiles, the methods of compressing air, the quarrying of limestone, etc. Other films illustrate dangerous and safe practices in mining, efficiency in the combustion of coal, the utilization of water power, and the operation of a gasoline motor. The following is a list of state distribution centers, to which interested persons should apply for information : University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Ark.; University of California. Berkeley, Calif.; Department of Visual Education. Los Angeles County Public Schools, Los Angeles, Calif.; University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.; University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.; Bureau of Visual Instruction, Chicago Board of Education, Chicago, 111.; State University of Iowa, Iowa City. la.: Iowa State College. Ames, la.; Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.: University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.; State Normal College, Natchitoches, La.; 1'niversitv of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich.; State Department of Public Instruction. Lansing, Mich.: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.: 1'niversitv of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.: Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi. A and M. College, Miss.: University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Nebr.; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, N. J.: State Department of Education Raleigh. X. C. : Educational Museum, Cleveland. O. : University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.: University of Oregon. Eugene. Ore.: Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics.. Brookings. S. Dak.: University of Texas, Austin. Tex.: University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Utah.: State College of Washington. Pullman, Wash, and University of Wisconsin. Madison, Wis. (Continued on Page 19) of the engraving processes to which the still will be subjected. He should look at his subject from a newspaper editor's point of view as well as from his own pictorial perspective. He should know what kind of stills make good bill posters and what kind make good lobby displays. In short, a trip through a modern engraving plant and a newspaper office would do him no harm.