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54
THE TALK IMC* MACHINE WORLD.
MOVING-PICTURE SHOWS IN AFRICA.
The Popular Amusement Successfully Started at Cape Town.
(Special to The Talking Machine World.)
Washington, D. C, Jan. 8, 1910.
The introduction of the popular kinetoscope entertainment business into South Africa is described by Consul-General Julius G. Lay, of Cape Town, in a report to the Department of Commerce and Labor. He says:
"'Until last autumn the moving-picture show, sis a cheap amusement, such as is found in the n-ities of the United States, was unknown in this ■country. It has ibeen used for several years for closing vaudeville theaters and for whole evening entertainments at high prices of admission. Recently two moving-picture shows have been started in Cape Town at which the price of admission has been placed at 12 cents. These shows give four entertainments daily, except Sunday, and are patronized far beyond expectations. The halls occupied are arranged to seat about 300 persons, and the management is reaping handsome returns.
"The success attained by these shows is convincing evidence that there is a good field here for moving-picture machines to be worked on similar lines. An amusement company owning and operating vaudeville theaters in Cape Town and some other large centers in which moving pictures are used to close entertainments, and who own one of the cheap shows in Cape Town, has arranged to open seven of the 12-cent moving-picture shows in other parts of Africa. It is thought that these cheap shows, if introduced in the suburban municipalities of Cape Town and the small country villages throughout South Africa, would be very profitable, providing the class of pictures was carefully selected and kept up to a reasonable standard.
Difficulties of Procuring Films.
"The chief drawback at present to selling picture machines in this country is the inability of the purchasers to rent films, necessitating their purchase outright. No depot exists in any rart of South Africa for the distribution of films on hire. The manufacturer who wishes to sell picture machines in this country should make it possible for purchasers to obtain the loan of films at a moderate price.
"All the moving-picture machines now being used in South Africa are of English or German manufacture, and the individuals or companies owning or opreating them have arrangements with suppliers in London, England, for films to be sent regularly on all the most recent subjects. These are purchased outright and not returned to the London depot. It is stated that the depots for films in Europe "will only send films to South Africa on the loan system if the person hiring them pays rent from the time the films leave the depot until their return thereto. This, of course, makes the cost of hire prohibitive.
"The demand is principally for a high-grade machine using electricity for power. Americanmade picture machines are very little known in this country, and there seems to be a good opening at present for some manufacturers to sell their machines here. Intending purchasers of machines will not buy from catalogs, but must be shown the machines and have them demonstrated to them. When once convinced that the American-made machine is equal to the British
and costs no more, manufacturers of the United
States can get a share of the business."
NEW PEERLESS AUTOMATIC PIANO.
Style DX Placed on the Market by F. Engelhardt & Sons — Especially Suitable for Moving Picture Theaters, Arcades, Etc. — Equipped with Cymbals and Drums — Very Powerful — May be Played Manually.
The new Style DX Peerless automatic piano which has been placed on the market by F. Engelhardt & Sons, the enterprising manufacturers, Windsor Arcade, New York City, is especially adapted for moving picture theaters, pavilions, amusement arcades, skating rinks dancing schools; in fact, any place where good loud music is desired. The instrument is equipped with xylophone, genuine Turkish cymbals, bass and snare drums of the best make. The latter can be adjusted to play loud or soft, in fact, all possible effects in music from the most delicate pianissimo to fortissimo can be produced, i. e., powerful enough to fill a large hall, or adjusted as not to seem loud in a small room. Another important feature — the instrument can be played manually. Another very strong feature — the music rolls for this instrument are cut and especially arranged to give full orchestration. In other words, the xylophone playing the solo part of the composition and the piano, cymbals and drums the proper accompaniment. The piano is also fitted with a new magazine slot and is sure to prove a big money-maker wherever introduced.
