Motion picture studio directory and trade annual (Apr 1917)

April 12, 1917 STUDIO DIRECTORY 13 STUDIOS FOR RENT j Special Machinery Is Part of Erbograph Equipment THE Erbograph Studio and Laboratories make one of the most up-to-date and completely equipped establishments offering services to the motion picture industry. The building is located at 203-211 West 146th street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, New York. It is absolutely fireproof, constructed entirely of concrete, brick and steel, and the studio located on the ground floor, to the right as one enters, is fully equipped with all the latest appliances. THE lighting equipment consists of twenty-two overhead Cooper-Hewitt lighting banks, with mirror reflectors ; five large broadside, two small broadside Cooper-Hewitt floor stands ; three Wohl lamps, four arcs each ; two Duplex arc lamps ; two Majestic arc lamps; also several Kliegel lamps and a spot light. These lights are controlled from a General Electric switchboard, one of the most complete to be found in any studio. A SPECIAL system used to heat the studio is used in summer for cooling purposes. There are plenty of dressing rooms. Those for the women are on the mezzazine floor in the rear of the studio and the men's are directly underneath on the ground floor. The laboratory and offices occupy the rest of the structure. Great care has been exercised in selecting the equipment for the laboratory, for here are operated filtering, distilling and air cleansing devices. ALL air that goes into the laboratory is first washed ; a part is then heated and by means of regulators the desired temperature is maintained in all departments of the laboratory at all times. Each room is fitted with a thermostat which regulates the temperature automatically. All water used in developing is first filtered. Corcoran tanks are used to develop the film. THERE is also a room in which raw stock is perforated and cleaned : this is equipped with six Bell and Howell perforators. There are two large printing rooms which contain machines of the latest model, invented and perfected by Ludwig G. B. Erb, president of the Erbograph Company. These machines have, according to Mr. Erb, features not found in other printing machines. This model insures absolute contact and will print film of any perforation. The film moves through the apertures on ball bearing rollers and the aperture is so fixed that it is absolutely impossible to scratch the film. The automatic light change, an exclusive feature, allows the printing of thirty scenes of varying light densities without re-threading the machine. All the operator has to do is to frame the picture and turn on power; everything else works automatically. ANOTHER Erbograph feature, invented and perfected by Mr. Erb, is the test machine, which prints automatically fifteen pictures of varying light densities. In other words this test machine will print one foot of film in fifteen different light densities, a light for every picture, there being fifteen pictures to every foot of film. THERE are two assembling rooms and a polishing room. The latter contains two polishers. The polishing machines, invented by Mr. Erb, are claimed to be the only machines of their kind in the world, no other laboratory possessing such apparatus. They are the last word in polishing machines and can polish both negative and positive film, and the absence of any sprockets insures absolute safety to the film and impossibility of scratching. These machines can polish 1,000 feet of film every nine minutes. IN the drying room are installed eight specially constructed drums, each capable of handling 1,300 feet of film. The projection room on the second floor contains Simplex projectors, each with ample accommodation and the vault also on the second floor for storage of film was especially constructed for its purpose. IN the basement is a thirty-five-ton ice machine. This machine is used to cool the plant in the summer and reduce the humidity in the drying rooms. Thus the temperature is kept even throughout. Realizing the inflammable nature of films in general, the management has taken care to insure the safety of all films entrusted to them, hence the claim of an approved fireproof building. The Grinnell Sprinkler System has been installed. EVERYTHING at the Erbograph plant is under the personal supervision of Ludwig G. B. Erb. Mr. Erb is responsible for most of the present day methods used in developing, printing, tinting and toning of film and also for many of the photographic innovations, such as double, triple and quadruple exposures, dissolves, etc. The output of this plant is approximately one million feet of film developed, printed, tinted and toned weekly. Ben Goetz, treasurer of the company, is general director of the two companies now producing pictures at Erbograph for release through Art Dramas. Klutho Studio Embodies Many New Features THERE has just been constructed in sunny Florida, at Jacksonville, a modern up-to-date open-air studio, the Klutho, which embodies features new and unique. It is built along the old idea of the north skylight, constructed generally at an angle to admit light to studios. In this instance the diffusing sheets fact the south. The stage is 50 feet wide by 140 feet long. As can be seen by the cut in the advertisement, one-third of this immense stage is covered by an overhanging roof, supported by massive cantilever construction. FROM a point approximately 35 feet above the level of the stage the diffusers begin and slant at an angle of approximately 30 degrees down to within 10 feet of the back of the stage. This brings the line of diffusion very near at right angle with the sun, admitting the maximum amount of light through the small open pores of the muslin diffusers. THE amount of light admitted is so great that even on a cloudy day successful results can be obtained. The diffusion of light also is so perfect that a remarkable stereopticon effect, so much desired in moving pictures, is obtained. It seems that the light introduced between the background and the actors gives this much sought after effect. ANOTHER distinction of this plant is that sets can be left up if need be in rainy weather, being protected by an additional row of canvass over the diffusing sheets, making of this open-air stage an indoor one. The stage is divided into three parts, so that three different companies can work at one time, each stage being approximately 50 x 48 feet in width. Each stage has its own property room and scene docks, and its own dressing rooms, which are located above the property rooms, and so one company does not interfere with the other. A large carpenter shop serves the three stages. AS to the location of the studios — they are " right in town," within fifteen blocks of the main business center and all of the principal downtown hotels. It's only twelve blocks away from all the large furniture and department stores that have a bearing on the " property question." The street car service is excellent, seven different car lines running within one-half block. THERE are at present eighteen completed sets, such as are commonly used in almost any setting. Some of these sets are plain and some paneled. Commodious office space is available in the office building attached to the studio, for visiting companies. IN connection with this plant an indoor studio, about 40 x 50, which will be completely lighted by a modern lighting system, is being contemplated by the owner.