Moving Picture News (Jan-Jun 1913)

"THE CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE ABE COPYRIGHTED' tEPjje jWobmg ^Picture MM INCORPORATING Jflootng picture Cales AMERICA'S LEADING CINEMATOGRAPH WEEKLY PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY The CINEMATOGRAPH PUBLISHING COMPANY, 30 West Thirteenth Street, NEW YORK CITY Telephone, 4092 Chelsea ALFRED H. SAUNDERS, Editor (20 years Expert in Cinematography). This newspaper is owned and published by the Cinematograph Publishing Company, a New York corporation. Office and principal place of business No. 30 West 13th Street, New York. Alfred H. Saunders, President: John A. Wilkens, Secretary, and W. M. Petingale, Treasurer. The address of the officers is the office of the newspaper. SUBSCRIPTION : $2.00 per year. Postpaid in the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. ^-SgtSp'S&'Bg Canada and Foreign Countries: $2.50 per year. All communications should be addressed to The Moving Picture News, «*e^gJ£«|fe£i> 30 west Thirteenth Street, New York City. ADVERTISING RATES : $60 per page, $30 J-page, $15 i-page, single columa ^sasss*3' $20, $2 per inch. Discounts, 20% 12; 10% 6; 5% 3 months. Entered as second-class matter in the New York Post Office Volume VII March 29, 1913 Number 13 EX-CATHEDRA THE OPERATOR REGARDING the question of fires and the operator's booth, quite a lot of interesting matter came in to me in reference to the same, and the cry of the operator went up from several sources. One letter deserving of special attention is as follows : Dear Sir : In the February 15th edition of the Moving Picture News you write under the article of "A Small Boy and a Large Panic," that you advocate the glass covers in all apertures of the moving picture booth for the safety of the public. I agree with you, every exhibitor should see that his place is fireproof; he should see that the public are not in danger of a panic; but, how about the operator? Don't you think that his health should be safeguarded as well? Is it not a fact that almost 75% of moving picture booths are without proper ventilation? Is it not also a fact that the only fresh air that gets into the booth is though the apertures? Now, what chance does the operator stand with all the apertures covered with glass? I think you should give the operator some consideration in this matter. Hoping you will give this letter some of your valuable time and space. Yours truly, AN OPERATOR. '"An Operator" certainly voices a strong plea for the rank and file, of the "men behind the machine," and I candidly admit something should be done, and done very quickly, to allow proper breathing space. I have been an advocate for the safety and convenience of the operator, and as his health is of prime importance to himself and his family I think that should be safeguarded. It is getting to be a serious problem with the operator as to what he can do to preserve his health. Only the most robust can withstand the strain under which they are working, and when I observe the number that are in the first or second stages of consumption I often wonder where it will end. The breathing of the carbon dust is a very great detriment to the operator, and the heat from the arc makes it almost impossible for him to be comfortable while attending to his work, owing to the fact that the booth must be close shut, and, as "An Operator" remarks, 75 per cent, of the booths have no ventilation. This is absolutely wrong. The booths should be made not only fireproof, but capable of thorough ventilation. There should always be an intake and an outflow of pure air. This can be accomplished by a proper grating at the bottom of the booth and a ventilating fan with an exhaust pipe at the top. This would insure always a fresh supply of pure air into the booth. I am perfectly well aware the Board of Fire Underwriters and the Fire Department have made it very hard to overcome the difficulties of poor ventilation, but if the matter is brought to their notice by a few strong, pertinent remarks or letters, and the attention of the Board of Health called to the condition under which the operator works. I think the solution would be very -speedy, and that not only the safety of the public be assured by the glass in front of the booth, but the operator's comfort also taken into consideration by a properly ventilated booth. CINEMATOGRAPH FIRES COMING again to the question of the booth and its safety, I quote from an editorial I wrote in my issue of May 27, 1911, in which I said: We wonder if the trade fully realize the very small percentage of fires brought about by Cinematography. Our London correspondent in the May 13th issue gave the following significant fact : Out of 3,208 fires which occurred in the area of the London County Council in 1910 only seven were at picture exhibitions which is 109/500 or l/5th of 1 per cent. Noting these figures for London, a correspondent gives us the figures for New York City. Out of 4,032 fires in 1910 only two were caused by Cinematograph films and the damage infinitesimally small. In New York State the fires for 1910 were 11,098, and out of this large proportion only five were caused by films. We tried to verify these figures from Mr. Forsyth, of the Board of Fire Underwriters; he happened to be engaged in court at the time so we could