The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 190 The Educational Screen DeVry Awarded Army-Navy "E" The Army-Navy "E" for Excellence in production of motion picture cameras, sound projectors and special training de- vices for the Armed Forces has been awarded to the DeVry Corporation, pio- neer Chicago manufacturers. The presentation ceremony, held on April 3rd at the Medinah Club of Chicago, was attended by over 1000 employees, suppliers of DeVry, and many distinguished guests, including high rank- ing Army-Navy officers, Edward J. Kelly, Mayor of Chicago, and Dwight H. Green, Governor of Illinois. Both the Mayor and Governor addressed the gathering. Dr. I. E. Deer of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America acted as Chairman. The U. S. Navy Band, Navy Pier, Chicago, provid- ed the stirring music for the Ceremony, and a Color Guard from the same sta- tion posted the colors and "E" Flag. Captain Frank Loftin, U.S.N. (Re- tired), Secretary to the Navy Board for Production .Awards, Office of the Under Secretary of the Navy, came to Chicago from Washington, D. C. to present the "E" Flag to DeVry. William C. DeVry, President of the Company made acceptance on behalf of his organization. He remarked in part: "Although there is no competition in times like these in the sense that we consider competition in peace time, we feel a competitive thrill out of this signal honor that our Company has won, strictly and solely for the production of Motion Picture Sound Equipment .... Nor should we overlook the forbear- ance of our civilian customers whose sympathetic understanding of our pri- mary objective of serving our Country has been both a moral lift and a physical contribution. Time will come when these civilian customers' needs will be vital to the progress and profit of the DeVry (Left to right) Mr. William C. DeVry, Mr. John Lang, Lieut. Col. Gerald H. Reynalds, Capt. Frank Loftin. Corporation. Right now, about all I can do is tell them that they, too, have a share in our "E" Award, and that later we shall find opportunity to repay their patience with new and finer war- born DeVry Motion Picture Sound Equipment . . . ." Lieut. Colonel Gerald H. Reynalds, Deputy Director of Training, Si.xth Service Command, presented the "E" Label Insignia to veteran DeVry em- ployees. The speech of acceptance was made by John Lang, employee of 20 years service, on behalf of his fellow workers. Following the ceremony, Mr. John Balaban. Chairman of the .'\musement Division. Red Cross Drive, and a Uni- formed Red Cross Worker received a check running into four figures as De- Wy employees contribution to the Red Cross. Awarding of the coveted .'\rmy-Navy "E" to DeVry shows how important motion picture education is to waging war and providing entertainment for our boys at the fronts. It also shows what a splendid job instructors in business and industry are doing in preparing young men and women for immediate war tasks through the development and use of time saving motion picture films. United Air Lines Filmstrip The story of air transportation is unfolded in a new filmstrip, titled lichind the Scenes of a Coast-to-Coast Iliiiht. prepared for United Wr Lines by Ray O. Mertes, Assistant Director, School and College Service. Besides tak- ing the audience on a flight from coast- to-coast, the film covers the history of air transportation, the geography of the Overland Trail, details of flight naviga- Motion Pictures— Not for Theatres (^Continued front page 172) is easy to see why exhibitor confidence in Levey as a Universal representative might thus have been broken down, and why it might have become necessary for him then to look for greener fields. Upon leaving Universal Levey was not long in eclipse. In May, 1921, he announced the formation of National Non-Theatrical Pictures, Inc., with New York headquarters at 130 West 4Sth Street, in the Leavitt Building. He was president, of course. There were to be, he said, forty-two branch offices over the country which were to supply films, pro- jectors, screens, and all the other equip- ment necessary. It was really 1922, how- ever, before his new organization attained its stature and before he was joined by his valued second-in-command, Don Car- los Ellis. Ellis, it will be recalled, had been director of educational films at Universal with Levey until 1920, and before that he had been in charge of the motion picture section of the U. S. Department of ,^gricuIture. He came to Levey now as corporation director and secretary. The "branches" seem to have been offices of independent dealers in films and equipment who now had taken on addi- tional concessions. What apparently was done to provide the impressive list of pictures which was advertised was mainly to arrange with those dealers to handle any Levey product which might come along, on commission, and to interchange with other dealers, through Levey's office tion, and war services of a coast-to- coast airline. A Teacher's Manual gives full de- scription of each of the sixty-three pictures in the filmstrip, and suggests questions for further study. The film and manual are presented free to schools by United .Air Lines. Schools desiring the strip should address requests to the Society for Visual Edu- cation, 100 East Ohio Street, Chicago, as distribution is being taken of by that company. New Slide Binders for Kodachromes The Clay-.Adams Company, 44 East 23rd St. New York, annoinices .Adams Slide Binders—a combination cardboard and glass binder for which they claim the follow ing features: protection against dust, fingermarks, and scratching, and breakage of the glass. The film is automatically centered in the binder and the binding operation should require scarcely more than a minute per slide. The use of combin- ation cardboard and glass gives a thinner and lighter bound slide. These binders are sold in boxes of 100 at $3.50 per 100, with discounts for larger quantities. Litera- ture will be sent on request to the com- pany. as a clearing-house, any films which they, themselves, individually possessed. For instances, the Burton Holmes films were made available through Levey's concern, as were those of the magazine Field & Stream. And, of course, for Levey's own "product," there were always the for- eign spectacular productions which were brought to this country in expectation of theatrical release. When their brokers were disappointed in that, these produc- tions were almost invariably offered, for what they might bring, to tlie churches, schools and clubs of the far-flung main- land of -America. That was how the three- niillion-dollar Old Testament pictures, produced in Italy with the assistance of the Government there, came to be spon- sored by Harry Levey non-theatrically in 1922. As a matter of fact, in Levey's case, while the arrangement was pre- mised on prevailing circumstances in which foreign productions were unable to find normal markets, it was not cas- ual, because the investors in National Non-Theatrical Pictures included the Weiss Brothers, a leading import house. It was Lou Weiss who brought in the Old Testament series. Levey appears to have arranged also for health, surgical and social service films whose owners were attracted by what seemed to be a real opportunity at last to enjoy the benefits of a properly organ- ized distribution. His treasure trove for schools comprised chiefly the "Text- Films" of T. K. Peters which, in 1920, had been unhappily announced for New York City's classrooms. (To be confinuccf)