International projectionist (Oct 1931-Sept 1933)

March 1932 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST 13 Important ! It is of the utmost importance that projectionists and theatre managers maintain the full aperture height of .600". As soon as the height is cut down the essential substance photographed will be lost and the situation becomes as bad as, if not actually worse than, before, as studios will be composing for the full area. This point is outstanding in the work of introducing and maintaining the new uniform aperture. by the studios. This proposal was to establish a theatre aperture of .600" x .825". While . some individual theatre technicians are still urging the .590" height, the executives have agreed to the .600" X .825" and will undertake to enforce it in their theatres and bring about a uniform aperture height for the first time since the introduction of sound pictures. Following the same line of reasoning as for the original tentative specifications, the Academy subcommittee recommended that the studios photograph new productions according to ,the accompariying specifications. The image as photographed is to be .631" high by .868" wide with the expectation that after shrinkages and mechanical variations have taken place the image will be just the right size for satisfactory projection through the theatre aperture. A Break 'Down of Service Dollar, ERPVs Reply to Critics TROUBLE-PREVENTING i n s p e ctions, appointment and emergency calls, replacement part inventories in key cities, free replacements, repairs and improvements, general administrative expenses atid protection against fire loss are the things that the service dollar pays for, C. W. Bunn, General Sales Manager of Electrical Research Products, stated recently in outlining how service charges have been brought to a minimum consistent with ■ the maintenance of high quality of reproduction and continuous, defiendable operation. Only 4.3 cents of every dollar goes to administrative and engineering expenses. The regular inspection service takes 54.1 cents, and emergency and appointment calls account for 13 cents. The former comprise the regular trouble-preventing inspections made by a field force of 600 who travel 5,720,000 miles annually among 5,500 Western Electricequipped theatres. Appointment and emergency calls are additional visits, the former to discuss problems of equipment maintenance and operation by appointment, and the latter in response to an immediate emergency. Inspection vs. Service Experience gained in contact with 8,000 theatres has demonstrated, Mr. Bunn stated, that a definite relationship exists between the number of inspection and emergency calls. The latter at present average one per theatre every 18 months. Any attempt to economize by cutting down the inspection calls would automatically increase service costs by a resulting larger number of more costly emergency calls, ^ Mr. Bunn explained. Even more important, he pointed out, would be the menace of interrupted and cancelled shows resulting from lack of sufficient inspections. Where the Money Goes Thirteen cents out of every dollar goes for the maintenance of $750,000 replacement part inventories in 35 key cities and of 173 other service points. These assure maximum freedom from program interruption because of the ability to speedily replace parts in an emergency. Out of every service dollar 4.6 cents goes for free replacements, repairs and improvements made by Electrical Research Products without charge to exhibitors. This activity was initiated last year without any increase in service charges and is estimated to have saved exhibitors $750,000 in one year. It also finances the Inquiry Bureau in New York, organized in 1931 to co-operate with exhibitors in supplying adequate information regarding equipment operation and maintenance. The final 11 cents out of the dollar goes for protection against fire loss. It assures the immediate replacement of any equipment or parts damaged by fire without a lost moment for technical formalities or the signing of papers. Summing up the itemization of the service dollar, Mr. Bunn said: "We have reduced charges to the absolute minimum consistent with satisfac tory reproduction and the greatest possible promise of continuous, dependable performance. In our estimation these are the foremost box office considerations. Whenever we have been able to effect economies without jeopardizing them, we have promptly passed on to the exhibitors the savings in the form of reductions in service charges. "The best assurance that we have acted wisely in placing quality reproduction and steady performance first lies in the fact that only 5 per cent of the Western Electric-equipped theatres are closed today as compared with 50 per cent dark houses among theatres with competitive types of equipment. We are unable to escape the conclusion that the quality of sound and its steady dependability of operation have been big factors in enabling Western Electric-equipped theatres to hold patronage and make such a favorable record, by comparison with others, under present conditions. We feel that every cent we have asked of exhibitors in service charges has been justified by actual box office considerations to their advantage; and the record of closed theatres would seem to support our contention." TELEVISION 'OVERSOLD' TO PUBUC, SAYS R.M.A. MANY problems remain to be solved before television can become a satisfactory means of home entertainment, says the Radio Manufacturers Association, in a statement on the present status of this broadcasting development. Declaring that television and its prospects have been very much oversold to the public, and that it is still a question how it will be possible to obtain sufficient revenue, either from advertisers or by taxing the public, to meet the added cost of staging television programs, the association cites the following as the most important technical obstacles still to be overcome : Technical Problems 1. Greater detail should be obtained in received picture. 2. Television transmission pick-up equipment should be portable and as easily used as present-day sound picture pick-up equipment. 3. Transmitting systems must be evolved which will have a satisfactory and reliable service range. 4. Receivers as simple in operation as our present radio receivers must be designed and built at a reasonable cost. 5. Quiet and satisfactorily illuminated picture equipment for the home must be designed and built at a reasonable cost. Bob Gray has been elected president of Local Union 546 (Lowell, Mass.) for the tenth consecutive time. Other officers are Sidney E. Bow, re-elected business representative; Maurice Cooper, treasurer; and Sidney Barton, secretary.