Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1922)

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12 MOVING PICTURE AGE February, 1922 OUR NEIGHBORHOOD Rev. Howard Y. Williams Pastor, Peoples Church, St. Paul, Minnesota FOR over two years motion pictures have been a part of the program of Peoples Church. We began with a Fridaynight community service. With our institution located in a downtown area, the children of our poorer families were attending theatres that screened inferior films, and we felt it to be the duty of the church to provide 'clean entertainment for them at the close of the school week. We conduct the exhibitions in our church auditorium, and use our splendid organ to provide the music. The program is started with a Ford Weekly that takes the optience through the processes of some industry, or on a journey to foreign lands. Next comes a one-reel comedy — last fall we used Bray Pictographs — and then the feature film. Some of the best features we have screened are : "The Turn of the Road," "The Other Half," "Poor Relations," and "Better Times," from Robertson-Cole; "The Sawdust Doll," "Daddy Number Two," and other pictures featuring Baby Marie, from Pathe ; and "Evangeline," "Love's Harvest," "The Girl of My Heart," and "Merely Mary Ann," from Fox. We run two reels together, and during reel changes we put on slides announcing the various activities of the church and the Neighborhood House. Ten cents admission is charged, and we have never yet failed to cover our expenses. Various Groups Conduct Exhibitions Usually some of the church or neighborhood clubs have charge of this Friday-night showing. The Mothers' Club of the neighborhood school was sponsor on one occasion, and took in profits of more than $100, the sum going to aid the work of that club. The Ladies' Society, the Young People's Society, the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, and other such groups have their turns in conducting these programs. Frequently entertainment during the changing of reels is provided by readers, vocal and instrumental soloists, esthetic dancers, etc. ; and on every occasion the accruing profits are taken by the organization ... y . •t 1 et.A *». ' 58.. * a*'. I*. Br ,JFj£^7 n lB.r; mhw L^Sa-' ' ftvl aaflaSs Mi'^T^M ^™M0l A study in expressions that conducted that particular program. Attendance at exhibitions varies from 200 to 1,200 people. Following the eager response to these Friday-night showings we organized the Fifth Ward Neighborhood House Association, representing all creeds and nationalities in the neighborhood, with the purpose of serving the community in a non-sectarian way. The Peoples Church had granted the use of its building to the association, and the pastor was elected president of the association's board of directors. The Community Chest of St. Paul appropriated $4,000 for the Neighborhood House project, and we employ two paid workers. Monday-Night Programs Monday evenings at 7:15 we have a Community Sing, in which generally between 400 and 600 children and parents participate. Then follows a short-story talk, some man or woman of the city narrating his or her experience for the benefit of the young folks. After the talk comes a brief film program — one reel of educational material and a comedy. Last winter we found the "Edgar" comedies, based on Booth Tarkington's stories, most interesting to the children. This year we are showing the Boy Scout pictures, "The Adventures of Bill and Bob." Following the motion pictures the assembly breaks up into classes. The girls may devote their time to sewing, cooking, fancy work, esthetic dancing, gymnasium work, and Girl Scout activities ; for the boys we provide boxing, basketball, gymnasium classes, hammockweaving, wood-carving, the Boy Scout troop, and similar instructive work. Other groups meet on other nights of the week. From 1,500 to 3,000 persons attend these neighborhood activities each week. The Monday-night entertainments are without charge, and serve to advertise our club work. It has been difficult to find just the right films for these programs, but we are now finding it increasingly easier. Films for the Sunday-Evening Service Our Sunday-evening programs always begin with a 15-minute organ recital. We often screen a single-reel travelogue to provide background for the sermon of the evening. I used a scenic on Samoa to give setting to a Sunday-evening address on Robert Louis Stevenson. I have shown a number of Bruce scenics (Educational Film Corp.) during the organ recital. With a special service for nurses I screened the Red Cross film "Vocational Training Among Blind Soldiers." As yet I have not found biblical films any too satisfactory, but I look for marked development in this fertile field in the early future. Concerning Agricultural Productions ANOTHER film has recently been released by the United States Department of Agriculture, and is called "Exit Ascaris." It treats of the swine roundworms, whose scientific cognomen is Ascaris lumbricoides. The screen story is built around two neighbor farmers, one of them successful in the raising of swine, the other so unsuccessful and discouraged that he is about .to give up the business. The successful farmer tells the failure that roundworms are probably the cause of his trouble; but the latter is not convinced until a federal veterinarian is called in to diagnose the case. The government agent shows the discouraged farmer, by means of a high-power microscope, that the soil of the lot and the swine themselves are badly infested with roundworms, and incidentally the film portrays the complete life history of the roundworm. The Department of Agriculture reports that its film "The Honor of the Little Purple Stamp" created a strong impression at a London conference of representatives of the meat trade, some of whom were present from South America. Members of the conference paid especial attention to the thoroughness of American Federal meat inspection, as portrayed in the film. This picture is to be shown extensively throughout Europe as part of a campaign to develop foreign markets for American meat products. State rights on "Spring Valley," an agricultural film produced by the American Farm Bureau Federation, have been purchased by that the Oregon group is the second state federation to purchase to be used in membership campaigns to be conducted in the Spring. The news letter of the American Farm Bureau Federation states that the Oregon group is the second state federation to purchase state rights on "Spring Valley." The Illinois State Department of Agriculture has released for distribution an agricultural production entitled "The Dawn of a New Day for Illinois." The film demonstrates proper methods of conducting dairy work on the farm, and illustrates the value of dairy products. Already the picture has been booked for showing in more than a hundred towns. M'r. B. M. Davison, new Director of Agriculture for Illinois, is emphatically in favor of agricultural education through the motion picture, as he sees it as a direct means to more efficient farming. Students enrolled for the Columbia University course in the production of motion pictures recently saw at private showing a series of films invaluable in the pursuance of such a course. These pictures, taken at the Hollywood and Long Island studios of a well-, known producing company, showed the numerous departments of: the organization in actual operation, and also brought glimpses of writers, directors, and actors in their daily work of production. Pr. Rowland Rogers, instructor in charge of the course, placed high value on this practical demonstration of the various phases of film production.