International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1951)

BILL NYE, now forgotten, but once a household word for popular humor, told of going into a cheap restaurant for breakfast. A cross-eyed waitress first cleared away the debris left by the previous customer, and brushed the crumbs into Bill's lap. Then she turned on him and snapped: "Tea or eggs?" That is all there is to the story. Nobody seems to think it odd that everybody is always saying tea-or-egg things, like: "Shall we have the theater or the moving picture?" "Shall we have classical music or popular?" "Shall we have motion pictures or radio?" "Shall we have radio or television?" When Bill Nye heard the cross-eyed waitress exclaim "tea or eggs" his instinct was to say, "Tea and eggs, also a lot of other things." But when we are asked, "Shall we have motion pictures or television?" it is not taken as a bad joke but as an inevitable and perilous choice. Television is being hated and denounced, and the cold war over it is getting as hot as the long struggle with Russian communism. Television is being viewed as the fatal enemy of everything dear and artistic, profitable and moral. The 'Pernicious' Bicycle i I am old enough to remember when the craze for bicycles "killed" the theaters, the church, the concert hall and reading habits at home. It also ruined the morals of boys and girls, since it enabled them to get far away from home. After the bicycle had served its time as the explanation for the failures of such books, plays, concerts and other merchandise as failed to do well, the automobile came along. It was blamed for ruining the publishing business, the theatrical and concert business, and the morals of boys and girls, since it enabled them to get even farther away from home than the bicycle. The motorcar was considered to be a sort of bedroom and barroom on wheels, and it could park wherever it was dark. After the automobile had established itself as an institution that could not be sermonized or editorialized away, the motion picture house came along to take the blame for everything deplorable. The nickelodeon and the vast palaces it developed into, were plainly the reasons why nobody stayed at home to read or went to the legitimate theater, or even attended vaudeville or burlesque. The motion picture was castigated for cutting down church attendance, which has never been satisfactory in any age. Furthermore, dramatic critics reviled the unpardonable cinema almost as violently as the parsons did. Critics who hated most plays spoke of the theater as a temple Tv Won't Ruin Everything* By RUPERT HUGHES of high art when they contrasted it with the motion picture houses. The Onslaught of Radio Next came radio! It went down the line like a bowling ball, sending all nine of the ninepins flying in a strike. People stayed at home, but they did not read books or magazines or newspapers. They listened to serials, soap operas, music, news, science, comedy and plays. They absented themselves from church, wrestling matches, prizefights, baseball and football games, gambling clubs, night schools, saloons, lectures, grand and comic operas, tragedies, comedies, vaudeville, burlesque, family reunions, and everything else. People lost their eyes and legs from disuse and became all ears. But cheer up, the worst was yet to come! Television!! That not only killed off everything that radio had killed off. but also killed off radio. People stayed at home more than ever, but not to read. They forgot all the arts and the pleasures even of conversation. Television brought back only one thing, the barroom. It made beer and hard drinks popular once more, since people had to put up some excuse for leaning on the rail half the night staring goggle-eyed at television's one bright eye. So now today the book publishing business is dead ; the theater business is dead in all its branches; the churches and lecture halls are empty; the motion picture houses are dark and silent. The football fields, boxing arenas and racing parks are half empty. And the radio sets are gathering moss. Some Outstanding Exceptions Of course, there are exceptions, though nobody mentions these. Some of the churches are packed; some of the legit theaters are doing $50,000 a week; many of the motion picture houses are jammed with eager multitudes; some of the books are having enormous sales; some of the magazines have circulations of millions; some of the newspapers are almost too heavy to lift. But the denouncers of the plague of television forget that, long before television, radio, motion pictures, automobile or bicycles were even heard of, most churches were sparsely attended; most theaters housed failures; most books died in the store-rooms; most magazines and newspapers perished of pernicious anemia; most poets, painters, playwrights, actors, sculptors, evangelists, singers died of starvation or earned their livings in other fields. It was not until shortly before Columbus discovered America that books began to be printed from movable type and, doubtless, that innovation was also denounced for destroying the livelihood of strolling minstrels, strolling players, strolling friars, copyists and illuminators. One other thing has always been true. While the blind poet, Homer, begged for bread for his songs, other rhapsodists became favorites of wealthy patrons and lived in luxury. Actors have always been looked on as more or less beggars in (Continued on page 32) FAMED MUSIC HALL (N. Y.) REFURBISHES WITH 4-PROJECTOR INSTALLATION -**. MM j -?■■■ ML fc|L^ T '-ISf i ♦This engaging dissertation appeared in the 45th anniversary issue of Variety and is reproduced here by permission of that journal. Installation of 4 Simplex X-L projectors in Radio City Music Hall (New York) is discussed by Chief Projectionist Charles Muller (left) and Arthur Meyer, sales chief for International Projector Corp. 10 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • April 1951