The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Among the Magazines 143 Using Visual Equipment by Dudley Grant Hays in the Journal of the N. E. A. for March fk FTER warning against the too r\ prevalent idea that visual instruc- *■ tion consists of motion pictures, [r. Hays dwells on the great range of isual material available for the teach- rs' use. The purpose of these visual ids is to avoid the danger of "hitching le child's train of impressions to the >ad of symbolic representations found i textbooks. . . . Educators are prone ) assume too rich a background of pre- ious impressions and fail to furnish the Dundant amount of impressionating ma- rials so necessary before they have the ght to exact expression from the chil- ren." Mr. Hays insists upon the high value the stereograph and lantern slide, oints out briefly effective methods of se, and shows that the motion picture nould constitute but a fractional part f the total visual equipment of a school. The article concludes with sound ar- ument in favor of a "central office" to irve a system of schools. This makes [I only for greater efficiency but for astly greater economy of operation. esting and demonstration, assembling, ting, cataloguing, repairing, distribut- ig—everything can be done far better i one single center than through sepa- ite management in each school. Such icilities within reach of all teachers and tpils in the system "yields the greatest rvice at the least expense." Community Movies by Helen M. Scarth in the Outlook for December 7th Ik N interesting account of the success ^-% of a small New England town— ■*■ population 1,021, ten miles from earest city, four miles from nearest novie"—in establishing its own week- ly movies on a more than self-supporting basis. Only good films are shown, al- ways of the town's own choosing, and the programme is run through twice at 6:30 and 8:30 p. m., with an occasional , matinee of films for children. Because the enterprise was not for profit, low rental rates were often pos- sible. The cost of the two perform- ances each Wednesday (including films, pianist, two operators, advertising, rent of hall, express, taxes, etc.) averaged be- tween $45.00 and $55.00. An average attendance of 240 yielded average gate receipts of $70.00. The net remaining is devoted first to paying off the original investment of $1,500.00 furnished by pub- lic-spirited citizens at the start—and thereafter will be used to improve still further the quality of the entertainment. There are thousands of villages in the country perfectly able to do the. same thing. Most of them probably will do it sooner or later. The Romantic History of the Motion Picture (Second Installment)* by Terry Ramsaye in Photoplay for May THE installment begins with Aug- ust, 1894, when Woodville Latham, prompted by the Edison Kineto- scope, started to devise a method for pro- jecting the motion picture upon a screen. Edison was content to leave the motion picture in peep-hole form for the astound- ing reason that he did not think screen projection was worth while! Hence, it was left to others to take this supremely important step. Many worked independently at the problem, all using Edison's film as the point of departure. Latham in New York, Paul in London, Lumiere in Paris, Jenkins and Armat in Washington, were working without knowledge of each other's activities. The writer of this his-