Technicolor News & Views (April 1955)

President’sMessage By DR. HERBERT T. KALMUS On the opposite page you will notice the architect's rendering of a new TECH- NICOLOR laboratory, which is now near- ing completion at Joinville, France. The purpose of the French TECHNICOLOR lab- oratory (called Societe Technicolor) is to provide products and services equal in every way to the products and services provided for them by TECHNICOLOR, Ltd. in London and the TECHNICOLOR labora- tories in Hollywood. We have long taken particular pride in the uniform quality of all products and services that bear the TECHNICOLOR trademark and trade name. Engineers from the TECHNICOLOR laboratories in Hollywood and London have supervised construction of the new French laboratory to insure this continuity of standards and methods of operation in the new establishment. We are often asked at TECHNICOLOR whether we look forward to a day in which most of the countries where films in color by TECHNICOLOR or print by TECHNICOLOR are exhibited will also have TECHNICOLOR laboratories. We consider these questions entirely justified in view of the extraordinary expansion of the cinema generally and Technicolor in particular. The call for TECHNICOLOR work comes now from every part of the world. Our standards of service may very well require a network of laboratories around the world one day. It is my firm conviction that the present policy of many producers of working ex- clusively in color film opens a future for TECHNICOLOR on which it is impossible to set limits. We like to think that we are not merely ready for the future, but actually forming it through projects like construction of the Societe Technicolor laboratory at Join- ville. TECHNICOLOR NEWS & VIEWS Vol. XVII April, 1 955 No. 1 Published from time to time by Technicolor Motion Picture Corp. HERBERT T. KALMUS, President 631 1 Romaine Street Hollywood 38, California Margaret Ettinger, Editor Charles Brackett (left), President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Herbert T Kalmus, President and General Manager of Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, look over a print oi “La Cucaracha/' the first movie in which human beings were shown in full color. Technicolor presented the print of “La Cucaracha" to the Academy to commemorate completion of manufacture of four billion fee of release print 35mm film by Technicolor. Academy Compliments Technicolor on 4 Billion Feet of Film A print of the first three-color live action motion picture made by TECHNICOLOR was presented to the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences by Dr. Herbert T Kalmus, President and General Manager of TECHNICOLOR MOTION PICTURE CORPO RATION. The film, a two-reel feature called "La Cucaracha," was the first live actior three-color print to come from TECHNICOLOR (although a Walt Disney three-colo> cartoon made by TECHNICOLOR preceded i or to the general public for the first time. Dr. Kalmus presented the print of "La Cucaracha" to Charles Brackett, President of the Motion Picture Academy, in a ceremony held in the Academy library. "I am delighted to present to you, as President of the Academy of Motion Pic- ture Arts and Sciences, this print of 'La Cucaracha' to be placed in the archives of the Academy," Dr. Kalmus said. "This two-reel picture was produced in 1933 by Pioneer Films, whose officers were John Hay Whitney, President, and Merian C. Cooper, Vice-President. This little fea- ture marked the transition from two- component to three-component TECHNI- COLOR photography and printing, and hence is a milestone in developing the best methods of bringing color to the mo- tion picture screen. "TECHNICOLOR MOTION PICTURE CORPORATION is presenting this print of 'La Cucaracha' to the Academy to com- memorate the manufacture of four billion feet of 35mm color motion picture release prints. Those four billion feet have re- corded advances in every phase of film making. I have every faith that when we complete our next four billion feet of film, t) and it brought human figures in full col- they will record even more far-reaching improvements in cinematic production and presentation." Charles Brackett thanked Dr. Kalmus on behalf of the Academy, saying, "Four billion feet of TECHNICOLOR film is a staggering statistic. Our congratulations.. "I well remember when 'La Cucaracha' broke like a sunrise on the drab gray screens of the world. It dazzled us all by its beauty and its novelty. "The beauty of the process remains. Its novelty is certainly gone. Nowadays people say of a picture, as though they were pointing out a quaint peculiarity, 'It's in black and white.' "The only complaint about TECHNI- COLOR I ever heard from anybody is that, after seeing a picture in your pro- cess, the world outside the theatre looks a little drab. The same thing can be said about an exhibition of Van Goghs. "On behalf of the Academy I am happy to accept this print of 'La Cuca- racha' for our archives. It will be kep 1 among our important memorabilia — the little picture that brought cinematic colo into its own." — TWO —