Moving Picture World (Jul - Aug 1918)

July 20, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 397 be told, and even then do nothing about it, spells rank incompetency, carelessness and a reckless disregard for property placed in their charge. If the rewinder does not actually rift.out some of the film track right before their eyes they seem to imagine that no damage is done. They do not seem to havo the power to reason from cause to effect, and to understand that a thing of that kind must inevitably work damage to the films. Either that or they just don't care, so lpng as the damage is not enough to cause the exchange to charge it to their theater. The future hope of the profession' does not lie in such men ,or In such crude work. It lies in the careful, painstaking, intelligent projectionist who uses his brains and is not too infernal lazy and shiftless to take the trouble to remedy a condition which common sense tells him is wrong. Come again, brother Boardwell, when the spirit moves. Always glad to hear from up to date, progressive men, whether they bo in the largest city or smallest hamlet in the land. of the stories written by square-head newspaper reporters, with more space to fill than brains, concerning "film explosions." Can any of the good neighbors enlighten us further on this subject' The Blow That Killed Father. Our old friend Moon, Sherman, Texas, shines forth once more with the following : The new Handbook is for an apprentice serving under me. He is progressing nicely, this being his fifth month, but gets a little peeved when I occasionally nearly eat him up concerning something I have already corrected him about several times, but you can bet if he serves under me he will learn to do things right, and remember the things I tell him. And now here is the blow that killed father. I have one brand new Type S Simplex, and it is a beauty. The late model speed control is the best I have ever used, bar none ; also, I have a two-inch diameter Gundlach lens on the baby, and sure get the results on friend screen. Incidentally, I notice the new Gundlach lens I have has no spacing ring between the two back lenses. I do not consider this as good practice, since should a particle of dirt get between them in replacing after cleaning a scratch would almost inevitably result when the ring is tightened down. Of course this would not occur with the careful man, but — . We have just taken over a panel in the wall of Labor Hall, cleaned it up, and hung our charter, a satin service flag with three stars, a large photograph of the local, and an emblem of the I. A. It certainly looks good, old man. Would like to see you down here again this summer, but am afraid we'd have to feed you on hamburgers and take you for a spin in a mule cart, as we have bought bonds, contributed to the Red Cross, and are doing our "bit" by buying tobacco for the boys. Say, can you imagine that little old Edison on one side and the Type S on the other? Looks like a bird cage beside a coffee mill. Have removed the noisy tin from the projection room floor and put a door in the wall, so that I can now ascend to my domain in dignity befitting its importance via a honest-to-gosh stairway. Maybe now I'll get that other new machine. Best wishes to you and to our department. I'm glad you have the new projector, Brother Moon, and that it pleases you so well. The Type S is a fine machine, and that is the kind you deserve. Hope friend manager loosens up for a second edition real soon. He must feel guilty every time he looks at the horrible example beside the new projetor. As to Mr. Apprentice man, why (this is for his ear only) you must not imagine because you have served five months, even under a good man, that you know it all. Any idea of that sort will seriously hamper your progress. The very best attitude for you is to try and imagine you know but very little, because the man in that frame of mind is in the best possible mental attitude for learning and making rapid progress. The man who thinks he is already a reservoir of knowledge is very apt to not be keen to acquire more. And here is a secret, friend apprentice — a dark, dense, deadly s-e-c-r-e-t. For Gawd's sake keep it inviolate. On peril of your life don't let it leak out. Sh-h-h-h : I don't know it all, or even nearly all, myself, about projection, although I have studied that subject, with unusual facilities for learning, for many years. That being true, and it is true, five months' apprenticeship has not put you beyond the point where you may still acquire knowledge if you try. Would like to give that panel the once-over, but there'll be no trips to the Lone Star State for me this summer. I have just purchased a big lot on the ocean beach at South Lyme, Connecticut, 12 miles this side of New London. It is a beauty alright, and all my spare time this summer will be given over to improving it. And I'm going up there in July, peel off my good clothes, clamber into a bathing suit, and just live in the darned thing (suit, I mean) for a month anyhow. I'm going to shoot lobsters on Hatchet reef, snare clams, go in swimming every seventeen minutes if I feel like it, and in my own individual ocean too. And that's where your projection department dope will come from in July, and maybe August, too. We're going to live in a gol darned house tent and co-habit with the bugs, etc. Point o' Woods is the name of the place, and South Lyme is the post office. If any of you Connecticut, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts boys who have gasoline to burn feel like calling for a chat or a swim, why the latch string will be found swaying gently in the breeze, and the welcome mat spread all over the place. Also, I don't like hamburger, and mulecart joy riding hath no pleasure for me. Nope, sorry, but no Texas for mine this year. My very best to you all, nevertheless, and some day we'll shake hands again ; in fact, as I am now doing in the spirit, for the Sherman men are the real, simon-pure, all-wool-and-a-full-yardwide goods. How About This? C. A. H., Decatur, Illinois, asks why it is that some otherwise respectable insurance companies refuse to consider motion picture