Educational film magazine; (19-)

Covering Industrial Motion Pictures of Educational Value Edited by LEONA BLOCK "THE BIG IDEA" T' HE BIG IDEA is a two reel comedy based on one of the common industrial fallacies that the workman is the sole producer, therefore entitled to the output of his bench. Peter Pringle, an earnest but lightly balanced employee of a shoe factory, is converted to the theories of a group of radi- cals through their pamphlets and literature. He tries to interest everyone with whom he comes in contact, in his radical ideas. The comedy is developed when his wife and friends reverse his teach- ing and take possession of some of his personal property. The garage mechanic uses Peter's automobile because he has repaired it. therefore entitled to drive it. His tailor wears his pants because he has mended them and after many experiences of workmen he employs turning his theories to their advantage, he realizes the impracticability of his big idea. A wise old workman re- monstrates with him and explains the various industrial activi- ties required to produce a pair of shoes, each getting their share of the profit. The men who raise the cattle, the men who tan the hides, the men who transport the leather, the capitalist who provides the factory, machinery and skilled management, the wholesale and retail salesmen who play their parts after the shoes leave the workman's hands, all earn their percentage of profit. The picturization of the industrial evolution of a pair of shoes has unusual educational value and is theoretically convincing. Peter learns the lesson of experience and is willing to resume his old place in the factory, with a keener knowledge and an apprecia- tion of the part he plays in the industrial world. The Big Idea is distributed by Educational Film Exchanges; the scenario was written by Rufus Steele, the well-known writer on industrial topics for the Saturday Evening Post, and directed by Carlyle Ellis. It is a new form of industrial picture, free from all suggestion of advertising and the first of a series on industrial subjects produced for theatrical release. The local theater manager in every manufacturing community should give advance notice, to the industrial plants and organizations of his district, of the dates of exhibition of this series of unique pictures. "NEW WAYS FOR OLD" \TEW WAYS FOR OLD is the first of a series of twelve edu- 2^ \ cational-industrial films to be exhibited in theaters through- out the Southeastern states under a joint arrangement recently made by the Southern Enterprises, Inc., the Southern Railway System and the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. The project is the largest of its character ever undertaken in the United States and has for its purpose the exploiting of the south's resources. The picture will be shown during the course of the year to more than 78,000,000 people. New Ways For Old shows how old farming implements have been displaced by modern machinery, so that the farmer can till with the same amount of labor and time four or five times as much acreage as he could by the old methods. The picture, which is purely educational, was started at the beginning of the farm- ing season last year and completed at the end of the harvest, and shows the preparation of the soil, formation of seed beds, cul- ls tivation and harvesting with the final delivery of the farm products ready for sale. The film was made under the direction of F. W. Heiskill, of the International Harvester Company. Other pictures will show grain elevators now in use in the south, potato curing houses, cultivation of small grain as well as fruit culture, canning and marketing. A film secured from the United States Department of Agricul- ture will be included in the series. This picture shows new ways for combating the boll weevil through the use of calcium arsenide. It shows the preparation of this chemical at the government laboratory at Washington and federal experiment station in Louisiana. The subsequent scenes show its application to fields of infected cotton and contrasts are drawn between treated fields and untreated fields where the parasite is allowed to pursue its unrestrained course. Another conspicuous feature of this educational campaign will be the inclusion of several thousand feet of "safety first" pic- tures, produced under the personal direction of Marcus Dow, of the New York Central railroad, who is known as one of America's leading safety first experts, and D. H. Beatty, superintendent of safety of the Southern railway. ^ 1^ "THE ELECTRIC HEART" ■^TOLUMES have been written to explain to the motorist the operation ' of the automobile storage battery, but it still remains a mystery to many car owners. The Prest-O-Lite company has produced a film, The Electric Heart, telling the story of the storage battery from the mining of the material to the installation on the car. It shows the various manufacturing processes and vividly illustrates the actual operation of the battery, tlie "juice" originating in the plates, passing to the terminals and preparing the "kick" that spins the motor. INDUSTRIAL FILM NOTES THE Westinghouse Lamp Company have three interesting films which they are distributing. One reel shows the work- of their Welfare Department including the educational work, recreation, physical training, health and sanitation. The second reel visualizing the manufacturing process of incandescent lamps and is used for visual training and instructing new employees, in Westinghouse shop methods. The third reel depicts the manufacturing process of incandescent lamps from a scientific and technical point and distributed to technical schools, colleges, and engineering societies. The pictures were produced by Eugene Roder of Roder and Cowen Service Company, New York. One hundred and fifty Santa Fe officials attended a dinner given the Topeka Chamber of Commerce recently and one of the features of the. evening, was a motion picture showing the making of a modern locomo- tive from the moulding of the steel to the fitting and assembling of the parts, producing the powerful engine, known as the Baldwin locomotive. The two reel picture of the Chicago Y. M. C. A. Hotel and efficiency of the Y. Social Service Bureau, produced by the Rothacker Film Manufacturing Company is being exhibited in Y. M. C. A. auditoriums throughout the United States. Ricardo Videlo, representing an .\rgentine railroad, has been at the Rothacker lalioratories editing a film depicting the industries and re- sources of .Argentine which he will exhibit at American Colleges and Clubs. A four-reel picture of the Wayne Oil and Pump Company, Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been sent to foreign countries to show the size and capacity of the plant, the superior workmanship and fine quality of material used in manufacturing the products of the company. The Wayne process of heavy-oil filtration system is visualized in detail. During 1921 the circulation of the films will be used for salespromotion abroad, therefore the titles are in French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian and Dutch. J. L. Barnard, Kineto Company of America, directed the films and the Wayne Company will equip their sales force with these pictures reproduced on the disc records for the new Spirograph projec- tors when they exhibit them in the United States.