The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

February, 1943 Page 55 other dealer. The same |)roce(lure is {ollovved there. When tlic third dealer has seen the films the reels are returned to Davis & Geek for inspection and pos- sible repair. I have seen some of these pictures, and have had the distribution plan explained in detail for iny benefit. The pictures are admirable, and with the plan I have been greatly impressed. Doorstep Delivery In niodcrn merchandising—or in old- time merchandising, for that matter—the establishment of regional stores is not by any means the final step. Advertising, in all of its pertinent phases, must make potential customers aware of the availa- bility of product, stimulate their buying desires and develop their habits of use. For a continuing business this presuj)- poscs many things—that the product is useful, that the prospective customer has the means to obtain and avail himself of the benefits, and much more, indicating again what was said pages ago about a smcKJth-running niachnie being smooth- running in all of its parts. Unhappily, these assimiptions cannot yet be sup- ported in this strange business, and, to make the machine go at all, the working factors must themselves individually take on, in addition to their natural duties, the obligations of factors now represented merely by gaps. For in- stance the distributor may have to help the customer raise the money to pay for his films. For instance, again, not all ol the potential users of non-theatrical films have projectors or screens for their ex- hibitions. So the regional distributors are almost invariably prepared to show the pictures as well as to rent them. In short, they stand ready to put on the entire show whenever and wherever the customer wishes it. Indeed, the earnest distributor commonly prefers to put on the show, because then he knows that it will be presented as it should be for the full satisfaction of the customer. The customer, having seen how much better it is to have professional attention, may probably call for the service next time. too. There can lie a lot of nuisance about (lusting, oiling and testing the old pro- jector, running power and light cables, hanging screens and rigging loud-speak- ers if there is sound accompaniment, and more often than not, the customer is glad to be rid of the responsibility. Jam Handy Iniilt his remarkable business on this tlieory, or perhaps on that policy so admirably expressed in George East- man's Kodak Company slogan, "You press the button—we do the rest," pro- viding the complete motion picture serv- ice, with nothing for the customer to do r /Axx/sT/fy but gather the audience and pay the bill. In these circumstances there grew up with the business, beginning so far back as the days of .Archie Shepard and Ly- man Howe, a class of motion picture projectionists who had their own equip- ment and rented it with their own serv- ices "to put on shows." As needs de- veloped, they acquired improved screens, additional lenses for "long" and "short" throws, collapsible booths, extension cables, portable rewinders, and, in short, all of the paraphernalia which conven- ience and competition have evohcd. They rarely emerged from the ranks of theat- rical projectionists, but began more often as handy men around studios and labora- tories, where prints were screened for insi>ection. I'requently they w-ere former lantern-slide operators who had neg- lected to move into theatrical projection when that overcrowded trade of today was easily open to newcomers. Many of the more successful ones founded their little businesses on the de- pendable patronage of large industrial plants where portable projection was occasionally needed in addition to noon- hour shows for employees. A case in point is that of William Alexander of Newark, who for years was projection assistant to .\. J. Van Brunt, director of safety education for the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey. The bed- rock of liis present establishment was the work which he obtained with fair regu- larity there. Between times he filled in witli projection for .schools and churches. Today Alexander has several projection units, under as many well-trained assist- ants, caring for non-theatrical shows in a large part of central New Jersey. George Cole, now the prosperous head of the King Cole Entertainment Service in New York City, was once a projec- tionist at Kineto, in the Masonic Temple Building. He gradually pieced his es- tablishment together by soliciting shows tlirough film lalxjratories and non-theat- rical producers. Similar specialists in projection have arisen through natural contacts such as these in various, active non-theatrical areas throughout the na- tion. They are the men who figure most prominently in what is known now as the "road-show" division. Theatrical managers frequently call them "jack- rabbit" exhibitors. With their business mainly in caring for non-theatrical customers, other pa- trons being cared for in the theatres, they do occasionally, in irregular circum- stances such as at charitable affairs, show current entertainment features. In cer- tain areas, where tliere are many "dark towns"—that is, communities where it is not practicable to maintain theatres— ?u0ue Utiiittes InousntMl, Club NoN'Thcatr/cal Rec«w>s Puaiic ^wteA PufcLic Sa^s AovcKTisjua Special '^notYi'noHM. OlteANizATiow ENntnTAirtMErtT RCLAnONS TRAiHIN* ftCtATlOt,|5 TaAINIHG (MTCRC^T of ten major groups subdivides into films for internal purposes and those for ex- ternal, public effect. The chart applies equally well to all kinds of production. these road-show men have developed important business on a plan essentially like that of the tent chautauquas. Te.xas is a familiar field for it. With varia- tions, the scheme runs this way: The projectionist service man prevails upon the local merchant grouj) to present a free motion picture entertainment which will draw crowds from which tradesmen are certain to gain tlieir respective shares of increased patronage. For this ad- vantage tlicy will pay $100 i)er night, say, and the service will provide the sliovv. Five or si.x neighboring com- nuinities are canvassed in the same way until the service man has contracted for exhibitions covering every night in the full week. For the next .succeeding week he moves with his show to another group of towns. Programs presented in this manner are surprisingly packed with "free" non-theatrical reels, the showmen thus, of course, increasing their own margins of profit. Non-theatrical road-shows are especi- ally satisfactory where there are large audiences and .3Smm film is used, for to these occasions the operators usually bring arc illumination—so much more penetrating and brilliant than long dis- tance effects of incandescent bulbs—-and two semi-professional machines to ob- viate the necessity of stojjping to change reels when there is only one projector. The "duplex" equipment is generally in excellent running order, spare parts are available for emergencies, and over all there is a better compliance with fire bws than in the ordinary amateur show. But, of course, service such as this is not to be had without someone paying for it, and the projection item alone, for an evening of movies, may easily and legitimately run from fifty dollars to a hundred. The modern specialist projection serv- ice maintains automobiles for carrying its i)araphernalia to and from the show locations. Frequently it is an ordinary private car in which the operator's family finds recreation apart from business hours. On the other hand, it may be an elaborate, especially designed truck, in which the e<|uipnient may he used for outdoor projection—in parks, or at street-corner political rallies—the pro- jector being inside the vehicle, tacing backward, and a .screen being rigged outward from the tailboard. In areas where there arc showings in places not supplied with electricity, such trucks are fitted also with motor generators. Trucks as complete as this are most familiar in backward sections, the isolated mountain communities of the South, for example, where social service agencies are labor- ing with every available aid to spread constructive ideas. They have been used extensively in anti-tuberculosis drives in North Carolina, and were employed there so especially from 1920 to 1923. While I am unable to name the first truck show, I believe that I am safe in assigning 1912 to the approximate time when the idea of having such exhibitions began to spread in America. I recall seeing one in a country village in north- ern New York State before 1910. In (Continued on page 79)