International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1950)

to the Tv station before the patches are quite dry. When this happens, Tv engineers reverse the negative to positive electronically in the transmitter, and Tv viewers see an ordinary black-andwhite image. A standard newsreel camera is so designed as to shoot a few frames out sync. This is usually corrected in printing by moving the track the proper number of frames so as to match the picture. A simple process, this, but one which takes valuable time. Telenews uses Wall newsreel cameras, redesigned by us, to shoot in sync, thus reducing substantially the time needed for cutting stories, as the sound and the picture are always in sync. One of the greatest obstacles to speed in our operations is transportation, with regard to both incoming film and outgoing finished reels. Stories arrive daily by air from every part of the world. Special arrangements with airlines, airports and customs authorities expedite these shipments, and motorcycle messengers are kept busy around the clock touring New York's airports. Striking Contrast in Time When aircraft are grounded we really start to work. Our film may be rerouted to a distant airport, or we may have to elect the comparatively slowmoving train. With speed of operations our constant concern, it is incongruous to realize that our precious cargo moving along in a train at 70 or 80 miles an hour will be delivered to viewers' homes at a transmission speed of 186,000 miles a second! Close schedules require exactingly close calculating. Films of the Rose Bowl football game, for example, are flown by helicopter from the Bowl to the Los Angeles airport. On numerous occasions a police escort speeds our film through crowded city streets. Films of the wedding of Mayor O'Dwyer of New York City were flown by chartered plane from Stuart, Fla., to Miami, just barely making connections. During the World's Series, as an example, we face the problem of just plain mass. From two to three thousand feet of film per game, shot by as many as five different cameras, must be transported, edited and recorded in time to be on the air on the evening of the game. The film (35-mm) must be cut to about 200 feet in length and then reduced to 16-mm width, as many Tv stations have only the later gauge equipment. To assist the lab people in such cases, the exposed film magazines are taken direct from the cameras and rushed to the lab by motorcycle at the end of the second, fifth and seventh innings. This prevents an otherwise huge pileup of film at the end of the game, since the sec tions are handled steadily through the afternon as soon as it arrives. Thus the lab people can be working on innings one through five while the game still is in progress. Widespread Print Distribution While some newsrels receive network distribution, many Tv stations are not yet on coaxial cables and must be serviced with film prints. Located in widely scattered sections of the country, these stations represent a shipping problem too vast and complicated to bear recounting herein. "Today's News Today" is the slogan of one Tv newsreel — and it and other reels make this slogan come true. Whether through ignorance or indifference, the miracles of achievement that lie beyonds the realization of this goal have been for too long taken for granted by a complaisant public demanding only to be entertained — and, for that matter, by those in the film trade not actually engaged in newsreel Tv work. N EWS PROJ ECTIONS Jottings of happenings which, while mostly of a non-technical nature, have a bearing upon general industry welfare and progress. PROSPECTS for the repeal of the 20% admission tax dimmed considerably during the past month when, despite strenuous industry-wide efforts, including labor, no important legislative support rallied to support the film forces. President Truman failed to even mention the admission tax in his budget message to Congress. . . . Paramount's intermediate Tv system will be installed soon in the Radio . City Theater, Minneapolis. . . . Exhibitor beefs fail to stop the re lease to Tv stations of a flood of films originally made for theater exhibition. . . . Gov. Dewey of N. Y. State announced that in the event Congress repeals the 20% admission tax, he will move to impose a similar levy for the N. Y. till. CBS demonstration of color Tv recently deeply impressed many theater men who were present. Several exhibitors said the quality "approached" that of Technicolor. . . . Rex Theater, East Rutherford, N. J., petitioned Borough Council for permit to install burlesque policy, the reason given that Tv competition has become so severe that the house must switch its policy or close. . . . Studio employment in November dropped about 2% from previous month. Average weekly earnings for all classifications was pegged at $97.16. . . . Every IA member has a "personal stake" in the fight for repeal of the 20% amusement tax, said IA Prexy Walsh, who urged close cooperation with exhibitor groups in the matter. . . . Dept. of Justice mulling move to begin antitrust action against Tv broadcasters and manufacturers because of "concerted action to delay, if not to prevent, advent of color Tv." ... It is ridiculous to think that Tv does not hurt the movie box offices, declared Steve Broidy, Monogram Pictures president, who added: "It's fundamental that people can't be at home watching Tv and in the theater at the same time." Four companies, all outside the film industry, reportedly bidding for Paramount's 560,000-share interest in Du Mont Television Laboratories. Asking price said to be $10 million. . . . Average price for film theater admissions in 1949 was 47.1 cents, compared with 47.2-cent rate for 1948. . . . Paramount will make 30 feature pictures during 1950. MANUFACTURING, SUPPLY COMPANY EXECUTIVES AT SIMPLEX X-L PROJECTOR DEBUT Shown here (I. to r.) are L. B. La Rue, secretary, General Precision Equipment Corp.; R. B. Tompkins, president, International Projector Corp.; Walter E. Green, president, National-Simplex Bludworth, Inc., and H. G. Place, president, General Precision Equipment Corp. 24 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST February 1950