Bound

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i p«Wtr Stbrarg

This Volume is for
REFERENCE USE ONLY

1 2«-0m— P

From the collection of the

n

o Prepnger
V Jjibrary

• « • • r

&iucaUonai

SCREEN

INCr-UDING

TvIOVlNG PICTURE AGE '^^'

jJz Ofiis^umber

Visual Instruction Activities
of the Milwaukee Public
Museum.

By Roy S. Corwin

Propaganda and the Motion
Picture

By J. E. McAfee

How to Make Lantern
Slides by Hand.

By J. V. Ankeney

Special Editorials, Depart-
ments and Film Reviews

By The Staff

^

The Educational' .Screen, Inc.

DIRECTORATE

Herbert E. Slaught, President, The University of Chi- Nelson L. Greene, Secretary and Editor, Chicago.

cage. ' Dudley Grant Hays, Chicago Schools.

Joseph J. Weber, University of Texas. Frank R. Greene, of Palister, Greene & O'Connell, New
Frederick J. Lake, Trcasu/'i.-r, Principal of Jenner School, York City.

Chicago. William R. Duffey, Marquette University.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

J. W. Shepherd, Chairman, University of Oklahoma. V. A. C. Henmon, University of Wisconsin.

A\ W. Abrams, N. Y. State Department of Education. J. E. McAfee, University of Oklahoma.

Richard Burton, University of Minnesota. William A. McCall, Columbia University.

Carlos E. Cummings, Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. Rowland Rogers, Columbia University.

Frank N, Freeman, The University of Chicago. David Snedden, Columbia University.

J. Paul Goode, The University of Chicago. A. V. Storm, University of Minnesota.

Dudley Grant Hays, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Donald Clive Stuart, Princeton University,

Chicago. H. B. Wilson, Superintendent of Schools, Berkeley, Calif.

STAFF

Nelson L. Greene, Editor-in-Chief, Marguerite Orndorff

JFlorence Butler Blanchard George Hill, Eastern Representative

Marie E. Goodenough Arthur F. Nicholson, Pacific Coast Representative

Geneva Holmes Huston M. G. Doty, Western Representative

Marion F. Lanphier

Publications

THE publications of The Educational Screen, Inc., are available to subscribers at one-third off
the regular prices shown below. (Postage always prepaid.)
Comparative Effectiveness of Some Visual Aids in Seventh Grade Instruction, by Joseph T
Weber, of the University of Texas. (Ready.) A Doctor's thesis accepted by Columbi
University. With diagrams and reference tables. 131 pages, cloth. ^l.'O,

Visual Instruction in the Berkeley Schools, by Committee from the Berkeley Schools. Anna \
Dorris, Chairman. (Ready in a few days.) An exceedingly practical manual for all visual
workers. 70 pages, paper cover. $1.00.

Historical Charts of the Literatures (English. American. French, German), formerly published
at Princeton, N. J., by Nelson Lewis Greene, A. M. These charts have been used steali!>
for the past 10 years by students and general readers. Revised and uniform editions o
these charts are nearly ready. Single copies, English, French, German. 50 cents each
American, 40 cents. Discounts on quantities: 5 or more, 10%; 10 or more, 20%; 25 o;
more, 30%; 50 or more, 40%; 100 or more, 50%.

'1001 Films," an annual compilation of non-theatrical films, classified by subjects, with dis-
tributors indicated. Invaluable reference for all users of films. The last edition contain-
5,774 films. This book is not for sale. It is given only to subscribers. (44 pages, pap^
cover.)

Other Publications in Preparation

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.
South Wabash Avenue •^i'l^W 23 1914 45 East 50th Strer

Chicago .^ New York

January, 1923 3

Vol. II No. 1

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright, January, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.00 a year Single copies, 15 cents Back numbers, 25 cents

Entry as second-class matter applied for at the post office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

CONTENTS FOR JANUARY

Editorials 5

Special Editorials 8

Visual Instruction Activities of the Milwaukee Public Museum 11

Roy S. Corwin

Propaganda and the Motion Picture 13

/. E. McAfee

How to Make Lantern Slides by Hand 16

/. V. Ankeney

School Department 17

Conducted by Marie Goodenough

From Hollywood 28

Conducted by Margaret Orndorff

Official Department, National Academy of Visual Instruction 31

Official Department, Visual Instruction of America 36

Among the Producers ^9

Theatrical Film Critique ^^

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.

5 South Wabash Ave. ^ East 50th St.

Chicago • • New York

?•• ■

Advertisement The Educational Screen

Practical Reasons

why

POWER'S
PROJECTORS

Should Be Installed In
Schools, Colleges and Churches

OFFICE OF

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS

NEWARK, N.J.

April 24th, 1922,

Nicholas Power Company,
90 Gold Street,
New York Gify.

Gentlemen:

The State Normal School of New Jersey has Just
purchased a Power's Projector with the G.E. Unit for
Mazda lamps using the 30 volt 30 ampere incandescent bulb
on my recommendation, and I have strongly advised the use
of your projectors because we have had such good results
with them in the schools of Nev^ark, New Jersey. We have
not spent one cent for repairs on the Power's Projectors
purchased in 1919, and the twenty-five Power's we are now
using are thoroughly satisfactory in every respect.

Power's Projectors are the only professional
motion picture machines we have purchased for the past
two years, and I shall continue to recommend using Power's.

While the portable machine is suitable for
class room work, I strongly advise the use of professional
projectors for school auditoriums. This type of machine
gives the kind of picture to which we are accustomed in
theatres and the films shown are, therefore, far more
interesting.

The professional motion picture machine, such
as Power's, also eliminates eye strain, and as the
additional cost is very moderate, the use of the profession-
al projector in sctipols should receive the strong endorse-
ment of those in clmrge of motion pictures for schools,
colleges and churches.

Very truly yours ,

Chief Projectionist,
Board of Education,
Newark, New Jersey.

MCHOIAS POWER COMPANY

JNCORPORATED

EDWARD E:A.RI_, Presiden-t irai^

Ninety Gold St. New York, NY. _^^\^

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

January, 1923

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II JANUARY, 1923 No. I

Announcement

THE Educational Screen has taken over The Moving Picture Age,
thus combining the only two magazines in the visual field which
have been devoted exclusively to the educational cause and free
from embarrassing connections with the commercial field. This is the
first combined issue of the two magazines. The Educational Screen
now has the largest paid circulation ever attained by any publication
in this field.

D D

THE above announcement means that there is now but one serious and
independent magazine in the visual field — one magazine, and only one,
that can logically invite the support of the whole field, educational and
commercial alike.

READERS can hereafter keep in touch with the whole movement by
subscribing to a single publication at the original price of $1.00 a year.

CONTRIBUTORS can now speak to their maximum audience by a sin-
gle article in this one organ.

ADVERTISERS can reach the entire non-theatrical field by a single
advertisement in the one impartial medium serving that field.

The New Responsibility

THE Educational Screen realizes fully the increased responsibility now
upon it, a responsibility strictly in proportion to the greatness of its,
opportunity. We can meet this successfully if we can have the genuine
cooperation of all elements in the field who are actually interested in the
success of such a magazine.

At the start we have had, and shall continue to have, the invaluable
assistance of the publishers of The Moving Picture Age in the difficult task
of combining successfully two publications. The present merger has been
possible only through most generous concession and cooperation on the part
of the personnel of that magazine — notably of Mr. Edward F. Hamm, presi-
dent, Mr. Walter B. Patterson, manager, and Mr. Milton Ford Baldwin,
editor. Only the idealism of these men, and their sincere desire to see their
excellent achievement continued along similar lines rather than let it pass
into unknown hands, made it possible for The Educational Screen to under-
take to carry on their splendid work.

In the second place, we want the immediate support of the many friends
and readers of Moving Picture Age and of The Educational Screen — in the

Editorials The Educational Screen

form of new subscriptions, of renewed subscriptions, and especially of com-
munications, giving us frank suggestions and criticisms. Tell us how we
can make Volume II, which begins with this number, more attractive, more
interesting, more valuable than Volume I. The opinions of readers of the
two magazines as to what features should be retained, what omitted, what ex-
tended, what new features should be introduced — these will be of immense
assistance to us in shaping the policy and contents of the enlarged Educational
Screen during the coming year.

In the third place, we want the cooperation of significant contributors
throughout the country who have strong beliefs and sincere doubts about
the new movement, whose achievements in research or in practice prove
the genuineness of their interest in the visual cause, whose position and
experience lend authority to their utterances. This will mean material for
our pages both readable and worth the reading. The "scissors" play no
part — we do not say the ''blue pencil"— in the production program of The
Educational Screen. We aim to present original and vital matter only, of
which the source, form, and content will command attention and respect
from thinking men and women everywhere.

Finally, we want the patronage of advertisers who can, who will, and
who do render the service that they advertise. In return they can expect
from us the fullest and most cordial efforts to promote their best advantage
in this newly opened and greatly undeveloped field. We are making a
magazine expressly calculated to serve their interests as perfectly as the
interests of our readers. These interests are identical. It is definitely our
business to foster mutual confidence between the commercial producer and
the educational consumer, in a field where this confidence has often been
rudely shaken. We intend to make a magazine that deserves and, there-
fore, has the complete confidence of a public which is exactly the public
worthy advertisers need to reach. We want only worthy advertisers to
reach it. Such a magazine, with such a public and with such advertisers,
cannot fail to be an invaluable means toward the development of this great
visual field to the maximum benefit of all concerned.

The Moving Picture Age

THE Moving Picture Age was the oldest, and by far the most widely
known pubHcation that has ever appeared in the field. For five years
—first under the name of "Reel and Slide," and since October, 1918,
under its present name — that magazine steadily maintained high ideals of
service to the non-theatrical cause.

During the last two years, especially under the editorship of Mr. Milton
Ford Baldwin, The Moving Picture Age made enormous strides in the
broadening of its contacts throughout the national field, in discovering
and appraising new and varied needs of that field, in seeking to serve these
needs in more and more efficient ways, and above all, in restoring and build-
ing up in the minds of the interested public a firm confidence in the ideals
and purposes behind such a magazine— a confidence that has been badly

January, 1923 EDITORIALS

shaken in the past by certain other publications ostensibly serving the
same cause. Such achievement as this should be perpetuated. The Educa-
tional Screen firmly intends that it shall be.

It is inevitable that the many who have read and enjoyed Moving Picture
Age should feel a pang of regret at the discontinuance of that magazine as
a separate and independent publication. There is inherent power in an old
familiar name and form that seems utterly lost when these are changed.

We intend, however, that nothing but the externals shall be lost; that
the material presented and the service rendered to the interested public
shall not only be maintained at the same high level, but even improved and
extended. Surely the accumulated experience of two magazines, devoted
to the same cause and holding similar principles, should furnish a foundation
for a finer structure than could have been reared by either magazine alone.

The Educational Screen, then, extends its most cordial greetings to the
readers of the former magazine. We ask from you the same sturdy support
you gave to Moving Picture Age. We offer in return our best and utmost
efforts to give you the kind of magazine you and our common cause want
and deserve. We earnestly invite your strongest cooperation from the start,
both by subscription and by suggestion as to policy and procedure — and we
want the one as much as the other.

OF the numerous services rendered to the cause of visual instruction by
the Moving Picture Age, perhaps none is more notable than the com-
pilation and publication of the booklet, "1001 Films."

It is not only unique, this catalog of non-theatrical films available from
all sources; it is probably as accurate and as complete a work of reference
in this line as is possible in the present state of the field. The first edition
contained about 1,000 films; the recent second edition contains 5,774 films,
classified as to subject matter, with number of reels indicated, and definite
references to distributors and exchanges handling each particular film.

Because such data necessarily become obsolete very rapidly. Moving
Picture Age planned a new edition of the book every year. This plan will
be carried out by The Educational Screen. We shall endeavor not only to
perpetuate this valuable service, but to make every succeeding edition bet-
ter than the last, as the field becomes more and more stabilized and hence
yields steadily more reliable information.

Another feature of the plan of the originators of the work will be con-
tinued by this magazine. "1001 Films" is not for sale at any price. It was
designed solely as service to the subscribers and is given without charge
with every subscription.

Educational Screen subscribers are now entitled to a copy of "1001
Films," and same is being mailed to each one with this January issue. We
assume that all former subscribers to Moving Picture Age have already re-
ceived their copy. If by chance any subscriber to either magazine has not
yet received the book, it will be mailed immediately upon notice from that
subscriber.

Editorials The Educational Screen

Special Editorials

By J. W. Shepherd, Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board

THE Editorial Advisory Board takes this opportunity to congratulate all
concerned — the readers, the advertisers and the editors — in the merger of
the Moving Picture Age and the Educational Screen, which makes the new
magazine the only serious independent spokesman for this new movement in
education. This sort of wise economy of effort and expense promises a much
better type of service.

As long as the present editorial board is connected with the magazine, readers
and advertisers alike can be assured that the columns of this publication will be
free from commercial influence of any kind. The editorial pages will have noth-
ing to sell and no one to protect. Such a policy, endorsed so heartily by the
editor, reflects the purely professional aims and ideals of education, whether pro-
ceeding from the schoolroom, the pulpit or the platform. It gives to the readers
a consistent, sincere and safe leadership, to the advertiser an open-minded,
unprejudiced and alert clientele, and to the editor and his associates a much larger
and more representative and, we hope, more appreciative audience.

HAS Will Hays failed in his mission and in his opportunity with the movies?
This question has been coming to the surface from the radical reform ele-
ments for some months, only to be suppressed by the conservative elements
of the United States who demanded that the man be given time and opportunity
to meet, analyze, and solve the complex problems that confront the industry — par-
ticularly those that have to do with the moral issues involved. But the longer
Will Hays works with his problem the less confidence the public develops both
in the sincerity of the man himself, and in the sincerity of the interests that placed
him in his present position.

Hay's recent decision in connection with *'Fatty" Arbuckle has released the
pent-up criticisms of even the most conservative elements, and from one end of
the country to the other comes an expression of indignation that Will Hays, widely
advertised as an active churchman, had so far forgotten the developing standards
and ideals of conduct, particularly conduct relating to sex, in the milHons of
adolescent boys and girls of this country as to allow a man whose shame has been
so freely admitted and so freely advertised to appear as a public entertainer.

Arbuckle's plea of innocence of the crime of murder is much beside the point.
The frank admissions in connection with his private life were sufficient to con-
demn him as an unfit person to amuse children.

In the face of all the evidence, one can not take Mr. Hays' plea that the man
should have a "chance" as having the ring of sincerity. One can not help feeling
that the interests which Mr. Hays represents care not a rap about Arbuckle having
a "chance." One has difficulty indeed in believing anything else than that these
interests want Arbuckle restored temporarily at least until they have an opportunity
to get back some of the millions tied up in the production of films just previous

January, 1923 EDITORIALS

to the unhappy affair that cost a young woman her Hfe and took "Fatty" off the
screen.

No doubt these interests beUeve that the morbid curiosity aroused by the
free advertising of Fatty's escapade through the news cokimns of the press will
make this film with its insinuating grimaces and suggestive leers of the clumsy
clown temporarily popular and that, by the time the public conscience has been
sufficiently aroused to protect itself, the film interests will have cashed in,
and then the public, and not the film interests will be holding the Arbuckle sack.
Nor can one feel that Arbuckle's ''chance" will last one minute longer than the
time it takes to achieve the purpose outlined above.

The whole thing looks like a cheap play on the instinctive tendencies of man-
kind to be generous to the ''underdog," and it would seem that Will Hays iiad
lent himself to the plan fully aware of its insidious possibilities.

EXTENSION workers connected with a number of universities in the Middle
West, who have attempted to use motion picture films in reaching the audi-
ences out in the State, have had one fact driven home in a most stubborn
and persistent way, namely that in the villages, towns and small cities where there
are motion picture theatres, it is practically impossible to toll, under any pretext,
any of the better element of the community into the local show house.

This almost universal experience has deep significance in connection with
the community life of these communities. It means in the first place that the
motion picture theatre, and the motion picture industry for that matter, is fully
discredited among the better element. In the second place, it means that the motion
picture industry and the motion picture theatre have blindly built up a clientele
and following of doubtful character and that the only way that they can now hope
to remain in the community is to continue a service to the same following. No
wonder then good pictures have no appeal and do not "pay." In the third place,
it means that large numbers of the population of these communities are not being
furnished the recreation and entertainment that the motion picture can furnish,
perhaps more cheaply and more satisfactorily than any other agency.

In the fourth place, it means that the policies of the motion picture industry
and the theatres have been narrow, selfish and too limited with no thought of the
communities' welfare and with a complete absence of anything constructive in
mind. In the fifth place, it means that the motion picture forces have looked
upon the public as logical prey, and even in many cases demanding the right of
protection from competition from other community agencies that seek to fill in
the breach by giving an occasional moving picture show. This demand for a
monopoly on the part of the local motion picture theatre has raised an important
and far-reaching issue of "rights." Motion picture owners and managers have
raised the cry of right to make a living on the one hand but denying on the other
any right of the community to protect itself or to control its own destiny. In
other words the theatre owners and managers demand for themselves full rights
and privileges of protection and monopoly but deny any rights or privileges to
the community. The economic fundamental, that only those persons in a com-

10

Editorials

The Educational Screen

niunity have a right to a Hving in that community who can serve the community
constructively, has no place in the motion picture man's philosophy.

