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Progress Committee Report
By GEORGE R. GROVES, Committee Chairman
J. HE YEAR 1952 will be marked as a milestone in the history of motionpicture production and presentation. At a time when the motion-picture industry was beset with depressing reports of poor box-office receipts from the best product that the industry could produce, there appeared on the screen two epochmaking presentations that have revitalized the motion-picture business. The reference is, of course, to the presentation of Cinerama in New York and the showing of Bwana Devil, the 3-D production of Arch Oboler, in Los Angeles. In compiling the Progress Report for 1952 it would seem logical, therefore, that these two presentations should be reported upon first.
Cinerama
Cinerama, the invention of Fred Waller, opened in New York September 30, 1 952.1 This spectacular presentation reproduces a picture 145° wide and 55° high on a 25 X 50-ft screen, using three complete projection equipments, and seven magnetic tracks on 35mm film. The seven magnetic tracks are reproduced through six channels to drive six sets of loudspeakers — five behind the
Submitted March 26, 1953, by George R. Groves, Committee Chairman.
Note : An addendum to this report will be published in the June Journal, prepared from material submitted in German by committee member Leo Busch, received too late to permit publication in this issue.
screen and one set around the auditorium — giving an auditory perspective effect. The seventh track is used as a control track. The original tracks were rerecorded by Reeves on magnetic stock and all re-recording and reproducing is accomplished on Westrex RA-1506-type film drive mechanisms using special seven-track heads. Equalization is designed to produce flat response to 1 2 kc from film running at the rate of 39 frames/sec. Synchronous motors are used to drive the three projectors and the sound reproducer with a synchronous control system operating between machines. The control is quite positive and will pull the projectors into step over a range of approximately twelve frames.
Stereoscopic Productions
Prior to 1952, demonstrations of threedimensional films in this country were regarded as a novelty. On November 26, 1952, Natural Vision's presentation of their Polaroid three-dimensional picture, Bwana Devil? at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood and the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles, removed the 3-D picture from the novelty class to the status of an extremely important form of motion-picture entertainment. Since that time this picture has had quite extensive release throughout the United States and its phenomenal success has resulted in many of the Hollywood producers plunging into 3-D production.
By the end of 1952, those concerned with the production of motion-picture
May 1953 Journal of the SMPTE Vol. 60
535