Business screen magazine (1946)

the camera eye VIEWPOINT AND COMMENTARY BY O. H. COELLN The PR Film, It's Past, Critical Present and Challenging Future In October, 1955 we observed the 10th anniversary of the PR Journal as that esteemed and authoritative periodical's guest commentator on "What's Ahead in PR Media — Films" with a piece titled "Dividends from the Golden Screen." This Camera Eye column salutes the JOURNAL on its 25th anniversary with another overview on the developments in sight/sound communication which we hope will be equally well read as the Public Relations Society of America holds its 25th annual conference coming up November 16-1 8th in Atlanta. 1970 is indeed a year of momentuous happenings for the corporate and professional public relations practitioner; the PRSA meetings at the Regency Hyatt House should reflect both challenge and opportunity! Tliat decade before '55 was illuminated by notable PR film successes. Alcoa's Unfinished Rainbows outdrew Gone With the Wind in its time and had been seen by over 50 million persons. Weyerheuser brought the story of forest conservation to nearly 57 million viewers at a cost to this sponsor of less than a penny each as Green Harvest showed in theaters, on television and among myriads of 16mmequipped group audiences. It was the time of Modem Talking Picture Service successes in distribution, with other distributors such as Association-Sterling and United World helping to bring the medium to audiences throughout America. We reported the development in that era of then-new techniques of presentation such as industry's weekly "Movie Day" employee showings. Both labor and management agreed that such noon-hour shows in plant cafeterias, etc. were beneficial, tension-releasing and wholly enjoyable. Wisely, management didn't attempt to "preach". Films we'll always remember through the early years of this 25 year time span include Sinclair's Miracle in Paradise Valley, a farm safety winner; And Then There Were Four, a timeless traffic safety subject; In the Beginning, Mobil Oil's epic treatise on the Grand Canyon; and International Harvester's great film story of Man With a Thousand Hands, showing people and machines carving out a tremendous hydro-electric project in the British Columbia wilderness. General Electric foresaw the future problems of water pollution with Clean Waters, which brought nationwide community action through the installation of new civic water filtration plants. It wasn't always the "box-office" attraction that earned public respect for the film medium: the American Cancer Society was bringing adult and young women the vital message of cancer prevention in a notable series of Audio-produced films that eluded Breast Self -Examination. That single film was to save a life every time it was shown! The first version of this notable film was produced in 1950; a new version was completed by Audio in 1962 and it is still going strong. This was the era of some very good Champion Papers' films and in 1956 that company raised some serious questions about corporate morality and the need for communication to its publics and its employees in Production 5118. That company's PR director, "Cal" Skillman set the tempo for corporate community relations objectives with his 1958 comment: "We want our films to show people we're a good guy with good intentions and with the know-how and experience to put these intentions into action." And in that year, Squibb showed us how potent the film medium can be in recruiting young people for the nursing profession with Helping Hands for Julie, expertly put together by Henry Strauss Productions. Career guidance, even more vital a topic today, was the theme of a '58 Ethyl-sponsored film, Pick Your Tomorrow. Cancer research was the content theme of the Sloan Foundation-sponsored Horizons of Hope, produced by John Sutherland. 1958-1959 began the era of modern World Fairs, in a sense. Oddly enough, the American-originated techniques of multi-screen were envisioned at the Moscow Fair of 1959 as Charles Fames unveiled Glimpses of the U.S.A. with the showing of 2,200 still and moving pictures within a 12-minute time span! That era had begun the previous year at Brussels; it was to continue with Seattle's "Century 21" of 1962 for which Fames created his memorable visual introduction to the U.S. Science Exhibit, utilizing seven projectors to cover a 34-foot concave screen wall. Peckham Productions closed that U.S. Science show with a 30 X 100-foot visualization of Infinite Horizons. Lessons in mass audience presentation learned at Brussels, Moscow and Seattle came to fruition at New York in 1964, were doubled in score and expression at "EXPO" in Montreal and reborn at Japan's recently concluded Expo-70 show in Osaka, attended by 65 million persons. Fairs of world scope or statewide Continued on next page OCTOBER, 1970 17