Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

22 THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS The Motion Picture News MOVING PICTURE NEWS EXHIBITORS' TIMES Published Every Week by EXHIBITORS' TIMES, Inc. 220 West 42nd Street, New York City Telephone Bryant 7650 Chicago Office 604 Schiller Building WM. A. JOHNSTON President HENRY F. SEWALL Vice-President E. KENDALL GILLETTE Secretary WENTWORTH TUCKER Treasurer This publication is owned and published by Exhibitors' Times, incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. The offices and principal place of business are at 220 West i2nd Street, New York City. The address of the officers is the office of the publication. Entered as Second-Class matter in the New York Post-Office.. Subscription $2.00 per year, postpaid in the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. Canada and Foreign $2.50 per year. ADVERTISING RATES on application Copy for next issue must reach us by Wednesday 11 a, m. Cuts and copy are received subject to the approval of the publishers and advertisements ar3 inserted absolutely without condition expressed or implied as to what appears in the text portion of the paper. Vol. VIII December 13, 1913 No. 23 What will probably happen is this : The French Government will get over its needless alarm and the present kind of celluloid will continue in use for an indefinite period. It should never be forgotten that celluloid is, after all, only another name for liquid collodion. The latter was formerly used by many thousands of photographers in all parts of the world. High fire insurance risks were imposed on the Users of this liquid. Much the same spirit of alarm seems to be manifested with reference to inflammable celluloid. For those of our readers who are interested in the scientific aspect of the matter, we can refer them to the researches of Green, Cross & Bevan, the authorities on the subject of cellulose substitutes, whose papers can be found in any scientific library. They were, we think, the means of introducing aceto-cellulose instead of nitro cellulose, which after all is merely a variation of the method of treating the original cellulose. Aceto-cellulose compounds are the subject of patent litigation at the present time. The master patent, if we mistake not, are controlled in Germany. This subject is rather recondite for the average reader or motion picture maker, but it is of much importance. CELLULOID "SUBSTITUTES" Hp HE article printed last week under the caption "Substitutes for Celluloid" was in type when several newspaper references to the subject, of an indirect nature, were brought to our notice. These were precipitated by the circumstance that the use of inflammable celluloid has been forbidden by the French Government after December 31, 191-1. This drastic measure has directed attention to the need, if not the urgency, of providing a substitute for celluloid film, which will meet with the approval of the French authorities. As usual in such cases, the trade is much excited and many of the men most interested are talking rather loosely about the feasibility of making a cheap and efficient substitute. In particular, Monsieur Gaumont, the well-known motion picture maker, is quoted, or probably misquoted, as saying that somebody in this country (the United States) is making a celluloid substitute Avhich can be sold at one cent a yard. In the present state of our chemical knowledge of the subject, this looks improbable. We are, however, making inquiries. MOTION PICTURES VERSUS "MOVING" PICTURES 'T'HE error, into which many good people had fallen, of referring to motion pictures as "moving pictures" has led to a number of humorous interpretations of this source of entertainment. Although the masses are not disposed to analyze the origin of any name or designation, there are persons who, realizing that properly projected motion pictures are virtually a quick succession of stereopticon-views, appreciate the correctness of the term "motion pictures." In a motion-picture house the spectators are concerned only with what is displayed on the screen, and each of the numberless pictures is shown within a limited and stationary space, all of them combining to simulate motion, but the pictures themselves do not move. However, as the term "moving pictures" has come to stay, it is applied by discriminating people to inferior houses, Avhereas the correct and dignified term "motion pictures" refers rather to the respectable and refined character of the display and its environment.— (The Photo-Era, Boston.) UNCLE SAM BIGGEST FILM MANUFACTURER A N interesting statement comes from the Departmerit of Commerce in Washington to the effect that the export of motion picture films from America this year will amount to over 25,000 miles, coun'ing both developed films and negatives. The value of the exports for that period was $3,467,000. It is said that this country is the largest manufacturer of motion picture , films in the world, producing nearly seventy-five per cent of the total output.