There seems, therefore, to be but one solution. That solution comes from
the growing sense of the community's privilege, right and responsibility to
govern its own destiny which in the last analysis demands that the community
through its oum organization determine the character and quality of its activities,
particularly its entertainment and recreation, very much as it looks after its edu-
cation, its commercial activities, its religious institutions. No force should be
allowed contact with community life which is destructive in its influences. The
motion picture certainly should be no exception.

It happens that the community has an agency already organized that can
take care of the whole problem satisfactorily, namely, the public school. The
public school is directly in the hands of the people's representatives, the school
Board. It is run by paid administrators, headed by the school Superintendent.
The building and auditorium is provided and already available. The whole or-
ganization is particularly responsive to moral responsibility. The expenditure of
a few hundred dollars on the part of the school board for the purchase of a
projector and screen is all that it takes to transfer the motion picture from the
destructive environment of the small theatre with its "bucket of blood" and sex
appeal to the constructive atmosphere of the public school with its appeal of
culture and personal uplift.

Where good judgment has prevailed and sound business methods used the
enterprise has prospered and the small admission fee from one or two "shows"
during the week has paid for well selected entertainment programs, frequently
leaving a handsome balance for the rental of educational films to be used in the
class room during the school hours or for library or play ground equipment.

Nor is this a chimerical or fanciful untried scheme of a dreamer. Already in
hundreds of small communities progressive school men with a growing sense of
personal leadership and with a growing sense of the school's responsibility and
obligation to the community as a whole, have undertaken to give to the community
under public school auspices a carefully selected motion picture service.

Hasten the day when the community's motion picture entertainments will
be selected by those who are responsible for the conduct of our public schools.

J. W. Shepherd,
University of Oklahoma.

The February issue of The Educational Screen will be "The
N. E. A. Convention Number."

The leading article will be by Dudley Grant Hays, entitled,
"Visual Education, Its Scope, Meaning and Values."

January, 1923

11

Visual Instruction Activities of the Milwaukee

Public Museum

Roy S. Corwin

Supervisor of Extension

Milv^aukee Public Museum

THE Milwaukee Public Museum ren-
ders to the general public visual in-
struction of the character usually
provided by the large museums of the
country by means of exhibits, guide trips
and illustrated lectures. The visual serv-
ice furnished by the Museum to the
young people, particularly to school chil-
dren of Milwaukee, is remarkable since
it probably denotes a more intimate cor-
relation of Museum and school activities
than is found in other cities. This cor-
relation is especially manifested by the
graded Grammar School Lectures and
loans to schools. These latter consist of
specimens, lantern slides and motion pic-
ture films.

ILLUSTRATED LECTURES FOR SCHOOL
CHILDREN

Pursuant to an agreement between the
Public School and Museum Boards, the
pupils in each grade of the Grammar
Schools, from the fifth to the eighth, in-
clusive, visit the Museum twice each
school year for a lecture and an hour of
observing exhibits related to the subject
of the lecture.

Each lecture is adapted to some part
of the class work of the grade attending
it. For example, the eighth grade, while
studying the Industrial Geography of
Wisconsin, receives a talk on "The In-
dustrial History of Wisconsin." The
seventh grade, just beginning United
States History, is given a lecture on
"The Indians of North America." The
sixth grade, which in class is taking up
the eflfects of environment on mankind,
hears "How Races of Men Have Adapted

Themselves to Conditions of Life." And
so on. Each lecture is illustrated with
studiously selected lantern slides and
sections of motion picture film.

VISUAL STUDY AFTERWARD

After the lecture, the pupils adjourn
to the exhibition halls, where they ob-
serve those specimens, objects and groups
that illustrate the subject of the lecture.
To facilitate the pupils finding the ex-
hibits, each one is provided with "Floor
Notes" and is directed by assistants.
The "Floor Notes" also constitute a
brief summary of the lecture and are
used by the pupils for reference upon
their return to school.

The value of this sort of visual instruc-
tion is appreciated by pupils, teachers
and the parents of the children — for sub-
stantial reasons. Not all of the city
schools have a stereopticon, making pos-
sible the use of slides to illustrate the
lessons ; nor have many schools any con-
siderable quantity of illustrative material,
either pictures or specimens, to display
when teaching; hence, the great diffi-
culty in imparting certain ideas. Were
the pupils of such schools unable to visit
the Museum, they would be more likely
to derive from their studies inaccurate,
or at least, vague conceptions. The Pub-
lic Museum's collections and exhibits
are thus available to each pupil twice
during the school year to give him cor-
rect and definite knowledge of the ac-
tual appearance of that about which he
is studying. Incidentally, it may be
stated that certain of the Public Mus-

12

Milwaukee Public Museum

The Educational Screen

eum's collections are the most complete
of any in the country, for instance, the
series of North American Indian and
United States Historical groups.

LOAN collections

The Museum also maintains, primarily
for school use, loan collections of speci-
mens, lantern slides and motion picture
films.

The specimens include Insects, Botan-
ical and mineral forms, and some Archeo-
logical material. Until recently, the
Birds and Mammals loaned consisted of
separate specimens in cardboard con-
tainers. These are being replaced by
small habitat groups, revealing as much
as possible of the life history of the dif-
ferent species of birds and mammals.
All of this material can be borrowed by
the schools to assist in conveying con^,
Crete "ideas to pupils. A cherished plan
of the Museum is to install in the City
Schools permanent collections and ex-
hibits which shall always be at hand for
the teacher's use when needed in the
class work.

In its collection of 25,000 lantern slides,
most of which are colored, the Museum
has a wealth of illustrative material,
which it gladly loans to such of the City
Schools as possess stereopticons. About
forty of the schools, more than half the
total number in the city, make use of the
collection, which is divided into two
parts.

The first is made up into approxi-
mately 350 sets on common subjects of
Geography, United States History, and
the Industries, which are obtainable on
short notice. The second part comprises
the great bulk of slides systematically
catalogued and filed. From this portion
can be assembled sets on any topic of
Natural Science, Anthropology, History,
Travel or Katural Resources.

SCHOOL service IN SLIDES

The Slide Catalogue was prepared
with school needs foremost in view.
Teachers most frequently employ lan-
tern slides to illustrate lessons in Geog-
raphy; hence, to facilitate the selection
of slides by teachers of the different
grades, the Geographical sets are grouped
in the catalogue according to the grades
for which they are intended. The ar-
rangement of slides in the sets and thS
order of the sets in the catalogue is
based upon the Geography Study Out-
lines from the office of the Superin-
tendent of Schools.

No effort on the part of the photo-
graphic studio or slide colorists of the
Museum is spared to maintain a satisfac-
tory working collection of attractive, rep-
resentative and up-to-date slides for its
school patrons. Teachers and others
have been invited to loan the Museum
photographs or negatives of suitable sub-
jects for the purpose of making slides,
thereby assisting in building up the col-
lection. As rapidly as possible, the sets
are being provided with explanatory lit-
erature or "texts."

During the school year 1921-1922, the
Museum loaned 782 sets, totaling 34,489
slides, which were viewed by 68,122 pu-
pils in the Milwaukee schools.

MOTION PICTURE FILMS

At present the Museum owns a small
library of approximately fifty motion
picture films on geographical and indus-
trial subjects, which it is loaning to
schools. It also rents educational films
which it supplies to a circuit of grammar
schools at the rate of from three to four
each week. In the selection of these
films and preparation of the schedule,
the principals and teachers of the schools
participating in the service are consulted, \
with the result that they are able to

January, 1923

Propaganda and the Motion Picture

13

show a particular film at the time they
wish to screen it. Geography, History,
Civics and Natural History are the sub-
jects in which the films are most com-
monly used. The testimony of the in-
structors is generally greatly in favor of
the films for teaching purposes, though,
in some instances they have reported that
lantern slides would have been more suc-
cessful than the film in "getting across"
the lesson.

"THE CHILDREN'S ROOM"

A form of visual instruction recently
adopted at the Milwaukee Museum, and
one which is already producing credit-
able results, is the work carried on in the
Children's Room.

This part of the Museum is devoted
entirely to the interests of the young
people of the city, from primary to high
school ages. The exhibits are of an ele-
mentary nature to attract the child's at-
tention and awaken in him a desire to
learn more of Natural History, Anthro-
pology and History. Study collections and
stereoscopic views are placed in his
hands, giving him the incomparable op-

portunity to obtain knowledge which can
be acquired only from examination of
actuar specimens and clear, illuminating
pictures.

His introduction to the large collec-
tions is made attractive through the
"Museum Games," in playing which he
seeks and finds the answers to questions
on cards, such questions relating to the
Indian Groups, and to the Mammal, Bird,
Insect, Plant and Mineral collections.
Other educational contests are held and
study clubs formed under the supervis-
ion of the Docent, who is in charge of the
room and in whom the children find a
willing and sympathetic adviser. Many
school pupils come to the Children's
Room for suggestions and materials in
preparing Nature Study assignments.

Thus, it will appear that the Milwau-
kee Public Museum furnishes visual in-
struction not only to the adult residents
of the city, who support it with their
taxes, but also to their children. The
Museum is at particular pains to extend
its visual instruction to meet the needs
of the pupils in the City Schools.

Propaganda and the Motion Picture

J. E. McAfee
University of Oklahoma

AN up-to-the-minute advertising ex-
pert has asserted that any article
put on the market with a hundred-
thousand-dollars'-worth of advertising
back of it will bring its promoters a hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars; after
that it must sell on its merit.

One cannot withhold a suspicion that
this expert exaggerates at one point. Ex-
perts do once in a while. Even Homer
nods occasionally. Our expert appears
to have nodded when he cherished and
sought to propagate the delusion that

his suppositious article might eventually
be compelled to show merit to justify
its dissemination. When one considers
the numerous articles of hoary buncombe
still imposed upon a gullible public
through the shifty arts of the advertiser,
the conservatism of our expert seems al-
most malignant. His promised hundred
and fifty thousand must have been
cashed in long ago.

But the portion of his formula which
will be promptly accepted without ques-
tion is that a hundred-thousand-dollars'-

14

Propaganda and the Motion Picture The Educational Screen

worth of advertising buncombe will put
anything across. Money, and the print-
er's ink and the red, yellow and green
paint it will buy can sell anything, and
keep on selling it. The main reason pink
pills for pale people are not making good
pink Americans pale in such multitudes
as of yore is because the law has stepped
in and defends the gullible against their
own delusions. In regions where such
laws do not intervene people are still
growing pale under the pink ministra-
tions.

This is not to suggest that all bun-
combe can be estopped by legislation,
nor that it would be good for society for
the legalists to have right of way in dis-
pensing a full and complete salvation.
Salvation won that way would not be
worth having. The caldrons of hell are
to be preferred to that kind of a heaven.
The only weapon finally efifective against
buncombe is the real stufif. Propaganda
must cure the evils of propaganda. Bun-
combe thrives in a vacuum. Only in in-
tellectual vacuity can it breed. If you do
not get there first with the truth in the
vacant mind, you have a perfect devil's of
a job grubbing out the stumps and roots
of noxious growths which have pre-
empted the soil.

The commercialized movie has discov-
ered and broken through the shell of an
enormous vacuum in the popular Ameri-
can mind. It has not made much dififer-
ence, up to the present moment, what sort
of stuflf has been dumped in. The void
was so vast, which our educational forces
have not attempted to fill, and which
many of them to this day do not believe
it is possible to fill, or that it is worth
while trying to fill, that all the movie
promoters had to do was to back up the
cart to the hole which they had torn into
the cavern and dump any old rubbish into
the vasty deeps.

Masses of the American people were
not thinking at all when the movie came
along. The movie has not degraded their
tastes, nor corrupted their morals to
anything like the extent which our som-
nolent and now partially awakened
homiletic and educational alarmists be-
lieve they have. They have cultivated
a kind of morality among formerly non-
moral masses. They have developed a
garish appreciation of color among mul-
titudes to whom all red was red and all
green green, without desire or capacity
for discriminations of shade. If an en-
lightened educational policy had beaten
them to it, the once neglected vacuum
and now glutted plethora would not have
imposed so nasty and tedious a job of
cleaning out.

There are as many kinds of objectional
propaganda in the field today as there
are sinister and malign aims among pro-
moters. The answer is not less propa-
ganda but more. The void is still vast.
There is precious little thinking done
now, though there is more than there has
ever been before. People are interested
in what is interesting. Salacity and
ferocious gun-play are not interesting,
except to those who have nothing else
to think about. The savage interest of
the public in riotous love-making on the
screen is simply the index of a belated,
primitive condition of the public aflfec-
tions. The movie did not create current
eroticism: It has simply helped to re-
veal it in a jungle, the fringes of which
have been clipped and pruned to look like
civilization. The worst that is to be said
of our society is that it has not grown
up. This is bad enough. Let us not
gloze our sad estate. When gray-headed
captains of industry and patrons of our
so-called arts can find nothing more en-
tertaining than erotic riot both on the

January, IQ23

Propaganda and the Motion Picture

15

Stage and in their palatial apartments,
they demonstrate the inability of our
economic order as now disposed to re-
deem us from primitive barbarism.
There are here no conclusive signs of
social degeneracy. We simply witness
the spectacle of individual belatedness
in the evolutionary process. The spec-
tacle has social significance only as these
individual cases are so numerous as to
register a general stage of advancement
from the primitive.

It is time to fill the remaining popular
mental void with worth while stufif, and
to develop the requisite patience and
skill to dig out the rubbish which educa-
tional lethargy and muddling have per-
mitted the reckless and conscienceless
to dump into the hole. Health is ever-
lastingly interesting. There is enormous
need of education in health which the
motion picture can meet, and it alone can
meet quickly and surely. We need a
vast propaganda in the interests of
health and vital living through the use
of motion pictures. The achievements
of science, especially useful science, are
enormously interesting. They will thrill
the red-blooded man when eroticism will
simply make him sick. The guesses of
science, whether among the vast abysses
of the stars or in the recesses of the
cloven atom are immeasurably more en-
tertaining than the swinish and bull-
bellowed jests which pass for humor
among the vacant-minded.

We have brought this all on ourselves.
We should never forget that. To scold
the multitudes who resort to the stuffy,
trashy motion-picture theater because
they do not go to our musty Sunday
schools, shows that we lack both a sense
of humor and a sense of human values.
Our musty churches are somewhat more
repellant than the theater man's dirty

floor and deoxidized air. He has the
grace to darken his room so as to hide
the trash on the floor; some of our
churches are pretty dark, but many are
not quite dark enough, nor does what
goes on in them provide the human sub-
stance to fill an appreciable portion of the
unoccupied cavern of the public mind.

And our schools have been wholly ab-
sorbed with infants and others of the
undefended. We have had our way with
them, or have taken it, without too nice
regard for human considerations. The
movie has effectually served notice upon
us that adult education can no longer be
neglected. Only stand and gaze out upon
that vast deep, the uneducated, inactive
adult mind ! We have harbored the de-
lusion that warping and twisting the
youthful soul by arbitrary processes,
under which he is forced to be docile,
is the end and all of education. Only
contemplate the methods and programs
which we now have operating in the
field of adult education in these United
States of America!

In the howling demand for an ade-
quate system of education, wherein the
public mind expands and clarifies in a
continuous, unbroken process from the
cradle to the grave, how completely lost
are the tinklings and thrummings of the
meager propaganda, evil or good, whole-
some or malign, which we now awaken
from our snooze to "view with alarm''!
Our problem does not lie in the malign-
ity of efforts to fill the vast vacancy of
the American mind, but rather in their
meagerness. Our alarm should not be
so much for the flood of salacity and
ferocity pouring from the motion-picture
theater, but for the insignificant trickle
which the whole cinema enterprise
amounts to in the demand for filling for
a cavity so vast.

16

The Educational Screen

How to Make Lantern Slides by Hand

J. V. Ankeney
University of Missouri

IT is of times advisable to make lantern
slides by hand in order to present quick-
ly tables, diagrams, cartoons, announce-
ments, songs, etc. The following are some
methods which have been employed by the
writer and have been useful.

Ink on Glass

1. Clean a glass slide and with a crow
quill pen write, print, or draw on the
glass with India Ink. The ink will
take more readily if the dry finger is
first rubbed over the spot on which
the lettering is to be done.

2. Special inks in a variety of colors
known as lantern slide inks may be
purchased. These may be used with
clean pen on the slide.

3. One may write directly on ground
glass or mica with either pen or pen-
cil. Mica slides withstand the heat.

Ink or Pencil on Prepared Glass

1. An ordinary unexposed lantern slide
plate may be fixed in the usual way,
washed and allowed to dry, after
which it may be written on with either
pencil or pen. This, of course, is
rather costly.

