Moving Picture World (Aug 1917)

1072 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD August 18, 1917 From Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Frederick J. Alios (I don't guarantee the spelling of the name) Wllkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, sends in the following: At last I have dug Into my lool bag, found my jimmy and busted into the Projection Department. Wilkes-Barre is a comparatively small city, and I thought it would possibly be of interest to you to know how things are progressing among the mountains of Pennsylvania. As for myself and my partner, Hairy Richards, we are in charge of projection at the Orpheum theater, running two Power's (J-A, motor-driven machines, taking current through a Wagner Rotary Converter. I am, however, one of those chaps who is never satisfied with the present results, but constantly try to get a better one on the screen, in which endeavor I am aided by the Handbook and the good old Moving Picture World Projection Department. If it was not for yourself and our department I think a lot of us fellows would be up a rather tall stump, as there is no other source of reliable information on the technical end of projection, or even on the practical end. My operating room is 10x14 feet in size, with a rewinder and generator room 10x10, the latter containing work-bench and toolrack. Sorry I have no photograph of it as yet, but will have one soon. Operating room ventilation consists of a 14-inch blower (ceiling is 14 feet high) creating forced draft. We run from 11 ;30 a. m. to 11 p. m., and the shows are all run on schedule time, doing away with all the fast running, which same operates to kill the screen result. I work six ana onequarter hours per day, while Mr. Richards, my relief, works five hours. My shift is from 11 until 1, and from C until 11. Local Union 325 I. A. T. S. E., Wilkes-Barre, is pretty well organized. I hope this finds space in the next issue of the World, and close with three cheers for the Star Spangled Banner, yourself and the World. Oh, yes, by the way, I nearly forgot to say, with regard to H. B. Edgecomb's article in a recent issue, regarding damp carbon, I tried two damp carbons, with literally rotten results. I then tried two which I had dried thoroughly by laying on top of the lamphouse, and secured what I may call a perfect light, all of which substantiates Brother Edgecomb's argument. With regard to Wilkes-Barre, Friend Alles, I wrote the Local three times last summer, at the time I was making the Pennsylvania trip, offering to come back by way of Wilkes-Barre and address them on practical projection, but was not accorded even the courtesy of a reply. I mention this because it is within the range of possibility that the letters never reached the Local. If the Local wishes it and the Scranton Local also cares to arrange for an address in that city 1 would be glad to ride down on Nancy Hanks and Go-Devil and visit you some time next fall. With regard to your operating room, its dimensions sound good. Presumably the ventilation fan pumps the air up through a vent flue, though you did not say so. In order to secure healthful conditions, however, as well as proper conditions with regard to fire hazard, it is necessary that the ports be covered with glass, and that there be a fresh air intake, at or near the floor line, bringing in air from outside the building. You say you run on schedule time. Well now, brother, exactly what does that mean? If you mean that friend manager gives you a certain set number of minutes to run your show in each day, without variation, why most emphatically you must "drag" some days, and speed on others, because you are not going to have the same footage of film every day; also it is very seldom two programmes will require the same amount of time for projection, even though they be of equal footage. If, on the other hand, you mean that you run the new show as it ought to be run, the first time, and make that time the schedule for that show, why you are doing exactly what you ought to, and the only thing you can do and get really high-class, artistic projection. As to getting this into the next issue of the Moving Picture World, why, old man, your letter, which was written June 28th, did not reach me until July 8th. You know I have been away on the road for four and one-half months. I am dictating its reply in Chicago, July 17th, and it, of course, will not get into the department for at least two, and probably three, weeks. Even if I were in New York It would be utterly impossible to get a letter into the "next issue." One-Man Local. In one city visited on my recent journey the arrangements were not all they should have been, and the live wires in the local (there were only three of them) excused this by saying that the affairs of the organization were controlled by one or two members, and that these men were non-progressive. One man in particular, it was complained, "ran things to suit himself." "He," said the good brothers, "is a good operator — about the best we have — and whatever he says goes. The rest just do as he says." In this particular instance, after satisfying myself that the brothers set forth the actual conditions, just about as they were, I visited this self-constituted leader's theater, and after watching a very mediocre screen result for some moments (shadows at the bottom of the screen in less than five minutes, and projection just fair in other respects), climbed into his operating room, in which I found absolutely no evidence of anything more than very ordinary ability. But this was not what I started out to say. If the members of a local let one or two men run the affairs of the union, why that most decidedly is up to them. If one or two men possess the necessary energy to do the work which other members will not do, and if they are steering the local in the right direction, why there is little or no complaint can be justly made. But if these active leaders