The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-07-16

Frank A. BrandOw. studio man ager Of the twenty -sovcn acre Par amount studios in Hollywood.
 Some of the examples of efiicl- ency problems worked out within the past few years through daily charts. hourly reports. inter-o office communication systems, buZZers and lights that denote shooting or between scenes activities on the stages. arc simply amazing, Bran dow pointed out recently.
 "fn analysing the efficiency of n motion picture studio" he con tinucd. '1t is logical to call atten- ton also to some of the things that arc not wasted.
 "It has been divulged before that studios recently have been re- claiming the silver which for years was lost In the laboratory Thir item alone pays an npprecinblc fraction of tho actual development and printing costs of film.
 "At the Paramount studios we | have a. foundry to reclaim all me- l tais. NaSr it tx h machine shop where tho product of the foundry may be recnst. Included in the ma terials thus hlvnged are iron. brass. lend. copper, wire and other | metai remnnnts and broken parts. Many a broken bolt has nine | lives"
 There are more "short ends" of film theoretically "waHtcd" to-day than years ago. according to Bran | dow. due to the fact that full magazines must be used 10 start off on many talking picture scenes. Tho exact length of such Bcquencca cannot be predetermined as ac- curatcly as in silent days. This means that remnants or short ends of variable length. are left at the end of nearly every scene. But there hrc Jobbcrs who buy these Hhort ends nt Il reduced price and sell them in turn to firms making commercial films in which scenes run shorter. Thus big studio loses little.
 Sets. props. lumber. clothes and fancy costumes are "heavy" Items In tho studios costs. Duo to high ly improved methods. sets have more than one life, At Paramount hli sets are built in units. ono wall ht time. In ono central asaem. bling stage. then transported by n mohorhil system 10 the proper stage. Only one-fourth ns many as many men are required to han de them and monorail trnnspor- tation eliminates bumps. wind strain and other damage. The used set ia disnssemblcd, cnch will re- turned 10 storage and with nothing but rcdec0rntion. each unit be- comes part of an entirlcy different set later. Lumber k used over and | over again and finally sold.
 Properties. sct furnishing. etc, hre carefully preserved after use. If not practical to use moro than once. they can be rented Co other | companies. Clothes arc sold in several ways. ActrcSses wearing beautiful gowns in h picture have the privilege of buying thcm after ward at a reduction. Every so of- len the Paramount wardrobe is thrown open 10 employees and their wives and vast quantities of clothes sold to them at fractions of their original costs
 The savings in set costs effected by tho monoraII system is pnral- lclcd in other ways. Two portable power saws can go anywhere on ''' Iot HHh lhluiFH HNUlISuIlIl hVI- vice right at the door of n stage.
 Streets are swept under power. Purchase of h complete fire truck, chemical equipment and nccekAor- ies from tho Hollywood Are depart mcnt, with thirty men regularly trained to handle fires, has brought down Ire protection costs. A complete modern printing plant turns out all intcr-ofiice communi- cation forms. cafe menus. tele- phone directories. etc. saving thou sands of dollars annually. A studio cafe. thoroughly modern apd smnrtly efficient. will handle an fh- vasion of 600 extras and return them to tho set in forty minutes. But perhaps the most striking example of efficiency k found in the fact that every building in the studios has an cxctrior suitable tor tiee in nictureh