2. A 10 per cent solution of gelatin in
hot water may be made and flowed
over the glass slide, allowed to dry
and be written on as above.

3. A solution of Canada balsam in either
turpentine or xylol (xylol dries quick-
est) flowed over a glass slide is more
satisfactory than the gelatin solution.

4. A ground glass substitute made as
follows : Sandarac, 90 gr. ; Mastic, 20

gr. ; Ether, 2 oz.; Benzole, j^ to 1^
oz. The proportion of the benzole
added determines the grain of the
matt obtained; this may be flowed
over the glass slide. This dries in a
few minutes (2 or 3), leaves a matt
surface which softens the projected
light and takes ink and pencil well.

On Gelatin Sheets

1. Sheet gelatin may be purchased in a
variety of colors, also clear and matt.
This will take ink, pencil (on matt)
and typewriter. For best results on a
typewriter place two pieces of new
carbon paper so that their faces touch
the gelatin sheet. Type in the usual
way and place between cover glasses
with matt and bind.

2. In order to make the above idea more
easily carried out several companies
now make a combination gelatin sheet,
carbon paper and matt ready to go
into the typewriter. The gelatin
sheet is mounted in the usual way.

Miscellaneous

The simplest slide to make is that made
by smoking a glass slide over a candle or
kerosene lamp and scratching the letters or
drawing with a pin or other sharp instru- j
ment. <

A glass pencil or china marker's pencil '
may be procured from any laboratory su]
ply house or from most stationers. This
may be used for writing on glass direct.

The value of the above suggestions will
depend upon the ingenuity of the user and\
the care exercised in executing them.

January, 1923

17

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

(We wish to call particvilar attention to the kind of film reviews
offered here. They are entirely impartial, and critical in the finest sense
of the word. They are written from the educational standpoint by the
department editor, who is not only a trained reviewer but a teacher of
wide experience. No film appears in this department that has not been
viewed by Miss Goodenough personally and the review written by her-
self expressly for the educated and educational public.

So far as we know, it is the first timjC that su<:h service has been ren-
dered by any publication in the field of non-theatrical films. — Editor.)

Another Doctor's Thesis in Visual Education

A Review by

A. P. HOLLIS

IT is significant of the growing recognition being
given to the subject of visual education by
men of scholarship, that following close on the
heels of Dr. Weber's thesis on Comparative Effec-
tiveness of Some Visual Aids, is another by Roy
L. Davis of Chicago. Indeed, it's actual comple-
tion antedates that of Dr. Weber's, as it bears the
date of June, 1921. It's title is, THE APPLICA-
TION OF MOTION PICTURES TO EDUCA-
TION, and it was accepted for the doctor's thesis
by New York University.

There are twenty-five chapters in the volume,
distributed among four main parts or sections.
An enumeration of these will giye an idea of its
scope. Part I is introductory, pointing out the
growing importance of visual education, the need
for experimental data, and the limit of the present
inquiry to the educational motion picture. Part
II traces the historical development of visual aids,
through Comenius and Pestalozzi to the modern
motion picture. Part III gives statistical data of
the extent of the use of films in the industrial
and educational fields, and the types of films and
projection apparatus used. Part IV describes the
real contribution which the thesis makes to the
subject of visual education. The experiments
were conducted with a 200-foot colored film en-
titled The Dancing Lesson, shown to public school
pupils in New York City, from the second to the
ninth grades, inclusive.

The fundamental difference in these experiments
from those of Dr. Weber's is that paired groups
are not employed— and film instructed groups are
not put in competition with word instructed
groups. Instead, all children who saw the films
were given a series of six tests to determine sex
and age differences in visual preceptions, with
reference to degree of suggestibility; reactions to
number relations in the picture ; persons ; position ;

color; action; clothes; things; time; distance, and
titles.

One of the interesting topics in visual percep-
tion, related to the suggestibility of the film; but,
the picture items Hsted under suggestibility were
strikingly different in suggestive values — and it
was difficult here to follow the author's concep-
tion of the term. The reviewer was also left
somewhat in doubt under Perceptions of Time —
where the inferences from observations of phe-
nomena due to seasonal changes, seemed to be
confused with perceptions of time intervals. That
is, the question— "What time of year do you think
it was?" relates to an altogether different mental
process and result from the question, "How long
did the dance last?"

As the thesis is not yet published, it would be
premature to give its findings. Suffice it to say,
that the experiment utilizes accepted scientific
controls. A -full exhibit of charts and tables
accompany the experiments. The elaborate meth-
ods of mathematical computation used, extending
to coefficients of correlation, one feels, are luxuries
to be enjoyed peculiarly by writers of doctor's
theses. Everywhere in the tables the mean devia-
tions are computed and listed.

An interesting feature throughout the percep-
tion experiments is the selection of the written
reaction of the "Median Pupil" throughout the
grades— as a concrete picture of the class per-
formance.

An extended bibliography shows wide reading,
and its size and variety will be a surprise to those
unacquainted with the literature of visual instruc-
tion.

The thesis is not yet published, but when it
appears students of child psychology will find here
interesting, if not conclusive, data on the reaction
of the child mind to visual stimuli.

18

School Department

The Educational Screen

A REAL step forward has been taken in the
formation of the Visual Education Asso-
ciation of Illinois on December 27, 1922 at
Springfield, Illinois. The organization took place
immediately following the superintendent's con-
ference at the State Teachers Meeting, and repre-
sents the culmination of Illinois' rapidly growing
interest in visual instruction.

Officers were elected as follows: President F.
Dean McCluskey, Dean of the College of Educa-
tion at the University of Illinois; Secretary and
Treasurer, C. F. Miller, Superintendent of Schools
at Galesburg, 111.; Executive Committee, consist-
ing of five of the leading School Superintendents
of the State, namely T. M. Allen of Springfield,
H. A. Perrin of Joliet, William Harris of Urbanai
W. W. Potts of East St. Louis, and W. J. Hamil-
ton of Oak Park.

The Visual Education Association of Illinois
embraces school men only and aims to serve
purely educational ends. It plans a program of
action rather than of words. For example : Three
specific things it is going after from the start are
these: (1) A state-wide questionnaire will be
circulated to get definite data on the visual situa-
tion in all schools; (2) the problem of correlating
visual materials with the curriculum will be at-

tacked; (3) Measures will be taken to establish
a distributing center for visual materials.

There should be an organization of this kind
in every State in the Union. More activity of
this sort among educators will dissipate the fog
in which visual instruction has been wallowing
for years and disclose the big values awaiting
American education when once visual aids are
adopted — not merely recognized.

A READER writes us about 125 children in
an orphan asylum in Pennsylvania, who
have no movie privileges and are em-
phatically dissatisfied therefor. The children
"hear other children talking of the movies and
this causes them to be discontented; this is why
the trustees are looking into the matter." And the
result is that the trustees have decided that they
can find the means to install a projector.

An interesting and suggestive incident. A new
sort of pressure in favor of the visual idea is
being exerted from below— by the children them-
selves. Twenty million school children will rep-
resent a considerable pressure when once they
begin to exert it. More and more the youthful
personnel of one school will demand the advant-
ages enjoyed by "the other school."

Film Reviews

LITERATURE
When Knighthood Was in Flower. (Famous
Players-Lasky.) "Once upon a time there was
a cruel stubborn king, who tried to force the
princess, his little sister, into a marriage with
a dissolute old monarch. But the princess was
in love with a brave and handsome Captain
of the Guard, who stole her away from^ the
King, her brother ..." The something
in all of us which thrills to that sort of tale
delights in the action of this most worthy
presentation of the romantic story of the time
of Henry VIII. And there is enough of true
historical background and accurate character-
ization of the outstanding figures of the pe-
riod to give real literary and historical value
to this story of Charles Major. Here is Eng-
land during one of her most colorful periods
of history— the lax court of Henry, the Lon-
don of narrow streets and frequent robberies
and duelings therein, the undisciplined and
careless manners of the period, as displayed
alike in the princess and the group of tavern
loafers.

. Marion Davies furnishes what is beyond
doubt her best role on the screen in the per-
son of the tempestuous, charming httle prin-
cess. Not entirely without a tendency to meet
the story's situations with set gestures and
expressions, she nevertheless responds to its
big scenes with sincerity and genuineness.
Much of the charm of the film to the careful
observer lies in the backgrounds which have
been most painstakingly reproduced.

An admirable subject for non-theatrical usr.
and deserving to rank among the best produc-
tions of the year just past.

The Headless Horseman. 7 reels. (Hodkin-
soii.) There is a spell about the dreamy tran-
quility of Sleepy Hollow— a spell of "hauntr.l
spots and twilight superstitions"— which it is difl
cult ,to translate into celluloid. The scenari.
maker also faced the task of filling the origin,
legend with enough incident and plot to carry tlv
film version through seven reels, the convention.! 1
length for a "feature." As a result, rather scrioti
digressions from the original are introduced

I

January, 1923

School Department

19

Ichabod is accused of being a witch-doctor (it is
a question as to whether any added knowledge of
the supernatural would not rather have endeared
him to the credulous inhabitants of Sleepy Hol-
low), he is plotted against by Brom Bones, his
resignation as schoolmaster is demanded, and
preparations made (and dangerously near carried
out) for tarring and feathering him, and riding
him out of town on a board. A public apology on
the part of Brom restores Ichabod to his school
and the story to its original course.

The film, although slow-moving as to plot,
is rich in skillful settings which do the maximum
in furnishing delightful background and atmos-
phere. The old stage on which Ichabod rides
when he makes his first appearance, the school-
room with its rough wooden benches and the high
desk of the master, as well as the interior of the
old meeting house— all are fine touches. The
quaint Dutch houses, their spinning wheels, ancient
clocks and rows of pewter dishes, are faithful
reproductions of the originals — except that in
the case of the Van Tassel home, the furnishings
and finish seem a bit too modern.

Much of the charm of the reels lies in the
richness of incident which is permitted to follow
closely Irving's descriptions : Ichabod's instruction
of the class in Psalmody; the old quilting bee at
the home of the Van Tassels, and the dance at
which Ichabod so excelled. Nothing which pho-
tography could do was left undone in the case of
the night ride of Ichabod and the Readies.",
Horseman — although after the manner of the
movies, the Horseman must throw off his dark
robe and show us that he is in reality only Brom
Bones. Contrast that with the delicacy of sug-
gestion in Irving.

The acting leaves nothing to be desired. Lois
Meredith makes a Katrina as vivacious and pi-
quant as the original, the old Dutch characters
are delightfully portrayed, and Will Rogers does
a careful Ichabod— even to the finer touches.
There may be a question as to whether Roger's
Ichabod is grotesque enough. Certainly he does
not cut as ridiculous a figure as a cavalier mounted
on the steed Gunpowder, as he might have, had
he taken Irving's description literally.

His language — as the film makes him speak
words— falls flat. It must be admitted there is
no obvious cue to follow — scarcely is there, a set
of quotation marks in the whole of the Legend—
but fancy the uncouth Ichabod as saying to
Katrina who stands on the shore of a little lake,
"From a distance I thought you were a lovely
swan that had forsaken the water."

Even the explanatory titles might have been
more successful had they all been allowed to fol-
low the wording of the Legend itself. Those that
do, stand out in refreshing contrast with those
that do not.

Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Hodkinson.) An-
other of the American Author Series, produced
by the Kineto Company of America— this one
deserving to rank as one of the most success-
ful attempts to bring something of the spirit
of an author to the screen. It follows the
usual plan of the series, first showing Haw-
thorne's birthplace, in Salem, and then the
Salem Customs House where the discovery
of some old records inspired Hawthorne to
write "The Scarlet Letter." Among other
landmarks of Salem is its pride, the House
of Seven Gables — the original of Hawthorne's
best known work. And here, in a most skil-
fully managed transition, with the words,
"Even in this day it is not difficult to imagine
Phoebe Pyncheon . . .," we see re-created
the characters of the story, moving among
familiar surroundings. There are Aunt Hep-
zibah who opened her little shop in the House
of Seven Gables, and the half-demented Clif-
ford, and Jaffrey Pyncheon, the wicked judge.
Quite as naturally as though it were the out-
come to be expected from the judge's morning
call at the shop, there follows the "big scene"
of the story— after which poor Clifford, stand-
ing over the Hmp body of the judge, exclaims:
"Let him be quiet What can he do better?
As for us, Hepzibah, we can dance now! We
can sing, laugh, play, do what we will — the
weight is gone, Hepzibah!"

James Fenimore Cooper. (Hodkinson.)
American Author Series. In comparison — or
contrast— with the reel on Hawthorne, very
little can be said to laud this effect at visualiz-
ing Cooper's settings. No attempt is made
to dramatize, and the film confines itself to
one scene after another of the Leatherstocking
country around Otsego Lake near Coopers-
town, N. Y. Present-day views of the spot
where Deerslayer killed his first Indian, or the
place where Judith bade farewell to hfer be-
loved Deerslayer— such scenes looking thor-
oughly up-to-date, with even a motor launch
skipping over the water— fail to be convincing.
Still less reminiscent of the time of Leather-
stocking are the vacation ceremonies of some
imported "pale-face maidens," dressed in In-
dian costume, who frolic in "Pathfinder Lodge"

20

School Department

The Educational Screen

— where once stood the wigwam of the red
•man. No closer than that is the connection
of much of the fihn with the real charm of
scene and action which is Cooper's. It is to
be hoped that the unsuspecting student, lack-
ing a first-hand knowledge of this author, will
not conclude that if this be Cooper, he will
have none of him.

The only convincing scene — to a reviewer
who remembers the breathless moments of
following Leatherstocking through his adven-
tures— is the scene of Natty Bumppo's Cave —
which except for some carved initials, looks
as it might have, then.

The reel is overtitled — evidently in an effort
to pad out insufficient material to a respectable
length.

TRAVEL AND SCENIC

I Know a Garden. (Prizma.) Photographed
at Duke's Farms, Somerville, N. J., the reel
is a dehghtful succession of garden scenes,
paths and flowers — some of the blossoms in
remarkable closeup, beautifully reproduced in
color — summer houses, a stream and a bridge,
a little lake and snowy swans, a waterfall, a
fountain, and everywhere flowers. A beautiful
subject for a film program in which a little
sheer photographic beauty can find a place.

Old Spain, the Home of Romance. (Fox.)
Another of the more recent Fox Educationals,
filmed for the most part in Granada, the city
of the Moors. The reel contains some of the
best possible views of the Alhambra, the fa-
mous Court of Lions, and close views of the
walls and towers, with their designs made up
of incredibly intricate geometric patterns.

An effort is made' to depict the customs of
the people of Old Spain who are untouched by
modern ways. Street scenes show the ever-
present donkey, the traveHng candy-vender,
types of Spanish children, women doing the
family washing at the bank of a stream, goats
being milked in the street at the consumer's
door, and a glimpse is given of the pomp and
grandeur of royalty in this old-world country.

Had the reel stopped there, all would have
been well. But something Spanish could not
be allowed to rest without a dash of the na-

MAKE MEN MEN

Use "A Maker of Men"

(SEE
1001 FILMS")

Temple Pictures, Inc., 2303 Prairie Ave., Chicago, 111.

tional sport, and some display of present-day
types of Spanish beauty as embodied in some
carefully costumed girls posed as in a fashion
show. Fox finds it extremely hard to avoid
injecting a bit of theatrical "spice" into a
supposedly educational subject.

Heap Busy Indians. (Producer, Lee Brad-
ford Corporation.) There is no point in re-
viewing this film, except to warn against the
disappointment which would follow its book-
ing "sight unseen." It was photographed in
western Canada, where the redskin, ordinarily
a peaceful agriculturist, makes a business at
times of being an Indian, for tourist consump-
tion. The producer missed a chance which
was his, to show the present-day Canadian
Indian as he really is — the last remnant of
his race, adapted to modern conditions, but
still retaining his allegiance to the customs
and ceremonies of his race. Instead of that
legitimate purpose, we have what amounts to
a burlesque on an educational subject. To cap
the climax, the titles are made with no thought
except to "get a laugh."

HISTORY

Old Glory. (Prizma.) With the perfect
artistry which we have learned to associate
with Prizma, this reel tells "the story of the
starry banner of the United States." It is
filmed in part from pastel paintings by Pale-
logue — a device much more successful with
such a subject than could be any attempt at
acting out such scenes with costumed figures.
It goes back to the time of Cabot, who brought
to America the first flag— the Red Cross em-
blem of England. The Pilgrims carried to
these shores the Flag of King James; and in
1707 the flag of Cromwell was adopted by
England as well for her colonies as for the
Mother Country. During the early colonial
period, the various colonies also used emblems
of their own, such as the famous Pine Tree
Flag, and the Rattlesnake Flag of the Southern
States.

On January 1, 1776, Washington unfurled
the first striped flag, made of thirteen stripes,
but carrying the Union Jack in the corner. In
May of the same year, he enhsted the aid
of Betsy Ross in designing a new flag.