steer the local in the wrong direction, and cause it to commit serious and irreparable errors, why the local has no one to blame but itself. These men could not lead without the consent of those who are being led. If I let a man lead mo around by the nose, and cause me to' commit blunders I am not going to squawk about it. The unfortunate part is, however,' that in a condition of this kind it often happens that there are two or three progressive men who would lead the local in the right direction, but who are held down and literally chained by the fact that a non-progressive membership is being led, or rather misled, by one or two non-progressive men. If it were myself, however, I would undertake to make things reasonably interesting for both the misleaders and their supporters. They would either wake up and change their ways, or I would take the contract of making life miserable for them until they did. Adds His Mite. H. E. Boatright, Tabor, Iowa, who was present when I addressed the Omaha, Nebraska, men, writes as follows : I want to add my mite in recognition of your masterly heartto-heart talk at the Rome Hotel, Omaha, June 17th. Like yourself, I am an ex-railroad man, from the operating department of the Rock Island in Iowa. I have been in the show business for about a year and a half, and trust you will allow me to remark that it is some business to run a picture show in a college town, and get the right kind of pictures— those which will appeal to the better class of people. Tabor is a town of twelve hundred. My house seats two hundred, and is of the store-room type. It has changed hands ever so often, the change occurring every time the unwashed owner found that it was a hard game to go against, unless you knew the road, or at least tried bard to find the right one. We, Mrs. B. and myself (and she is not the "silent" partner in the business by any manner of means), read everything in the Moving Picture World as soon as we get it. We started right in with one motto nailed to the mast with railroad spikes, namely, "only the Best," and we have stood by that motto, kept our screen absolutely clean, and given a show to which mothers are not afraid to send their children, either accompanied or unaccompanied. And let me tell you, Friend Richardson, that means a whole lot to any exhibitor. Provide a place which is safe and desirable for the kiddies, and the old ones will quickly drop in Jine. I think I get a fairly good projection, with an 11-foot picture at fifty-five feet. We run Bluebirds Monday, children's program Thursday, and regular service the rest of the week. Morally we have one of the cleanest towns in the country. We have never yet found a spot of tobacco expectoration on the floor, or a cigar or cigarette stub. Last Saturday night and matinee (letter written June 25th, Ed.) we ran "Civilization," and made good on it. No vampire, sex lure, or other suggestive pictures can get a place on our screen. Mrs. B. would not stand for it even if I would (yes, and if you both would, a goodly section of your audience wouldn't, therefore you are wise in your generation, Ed.). Your gospel of perfect projection is what is needed in the photo play game ; also it is needed badly. My own individual present requirement is a speed control, my machine is belted direct from motor to fly wheel, and I would like very much to get a human touch into the picture, which I cannot unless I get a new machine. One thing, however, is flat, namely, I do not and will not speed the picture. I dislike very much to play any special feature without music, and try to have some of the very best, with very little rag-time, every Monday night. I am only sorry that I cannot have a music score for each picture, but then we are in a small town and must do with small town stuff, though it is often unsatisfactory. In closing, for I feel I have talked enough, I want to say amen to your entire address at the Rome. It was scholarly, came from a man who knew what he was talking about, was right to the point, and was put in language so plain that anyone could understand. You called a spade a spade in good, plain terms, and could give all kinds of reasons for doing it. The war conditions are not affecting us, and the future of pictures looks good to me. I feel that they are getting better all the time, and my idea is that the small town man, at least, who wants to stay in the game during the next five years, had better appeal to the best element in the community. There are plenty of good pictures in the market to enable him to do this. With regard to your past remark, Brother Boatright, you are, in my judgment, absolutely correct. There are plenty of clean, splendid pictures on the market, and the exhibitor who caters to depravity by showing depravity, no matter what the excuse may be, or who shows nakedness under the thin guise of that much abused term "art," Is simply grabbing a few dollars of quick money at the expense of ultimate heavy loss. I, myself, have been a moving picture machine operator and exchange manager and an exhibitor, though this is not generally known. I believe I know the moving picture game at least as well as the average man, and I most emphatically don't believe there is anything to be gained, either in the small or large town, through catering to the evil passions of men and women, which is precisely what the average "uplift" (alleged) photoplay, or the average photoplay showing nakedness does. I am very glad, indeed, to know that you appreciated and approved of my humble efforts. I only wish I could deliver my message to every exhibitor and operator in the country under as favorable conditions as those under which it was delivered in Omaha, Nebraska. You are wrong in assuming that you will be obliged to purchase a new machine in order to get speed control. In the Handbook, page 279, you will find directions for building a fairly satisfactory speed control, but you can get the real article, either from Walter G. Preddy, or