Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1919)

(Equipment Service) Motion Picture News A. F. Victor Backs A Theory With Cash — The Hardest Talk Known His Belief in the Safety Standard Leads to the Formation of New Company AN event of considerable interest to everyone interested in the non-theatrical branch of the industry is the formation of the Victor Safety Film Corporation. The intent and purpose of the new corporation is a specialized film service applicable to the needs of the users of portable projectors. The creation of such a service is of tremendous importance and interest to all those using motion pictures outside the professional theatre. The non-theatrical branch of the " movie" industry has heretofore been in somewhat the same predicament as the youngest member of a large family — compelled to use the cut-downs and made over outfits of its larger brothers, the result being frequently none too successful. How best to realize and materialize the wonderful possibilities of the educational field for motion pictures is a problem which has at one time or another occupied the interest of practically every person connected with the industry. Manufacturers of projectors, producers of film, have one and all been approached by eager prospective users of their products. People seeking with the keenest interest how to take motion pictures into their schools, churches, clubs factories and homes. The users saw the tremendous capabilities for service to them of the motion picture ; manufacturers saw the wealth of the field for their output. The user and the manufacturer have been struggling to make supply and demand coincide, but the result has been by no means perfect. There have been so many aspects to the problem ; and the tools with which we sought to solve them were too unwieldy for the field. We attempted to ^■arry into the educational field the same apparatus and equipment which had been so ideal in the amusement field. It was like confusing the field of service of the passenger automobile and the motor truck — a case of attempting to take our guests to the opera in a delivery truck. An equipment may. be absolutely perfect in serving its own field, and become nothing but an aggravation and a menace when transferred to a field of different requirements but related interest. The educational and amusement ends of the industry are related by their interests in motion pictures, and hopelessly divided by the difference in their needs of presentation. To the theatre the projector is a permanent institution, an actual part of the architectural construction. It is lined up with the screen angle, specially wired with its heavy cable, and its extreme weight firmly anchored to the cement floor of its fire-proof booth — all adequate and logical features for a machine whose place of service is definitely located. Absolute safety, perfect screen results — a wonderful tribute to the ingenuity of the human mind. But attempt to take this splendid servant into the college where it is needed first in one class room and then another; or apply its use to factory advertising where it must be taken from place to slace by a salesman, or into your home, where it must make its appearance in your drawing room gracefully, and its exit conveniently, and you have the most awkward and aggravating conditions confronting you. And if its portability is essential, how much more important is the element of safety. Not one tithe of the latter quality can be sacrificed. In the center of a crowded church, in the class room where the machine is frequently operated by one of the students, in your own home, surrounded by your children — the machine MUST have every element of safety. The portable projector must protect its users are thoroughly as the professional machine in the theatre. To do this and retain its portability was the nut the manufacturers were called upon to crack. To make a portable machine to use professional standard film and meet all the requirements of safety, was to make a portable machine that required a motor truck as a porter ! On the other hand, to make a portable machine, using professional standard film, that was really portable, meant to strip it of all the safety equipment prescribed by the Board of Underwriters, which so adequately protects the operator and audience in the theatre. The result was a product which was an outlaw, serving its users clandestinely and precariously. Another angle of this dilemma of many difficulties has been the fact that there was no inspiration for the production of purely educational film. So long as the projectors were many of them classed as outlaws, the producers shied at the idea of investing their money in film production — the vehicle for projection was too uncertain. To be a healthy growth, a business must be ethically and legally sound. Otherwise it is like the manufacturer of moonshine whiskey — stealthy, punitive action. In spite of its many handicaps the field has been a lucrative one. People in every condition of life are keenly alive to the power of the screen. It is a vivid, visual argument, powerful in any direction it is launched. In spite of the meagre supply of film, in spite of the awkward and often hazardous means of projection, users have been begging for the