The driving of the instrument is by electric motor arranged inside the case and can be connected to any ordinary domestic electric light lead. The instrument is truly an artistic conception in every particular, and is sure to meet with popular demand. Although but added to the "Peerless" line within a comparatively recent time, the advance orders would indicate that style DX will be one of the "top-liners" and star sellers.
Talking machine dealers will find the instrument an excellent side line, viz.: to secure orders for the installation of the instruments in places of music. The field is a large one, and one well worth cultivating. Many dealers report to The World that they have had quite some success in placing the Peerless piano in ice cream parlors, skating rinks and dancing schools this fall. This is a pointer for others to follow and do likewise.
CANNING ANIMALS' VOICES.
Assistant Curator Ditmars, of Bronx Zoo, Has Plan for Utilizing Talking Machine Records in the Teaching of Zoology in the Primary Schools — Possibilities of Proposed Scheme.
Lions will soon be roaring and wolves howling, and possibly the laughing hyena also may chuckle a little in the classrooms of the primary schools of New York City if Assistant Curator Ditmars, of the Zoological Gardens at Bronx Park, is successful in working out the plan he now has under way.
"Nothing interests the youngsters so much as the Zoo and its inhabitants," says Mr. Ditmars, "and I believe a little instructive talk now and then about the animals, with reproductions of their roars and calls, would prove as valuable as interesting."
This novel method of teaching zoology is made
practicable by means of phonographic records of the roars, grunts, bellowings and other vocal demonstrations of the creatures of the wild, which it is a great inaccuracy to call "dumb beasts." Among the records already canned and ready for, use, the wolf howls are declared to have met the highest expectations, while at the present moment the lions* roars are giving the phonographic recording needle the most strenuous opportunity it has had since the Roosevelt campaign speeches. There will soon be little left for modern science to do at the Bronx, unless it be to get some moving pictures of the sloth, or show the musk ox in the act of celebrating a blizzard.
So the primary school children, who cannot all get up to the Zoo, especially at this season of the year, may have the Zoo brought down to them, in such a way that they will cheerfully listen to the moral descriptive talk that goes with each animal, for the sake of the ,fun there is in it. Whenever the schoolroom grows dull and monotonous the teacher can turn on the trusty phonograph and say with Botton in the "Midsummer Night's Dream" :
"Let me play the lion, too. I will roar that I will do any man's heart good to hear me. * * * I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove — I will roar you as 'twere any nightingale."
What a fine thing it would be if only the vocal energy of human lions could thus be bottled up, to be used at will and discretion!
Labor leaders, suffragettes and Chicago University professors would find their own effectiveness and the patience of the public quadrupled, says the Evening World. Emma Goldman would have comparatively plain sailing. Jeffries and Johnson could fight whenever and wherever they pleased — or just as soon as the purse and the picture privileges should make it worth their while. Polar discoverers could produce, or reproduce, the verbal testimony of their Eskimo witnesses as to latitude, longitude, turpitude and temperature.
And what a boom the lion-roaring phonograph would be to Bwana Tumbo's admiring auditors, when he comes home from the African hunting trip!
According to the International Library of Technology, there are several good solutions for frosting electric globes quickly for the temporary use of decorations. Perhaps the simplest is white shellac thinned with wood alcohol. Dipping the globes in this and allowing them to thoroughly drain produces an excellent imitation of ground or frosted glass. The same solution, by adding aniline dyes, may be used for coloring electric globes. Another simple method for frosting is to dip them in a saturated solution of alum and water. To make a heavier coating, repeat the dipping and drying process. Dipping the globes in a hot solution of sal-ammoniac will give about as good results as the alum solution. All grease and dust should be removed from the globes by polishing them with whiting and tissue paper before applying frosting or coloring. A good frosting effect was recently obtained by brushing mucilage evenly over the globes, dusting them with talcum powder until evenly covered, and then allowing them to dry.
Anyone sending a sketch and description may quickly ascertain our opinion free whether an invention is probably patentable. Communications strictly confidential. HANDBOOK on Patents sent free. Oldest agency for securing patents.
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