International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1951)

APR 26 1951 INTERNATIONAL PRQJECTIONISI With Which Is Combined Projection Engineering HENRY B. SELLWOOD, Editor Volume 26 APRIL 1951 Number 4 Index and Monthly Chat 3 Honeycomb-Condenser Lamp Optics 5 A. R. Schultze Evaluation of the HoneycombCondenser Lamp 6 Robert A. Mitchell Projectionist Examination Questions 9 Tv Won't Ruin Everything ... 10 Rupert Hughes Comparative Data Anent Nitrate, Safety Film 13 Kodak Research Laboratories New Plastic Correcting Lens 16 Interference Mirrors for Projection 17 SMPTE Jottings . 17 Theater Television via the RCA PT-100 Equipment, V . 18 In the Spotlight 20 Harry Sherman Ray Brian's Projection Lore 22 Personnel Notes 22 IA Elections 22 IA-IP Radio Contest Results 23 Current IA-IP Amateur Radio Listing 24 Simplex Honors 50Year Employee 25 GPL Theater Tv Premiere in Pittsburgh 26 Book Review 27 News Projections 29 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.-^Hon, W. C. 2 Yearly Subscription: United States and possessions, $2.50 (two j^rrs, $4) ; Canada and foreign countries, $3; single copies, 30 cents. Changes of addi^ss should be submitted two weeks in advance of publication date to insure receioMW current issue. Entered as second class matter February 8, 1932, at the Post OfficarfftNew York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Entire contents copyrighto^WSl by International Projectionist Publishing Co., Inc. International Projectionist is not responsible for personal opinions appearing in signed articles in its columns. 420 MONTHLY CHAT PROJECTIONISTS may expect that the physical quality of theater release prints will slowly but steadily deteriorate before the opportunity for betterment presents itself. Despite official statement from the NPA in Washington that there is no serious shortage of raw stock "at the moment," leading laboratories report that the situation has come to the point where it suffers from various degrees of acuteness, with comment ranging from "tight" to "very acute." Some labs have decided against taking any additional orders at this time. This is the situation right now, even though the needs of the military and other government agencies have by no means reached their peak. And the Tv nets' demands for stock will mount, steadily. All this means that there will be fewer prints available on any given release, with faster rotation of prints and consequent less time for inspection in the exchanges. Print quality is none too good right now, and exchange inspection has never been more than meager. Print quality seems destined to provide plenty of trouble in the months to come, with projectionists having to take over more of the normal functions of the exchange. Close inspection of every print is requisite, and particular care should be taken to establish the nature of the stock — whether nitrate or safety. Eastman's new print identification system should help greatly in this direction (IP for March, 1951, p. 12). Proper splicing will play a very important role in licking this problem. We're stuck with this problem, so let's face it squarely. • • • IP has long been inured to the circumstance wherein a long succession of its issues containing much material of merit will not elicit a congratulatory word from its readers, the while a minor error in, probably, an equation or the bke wiD induce a raft of comments. 'Twas ever thus. Of late a new note has been sounded: certain quarters opine that IP should shy away from "all this new stuff" and concentrate exclusively on the "now," since this peering into the future will "serve merely to create dissatisfaction with equipment now being offered." IP just can't buy this line of thought. Current practice and improved technique in handling existing equipment will ever be a prime concern of IP, of course; but one of the chief reasons for the existence of IP is that it ferret out and publish information on the new and the novel. Any craft journal — and IP is just that, not a trade paper or a business paper — that fails in this vitally important function forfeits its right to exist. IP is important only to the extent of the service it renders its readers. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • April 1951