There follow views of the home of Betsy
Ross, called the "birthplace of Old Glory," ^
and Independence Hall, Philadelphia, where

January, 1923

Advertisement

21

JULIUS CAESAR

His Life from 80 B. C. to 44 B. C.
Posed and Executed in and about Rome, Italy

A Photo-Masterpiece in Six Reels from the George Kleine Cycle of Film Classics

ENDORSEMENTS

EDWARD MAYER, UNIVERSITY OF CALI-
■ rORNIA, Department of Visual Instruction

" 'Julius Caesar', your six reel photo-
masterpiece, has proved to be one of our
greatest films from the point of view of
a distributor. The writer has viewed the
film about ten times, and I dare say he
will view it many more, but at no time
has his interest waned".

HUGH W. NORMAN, INDIANA UNIVER-
SITY, Bureau of Visual Instruction

"We have distributed the film 'Julius
Caesar' during the past year to a num-
ber of Schools and organizations in
Indiana. I wish there were more pic-
tures of this type that we could offer to
Schools and other community organiza-
tions".

WELLINGTON PATRICK. UNIVERSITY OF
KENTUCKY, Department of University
Extension

"The film 'Julius Caesar* has been in
use in Kentucky for the past eight
months and has been distributed very
widely. The demand became so great
that we had to ask for another print
and there has been continual interest
in the film by Clubs. Schools, and other
organizations throughout the State".

R. F. EGNER, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, Bu-
reau of Visual Instruction

•'Through the Bureau of Visual Instruc-
tion of the University of Utah, 'Julius
Caesar' has been circulated very success-
fully among educational institutions,
civic, social and religious organizations.
The following quotations from our pa-
trons indicate the satisfaction with which
the film was received: 'Exceptional film.
Every High School student ought to see

it' 'A great picture. Public well

pleased' .... 'Very good. One of the best
we have run' ... .'Excellent. More films
like this will make our work worth

while' 'Wonderful picture. Was very

ei.thusiastically received by entire
group' ".

F. F. NAL.DER, STATE COLLEGE OF
WASHINGTON, General College Extension

"I want to tell you of my admiration for
the film 'Julius Caesar'. During the
past few years we have handled a num-
ber of fine films. I do not think that I
have ever seen anything more impres-
sive in its pageantry or more striking in
numerous details than this remarkable
picture. As a means of enforcing some
of the profoundest lessons of history it
is splendid".

WM. H. DUDLEY. UNIVERSITY OF WIS-
CONSIN, Bureau of Visual Instruction

"In a collection of educational motion
picture films now aggregating over four
thousand reels, 'Julius Caesar' ranks
above all the others in educational value
and demand".

VICTOR D. HILL, OHIO UNIVERSITY, De-
partment of Classical Langruages

"The Photoplay 'Julius Caesar' is a pro-
duction of unusually high quality. Be-
sides being of great educational value
it appeals to general audiences wherever
shown. Since Iho beginning of its dis-
tribution to the Schools of Ohio under
the auspices of Ohio University it has in
every instance brought expressions of
hearty approval and satisfaction, whether
shown by the Schools themselves or as a
public exhibition in local theatres co-
operating with the Schools".

CARRIE MACLAY, UNIVERSITY OF MON-
TANA, State University Film Exchange

" 'Julius Caesar', as a film suitable for
distribution among Schools and non-
theatrical exhibitors in general, has es-
tablished its own reputation. When it
makes a figure such as that of Ceasar
so living that children impersonate him
in their play, it must be of vast impor-
tance from an educational point of view.
We do not hesitate to recommend this
picture to exhibitors who are looking
for a splendid type of film".

Copies of the film have been deposited for distribution during the cmrent School
season with twenty-two Institutional Exchanges, which supply exhibitors in their
respective States at moderate rental prices.

Communicate with the GEORGE KLEINE OFFICES for the Exchange nearest you.

GEORGE KLEINE

NEW YORK: 729 Seventh Avenue

CHICAGO: 114 So. Michigan Avenue

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

22

School Department

The Educational Screen

the flag was formally adopted. In 1778 it was
first recognized by a foreign nation, when
France saluted the flagship of John Paul Jones.

In 1784 the number of stars and stripes is
shown to have been increased to fifteen— the
flag under which Perry fought.'

The remainder of the reel is devoted to
scenes of Fort McHenry, the defence of which
inspired the writing of our National Anthem;
the statue of Francis Key Scott; and the only
attempt at dramatization in the reel; a scene
showing Scott as he witnessed the bombard-
ment of the Fort from a British battleship in
the harbor, watching through the night for
a glimpse of the "star-spangled banner."

A most dignified and beautiful visualization
of the story— such a valuable contribution that
it must needs find a place on every school and
community program.

Abraham Lincoln. (Vitagraph.) Another of
the American Statesman Series— but one it
were better to have left undone. It is hardly
short of sacrilege to dismiss the subject of
America's Emancipator with the scrappy treat-
ment of this reel— and certainly if nothing
more charitable could have been said about
Lincoln's early home life, it were far better
to have left the subject strictly alone. Except
for the few scenes of the boy Lincoln and his
mother, there is nothing to justify the footage
expended. The scenes descend to the level
of slapstick comedy when the father and sister
are introduced. The elder Lincoln is made to
appear hardly more than a lazy, drunken
tramp, who tears up the boy's copybook, and
is in turn beaten over the head by Lincoln's
sister who evidently rules the household. The
whole thing degenerated into a cheap family
squabble.

After such an introduction to Lincoln's great
career, we jump immediately to his election
to the presidency in 1861; and again a leap
takes us to a view of the present day Lincoln
Memorial, just completed on the banks of the
Potomac. An old print (reproduced in film
form) shows us Lincoln delivering the Gettys-
burg address, the lines of which furnish the

"THE CHOSEN PRINCE" creates a desire
for *'THE BREAD OF LIFE"

Temple Pictures, Inc., 2303 Prairie Ave., Chicago, 111.

titles, "cut in" with panoramas of the battle-
field and cemetery of Gettysburg.

The reel closes with a picture of a Lhicoln
monument — one of the poorer ones.

A distinct disappointment, as an effort to
picture the career of Lincoln. Not to be
shown under any circumstances, if the rever-
ence with, which we usually regard Lincoln's
memory is to be passed on as a heritage to
present-day youth.

SCIENCE

The Mystery Box. (Hodkinson.) A most
timely exposition of the transmission of sound
by radio, produced by the Bray studios. The
name Bray associated with the production is
assurance enough of the cleverness in anima-
tion which the reel displays.

At the start, a little animated figure, the
"Radio Bug," in a display window is shown
attacking passersby. He stings a small boy
severely, the doctor examines the patient and
leaves directions which the family discover
prescribe a radio outfit. Once it is set up,
it becomes the center of the family entertain-
ment. The remainder of the reel takes us to
the broadcasting station (Westinghouse, N. J.)
where we are shown the antennae from which
are sent out waves. Sounds at the sending sta-
tion cause modulations of the radio waves.
These in turn are detected by the radio re-
ceiver, and translated by a "detector," which
reproduces waves exactly like those of the
sending station.

A most entertaining subject, and one sure
to interest and instruct the thousands who
have marveled at this modern "mystery box."

Bird Life. (Fox.) A short reel containing
some really remarkable views of birds in their
natural surroundings. Good scenes show coN
lectors securing eggs for breeding from peril-
ous situations on the face of the cliff. Only
one egg is taken from a nest, and the young
birds are never molested. A splendid closeup
shows a wood thrush building her nest, the
eggs in the nest, and later the young birds
being fed. The fishhawk and her young are
shown, as well as splendid views of sea gulls,
the bird of paradise and finally the regal white
peacock of India. Some excellent material,
but seriously marred for any strictly educa-
tional use with children by the exceedingly
bad titles. If William Fox is at all concerned

January, 1923

Advertisement

23

''The picture is
the quick, the
intense Way of
presenting the
Truth"

© KEYSTON E VI EW CO

Delivering Milk, Venezuela

Stereographs and slides are to the busy teacher what the
telephone, typewriter and other labor saving devices are to the
busy business man.

Visual Education means greater interest from the pupils,
better work, less effort.

Stereographs and slides in sets arranged for primary grades,
grammar grades. High and junior High schools, completely in-
dexed for daily reference, are now available.

Keystone View Company, Inc.

Home Office and Studios

Meadville, Pa.

Keystone has purchased the stereoscopic and lantern slide department of Underwood and Underwood

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

24

The Educational Screen

University of
Texas

Senator
HiVam W« Johnson

St. Louis School
Systems

St. Francis Ho*pUal
Fort Wayne -I nd.

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

January, 1923

25

Su«i-Ma.td
Kas'in G rowiprs

In-^erna+ional
Correspondence Schools

Ford Mo+or

Japan€»s'e»
G-o ve r n m €» n-t

Choice of them all

Ilhurches, in Schools, in Business and in Govern-
tal Departments — wherever you look, Motion
ures are being used to instruct, sell and disseminate
rmation. It is an accredited fact that the big suc-
es in Motion Picture Programs are made with
^ry's.

roster of DeVry owners includes hundreds of
)ol Boards, Business Houses, Churches and Organ-
ons to whom price is the least important item
n equipment is purchased — they demand the best,
though willing to pay many times the DeVry price
le fact remains it is impossible to improve upon
'ry|quality.

The DeVry Corporation

1248 Marianna Street Chicago, U. S. A.

Mexican
G-overnment

San Francisco
School Systems

Claiborne Ave.Presbyter'iao
Church - Mew OrWdnS

■he

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Church -Chicago

Dept. <?f Pu^*»*^ Health

e^on School
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Cleveland Twist
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Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

36

School Department

The Educational Screen

about coming into the educational field, he
needs a new title artist who can bring some-
thing to his task besides a knowledge of the
movies.

INDUSTRIAL

Felling Forest Giants. (Pathe.) One of the
series on How the World Is Fed, Clothed and
Sheltered. A general sort of resume of lum-
bering, with some of the scenes attractively
done in color. The first part of the reel was
filmed in the Carolinas — where we see a typical
lumber camp, the United States Government
inspector helping to pick the right trees for
cutting, and actual cutting and felling opera-
tions. Mules and oxen are used for skidding
and hauling logs. Incidentally, there are some
good views showing how oxen are shod — the
huge animals swung clear of the ground and
their feet tied to a low stump.

The logs are swung by means of derricks
to trains which carry them to the mill, or to
a stream down which they can float. In this
connection, it is a pleasure to note that the
title-writer has actually been a help to the
picture. He says at this point, "It is easy to
see why permanent mills usually locate on
rivers."

The latter part of the reel takes us to the
giant forests of the Northwest. There a "spar
tree" is trimmed to a great height for a der-
rick. Excellent scenes show felling, and get-
ting logs to the river and down to the mill.

A little comedy closes the film — a scene in
which several log-roller athletes keep their bal-
ance on a log spinning under their feet.

Camphor. (Fox.) Another of the Fox Edu-
cational subjects — the first of which were re-
viewed in a previous issue. This reel is much
more valuable' from a classroom standpoint
than were the earlier releases. The scene is
laid on the island of Formosa from which
80 per cent of the world's supply of camphor
comes. A globe in rotation shows the location
of Formosa, and titles enumerate some of the
many uses for the drug. It is obtained from
an evergreen laurel tree which is shown in
closeup. Roots, trunk and branches are chipped
finely, and bags of the chips are taken to the

OPEN THE DOOR

Use "The Stream of Life"

Temple Pictures, Inc., 2303 Prairie Ave., Chicago, 111

distillery. The vaporized camphor passes
through pipes cooled by running water, and
the camphor is crystallized. It is then ana-
lyzed, and the product transported on the
backs of coolies 500 miles to the nearest rail-
road. The scenes showing the lines of loaded
figures are among the most interesting in the
reel.

Views suggesting the importance of cam-
phor in hospital treatment and its use in mak-
ing explosives conclude the film.

Pekin Ducks. (Fox.) There is not a great
deal to be said for this brief reel, except that
it contains some splendid views of great num-
bers of ducks, and shows how their food is
chopped and taken on little cars along ele-
vated tracks to the feed pens. Duck eggs
are displayed, and a title informs us that nine
weeks later the bird reaches five pounds in
weight. Aside from that, slang titles seriously
lessen the usefulness of the reel for instruc-
tional purposes.

MISCELLANEOUS

Into this grouping must go two of the best
films of the month — not because of any lack
of distinct character on their part, but because
they could be valuable from so many angles
that it seems unwise to pigeonhole them de-
cisively by any other classification. The first
is distinctly suitable for classes in civics study-
ing city problems, or for students in geography
interested in the question of how cities secure
a water supply.

Spending Six Hundred Million a Day. (Vita-
graph.) A splendid reel— one of the most fin-
ished numbers in the Urban Popular Classics
— devoted to the subject of New York's water
supply, its sources and its uses. The greatest
city of the country uses 615,000,000 gallons a
day — a daily average of 100 gallons per person.
The film first shows views of the Catskills 125
miles from the city, and of the Croton water-
shed, both of which contribute to the supply.
Kensico Reservoir, in which the water is col-
lected, is in the midst of an area which has
been carefully tended and. beautified. Before
the water is allowed to make its way down
toward the city 30 miles distant, it is aerated
in hundreds of fountains which together re-
semble acres of artificial geysers. The valves
which guard the flow are housed in little stone
structures which are always under guard.

January, 1923

School Department

27

Splendid views show the Crotoii dam from
several different viewpoints, and the routes of
the water between the dam and the city is
followed across fields — the tubes easily trace-
able by the accompanying electric transmission
wires. Central Park Reservoir receives a part
of the flow, which is drawn upon as needed
for various city uses.

One cannot fail to be impressed at the im-
portance of a sufficient supply of pure water
for so large a city. The reel summarizes the
various uses to which the water is put: for
park beautification, for fountains, drinking
troughs for animals, household uses, street
sprinkling, fire fighting, ice-manufacturing,
and lastly, as a fundamental necessity for hu-
man life.

Time. (Prizma.) Or, to be exact, a history
of man's effort to measure time. Here again
we have all the art of which Prizma is capable,
working with materials from the collection in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and with re-
productions by Palelogue. The result is a
color masterpiece.

Man's first attempt to measure time used to be
the principle of the sundial — a shifting shadow
of some stationary object. Later, it was ob-
served that the moon made periodic changes
of shape, in definite order, and with the same
number of days between. (History tells us
that the Chaldeans of Mesopotamia studied the
stars, and the Bible speaks of the first recorded
sundial.) The first pocket timepiece resem-
bles a sundial in miniature, and the first me-
chanical timepiece is said to have been the
water clock, a contemporary of the familiar
hour-glass.

The film shows table clocks of this early
period, from which evolved the first form of
watch. The jeweled timepieces of early days
are photographed, as well as the famous
watches of Napoleon and Marie Antoinette.
So it comes down to the grandfather's clock of
Colonial days, and our modern clocks and
watches of today.

A subject beautifully done, and deserving a
place on any program.

If you believe in visual education
you want the Educational Screen. If
you don't believe, you need it.

"The Sugar Bush"

'Sap's Runnin' " ''Kettle Boilin' "

"Sugarin' OfP'

This film lesson. (21) Making Maple Sugar, arouses
keen interest and presents the essential facts in an at-
tractive manner.

The

Ford Educational Library

Offers

Eleven hssons upon the Common Foods. The
following subjects parallel the school cours3 in geog-
raphy, domestic science, hom3 economics and dietics:

FOOD LESSONS

(18) Milk as a Food.

(16) Oranges and Olives (40) Wheat anjd Flour

(17) The Honey Bee

(19) The Banana
(21 ) Making Maple Sugar

(20) The Cultivation and

Growth of Dates.

(31) A Cattle Ranch

(29) Meat Packing

(30) Salmon Fishing
(15) Oyster and Shrimp

Fishing

The food lessons are effective because of the high
educational standard of each title and scene. Ej*ch
lesson has a four paged synopsis with a definite method
of using the motion picture in the schoolroom.

Progressive Schools Are Building
Ford Film Libraries

Buying Good Subjects

is
Cheaper Than Renting

Use the Non-inflammable Standard Width
Film in the Classroom

28

The Educational Screen

From Hollywood

Conducted by
Margaret Orndorff

Motion Pictures as an Expression of — What?

M

OST of us who talk glibly about the enor-
mous possibilities of the screen, haven't
really much idea of what those possibili-
ties may be. Even those important persons who
are closest to the movies' innermost workings, and
have one or more fingers in the very latest movie
pies, can't when they are pinned down tell exactly
what they mean by "possibilities." Or else they
won't. They will tell you that this development
or that development is "bound to come," but they
can't say just what steps will be taken to bring it
about.

I wonder if it is because the screen has never
.really come into its own place; for that, I think,
is what ails the movies today, and has, all along.
From the beginning, the movies have been just a
big mechanical toy, and we were all so delighted
with it that we never noticed any fundamental
shortcomings.

But it has one mighty big one. Motion picture
people are discovering the fact for themselves.
Many of them are hugely dissatisfied with the
things they are producing now — they feel that
they are blundering about in the dark, but as yet
they have only the first glimmerings of the light,
and so they are just waiting — and blundering.

