Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

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}fay 9, 1931 Motion Picture Herald ' 61 ^BETTER PROJECTION "tiA Department Conducted for the Projectionist and the Exhibitor Jl By F. H. RICHARDSON Building a Modern Projection Department About July, 1926, Lester j;-iB. Isaac, then supervisor of projection for jiJLc»e\v's Washington theatre in Washing[['ton, D. C, was appointed general superjL,visor of projection for the entire Loew ^ycircuit of theatres. He has since been made ,!.jdirector of sound and visual projection, ij'lwhich is a better title. In the five years that have elapsed he has organized one of ^. jthe most efficient projection departments J.lin the United States, which of course '.imeans in the world. This has been made i.j,|possible through the "hands off" policy Jjpursued by President Schenck, who ordered ,L(all matters pertaining to projection affairs (jjiturned over to the projection department, jijwith the order, ''proceed now and produce jjflthe goods." ^j.; Isaacs took as his first important duty, fjthe task of obtaining an able assistant. He 'chose as his right-hand man, M. D. , O'Brien, and I think it was a good choice. ^ Isaac then made a thorough investigajttion of existing conditions and got busily 'busy on an efficient method of handling .projection matters in a large group of j'theatres, which, gentlemen, is no small job. jin the process of reorganization he tells ime, his greatest task was the standardization of equipment, as hardly any two theatres had the same type. Things were ipfetty badly mixed up, and to get them istraightened out without excessive expense iwas a big problem. The next consideration was given to the j;building up of the internal organization .of the projection department, as the Loew 'icircuit was in the throes of an enormous Jbuilding program. This necessitated much lextra engineering work in connection with the designing of new projection rooms and it became necessary to establish an ofHce force to take care of this work. This mew force was under the immediate conitrol of the projection department, and its 'work was to make original projection room plans, after a survey of conditions in the theatre had been mide. Wiring diagrams, conduit layouts and similar details were incorporated in the plans for projection jTooms, and a particular ef¥ort was made to rstandardize whenever possible. In this way, projection rooms were planned for all requirements — that is, of course, for straight motion pictures and sound, or vaudeville and pictures. Efforts were also made to simplify the routine of equipping the projection room. Typewritten or printed forms were prepared so that new equipment or replacements could be ordered with a minimum of effort. A printed questionnaire was sent out — containing blank spaces to be filled out by the staff of each Loew theatre, and this form properly filled out, returned and filed, gave immediate knowledge of every item of projection room apparattus contained in the Loew theatres. For instance, if it became necessary to know just ^vhat projectors were used in any Loew theatre and their exact age and condition, a reference to the questionnaire sheet covering that theatre gave — the required information. These sheets are now sent to each theatre — once a month. Upon their return the old sheet is destroyed, after checking with the new to see that no errors or omissions have been made. Sound came upon the industry almost without warning, and just about the time that Isaac and O'Brien were expecting a little breathing spell, they were given orders to equip every Loew theatre with sound as quickly as possible. In spite of many obstacles and many new problems to be solved, every Loew's sound installation was made on time. The installation of sound frequently necessitated elaborate projection room alterations, and of course all this came under the direct supervision of Loew's projection department. With sound, it became necessary to reorganize the projection department and greatly increase its personnel. Later Isaac proceeded to build up the department, so that today in addition to himself, he has M. D. O'Brien, assistant director of projection ; one consulting acoustic engineer, one technical supervisor of sound, two district supervisors, eight sound engineers and a battery engineer (not forgetting to mention three very efficient secretaries). It also became necessary to formulate plans for the maintaining and servicing of sound equipment in Loew's theatres. For the metropolitan district, in which are located 72 Loew theatres, the plan has been adopted of dividing this territory into eight districts of nine theatres each, with one engineer for each district. These eight districts are grouped into two zones and a supervisor is in charge of each zone. Each engineer is required to make a periodic visit to each theatre in his district. While there, he makes any minor adjustments which may be necessatry for the improvement of sound projection. He reports to his immediate superior, who in turn is accountable to Isaac. In this way Isaac is kept in touch with what is going on in all Loew theatres. If any major changes are necessary in the equipment of any theatre or any new installation is to be made (and this may occur at any time through wear or improvements being put out by the company manufacturing the sound equipment), the work is handled under the immediate supervision of the technical supervisor. The organization so functions that the theatres are serviced by half of the engineers during the day, and by the other half during evening hours until the theatres are all closed. An engineer is detailed for duty in the office from 5 p. m. until 2 a. m., and he is immediately available if for any reason a theatre finds itself unable to get in touch with its own service engineer. The method employed for keeping in touch with the sound engineers consists of a typewritten "log" in which the various movements of each one is constantly recorded through the hours of service. The reports are made to the office by telephone. Batteries in Loew theatres are purchased by the projection department and in the metropolitan district they are serviced and maintained exclusively by its own battery engineer. Loew's projection department is thus able to attend to any situation which may arise from the time the tentative plans of a theatre are prepared, and it continues constantly to guard against the thousand and one defects which may af?ect the delivery of good sound and visual projection to the public. I requested Lester Isaac to iDepartment address: F. H. Richardson, 43-28 Thirty-ninth Place, Long Island City, N. Y.