means of bringing the potent force of the " movie " in our schools, churches, clubs, factories and homes. There has, of course, been a very large percentage of users who have found the large, heavy projectors impractical for their purposes, and who have refused to compromise on safety and accept the smaller machines from which the heavy fireproof booth and other accessories have been eliminated. And this class of user has been steadily increasing, and is waiting today for the equipment to meet their needs and requirements. The recent action of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, in adopting a special standard safety film for use with portable projectors, is a movement of singular distance in the right direction. The simple fact of adopting a special standard to meet the requirements of the portable field clears away the confusing tangle of underbrush and gives open way to field of wonderful fertility. The new standard safety film does away with the need of the fireproof booth, which has been such a hampering feature in the portable field. The new standard safety film removes the element of hazard from those projectors which were evading the responsibility of safeguarding their users. The safety standard film furnishes a definite field of production for educational film and a certain legal outlet for that film. Educators, business men, clergymen, any one, anjovhere with a message to put over, are turning eagerly to the motion picture as the most powerful and most flexible messenger. It is the greatest linguist of all times. They have seen what an influence for good or evil it has been capable of exerting in the amusement field, and they are anxious to give it more serious work to do. Educators have found that a student's attention is caught and his imagination intrigued more by the eye than the ear. Clergymen are realizing that :t takes more than age old dogma to hold the interest of their congregations and are looking for suitable film of special interest to their following. Manufacturers have discovered that a " movie " of their plant and processes argues more logically than the glibbest of salesmen. Clubs are keen on the idea of exhibiting in their rooms special film, or subjects, representatives of the interests of their members. Fastidious people, wishing to act as censors of their own " movies," are seeking the equipment which will bring the pictures they desire into their homes. To each type of user, the Victor Safety Film Corporation offers a service studiously cognizant of his individual needs. Travel, science, classical drama, religious subjects and good, clean entertainment are all to be found in the New Victor library. All Victor subjects are produced on ^afcty • Standard Film for use without booth and arc available for use with all projectors employing the Safety Standard. A New Box Office Sign ■"THE illustration shows a box office ticket-rate *■ sign recently put on the market bv Behrend, of the Moving Picture Supply Co., of New York. Briefly, the sign consists of a metal plate fastened on to a wood base and a number of interchangeable tabs which slide into a slot between the wood and the metal. Some time ago, with the advent of the war tax, Mr. Behrend saw the need for a neat, durable interchangeable sign for hanging in the box office. Managers immediately appreciated the value of the interchangeable feature and the sign as a result has had a ready sale. Both metal face and ticket tabs are of brass, with the lettering and figures etched in by acid. The wood is finished in mahogany, which, with the brass,' furnishes an attractive combination. In operation the sign is extremely simple, hardly requiring an explanation. With each sign as it leaves the factory there are furnished a set of five tabs, selected by the buyer for any combination of ticket prices. Amusement Supply Company Busy with Orders THE Amusement Supply Company, Chicago's up-to-date Supply House reports the following installations of "The Motiograph." Machine. Idle Hour Theatre, Upland, Indiana 1 Colonial Theatre, Colfax, Illinois.... 2 Castle Theatre, Bloomington, Illinois 2 E M. Smith, Latham, Illinois 1 Mayfair Theatre, 3421 Montross Ave., Chicago. 2 V. A. McGowan, Otwell, Indiana 1 Woodlawn Theatre, Evansville, Indiana 2 Princess Amusement Co., Albany, Alabama 2 Temple Theatre, Mishawaka, Indiana 2 Home Theatre, Stockton, Illinois 1 W. L. Snapp, Oaktown, Indiana 1 In addition to the above they have also installed two De Luxe Motiograph machines in Chicago's newest and most up-to-date Vaudeville house. The State-Congress Theatre located on State near Congress, one block south of the Looo, operated b'*' Linick and Jacoby enterprises, this theatre, opened Saturday, Nov. 22. 1919. Two De Luxe Motiographs at the Alcazar Theatre, 69 W. Madison street, and two De Luxe Motiographs at the Casino Theatre, 58 W. Madison street, Chicago. These last two theatres are located one block from the busiest corner in the world — State and Madison streets, right in the center of the Loop, and are operated twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. NEXT WEEK in the Equipment Section There will be ' '--^^ ' ■ An Article on the Transverter. The First installment of an Article for Ass't Cameramen — And Other' Items of Interest