International projectionist (Oct 1931-Sept 1933)

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November 1931 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST 29 made from the process. We reproduce herein excerpts from this article. Get a load of this: Customers are clamoring for Photo Gravers. Thousands of them must be built and assembled. Scores of men must be immediately emp oyed. Thousands of men must be immediately p aced in training and thousands of new members must be secured for National Sound Service Bureau, Inc. — and this must be done with the least possible delay. SUCCESS is ours now but it is only the beginning of such a TREMENDOUS success, that we can't realize it or believe it. To sum this whole thing up and to conclu le this story, you fellows, who are out there in the field privileged to serve in your present capacitie.s, are LUCKY. There are going to be more ten and fifteen and twenty and twenty-five thousand — ^yes — and even fifty thousand dollar a year jobs with our associated corporations, than there are warts on a frog's er rear end, and some of you fellows who are reading this now, are going to be in these jobs. All of you who are reading it have a chance for them. We have been and are going to continue to grow faster than any other corporation in America. We are going to get so doggone big and have so damn much money that the United States Government is going to have to build new mints, and we are going to have to open up our own banks just to have a place to keep the money — the ones they have now are not big enough. No matter how wild a dreamer you are, or how vivid your imagination is, or how many shots in the arm you can take, you can't realize what a chance you have here. Our big jobs are going to be filled from the ranks of the men holding the little ones now, and if you are anything more than the dumbest guy in the world, you want to get sold on that idea and then go out and sell the world on it — for the world is our meat and we are sitting on top of it and we have got it by the tail. So get your coat off — give us every ounce of "guts," brains and energy that you have, and if you can find any place that you can use them that will bring you bigger, quicker returns, I am a cockeyed hump-backed Chinaman. So let's go — let's hit that old ball— let's triple the pace and boy, oh boy, we will start believing in Santa Claus again— we will begin to pity Rockefeller's poverty and you'll know that God is in his old Heaven and there are more blessings there than there are brickbats in hell — so altogether now — HEADS UP' CHIN OUT FORWARD HO — WE'RE OFF!! Not bad, this. What we can't understand is how any man who knows anything at all about the electro-technical arts (projectionists qualify), shouldn't grab this opportunity to make a few extra cookies for the wife and kiddies. We ourselves are tempted to enroll — AT ONCE! The only thing that is holding us back is the possession of a reference^ bearing on a similar process which is only forty-seven years old. This reference fills us with strange misgivings as to why some other bright person hasn't followed-through on the idea set forth therein. It is immaterial for the purpose of this story to discuss the merits of this "new" engraver. This story is intended to place before the readers of International Projectionist all the available facts re From I. A, General Bulletin JMo. 256 FOLLOWING is a most interesting report filed by the National Better Business Bureau, Inc., of New York, which organization made a thorough investigation of the Projectionist Sound Institute, located at Easton, Pa., and which reveals the inconsistency of the promises and guarantees offered prospective students to secure their enrollment: Numerous inquiries have been received concerning the Projectionist Sound Insttute which is engaged in selling a correspondence course in motion picture sound engineering. The principal of the enterprise appears to be F. A. Jewell. The price of the courses sold by the institution varies. The course itself is said to consist of approximately 52 lessons and to requ're an average of one year for completion. The institute was founded on or about September 1, 1929, according to Mr. Jewell. Some months ago we asked Mr. Jewell for certain information which we considered important for the purpose of answering inquiries competently. We wanted to know how many students were enrolled in the institute, and were informed: "We consider this a personal question and refuse to answer, although we might state that our enrollment is in the hundreds." Asked the number of instructors, Mr. Jewell replied : "This is rather an indefinite question and can only be answered in a general manner. Our answer is: A sufficient number of instructors to adequately instruct the number of students we have enrolled." Advertising for Projectionist Sound Institute has stated that there are "thousands of positions open right now for motion picture sound engineers," has supplemented this with numerical estimates, and has made