The Moving picture world (January 1924-February 1924)

676 MOVING PICTURE WORLD February 23, 1924 A motion to that effect was passed at our last meeting, which should gladden your heart and cause the purchase of .an extra gallon of gas for Nancy Hanks, the Go Devil. I suppose you met most of the older members of 302 when you were here some years ago. I believe they crowned you Chief Manhattan, but am sorry to say I was stuck in one of those little tri-weekly towns, hence missed all the doings. Real Projectionists Since those days most of us, with the help of the Bluebook — First, Second, Third and Fourth editions — God, and a little hard study have graduated into real projectionists. I am glad to report that every one of our members working in the three key cities hold First Class Licenses, and our present examination is about like that of British Columbia, which you know is no cinch. In closing, let me say that we all wish you the best of success during the year we are just entering upon. Some Live Boyi Some live bunch, those Calgary men were. Did they crown me? I'll tell the entire universe they dfd, and I've the feather bonnet, the stone axe and everything at home to this day, with the golden (?) key to the City of Calgary decorating the wall of the foyer hall. Consider the extra gallon bought— and used ! P. S. — R. S. Peck of the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau, has invited me to make a trip over the Canadian Railways with him next summer, so it's not altogether impossible that Chief Manhattan will prance through your streets again. Golly ! I would certainly enjoy meeting you all again I What Should I Do ? From Texas comes the following letter. The town named is not listed in my atlas. I think, therefore, it must be a small village, in which the author of the letter is trying to give a show, projecting motion pictures without any knowledge whatever of either the projector or projection. The letter reads : I own the Paramount Picture Show. I am a reader of the Moving Picture World, and don't understand all your algebra examples. Please tell me, in plain English, what to do. I have a Motiograph A-l projector. How much play should I give the film above the third or bottom sprocket? I want to know what makes the picture dance when all the slack or play is taken up, and what takes it up when I give It plenty? I have to stop the projector and re-set the bottom sprocket. A Problem Now, gentlemen, what ought I to do with such letters as this. Here is a man who, I presume, is trying to give a small community a motion picture show. There probably could not, by any stretch of imagination, be enough income to permit of the employment of a projectionist. The community really needs the amusement he is trying to give, even though it be not a form you or I would especially admire. In time he may improve and give that little community a really excellent show. Everything considered, what he needs is instruction. BUT to reply to his questions in a way which would fully explain matters to him with regard to the things he has asked could not be done fully and completely in an entire issue of the projection department, and to consume all that space in so elemental a matter certainly would not be just or fair to those thousands who read the department and who thoroughly understood all that years ago. Yet if I say to him: "Get a Bluebook of Projection (Six dollars, from Moving Picture World), which deals exhaustively with all things pertaining to projection," there are those who sneer and say : "There! He's just trying to force the man to buy his book!" And perhaps there is a certain amount of truth in their charge, too, for certainly I would force him to buy one if I could, though NOT for the reason they attribute, but because GOD KNOWS HE NEEDS ONE! In the Bluebook (Handbook) he would find all such things explained; also he would find full, detailed, illustrated instructions for adjusting the A-I Motiograph mechanism. Don't YOU think he should have the book? Has he really any RIGHT to attempt to project motion pictures without even the most fundamental knowledge, and without such a book as the Bluebook? IS IT RIGHT FOR ME TO CONSUME SPACE IN THIS DEPARTMENT EXPLAINING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ELEMENTAL, AND WHICH ARE FULLY EXPLAINED IN THE BLUEBOOK? What do YOU think? Just a Tip Just briefly I will say to him: Turn the projector flywheel around a few times, the way it normally runs, and watch the action of the film as it passes through the projector closely. I think this will show you the need for the loops, which you call ''slack." The film runs continuously over the upper and lower sprockets. It runs intermittently only (starts and stops) between the loops. The reasons for loosing the lower loop may be many. Poor film; wide, stiff splices; sprocket idlers set wrong; worn sprocket teeth; too tight a take-up tension, are some of them. To tell you how to deal with all this would require much space. See pages 754 