Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

ADDRESSING LETTERS TO F. H. RICHARDSON Mr. Richardson does most of the actual writing for his columns at his home in Scarsdale, N. Y., a suburb of New York City. Therefore mail addressed to him there usually reaches him a little sooner than that addressed to him at his office. His home address is No. 3 Tudor Lane. QUIETEST SAFEST SMOOTHEST GoldE AUTOMATIC REWIND Standard on all specifications — because best. Fool proof and proven after nine years operation in the finest theatres thruout the world. New Low Price $45.00 less motor. $65.00 with special enclosed low starting current G. E. motor BUILT IN to GoldE Rewind case. Special resilient mounting makes the GoldE Mode! H absolutely the quietest while rewinding. Smoothness of rewinding assured by novel automotive friction brake. DESIGN and FINISH — Sturdiness and power (3000 ft. of film accommodated). Quietness and Simplicity — All in the GoldE Model H. AT ALL DEALERS GOLDE MANUFACTURING CO. 1730 N. Damen Avenue Chicago, III. SUPER-LITE LENSES and PRO-JEX SOUND UNITS are giving universal satisfaction A TRYOUT WILL CONVINCE YOU Projection Optics Co., Inc. 330 Lyell Ave., Rochester, N. Y., U.S.A. the said coils. Thus if the adjustment be correctly made and maintained, a solid surface of light is presented to the collector lens, which surface is of sufficiently even brilliancy to serve the purpose. The biplane lamp has more coils, so located that they themselves present very nearly a solid surface of illumination to the collector lens, which is of course an advantage. However, this is largely counterbalanced by the fact that such lamps consume approximately double the wattage^ hence not only are just that much more costly in operation, but also, because of the greater heat, they require larger bulbs. I append below further comment by Mr. F. E. Carlson of General Electric: "Almost twice as much tungsten, and therefore twice as much wattage, can be put into a biplane source of a given size. Therefore if, as Mr. Richardson has pointed out, it is possible to increase wattage, the substitution of a biplane source for a monoplane source makes possible increase in screen illuminations of the order of 60% to 80%, while such increases in wattage of the monoplane source might not, and probably wouldn't, produce any worthwhile improvement. "On the other hand, increasing wattage in a projection lamp isn't always quite so easy as it sounds. Such lamps are designed to work with optical systems in which the distance from source to condenser is fixed. This limits bulb diameter and when wattage is increased without a proportional increase in bulb size, the amount of blackening on the bulb increases and the temperature of the bulb rises. Unless forced ventilation is provided, the bulb temperature may rise to a point where the glass softens and ultimately fails. "Even if no increase in wattage is possible, it is still quite likely that the substitution of a biplane source will produce an improvement in screen illumination. This will depend upon how effectively the optical system is utilizing the light from the monoplane source. If it is evident that the beam from the monoplane source more than fills the projection lens, then it is obvious that more of the beam from the more concentrated biplane source will be intercepted by the projection lens. The improvement may represent an increase in screen illumination of as much as 50% or even more. "Just about the only time when the biplane source does not provide an appreciable improvement in screen illumination is when the beam from the monoplane source either just fills, or does not fill, the projection lens, and no increase in wattage is possible. In this case it is evident that there has been no increase in incandescent tungsten in the useful area and therefore the only improvement possible is from concentrating the tungsten nearer the optical axis where it is utilized more effectively." CIRCUIT EXECUTIVE PREFERS MAZDA LAMPS kent G. buck, vice president and treasurer of Bush Theatres, San Diego, Calif., writes, "I feel that a few words of sincere appreciation is the least that can be offered you for the very fine job you have done in the prepartion of your new Bluebook. Having met you on your first visit here and heard your lecture when you came last time, I feel real pride in owning an autographed copy. "During a period of almost twenty years as theatre owner and manager, during which time I had much experience as a practical projectionist, I have had great benefit and help from your writings and teachings. The Bluebook School, in Motion Picture Herald is fine, and your department in Better Theatres a great improvement over your work of years gone by. "Your statement, pages 410 and 411 of the Bluebook, concerning Mazda projection lamps, is of particular interest. I demonstrated its truth back in 1926, when we built our Egyptian theatre, which then was one of the finest neigborhood theatres in this section. I installed Motiograph projectors, with the special Motiograph Mazda lamps, Cinephor condensers and the small aperture lens Matiograph supplied with this outfit. "This was done without encouragement from our projectionists and against the advice of some of them. However, I believed results could be gotten with the outfit. We projected a 16-foot picture at about 95 feet, using a beaded screen. The results were so excellent that in a number of instances it was necessary to take men to the projection room to convince them we were using Mazda. Of course, when sound and its perforated screens came, it was necessary to install reflector arcs." I have long thought that it really might be quite possible that many of the smaller theatres would be able to use Mazda with very good results were greater attention paid to the optical system, particularly with regard to paralleling the light beam, or at least narrowing its divergence between the aperture and projection lens. The condition with Mazda is such that the divergence there is wide. A properly designed lens, installed either ahead of, or immediately at, the rear of the aperture, surely would stand the temperature; also surely the added losses at its surface would be much more than counterbalanced by the parallel or near-parallel beam resulting. If this be successfully done, then Mazda Just Off the Press ALL THE FACTS FOR 1936 ALL THE SIGNS FOR 1937 1,384 pages of vital information covering every phase of production, distribution, exhibition. The new INTERNATIONAL ALMANAC is a comprehensive compilation of motion picture facts and figures, providing thousands of items of important information conveniently arranged and indexed for instant, dependable use. It is the most exhaustive reference of the screen — its authority, completeness and usability giving it a place of daily importance in the motion picture and allied industries. Edited by TERRY RAMSAYE $3.00 per copy plus postage INTERNATIONAL MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC A Quigley Publication Rockefeller Center New York 32 Better Theatres