Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1945)

Dear Subscriber: Please put a marker here and pass this issue on to Projection Room CINE' CLINIC PRACTICAL DISCUSSIONS ON MODERN PROJECTION AND SOUND PRACTICES The '■“-^EFORE taking up the next instalment in the baffling case of “Who done it?” may we print a little message from one of our boys overseas. It comes from Cpl. Tom J. Maloney (remember our “Overseas Edition” recently), is postmarked “Germany, 3-11-45” and reads as follows: “Just to acknowledge with thanks the airmailed tear sheets on my printed letter of request for information pertinent to postwar planning. You can rest assured that .lot only myself, but other individuals are waiting to see what sort of response it will arouse. We are very content with your handling and presentation of the subject and want to thank you and staff for your assistance and interest in our problem. To know that we have staunch supporters and men in our field still interested in us and our problems is a wonderful morale booster. Many thanks for the help. Such treatment makes Boxoffice and staff our lifetime friends.” You’re most welcome, Tom! * * * Now my dear Dr. Watson, pass us the needle and we'll go back to work on the master thriller, “The Mysterious Case of the Cue-Markers” or “Who Punched a Hole in the Henhouse Door?” Admit one Proj. Gene Ross of Trinidad, Colorado, who contributes testimony as follows: “I’ve just finished reading the mighty fine letters by Herb James and Ritz Miller in your March 3rd issue. Since the subjects involved were of general interest and seem to be matters of perennial argument, I’d like to submit a few observations I’ve made in the past years. “In the matter of film damage, the exchanges blame the theatres, the theatres the exchanges, and sometimes both of them accuse the film carriers. I’m not sufficiently familiar with exchange practice to know just how they handle film, but it’s logical to assume they do their share of the damage. It is only human to become careless at times, and then is when things get torn up. I’ve visited exchanges on several occasions and what I’ve seen leads me to believe that they are not nearly so careful as are most projectionists. Then, there Mysterious Criminology ol the Cue-Makers by A. CONAN CONDUCTOR are the film delivery companies, whose drivers sometimes are most considerate of the more or less fragile shipments they handle — but more often than not they are inclined to be just a little bit too rough. “The natural wear and tear on film in projection and handling in the projection room puts the projectionist in a position where he must shoulder his share of blame. So it seems to me that film damage can be pretty well shared three ways. But when it comes to film mutilation, a thing quite apart from ’damage,’ there is one place and only one place to criticize — the projection rooms in charge of those careless, shoddy operators Herb James describes. “We have in this territory someone (I w’ish I knew who) who punched every changeover with a punch about the diameter of a good-sized lead pencil. Naturally, when a print like this is received, the only thing to do is remove those marks and substitute cues of our own. Then there is another one who puts frame size ‘V’ marks starting about thirty or forty feet back from the standard cues — and worst of all it’s done with a black grease pencil, which is just next to impossible to detect without actually screening the reel. But on the screen, oh, brother! it really shows up. Another guy scratches his cues on the left side, but not being content with obliterating the picture, does likewise with the sound track. Acts like these either reflect a lack of training, or selfish carelessness. “Something should be done to put a stop to this wilful film mutilation: but a National License law won’t do it. The exchanges could, though, by replacing film mutilated intentionally (and it’s usually pretty obvious when it is intentional), and then charging the offending operator for the replacement and labor involved. Likewise, any print on circuit should be inspected and if such mutilation is found, reported at once to the exchange: repaired as best possible, and charged for. If some of these boys with the punches had to pay for their pranks in hard cash, we could soon see the end of it. “A great deal of criticism has been leveled at managers paying wages below the level of common decency; but isn’t it really the operators themselves at fault in most instances? If they are willing to accept POSTWAR PROBABILITIES Equipment Dealer to Prospect: “Now that you’ve seen the Skinflex Television Projector (with the translucent plastic blister turret top) I’d like to show you the new model BazookaBrengut Sou?id Projector, also designed especially for operation by projectionists who have returned from overseas. You see our factory really wants to make the boys feel at ease when they get back on the job again.” 24 The MODERN THEATRE SECTION