American cinematographer (Sept 1937)

September, 1937 • American Cinematographer 359 quences of the month was well on its way. The mirth of the foregoing was overmatched if anything at the Au- gust meeting of the Eight Millimeter Club when one of the members screened a single reel 8mm. picture photographed by himself. The sub- ject was the result of taking his camera into a barber’s shop and re- cording from start to finish with the aid of such light as came through the windows his young son’s first haircut. The laugh started with the initial snap of the scissors. Seemingly every one of the hundred persons in the Bell and Howell auditorium was contributing to it. The little fellow certainly was concerned as to the plans of the smallish man in the smock. The child very probably was frightened, plenty, as any child had a right to be. The face remained as cold as Charlie Ruggles’ icebox. But it revealed its owner was taking no chances on what the man hovering around planned to put over on him. There was nothing much behind that great mirth of a hundred per- sons for ten minutes other than the expression in the child’s eyes. While his head was held stationary there was no restraint on the eyes. From right to left they rolled in the effort to keep within their range the fleet- ing figure of the barber, to keep “tabs” on him. The little fellow was out of the chair and several feet away from the man in the smock before the dead pan relaxed a trace. The barber had put his hand in the cash drawer and slipped something into the child’s hand. Then as the distance between the two widened the smile came. And the applause began all over again. Who shall say these amateurs can fail to experience a genuine thrill when through the simplest of ways— the mere recording of the everyday, natural things we humans do—they bestow so much pleasure on so many of their fellows. V A VETERAN PASSES W HEN death took Carl A. (Doc) Willat August 6 there was re- moved from the world of the motion picture one of its veteran workers. Doc Willat entered the employ of Vitagraph in 1900, at the age of 21 years. The production company at that time was a small organization, but it was to grow in the coming fifteen years into the greatest motion picture stock company in the world. In all of that expansion Doc Willat was in the forefront—on the produc- tion and business side. The condi- tions that obtained in the distribu- tion division of the young picture in- dustry are inconceivable to film men of today. Not alone was it necessary to make pictures as attractive as pos- sible for a clientele that was far from established. It was necessary to adopt every ex- pedient to prevent competitors from securing possession of a positive print and surreptitiously “duping” it and straightway sending its offspring to the corners of the earth. And naturally there was no compunction on the part of those who had been robbed in robbing back. Those were warm times. It is quite understandable why the various com- panies sought to protect themselves by exposing somewhere in every scene their trademark or some identifying symbol. They all had one, whether it was Biograph, Vitagraph, Edison, Lubin, Selig (its founder still with us here in Los Angeles) or Kalem. Exterior or interior, that identify- ing mark could be spotted somewhere. Its adoption put a crimp in the dup- ing industry, but it did not prevent it altogether. The world is wide. Doc Willat was a mine of informa- tion as to the practices and malprac- tices of earlier days. The film man attained prominence in the Vitagraph organization and in other companies as well. At one time he delved deep into color. He married the daughter of William (“Pop”) Rock, the older of the triumvirate of Vitagraph owners. The two remaining mem- bers of the firm which started Vita- graph over forty years ago, Messrs. Smith and Blackton, are living in Hollywood. “Pop” Rock was a picturesque showman and a moneymaker. Just prior to his passing, if memory serve something over fifteen years ago, he was rated the largest owner of real estate in Brooklyn and possibly also in New York. ▼ CAPTAIN BRADLEY VISITS C APTAIN JOHN G. BRADLEY, chief of motion pictures and sound recordings of the National Archives in Washington, accompa- nied by Mrs. Bradley, was a Holly- wood visitor during the end of Au- gust. While the captain was on vaca- tion bent, nevertheless he renewed a number of acquaintances during his few days here. As it happens—and quite logically and naturally, inci- dentally—that he also is chairman of the Engineers’ Society’s committee on film preservation, it may be set down our visitor is one of the great au- thorities of the world on the subject of preserving and protecting film. It is all a new field, this protecting of film—that is, in the scientific man- ner in which the Government is ap- proaching this vastly important sub- ject. There is every reason to be- lieve, as the captain and his staff delve into the problem, that while they are growing in knowledge in this new science the motion picture indus- try steadily and increasingly will benefit and profit from their work. In the years to come we are going to hear much of the National Ar- chives, of the men who guide it, and of their methods and researches. Four major universities and three major motion picture studios already have called on the captain for ad- vice and assistance in the framing of their structures designed for the pro- tection of property which, through being irreplacable, is priceless; and which with protection that may be created is ageless. It is interesting to note that sit- ting at Captain Bradley’s desk while he is on vacation is his chief aid, that well-known photographic vet- eran Carl Louis Gregory. ▼ WHO SAYS ‘PARNELL’ IS WEAK? P RIOR to M-G-M’s release of “Par- nell” and during its initial exhibi- tion stages some of the chatterboxes and sounding boards who condescend to keep us informed as to just what’s what in picturedom damned it with exceedingly faint praise. It was even declared that Gable was not up to his usual stuff, yes, in one instance there was something about being “weak.” One of the September big- gies chorused in the same vein. It fell to this reporter to look in on the subject during the past month. There is no hesitation on this writer’s part in taking issue with these dis- senters and in language the politeness of which or absence of it is dictated and restricted by the circumstances. Of course we all recall that in America there were many persons who stood with the British Govern- ment against that King of England who later with great celerity was transformed into the Duke of Wind- sor. It’s a safe bet a scratch imposed on one of these would produce the same results as on the skins of those who took a swat at “Parnell.” Dis- tinctly that screen biography is not J. B. propaganda. Anyway, this reporter wants to register the thought that if Gable ever quite touched the elevation he reached in “Parnell” he was not so fortunate as to witness it. The play- er’s work will have repercussions not anticipated by the croakers, for by reason of what it uncovered in the way of unsuspected ability it will lead to assignments which without that knowledge never would have been considered for him. Gable had an ambundance of com- pany, off the screen as well as on it. All departments gave to its making a full measure of their best, not for- (Continued on Page 400)