American cinematographer (Sept 1937)

358 American Cinematographer • September, 1937 TIME PAYMENTS HERE T IME marches on, we are told, and so at last Time Payments openly have marched into the field of camera equipment and all its accessories. It will be a good thing for the rapidly expanding commer- cial side of photography. It will mean larger sales of more quality equipment. It will mean that the new-comer in the amateur field, the man and wom- an just “getting their teeth” into this fascinating thing, will yearn for more complete apparatus, for the stuff with all the gadgets, and they will make plans for turning in their lesser and what they will forthwith construe as outmoded material for the more up to date. One of the manufacturers of a less expensive equipment now is re- ported to be running on an average from ten to fifteen thousand units behind his orders. We know that one new small camera of a standard manufacturer, one costing approxi- mately with the stock lens about $60, was behind orders following an- nouncement of its coming. The natural result expected of the time plan would be a falling off in the purchases of cheaper units and the shifting of the buyer to the more expensive classes of equipment. We incline rather to the belief there will be little lessening in the buyers of the lesser units. The shift will come in the number of owners of lesser units, having served what in their opinion is equivalent to an apprenticeship with the cine camera, will now as- pire to guide the movements of cam- eras equipped to do bigger and better things. And don’t try to stop a man from buying the particular brand of a hobby on which his heart is set. But now these thoughts bring to mind a remark heard not forty-eight hours prior to this writing, made by a man who may be credited with be- ing measurably in the know: that the largest manufacturer of sub-normal low-priced equipment was laying his plans for adding more expensive lines to his present product. That sounds now like the Time Payment Plan marching on! ▼ RARE PICKER OF SPOTS R OBERT BRUCE for many years has been entertaining—and all unwittingly and most painlessly at the same time educating—the great picturegoing public. His scenic shorts have played second to nobody’s. Dur- By GEORGE BLAISDELL ing the month at one of the Holly- wood Boulevard houses was a single reel Technicolor exposed in Ireland. The title did not catch the eye. It should have been something about the Emerald Isle anyway, for emer- ald it was. Seemingly there is noth- ing in the United States, not even in New England, that can begin to match the deep green of Ireland’s grass. Surely it would require a rare scene to stand out in the memory following such a riot of water and sod, farm and village, plain and hill. One there was, with camera pointing down hill, of a brook deep enough to show no sand under it and recording only the colorful water, tumbling straight as a string and in uniform width up the left side of the screen. F'or a hundred or more feet to the screen right of the brook there was a carpet of the old sod, and then be- tween that and a highway a few scattered cottages. This is another one of those many times when words are pale, inadequate; but likewise it is another one of those times when those sitting out front for a moment unashamed step out of their shell and applaud with genuine heartiness the work of men with film and cam- era and developer and printer. T 16 MM. CLUB HAS COLOR A T its August meeting the Los Angeles 16mm. Club members were given a treat in color. There was a journey of two couples to Hon- olulu with a lot of Kodachrome to be exposed. And they did it, to the delight of their friends. The evening’s exhibition was closed with a showing by Fred Champion. It was a long geographical itinerary, as the majority of humans rate these vacation things, and the pictures also were in Kodachrome. The scenes were of the coronation, of rural England and Scotland and a jump to France. The shots of the coronation this reporter has been fortunate enough to see hitherto were of newsreels and Contrasty Diet When work and means mean pork and beans Like quail the days will fly! When work that’s mean means empty jeans Like snail will hours drag by! August, 1937 G. B. in black and white. With the news- reelers handicapped by their lack of color in the photographing of this most colorful pageant and the An- geleno advantaged by the possession of it, the reporter frankly and un- equivocally liked the amateur’s the better. Who will deny, by the way, that the newsreel will come in for a draw- ing power as yet entirely unknown when it is able to put on a mantle of color? These scenes of English and Scot- tish small town and country life pos- sessed rare educational value. Very likely already the authorities of the Hollywood Motion Picture Forum have learned of the existence of these pictures and are laying plans to se- cure them if possible for the 1938 conference. With them also they should ar- range for the presence of the pho- tographer in the role of lecturer, for he qualifies in talk as in photography. The club members and their guests had been warned if the program ex- tended beyond their self-allotted time it would be all right for them to depart. The show lasted until 11:15. So did the audience remain while the projector turned. ▼ LAUGHTER FOUNDED IN NATURE F ' OR steady audience laughter that for ten minutes at least never lets down, that ranges from chuckles to roars, major producers gladly will pay from fifty to a hundred thousand dollars. They will pay it gladly, knowing that at the box offices of the world that investment will be re- turned easily tenfold. Yet that same laughter is one of the most elusive things conceivable. It is as unpredictable as the weather. Its volume usually is in proportion to the surprise that at- taches to the act wh ; ch stimulates it. There was a striking example in Paramount’s “Exclusive” when old Reporter Charlie Ruggles, maudlin and obstinate, insisted to young City Editor Fred MacMurray, likewise maudlin and obstinate, the interior light of an electric icebox was ex- tinguished as the door was closed. Charlie reiterated. Fred’s gaze was glued to the icebox door. “Hahdayehknow” demanded the tall boy. It was a perfectly fair ques- tion. And one of the funniest screen se-