Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

REEL and SLIDE menl for accident prevention which gains added impetus every day, the motion picture film plays a vital part. There is, however, a great need for new safety films — films with real human interest interwoven with an effective driving home of the safety lesson. This is a field in which the scenario writer of ability 'and imagination can join hands with the safety engineer. The title of the story is a safety film taken from the Mother Goose rhyme of that name. Jack Foster, a railroad brakeman, who is a fine type of man in character and appearance, and who has saved his money, is building a new home. The opening scene shows him with his wife and two little children on Christmas morning, gathered around a Christmas tree. Husband and wife are delighted over the prospects of moving into their new house, the building of which is nearly completed. Jack, although a fine fellow, is found to possess one fault, that of carelessness, while engaged in his work as a brakeman. "The House That Jack Built" He is brought to task by Jim Stevens, a conductor, who is his close friend. Jack refuses to join in a game of cards, stating he is saving his money. Stevens declares that Jack must not only refuse to gamble for money* but also to take chances on losing his life. Later, while Jack and his wife are showing their new house to Stevens, Airs. Foscter overhears the conductor tell Jack that sorrow will some day cross the threshold of his home if he does not stop taking chances. Mrs. Foster becomes greatly alarmed over her discovery that her husband is careless. Her fears become so acute that she is haunted by visions of what might possibly happen through his carelessness and she sees the vision of a train collision due to her husband's neglect in failing to properly observe the flagging rule and go back with his flag a sufficient distance to protect the rear end of his train, which has become stalled. In this vision scene a most realistic rear-end collision takes place — a heavy freight train colliding with and demolishing several cars of another train, and apparently killing a conductor. Mrs. Foster becomes hysterical as this vision passes before her. , In the earlier scenes it had been shown that "Happiness was the Malt that lay in the House that Jack Built," applying the term to the words of the old nursery rhyme. As Mrs. Foster's peace of mind becomes threatened through the fear of the possible result of the thoughtlessness of her husband, Carelessness is shown to have been "The Rat that was eating Happiness, the Malt, that lay in the House that Jack Built." At this point Mrs. Foster hastens to the railroad yard to allay her fears, and overhears her husband and two men talking. Here Stevens gets Donovan, an employe who lost his leg because his mind was occupied with thoughts of a quarrel he had with his wife at home, making him oblivious to surrounding dangers, tell how he got hurt. As the story is told the action on the screen shows Donovan knocked down by a car and his leg run over. How the "Lessons" Are Visualized Stevens, the conductor, induces Jack to attend a safety rally, and during the course of the scenes in the hall where the rally takes place a number of unsafe practices in yards and shops are vividly enacted on the screen. One sees the result of leaving nails sticking up in planks left carelessly about where persons might step on them ; a shopman is seen to lose an eye because he refused to wear safety goggles provided for his protection; a carpenter loses a finger while working at a buzz saw with the guard removed from the saw ; a brakeman is in a thrilling manner knocked off the roof of a box car when a coupling is made, because he stood in a careless manner; a brakeman who went between moving cars contrary to instructions fell and his arm was run over in plain view of the audience ; an engineman standing between the rails and boarding the footboard of' an engine falls under the engine. These and other effective scenes follow in rapid succession. As each of these scenes appear on the screen close-up views of various characters in the audience are shown, their facial expressions depicting the great impression the vivid scenes on the screen have made on their minds. For instance, a one-eyed man, viewing the scene in which the goggles are not used, turns to his wife and tells her that was the way he lost his eye; a man with a crippled hand tells his daughter, who sits beside him, that the man in the picture who used the saw without the guard in place paid the same price that he did for his carelessness, etc. Following the safety rally Jack and his wife return to their home, Jack greatly impressed by what he has seen and heard. He bends over the bed in which his two children are sleeping and resolves to banish carelessness forever, and the play ends with the statement that "Resolution became the Cat That Killed Carelessness, the Rat That was eating Happiness, the Malt That lay in the House That Jack Built." Two little children, a very sweet little girl of three years and a boy slightly older, as the children of Jack, appear in a number of the scenes and add a touch of human interest to the picture that is irresistible. Motion Picture in the School Room Subject of Address By Charles Roach (Iowa State College, in an address before the Superintendents' Club, Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 26, 1918.) WHEN I speak of .motion pictures I refer to the type of film such as may be used by teachers in the class-room and at no time am I thinking of the film such as one will see in most every theater in this and other cities. The theater has its place in our social scheme, just the same as the school, but the theater and the school can not be said to have very much in common. The theater is primarily intended for entertainment, the school for education. If either gets into the field of the other, such a one is not functioning in its proper sphere. If I were to choose a text this morning I would refer you to a bulletin put out by the Bureau of Education with reference to the use of the cinema in the schools. The bulletin mentioned, declares that as the attention and interest of educators are more drawn to its (the motion picture) merits, the future usefulness of the cinematograph bids fair to surpass the predictions of its most sanguine advocates. Plenty of Material Now Just now we are particularly interested in motion pictures and if it is true that 75 per Cent of our precepts come through the eye, then there is need for no further argument to sustantiate the claim for the right to introduce the "movies" in the schools. Grant that the motion picture has its limitations; so does every other teaching device. The federal government believes that "the moving picture will be the indispensable adjunct of every teacher and educational lecture" and is willing to proceed. Information from the Commissioner of Education at Washington, D. C, says that the Bureau of Education has organized a Board of University Extension and that film and slide work is already under way. The Deparement of Labor, the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Immigration, the U. S. Boys' Working Reserve, and otherfederal divisions are producing and distributing worthwhile material, to schools which can and will use them. The motion picture as far as schools are concerned must be something more than entertainment. They must be truly educational ; something the teacher may use in the class room with as much seriousness of purpose as he would any laboratory demonstration. One problem confronting the teacher is to locate just such film, definitely arranged for use. There are now more worthwhile educationals than any one school could use in many years but little of it is catalogued and made accessible. Just as soon as school men know what they want and ask for it, the film will be forthcoming. Inflammable Film Dangerous The problem of projection is another "boogaboo." Many school people believe the mechanical devices are too intricate. The demand for special booth and specialized electrical apparatus has frightened others. To such persons I may say that there are machines so simple any person, exercising ordinary intelligence and care, can operate with perfect results after a little instruction. Inflammable film is dangerous, but no more so than waste paper which accumulates in the class room. I, personally, have tried to burn a short piece of film in some portable projectors using a low amperage mazda lamp. Even though I allowed the film to come in contact with the lamp house and subjected other conditions which never would occur unless an operator would deliberately bring them to pass, in no case could I set the film on fire. Models of machines using high amperage or arc lamps would prove more dangerous. In the class room a six or eight-foot picture is large enough and where the distance from machine to screen is not more than 30 feet, the low amperage lamp is the most advantageous to use. Fear of fire often exaggerates the actual danger of fire and those fearful persons must wait until the "nonfllam" film is perfected. Some teachers still insist that for actual teaching purposes the film has but little value, arguing that the scene passes on and off the screen too rapidly. This objection is easily overcome bv the low amneraee lamp, which permits even the inflammable film to be stopped at any interval and the scene held as long as the teacher may wish or the explanation may require. _ Experience of those persons who have made a study of the teaching value of films in the class room will not give much evidence to support the objection.