The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 16 The Educational Screen try clubs and firehouses. Hotel ball- rooms are so frequently used for public gatherings that the more active ones possess their own standard theatrical machines. There are several small theatres in mines, far underground, to provide recreation for workers. World War No. 2 brought many other under- ground sorts in air raid shelters. One of these was mentioned on an earlier page. In fact, in almost every place where human beings congregate, it will be found that some attempt has been made to catch their attention with motion pictures. And a surprisingly large number of these places is ready to show films regularly through the long, unceasing efforts of George Zeh- rung and his Y.M.C.A. Motion Pic- ture Bureau. As long ago as 1910—and for aught I know there may have been earlier instances—a project was afoot to show films in railroad stations on the same screens which announced the trains. That particular one concerned the Pennsylvania Railroad, which con- sidered a possibility of trying it out in the Union Station at Pittsburgh. Of course, this form is now in active use in various cities. There is one little theatre of the type, opened in 1937, at Grand Central Station in New York City, and several years earlier was instituted the one operating at the South Station in Boston. The ex- periment of entertaining diners with films has been tried, less prominently but quite as persistently. A recent example was the trial by "The Talky Sandwich Shop," at San Diego, Cal- ifornia, in 1931. In 1936 the Paramount Court Restaurant, adjoining the Para- mount Theatre in London, exhibited newsreels. Then there were the ro- tisserie at Jackson, Mississippi, and a beer garden in New York City, which used films in the spring of 1936. In 1939 the New Jersey State Alcoholic Beverage Commissioner approved the exhibition of films in taverns; in 1940 authorities of Worcester, Massachu- setts, banned movies in places serving liquor. The transportation centers and their related activities have never ceased in their attractiveness to showmen. Among these, ships, for obvious rea- sons, have been most receptive to films, and seagoing projectors have long been known. In May, 1910, Pathe was jubilant because five of its pro- fessional projectors had been installed on as many U. S. battleships. In 1912, transatlantic passenger boats of the French Line were showing pictures on the high seas and, in November, 1913, A. H. Woods, the stage producer, in one of his many side enterprises, in- stalled machines on ocean greyhounds of the Hamburg-America Line. The Italian Line followed suit in the sum- mer of 1914. The military transports, of course, had film exhibitions aboard throughout the First World War period. In 1920 the American S. S. Martha Washington installed movies. There seems to have been less favor given to the plan at first by the Pacific shipping interests, but publicity earned by the film equipment of the S. S. President McKmley when it sailed from Seattle, in 1923, apparently broke down all remaining West Coast barriers. American ships have generally ob- served tlie U. S. land fire precautions in such installations, but I have been shocked in even late years at the care- less violations of ordinary common sense in this resjiect, in the equipment used for nitrate films on many foreign passenger vessels of allegedly modern tyiJc. Before 1923 the exhibition of nitro-cellulose film was forbidden on ships of Ignited States registry, but in that year the adoption of recommen- dations of the U. S. Bureau of Stand- ards opened the way for tlic proper, autliorized use of both nitrate and ace- tate. Of recent years, Orton Hicks. of New York, conducted a prosperous business by supplying 16nnn film en- tertainment for ships. Exhibitions on railroad trains have not so far been steady occurrences, when intended merely to amuse the I'.assengers. W'hen the exhibition cars have been used as traveling lecture lialls, however, they have been popular and have given excellent service. It is said that the first car movie "theatre" was operated by the New York Cen- tral Railroad to show instructional films to its employees in various parts of that system. Early in 1914 there was a car of the sort moving on the lines of the Chicago & Northwestern. The Canadian Government used a similar car early in 1917 to spread lessons in safety. But what appears to have ])een the first American entertainment movie for passengers in transit, was remarked in 1923 on the Chicago & Alton Railway. In all events, tlic Railway made that claim for it. At the same time I note that, about February, 1915, a concern called Ki- netic Films was organized at Buffalo, N. Y., to show films on trains. Also, knowing how actively Pathe Freres worked to realize every conceivable use of motion pictures in the earliest years of the industry, I suspect that its projectors must have gone on trains at least as soon as they did on battle- ships; and I should not be surprised to learn, therefore, that the railways of France represented the actual pioneers. I should look for the facts in the his- tory of the French Pathe Company, which did it many times over the years. The most recent Pathe ex- amples shown by my records occurred in May, 1936, when the English ex- press train from London to Leeds was equipped, and in March of the same year, when machines and films were provided for the express from Leeds to Edinburgh. In December, 1935, the Coast to Coast Railroad Theatre Corporation, with an idea of service modeled on that of the dining-car system, was formed at Albany, N.Y. Incorporators were Oscar Rubin, Goldie Stahl and Mollie Schnee. In May, 1936, an- nouncement came from Minneapolis that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad would show talkies on its three crack Western trains from Chi- cago to Denver, using dining-cars after mealtime. Test showings, over a two- weeks period, involved questionnaires filled in by the passengers, and de- cided, among other considerations, that an admittance charge of twenty-five cents was proper. Seating capacity was thirty-eight persons, and the equipment was 16mm. Theatrical sub- jects were shown, and a marked pref- erence was evidenced for musical comedies. The Burlington officials were reported to be immensely pleased with results, and were said to have planned the addition of a number of exclusively anmscment cars to their rolling stock. But the other railroads in the Conference for that zone, asked them to drop the plan for the time, indicating, however, that after further study it mi.ght be resumed. "First" sliowings in any unusual places are most likely to be mere press agent stunts. Such was P. W. Campbell's exhibition of Harold Lloyd's comedy "Safety Last" on a Los .Angeles street car in December, 1929. Likewise, without good and suffi- cient reason, we already have heard of "first" movies in airplanes and dir- igibles. Meaning no disrespect to the aims of this relatively harmless pub- licity, one may nevertheless observe that such "firsts" are not really as epochal as the press agents seem to believe. In the autumn of 1936 Uni- versal Pictures made much of its ex- hibition of "the first sound picture to be screened in the air," the feature being "Air Hostess," the place in a transport plane flying high over New York City, and the audience chiefly local newspapermen. This stunt was repeated in Chicago and Kansas City. Reach It seems self-evident that a haphaz- ard course of nature rather than a rule of reason made non-theatrical pictures what they were and places of exhibition what they became. The same, scarcely managed forces were involved to bring supply and market together by creating a system of dis- tribution. Of course, it was easy and inexpensive enough to ship films from producer to consumer. After January 1, 1917, when the regulation became effective, it was possible to send mo- tion picture films by parcel post. Still, this was scarcely a system of film distribution. In the main the system was a borrowing from theatrical prac- tice wherever the method seemed to fit the case. Exchanges—that is, local supply depots—operating as branches of central offices, distributors with regional franchises, independent and block booking schemes, all were adopted and used together with com- Iiromises suggested by expedient ideas in other lines of merchandising. For variety of approach to the customer, the non-theatrical field possibly even has had some lessons to teach to the- atrical men. (To be confinucd)