Moving Picture World (Oct-Nov 1919)

I’ovembbK' 22, 191& IH3 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 423 Pjdwxkotx Crificteps &r\d Praises IN SO PAR as concerns the motion picture industry, I regard Toronto as the leading city of Eastern uanada. The theatre managers of Toronto are, for the most part, wideawake and ^progressive showmens The projectionists of the city are, taken as a whole, keen and energetic men, and local union No. 173 is a body which does business in a businesslike way. This latter is perhaps largely to be credited to C. A. Dentleback, president; William Covert, fixth vice president of the I. A. and business agent of local No. 173, and H. Jones, secretary; A. J. Me Cracken, treasurer; 0. E. Smithers, S. I. Wells, vice president; A. A. McMahon, K. 0. Higgins and William Steele, who constitute the executive board of. local 173, The local itself comprises 169 members. William Co vert, fifth vice-president of the I. A., and business agent of so. 173, is one of those men whom it is good to xnow, active, energetic and clean as a pin. The projectionists of Eastern Canada have much to thank William Covert for. He is and has been not only a staunch advocate of their interests, but an able representative of the international organization in that territory as well. Local Ho. 173 has just secured the signing of its new contract which goes as high as $38 a week. Proposes Examining Board Local No. 173 proposes introducing a new proposition and one which .on the face of it looks good to us. It proposes to submit' to the' government of Ontario a proposition for the formation of a projectionists' examining board as follows: Three projectionists, two exnibitors and one exehangeraan. The proposal will be that the exhibitors of Ontario shall guarantee to employ none but union men, and that the Ontario government shall license only such men as have passed the examination prescribed by the board of examiners. This is at first proposed only for Toronto or the territory within the jurisdiction of No. 173. Later, hot/ever, it is hoped the plan can be extended to cover the entire province. Having passed the examination and received license the union will stand responsible for all damage done to the film by the projectionist. This sounds queer until you understand that no Toronto projectionist is obliged to run a projection machine which is not in perfect condition. If the machine is not in perfect repair ho runs it at his own risk. The exhibitor must supply any and all repairs required. In this connection it must be understood th'at the Ontario government is considering the proposition of licensing film exchange inspectors and holding them directly responsible for any film sent out in anything but first rate condition. Criticises Projectionist While in Toronto we did not visit many theatres because, first, we had pretty thoroughly inspected then a year ago, and second our physical weariness, after hundreds of miles of frightful roads, made rest imperative. We did, however, through the courtesy of J. B. Cronk, general manager of the Allen Theatre Enterprises, visit the Allen Tneatre, on the evening of September 22. Now it 'is not a pleasant thing to be most cordially received and entertained by a tneatre management, and then to criticise the projection room; but that is what we must do. The man in the projection room of the Allen at that time (not brother Smithers) has little to be proud of. Imagine a beautiful and costly theatre filled to overflowing by an audience which had paid a good admission-price, a feature photoplay such as "Sahara," and the piot-ure actually running out of frame for at least twenty-five feet, until the audience began to clap its hands. Then again the reels were apparently in places very oily; and you can imagine what the man in that projection room was responsible for. While in Toronto I had both the nonor and pleasure of meeting the executive board of the Motion Picture Exhibitors Protective Association of Ontario, of. which J. C. Srady, manager of the Madison Theatre, Toronto, is president, and of which Thomas Scott is sec,-. retary and manager. I 7/as most favorably impressed, with the personnel of the board, and more favorablyl impressed with what they had to say. Speaks to an Audience of 214 After the shows closed on the night of the day of my last stay in Toronto, 214 projectionists, exhibitors, managers, and exchangemen gathered in the Star Theatre to hear my address on the "Optics' of the Projector." William Covert was in charge of the meeting and introduced the speakers. Mr. Scott, secretary Exhibitors Association, and one of its officers whose name I -unfortunately did not record, spoke briefly with regard to Toronto affairs. Also there were plenty smokes provided by local No. 173, the affair being a smoker. Incidentally William Covert is a very able I. A. official. Next morning we pointed the nose of our gasoline go-devil south over a billiard road, and arrived in Hamilton in less than two hours. At the time of pur visit a labor congress was in session in Hamilton. This congress had 90Q accredited delegates, and Hamilton not being a large city, its hotels were as full as a small boy after his Christmas dinner. But the boys had found a. place for us, so all was well. I had visited Hamilton about a year ‘previously, and a» well pleased to note considerable improvement in screen results; also it seemed to me the projection rooms and equipment were in better condition. Taken as a whole the projection rooms of Hamilton are not good, though there are one or two exceptions. Some of the rooms are entirely too small, and some of tnem are badly located. It i3 not reasonable to expect one to deliver high-class screen results unless he be given proper equipment and a room of sufficient size, located properly from the projection viewpoint. Iff one theatre, the Princess, I found Brother Hngh Sedgwick working under poor conditions indeed, and delivering remarkably good results, nevertheless. His projection distance is thirty feet, and the picture is of good size too. Added to this handicap, the room lacks...sq much in front to rear depth that there are only about 16 inches between the. back of the lamphouse and the wall, and that, too, without the lamphouse pulled back to whSre it probably ought to be. Loew's Hamilton Theatre is a spacious, modern theatre with a fine projection room. The chief items of equipment consist of two Power's 6B and two Martin rotary converters. The equipment is in excellent condition, and shows intelligent care on the part of M. Barleman and H. Usher, projectionists. The boys have attached a smal^l shaded electric light to the lefthand side of the upper magazine, so that the light shines through the two magazine windows and illuminates the interior of the magazine. Good scheme. A magnetic cutout is used, which operates to shut off the light automatically in case the film breaks. The rewinder is inclosed and is geared down. The Temple Theatre has a heavy pitch and a small projecting room. Its screen is brilliant from the main auditorium, but fades away badly from the balcony view. We visited several other theatres in Hamilton, but space forbids detailed mention. Talks for Two Hours In the evening the tneatre men of Hamilton gathered in the auditorium of one of its theatres, where we addressed them for more than two hours. Afterward the men were kind enough to refer in highly complimentary terms to what we had said. The gatnering then repaired to a banquet hall where a dinner was served. I don't know what the ooys paid for that> spreac , but it certainly lext notning to be desired. We did not reach the haypile in friend hotel, until after 3 a.m. RICHARDSON. ANNOUNGES RELEASE DATE i'OR "THE CAPITOL" W. W. Hodkinson Corporation" announces the release on December 7 of Leah Baird in Augustus Thomas' Stage success, "The Capitol," an Artco production made under and directed by George Irving.