The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1935)

May, 1935 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Thirty-tkre-: try will portray the tremendous changes that have crept upon the industrial world and will depict in dramatized action the contrasts between old and new. Remarkable new buildings are being constructed to house outstanding exhibits from America and abroad. The Palace of Electricity, the Palace of Varied Arts, the Palace of Education, the Palace of Transportation — all are being constructed along lines that will offer something new and startling in the architectural world. Searching for the unusual as a means of architectural expression, the builders of the San Diego Exposition have gone back into the history of America for ideas that will present a new thought to the architectural progress of the world. Based on their findings, new structures of Exposition center will combine the best points of modern and ancient art in producing structures that border upon the style of prehistoric pueblos found in America. Receding planes, rounded corners and overhanging cornices will accomplish a simplicity bordering on absolute plainness. Suggestions of color and decoration, ordinarily achieved through use of applied paints, will be accomplished through the variegated shadings of living plants and flowers as they vine across the faces of the structures or hang from cornice troughs beneath the roofs. The green and lavender of trailing lantana will be harmonized with the general color plan of the Palace of Electricity ; the pink and red of ivy geranium will match the exterior of the Palace of Varied Arts. And so on in endless variety will the plants and semi-tropic flowers of San Diego be adopted to an architectural scheme that is new and refreshing. Special days of celebration will be offered for states and cities . . . nations will, through their representatives, offer events of entertaining and instructive nature. Thrills in the air . . . more than 1000 planes in a massed review above the Exposition center . . . warships in review in the nearby harbor and open for public inspection. And still the story is half untold ... a magnificent show, unbelievable in its vastness and never ending attractions. A never ending pageant with no two days offering the same program of diversion. That, in brief, is the California Pacific International Exposition, opening in May of 1935 in San Diego, California. S. S. Van Dyke, director, complains of guessing when and how long an audience will laugh at gags. Previews give an approximation for each picture, but that's as close as they come to it. There's a real problem. On the speaking stage, an actor can wait for his audience, but the film goes on. Why not a variable speed projector, technicians, one the operator can slow down when the audiences laugh loud and long and speed up when the gag misses fire? In "Air Fury," Columbia does research in stratosphere flying, coupled with an electrical device by means of which airplane engines can be destroyed from the ground. If this be true, we can stop worrying about that next war. DURIAN-EATINC HOLLYWOOD'S NEWEST CRAZE Our globe trotters returning home to Hollywood are crazy about an age-old custom, but recently contacted in the Orient — that called "durian-eating." The Durian tree is a native of Malay, large and lofty like an American elm and the bearer of a fruit of the same name, scientifically known as Durius Zibethinus. The leaves of this tree are almost seven inches long, leathery, shiny green and scaly, while the fruit is oval and like a large cocoanut in size. It is encased in a leathery integument covered with spines, short, stout and sharp and if its stem is broken off in falling it is difficult to pick it up. An analvsis fololws: Water, 55.50; protein, 2.30; fat, 2.80; carbohydrates, 23.70; M. M., 1.24; sugar, 4.80; sucrose, 7.9; starch, 11.00. Mr. Lewis W. Physioc, ace cameraman, recently returned from Malaysia, Java, Bali, Siam, Burma and other points in that part of the Orient, knows the Durian well and he agrees with the English army officers that it is the miracle of the vegetable garden. When it is in season the beasts of the jungle fight for the Durians among themselves and the people also fight for them. Even the elephants are crazy about them and they are much sought after by the old folk who regard this curious fruit as the prize rejuvenator. Split in two the Durian presents an interior of five cells filled with satin smooth cream colored pulp and with two or three seeds like chestnuts. Of this amazing fruit Alfred Russell Wallace writes: "The Durian is indescribable. A rich butter-like custard lightly flavored with almonds gives the general idea of it, but intermingled with it come wafts of flavor that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, brown sherry and other incongruities. There is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid nor sweet, for it is perfect as it is. In fact to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the Orient to experience." In downtown Los Angeles a firm of importers have built up a wonderfully lucrative business among the Hollywood movie folk who not only know the best things when they see them, but have the money to pay for them. Eat Durians and snap your fingers at the declining years as they pass by. Half a billion candlepower for lighting Battle of Waterloo sequence in "Becky Sharpe." If there are any real spiders on the set where part of "Vampires of the Night" is being shot, the Black Widows will be green with envy. From fifty gallons of a special rubber compound, a machine spun 600,000 square feet of synthetic web over a ruined castle. William Daniels, ace cameraman, has photographed Greta Garbo in nineteen of her twenty pictures. Loyalty, or habit. INCREASE IN EDITORIAL STAFF A lovely baby daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Felstead, 4625 St. Charles Place, at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, March 29th. The young lady has been named Ardeth Louise. The christening cere mony took place April 21st at the home of the parents. Mr. Felstead, Associate Editor and author of the series of articles on motion picture sound recording appearing in this magazine, is the Instructor in Commercial Radio at the Frank Wiggins Trade Evening School. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.