Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1932)

MOVIE 197 MAKERS George Eastman and amateur movies ROY W. WINTON A discussion of his contribution to the advance of 16mm. A beacon light Photograph by H. Armstrong Boberta THE whole world has recognized the fact that in the death of George Eastman there has gone from the current scene a figure that was profoundly effective, influential and important in the development of a number of international interests. The work of this shy man who became a great leader in photography, industrial management, musical appreciation, public health, education, natural history and new methods of time reckoning has been told earlier by Carl W. Ackerman, A. C L., and others and, most recently, in the public press. Of particular interest to those of us who practice amateur cinematography is the less known — perhaps unknown — story of Mr. Eastman's personal activity in the creation and development of home movies. Because the public presentation of personal filming coincided, roughly, in time with the retirement of George Eastman from detailed direction of the Eastman Kodak Company, it is easy to conclude that this pioneer in popular photography had comparatively nothing to do with amateur motion pictures. The facts are to the contrary. George Eastman had two fundamental attributes that controlled all of his relationships with his company. As an associate of his puts it. "it is interesting to bear in mind that, during the years when practical amateur photography was evolving, the Eastman organization was small, composed of jacks of all trades, among whom Mr. Eastman was jack of spades for comprehension and ability. He worked closely with his few associates, with hands and mind — always that active, amazingly lucid mind — in developing the Kodak and the film to use with it." Although circumstances changed with the years, Mr. Eastman never lost that intimacy of contact with company problems and his hand was always on one part of his great industrial machine or another, with a lessening pressure, as time went forward, but never completely removed. He was a type that, a few years ago, would have been reproached but that, in the light of the last two or more years, has emerged as a distinct asset in public affairs — he was a man with the detailed "small town" mind so far as his willingness and capacity to work was concerned and, at the same time, a man who could think broadly and internationally when need arose. This accounts for the fact that he deliberately had "a finger in every pie" because he wanted to be sure that the pie was the right kind. The other characteristic of Mr. Eastman that is basic to any consideration of the part he played in amateur movies was his capacity, to which his world wide company bears witness, of building up contemporaneously with necessity an organization to carry out the projects upon which he had decided and to develop new projects for consideration and decision. Again, his friend says it best. "The remarkable genius of Mr. Eastman was that he could grow from his ability as an inventor into a great organizer to perpetuate similar talents of many other men, his successors. Few figures in history have combined preeminence in these two abilities." What, then, did this man with a passion for personal intervention and a demonstrated capacity for synthetic organization do for amateur movies? Precisely what these two fundamental attributes would demand, which was to consider amateur movies when they were suggested by his associates, to decide that his company would develop them and then keep a close personal watch upon their progress with occasional definite interventions. During the War decade, several attempts at amateur motion pictures had either failed or had not come to fruition in general public acceptance in the United States and elsewhere. The photographic industry, as a whole, was skeptical about home movies and hesitated to undertake them. Efforts had centered on a negative and positive process (cost being a barrier to extensive use) with the film, in most cases, 17.5 mm. wide, half the standard theatrical width. The Kodak Research Laboratories, an accomplishment of Mr. Eastman's organization genius, studied the possibility of offering a practicable method of home movies to the world. They rejected the negative and positive process and came to the conclusion that the whole thing depended upon the perfection of the reversal process, now so well known. This process was not new but, as it was then, it was lacking in the necessary latitude. No means existed of automatically compensating for amateur deviations from just the correct exposure. Since amateurs could not be expected to tolerate inferior results and since only expert amateurs could be expected to give the correct exposure all the time, it was obvious that the reversal process had to be modified and bettered. The Research Laboratories expressed their belief that this could be done. [Continued on page 214] (The writer is particularly indebted to officials of the Eastman Kodak Company, especially to L. B. Jones, vice president, for the essential material in this discussion. )