The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1935)

I' our The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER November, 1935 The Story of the Moviola By EARL THEISEN, Associate Editor | HAT is my new jerk-absorbing device," stated Mr. Iwan Serrurier, owner of the Moviola Company, who was showing me through his factory over at 1451 North Gordon Street, in Hollywood. "It is designed to fit in the valve of the magazine, "Mr. Serrurier continued, "so as to prevent damage to the film from the jerking due to the sudden starting of the equipment.'' The little device with its simple roller and spring piston arrangement was like the rest of the Moviola line. It was designed and made from the dictates of actual experience to fill a need. So cranking the pictures were viewed on a 9 by 12 inch screen. The film went from the projector through a hole in the table and into a basket. There were a number of other attempts to do something about a film editing tool, but in each instance the device was a makeshift using discarded equipment. Then along came Iwan Serrurier with ideas and ability to see the ideas realized. Although he was born and raised in Leiden, Holland, he received his college education in Zurich, Switzerland, because, us he says, "they offered the kind of mechanical training I wanted." Left — Special Moviola made for Walt Disney for editing and synchronizing sound cartoons. Four sound tracks and one picture film can run simultaneously Right — The granddaddy of the present Moviola , a home movie device in which the screen folded into the cabinet. necessary and so obvious are the improvements introduced by the Moviola Company, they are accepted as a matter of fact rather than a startling innovation. To imagine a cutting room without a moviola would be impossible. The moviola is as much a part of a cutting room as the cutter himself. Yet the mechanical books on the motion picture of a few years ago show the cutter holding the film up to the light trying to find the "suitable spot." He perspired over the film frame by frame, squinted at it through a magnifier, and he •waded through it on the floor. Then the moviola came along and eliminated this tedious drudgery. Like the saw is to the carpenter, the moviola is the badge of the cutter. "Dozens claim they bought the first moviola from me." Mr. Iwan Serrurier made the statement. Moviola number one sold to Douglas Fairbanks on September 16, 1924, for $125. Numbers two and three sold to Universal on September 24, 1924, and Mary Pickford bought number four on October 13, 1924. The first sound moviola sold to Educational Studios on January 29, 1929, and the first 16 mm. moviola sold to William Horsley Laboratory on October 1, 1926. Before the advent of the moviola, a number of persons tried to do something about making direct viewing devices which for various reasons were never widely adopted. One such improvisation was the old Edison projector head which was anchored to a table in the cutting room at the Lasky Laboratory. By hand He came to the United States in 1903, and to Los Angeles a year later, where he found employment doing mechanical jobs until the war broke out. Then Mr. Serrurier worked in the shipyards doing mechanical drawing and designing, a job much to his liking. During this time as a hobby he was spending his spare time making movie devices, of which one was to be the grand-daddy of the moviola. Along about 1917 he got the idea that a home movie projector that was enclosed in a cabinet like the Victrola would be welcomed by the public, hence the coined name, movi from movie and ola from Victrola. The trademark, Moviola, now identified inseparably with the cutter and his part in film production, was registered on April 8, 1919. The first patent of a number granted to Iwan Serrurier on the moviola was issued April 8, 1919, as United States Patent No. Phone CLadstone 4151 HOLLYWOOD STATE BANK The only Bank in the Industrial District of Hollywood under State Supervision Santa Monica Boulevard at Highland Avenue Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.