other allegations regarding the high salaries paid. In order to obtain what we considered the most competent advice on these subjects, the Bureau consulted the I. A. T. S. E. and M. P. M. O. U. and another authority constituted to represent the producer and theatre owner. Estimates given by these authorities, both as to number of positions open and salaries ordinarily paid were emphatically more conservative than those advertised by the institute. Mr. Jewell was sent this information and his attention was called to the trade practice conference rules adopted by correspondence schools and the Federal Trade Commission. He commented on them as follows: "We wish to advise you that what you sent us was a Code of Ethics approved by the Federal Trade Commission and is nothing more than just what the name implies — 'Code of Ethics,' and not rules or laws. We have legal counsel to whom we pay good money to keep us informed on the legal phase of all our business transactions and we govern ourselves accordingly." The Projectionist Sound Institute has featured a guarantee to secure employment for any student "providing you will maintain an average of 80 per cent or better in your studies." During April, 1930, a Cleveland resident received a letter from Projectionist Sound Institute, signed W. F. Brittain, part of which read as follows: "Mr. Lester Al Smith, who is a representative of one of the largest sound equipment manufacturing corporations in the world, has prevailed upon Mr. F. A. Jewell, who is one of the foremost authorities on Sound Projection in the country, and General Manager of the Projectionist Sound Institute, to turn over the facilities of the institute and assist him in selecting a number of men who can be trained to take care of the persistent demand and the vast expansion that his company anticipates." Subsequently the prospect received a telegram from Mr. Smith urging him to make an appointment. The Cleveland Better Business Bureau reported that Mr. Smith represented himself as being from a certain sound equipment manufacturing company located in New York City and that he told the prospect that upon completing the correspondence course he would be sent to the company named for two weeks' intensive training. We called this to the attention of an official of the company named and were informed that Lester Al Smith was in no way connected with them and that they had no arrangement with Projectionist Sound Institute whereby its graduates would be sent to the company for training. More recently the institute's literature has represented that, through a tie-up with National Sound Service Bureau and Photo-Electric Research Laboratories, their students can earn while learning and gain practical experience. Letters from National Sound Service Bureau are signed L. A. Smith, Director of Organizations. This organization has informed us that they are an organization of sound equipment and accessories manufacturers, users of sound equipment and sound engineers. We have not received any reply to a request for the names of some of these members. An individual has received a letter from this concern urging him to enroll in Projectionist Sound Institute, and containing the following paragraph: "If you will send us your enrollment fee for P. S. I., immediately taking advantage of the cash which would enable you to get the lessons as quickly as you could absorb them, we will guarantee to start you in a steady job with us within four months after receipt of your enrollment at a salary of $60.00 per week, but inasmuch as so much rests with you and the time you devote to your studies, we must reserve the right to have the P. S. I. refund your money in full if you do not make good on a job after a fair trial." Photo-Electric Research Laboratories is located at the same address as National Sound Service Bureau. A letter signed by Herbert Pratt, Director of Sales, tells us that his company is a merchandising organization employing students of Projectionist Sound Institute as agents on a strictly commission basis. The latest inducement offered by Projectionist Sound Institute that has come to our attention appears to be a "Special Cash Offer" whereby, although the regular price of the course is $120, prospects are told that $100 cash will be accepted in full payment and "This $100 we will reinvest in securing additional members, for which we will pay you 15 per cent of the gross amount received from the members that we secure from the use of your $100." By this system, the prospect is told, he may expect to obtain a return of his original $100 investment plus an additional $20. National Better Business Bureau, Inc. Commercial Department. ^ "iEIectrical Apparatus for Reproducing Drawings," by A. Schmid. Scientific American Supplement. Nov. 8, 1884, p. 7,371. lating to this particular enterprise. The wisdom of the International Alliance leaders in forbidding the participation of any I. A. member as a student in such '"schools" has been amply demonstrated. It seems a pity that some responsible