International projectionist (Jan 1963-June 1965)

Sound Track by J. G. Jackson While reminiscing about some experiences in years gone by, this Old Timer's thoughts go back to the days of silent pictures and the advent of sound. (I presume 37 years in projection will make me an old timer.) One unusual experience that comes to mind is the time I ran a show with only three amps on a low intensity arc. I was barnstorming small towns in a remote farming area and I had a show booked for a small place that was vertually a ghost town. I found there was no electricity in the town as the local power plant had been closed down. The plant had consisted of a small D.C. generator driven by an old steam traction engine. I managed to locate the previous steam engineer and prevailed on him to "steam up" and supply power for the show. My projection equipment consisted of a Holmes portable projector, which had a make shift sound head coupled by means of a flexible shaft. The motor was A.C. and the amplifier was A.C. The arc was a small low intensity rated at 15 amps powered directly from the line through a variable resistance. To supply A.C. to the amplifier and motor I used a small rotary converter. Shortly before show time the steam engineer managed to get light, so I turned on the sound system and all was fine, But when I tried to draw an arc the line voltage went flat. I sent a rush message to the power plant two blocks away asking for more voltage, the reply came back NO CAN DO. The old steamer just would not produce any more power. So there I was fit to be tied with not enough power to supply both arc and sound. Not wishing to give up and quit, I did a little experimenting and I found that if I put all the resistance I had in the arc circuit I could get the carbons to sizzle and still have enough power for sound and motor. I started the show and I found that I could get some light on the screen from the sizzling arc, and the ammeter showed three amps. Luckily 6 we had a short throw and a small screen so the small amount of light made the picture visible. I wiggled through the entire show by keeping both hands on the lamp controls, one to keep the carbons in the right contact for sizzling and the other for adjusting the mirror so as to follow the sizzle around the tip of the positive carbon! What a night! But the customers did not complain; they wanted the show and they understood my problem. No doubt many readers have had some unusual experiences such as this — so how about dropping me a line and telling me about them. How about some humorous incidents ■ — come on Old Timers, reminisce a little with me! iP Film Projector "Speaks" 13 Languages NEW YORK — Nine times a day during the World's Fair just closed audiences in the 500-seat auditorium at the Sermons from Science Pavilion (sponsored here by the Moody Institute of Science) watched sound movies showing the interrelationship of science and religion, and hear a perfectly-synchronized commentary in French, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, German, Korean, Armenian. Danish. Finnish, Greek and English. At each seat there is a plastic earphone and a five-position switch. The foreign-language speaking visitor uses the selector switch to tune in one of the five foreign language sound tracks recorded specifically for that film. All films do not carry all 13 languages. The most any can carry is five in addition to English, and these five vary from film to film. For example, the film shown at 12:00 noon is "Dust or Destiny," and it is in Mandarin. Spanish. French, German, and Japanese. "Hidden Treasures," shown at 4:00 is in Danish. German. Japanese, Norwegian, and Swedish. And the 6:00 film, "The Mystery of Three Clocks," is in German only. All films have an English language commentary which is reproduced by the main speakers at the screen, along with the music and sound effects. All these languages are spoken At the Sermons from Science Pavilion sponsored by Moody Institute of Science at the New York World's Fair, the Garflex 16 projector speaks English like a native; its mechanically-linked other voice-box — the Stancil-Hoffman S-7 Reproducer at the right, speaks 13 foreign tongues, five at a time. in the Sermons from Science Pavilion by a Stancil-Hoffman S-7 Reproducer which plays back the commentaries prerecorded on 16mm magnetic film. It is mechanically linked to the Graf lex 16 sound motion picture projector which shows the picture and picks up the optical main English language, music, and sound effects sound track, which is played at the screen. A gear box reduces the projector's 1440 rpm to the 900 rpm required by the reproducer. This mechanical link keeps pictures and languages in perfect synch, so the program does not turn into a modern-day Babel. The ingenious sound-projection system was worked out at the Moody Institute of Science in California, a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. iP IP DELAYED This issue and a subsequent issue of International Projectionist was delayed by difficulties in the printing plant which produces IP. Compositors and pressmen, members of several unions including the International Typographical Union, were on strike for over a month. The discussion between the company and the several unions took place while IP was being produced; naturally production had to be stopped until a solution was reached and the picket lines withdrawn. iP International Projectionist November, 1964