Cinema News and Property Gazette Technical Supplement (1924-1925, 1943, 1946)

Supplement to THE CINEMA NEWS AND PROPERTY GAZETTE. May 28, 1925. TOPICS OF THE TIMES. BY THE MAN WITH THE OIL RAG. Comparisons arc said to be odious, but they are sometimes devilish pertinent. A correspondent writes me that the cinema operator works an average of fiftyfour hours a week, while the musician works only twenty-four hours a week, hut yets higher wages than the projectionist. Possibly ! And the exhibitor works all the hours that God sends in order to yet the money to pay them both ; and he yets — more kicks than ha'pence. THE GARDEN PARTY. The Cinematograph Garden Party in aid of the Trade Benevolent and Provident Fund is going to be an even bigger success this year than last. The venue is the Royal Botanical Gardens, as last year, and the date, Saturday, July 11. It is unfortunate that, being on a Saturday, operators and other workers on the technical side of the business will not be able to share in the festivities of the occasion, but they have a very real interest in the success of the affair, having regard to the fact that the Benevolent Fund embraces every worker in the industry. Posters are to be exhibited, and tickets will be on sale at hundreds of cinemas ; let me urge my good friends, the technical staff, to sell tickets right furiously. If the management haven't any on sale, write to J. Brooke-Wilkinson, 167, Wardour Street, W. 1 ; he will see you are well supplied. MELTING MOMENTS. One or two nights last week played havoc with the smaller cinemas sans mechanical ventilation. In one such, the humidity of the atmosphere caused a veritable river to trickle down the surface of the screen. This fact somewhat perturbed one patron, who, in passing out, remarked to the manager: "Lummy, guv'nor, it's hot in there; even the blinking screen has started to melt." A WISE SELECTION. I noted with the keenest regret recently the retirement from the General Council of the C.E.A. of that astute showman and doyen of operators, Matt Raymond. There is a lure about the screen that is not easily shaken off, and I venture to predict that we shall, ere many moons have waxed and waned, see Matt hack once more in the counsels of the elect. In the meanwhile, the London and Home Counties Branch may well be congratulated in securing as its delegate to General Council, Ralph Davis. An experienced exhibitor, controlling several of the finest picture theatres in the London area, he combines a shrewd business brain with a charming personality. Here's a health to him in his new office. " SARKY "— WHAT ! They're getting rather insistent about the enforcement of that stupid regulation of the L.C.C. that " A " films, although quite fit for persons under sixteen who have their nurses with them, are taboo to those who haven't. A South London manager, who happens to be of a " nervy " temperament, spotted a somewhat diminutive figure in the semi-darkness of the back seats. " Pardon me," he inquired, fearful lest a breach of the regulation had been inadvertently committed, " are you over the age of sixteen? " " Well ! I am not quite sure," was the reply, "but I'll send my grandson round with my birth certificate when I get home." ONLY ONE MORE. It was some minutes past starting time when the doorman came to the manager and said : " There is a policeman asking for you, Sir." The manager's face lighted up. " Put him in a seat, John ; if we get one more in we can open up the show." And such is summer-time. THE CONFERENCE There should be wild times in Glasgow on June 29, for is not that the opening day of the C.E.A. Annual Summer Conference ! The restless energy and the open-hearted hospitality of the Scottish chiefs of the exhibiting side of the business leaves no room for doubt as to the heartiness and enthusiasm of the welcome awaiting the members when they get there ; and, moreover, there will be a real "business " programme. The British delegates to the American Exhibitors' Congress will have returned by then, and it is understood that a preliminary report of their activities will be presented during the Conference. Those who are going would do well to get into touch with the secretary of the Scottish Branch, in order to get their hotel accommodation booked. A JOINT VENTURE. A story reaches me anent a kind of communal or co-operative picture show in the provinces, at which