The reason — at least one reason — is not far to
seek. The movies began at the wrong end, that's
all! Here we have a wonderfully devised and
marvelously developed means of expression, and
up to date we haven't discovered the thing which
this remarkable instrument is peculiarly adapted
to express !

Technically and commercially the screen in
America tops the world, but as an expression of
art — oh, my! This in effect is the combined opin-
ion of those people here and abroad who are in-
clined to take the screen seriously. Of course it
is commercialized in this country to such an ex-
tent the box office appeal is practically the only
standard the producer recognizes, and "what the
public wants" has been dinned into our ears so
regularly that we are hypnotized by it. What the
public wants and what the producer thinks it
wants are of course two different things — ^but
that's a digression.

To come back to the heart of the trouble, here
it is : the screen has no material of its own with
which to work. So far it has been subsisting on
borrowed material because that was all it could
get; but stage plays, novels and short stories are
not what the screen needs, and who should know
it better than the very ones who offer them for
our approval? That they do know it betrays it-
self in one little word that invariably appears on
the credit sheet — "adapted."

Of course these stories and plays have to be
"adapted." The screen is no place for a sermon;
that is distinctly the novel's business. The very
thing the stage is fitted to express through the
tones of the voice is the one thing lost when
the stage play is "adapted" for the screen. Thus
we find illusion falling flat; the motion picture
becomes just what we have suspected it was —
merely a mechanical contrivance; the machinery
creaks. (And what a lot of it there is to creak!)

There is no denying that the screen has come
close to the real thing it was meant for in some
of the recent pictures that have been produced,
but we can go to see the best the screen has to
offer and still come away disappointed. And it
isn't a thing we can help. About all we can do
is wait until somebody discovers how to put into
some tangible form the thing the screen can best
express.

C. B. DeMille comes close to the mark iii »
newspaper article with which he is credited. "The
stage of the motion picture," he says, "is set for
the entrance of the Shakespeare of the screen. In
its literature, as in every other department, the
motion picture has made amazing strides in the
past decade. It is often and truly said that the
motion picture has progressed as far in a few
short years as the stage drama progressed in sev-
eral hundred years. But the screen has yet to
develop a literature of its own. To date we have
been dependent upon novels and stage plays for a
great part of our story material. However, this
is changing in favor of the original story."

The newspaper comment on this statement ran
in part as follows: "He believes very strongly

January, 1923

From Hollywood

29

ill the rapid development
of a screen literature that
will compare favorably
with the literature of the
spoken drama. And he
believes that one or more
truly great writers of
original screen plays will
emerge in the near fu-
ture. . . ."

Mary Pickford strength- *
ens the case. In future,
she thinks, screen stories
will be much' simpler and
more direct in their ap-
peal and in their presen-
tation. They are too
complicated now, she tells
me. There must be m,ore
action and less talking
about it. The plot must
work out before the eyes
of the spectators — there
must be no delving back
into history via the sub-
title for the situation upon
which the action hinges.
Paul Bern has this to
say: "The motion picture
will portray more and
more mental situations
rather than merely physi-
cal action. The things a

man thinks in a tense situation are greater
than his actions.

"A woman may say to her lover, 'Get away from
me. I don't want to see you again !' She may
turn away. But she is thinking of other things —
of a time when he made a sacrifice for her, or of
a garden where he made tender love to her. That
is what the motion picture must express."

Perfectly

Steady

Projection

Depends primarily upon skillful
accuracy in the construction of
the projector, rather than upon
its size and weight. It is for this
reason that pictures shown with

ZENITH

Motion Picture
Projector

have the steady clearness of the strictly theatrical machines, even at such
long distances as 115 feet.

The price of the Zenith is extremely moderate, yet its wearing quality and
workmanship are remarkable. Uses Mazda Lamp, requiring no adjustment,
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Takes any standard film. Stereopticon attachment, if desired. Fully
guaranteed. Easily operated by anyone anywhere. Portable, weighs 50 lbs.

SAFETY PROJECTOR COMPANY

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In writing for catalog, please mention this magazine

Production Notes

Rumors are about that Rodolph Valentino
will play in Goldwyn's production of "Ben-Hur."
On the other hand, I learned from what I con-
sider an authoritative source that Joseph Schild-
kraut will play the title role, for of course that
is the part in question. In the meantime the
Goldwyn publicity department invites the public
to make its own selection of an ideal cast for the
story and send it to Robert Mclntyre, casting di-
rector

This department resists the temptation to pick
a cast, but expresses the hope that Mr. Mclntyre
will remember that Ben-Hur was only seventeen
years old at the opening of the story, and cast
the part accordingly.

Since the award of Photoplay's medal to
Joseph Hergesheimer's "Tol'able David," his
stories are in great demand. His "Java Head" is
now in production at the Paramount studios, with
Leatrice Joy as the Chinese woman, George Mel-
ford directing. "The Bright Shawl" goes to
Richard Barthelmess who will be directed by John
S. Robertson, fresh from Mary Pickford's "Tess."
His "Wild Oranges" will be filmed by Goldwyn,
and "The Three Black Pennys" will certainly turn
up before long.

Other Goldwyn announcements of interest
include the appointment of June Mathis as Edi-
torial Director of their Culver City studios, and
the addition of that clever title writer, Katharine
Hilliker to their staff of writers, as well as the
acquisition of the famous Eric Von Stroheim,

30

Production Notes

The Educational Screen

A Bausch & Lomb

Balopticon Designed

Especially for

Schools

The Model BC Balopticon is an unusually practical outfit for class rooms or medium
size school auditorium's, as it can be used for long projection distances when necessary.
It is equipped with a 600-watt Mazda lamp, the most powerful that can be attached
to an ordinary lamp socket, so that it can be used where only regular current is
available.

Operation is entirely automatic. The construction throughout is of the same high
standard that characterizes all Bausch & Lomb projection apparatus.

Bauschlj^ Ipmb Optical (5,

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Leatding American Makers of Microscopes, Photographic and Ophthaknic Lenses, Projection Apparatus,
Binoculars, Aut mobile L.enses, and Oth«- High Grade Optical Products.

whose first picture will be Frank Norris' "Mc-
Teague."

Mary Pickford announces that Ernest Lu-
bitsch will direct her in "Dorothy Vernon of
Haddon Hall." Edward Knobloch is writing the
continuity.

According to an announcement by Richard
A. Rowland, general manager of Associated First
National Pictures, that organization is to add pic-
ture production to its other activities. Up to now.
First National has been a distributing organiza-
tion for the benefit of independent producers.
Maurice Tourneur has been engaged to direct two
pictures, the first of which is Crittenden Mar-
riot's "The Isle of Dead Ships." Also Allen Holu-
bar will direct "The White Frontier."

Douglas Fairbanks has postponed the pro-
duction of "Monsieur Beaucaire" because he wants
to do a pirate story. We can envisage the famous
smile behind the mustachios of Captain Kidd!

Frances Hodgson Burnett's "A Lady of
Quality" has been purchased by Universal for
Priscilla Dean.

Monte Blue, the Danton of "Orphans of the
Storm," will appear as Doctor Kennicott in
Warner Brothers' production of "Main Street."

Vitagraph will release twenty-four special

pictures during 1923, and will enlarge its dis-
tributing department to accept a larger number of
independent productions than formerly.

Florence Vidor plays the name part in Booth
Tarkington's "Alice Adams," which is directed
by Rowland V. Lee.

Eugene Walter*s stage play, "The Easiest
Way," once filmed with Clara Kimball Young, is
to be revived, it is said, for the re-entrance of
Theda Bara into the pictures. Ferdinand Pinney
Earle will direct.

Williami DeMille's next picture will be
"Grumpy," the stage version of which was played
by Cyril Maud. Theodore Roberts and May Mac-
Avoy head the cast.

The Film Guild will offer four pictures, star-
ring Glenn Hunter, now playing in the dramatic
version of "Merton of the Movies." They are?
"Second Fiddle," by Frank Tuttle, "The Lap of
Luxury," by Townsend Martin and Frank Tuttle,
Percy MacKaye's romance of Salem witchcraft
(mentioned previously in this department) and
one other, the title of which is not announced.

Joseph Schildkraut is to make a film of
Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Grey"
some time this winter. The story will be told en-
tirely without titles.

{Concluded on page 42)

January, 1923 ^^

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS
President— D\JT)VE.Y Grant Hays, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Chicago.
Vice-President— M'RS. Claire S. Thomas, State Department of Education, Raleigh, N. C.
Secretary—]. V. Ankeney, University of Missouri, Columbia.
Treasurer— C. R. Toothaker, Commercial Museum, Philadelphia.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dudley Grant Hays, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Chicago.

W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

W. M. Gregory, School of Education, Cleveland.

A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark.

J. W. Shepherd, University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Carlos Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo.

A. W. Abrams, University of State of New York, Albany.

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. All miaterial appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy. ^«

A Teachers' Institute on Visual Education

By One Who Was There

(We are particularly glad to be able to offer this account, written by one
of the important participants in this most significant experiment. The success
of the Bloomington institute sets an example worth following in other coun-
ties and in other states. No better means can be found for hastening progress
in this new field. — Editor's note.)

i i K REAL live institute," one teacher ex- any doubt which he had harbored in his mind.

Z_\ claimed at the close of the Saturday The mid-winter McLean County institute was

afternoon program of the McLean pronounced his best, which was saying a great

County Mid-Winter Institute, held December 7, deal, because the mid-winter meeting has always

8 and 9 in the high school auditorium at Bloom- been of the highest standard. Each year the in-

ington. 111. stitute has discussed one live topic, no expense

"Yes," a second teacher added. "It has been being spared to secure the service of experts to

another of Superintendent Moore's good insti- lead the discussion,

tutes, only better than any before." Superintendent Moore secured the service of F.

"Why, there is more to this 'Visual Education' Dean McClusky of the University of Illinois to

than I had ever dreamed of before," said a third help organize this institute. Together they worked

teacher. "I am going to see our superintendent out a program of lectures and exhibits which

at once and find out why we don't have some of would develop the topic in a concrete and simple

these materials in our schools." manner. Each lecture was consciously placed so

County Superintendent Moore had wondered that the whole program would represent a unit
whether his selection of Visual Education for the of thought on visual education, giving the audience
topic of his institute would prove to be a wise a clear understanding of the value of the move-
choice, but the interest and enthusiasm displayed ment. Hence, each lecture and exhibit was like
by his teachers in the three-day session dispelled a chapter in a book which the reader could not

32

The National Academy

The Educational Screen

afford to miss if he was to understand the entire
volume.

The first speaker on the program, Dr. McClusky,
outlined the present status of visual education,
contrasting the effects of propaganda versus re-
search in the development of the movement.

Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Instruc-
tion in the Chicago schools, followed with a sketch
of the growth of visual education in the Chicago
schools and its present standing. Prof. Hays
pointed out problems which he faced, problems
the smaller cities will also have to solve. This
lecture was interrupted from time to time by
questions from the audience, showing how quickly
the teachers entered into the spirit of the con-
ference.

Mr. McClusky's second lecture opened the Fri-
day meetings with an illustrated account of some
experiments which had been carried out by Prof.
Freeman, himself and others on the efficiency of
presenting subject matter through different me-
diums of visual instruction.

Then Prof. F. N. Freeman of the University
of Chicago carried forward the concepts raised
in the first talks by a careful exposition of the
psychology of concrete experience and an analysis
of the types of visual experience. This material
he covered in two lectures.

Up to this point the teachers attending the
institute had not only attended the lectures but
had been directed from the platform by the lec-
turers, both from their discussions and through
announcements, to the exhibits of all types of
visual education's materials.

The teachers had seen slides and stereographs
and films demonstrated. Museum exhibits of dif-
ferent types, models, charts and wall pictures were
examined. All types of apparatus for visual edu-
cation were explained.

It was at this point of the program that Prof.
Hays lectured on how to administer and care for
visual materials in a school system, a discussion
which was pointed to answer some of the admin-
istrative and practical problems which the novice
in visual education must face.

The institute was closed by Mr. McClusky's
summary of the work of the institute and some
concrete suggestions on how to solve some of the
teaching problems the visual educator confronts

in terms of the technique of testing visual
imagery.

As we stated above, the lectures were only a
part of the program. In order to make the in-
stitute an example of what it was discussing,
samples of all types of visual aids had been
placed on exhibition. No samples were included
which had not proved their worth in actual class-
room use. Commercial concerns not only ex-
hibited their equipment, but staged actual
demonstrations of how to use visual aids in the
class-room. The Bloomington schools exhibited
types of visual aids they were using, ranging from
materials used for Latin classes in high school
down to the kindergarten sand pans.

The entire second floor corridor and four class-
rooms of the Bloomington high school were filled
with exhibits to which the teachers were directed
in such a way that each and every display, com-
mercial or otherwise, played a definite part in the
program.

The average attendance at the institute was over
five hundred. Although by Friday it was evident
that the institute was a success, the real test came
Saturday when the afternoon attendance showed
four times the number anticipated. Superintend-
ents from neighboring counties, and students from
Illinois Normal University and Illinois Wesleyan
University arrived to get a glimpse of the insti-
tute on visual education. The lecturers and ex-
hibitors were all enthusiastic over the keen interest
in their efforts displayed by the teachers.

Certainly this institute, the first of its kind in
the Middle West, has demonstrated that visual
education is here to function in our schools and
that teachers and school men want to know more
and more about this new movement to vitalize our
curriculum.

Exhibits were displayed from the Cleveland
Educational Museum, the Field Museum of Chi-
cago, The Philadelphia Commercial Museum, The
Educational Screen, the International Harvester
Company, the Elson Art Company, the Blooming-
ton public schools, the Jewel Models, the Spencer
Lens Co., the Keystone View Co., the De Vry
Corporation, the Victor Animatograph Co., the
Bausch & Lomb Co., the Society for Visual Edu-
cation and the Acme Projector Co.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY will offer two
courses in Visual Education during the
coming summer term. Alfred W. Abrams,
Chief of the Visual Instruction Division. State

Department of Education. New York, will bo in
charge. J. V. Ankeney of the University of Mis-
souri will give two courses in Visual Education
at the University of California summer session
which is held at Los Angeles this year.

January, 19^3

The National Academy

33

THE following tentative program for the
session of the National Academy of Visual
Instruction, to be held in connection with
N. E. A. meeting at Cleveland, has been arranged
by the Committee of which W. H. Gregory is
chairman. The meetings will be held at the
Cleveland School of Education, Room 216.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1923
9 A. M.

1. Visual Education ; Its scope, meaning and value.

Dudley Grant Hays,
President of National Academy of Visual
Instruction and Director of Visual Educa-
tion, Chicago Public Schools.

2. Practical Visual Instruction.

SuPT. H. G. Jones,
Cleveland Public Schools.

3. Visual Education in Berkeley.

SuPT. H. B. Wilson,
Berkeley, California.

Lunch School of Education Cafeteria,

1 P. M.

1. Visual Education in the United States.

(Statistical Summary.)

A. P. HOLLIS,

Of the Committee on Research under the
Commonwealth Fund.

2. Testing a Film— "Iron and Steel." (A Class
Room test to show the Details of a simple test.)

Dr. F. Dean McClusky,

Dept. of Education, University of Illinois,

Urbana, Illinois.

3. Testing the Moving Picture.

Dr. Frank N. Freeman,

School of Education, University of

Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

WEDNESDAY
9 A. M.

1. Demonstration Lesson with Lantern Slides.

Mr. Sherman Howe,
Supt. of Schools, Corning, N. Y.

2. Using Lantern Slides in Visual Education.

A. W. Abrams,

Chief of Bureau of Visual Education,

Albany, N. Y.

3. Building a Lantern Slide Collection for a City

System— (Method, Cost, etc.)

Rupert Peters,
Director of Visual Instruction,
Kansas City, Mo.
Lunch School of Education Cafeteria

THE following names have been added to
our membership roll during December:
Active
Elizabeth Randolph, Teacher, Webster School,
11th and Clinton, St. Louis, Missouri.

F. S. Moflfett, Visual Education and Mathe-
matics, 808 Greene St., Piqua, Ohio.

W. T. Heilman, Principal Columbus Normal
School, 49 Euclid Ave., Columbus, Ohio.

1 P. M.

1. Teaching of Geography by Pictures.

Edith Parker,
University of Chicago.

2. National Exchange for Lantern Slides.

Dr. C. E. Cummings,
Director of Visual Education, Buffalo, N. Y.

3. Report of Committee.

4. The Lantern Slides and the Film in Education.

McClusky — Abrams.

6 P.M.

Banquet

(School of Education Dining Room)

$1.50 per plate

(To insure reservation send check for $1.50

to W. H. Gregory, School of Education,

Cleveland, Ohio.)

1. "The Educational Film."

Dr. May A. Burgess,
Education Film Expert.

2. Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of

America.

Report of Committee.

