Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1932)

February 13, 1932 Motion Picture Herald 2>7 F. H. RICHARDSON'S COMMENT AND ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES FILM MUTILATION: WHEN WILL IT CEASE? A RECENT LETTER from Leslie E. Jeflress, projectionist of the Crossett theatre in Crossett, Ark., a small town, will serve as well as any for my text. He begins: "May I compliment you on your interesting and helpful articles in Better Theatres and Motion Picture Herald? May I also ask you to try to find time and space to again say something about film mutilation?" Indeed he may! "Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences," he continues, "has adopted the standard changeover cue system, and since the producers have adopted it into general use, I can see no reason why projectionists should find it necessary to mutilate the end of reels. Some of them, however, still do. The print we are now running had not been in use in more than five theatres before we received it. It carries a stand cue, but when inspected, it was found that all the reel ends had punch marks, scratch marks, ink spots and almost everything else that might be used as a changeover cue. As a matter of fact, the standard changeover marks were almost obliterated. It would seem that any man who could see at all should be able to detect the standard changeover marks. The man who cannot surely has no business in a projection room. If the men who are used to marking film to suit the pickup of their motors, would take a few minutes to figure out the number of feet of film that are run off before their projectors reach maximum speed, and then use the standard changeover system, projection would most certainly profit by it. It would be to the advantage of every projectionist putting on a sound show. "We have R.C.A. sound system, and I find that the motors run one foot and eleven inches of film before they reach maximum speed. By threading my projectors correctly I find I can get the incoming reel on the screen in the first four frames by using the standard dots. I am sure if a small town projectionist can do this, the projectionist in a large theatre can do it as well. "Put in fewer words, what I am trying to say is this : to make a perfect changeover we must have prints that have not been marked by punches, scratches or any other marks that will show glaringly on the screen. "In closing, let me thank you for the many hours of interesting and instructive reading you have supplied us with. I hope you will continue the fight for better working conditions for the projectionists." This letter is well written and well worded. It apparently comes from a livewire projectionist. And let me say right here, there's a lot of real projectionists in small town theatres. The big city projectionist usually labors under a heavy handicap. He feels he has reached to top in projection, and the natural inclination under that condition is to slow up. Rightly or wrongly, he just naturally feels that he knows about all there is to know about projection. Silly, of course, but a lot of them do acquire that idea after they have been in one of the big theatres for a while. The small town man, however, has no such feeling. Moreover, usually he cannot step to the telephone when something goes wrong and get help almost immediately.^ He has got to figure out everything for himself. If he fails to do so, he knows he will come pretty close to losing his job, and in small towns jobs are not too plentiful. To get back to our subject, however, I sometimes think it is a waste of breath tryinng to tell such men as Jelfress has been talking about, anything at all. One might almost as well talk to a fence post. As Friend Jefifress said, the standard release print changeover system is here and in general use. The signals may be plainly seen by anyone who is not too infernally lazy to look for them. Of course, they are not quite so easy to see as a great big splotch of white light, or a black blob two feet or so in diameter on the screen, and Mr. Shiftless Lazyman does not like to be obliged to watch closely for them. He wants something that he just can't possibly miss seeing. The scratch marks and similar marks make it just a bit easier to him. He is not annoyed by being obliged to do anything more than look in the general direction of the screen to see them, and damage to film apparently means just exactly nothing at all to him. That is very plain talk, but this persistent damage inflicted upon film and upon screen results, which is chargeable wholly and entirely to just plain laziness and shiflessness, is becoming a wee bit monotonous. It would seem that if the "machine operators" (that is precisely what those film butchers are) have not sufficient respect either for their profession or for the property entrusted to their care, the exchanges which own the film should at least compel them to respect their property. This may very easily be done, provided all exchanges agree to do it, and further provided that there is real inspection of film upon its return to the exchange. All that is necessary is for a bill for damages to be sent to the exhibitor every time a film is found returned with changeover marks fixed in or upon it by the projectionist. Just a few bills collected for the damage done, and the trouble will unquestionably stop. Certainly, the industry owes it to itself to take sorne action to stop this disgustingly persistent, expensive curse of film vandalism. THAT PROBLEM OF BUCKLED FILM c. B. BALDWIN of Atlanta, Ga., writes: "I am writing regarding the problem a Florida projectionist had with buckled film. He says his projectors gave an in-and-out effect on the screen, whereas in another theatre in the same town the print went through in perfect focus. I am submitting the same solution as did the brother in Westboro, Mass. He had the same trouble and found that it was caused by unevenly adjusted tension shoes. The proper lining up of the gate rollers also play an important part. I have noticed that almost all present-day film damage is caused by too heavy gate and take-up tension. The brother in Warton, Texas, had trouble with film buckling during its first run, though it ran perfectly thereafter. "I am myself using lamps that have these 'hot spots.' I find that on the first run of the day the film is cold, and the spot causes the center of each frame to expand