The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

October, 1923 Among the Producers 423 ¥ a $15,000,000 building go up in sixteen minutes. The film will also be available to engineering and architecture organizations, contractors' conventions, and any other elements interested in such a picture. Can a Good Picture Make Good? IRWIN WHEELER, who operates theatres in Mamaroneck and Rye, N. Y., has evolved a subtle line of exploitation which enables him to book with confidence good pictures of the class which the majority of exhibitors shy away from as being "over their heads." Manager Wheeler's method, as he explains it, amounts simply to an appeal to the selfrespect of his patrons. Having satisfied himself of the merits of a production, he books it, and then in his announcement of the attraction he puts this question to his patrons: "Would you like to see a picture which the producers and some of the critics say is too good for you?" The answer, M^r. Wheeler says, is practical and conclusive, made in person at the ticket window. The subject was further elaborated as follows: "The idea that producers have that you must work down to the public is absurd. I have broken records with pictures that were supposed to be box office failures. 'T got out a four-page herald on 'Nanook of the North' and told my people it was distinctly an educational picture, an appeal to the intelligence, and I have broken two records with it. My patrons came and thanked me for showing it to them. 'T believe that you can build up in any community a love for better pictures. When we have to run, as we do, half a dozen trashy pictures for every good one, we hurt our audiences by keeping them away, because they get so sick and tired of trashy pictures that it is hard to get them to come back for a good one. You have got to get the confidence of your audience, and you can't do that by telling them that a poor picture is good." The Courtship of Myles Standish NEARLY two hundred delegates from the anual convention of the National Education Association passed through Los Angeles on their way home from San Francisco and were extended the courtesies of some of the motion picture studios. They found that some of the makers of films are making an honest effort to raise the level of their art and make it an educational force in the right direction. One of the forthcoming productions, in which the delegates took an especially keen interest, was the ten-reel picturization of Longfellow's poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish," produced by Charles Ray Productions, Los Angeles, Calif. Through the influence of some of the teaching staff of the Los Angeles public school system the delegates were permitted to see many important shots in this historical photoplay. The showing was attended with much enthusiasm because of the growing interest in visual education, which received large attention at the San Francisco convention and the need of films with both entertainment and instruction values. After witnessing the preview, Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Visual Instruction, New York City, sent the following letter to the producer: My dear Mr. Ray: Permit me to acknowledge with sincere thanks your courtesy in giving me the opportunity to preview your forthcoming picture, "The Courtship of Myles Standish." This is a most commendable undertaking. It is just this type of plays that will be welcomed by the better class of patrons — plays that have both a literary and an historical value, yet so constructed as to be full of dramatic interest. The artistry and photography of your production seem to me superb. It is clear that you have spared no pains to be authentic, to the last detail, in your historical presentation. Best of all, you have not destroyed, but rather enriched and enhanced, the beautiful Longfellow legend. You are to be congratulated. Sincerely yours, ERNEST L. CRANDALL. Microscopic Films AN amazing exhibition of movie films made in Pelham at the studio of Dr. Charles F. Herm was given recently before a group of noted scientists at the Pelham Picture House. The exhibition was private being principally a demonstration of the marvelous aid which can be afforded to science now by the new micro