THURSDAY

9 A. M.

1. Material for Film Instruction in City Gasses.

E. H. Reeder,
Director of Visual Instruction,

2. A Program for State Wide Film Instruction.

Charles Roach,
Ames, Iowa.

3. Cooperation in the Foreign Film Loans, Plans

for Practical Operation.

Charles Toothaker

Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum.

4. Technique cf Chart Construction.

Professor J. V. Ankeney,
University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.

5. A Summary of Definite Research Problems in

Visual Education.

Prof. J. W. Shepherd,

University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.

6. Visual Instruction Courses for Teachers.

Report of the Committee.

Special Note

Demonstration Lessons

1. Films. ^

In the Observation School of the Qeve-

land School of Education, there will be

four film lessons each day

2. Slides.

3. Pictures.

4. Stereographs.

5. Exhibit Material.

J. C. Muerman, Bureau of Education, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Associates

Peter A. C. Petersen, Teacher, Logan High
School, 440 W. 1st South Street, Logan, Utah.

H. L. Reed, Instructor, Dixie Normal College,
Saint George, Utah.

C. P. Rockwood, Principal, Kimball School,
Salt Lake City, Utah.

34

The National Academy

The Educational Screen

THE Academy has not abandoned its inten-
tion to institute a film review service.
Certain details have to be worked out before
the committees can begin to function. The per-
sonnel of the committee is as follows :

Eastern States

A. C. Balcom, Chairman, Asst. Supt. of Schools,
Newark, N. J.

C. R. Toothaker, Curator Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

John A. Hollinger, Pittsburgh Public Schools,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

F. W. Perkins, Motion Picture Laboratory, U.
S. D. A., Washington, D. C

W. C. Crosby, Bureau of Community Service,
Raleigh, North Carolina.

Central States

Edwin H, Reeder, Chairman Board of Educa-
tion, Detroit, Michigan.

W. R. Dudley, Chief Bureau of Visual Instruc-
tion, Madison, Wisconsin.

F. Dean McCluskey, Dean Instructor in Educa-
tion, University of Illinois, Urbana, 111.

Charles Roach, Visual Education Service, Iowa
State College, Ames, Iowa.

Mrs. Claire S. Thomas, Raleigh, North Caro-
lina.

Western States

J. M. Shepherd, Chairman, Director Depart-
ment of Visual Education, University of Okla.,
Norman, Okla.

R. F. Egner, Bureau of Visual Instruction,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

C. W. Salzer, State Normal School, Emporia,
Kansas.

A. Loretta Clark, Supervisor of Visual Educa-
tion, Los Angeles, California.

his work is in connection with the Committee of
Research on Visual Instruction under the Com-
monwealth Fund.

THE secretary has received a communication
petitioning the Executive Committee for
permission to amend the Constitution (see
constitution Article VII) in the following par-
ticulars :

MEMORANDUM TO THE EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE
In accord with Article VI of the Constitution
of the Academy, we hereby petition the Executive
Committee that the following Proposals for
amending the Constitution be submitted to the
Academy as its next Annual Meeting.
Proposal A
That Article III, Section II B, be amended by
striking out "and are not engaged in the manu-
facture or sale of or not financially interested in
the manufacture or sale of Visual Instruction
material."

Proposal B
That Article III, Section II B, be further
amended by changing the fee from $1.00 to $2.00.
Proposal C
That Article III, Section II, be amended by
adding "G. State and local Professional Visual
Education organizations may affiliate with the
Academy by paying a fee of $5.00, thereby be-
coming a local affiliated or state affiliated organ-
ization. Such organization is then entitled to a
charter commemorating this affiliation."
(Signed.)

J. V. Ankeney.
C. E. Browning.

A P. HOLLIS, formerly of the North Da-
kota Visual Instruction Service is doing
research work toward his doctor's degree
at the University of Chicago this year. Much of

♦Kindly indicate your O. K. or rejection after
each Proposal.

Unanimous consent of the Executive Com-
mittee is required for a vote on a proposal.
Otherwise it will be held over to the next regular
meeting (see constitution).

The final program of the National Academy's session in connection
with the N. E. A. Convention will be printed in this department in the
February issue.

January, 1923

Advertisement

35

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Please Say You Saw It in The EoucAxiONAt Screen

2Q The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The V^isual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS

President— Emi^si: L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York Schools, New York City.
Vice-President— K. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary— Doi<i Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture. %

Treasurer— CuARLES H. Mills, Director of Publicity of the Boy Scouts of America.
Corresponding Secretary— Rowland Rogers, Instructor .in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

What the Association Proposes to Do

By Don Carlos Ellis, Recording Secretary.

I

N order to accomplish its purposes of serving coming. This service is to include the products
as a clearing house for ideas and information not only of producers, manufacturers and dis-
regarding visual aids to instruction, of bringing tributors who are members of the Association,
together producers, distributors aod users of such but of all other educational companies who will
visual aids, in order to promote, and in general submit their product for review in listing. From
to further the cause of visual instruction by every time to time classified lists of approved films
possible means through common understanding will be published in the Educational Screen
and community of effort, the Visual Instruction and through other appropriate channels. A
Association of America has laid down for itself similar procedure will later be followed with
certain very definite means to these ends. other visual aids, such as stereopticon slides and

It proposes— stereographs.

(A) To classify, list, evaluate and disseminate To personal inquirers regarding visual aids

information concerning material of visual in- which are received by the Association, direct

struction valuable for school use. It will begin replies will be sent when the information de-

with motion pictures and has called upon pro- sired is available to the Association, and, unless

ducers and distributors of instructional films to . requested otherwise, inquiries for materials will

supply classified lists of their product for the then be referred to the company or corporation

association's catalogue. As rapidly as possible, handling such material.

all accessible educational films will be screened (B) To conduct similar investigations regarding

and evaluated by the association's reviewing accessories and equipment, such as projection

committee and such as are found valuable apparatus and screens, and make known the

placed upon the approved list. Films, slides, results. The mechanics of visual education are

charts, etc., thus approved will be cross indexed changing and improving almost as rapidly as

under topics, so that information concerning the material itself, and the teacher who is not

aids on a given subject can be readily forth- kept abreast of the new developments is at a

January, 1923

The Visual Instruction Association

37

serious disadvantage.

(C) To maintain a classified list of visual in-
struction material, which is not available but is
in demand, as a guide to producers.

(D) To investigate which are the best pedagogical
methods of utilizing material of visual instruc-
tion in school work and make known to teachers
and others interested the results of these in-
vestigations. Therefore, the association will
keep in touch with those who are using visual
aids for instruction and will conduct independ-
ent tests for the purpose of ascertaining and
demonstrating the best methods.

(E) To notify schools and school systems of the
service the Association is rendering, in order
that they may take advantage of it and that
the service may be put to the widest possible
use.

(F) To maintain the policy of bringing together
the various factors working for the develop-
ment of visual instruction so that producers,
distributors, users and those who are only gen-
erally interested may better cooperate among
themselves and with one another. The Associa-
tion will therefore constantly work to bring
these various elements together directly and by
serving as a channel for the interchange of
ideas between different members of each group
and between groups, and by proposing the sub-

ject matter and form of such cooperation gen-
erally and in specific matters. It will for these
purposes cooperate not only with individual
members of these groups, but also with asso-
ciations or other bodies interested in the
advancement of any form of visual instruction.
(G) To work for uniform and favorable legisla-
tion regarding the use of film and projectors in
schools. Laws are desirable, permitting the use,
under safe regulations of any kind of film in
the class room, in portable projectors approved
by the boards of education.
(H) To aid in the establishment of state, local
and municipal Visual Instruction. Associations
which will be affiliated with the parent organiza-
tion and will undertake to accomplish locally
what the national body has undertaken on the
wider scale.

In general, the task undertaken is an aggressive
and constructive campaign to unite and put to
work all forces having to do with visual educa-
tion in school work to the end that their common
cause may best be for the advancement of our
national ideals.

Many problems must yet be solved, many details
of procedure worked out, as we proceed, but the
goal for which we strive can be attained if all
the elements which we are bringing together will
lend to the plan their whole-hearted cooperation.

A Suggestion for
Local Visual Instruction Associations

1

f

By Ernest R. Crandall, President

IS there a local visual instruction association in
your community? If there is not, there ought
to be. Numbers do not count. A half dozen
earnest persons can start a movement. Also or-
ganized contacts and the interchange of experience
will generate more practical wisdom than can be
absorbed from books or periodicals.

It is the earnest hope of the Visual Instruction
Association of America that every community
which manifests any interest whatever in visual
instruction will evolve a local association for affili-
ation with the national body.

The following account indicates one of the
types of activity that any local association can
engage in to promote interest in and understand-
ing of visual instruction.

MEETING PRESIDENT HARDING'S SUGGESTION

During "National Education Week," the Visual
Instruction Association of New York, through
circular letters and through the press, called at-
tention to certain schools that are doing particu-

larly effective work in visual instruction, suggest-
ing that other principals and teachers visit these
schools. Incidentally the schools chosen had no
warning, as our desire was to have shown only
what is regularly going on there.

In addition the Association arranged special
demonstrations of various types of visual materials
in a centrally located auditorium on four after-
noons during the week. Some of these materials,
such as circulating natural history collections, text-
books notable for effectiveness of illustration,
stereoscopes and stereographs, some approved
types of projection apparatus, and a new kind of
colored slide produced by an economical process
of color photography, were merely on show. In
every other instant, however, the correct use and
application of the materials shown were carefully
discussed by someone familiar with approved
methods in visual instruction, so far as these
have been evolved. The following condensed
summary of the ground covered will give some

38

The Visual Instruction Association The Educational Screen

idea of the range and suggestiveness of these
programs.

TOPICS TREATED AND HOW ILLUSTRATED

United States Geography — American Indus-
tries; the making of pottery, the cotton industry,
agriculture, irrigation. (Stereopticon slides and
motion pictures.)

South American Geography — Topography,
harbors, the Coffee Industry. (Stereopticon
slides.)

United States History — Revolutionary
period— A remarkable film entitled "The Cradle
of the Washingtons and Home of the Franklins,"
made in England by the historian, Mr. Arthur
Branscomb, and sent to this country with the en-
dorsement of the Sulgrave Institution, was shown
by Mr. Branscomb himself. This beautiful film de-
picts Sulgrave Manor, the ancestral home of the
Washingtons and the surrounding Northampton-
shire country, whence not only the Washington
family, but the forebears of Benjamin Franklin
and John Adams migrated to America, Stereopti-
con views of the life and times of George Wash-
ington were also shown.

Hygiene and Physical Training — Posture,
cleanliness, care of the teeth, value of exercise
and form in running, vaulting, diving and swim-
ming. (Colored posters, stereopticon slides and
"retarded" motion pictures.) These slow motion
films are a remarkable contribution to visualiza-
tion, wherever an analysis of movements or opera-
tions is desired.

Biology — Habits and life history of the ant.
(Stereopticon slides and motion pictures.)

Physical Geography— The hemispheres and.
the meaning of latitude and longitude; cause, be-
havior and effects of volcanoes. (Motion pic-
tures.)

Art — Appreciation of the best in architecture
and sculpture; art for the child; appreciation of
nature. (Stereopticon slides, including a set of
beautifully colored natural views synchronized
with music.)

Civ'cs — Activities of the United States Post
Office; functions of the Federal Reserve Bank.
(Motion pictures.)

Ethics — Various aspects of character build-
ing illustrated by colored posters. The value of
the poster or placard is often overlooked even by
visual instructionists.

General Science^Radio; habitat and habits
of the gray squirrel. (Stereopticon slides and mo-
tion pictures, including a film demonstrating the
most economical method of constructing an
amateur radio set.)

Domestic Art — Costume design, from the
practical and vocational as well as the aesthetic
standpoint, (Motion pictures.)

English — American literature. Introduction
to Longfellow's "Miles Standish." (Stereopticon
views and motion pictures.)

It should be noted that the stereopticon views
shown were from various sources, including not
only publicly owned collections but the work of
recognized makers. Similarly the films employed
embraced not only those specifically produced for
educational purposes, but some industrial films
modified to meet educational needs. Examples
were given also both of the standard and of the
narrow gauge film still required in this state for
showing without a booth and licensed operator.
More specific details as to any particular item in
the program will be furnished gladly by the
Corresponding Secretary of the Visual Instruction
Association of America. The entire demonstra-
tion was effected without one penny of expense,
through the friendly and harmonious cooperation
not alone of school people and public officials, but
of our commercial members, natural competitors
in some instances, cheerfully handling one an-
other's exhibits.

GO AND DO LIKEWISE

These meetings were open not only to teachers,
but to parents and citizens. Our aim is to "sell"
the idea of visual instruction, both to educators
and to the public, as a vitally needed reform in the
educational process. If it is anything less than
that, it is not entitled to all the fuss and feathers
with which its advocates invest it. If it is a
genuine reform then it must be put across, as all
reforms have been, by intelligent and persistent
propaganda.

There is no community so small or so back-
ward that something could not be done by some
determined group or individual to call attention to
the efficacy of the visual appeal in education. In
this instance we merely seized upon President
Harding's proclamation as a pretext for staging
these demonstrations. Hereafter we shall make
them an annual or even a semi-annual feature
in addition to our other activities. Wherever you
are and whatever your resources, it is possible for
you to start some sort of regularly recurrent dem-
onstration. We are speaking now to any visual
instruction enthusiast under whose eye this may
fall. If you do not do it, no one else will. Unti'l
some one does it, the cause will lag for lack of
recognition. n

January, 1923

39

Among the Producers

(This department belongs to the commercial companies whose activi-
ties have a real and important bearing on progress in the v.sual field.

Within our space limitations we shall reprint each month, from data
supplied by these companies, such material as seems to offer most infor-
mational and news value to our readers.

We invite all serious producers in this field to send us their literature
regularly. — Editor.)

Radio on the Screen — A Review of
the Scientific American Film

Some time ago we announced in our col-
umns our entrance into the motion picture
field. We told of an arrangement between the
Educational Films Corporation and the Scien-
tific American for the purpose of producing
scientific motion pictures which would be as
instructive and authentic as they would be
entertaining to the usual theater audience. The
result of this fortunate combination is the film
"Via Radio" — a single reel film which tells, in
fifteen short minutes what every person should
know regarding present-day rad'o communi-
cation.

"Via Radio" rapidly unfolds the principles of
communication, whether by means of light
waves, sound waves, electric waves or radio
waves. It shows how all these methods call
for the production of vibrations at the trans-
mitting end, and the interception of these same
vibrations at the receiving end. The manner
in which the human voice molds or modulates
an electric current is clearly depicted, and the
path of such a current across the United States,
from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the trans-
continental telephone line, is shown step by
step.

So much for guided communication by
means of electric waves. The film soon takes
us into radio and we soon learn, as the film
story unfolds, that there is nothing formidable
about radio, after all. It is simply a matter of
generating electromagnetic waves by means of
powerful high-frequency alternators, or by

upright on a table, which is known as the
microphone. The microphone impresses the
sounds on an electric current; that current im-
presses its variations on a more powerful cur-
rent which in turn impresses the variations on
the radio waves which are propagated in all
directions from the station. At distant points
the listeners intercept these waves, pass them
through a little device known as the detector,
which translates the electric variations back
into sound waves.

Some of the lesser known features of radio
have been woven into the film, "Via Radio," in
a most interesting fashion. Thus the radio
compass is explained in detail. We learn how
a ship, calling up a radio compass station, is
located by means of two loops of wire, and
the direction of both loops serves to determine
the exact location of the ship on a chart. Tele-
phoning from shore to ship is also shown in
detail.

The film has been produced at the Coronet
studio in Providence, R. I., with the full co-
operation of the Scientific American editorial
staff from the planning and writing of the
scenario, to the cutting and editing of th'e
finished film.

Amateur Motion Picture Outfit
Developed by Eastman Kodak Company

Home movies, among other things, will act
as feeders. to motion picture theatres accord-
ing to the Eastman Kodak Company who have
just announced the successful development of
an amateur movie outfit. Just as the phono-

means of vacuum tubes, which are little more graph for example has helped so wonderfully

in popularizing opera and the better thmgs m
music, so will home motion pictures be in a
position to educate popular taste in screen
offerings. This, at least, is the belief of the
Eastman industry whose stake in the movie
theatre world is considerable.

The amateur outfit developed by the Kodak
Company consists of a taking camera and a
projector. The taking camera which weighs

than large electric lamps with a few additional
elements inside the glass bulb, thrown in for
good measure.

"Via Radio" devotes quite some footage to
the radio broadcasting station, where the
artists play and the singers sing, while the
sounds are gathered in by an inconspicuous
round metal affair with screened windows not
much larger than a soup plate and standing

iO

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

only seven pounds, is daylight loading and so
simplified mechanically as. to enable the ama-
teur to take motion pictures with the same
facility as he has recorded snapshots. The
projector, equipped with a two inch lens for
ordinary home use, will fill a screen 30 x 40 at
a distance of 18 feet and a 40x54 screen at 21
feet. This projector to be known as the Koda-
scope is motor driven, entirely automatic in
operation and once threaded requires no
further attention until the reel is exhausted.

