International projectionist (Oct 1931-Sept 1933)

20 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST October 1932 going is a paid-up member. So much for this charge. It is said by Mr. Fuller that the Council was a "paper organization" and is now "dead." This is news to me. Only last week certain conferences were held with responsible I. A. officials, in accordance with the action of the last meeting of the Council, which bears every promise of securing the official indorsement of the International Alliance for the Council as an organization. The Alliance, I expect, will do more than merely endorse the Council; it will render active support in all Council activities. What does Mr. Fuller think about this? There is no need for uttering pious hopes for the revival of the Council. It is far from dead, and in fact has not even been ailing. Now let us see just what the Council has accomplished, in order to prove or disprove Mr. Fuller's statement that it is a "paper organization." The Council put over the Standard Release Print in the field. The Academy acknowledges this fact. Mr. Irving Thalberg still is wondering about the splendid job that was done in the field — the first cooperative effort of its kind ever to succeed in the projection field. The Council was active in this work from the start, when the industry first began to think about the S. R. P. How about it, Mr. Fuller? The Council rendered yeoman service in the establishment of the Uniform Aperture. It was the Technical Coordination Committee of the Council that fought the first proposals on the Uniform Aperture, proposals which invited disaster to a large majority of theatres in this country and throughout the world. Current Council Activities It was a Council committee composed of Harry Rubin, P. A. McGuire, Herbert Griffin, and James J. Finn that met in New York City on a certain Friday night just about one year ago that gave voice to the first objections to the then generally accepted aperture dimensions. In addition, frequent conferences between this writer and members of this committee, and a representative of the Academy, finally established a working basis on the aperture matter. Also, it was a Council member, Mr. Harry Rubin, who, acting on the results of the meeting of the Council committee, carried the fight to the floor of the S. M. P. E. meeting of various committees and recited the projectionist objection to the proposed aperture standards. How about this, Mr. Fuller? It was the Council that first formulated effective projection room plans, the contribution of M. D. O'Brien, of Loew's Theatres. Inc. (working as a Council PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE MEANS TAKING STOCK NOW Chauncey Greene MEMBER, LOCAL UNION 219, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. DR. GEORGE A. DORSET, who the writer sincerely hopes is a learned scholar, has written a book entitled, "Why We Behave Like Human Beings." The basic theory underlying why we act like human beings (in our rational, and therefore strange, interludes), is doubtless interesting, but the practical man can seldom be induced to delve deeply into the fundamentals, preferring rather to view the net result, fix it in his memory, and be off on the trail of another net result. Let us assume, then, that we do act like human beings. One of the common failings of all of us humans is to think that the present situation, whatever it may at the moment be, will continue indefinitely. We thought so about the silent days, even after we had seen and heard DeForest's Phonofilm. We thought so about Anaconda Copper and Warner Brothers and Cities Service in 1929. We are prone to think so about the present state of our own industry, wherein the exhibitor, himself a human being (for confi|rmation send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Ripley), is in the well-known rut and his vocabulary is limited to one word, "Cut," with the fader way up until one longs to be his barber just once. Quality Means Nothing Excellence of performance means absolutely nothing. If the picture is a jumping-jack and ten cents will steady it, "Let it jump," says the exhib., unless someone else will spend the brace of nickles. If Norma Shearer sounds like a St. Bernard snoring in a cistern, what cares the exhibitor? He's saving money. Oh. Yeah? But let us not delude ourselves into thinking that this state of affairs is to last forever. Already the warnings are coming through in the form of occasional extended range recordings. These, of course, sound little better than the old recordings M'hen played over our present channels, but make no mistake, one of these days some smart exhib. (there must be one left), in your community, having played successively if not successfully with the bulls, the bears, and the jackasses, will suddenly get an idea to attend to business and make the necessary changes in his channels. The public will react, let us not be fooled about that either, unless the exhibitor is chump enough to try to combine highfidelity sound with low-fidelity projection. The competition will wake up, exchange its bellyache for a headache, commence to wonder what it's all about (will never find out, of course; if it did the shock would be fatal) and another typical stampede for which this cockeyed industry is famous will get under way. Those who prepare will profit. Taking Stock of Ourselves Years ago a friend of the writer was preparing to forsake the ancestral acreage for the big city. Naturally he received a great deal of advice from the local sages, but one old Swede contributed the gem when he said, "Now Yens, ven you get to de big city remember yust two tang. Look dumb and be smart." At the present time, with industry at a standstill, we see many of the public service corporations engaged in reorganizing, rebuilding, and in some cases expanding. It looks dumb, but maybe they are being smart. They are getting their buildings and facilities now for a fraction of their cost ten years hence, and when they need them they will have them. Perhaps now would be a very good time for the projectionist to take inventory, overhaul and reorganize. We might find a surprising amount of deterioration. Replacements and additions to our stock of knowledge and skill will cost much less now than they will later when the need for them will be more acutely felt than at present, and when we suddenly do need them we will have them. Look dumb — but be smart! member and on a strictly Council activity), being published in various periodicals having a combined circulation of more than 650,000. It was George A. Yager, Business Agent of Local 250, Salt Lake City, who, working as a Council committee head, formulated data on projection room fires that has been distributed to more than 200 Local Unions of the I. A., in addition to being used in many daily newspapers throughout the country. How about this, Mr. Fuller? Many Local Unions of the I. A. used data compiled by the Council in radio talks in their districts, notably Local Union 306 of New York City. It was due to the Council that plans on the new Pennsylvania State Building in Harrisburg were changed to conform with accepted projection room practice and equipping. How about this, Mr. Fuller? Since January 1, 1932, the Projection