Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1945)

40 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW June 23, 1945 Its living with a Product and Service that proves its worth ... 0 Deceit ^'/states united St ^grffiinal Corp ^^^^ VisVv t° since tne ,t and '':,e e^lTito^' ^ I an onf cl:^ ,ani ate °^ ^ -nt • recent., do are „aS^ ^,ed fieVd For 20 years usAIRco has served the American theater, large houses and small ones, with the finest cooling systems and air conditioning equipment. Dviring that time it has worked at the job of meriting the exhibitor's business through good design and manufacture, and a service that means pleasant and profitable ownership for usAIRco users. usAIRco stands ready to serve you on any essential parts or item permissable under today's conditions. UNITED STATES AIR CONDITIONING CORPORATION NORTHWESTERN TERMINAL, MINNEAPOLIS 13, MINNESOTA MAIN OFFICE AND FACTORY: MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA • OFFICES IN PRINCIPAL CITIES Less Reels per Can Will Ease Handling Prominent Projectionist Cites Long Experience in Film Handling In Retort to Carrier Assertions By IRL GORDON (FORUM THEATRE, AKRON, OHIO) With the announcement that some manufacturing controls will be eased and the production oi metal products started, it is hoped that before long, film shipping cases will go into production. So now is the time to again plead with those responsible, to investigate the problem of proper shipping cases and prevent the conditions that lead up to the destruction of the reels, film and cases. Some time ago, in STR, a Mr. Clint Weyer, Secretary of National Film Carriers, Inc., took a sly poke at theatres and projectionists about shipping case destruction. To make the film carriers look important he cleverly planted the idea that all film carriers handled the film like cases of eggs, while the big bad theatres and projectionists dropped Lana Turner forty floors to see if she would bounce. It is strange why Mr. Weyer's vision stopped at the theatre lobby door. He should have turned around and focussed on his bosses, the exchanges. For after all, when you boil it all down, the guy who orders the film cases for shipping, is the guy who should reap the thorns. His poor shipping cases wouldn't get treated so rough if they were the right size and type. For instance, why does anyone drop a film case? . . . Because it's too damn heavy. A projectionist is no Atlas, he doesn't have bulging muscles like a freight handler, his exercise is very limited. A good many of the craft are "up" in years, too. And a whale of a lot of them are suffering from hernia. Now suppose you had to lug a shipping case containing four or five reels, down flights of steps, fire-escapes or rickety ladders. One slip or jerk results in a nice rupture (I'm a victim of years ago) and no exchange pays the doctor bill. A modern show means a double feature plus a few other cans and even if a kid usher carries them all down it's still too heavy a load. Even the illustrations of Weyer's article featured greater damage on four reel cans. Not so long ago I got a can from Warners with five reels weighing 75 lbs. I wonder if Mr. Weyer would carry that down like a crate of eggs. Well, he could be truthful and mean a crate of powdered eggs which would allow him some leeway in handling the can, after all he didn't say fresh eggs. A number of years ago I ask a film exchange employe on the coast why they didn't look into this shipping weight more fully, pointing out a few difficulties with heavy cans. His answer was illuminating . . . "Hell, film costs only a half cent a foot, easy to replace . . . Besides, too many cans would get lost in shipping (film (Continued on Page 48) I