International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Twelve The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER . Ipril, 1934 Claude Harding and F. S. Mills with Kleiglights at the old Lasky Studio. Photo courtesy C. L. Gregory. one o'clock. Eddie Kull was squelched each time he tried to explain that the fifteen minutes saved Selig $500, because the picture would be finished and the "company'' would not need to be called back Monday morning. Another company, in contrast, worked so long the carpenters would open the windows around midnight and start banging on whatever would make the most noise. The neighbors complained to the police. The "Winfield-Kerner" was extensively used for a number of years. Roger Nauman, while superintendent of construction of the Louis B. Mayer Company in 1920, used the "bungalow" (spotlight) and "broads" (double side arcs) extensively. They were the vogue then. One of their heavy spotlights has been known to have fallen off a parallel and not break. The Winfield-Kerner Company was organized in 1911 and started to make engravers lights. A year later they sold some arcs to a small independent company and shortly thereafter the Kalem Film Company bought a few. Otto K. Olesen, who is distinguished by being the one to light the famous Hollywood previews, started as a WinfieldKerner man in 1912. Tn 1919 Olesen formed a company which made electrical equipment for the motion pictures. In 1924, he bought up the Winfield-Kerner Company. Many will recall the "Wohl", an arc made in Germany which enjoyed a certain popularity because it was light in weight and very efficient. It was brought to this country in 1916. The "Creco" arc was first made in 1919 by the Chamberlain Reyno'ds Electric Company. Peter Mole and Elmer Richardson were with Creco. A year later this company sold out to Bert Sylvester. The first "Sun-Arc'' was made by Frank Fair as a large 36 inch light in 1918. In a few years this form of arc was to be needed to light the large sets which were picture by picture increasing in size. One of the earliest of the "Rotary" arcs was made by Clarence Ashcraft for use in filming the Goldwyn picture "Earthbound," which was released August 15, 1920. For this picture he made a dozen arcs. Later he formed a partnership with Brown to form the Brown-Ashcraft Automatic Arc Company, which dissolved about five years ago. The "Rotary" arc was an achievement. By rotating the positive carbon, it was possible to maintain an even crater and to directly face the condenser with the hot point with a higher illumination and a saving of about 20 percent in electrical voltage. The "Rotary" largely replaced all other forms. Because of the patents controlled by General Electric, all the "Rotaries" were licensed by them. The first attempt on record to use Mazda lamps was a series of tests conducted by E. G. Ullman for Universal films. That was in September, 1913. The lamps of the Mole-Richardson "Inkies" (incandescent) used at present in all studios. Photo courtesy Paramount. 1000 watt daylight blue variety were anchored without reflectors to strips of wood. Five rows of these were suspended about ten feet overhead. Mack Sennett in 1915-16 installed Mazda daylight blue lights and after making a series of tests photographed some pictures with them. The Mazda was not successful, however, because they were breakable and their actinic quality was not suitable to the photographic emulsion of the Ortho negatives then used. After the advent of the panchromatic emulsion, it became desirable in the interests of better photography to use the Mazda. The arcs had been strong in their blue light content, and the early pan emulsion was more sensitive in the red end of the spectrum, which would result in a condition that would be difficult to balance. The adoption of the Mazda largely solved the problem. With the introduction of the Eastman panchromaticemulsion, after a series of experiments conducted by Emery Huse and Ned Van Buren at the Eastman Kodak Works in the spring of 1927, the attention of the industry was directed to the necessity of bettering the light so that full advantage could be taken of the new photographic emulsion. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, in collaboration with Warner Brothers' Studio, who furnished the cameras and studio space, the film manufacturers who furnished the panchromatic raw stock and General Electric who furnished lamps, conducted a series of tests with Mazda lamps. The cameramen, after completing the experiments, which were conducted in May and June of 1927, compared results. Peter Mole and Elmer Richardson had formed a company in March of 1927 and had by the time these tests were completed some 5 kilowatt equipment which was used. Their first lamp was a "broadside" with two T20 projection lamps, which proved unsatisfactory. They changed to the "pear-shaped" lamp. Early in the same year they made an 18-inch "sun spot." This was followed by a "rifle lamp." With this Mole-Richardson equipment which was proven practical and a necessity with the panchromatic stock at that time, it was just a period of a few months until the entire industry changed over to the use of Mazda lighting. The advent of sound made it an absolute necessity that Mazda lights be used, since then, there was an operating hum to the arc. Mole-Richardson, being engineers and aware of the necessities of the studios with the change of conditions, which change seemed problematical at first, were in a desirable situation with a line of equipment. Their lights could be seen in about every studio in 1928. They were adopted as the standard form of lights and came to be used almost exclusively by the entire industry. (Turn to Page 26) Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.