to 766 of Bluebook for instructions on Motiograph A-l mechanism, General Instruction No. 2, page 595, for old style take-up adjustment; General Instructions 3 and 4, pages 596-597, for dirty sprockets and sprockets in line; General Instruction No. 5, page 598, for adjustment of intermittent movement, and General Instruction Nos. 7 and 12, pages 602 and 606, for worn sprocket teeth and sprocket idlers adjustment. Now, Mr. Reader, AM I WRONG IN THUS REFERRING THIS MAN TO THE BLUEBOOK? I want YOUR opinion. If I am wrong, why am I wrong? A Shame From West Virginia comes this letter: Just a few lines from an Old Timer, because my feelings have been harrowed up considerable. Yesterday the manager of a certain theatrr (He gave me his own name and the name of the manager and theatre, but if I printed it It probably would project him into the center of a lively scrap, so it's kept secret. — Ed.) came into our house and told the manager here that I was running my picture, "The Fog," a seven-reel Metro, too slow. Now, Brother Richardson, I was running the seven reels in one hour and ten minutes, which is, In my opinion, entirely too fast, but it had to be done as It was followed by an act which also required an hour and ten minutes. Too Much Speed The manager in question claims his "operators" could put the picture through In fifty or sixty minutes. Well, maybe they do, too, and so could I, but I would rather take time to put the production before our audiences at least in a fairly decent way, so that the people will like it. And that is proof that I am right. I have had more than one tell me they liked it so well they intended seeing it again. Tou know, Mr. Richardson, that if a projector be forced above ninety feet per minute there will be jumps In the picture, unless the gate tension be altogether too tight, which is very hard on both the projector mechanism and the film. I would certainly like to have your view in print on this matter. My manager agrees with me, but is inclined to lean a bit toward the other man's idea. It is a shame that a "manager" (?) who insists in abusing the projectors, the film, the audiences and the productions in his own house must rush around attempting to get other managers to do the same! Of course seven reels CAN be shot through a projector in fifty minutes. It would be physically possible to do it in forty, so why in God's name is this "manager" permitting his projectionists— no his "OPERATORS" is right — to waste that ten minutes? But why waste any time at all. Why not just take the reels and throw them at the screen, one at a time or all in a bunch. That could be done in less than half a minute, and thus much time would be "saved." Outrageous Really, brother, such outrageous overspeeding of projection makes me want to explore the cavity in the top of the head of the man who does it, just to see whether it is filled with just plain sawdust, or a mixture of sawdust and brains. You are full one hundred percent right I The manager who jams films through at the rate of 7,000 feet in fifty to sixty minutes not only is committing an outrage on his own patrons, but also is committing an outrage upon his projectors, upon the actors appearing upon his screen and upon the producer unfortunate enough to have his productions in that theatre. Not only tkat, but he is outraging every exhibitor who uses those films thereafter, because as you have yourself pointed out, such speed compels a projector gate tension which strains the film sprocket holes and abrades their delicate edges, which must be mechanically true down to as infinitesimal a measurement as one ten-thousandth of an inch, if the picture is to be steady on the screen. Try Speed on "Act" As to your own manager, tell hirn, for me, that to speed up the projection beyond normal means that he simply is compelling the actors appearing on his screen to work at whirlwind speed. He also has an "act" on, you say. Well, let him instruct the actors (musicians, you say they are) to work fast— to speed up, and see what they say to him. No brother, there is but one right and decent way to project motion pictures, and that is at camera speed— the speed which produces the most natural action on the screen. My suggestion to your manager would be that next time the other man comes with such advice, he show him the door and tell him to go back and ruin his own show all he wants to, but to let yours alone. Maybe he gives the advice he does because he sees you place quality ahead of quantity, and he is a quantity-and-to-hellwith-quality fiend. He may merely wish to drag you down to his level. GET IT NOW! The Brand New Lens Chart By JOHN GRIFFITHS Here is an accurate chart which belongs in every projection room where carbon arcs are used. It will enable you to get maximum screen results with the equipment you are using. The news Lens Chart (size 15' x 20") is printed on heavy Ledger Stock paper, suitable for framing. Price $1.00 FoatpaJd Chalmers Publishing Co. 516 Fifth Avenue New York City