Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

70 Better Theatres Section May 9, 1931 The Standard TEXT BOOKS on PROJECTION Richardson's Motion Picture Handbooks Volumes 1 and 2 $6,20 Volume 3 (on sound only) $5.10 All Three Volumes $10.20 W e are handling them for the convenience of the trade Send check, money order, draft, or order C.O.D. MOTION PICTURE HERALD BOOKSHOP 1790 BROADWAY NEW YORK, N. Y. CIRCUS H(RRLOi 0RT6JPO5TeRJ EXHIBITORS Printing Service 711 South Dearborn Street CHICAGO, ILL. Be sure to turn to our :^ge advertisement in the May ' 9th issue of MOTION PICTURE HERALD BesTone Sound System disc equipment. This dupe recording is, as you know, none too good. The inferior quality of tone reproduction is especially apparent now we have noiseless recording. "Here is the trouble. The smaller theatres have and are gradually replacing poor equipment with better types, but are only installing sound-on-film, hence the discs that were originally intended for them are useless. Consequently, they are being sent to the larger houses which have both equipments. At the Bailey theatre we have, as you know, the larger type Western Electric equipment for both disc and sound-onfilm. When a booking is made of a picture that is playing out of town, in, say, two country houses on the same date as the Bailey, the Bailey gets the disc print and the two houses who have only sound-onfilm get the film prints." Friend Caldwell goes considerably further, but this portion of his letter is, I think, sufficient. He is a little mixed in his data, I think. He is msitaken in assuming that producers have all stopped making disc prints. However, it is quite possible. nevertheless that what Brother Caldwell complains of is being done, and if it is being done it represents very poor practice. , It is a matter that is very hard to deal with, however, being one of those many things that crop up in an industry which is changing its methods and practices so rapidly. As the matter now stands the preponderance of productions are of course sound-on-film, but just the same there is still much very excellent stuf? being put out on disc. It is to be sincerely hoped that the duped method of recording will soon be abandoned. While it is possible, as Warner Brothers contend, that a somewhat better recording can be made on disc, still it seems to me that the confusion set up by the two methods does far more damage than the small degree of added excellence (if that added excellence be granted) can possibly compensate for. I would be glad to hear from other projectionists and from theatre managers concerning the matter laid before us by Brother Caldwell. SOUND SCREEN LIGHT LOSS FROM AN exhibitor in Idaho comes this letter: "I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 11th, replying to mine of the 4th. Please accept my thanks for the information contained in your letter. Note that you hesitate to give any direct advice in the way of recommending any specific make of equipment, which same I would not expect you to do. "In my previous letter I left out one thing which it is now more than ever necessary to know. I have General Electric Mazda equipment, 900-watt lamps. Can I expect these lamps to be satisfactory when using a sound screen ? For example, suppose that I installed a Transtone sound screen, would that mean that I must put in some kind of an arc light source in order to adequately illuminate the screen? "My reason for asking is that the Mazda equipment has been so satisfactory, not only in the illumination of the picture ^ but in very greatly reducing my current Auditorium, toward screen, Arcadia, Enid, Okla. W. Scott Dunne, Architect.