Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

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48 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD November 8, 1930 w SOUND REPRODUCTION F. H. RICHARDSON on PROJECTION BLUEBOOK SCHOOL QUESTION NO. 61.— (A) Explain in full detail just why a hydrometer reading indicates the exact state of charge and discharge of a storage battery, (b) to what is battery trouble almost invariably due, and (c) whether or not it is possible to abuse batteries by neglecting them, without causing damage to the batteries themselves and to sound results. THE CAPITAL CITY OF FILMDOM [Until further notice, all communications to this department should be addressed to F. H. Richardson, 43 — 28 Thirty-ninth place, Long Island City, N. Y.] LOS ANGELES. OUR next stop is what might be termed the high spot of the trip — the capital city of Filmdom. And right here in the beginning let me also compliment the motion picture projectionists of Los Angeles. When they start to do anything, they do the job up right. We were entertained by the local in the same hotel which was headquarters for the I A convention — that is to say, we had two magnificent rooms in that great inn, with meals provided. What time we were permitted to spend in those two rooms, however, didn't amount to much, except when we were asleep. Immediately after our arrival, we were taken in charge by Business Manager T. H. Eckerson and President Earl Hamilton of local No. 150. It seems that the matter of entertainment had been delegated to Mr. Eckerson, who, let it be said, both knew his job and did it well. Among other things, we visited the Ashcraft plant and several of the large theatres. One of the projection rooms visited, the Pantages, Hollywood, is the finest, most complete projection installation I have ever viewed. (A description of it was published in last Better Theatres.) Another remarkably pleasing example is the Paramount Publix, which is in downtown Los Angeles. It is eight years old but the room is entirely out of the ordinary. Its walls are of brown tiles about four inches square, separated by perhaps three-eighths of an inch of mortar. The ceiling is of rough plaster, finished in a very pleasing dark blue. The floor is of cork, laid in squares of about five inches. It shows almost no wear at all after eight years of use. It is a very easy floor on the feet. Chief Projectionist Hamilton ( president of the Los Angeles local), has a private office fitted up with a large mahogany desk, easy chairs, etc. In fact, the plant is as complete as you would expect to find in any of the newer large deluxe theatres. Also, T might add that the brown walls, blue ceiling and brown floor gave a remarkably pleasing aspect to the room. _ Oh, yes, I almost forgot to say that the switchboard is of white marble, veined in_ gray. It is set in the rear wall, where it is highly ornamental and, of course, equally useful. The ventilation of the room is taken care of by a separate blower fan. There are three Super-Simplex projectors, a Brenograph F7, and other equipment. There is a marble-lined toilet and wash room and a well equipped workroom. Hamilton is assisted by George Evans, Earl Bauer, and Ray Connors. Bluebook School Resumed Well, gentlemen, here we are again with a Bluebook School question, with which this "school" of soundprojection is resumed. For the benefit of our many new subscribers, I will say tliat in the Bluebook School, from one to four questions are asked each week, to which you are cordially invited to send answers. The best answer will be published four weeks after publication of the question. In the event no correct answer is received, I will answer the question myself, or have some sound or projection authority connected with a laboratory supply the answer. If your answer is incorrect, no one but me will know it, so come on, gentlemen, set in the game and let's see how far you can go. Address all answers as follows: F. H. Richardson, 43-28 Thirty-ninth place, Long Island City, N. Y. A suggestion: Cut out this address and place it on the wall of your projection room where it will always be handy. Let's go! During the evening we went over to the famed Chinese theatre in Hollywood. We really went to the Chinese to renew acquaintance with the inventor of the Weaver Douser, F. E. Weaver, who is chief projectionist at that theatre. The projection room is rather crowded with equipment. It has three SuperSimplex projectors equipped with the new Ashcraft "600" super-high intensity lamps. The lamphouse almost hides the projector. The sound is handled by Western Electric equipment. The sound is on a separate film, which is run on a "dummy." The consensus of the Chinese theatre projection staff and those projectionists of other theatres in which this method is used, is that it is a decided improvement on the method in which both the sound and the picture are reproduced from one film, which opinion I endorse. The projection staff of the Chinese consists of F. E. Weaver, chief; R. D. Babcock, Dave Koskoff, Al Lick and Art Schroeder. I might add, as a bit of interesting information, that the projectors are equipped with a small blower fan from which the air is conveyed through a flexible metal pipe ending at the top of the cooling plate, whence the air passes down over the aperture. In the opinion of Chief Projectionist Weaver, this has the effect of removing fully 75 per cent of the heat. The installation is very simple, not at all costly and is highly effective. Some of you old department fans may remember that this particular thing was recommended by me many times in past years. Equipment manufacturers, however, did not adopt the suggestion, and as a result they have suffered great inconvenience from the warping of projector mechanism frames and parts, and the industry has sustained huge losses in film, to say nothing of the box office losses caused by injury to the shows as a result of buckled film, all of which might have easily been averted had my suggestions been heeded years ago. There were something like 230 at the Los Angeles meeting, including a goodly number of theatre managers, and, I was informed, some owners as well. I found my audience to be both interested and receptive. Also, the opinion was expressed by union members and officials afterward, that the thing had distinct value to both projectionists and exhibitors of Los Angeles. 'Way up in San Francisco I had been told about R. H. McCullough, Supervisor of Projection of Fox West Coast Theatres, which covers all the territory west of the Mississippi river. I was told that if I got in touch with McCullough on arrival in Los Angeles, he could open all motion picture gates in that city. Later, B. A. Eckerson, Los Angeles business representative, spoke words of praise of this same individual. Later still a phone message came from McCullough, and it was arranged that he, Friend Daughter and myself take dinner together. We have just returned from a three-hour trip in Friend McCullough's company, and I heartily endorse brother Eckerson's opinion. In McCullough we have one of the finest men to be found in the whole field of projection. McCullough showed me something which I had never thought to be possible. He is projecting a picture at the Fox Carthay Circle theatre here in Los Angeles with a 23-degree projection angle, and there is no distortion of the picture at all. The plan was worked out by Supervisor McCullough because of the fact that when they installed wide film in that theatre, they found the distortion to be so great that it could not be projected at that angle. It would cost around $6,000 to move the projection room downstairs, so Supervisor McCullough got himself busy and evolved a plan which entirely eliminated the distortion, and that at absurdly small expense. To the front of the projection lens he attached two ten-degree prisms, the thick side down. The bottom of these prisms are hinged, but the top may be moved together or farther apart, and the effect of such movement is to lower the ton of the picture, or raise the bottom, according to which prism is moved. There is no evil effect set up, with regard to definition (Continued on page 50, column 1) I