The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

September, 1942 Page 253 screens to the War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry for the "dating" of war fihns. According to Dr. Gallup. 32,000,000 of our people seldom attend theatres. A large segment of them will be reached by OCD films under a "public availability" service, such as supplied by the Los Angeles Defense Council Film Bureau. Under this plan, all types of community organizations have the privilege of borrow- ing films and projection facilities for their meetings. Now Mr. 32,000.000 may not be a movie fan, but he is usually a member of some kind of organization. In this highly complex modern society, everybody belongs to something. If he is not a Mason, he is an Elk; if neither, he has a grange card, a union card- or she has her reading club or service group. Both men and women have their company associations, and of course, their churches. The program chairmen of these varied groups are constantly on the alert for material to present to their meetings, particularly in wartime. Be assured that in Los Angeles, this service is gaining wide usage. Visual Education For Civilian Defense In Los Angeles Let me now describe in some detail the Civilian Defense use of the educational screen in Los Angeles. On December 8, 1941, Visual Education was a highly important guest at the Civilian Defense party. On the one hand were the public and volunteer workers clamor- ing for authentic information and practical training methods on what to do, and how to do it! On the other hand was visual education, able to answer most of the questions, and ready with a score of films to answer them immediately. But the location of these films was a mystery only an expert could solve, and the means to project them was an even greater mystery. In short, there was the universal demand for screen education, and there was a supply of films, projectors, and operators. But liaison between the two was non-existent, and over all lay the problem of feasible financing. To face these problems and supply the answers, the Defense Council of the City of Los Angeles authorized the creation of a "Film Bureau," under its Morale and Public Relations Committee. The Film Bureau is devoted exclusively to the educational film. The financing problem was quickly settled. An in- vitation to leading business men and executives in Los Angeles resulted in an overflow meeting at which films were shown and the plan presented. Enthusiastic ap- proval followed, the financing was underwritten by the business group and the Film Bureau was able to con- form to Defense Council policy of not handling any money. The Film Bureau first proceeded to comb every film list we could lay our hands on. We found scores of valuable films available, all the way from the local OEM office to the British Ministry of Information in New York City. Of all, these were selected for immediate service in Los Angeles: Fighting the Fire Bomb. London Fire Raids, Safeguarding Military Information, War and Order, Stop That Fire, Women in Defense —and the entire OEM list. There were roughly 275 sound projectors in the Los Courtesy Bell & Howell Uo. From the British film, "London Fire Raids." Angeles area divided into three main groups: the pre- ponderant group owned by the Public School system, a large group in the hands of commercial firms and institutions, and a group scattered among private in- dividual owners. The use of school projectors was facilitated by the fact that most Civilian Defense meet- ings are held in school auditoriums, by design of the founding fathers of OCD. Those projectors could be borrowed by proper application to the Board of Edu- cation. The remaining projectors were registered into a voluntary pool, under Mr. Walter Evans, a pro- fessional volunteer, as Director. He also pooled ex- perienced volunteer operators, and is preparing a course to train additional volunteer operators with the aid and cooperation of the school system. The Film Board took the policy of being a service organization, sujiplying the needed liaison between demand and supply. That is, we stocked and facilitated the showing of the above films for the Wardens, Auxiliary Police, etc. We did not initiate their ex- hibition ; we did not cover the city with each film in a rigid program. Rather we arranged showings at the request, and under the direction of the Defense Of- ficials. This was important, because it enabled the Police Department and Fire Department, for example, to coordinate the films into their own training program. Within the first four months of operation the Film Bureau supplied 419 bookings to a total audience of approximately 116,750. These figures can be broken down as follows: Civilian Defense Corps Units ac- counted for about 60% of bookings and audience; Los Angeles Public Schools (Students, Teachers, PTA), for 20% of bookings and 28% of audience; General Public (Private Schools, Clubs, Organiza- tions, etc.), for 20% of bookings and 12% of audi- ence. This circulation will be increased, and we an- ticipate reaching everybody who should be reached in Los Angeles County within two years or less, unless a speedy end to the war terminates the Film Bureau function. Ultimately the largest audience will of course be the General Public, once our machinery is in opera- tion. Such results are a tribute to the power of the educational film. The above circulation was accom- plished, mainly, with only 18 prints! Under the system of allowing the group captains to ^-^call for the films one day and return them the next. we find that our prints of Fighting the Fire