Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

18 REEL and SLIDE into operation at an actual cost of less than 25 cents per reel per day of actual use. The speaker in attending teachers' conventions, giving addresses and conducting questions and answers, and visiting school boards, during the last seven years of which he has been in charge of an educational and religious film exchange, has found many school boards indicate their willingness, if a reasonably suitable curriculum could be installed, to make appropriations to purchase suitable classroom machines and even pay the prevailing exchange rental prices, even considering this a saving from the dollar and cent standpoint on present methods of teaching. It may be interesting to know that the objection to inflammable film for the classroom is and has been carefully considered. There are today machines which even with inflammable film can be run with safety, but the state and national committees of Parent-Teacher and Congress of Mothers' Associations and Woman's Clubs have been backing a bill in Congress, which evidently would have been passed had it not been for the emergency considerations of the war, to require all pictures to be produced for educational and theater work to be printed on non-inflammable stock from the time of the passage of the bill. This is entirely feasible and practicable under peace conditions. France has had non-inflammable film in school, church and theater for the past fifteen years. Returning to peace conditions the proper chemicals can be secured to make entirely satisfactory non-inflammable stock. The speaker has at present a non-inflammable film which was made in France fifteen years ago and is today as satisfactory and clear as any of the present day inflammable films. Baltimore Y. W. G. A. Produces Picture for $35,000 Campaign AMOTION picture, 1,000 feet in length, has been produced . for the Central Branch, Y. W. C. A., of Baltimore, Md., for use in the drive for $35,000, which began on February 1 in that city. The film was given its first run on the night of January 27. It was produced by the Lewy Studios of Baltimore. The scenario was written and the production directed by Harry Lewey and J. Aler Barry. The name of the picture is, "The Heart, of the Blue Triangle." A "story" has been selected to make the film effective for the purpose in hand.. The film shows how a young girl, Mary Govey, has tired of the farm and finds her way to Baltimore. She has been lured by the bright lights of the city. Mary Govey becomes bewildered while crossing one of the busy streets with its heavy traffic, and is trapped in the path of an automobile, when the strong arm of Jim Carter, a soldier, rescues her and he escorts her through to safety. Jim takes her to the Y. W. C. A., where she is made to feel at home. As time passes, many interesting scenes follow, showing Mary in the cooking, dressmaking, nursing/ gym, and swimming classes. She must learn everything, for she is now engaged to Jim. Then comes the day Jim shows Mary the new home he has bought her, and with arms clasped around his neck, the scene fades out on a happy pair. The film is regarded as an effective piece of propaganda, designed to help in the local campaign for the Y. W. C. A. and to enable that organization in continuing its good work. Movies to Provide Targets for Marksmen A new use for motion pictures is to provide a target for marksmen, with a pictured bird instead of a live one; or, for that matter, with big game moving in a jungle, and an aeroplane in the sky. The device, which seems to offer plenty of opportunity for innocently thrilling experiences, is said already to be in preparation to supplant the older type of shooting gallery at outdoor summer resorts, and the present interest in gunnery seems likely to carry it all over the country. — Christian Science Monitor. Says Movies Will Stop Migration From Farms "I have searched vainly for years for something that would stay farm migration, but only today in the Mingo Centralized School did I find what I sought. It is the motion picture program as used here." So spoke President Beggs of the Ohio State Association of Farmers' Institute Speakers last month in addressing an audience at Mingo, Ohio. Methodist Church to Use Motion Pictures in $120,000,000 Campaign A STRONG indorsement has been given to motion picture propaganda by the Methodist Episcopal Church in the announcement that films will play a large part in its missionary centenary movement for the raising of $120,000,000 for world reconstruction through home and foreign missions. The church is planning to establish hundreds of rural community centers throughout the country as a medium for the campaign and it is said that motion pictures will constitute the. principal attraction in the majority of these places. Rev. J. A. Langdale, pastor of the New York Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, one of the leaders in the centenary movement, declares the motion picture is daily getting a stronger hold upon the public and is one of the logical successors of the saloon. "Twenty per cent of the saloons of the United States have already been put out of business by the movies," he told his colleagues of the Atlantic Group Methodist Ministers' Association at a conference in Sayville, L. I. "The substitute for the present-day saloon," Mr. Langdale continued, "must be equally attractive, if not quite so gilded. Money will be needed. Men are going to miss these warm and well-lighted saloons, open all the time, while most of the churches are closed six days in the week, and they will be looking for companionship and good cheer, "In my opinion the greatest foe to the saloon is the motion picture. Men who formerly drank and spent their idle hours in the barroom are today regular patrons of the picture show. They wanted life action more than they wanted drink. "Recreation rooms and tea rooms have been mentioned as other possible substitutes. In many places they will be provided. It is an illuminating fact that the manufacturers of soda fountains and machinery for manufacturing soft drinks have more orders on hand at this moment than they have had at any previous time in ten years. In the beginning, then, the motion picture, the tea room and the soda counter will help take the place of the barroom. "The motion picture industry will not only benefit from prohibition through increased attendance at theaters, but from the community centers being established by the churches. Many Methodist Episcopal and other churches already make use of the movies' at social events and young people's gatherings as well as at the community centers." Review Board to Aid Social Service Work Due to the fact that many social agencies engaged in war work have now turned their attention to peace-time problems and desire to use motion pictures, the National Board of Review has created a social service department which will supply information regarding current offerings of a character most appropriate to the different needs. Special lists of films are being prepared on a wide variety of themes. Plans of co-operation with the producing and distributing concerns have been worked out. When the department is in full operation it will be an easy matter for a social agency giving motion picture exhibitions to obtain films direct from the nearest exchanges, being assured of the co-operation of the exchange managers in arranging their programs. Connecticut Board of Education Releases For two weeks, afternoon and evening, recently, there were shown at several theaters in Bridgeport, Conn., a unique and instructive moving picture entitled, "Opportunity, a Story for Your Boy." The picture consists of one reel and is shown under the auspices of the State Board of Education. Moving pictures were taken at the various trade schools in the state, and show pupils at work in the different trades taught. The picture is the first of its kind ever shown in the state and indicates the actual methods used in instructing the boys and girls of Connecticut to become proficient in the trades they have undertaken to learn. Students at the school of journalism of the University of Illinois were shown the motion picture produced by the St. Louis Post Dispatch in February. The film illustrates the making of a daily newspaper. Theaters to Show Approved Films on Sunday Pending a decision by the Legislature on Sunday shows, Mayor Jewett of Indianapolis solved the local problem by permitting the theaters to remain open on Sunday if they show pictures approved by the Indiana Board of Endorsers of Photoplays. The board of endorsers will be guided largely by the National Board of Review.