Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

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28 REEL and SLIDE Ministers Use World's Largest Screen The Methodist Centenary Celebration at Columbus, Ohio, had many remarkable features. Not least among these, from the scientific point of view, was the successful projection of moving pictures from a hitherto untried distance to a larger screen than had ever before been used. And, of course, all this was done out of doors, with 110,000 people watching and not a few of them receiving their first definite impressions of the screen's instructive and entertaining power. It was the original purpose of the directors of the Centenary, when they had this huge screen erected, to use it principally for stereopticon slide projection. But the motion picture industry, accustomed to big things, first wondered, then worked, and at the completion of their labor threw on the screen before great audiences pictures 100x75 feet inside, projected from a distance of 350 feet. The screen was erected on a race track. At the time when it reflected its first picture to the waiting crowds of ministers and lay members of the Methodist church another large gathering of people at Toledo watched a prize fight. Whatever may have The next time a moving picture screen flashes a scene before you, remember this big screen and imagine the scenes it reflected to its watchers. been the judgment of the audience at Toledo as to their entertainment, those who watched the screen at the race track that day saw the winning of a greater battle between scientific skill and natural obstacles. Construction Lumber used — 100,000 square feet. Height— 165 feet. Picture surface — 115 feet square. Estimated cost— $8,000. Several coats of flat white lead were used to cover the picture surface. Projection Size of film — 3^ inch by 1 inch. Size of picture — 100 by 75 feet. Magnified on screen — 1,440,000 times. Conditions — Outdoor. Illumination — 90 and 50 ampere rheostat. Operators — Charles Reed and Carl Offenderfer. A more detailed account of this remarkable feat in the moving picture industry will be found in the Projection department on page 29 of this number of Reel and Slide. This towering scaffolding forms the support of the screen. It reminds one of tin great stagings used in producing Griffith's "Intolerance."