The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

May, 1923 Visual Instruction Association of America 219 film. He further said that many teachers in various parts of the country were now engaged in making tests and that the Committee had already begun to collect these. Dr. Rowland ftogers of Columbia University was introduced as one who had worked most zealously for the Visual Instruction Association. He began by saying that if the field cff motion pictures were to be represented by a circle, one small segment about the shape of a slice of pie would represent the entertainment portion, the balance of the space being taken up with films in schools, churches and the home. Doctor Rogers stated that though visual education was very new, many excellent films were already available, including films on such subjects as Geometry, English, Sciences, the Classics and Fine and Household Arts. He mentioned these merely as examples of types of many educational films which are actually available. He stated that there is the need of finding out and that this association was trying to determine whether motion pictures, first, can promote efficiency in school work; second, whether they can reduce the cost of teaching; third, whether they can reduce the time required in teaching, and said that the members of the Visual Instruction Association are of the opinion that all three purposes can be accomplished by motion pictures. Mrs. Oliver Harriman, President of the Camp Fire Girls, spoke briefly of her interest in motion pictures and stated that the educational film had deep significance for her as the leader of a large number of girls who are members of the Camp Fire Girls' organization. As an evidence of the power which the visual appeal has to the young person, she cited the example of her own boy who was so intensely interested in seeing "The Passion Play" at Oberammergau, that he remained in his seat after the performance entranced by the impression it had made long after others had left the place of exhibition. Mr. Sidney Morse was introduced as Chairman of the Legislative Committee of the Visual Instruction Association of America. Mr. Morse outlined the efiforts being made by the Committee in helping to secure the enactment of the Steingut Assembly Bill pending in the New York Legislature, permitting the use of standard-size, slowburning film on portable projection machines without the need of a booth and licensed operator. He thought the bill had a very good chance of enactment. He also told of the formation of the Motion Picture Chamber of Commerce (Non Theatrical), which is in process of organization and of which he had been designated as Temporary Chairman. Dr. A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools, was introduced as the man who had secured the enactment of a law in New Jersey allowing any kind of film to be used on portable projection machines in classrooms of New Jersey under the supervision of the Board of Education, without the need of the booth. Doctor Balcom spoke of the success which had attended the use of motion pictures in the schools of Newark, particularly since passage of the law referred to, and called attention to the fact that there was really no danger from film fires when the use of the projectors were supervised hy competent people and that no trouble of any sort had developed in the schools of New Jersey since the law had been enacted. Miss Rita Hochheimer, Assistant in Visual Instruction of the Board of Education, and Secretary of the Visual Instruction Association of New York City, told briefly of the work of visual instruction in the New York City schools and the beneficial results attending the work of the Association which she represented and which had brought together in New York City on an equal footing producers, distributors and users of educational motion pictures, with the result that makers and users of films had come better to understand one another's problems ; the makers of films were producing pictures better suited to school needs ; the distributors were handling these films in a way better suited to the demands of both producers and users; and the school people were not, on the other hand, making impracticable demands, but were working with the producers on a more practicable basis, and were getting much better service than under the conditions existing before the Association began to function. Hon. Will H. Hays, President of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association, was the last speaker at the luncheon. He stated at the outset of his talk that he thought the most important element for the development of educational films was the organization of the urge. He expressed the great interest which his association had in the educational film, and as an evidence of this fact stated that the two purposes outlined at the organization of the association were "Establishing and maintaining the highest possible moral and artistic standards in the motion picture production" and "Developing the educational as well as the entertainment value and general usefulness of motion pictures." He declared that, as a fore I