Business screen magazine (1967)

The Sight and Sound of History: (CONTINUED FROM THE PREChDlNG PAGE 43 ) tic colonial dress meets visitors and takes them into Heritage Hall, a smaller companion building. Here, in the Little Theater, an impressive soimd-slidcfilm presentation, given maximum effectiveness with Spindler & Sauppe projection equipment, sets the psychological stage for what is to follow by showing some historic high-spots in man's unending search and struggle for freedom. On the short walk between the buildings, visitors learn some of the details of construction and the problems of duplicating Independence Hall. Authentic Reproduction of the Liberty Bell Their first stop is the Tower Room, where they view the Liberty Bell. Sitting majestically on its cherrywood pedestal, the 2,075-pound replica is just five pounds lighter than the Philadelphia original. It is identical in appearance even to the bolted crack in its side. The story of the original — its burial under the floor of a church to prevent its capture by the Redcoats, its cracking on July 8, 1835 as it tolled for Chief Justice Marshal — and observation of the duplicate gives the viewer a sense of awe pretty close to reverence. Hear Delegates Speak in the Assembly Room Next, the tour enters the Assembly Room with its homespun-covered tables where the signers of the Declaration sat to debate its points. The visitor has a place at the back of the room, and as he settles into it his guide touches a control. The overhead lights go down and out, and the table candles come on. Voices enter the room. One of particular strength comes from the front; Thomas Jefferson. From nearby there's a responding voice: Button Gwinnett? or perhaps John Hancock? Then another from across the room .... The voices come from the places where the signers sat, playing on the sound-screen to create what, for many, approaches a near-visual illusion. The visitor is hearing a portion of the debate just before the signing of the great document. John Adams paces the four sides of the room, footsteps and voice moving together. Outside, the Revolutionary War is in prog ^ ■ ^^1i HI |l~H~ u 1 ^^^^Al^^^H ^^^B^9 4_*^^l JBIa^M HI Wahcr Knott {at riiiht) chats ivith producer Phil Stuart in front of Independence Hull. Visitors gaze with reverence at a replica of the Libertij Bell within the Tower Room. it * ii .\t left: closeup of Ampcx audio equipment used for Stereo-Rama Fourteenprogramming. .\l right: hroin center of lite .wund system, simihir to equipment u-icd for space satellites. Both of Ampex tape machines and the complex controls are rack-mounted within the projection room on second floor of the Hall. ress. The town crier, bell in hand, announce; the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown. A fife and drum corps marches past. There's rain and a bell ringing, and it clearly swings towarc the chamber, then away .... Re-Living the Emergence of This Nation So tremendous is the sound's effectivenes; that the visitor's hair most often "stands u[ on the back of his neck". It's a reminder tha there's nothing corny or "square" about indfr pendence and freedom, about patriotism anc Americanism. Unfortunately, the spell must be broken. I lingers, though, as the visitor goes on to tht Supreme Court Room, just across the hall Here is the Betsy Ross Flag, an original am contemporary copy of the Declaration of In dependence — one presented to signer Georgi Ross, whose direct descendants gave it to Mr Knott — and other association material. Deserved Tribute to a Bold Visionary The temptation is great to tell the stop of the construction of the West's Independ ence Hall, noting the problems of duplicatin] not just the physical appearance but even th. materials of the structure, while meeting build ing codes in effect 230 years later. The purpose here, however, is to pay tribut to a businessman who has returned a larg. chunk of income to the public in unique form and to tell how the imagery was achieved. A indicated, the goal wasn't just a recollectioi of the physicaf setting but an over-shoulde look, with the clock turned back for a feelin; of what must have gone through the delegates minds as they made the monumental decisioi to declare for independence. Stereo-Rama Fourteen For this part of the project, Mr. Knott turno to motion picture producer-director Phili Stuart, who also is known for his work in de velopina technical innovations in the enter tainment field. The result of the assignmer was the stage-setting introductory sound-slide film, and then Stereo-Rama Fourteen — a worl premiere, uniaue in sound accomplishmen' and solely attributable to Stuart. The brain center of Stereo-Rama Fourtee is a bank of specially-designed and built An 44 1 1 'hk "'J ' . II I ' BU SINES >S SCREEl