The Moving picture world (November 1922-December 1922)

December 2, 1922 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 463 P RO J E CTION Editor Travels {Continued from last week) Daughter and I drove to Niagara Falls from Rochester and examined them carefully. We arc pleased to announce that the said falls are in apparent good condition. We did the "Cave of the Winds," the "Maid of the Mist," 'n everything from soup to 1 scream. That evening 1 visited a beautiful theatre which had excellent projection. Darn the luck anyhow ! I was very tired and did not make notes. I am unable to recall cither the name of the theatre or the projectionist or manager, though the former has been a correspondent of this department. The theatre was near the falls. Sorry, for I would like to have given credit where credit was deserved. Over in Hamilton we were most cordially received. Incidentally, the Hamilton local, as a body, ordered a copy of the new handbook for each of its members. They had had the books for nearly a month when I visited the city. I have a letter from the local setting forth its opinion of the book. It was published on page 246 of issue dated November 18. I invite your attention to it. Progressive Men Anxl now don't get tiic idea that what I shall say about the Hamilton men is said because they treated me well and bought handbooks. It is said wholly and solely because the Hamilton men deserve praise for their progressiveness. The very fact that they ordered a handhook for every one of their members, accompanying the order with a substantial cash payment montlis before the book was ready for release, is evidence of their progressiveness. Only progressive men do such things ; also only progressive locals welcome lectures upon subjects allied with their profession. I was too tiled to visit more than a few theatres, and what I found in the very first one I entered kept me so long that the number I could visit was still further curtailed. ^IMB COLOli $^ F.H.RICHARDSON Every Projectionist NEEDS THE LENS CHART Have You Got Yours? PRICE 50 CENTS Chalmers Publishing Co. 516 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK FIGURE 1 Lamphouse Door Window. And now I want to tell you about a real progressive, energetic projectionist— a man after my own heart. At the Savoy Theatre, managed by L. O'Sier, a most courteous gentleman, with whom I had the pleasure of shaking hands, I found Fred Baldassari and H. Sedgwick in charge of the projection room. Brother Sedgwick is an able projectionist and a student, but It is to Brother Baldassari we must credit most of what we found and shall describe. Power's Projectors The projectors were Power's Six B, in excellent condition; but there were no arc controls. May I suggest to Manager O'Sier that he should' install arc controls? Up-to-date theatres mostly all have them, and they are an excellent investment. To run without them is not good practice. In Figure 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the lamphouse door observation window, through which the projectionist views the arc. This is not the invention of Brother Baldassari, but of Brother Purcell, projectionist at the Pantages Theatre, of which I shall speak later. The black lines represent glasses, of which there are four, held in a metal frame attached to the lamphouse door at a convenient angle, as shown. The colors of the glasses are : one grass green, one amber and two wine color. The combination is even more efficient than the well-known French arc glass. It allows ■ one to look at the arc without the slightest eye-strain. I lieartily recommend it to projec*^or manufacturers and to projectionists, with the warning that grass green must be used. Brother Baldassari has improved upon Brother Purcell's plan by adding a sheet of vcrv thin mica, as shown. This prevents the breaking of the glass by heat. I would myself suggest a further possible improvement. There is no glare at all, hence no good reason why tlie window cannot be made four or five inches square, or even larger, thus providing a convenient view of the arc at all times. It is the wav I think I would prefer it myself. The Savoy projection room is in a very, very bad location. "The angle of projection is twenty-four (24) degrees. Were it not for the fact that the screen is tilted very heavily, which same is instantly apparent from the auditorium, the resultant distortion would make the picture very nearly, if not quite, square. The attractiveness of the picture is greatly lowered to the portion of the audience seated on the main floor, hence the drawing power of the box office is lowered. With projectionists of less ability than those now there I venture the assertion that the net result would be distinctly bad. Another Stunt .Another stunt Brother Baldassari has pulled is illustrated in Figure 2. He has cut a small opening — about two inches square, as I remember it — in the rear wall of the upper magazines, and over it has riveted a casing made of russia iron, such as the lamphouse is made from. This casing is made as shown and in it is placed a small lamp. I don't quite remember, but think he said the reason for offsetting the lamp with the opening is so that he could look into the window on the projection side without having the lamp shine directly into his eyes — which is another evidence that the man works intelligently ; that he uses his brains. In Figure 2 we are supposed to be above looking down. Baldassari has invented and has in operation on both his Power's projectors a very ingenious automatic dowser. There are so very many of these devices that I don't think it necessary to describe this one in detail. It would require much space and several drawings or photos. This I will say, however ; The thing was exceedingly well made. Baldassari has his revolving shutters out at the aerial image. The sliutter shaft is eighteen inches long. Baldassari himself designed the supporting bracket. He says he is able to get much better results with his shutter at the aerial image. He has pulled one stunt here that I never saw before. Tlie shutter is far from the lens, of course — about eight inches, I would say — and he has enclosed the light beam from lens to shutter, with a mask at the aerial image, right up against the shutter, which just lets through the effective beam and cuts off all stray light. This is as it should be, in so far as concerns the mask. Where Mask Should Be. It is where Griffiths says the mask should be._ The inclosure of the beam is so that the bright spot of light on the shutter will not interfere with vision when looking at the screen. That is what I call careful, intelligent work. /; is work which should be voluntarily recognised by the manager in the pay envelope because it is by such recognition men are encouraged to keep doing high-grade work. % TfEEL Of FILM OP£Nlhia cut IN UFAR ^ALJ. OF mOhZJNE FIGURE 2 The Casing and Lamp.