Here I unreservedly place projection. Careful and adequate projection must be assured before it is worth bothering with orchestral accompaniment or stage effects. And by projection I mean to include all the lighting embellishments, patterns, etc., besides a cleanly projected picture. In my opinion there is almost a virgin field in the art of projection embellishment. At the Eastman Theater we have made, I am proud to claim, considerable progress in this art, and when our projection engineer, Mr. Townsend, gets some free time after completion of the papers which he is presenting at this convention, we shall undertake a general paper along this line.
Orchestral accompaniment comes next.
There is little to add to what I have already stated under this head beyond the fact that this season I am experimenting with continuous orchestral accompaniment by splitting the orchestra into two units when the overture and acts are over and the feature begins. Half of our orchestra, totaling 68 men, is sufficient for the accompaniment of most features, and half can rest while the other half plays. I come now to the subject of acts, which play an important part in the makeup of a bill. The bill as a whole must build up to the feature, never overshadow it. The bill must contain variety in character and tempo.