Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

26 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 4 to be read at a sitting. Mrs. Bendick gives due attention to both fact films and fiction films. She carries the reader smoothly through the complex procedures of movie-making and includes a full glossary of movie terms. 42. MANAGEMENT OF MOTION PICTURE THEATRES, THE. By Frank H. Ricketson. New York: McGrow-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1938. Pp. xii, 376. A practical basis for teaching theater discrimination. “Rick” Ricketson, chief of the Fox Inter-Mountain theater circuit and one of the better-known men in the film industry, presents here the most nearly definitive book on the business of operating movie houses, with many allusions to general principles of showmanship (“the art of pleasing the most people in the shortest time”). Thoroughness of the text is illustrated by such topics as non-theatrical enterprises and visual education, color and lighting, theater inspection, nine types of advertising, insurance, leasing, architecture, booking, clearance, zoning, double bills, stage shows, projection, sound, ventilation, house rules, safety, fire prevention, budgeting, auditing, games, contests, giveaways, benefits, and a glossary of 600 words and phrases used in the operation of theaters. One gathers that the theater manager’s job is like a combination of those of a school principal, a janitor, and a politician all rolled in one, with duties to keep him busy evenings and nights when most of his friends are having a good time. 43. MEASURE FOR AUDIO-VISUAL PROGRAMS IN SCHOOLS, A. By Helen Hordt Seaton. Series II, Number 8, of the American Council on Education Studies. Washington, D. C., October, 1944. 40 pages. A notable discussion of some of the difficulties obstructing the full use of visual materials. together with basic recommendations for the development of audio-visual programs in school systems and individual schools. The report is based on visits to a number of cities in the East and Southeast and on the ideas of ten audio-visual specialists now with the armed forces and government in Washington, as well as on previous work o f the council. The percentage of teachers now using films in their teaching (about 10 percent) is found to be small because of difficulties of darkening rooms, problems of ventilation, inefficiency in projecting films, limitations in the availability of equipment and materials, wartime curtailment o f delivery service, weaknesses in booking systems, need for improvement of utilization practices, and lack of adequate financial support. The concluding ten pages of recommendations offer specific suggestions for removing these difficulties : the appointment of audio-visual specialists in states, counties, and cities; the development of personnel and the establishment 0 f standards o f equipment, service, materials, utilization, and budgetary allowances. One percent of the annnal per-pupil cost is suggested as a minimum operating expense for the audio-visual program. This would mean a ten-fold increase in the annual expenditures for instructional aids, or approximately one-half as much as is ordinarily spent annually o n textbooks. Minimum goals set up for such a program include, for example, one 16mm sound projector for every 200 students, one transcription player for every 200 students (or one per building for schools with less than 200 enrolled), and many other items in like proportion. A consummation devoutly to be wished, and one that is coming yet, for a’ that! 44. MILLION AND ONE NIGHTS, A. By Terry Ramsaye. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1926. Two volumes. Pp. Ixx, 868, with 1 03 illustrations. A detailed account of the origin and history of the motion picture, written in lively style. The work is now out of print, but may be borrowed in many public and university libraries. It is to be hoped that the author will bring out a new edition, with a third volume devoted to the period from 1926 to 1946. 45. MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY, THE. By Terry Ramsaye. No. 52 in a series of vocational monographs. 24 pp. Boston: Bellman Publishing Co., Inc. 1945. This is the most complete, authentic, and concise guide to the many occupations in the film industry — truly midtum in parvo. The author is the able editor of Motion Picture Herald, Motion Picture Almanac, and Fame. His A Million and One Nights (see above) is a standard history of films. He was for some years a leading newsreel editor and also an editor of dramatic and documentary features. His articles on the movies in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and in educational magazines have established him as an academic authority on films who has the unique advantage of thirty years of intimate contact with the industry whereof he speaks. For young Americans interested in entering the film industry, as well as for workers in the idnustry, Mr. Ramsaye’s brochure is full of practical information. 46. MOTION PICTURES AND RADIO: MODERN TECHNIQUES FOR EDUCATION. By Elizabeth Laine. Foreword by Luther Gulick. New York: The McGrawHill Boak Company, Inc., 1938. Pp. 165. This volume, abounding in common sense, is one of ten