International photographer (Feb-Dec 1929)

December, 1929 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Three Projection Advisory Qounctl J^uncheon President William F. Canadian's master ly address on Projection herewith in full On Thursday, November 14, at the Hotel Astor, New York City, a luncheon was given by the Projection Advisory ^^^ Council to r e p r e sentatives of the Trade and Public Press, the feature of which was an address by William F. Canavan, the guest of honor. Charles F. Eichorn, vice-president of Local 306 of the I. A. T. S. E. and William F. canavan M. P. M. O., chairPresident of the I. a. man of the ProjecT. S. E. and M. P. M. tion Advisory O. of United States „ .. T . and Canada. Council Luncheon Committee, was in the chair and opened the proceedings with the following brief statement: "We are not here today for self-glorification, nor are we here for alibies and apologies. Based upon the motto of the Projection Advisory Council, "Progress Through Understanding," we feel that by getting better acquainted perhaps we will get a little bit better break from those who write about and comment on motion picture projection. We wish to be as brief and informal as possible, and the luncheon will be divided into two sections. An address and an open forum. As part of my own introduction however, I am going to call upon Mr. McGuire, who is very largely responsible for the formation of the Council, to make a brief statement to you." Mr. McGuire spoke as follows: "I should like to tell you something about the plans and purposes of the Projection Advisory Council, and the record of its accomplishment since it was organized one year ago. I hesitate however, to take one moment unnecessarily from the particular purpose of this occasion. "That purpose is to secure a greater realization of the importance of good projection and a better understanding of the problems of the projectionist. Back of the artistic side of the motion picture industry is a vast technical field, which presents infinite opportunities for flaws and failures in the effort to develop the illusion of life by mechanical means. All this work comes to the projectionist for final delivery to the public, and he is too often unjustly blamed for mechanical defects. That attitude has become almost a tradition of the industry and the time has come to modify it." "This luncheon," said Chairman Eichorn, "is the first public meeting the Projection Advisory Council has held, and is a unique event in the motion picture industry. We are therefore particularly fortunate in having as speaker, one of America's outstanding labor leaders, executive head of an organization, which is an important part of the American Federation of Labor. He has our affection and respect and the confidence of the entire motion picture industry. I take great pleasure in introducing, the International President of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators, William F. Canavan." William F. Canavan, international president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators, delivered the following address, which was received with enthusiastic applause: "In attempting a discussion of the importance of motion picture projection, one who has been intimately associated with this particular branch of the motion picture industry for many years may be charged with over enthusiasm. It is not, however, my purpose to over-emphasize the relative importance of projection and the projectionist to this great industry of which we are a part. Rather do 1 seek to dispel the popular misconception of a great number of people who through lack of information and understanding of the subject fail to realize the true importance and significance of the mechanical presentation of the motion picture. "To those of us who have a personal interest in this particular subject, there is great satisfaction when we visualize the tremendous strides that have recently been made in the development of projection room practices and equipment. These recent developments have been of signal importance to the millions of patrons of the justly popular motion picture entertainment, and have given a new impetus to one of America's greatest industries. Some one has well said, 'This is the age of Electrical Entertainment.' The vast patronage with which the motion picture theaters have been favored is the greatest assurance that these technical and mechanical developments have found instant public favor, and that developments of similar character will be received with like satisfaction by the general theatergoing public. The world's greatest research laboratories, presided over by the outstanding scientific and mechanical geniuses of our times are at the present moment bending every effort toward the development and perfection of the mechanical side of the motion picture art. Already we have ample asurances of the perfection of third dimension projection, which will shortly be the vogue throughout the entire motion picture industry. The mechanical development of projection equipment and projection practices is unquestionably destined to play the greatest part in the future development of the motion picture industry. "With the com ing of these vast changes in projection room practices and equipment, the members of the projectionists local unions throughout the United States and Canada are fully alive to the great responsibilities that will devolve upon them and are preparing themselves by intensive training and study, to meet the changed and changing conditions in projection problems, come what may. The theatergoing public, to whom the motion picture theater has come to be an indispensable necessity, and those who have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in this truly marvelous industry, need have no concern regarding the ability of the projectionists to cope with the new projection problems. To the everlasting credit of the projectionist, it can be said that he never shirks his responsibilities. New projection room equipment, no matter how complicated it may be, is always a welcome addition to the projection room, even though past experience clearly indicates to him that laboratory developed equipment brings with it trouble, added worry and more work. The projectionist is more of an idealist than a working man. He looks upon motion picture projection as a 'Specialized Art' and is everstriving to improve the quality of screen entertainment even though it entails a personal sacrifice. The consciousness that the success or failure of the entire screen performance is dependent upon his skill and its application in the handling of the delicate projection equipment, has a natural tendency to keenly arouse him to sense the great responsibility of his profession. He approaches his task, not from the standpoint of a worker who is to receive a monetary consideration in the form of wages for a given number of hours of service, but rather from the standpoint of an artist, mechanically etching upon the silver screen a series of beautiful photographic images that are unfolding to his movie audience a visual impression of a beautiful story told with the aid of his mechanical pen. And at the same time he deftly manipulates the projection sound equipment in a manner so as to give proper modulation to the spoken voice in synchronism with the photographic images, so that the illusion of actually giving life and voice to his story book characters may be complete. "The introduction of sound presented a series of problems that were entirely new to the projection field. To begin with, the sound equipment had only been subjected to superficial laboratory tests prior to its installation in the theatre. These tests had been conducted under uniform and ideal conditions, by technicians who had developed a pace with the sound equipment. "But theaters could not be reconstructed so as to make them ideal for the new sound installations. The physical conditions obtaining in many of the theaters were such that it was next to impossible to achieve the desired results. Each installation presented its own particular problems that could only be solved after subjection to practical tests. That the original installations of projection equipment, for the reproduction and amplifi