Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1925)

JANUARY 1925 Pictures and Picf\jre$uer 75 jV^OST movie fans aspire to a home projector of their own but are compelled to forego themselves this pleasure because of the expense involved. This expense can be curtailed if you follow the practical hints given by the writer of this article. A toy cinema need not necessarily be treated as a toy. »t would be very nice to be able to show real moving pictures at home during the long winter evenings. As a matter of fact home kinematographs are on the market, but most of them suffer from the rather serious omplaint of being distinctly expensive, hough old " junk " kinematograph film an be bought cheaply enough. As most of us know by this time the film from which kinematograph pictures are shown contains sixteen little pictures placed end to end in each foot of its ength, and the rate at which the film goes through the machine is about one foot a second. This means that sixteen times a second the film has to stop travelling for a brief instant while the mechanism uncovers the lens and covers it again. Common sense tells us that a nachine which will do this in a reliable way must cost some pounds. But those astute folk, the Germans, have succeeded in making toy machines which show moving pictures after a fashion. These only cost a few shillings, and with reasonble luck one can be got hold of which will give a considerable amount of amusement before it caves in. A recent and well-meaning article in a certain Sunday Newspaper gave hints >n how a toy projector of moving picures might be made to take long spools )f film and show a six foot picture, ising for illuminant a gas jet burning nside an unventilated biscuit tin. In writing that, the author's wish was doubtless father to the thought. Yet rertain of his suggestions were quite to he point. It is a fact that a good lens n kinematography is more than half he battle. At the expense of being " low " as the old-time critic would have said, no more likely place exists wherein to get hold of a disused motion picture projection lens cheaply than the humble but handy pawn-shop. Often a stealthy glance into the window will disclose a dusty tray of lenses among which, our luck still being good, a two or three inch cine projection lens may be found. Unless the lens bears the name of a well-known British optician (a most unlikely thing), the purchaser should bear in mind that its probable original value was anywhere between seven and ten shillings, so that a " couple of bob " at most should suffice to secure it. ' I He way to fit it to a toy kinematograph, in place of the toy lens, will depend upon the design of the machine itself. In general, the original toy lens and its sliding mount should be removed and a light tin tube soldered in place into which the new and more important lens may slide, focussing being done by pushing it farther or drawing it less far in or out before the opening where the film passes through the projector " gate trap." Now about the illuminant. I do beseech you not to try the gas burner inside the unventilated biscuit tin. In the first place it won't burn properly. In the next place it probably will burn sufficiently well to make the tin so hot that as soon as an end of film touches it by accident there will be a blaze and a general conflagration. And then we shall be having to offer a prize for the best solution of the problem " Where used the house to stand?" For safety we should stick to electric light for our projection experiments. Either a small gas-filled focus lamp may be used, run ning through ;i resistance "it 'he house mains, li MFC arc rich Slid lucky enough to be able to arrange it, or fading this we must Imi row tin accumulator off somebody's car, or motor bike, or wireless set, and use the current to light LI tilled DlOtOr headlight hull) of a voltage the same as the accumulator and of as high a candle jxjwer as we can conveniently get The strongest of these motor headlight bulbs take four amperes at twelve volts, give one hundred candle power, and will keep alight for many hours together when run off two " Kord " accumulators connected in series, which means that the red terminal of one accumulator is connected to the black terminal of the next cell with a short length of insulated electric light wire. Co long as a fairly cool light, such as the enclosed electric bulb is used, and nothing of the nature of a naked flame, almost any reasonably light-tight and fire-resisting material will do to take the place of the trumpery tin magic lantern portion of a toy kinematograph. Since wireless is in fashion, and has already once been mentioned. I might suggest that an excellent light proof container for the electric bulb would be one of the compressed fibre tubes sold for winding inductance coils upon. They only cost a few pence each. Fit the lamp holder upon a round wood block which can be slid back and forward inside the tube, and mount the condenser of the kinematograph at the other end of it. Finally, do not attempt to run longer film lengths than two hundred feet at most at a time on a toy machine, and be sure to let the film coming from the gate-trap fall into a fireproof metal container, and not on to the floor. A large zinc bath will be much better than nothing, a sanitarv milking pail best of all. Generally home displays with magic lanterns or small kinema machines fad to do themselves the justice they might because of scattered light coming out into the room. A very little general light will " bleach " a picture of the screen and make it look grey and uninteresting. When you go to a regular kinema, if it is nicely arranged (as not all of them are) you find a comfortable amount of coloured, yellow or red, light where the seating is placed but so shaded that practically none of it gets to the screen, and the same thing should be aimed at by anyone giving a picture entertainment at home. If you arc only quite a few in the room it will be all right to turn the general lighting right out. If a party is in progress it will be safer to have some small lights such as night lights placed in the end of the room farthest from the screen and with shades so placed in front of them as to cut off from the screen any direct light from them. Failing anything more elaborate a large book can be stood on end before each night light.