Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

make no further appearances before the FCC since "the new industry is well able to solve its owncommercial problems " The statement "Theater Television and the FCC,"23 should be consulted for further details. It is anticipated that this Committee will some day be concerned predominately with the engineering problems arising from the operation of television projection equipment in theaters. Consideration is also being given to undertaking a study of color television systems as applied to theater use. For the moment, things must stand by until the oft-postponed FCC hearings are out of the way, since these must occupy the first interest of many of the Committee members. Results of these hearings will also have an important effect on the future field of interest of the group. Paul J. Larsen was the chairman of this Committee during the very important formative years from 1945 to 1 948, and his missionary enthusiasm did much to keep the spark alive when commercial interest waned. Donald E. Hyndman took over in 1948 and brought Larsen's early work up to the point where trade enthusiasm became so great that no further Society participation before FCC was needed. George L. Beers of RCA is the present Chairman, and in talking his assignment over with the Engineering Vice-President and with Mr. Hyndman (who was forced to resign on account of the pressure of other affairs) the following general field of operation was agreed upon: "In general the Theater Television Committee should concern itself with the study of the engineering factors involved in the production of theater television programs. Rather than attempt to prescribe the minimum picture quality which a theater television screen image must provide in order to be a sales-worthy product, the Committee should indicate the engineering require ments of systems of different quality. In this way the theater industry can have the technical information needed on which to base its own course of competitive action. "It was pointed out, however, that in spite of our intent to operate primarily as an engineering group, the crystal-gazing aspect might, nevertheless, be requested of us by the FCC. In such an event, an opinion would of course be determined, but in such a way as to distinguish it clearly from the factual engineering data which are to be the main concern of the Committee." Theater Engineering Society committee work in this field has been carried on from the very beginning, starting as a Theater Equipment Committee in 1916. From 1940 to 1945 the Theater Engineering Committee provided general directional responsibility for several major Subcommittees which later became full fledged Engineering Committees, i.e., Projection Practice, Screen Brightness, Television Projection Practice, etc. The Committee on Theater Engineering Construction and Operation was one of these to become separately established in 1946, with this long title shortened to the present one of simply Theater Engineering in 1949. Leonard Satz of Raytone Screen Corp. served capably as Chairman of this Committee, starting in 1948; the present chairman is J. W. Servies of National Theater Supply. Projects studied by this group include theater carpets,24 air-conditioning, size and mounting characteristics of theater screens, and theater codes. A correlation of the latter as among the several states and cities would be of very great service to industry, and might promote worthwhile standardization. Thus is concluded the description of the 18 Engineering Committees presently operating for the SMPTE. 174 September 1952 Journal of the SMPTE Vol. 59