projectionists? Did not know any insurance company behaved in such a scandalous manner. If any do I cannot tell you the reason why. Probably because New Theater — Fine Equipment. Recently the editor of this department received an Invitation to attend the private opening of the Symphony theater, Broadway and Ninety-fifth street. New York, which was accepted. As the new house and its opening already have been described in another section of a previous issue, only the equipment, lighting and projection will be taken up here. The Symphony theater has every facility for an absolutely ideal auditorium lighting installation, and I at first thought it had the right system But, alas, it was not so. The ceiling is a series of deep indentations, or coves. I merely use those words for lack of more descriptive ones. These indentations are somewhat in the form of an inverted V, maybe ten feet across at the bottom and several feet deep or high. They run crosswise of the auditorium. At the back of each of them, and near the bottom, is a light trough, quite similar to a stage border trough Its face covered with some kind of amber-color diffusing material And that was the chief error. Had they placed proper side shades for each lamp, left the front open, or covered it with a transparent, non-diffusing material, and brought a shade down in front so as to cut off the light at the proper point, the Symphony auditorium would be lighted in an absolutely ideal way, and the lights could be eft burning during projection, if desired, without in the least annoying the audience or injuring the projection. But the instant the diffusing covering was placed over the front of the trough, all chance of directing the light where it is wanted, and keeping it away from where it is not wanted, is utterly lost. But anyhow the Symphony management started in the right direction. The projection that night was fine, with one exception. The light was pure and brilliant, and the speed for the most part correct I would recommend the use of amberlux ray filters to slightly soften' the whiteness of the light. The exception noted consisted in the blowing of a fuse while the show was in progress. This was and was not the fault of projectionists N. I. Gannon and 0. P. Diehl. The too-small fuses were installed by the electrician ; also there were no duplicate fuses to throw over on in case one blew. But the projectionists should have examined the fuses and made certain they were of sufficient capacity to meet their needs. That is one of the things they were there for They may, however, have done this and made demand for larger fuses which was refused. I do not know. As it was, Mr. Robin, who was present in the room watching the operation of special equipment he had installed, bridged the fuse terminals with a pair of plyers to finish the reel. For several minutes the light left much to be desired, and an otherwise most excellent performance was sadly marred. Must have been pretty hot work holding those plyers, though. Moral : Fuses amply large and two sets of them connected by D. T. switch. Moral No. 2: Examine and test all new equipment thoroughly to make sure that it will do the work. The projection room is of the asbestos type, of goodly size, and opposite the screen. It contains a closet for use of projectionists. Two Type S Simplex projectors are used. Barlow arc controllers handle the arc, but the criticism is made that they are not powerful enough to feed the Type S lamp. There is a Robin program recorder, which supplies the management with a permanent record of happenings in the projection room ; also a Robin speed indicator. Aside from the lack of duplicate fuses the installation was most excellent. The interior walls of the projection room should be painted, either a very dark green or non-gloss black. There is an ample vent flue and an exhaust fan, but I did not notice any fresh-air inlet. The picture was of correct size for the house, and conditions are such that the Symphony should have continued high-class screen portrayals, as I am sure it will have. Aside from the fuse incident I congratulate Messrs. Gannon and Diehl on their excellent work. Also I congratulate the Kennedy Theaters, Inc., on its excellent installation and its beautiful Temple of the Photoplay. The installation was made under the direction of B. F. Porter, of the Precision Machine Company. Rectifier Trouble. E. F. Roberts, Abilene, Texas, is having trouble with his rectifier, which trouble he describes as follows : Would appreciate information as to what causes series underload relay of my G. E. rectifier to heat. It gets so hot that the insulation has burned off from around the coil. Can only use 20 amperes. Were I to use 30 amperes, capacity of same, I think it would at once burn out. It has a 60-cycle, 110-volt rectifier. Would you suggest having our voltage tested and then have the G. E. make a coil for whatever it proves to be? Have examined all the wiring of rectifier, which same is O. K. according to the blueprint. The Queen Amusement Company, who owned the house before the present company took it, had the same trouble with their rectifier, which was the same size and kind as ours. It burned out the coil ; also the tube. By all means test the voltage ; also amperage on arc side. If the series underload relay gets hot at 20 amperes there is something wrong with it, and very radically wrong at that. Most likely it is a coil shortcircuited. I am of the opinon, however, that you are actually, due to high voltage or to wrong connection, pulling very much more than 20 amperes at the arc. This opinion is strengthened by the fact that the other company had the same trouble. If there is an ammeter on the outfit, and it shows 20 amperes, it is, I am pretty sure, a gay deceiver, a wanton prevaricator, and the truth is not in it. The relay in question is in series with the arc, hence carries the entire secondary amperage. Test your amperage and if it is high (I think you will find it nearer 45 than 20) seek for the cause, and the first thing to test will be the line voltage. If the amperage is found to be really 20, then you must have a new coil for the relay. If the amperage is found to