The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

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October 1956 CINE TECHNICIAN 147 In this issue of the Journal we celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of one of the most important events in the history of A.C.T.T., the foundation, on October 15, 1935, of the Laboratory Section PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES THE LABS /^kNE of the pleasures of belong^-' ing to a young Trade Union is the number of opportunities it gives us for celebrating 21st anniversaries. Hardly had we wiped the last crumbs of A.C.T.T.'s coming of age cake from our lips when we found ourselves tucking in to the General Secretary's. And now in this very same year the Laboratory Section have twenty-one candles on their birthday cake. Soon, indeed, the calendar of A.C.T.T. will be like that of some Latin countries where every day has its patron saint and, of course, its holiday (with pay). Apart from the major festivals of Action Day (A.C.T.T.) and St. George's Day (Gen. Sec.) I look forward, to mention only two, to the feasts of St. Edward (Editorial) and that charmingly feminine saint St. Constance (Continuity). But of all the Sectional Red Letter days by far the most significant is Lab Day. Incidentally, whether or not our Lab members will see fit to celebrate it with a modest display of fireworks — not excluding rockets — in certain darkrooms, we may safely leave to their discretion. But, speaking seriously, the founding of the Laboratory Section is one of the most important events in A.C.T.T. history, if for no other reason than that from it sprang all other Sections, and I would like to be the first to offer my own warmest and most sincerely felt congratulations to the Lab Section on attaining its majority. I do so all the more enthusiastically because my work has been entirely in the studios. There used to be a myth, now long extinct, that the studio workers and the lab workers were somehow two entirely different bodies. I can even remember in the dim past being asked why lab workers should belong to an Association of film technicians. Why indeed — since they only have the trifling responsibility for seeing that all the work of Writers, Directors, Producers, Assistant Directors, Cameramen, Editors, Continuity, Art Directors, Composers, Actors, MakeUp, Hairdressers, Wardrobe, Electricians, Carpenters, Plasterers, Riggers, and Wardour Street ever appears on the screen at all — let alone the quality of its appearance. Nothing makes me personally more angry than the suggestion — admittedly hardly ever made now — that there is any division between the studios and the labs except that they do different jobs in different places. Different jobs, yes — but on the same end product and involving just as high a degree of technical craftsmanship. There is no division in our work, still less is there in our solidarity, as recent history has overwhelmingly proved. We in the studios know how much we owe not only to your technical skill but to your splendid Trade Union fellowship and support. I hope and believe that you feel the same way about us. We are — and in many ways what a blessing it is — a small union, for that gives us the chance to know each other as individuals, but for those in the labs and studios who are not shop stewards or on the General Council personal contact is difficult. My own wish for the future is that this difficulty may be overcome, for I know from happy personal experience that one ounce of friendship is worth a ton of resolutions. I would just like to end by once again wishing our Laboratory Section many happy returns, not only on behalf of our studio members but on behalf of A.C.T.T. as a whole. While you continue to gain in strength and prosperity so will A.C.T.T. as a whole. ANTHONY ASQUITH Anglo-American Film Agreement Once again the Anglo-American Film Agreement has been renewed unchanged. Last year in this Journal we had to draw attention to the opportunity that the Government had missed of taking steps to improve the position of the British Film Industry. This year the Government has let another golden opportunity slip by, and on this occasion, too, it has completely ignored the advice tendered to it in the joint statement prepared by the six film unions. One is tempted to wonder; do the Government want a healthy British film industry at all, or could they not care less? For the record we reproduce here the text of a letter sent to the President of the Board of Trade by our General Secretary on September 20th. " My Executive Committee at its meeting last night noted that the Anglo-American Film Agreement is due for revision. We very much trust that the forecasts of the negotiations which have appeared in the Press are inaccurate and that the Board of Trade is not intending merely to {Continued on page 148)