International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1950)

INTERNATIONAL IOECTI0NISI With Which Is Combined Projection Engineering HENRY B. SELL WOOD, Editor Volume 25 FEBRUARY 1950 Number 2 Index and Monthly Chat 5 The 35-mm Projection Positive Film, IV 7 Robert A. Mitchell Whither Motion Picture Theater Audiences? 11 M. D. BOATRIGHT Nitrate Film Ignition by Static Discharge 12 The New Simplex X-L Projector Mechanism 14 Air Cooling of Motion Picture Film for Higher Screen Illumination 17 F. J. Kolb Looking Back — -To the Future "Language of Lighting," II 19 In the Spotlight 20 Harry Sherman Optical Oddities 22 Milton C. Williamson Tv Newsreel Production Technique 23 John Sandstone News Projections 24 Technical Hints Miscellaneous Items Published Monthly by INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST PUBLISHING CO., INC. 19 West 44 Street, New York 18, N. Y. Telephone: MUrray Hill 2-2948 R. A. ENTRACHT, Publisher SUBSCRIPTION REPRESENTATIVES AUSTRALIA: McGills, 183 Elizabeth St., Melbourne NEW ZEALAND: Te Aro Book Depot, Ltd., 64 Courtenay Place, Wellington ENGLAND and DOMINIONS: Wm. Dawson & Sons, Ltd., Macklin St., London, W. C. 2 Yearly Subscription: United States and possessions, $2.50 (two years, $4) ; Canada and foreign countries, $3; single copies, 30 cents. Changes of address should be submitted two weeks in advance of publication date to insure receipt of current issue. Entered as second class matter February 8, 1932, at the' Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Entire contents; copyrighted 1950 by International Projectionist Publishing Co., Inc. International Protectionist is not responsible for personal opinions appearing in signed articles in its columns. MONTHLY CHAT THE slumbering bear has at last awakened from his years'-long hibernation to find that the gnawing at his now lean hide is the work of that which, a gnat when he settled into somnolence, has now grown to the proportions of a vulture. The bear in this metaphoric sentence is the motion picture theater field; the gnat, now the vulture, television. Some there are who will regard the article by M. D. Boatright on page 11 of this issue as pure fantasy, as "scare copy." But infinitely more "scary" are the almost daily stories appearing in the trade and lay press of the rapidly developing love affair between the Hollywood producers, the source of product for theaters, and the Tv broadcasters, no less than the results of impartial — and we mean impartial — surveys of audience preference which indicate that the Tv industry, even in its present state of undernourishment due to lack of sufficient channels to blanket the country and the scarcity of receiving sets, is rapidly sapping the lifeblood of the movie theater. Mr. Boatright's theme is simplicity itself: no audience, no theater; no theater, no projectionists. Could this situation develop in the near future? Well, let's consider the results of a survey conducted not by any pro-Tv group or even by any so-called impartial investigative body, but by the theater owners of Washington, D. C, among 400 owners of Tv sets. This survey showed that the installation of a Tv set in a home effected a 72% slash in movie theater attendance among adults and a 46% cut among juveniles! Just translate those percentages into the reduced number of dollars available to pay theater salaries. In the light of these figures the concentrated dullness and myopic vision of movie exhibitors in refusing to lift a hand to help themselves is beyond belief. Easily understood, however, is the attitude of Hollywood producers who, in making come true every prophecy IP made on this movie theater-Tv imbroglio, maintain that when better pictures are made they will make them — for Tv! Movie theater participation in the benefits accruing from Tv broadcasting is entirely feasible: there are several methods by which theaters could maintain their identity as a "community gathering place, as in years past, and still serve that portion of their audience which preferred to see the program in their own homes. Mr. Boatright mentions only one of these possibilities. But as long as the movie exhibition brass and the callous production heads calculate that they can continue to draw their unconscionable salaries, bonuses and dividends right up to the moment the storm breaks, the labor forces in this industry are reduced to a pitiful impotence. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST February 1950