Moving Picture World (Jul - Aug 1918)

July 20, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 365 Richardson Scores Point for Projectionists Has Session With Colonel Warren of Provost Marshal General's Office on Question of "Essentiality" of Motion Picture Operators A WEEK or so ago it was put down as a foregone conclusion that motion picture operators were included in the Provost Marshal General's "Work or Fight" order and no little consternation was caused thereby. It was a serious matter; much more serious to the trade than if all the actors in the draft age should have been commandeered, because there is no great surplusage of operators and it takes several months to train one. Great effort had been made by the operators' unions and affiliated organizations to prevent this calamity, but there was no assurance of success. As a last resort the officers of the Operators' Unions decided to call to their assistance Frank H. Richardson, who conducts the Projection Department of the Moving Picture World and is favorably known to the craft all over the world, to add his word of protest against the order that threatened the industry. Mr. Richardson responded to the call and as a result of his visit to Colonel Warren, head of the board of appeals of the Provost Marshal General's office, an order has been issued to the effect that motion picture operators, or projectionists, as Mr. Richardson prefers to call them, have been placed in the list of "effectives" and need not respond to the "Work or Fight" order. Mr. Richardson's story of his achievement will be interesting. It follows herewith : "July 2 Assistant President Dolliver, of the I. A. T. S. E. & M. P. M. O. telephoned that he and First Vice President Canavan desired an immediate conference with the editor of the Projection Department with relation to the 'Work or Fight' order. It appeared that every effort has been made by International President Shay and other to have the projectionists declared to be, which he assuredly is, essential, but that it apparently needed the technical punch to put it over. It seemed that the powers that be had the idea that projectionists could be trained in 'just a few days,' and were convinced that such was the actual fact. "The question was : would I go down to Washington, at once, and trjr to show to the officials that projectionists cannot be trained in any such absurd grow-em-over-night fashion, and that the projecting of pictures is actually a profession calling for skill of no mean order, hence projectionists are essential. Brothers Dolliver and Canavan were kind enough to say that about the only hope of saving the situation rested in the hands of the editor, so I immediately departed for Washington, where I was met by International President Shay and Joe Webber, International President of the Musicians. "The situation was bad. For one thing, it appears that the Pittsburgh local union had actually sent a delegation to Washington to inform the officials that projectionists were not essential. Don't ask me why they did this outrageous thing. I do not know, but strongly suspect the local has been used as a catspaw by designing ones. "At ten o'clock a.m. I sent in a letter of introduction from the Motion Picture World, and, to my surprise, was given clear right-of-way to Colonel Warren, who has full charge of matters pertaining to the 'Work or Fight' order. "The Colonel is a shrewd, astute official who, I was very soon convinced, desired onl}^ to do that which is right. But I was quickly confronted with a state of affairs which filled me with amazement. I could hardly believe the statement when Colonel Warren, after listening patiently to my setting forth of the reasons why projectionists were essential, and why it would be a calamity to the motion picture industry to have them declared non-essential, came back at me with this : 'Granting the truth of what you say, Mr. Richardson, how do you account for the fact that the committee representing the Pacific Coast producers, headed by Mr. Carpenter, made the statement to me that projectionists (operators), are non-essential?' "So thoroughly was I filled with amazement at this almost unbelievable thing that I sat there without a word of reply — just grasping like a fish out of water, as it were. "There was a twinkle in the Colonel's eyes as he watched me. Then he said 'Frankly I was myself surprised. The committee made a strenuous plea for the actors, cameramen, film editors and some others connected with the production end.' I asked Mr. Carpenter if he did not consider the man who reproduced the scene upon the screen of the theater as being essential, to which he replied : 'No, we can train operators in a few days !' "To give Colonel Warren credit, he did not believe this. He intimated to me that the producers weakened their whole argument by advancing such a palpable absurdity. He cited the statement made by the Pittsburgh committee, of course, but said that he had been unable to see why every other branch of endeavor in the motion picture industry claimed such importance, whereas the man who had the reproduction of the entire finished product was not considered essential. "I talked with Colonel Warren for two full hours, laying before him proof that competent projectionists, or even a fair imitation of competent ones, could not possibly be trained in many months, and to declare the projectionist to be non-essential would be a staggering blow to the industry, and one from which it could not possibly recover in full for many years. I tried to impress upon him the danger from fire hazard; the danger to the eyesight of this and future generations; the tremendous waste of coal through waste of light, and the injustice both to the industry and to the public. When I had done the Colonel said he was convinced that projectionists were essential and that he would include them in the essential class. "He said the thing as presented by the Pittsburgh men, by the Carpenter committee and some others, had not appealed to him as commonsense, but that he lacked concrete knowledge of the requirements of projection sufficient to enable him to decide against their evidence. This knowledge I supplied him; also left with him, at his request, a copy of the third edition of the Handbook, which I had taken along as evidence of some of the things the projectionist is required to know. "The editor of the Projection Department is proud to have rendered this service to the industry and to the I. A. T. S. E. & M. P. M. O., which would have been confronted with immediate loss of a large percentage of its projectionist members, they being forced into other lines of work, and to the projectionists of this country themselves. It is a poor time to lower the tone of the only reasonable priced form of entertainment we have these days. Our people are harassed with war-worries, huge expenses and daily growing casualty lists. We need our theaters now, above all times, and not in any eniasculated form either. The men are needed in the projection rooms far more than they are needed elsewhere. Just why the California producers attempted to deal the projectionists, into whose hands their final, finished product is placed for reproduction, such an entirely uncalled for blow, only they can say. Personally I do not believe the producers themselves would have taken any such stand had they been there themselves, instead of by committee. For years I have been waging a battle to get their stuff placed on the screen as it should be, only to have them, through their committee, attempt to kick all those years of labor over and into the gutter at one fell swoop. Are you proud of your committee's action, gentlemen? As to the Pittsburgh men, their action is unspeakable. There is and can be no excuse for it. They have deliberately tried to work utter ruin upon their brother projectionists all over the country and it is not likely they will forget. If it is found that the Pittsburgh union really had any hand in the work of the committee, then the local ought to be penalized. "Since writing the above I see that Colonel Warren has rendered decision and has kept faith by including 'Musicians and other skilled men necessary to the showing of films.' "I cannot close without a word concerning Charles Sha-y, International President, who put up a masterly plea for the projectionist. He did everything a man could possibly do, and deserves great credit for his part in the affair. "And again it has been proven to you that knowledge is POWER. Had your humble servant not been equipped with the knowledge some of you have sneered at, you, my boy, would right now be confronted with losing your position and entering a new vocation, whether you liked it or not. There are to-day some thousands of projectionists who owe to this department, or to its editor, which is the same thing, the fact that they can continue on the even tenor of their way. Kindly don't waste breath questioning that statement, because it is cold FACT."