The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 234 The Educational Screen NEWS AND NOTES CONDUCTED BY JOSEPHINE HOFFMAN National 16 mm. Exchanges Planned The first national 16mm motion picture conference was held September 21 to 26 at the Hotel Victoria, New York City, under the auspices of the 16mm Motion Picture Board of Trade. More than 100 products in the 16mm field were on display, including cameras, sound projectors, film, screen and other equipment. An important announcement was made at the conference by Mr. A. D. V. Storey, Executive Secretary of the Board of Trade, to the effect that ten exchanges handling 16mm film will be opened in key cities at an early date. Five equipment manufacturers are scheduled to finance these exchanges, stated Rudolph Mayer, President of International 16 mm. Pictures. Mr. Storey gave some interesting data on the 16mm field. He stated that fully 300,000 projectors have been sold in the United States, exclusive of another 100,000 of smaller type movie machines that are termed toys. As quoted by The Film Daily, Mr. Storey says that there are now more than 1000 versions of silent films, and more than 400 of talking films, that have been reduced from pictures that have appeared in the theatres, now available for the 16mm market. Art Course Makes Use of Motion Pictures The 1931-32 circular from the Woodbury Training School in Applied Observation, Boston, Massachusetts, includes a course of 20 lessons on the "Art of Seeing," in which the students make drawings from motion pictures. This practice has proved effective in that it leads to improvement in motion and proportion and removes fear and hesitancy in drawing. Stage Puppet Play at Safety Congress "Our Gang", of movie fame, were portrayed in a puppet play at the Home Safety session of the Twentieth Annual Safety Congress and Exposition held>at the Stevens Hotel, Chicago, October 12-16. The great mechanical strides made in accident prevention were also visualized in an equipment exposition. The United States Navy provided one of the features of the exhibit with its extensive display of life saving equipment. The Bureau of Mines also was represented with an interesting and educational exhibit. Two New York Schools to Install Radio, Public Address and Talking Picture Equipment The increasing importance and interest in supplementary aids in teaching has been pointed out by innovations to be adopted in the new Port Chester High School, Port Chester, N. Y. and the Brooklyn Technical High School of Brooklyn where arrangements have been completed for the installation of Western Electric Sound Systems, Public Address Systems and radio distribution. In both schools the talking picture reproducing equipment will be in the main auditorium to allow for visual and oral education through the speaking film and for the showing of subjects of special pedagogical, historical or industrial value. The Public Address System, in both schools, will be placed in the auditorium for sound amplification and to assure the intelligible transmission of sound to all parts of the hall. Radio distribution will be made to all classrooms. In the case of the Brooklyn institution this involves 130 distribution points and in the Port Chester School 67 distribution points. By means of this radio distribution special announcements can be made from any central point to all rooms of the building at the same time or special radio programs can be broadcast to one or more classrooms at any time. At the Port Chester High School two receiving sets are being installed allowing for the broadcasting of two separate programs in different classrooms according to varying educational needs. A double turntable to run special records that can be broadcasted from the main auditorium to all classrooms is also being installed in the Port Chester school. Geographic News Bulletins The National Geographic Society's weekly Bulletins for teachers — The Geographic News Bulletin — will be issued again this year, beginning in early October. Teachers who wish this Bulletin service should send their applications to the Society's headquarters in Washington D. C, as early as possible. The Bulletins are issued weekly, for thirty weeks of the school year. They embody the pertinent facts for classroom use from the wealth of geo