Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-25

i duNloNAAiOs 1
PRINCEss-"A Trip to turkey"
may get good results, but let some-
thing go wrong and he is at once up
in the air and goes all to pieces. One
of these nervous ones, while running
a show one time, lost HIS light (the
electric light which illumlnates the
picture).
Now, the only trouble was that the
carbon sticks between the points OF
which the light is produced had become
too far separated so that the electrlc
current would not flow across the arc.
But when the light went out this op-
orator, instead of bringing the car
bons together again and so once more
lighting the lamp, opened the door OF
the magazine which contained one OF
the reels of film in another entlrely
separate part of the machine quite re-
moved from the lamp to see II the lignt
had gone into the magazine, a proceeu-
ing so absurd as to be laughaole.
This same operator was once dls-
solving" the slides for an illustrated
song bv placing his hand over the
stereopticon lens while substituting ono
slide for the next, and torgot TO re-
move his hand from in front OF the
lens, so that there was no llgnt shih- IN
ing on the sheet He looked at the
curtain and, seeing no picture pelng
shown, thought he had lost his hght
again, until, removing his hand from
the lens to fix the lamp, the picture
at once, of course, reappeared on the
sheet
There is another class of operators
who are careless and Indifferent as 10
what results they get. They permit the
nicture to remain out of frame on the
sheet until the audience stamps or
whistles its disapproval or the plano
nlaver. bv n series of discords, attracts
fhe operator's attention to the fact that
part of one picture and part or another
are appearing on the sheet at the same
time. -
Sometimes the operator allows the
nict,Irn to remain out of focus instead
of at once bringing the details out clear
Iv and distinctly as he should be prop
erly adjusting the focusing screws on
his lens Sometimes the light goes out or
is permitted to become dim because
it is not fed" as it should be:
The light may not be properly dls-
tributed over the sheet, so that some
narts of the picture are dark and some
parts light. good operator VINO at
tends to everything. as 1t should De
attended to. Is a jewel, but unfortu-
nately his name is not legion.
What is known as reel of film usu-
ally contains about 1000 feet OF PIC
lures Each foot of film mas on IL SIX
teen pictures. One complete revolution
OF the crank on a moving picture ma
chine releases one foot of film, or SIX
teen pictures. This crank Is turned
at the rate of from forty to sixty-slx
times a minute. 1t follows that at the
latter rate of speed there are belns
shown on the sheet more than 1000
separate pictures every minute the
machine is in operation.
When you go to the moving pic
trlre show you are seeing 1000 individ-
ual pictures every minute you are
watching them on the screen. Do you
realize how rapidly the pictures are
in motion and wonder that they are,
indeed, rightly called moving picturesY
Sometimes, though, the operator is
blamed for what he is really not re-
sponsible for. In some moving picture
theaters the smaller ones especially
where seating capacity is limited, 1t is
the practice to empty the house after
each show and various devices are re-
sorted to in order to get the patrons
out after they have seen one complete
performance. 1t may be that the ope-
rator is told to put on reel that has
shown perhaups only half an hour be-
fore when he still has reels that have
not been shown at all. This is known
as a "chaser."
Sometimes an announcement slide Is
thrown on the screen. "This concludes
the performance. Those who have not
seen the entire show may remain, 9TH
ers will please pass out"
Half tickets are sometimes given by
the man at the door and these half
tickets are collected at intervals, so II
you have no half-ticket you must give
way to the others who have. But where
these Chasing tactics are resorted to,
in nearly every instance the operator
is instructed to run the film through
so rapidly that it is often hard to tell
what the pictures are all about.
A reel that should properly take six
teen minutes is run through in twelve
or perhaps even seven minutes. The
movements of the people and animals
become contortions, and sedate, minis
terial-looking persons behave like
jumping jacks.
The whole performance is grotesque
and unsatisfactory and the operator
is blamed for spelling the show. In
reality the operator is only following
his instructions to grind her through"
as fast as possible and "chase" the
crowd so as to make room for others.
1t is the boss fault, not the operators,
In this instance.
Operators receive salaries varying
from 15 to $45 a week and work from
40 minutes day to IL hours, accord
ing to where they work and for whom.
Some houses will not take a man on
at less than $1S a week. They figure
il he is not worth that he is not worth
anything to them. Some operators
are treated like princes, and others
we'll, different. Some booths are roomy
and comfortable, some cramped and
hot 1t all depends upon the theater
and its proprietor.
But no matter where the place or
how the operator is treated-and it Is
good policy to treat the operator right
If the proprietor wishes himself to be
treated right--if results are looked for,
and a pleased audience does not look
for these from the fancy front and
other surface indications of attract
iveness.
without the latter there could be
no show. He never has his name in
big letters in front of the house. His
name is sometimes not even known by
the other employees of the place. To
them he Is simply and only "the ope-
rator," but nevertheless, when it comes
to giving credit where credit should
be due If the show is what it should
be, don't forget the man up there in
the coop, the man behind the moving
picture
"A II