The film on which the motion picture Kodak
system is based is of special size being 11/16
inches in width as against the standard width
of 1^-inches with pictures 1 c. x 3^ as com-
pared with standard pictures of 1 inch x %
inches. This is coated with a special emulsion
which, by a reverse process, yields a direct
positive. These prints can be duplicated in a
special printer and can also be enlarged to
standard size for theatre use. This special film,
is of the non-inflamable type made from cellu-
lose acetate. Five pictures on the small film,
it will be seen, will occupy the same length as
two on the standard so that 100 feet of Cine
Kodak film will be equivalent to 250 feet of
standard and 400 foot reel equal to a thousand
foot standard reel.

The diminutive taking camera, to be known
as the Cine Kodak, is on the whole of standard
type. It is fitted with a Kodak anastigmat
lens, working at 5.3.5, permitting pictures to
be made under poor light conditions. The
finder is just above the lens and by an in-
genious attachment changes the position of its
image as the lens is focused. In this way the
image is shown through the center of the field
at all times. The lens has a focusing lever
carried through to the back and can be focused
for any distance from infinity to four feet. The
diaphragm control is in the left hand corner
where it can be regulated easily. In the center
of the back is a footage indicator. The crank
turns normally twice a second, taking pictures
at the standard rate of 16 per second. After
exposure the film is removed in its magazine
and sent to the Company for development just
as in the early days of roll-film.

Two factors that have heretofore hampered
extension of motion picture photography to
the amateur — the burden of the equipment and
the cost — have consequently been overcome in
the new outfit. The ease and facility of opera-
tion were clearly demonstrated before the

American Chemical Society at Rochester, by
Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees, Director of Eastman
Research Laboratory, when a picture of some
of the notables present taken at the opening
of the meeting was shown on the screen at
the close.

DeVry Activities in
South America

Mr. J. E. A. Retzlaff, for years in the ex-
port business throughout the world, and until
recently, connected with a large exporting firm
in New York, has just reached South America,
for the purpose of bringing to these govern-
ments, the most approved methods of Visual
Instruction.

He is travelling in the interests of the De-
Vry Corporation, and is making a tour of
South America, which will include every
country. The richness and fertility of this
field, and the efficiency of the equipment which
Mr. Retzlafif is introducing, should lead to the
complete standardization of the whole of South
America within a few months.

This covering South America is another step
forward in the universal promotion of the De-
Vry projector. The DeVry is now used
extensively throughout Europe and Asia, as
well as Mexico, Central America and Canada.
There are even DeVry's in Alaska and the
farthest reaches of Africa. With South Amer-
ica completely covered, the promotion of the
DeVry projector will be complete. As far as
foreign fields are concerned, the world will
then be covered by DeVry agents and dis-
tributors.

A Notable Scenic

One of the most valuable series of scenic
films yet produced is known as "Wilderness
Tales," by Robert C. Bruce and distributed by
Educational Film Exchanges, Inc., 370 Seventh
Avenue, New York City.

James W. Dean, editor of the "Daily Movie
Service" of the Newspaper Enterprise Associa-
tion, whose reviews and comemnts are pub-
lished in hundreds of newspapers throughout
the United States and Canada. In his list of
"twelve best short subjects of 1922," includes
four Educational pictures, "And Women Must
Weep," first of the Wilderness Tales by Robert
C. Bruce, heads the list.

"In 'And Women Must Weep,'" comments
Mr. Dean, "Robert Bruce made the greatest

January, ly^s

Among the Producers

41

single contribution of 1922 to the advance of
the art of the cinema. He blended the drama
of humans with the drama of nature. He
dwarfed his actors with the majesty and power
of natural surroundings. He showed the sea
and sky as articulate things capable of the ex-
pressions that man often attributes to them.
He gave the screen a new art."

National Committee for Better Films
Takes Action Against Arbuckle Pictures

The National Committee for Better Films,
which is affiliated with the National Board of
Review, at the regular monthly meeting of its
executive board, held January 11, formally
ratified the following statement prepared by a
special committee to define the position of the
National Committee with reference to the Ar-
buckle films. The policy of the National
Committee is therefore as expressed in this
statement:

"The character of the private life of the mo-
tion picture actor is not usually taken into con-
sideration by our reviewing committees, since
naturally in most cases they can have little
authentic information about it. When, how-
ever, offensive incidents in the life of a screen
star have been so widely published that an un-
savory odor has been attached in the public
mind to the actor's very personality, then such
incidents become an element in the moral in-
fluence of a film and can no longer be over-
looked. The wave of public resentment which
has greeted the suggestion that Roscoe Ar-
buckle be allowed to resume his occupation as
a motion picture actor is evidence that this is
a case in point. The National Committee for
Better Films therefore will not recommend or
place on its selected lists, issued to committees,
exhibitors, and others, for entertainment pur-
poses, any films with which Mr. Arbuckle is
publicly identified. Although it has in the past
listed many of this actor's films as being amus-
ing and free from objectionable features, any
films which have been so listed hut which have
not yet been publicly exhibited, will be removed
from our lists. The lists containing the older
Arbuckle pictures already exhibited, of course,
cannot be recalled."

Moscow Art Theatre in the Movies

Films made in Russia soon to show in New
York
Close on the heels of the world famous Mos-

cow Art Theatre comes the announcement of
a Russian film invasion in which the same
actors are featured. Four films made in Russia
will make their American debut during the
year 1923, it has been announced by the^ Inter-
continental Pictures Agency, 160 West 45th.
Street, New York, which will distribute them.

The first of these imported classic produc-
tions to arrive in America will be "Poli-
kushka," taken from Tolstoy's novel of the
same name. One of the brightest luminaries
in the all star cast is Ivan Moskvin, charter
member of the Moscow Art Theatre who plays
the title role in Tolstoy's "Czar Fyodor Ivan-
ovitch." He has been acclaimed internation-
ally as one of the greatest actors of all time.

An American critic who saw the German
premiere of the picture "Polikushka" in Berlin
reported it as tremendously effective and tech-
nically stirring as a drama.

"The picture," he writes, "is made in Russia,
with an entirely indigenous story, setting,
scenery and cast, showing native landscapes,
and homes of both lowly peasants and proud
landholders, interiors of village inns, and other
intimate glimpses into the life of the Russian
people" that will, in my opinion, be of great
interest to the American people.

Pathe Announcements

Current issue of Pathe News No. 4, screens
film reports covering France's preparations for
military occupation of the German Ruhr dis-
trict to enforce payment of reparation claims.
The concentration of French troops on the
Rhine is pictured, with General Degouette pre-
pared to lead his army from Mayence to Essen.
Dusseldorf guarded as the military base for
these operations is shown. Chancellor Cuno
of Germany is pictured apropos of his policy
of "Passive resistance."

Concurrently, Pathe News films the attitude
of the U. S. Senate, with its resolution pre-
sented to President Harding asking for the im-
mediate withdrawal of all American troops
from Germany, with filmed statistics on the
subject.

Pathe Review No. 4 is rich in varied and
colorful material. Exquisite photography of
natural scenes illustrates verses from William
Cullen Bryant's famous poem. "The Death of
the Flowers." There is an interesting funeral
scene filmed at Canton, China. 'Art A La

42

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

Mode," is a camera interview with Bonnie Mc-
Leary, sculptress, who models as she talks.
The absorbing Aquarium studies continue with
"The Bluffers," showing the absurd apparent
pretentions of Puffer fish. The Pathecolor
featuref consists of close-ups of Athens and its
citizens of today.

National Headquarters of the Boy Scouts of
America has sent a letter to Pathe reporting
that its film, "The Boy Scouts of America,"
was shown at the Blue Ridge Conference be-
fore several hundred executives "and met with
overwhelming approval." The letter added:
"It is just as good now as when it was brought
out." This letter inclosed the following from
R. O. Liebich, Scout Executive at Woster,
Ohio:

"The Lyric Theatre is this week screening
the Pathe film, 'The Boy Scouts of America'
to packed houses. Extremely favorable com-
ments have been received at the local office
from persons who, previously, seemingly were
not particularly interested in Scouting. Of
course, a hearty endorsement of this film has
been received from our officials who are better
versed in Scout training.

"We sincerely hope that the Educational De-
partment will endorse, and if necessary, screen
more films of this nature whereby the public

may be again and again confronted with this
professional attitude and view of so great a
movement."

Another Producer of
Educational Films

ANEW firm to produce motion pictures
has just been organized in Baltimore.
The men who are conducting this new
enterprise are Milton Stark, formerly sales-
manager for the Lewy Studios, and Nelson
Edwards, formerly head-cameraman for Fox
News. The firm, which is located at 201 Park
Avenue, will specialize in industrial, educa-
tional and scientijic films.

Something New
for the Theatre

The Selwyn Theatre, New York, is equip-
ping the house with a device for showing the
new stereoscopic films known as "teleview."
It will cost about $35,000 to equip the house
with these adjustable peeping devices. Every
seat will have one of the televiews for the
viewing of the films, which cannot be seen
without the aid of the device. Christmas week
will see the first of the teleview shows. The
corporation backing the teleview intends
equipping one theatre in each city with this
device for seeing teleview films.

From Hollywood

{Concluded from page 30)

Universal has started work on "The Attic of
Felix Bavu," with Wallace Beery as Felix. If
this is as good as it sounds it ought to be very
good.

Lillian Gish has gone abroad to film F.
Marion Crawford's "The White Sister." Henry
King, who directed "Tol'able David," will direct
the picture.

Norma Talmadge is scheduled to begin work
on "Within the Law" on her return from
Europe. Frank Lloyd will direct.

The Schildkrauts, father and son, are to appear
in Eve Unsell's first independent production,
"The Dance of Light."

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is being
filmed by Universal with Lon Chaney as the
star.

Jackie Coogan will appear next in a circus
story called "Toby Tyler."

Paramount promises Edith Wharton's

"Glimpses of the Moon" with Bebe Daniels,
Alice Brady in "The Leopardess" by Kathcrine
Newlin Burt, Dorothy Dalton in "Black Fury,"
and Lois Wilson in "The Covered Wagon."

George Barr McCutcheon's popular "Castle
Craneycrow" is to be filmed with Herbert
Rawlinson as the star.

"The Last Days of Pompeii" is the latest
film spectacle to be promised. Irving Cum-
mings will produce it.

Goldwyn announces that June Mathis is pre-
paring "Ben Hur" for the screen. Miss Mathis
wrote the continuity for the famous "Four
Horsemen."

It is reported that Buster Keaton has bur-
lesqued "Hamlet" in his newest comedy.

Guy Bates Post's next picture will be Du
Maurier's "Trilby" in which he will play
Svengali.

At the Thomas H. Ince studios, Frank Borz-

age is directing a production of Fannie Hurst's
"The Nth Commandment" for Cosmopolitan.
Colleen Moore and James Morrison are featured.

January, 1923

43

Theatrical Film Critique

Conducted by
Marion Lanphier

BROKEN CHAINS (Goldwyn)

To the theatre comes, quick on the heels of the
Daily News contest, the production adapted from
the prize story winning the proffered $10,000.
The judges must have held action as the main
requisite for their choice, for beyond that attri-
bute "Broken Chains" is little but the trite old
tale of the mollycoddle richman's son, sent by his
fiancee to the rough adventure of a lumber camp,
there to become the hero in a mountain feud and
the liberator of the inevitable "diamond in the
rough," a simple lass played efficiently by the
pretty Colleen Moore. Not a bad picture as such
pictures go, but certainly too stale in thought and
plot to warrant the universal attention it is re-
ceiving as the purse-winner of a country-wide
contest. (Some community use.)

THE FLIRT (Universal- Jewel)

Hobart Henley has performed a creditable bit
of direction in Tarkington's "The Flirt." The film
moves smoothly through its pathetic tragedy of
a family's slavery to one member, to the ultimate
suffering of the older members, particularly Pa
Madison, and the ruination of "his pet." Eileen
Percy, as the selfish and spoiled snob, dandling
men and her father like puppets, thinking only of
escape in the crisis she herself has brought upon
her father, is one of the notable characterizations
of the year. Yet Miss Percy is excelled by
George Madison in his simple, honest Pa Madi-
son. Then one recalls immediately the quiet sup-
port of Lydia Knott as Ma Madison, the fierce
rebellion played in devastating strokes by Helen
Jerome Eddy as the older sister who literally
drags her "kid sister" to the execution of the
only good deed Miss Percy has a chance to do.

The proverbial ray of humor comes from the
plump "Buddy" Messenger and his "Oh slu-u-ush
— luvely sl-u-ush!" elaborated by popping orbs
rolled to meet each other over his nose. A dis-
tinguished cast in a beautiful picture. (Church,
community and school use.)

BACK HOME AND BROKE (Paramount)

A reviewer becomes desperate for superlatives
in the case of Thomas Meighan, with but a rare
exception and this time it is due, not to Mr.
Meighan but to a poor vehicle. To accredit "Back
Home and Broke" justly, one must list all the
nth degree adjectives in the language. George

Ade's comedy farce of the young adventurer who
departed with dire prophecy behind him on the
lips of the village lights and who returned in the
role they expected him to play sparkles every min-
ute of the reels. Meighan's steady whimsical
twinkle, the alarmed pain in Miss Lee's brown
eyes, the vulturish gleam in "Aggie's" mouth as
she wheels away on her bicycle with some fresh
morsel of gossip,— the work of the entire cast
demands tribute. A highminded, thoroughly
human and funny two hours for any family.
(School, church and community use.)

TRIFLING WOMEN (Metro)

Each picture Mr. Ingram makes is an added
testimony to the gain any production has with a
trained intelligence at the megaphone. "Trifling
Women" is a typically Ingram film, — a latin lover.
La Guerre, the faithlessness of a beautiful
woman, the benign wisdom of an old gentleman,
the triumph of honest love. In the frantic and
tragic moments of the story (and there are many
such) there is the splendid restraint marking all
Ingram features. In the warmth of the love
scenes Ramon Navarro betrays the same fierce,
nervous stride, the same humid passion that
marked Valentino under Ingram's direction. The
whole cast are actors, no one character weak be-
cause the producer chose to spend most of his
money on two stars to leave the remaining roles
to weak players.

"Trifling Women" is not a great picture be-
cause its story has an individualized rather than
a socialized appeal, but it is an Ingram film, flaw-
less technically, marked with that painstaking
precision that insures artistic effort against all
those detrimental lacks most productions bear.
(Theatrical only.)
LORNA DOONE (Maurice Tournenr)

It has been said, and safely so, that Black-
more's "Lorna Doone" will live as long as human
beings read romance. The thrilling drama of
love in the settings and trappings of an older
century, imperiled by that particular brand of
highwaymen seeking brutal pleasure in the Doone
stronghold, and saved by the single-handed cour-
age of the low-born John Ridd, shadows itself
on the screen with the same lasting merit of the
book.

John Bowers, as John Ridd, is neither aggres-

44

Theatrical Film Critique

The Educational Screen

sively initiative nor distressingly boorish. He
plays with force and conviction his difficult role
of a simple gentleman. The film world has never
seen a lovelier heroine that Madge Bellamy as
Lorna. The exquisite daintiness of her person,
the charming sincerity of her acting are a com-
plete and reassuring affirmation of the Lorna
Doone two centuries have loved.

But, above all, let it be said in bold type that
for the first time in picture history we have a
film involving desperate fighting that rings true to
life. None of the usual prolonged footage and
absurd flashes to re-emphasize the fact that the
fight is serious on both sides; but, a beautifully
balanced presentation of the struggle as it would
occur off the screen.

Along with productions like "Little Lord Faunt-
leroy" and "The Four Horsemen of the Apoco-
Icypse," "Lorna Doone" stands as an epic.
(Church, school and community use.)

TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY (United

Artists)

There is no greater achievement than this act
of Mary Pickford's ! Long years ago she won
her beginning laurels as the passionate Tess and
she revives those memories and their laurels in
her new production of the story. Stars live and
die with varying resistance in the living. Without
exception Miss Pickford stands as the only
woman who has never lost a count in the devoted
admiration of film lovers and who has never been
forced to any of a number of possible methods
for holding the public's vote. Easily, sincerely,
she has done her best with every vehicle. Today,
playing Tess for the second time, she continues
in her high place, light as thistle down, certain
as the coming of night. "Some day," an editor
once remarked, "Mary Pickford must grow up,"
and so we agreed. Yet let him watch the brittle
youth and vigor of this newly revived Tess ! But
let him and others notice, too, that there are in
her quieter moments, that new and wistful Mary
that we caught in Fauntleroy's mother. And so.
Miss Pickford not only measures up to her first
Tess, but she has grown beyond it, to a greater
Tess. (Theatrical only.)

CLARENCE (Paramount)

Not at all the famous stage play but a delight-
ful version of Tarkington's Clarence. Despite
certain elements about the role that did fit
Wallace Reid, there were other considerations
that made his success somewhat of a hazard. Yet,
Mr. Reid meets them convincingly. There are

times when his grin is too reassuringly the real
Wallie to be the affected Clarence, but for the
most part he plays delightfully his humorous
character. (Community use.)

THE IMPOSSIBLE MRS. BELLEW (Paramount)
Film fans expect Gloria Swanson to dress
and beyond that they are apt to care little about
the lady. There is no doubt that Miss Swanson
carries her clothes with a royal grace and there
likewise is little hope that she will ever become a
great actress. And yet, in this production as in
one or two others, she startles the reviewer with
moments so real that he is left wondering about
latent powers. "The Impossible Mrs. Bellew" is
a bizarre tale, yet a story with purpose and sin- i
cerity in its fulfillment. In that minute when the
mother knows that she must part with her son
(played by Pat Moore) Miss Swanson shadows
emotion with a power not unlike Miss Ferguson's
or Madame Petrova's. It may be that she will
grow into more than a beautifully groomed
actress who delights the eye with golden finery.
(Theatrical only.)

MAKING A MAN (Paramount)

A stirring Peter Kyne story of a selfish snob,
stranded in the cold disregard of Gotham. There
are loose spots in the continuity that try one's
sense of the logical but Mr. Holt carries himself
quietly and amusingly through the evolution of
snob to manhood. (Theatrical and some com-
munity use.)

SHADOWS (Preferred Pictures)

A much heralded film that deserves its advance
advertisement. A delicate idea of the loyalty of
the East, the imperturable wisdom of Yen Sin.
the storm outcast of a Main Street village. Lon
Chaney has given the screen more than one tre-
mendous character, but we doubt that he has ever
surpassed his wistful, gentle Ching-ching China-
man of the laundry scow. There is no kindlier
race on earth than the Chinese, none more faith-
ful unto its ideals and friends. Mr. Chaney meas-
ures to the rules with an accuracy equalled only
by Barthelmess in his unforgetable Chinaman of
"Broken Blossoms." Harrison Ford and Mar-
garet De La Mott in company with chubby
"Buddy" Messenger support the star beautifully.
It is too bad that his role was made illogical by
the occidental conception of conversion. Yen Sin.
going back "plenty quick to his China-land" would
never have deserted those kindly wise gods of his
ancestors. The Buddha crashing to the floor was
the West in its commercial minded stupidity.

January, 1923

Theatrical Film Critique

45

THE YOKE OF AGE

A Seven Reel Feature

Just Released
for

Schools, Churches, Farm Bureaus, Granges, Com-
munity Clubs, Parent Teacher Associations

The story of the ups and downs of a cross roads church

HOMESTEAD FILMS, Inc. '""clttlril^"

But we forgive the indiscretion for the average
westerner has not yet learned that all gods are
one. "Shadows" comes with a delicate idea
exquisitely fulfilled in the shadow medium.

ENTER MADAME (Metro)

We shall never forget the depth and tenderness
of Gilda Varesi in her "dream come true," 'Enter-
Madame." It was among the rare moments for
legitimate stage enthusiasts. So distinctly a part
of Miss Varesi is "Enter Madame" that the film
version was reviewed with prejudice, but we lost !
As the capricious and lovable diva, Clara Kimball
Young does the best character work of her screen
record. Elliot Dexter ia heavier at moments and
more ardent at others than the husband of the
legitimate play but he does not spoil the perfec-
tion of the film. The scenario man has followed
closely the stage play but we do not have, of
course, those brilliant lines, nor yet those achingly
beautiful lines that made the last act a memory.
(Theatrical only.)

RICH MEN'S WIVES (Gasnier Production)

A much vaunted film that falls miserably,
ridiculously flat. It is an orgy of all the old ideas
surrounding the innocent victim of misleading cir-
cumstances hurled from her home, to return each
night, sobbing "My Baby" at the iron grating of
the aggressively closed gate. Even the "dying
child" theme is represented finally bringing to-
gether the estranged parents. House Peters is
wasted. Claire Windsor is pathetic. Rosemary
Theby is typical as the vamp. Myrtle Stedman,
Gaston Glass, Charles Clary and Mildred June
do what they can to save their self respect but
there wasn't much to be done. (Good for no use.)

KICK IN (Paramount)

A film bearing the names, May McAvoy, Betty
Compson and Bert Lytell, is bound to be a corker.
"Kick In" is that and nothing less. The swift,
tense Lytell carries through this tale of a pal's
loyalty with unbelievable reality. Miss Compson
takes the laurels away from Miss McAvoy al-

Mr. Leonard Power,
president of the Na-
tional A.ssociation of
Elementary School
Principals, writes:

I must mention
what wonderful re-
sults we are getting-
with the new Trans-
Lux Daylight Screen.
. . Prom now on
we shall go right on
with our pictures
with better visualiza-
tion than ever be-
fore, with all the
curtains up and win-
dows open. I regard
the invention of this
screen as one of the
big steps forward in
visual education.

Darkened Classrooms Abolished!

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any S'-^.e for any purpose.
-Wk And What Do Its Users Think? m'

For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

American Lux Products
Corporation

50 E. 42nd St., New York City

And Rev. Newell
Dwight Hillis, na-
tionally knoifvn as
the pastor of Plym-
outh Church, Brook-
lyn, comments:

At the beginning
we were somewhat
skeptical as to the
results. ... I am
writing not only to
express my gratitude
to you, but to say
that without a sing-le
exception the lec-
turers and ministers
who have used the
screen, both at every
houi" during- the day
and again at night,
pronounce it the best
screen that they have
ever used. It is quite
beyond any words of
praise.

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

46

Theatrical Film Critique

The Educational Screen

The Most Effective Tool

in the hands of Progressive Teachers to make the teaching of

Current Events, History,

Geography, Literature, Civics,

Economics, Science

EFFICIENT, FASCINATING,

MEMORABLE and

PROFITABLE

The Victor Portable Stereopticon

For full details concerning its superior features, address

Devereaux Projection Sales Company

132 West 42d Street, New York 64^ Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.

20,000 Stock Slides Available for Rental or for Purchase. All Catalogues Free

Distributors of Portable Motion Picture Machines

though we must remark that her role gave her
the advantage. This, too, is one of the best films
of the year. {Theatrical only.)

THE STREETS OF NEW YORK (Arrow)

A picture much abused by reviewers. Unfairly
so, we think. It is true that it begins in a most
cumbersome fashion, reeling more like Pathe's
Weekly. A succession of widely diversified scenes
from New York City is supposed to build impres-
sionistically that vague sense of the infinite sad-
ness and absurd paradox of the huge cosmopolitan
"Kettle of Dreams." But the titles are mediocre
and straight photographs of said scenes have no
chance to be impressionistic. They should have
been blurred and the titles more carefully thought
through. The cast is excellent, Leslie King, Kate
Blancki, Dorothy Machail and Anders Randolph
giving well directed support to Miss Castleton
and Edward Erie. Erie was particular effective
as the lame violinist. Not good but not dreadful
as pictures go. (Theatrical only.)

ALL NIGHT (Paramount)

As the star has publicly announced, it is diffi-
cult to be anything sincere or worth your early
achievements with vehicles that share the film

world. A very entertaining film despite the abuse.

{Theatrical only.)

THE TAILOR MADE MAN (United Artists)

Charles kay has passed from inane pictures to
stilted acting and insincerity. This may be his
director's fault, but certainly the old Ray is dead.
{Good for no use.)
IF I WERE QUEEN (Robertson-Cole)

Ethel Clayton, as might be expected, wears be-
coming royal trappings and plays convincingly her
unconvincing part. Entertaining for the kiddies.
{Theatrical only)

SHERLOCK HOLMES (Goldwyn)

The work of John Barrymore, with his long
slim hands and body, the eccentric eyebrows and
sensitive nostrils, was never more adaptable to a
character than this of Sherlock Holmes. The sus-
pense of the film is perfect. This plus the
genuine supporting cast give Barrymore every
opportunity to shine. One of the best productions
of this or any other year. {Theatrical and com-
munity use.)
WEST OF CHICAGO (Fox)

A wild west here, a pretty girl, and an entangle-
ment of circumstances. Charles Jones has all of

(Concluded on page 48)

January, 1923

Theatrical Film Critique

47

TERRITORIAL RIGHTS

Sincere Clean

Wholesome

Religious

Educational

Wanted

the distributors of

James K Shield's

'The Stream of Life'

"A Maker of Men"

Pictures

TEMPLE PICTURES, Inc., 2303 Prairie Ave., Chicago, 111.

FOR RENT OR FOR SALE
52 ESPECIALLY SELECTED DRAMAS

for churches, schools, and other non- theatrical showings

EXHIBITORS' FILM EXCHANGE

130 West 46th St. New York City, N. Y.

The Taming of the Shrew

Shakespeare's most sparkling comedy

A splendid production with beautiful Venetian settings.
Also booking:

GOD AND THE MAN

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

DICKENS' "A CHRISTMAS CAROL"

JANE EYRE

SELECTED COMEDIES AND SCENICS

CENTRAL FILM COMPANY

729 Seventh Ave. New York City

The Serial

PERHAPS one of the main attractions of
the regular Saturday afternoon matinee is
the serial episode presented. The audience
is made up largely of children of all ages who
thrill and gasp and yell with alternate joy and
suspense as the hero eludes the villain and the
heroine makes her heroic sacrifices.

How the serial with its vicious results goes
on is something to wonder at. The moving
picture world is a mushroom growth over
night. It has attained nothing of actual
achievement; its hope lies in the promise in-
herent in some of its better manifestations
obvious to thinking individuals. But if the
adult has suffered from the carelessness and
crassness of the industry the child has been
utterly hurt. As indicated in the above com-
ment, films as a whole, — with the exception of
the Pickford films, the Fairbanks, Tom Mix,
and Ray productions, — plus stray cases of a
Jackie Coogan or a Prunella story — are not
for the child. But mild are the undesirable
results of those as compared with the serial's
influence.

Portable Screens

still retain their unparalleled reputation
of being the ultimate in projection screen
construction.

Samples and lilerature upon request

MINUSA CINE SCREEN CO.

ST. LOUIS. MO.

THREE OF A KIND!

AND HARD TO BEAT

Acme No. 12. The Premier Portable Pro-
jector with Gold Shutter. Price $250.00

S. V. E. Acme. The Big Fellow with more

Light $350.00

Victor Light Weight Stereopticon. A won-
der value at $ 20.00

Your old projector in trade.
Write for Catalog or Information.

BASS CAMERA COMPANY

109 No. Dearborn Street
Dept. 210 CHICAGO, ILL.

It is true that children do not read into the
fires and storms and charging lions all the as-
sociated horror and kinesthetic imagery that
the adult does. But whether his mental cells
creep with the terror of the villain or not, his
nervous system keys itself to the point of the
shrill screams that must certainly chill intelli-
gent adults as they sit through a matinee
where Tarzan struggles or the gagged heroine
writhes under the torture of a heated poker.

On top of this general nervous stimulation
that may manifest itself only in the dreams
there may be some real contact of experience
to bridge the chasm between imagination and
reality. Take the child who has himself been
bitten by a dog or whose playmate may have
been. The lion's teeth in the victim's flesh is
then something more than a distant imaginary
process.

Perhaps the healthiest phase of the serial is
its love interest. Completely submerged in the
action and serving as the fundamental spark
that sets the action off the man is simply a
man, who loves the girl and must save her at
all costs. The vamp and the villain become
the means for setting obstacles in the road of

48

Theatrical Film Critique

The Educational Screen

the other two. All these more subtle undesir-
able effects of such characters in the average
adult feature film are absent m the serial. But
that is small recommendation to continue the
obvious evils of the continuous thriller.

There are serials that could be made a de-
light. Jack and the Bean Stalk for the
younger, Treasure Island for the older and
countless others, originals. There is no reason
to suspect that there would be any dearth of
material using those classics as samples than
in the feature film field proper.

Let us do all in our power to put a stop to
the blood and thunder serial. M. F. L.

THEATRICAL FILM CRITIQUE

(Concluded from page 46)

Tom Mix's dash and ability plus a fineness of
grain to which the other man was not born. {The-
atrical only.)

THE MASQVERADER (First National)

Guy Bates Post gives us a splendid drug fiend
but a poor normal man of efficient habits. The
transition was not marked between the roles, the
healthy man having too many of the same ges-
tures, particularly the peculiar eye movements, of
the drug fiend. Too, Mr. Post has not fully
learned that some gestures effective on the legiti-
mate stage are unbearably clumsy on the screen.
{Theatrical only.)

TWO KEATON COMEDIES (Se zrick)

"The Haunted House" and "The Electric
House" are Buster at his "solemnest" best. Be
sure to have the youngsters see the fun. {Any
use.)

MOONSHINE VALLEY (Fox)

Just why William Farnum thinks he can make
pictures, we cannot imagine. He is, in this film,
the same curly-headed, sickeningly sweet and
proud-of-himself hero. {Good for no use.)

DO AND DARE (Fox)

A typically Tom Mix picture of dash and go
and good wholesome fun. {Community use.)

BROTHERS UNDER THE SKIN (Goldwyn)

A friendly and enjoyable film with an un-
expected twist. Mae Busch is there and likewise
Helen Chadwick and Norman Kerry. {Theatrical
and community.)

THE ONE MAN TRAIL (Fox)

An old release which proves that the promise
of its star, Charles Jones, has been fulfilled in his
later pictures. {Theatrical only)

FREE FILMS

Industrial Educational

The DeVry library of Industrial-Edu-
cational subjects is available — rental free
— to schools, churches and clubs located
within a radius of 500 miles of Chicago.
These subjects are all covered in one and
two reels and are of a highly educational
as well as entertaining type. Avail your-
self of this extensive free library. Write
today for list.

Standard Safety

All films in the DeVry library are of
standard width perforation (same size
as used in theatres) and are on non-in-
flammable (slowburning) film stock.

Religious Slides Educational

To augment the DeVry film library
there are also available for rental or sale
many select religious and educational
slide and lecture sets. This includes the
new DeVry Passion Play. Write today
for lists and booklets.

THE DEVRY CIRCUUTIONS

540 Lake Shore Drive

Chicago, 111.

U. C. SERVICE

Good Films and Projectors

STANDARD MOTION PICTURES

For Churches, Schools and All Non-Theatrical

Institutions

Graphoscope Service Company

1108 BoylsUm Stifct, JU)ston, Mass.
Graphoscope Service Company

130 West 46th Stioet, New York. N. Y.
Motion Picture Exhibition Company

rroftor Theatre HuihiiiiK. Newark. N. J.
Scientific & Cinema Supply Company

1004 Eye Street. N. W., Washington, D. C.
Edwin J. Wyatt

618 St. I»aul Street, Baltimore, Md.
Graphoscope Service Company

933 Ijiberty Avenue. IMtt.'^burKh, Pa.
Educational M&tion Picture Service

201 Josepli Mack Kuililiiig, Detroit, Mich.
International Church Film Corporation

861 Reibold Buikliiif;, Dayton. Ohio
Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange

728 South Wabash Avenue. Cliicago, 111.
James A. Kenny

431 Soutli Dearborn Street, Cliicago, 111.
Francis D. White

306 Film Exchange Bklg., Minneapolis, Minn.
Graphoscope Service Company

1222 Harney Street. Omaha, Neb.
Church Film Service

1822 Wyandotte Street. Kansas City. Mo.
Graphoscope Service Company

1922 Tliird Avenue. Seattle, Wasli.
Cinema Specialty Company

328 Monadnock BuildinR, San Francisco, Cal.
Standard Motion Picture Service

917 South Olive Street. Los Angeles, Cal.
David F. Parker

1913 Commerce Stieet. Dallas. Texas

UNITED CINEMA COMPANY, INC.

130 West 46 Street New York, N. Y.

February, 1^23 51

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright, February, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.00 a year Single copies, 15 cents Back numbers, 25 cents

Entry as second-class matter applied for at the post office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 2

CONTENTS FOR FEBRUARY

Editorials ^^

Visual Education ; its Scope, Method, and Values 56

Dudley Grant Hays

School Department ^^

Conducted by Marie Goodenough

Notes and News ^^

Conducted by the Editor

79
From Hollywood

Conducted by Marguerite Omdorff

Official Department, National Academy of Visual Instruction 82

Official Department, Visual Instruction Association of America ^

89
Among the Producers

97
Theatrical Film Critique

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.

r o 1 Air t, u V 200 Fifth Avenue

5 South Wabash Avenue ^_ .. ,

New ^ork
Chicago

52

Advertisement

The Educational Scr

^^^rtm

GX

FOR-

MAZDA LAMPS

.JfNICHOLAS POWER COMPANY

Ninety Gold St. New York . N . Y.

Pkase Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

'February, ig2S 53

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II - February, 1923 No. 2

The New Opportunity

The path ahead of this magazine is now open for unhmited develop-
ment. The extent and rapidity of this development depends solely on how
promptly and how completely the interested public supports our efforts.

We, the publishers of this magazine, are educators ; hence, colleagues to
you all. The opportunity now at hand is dual — it is ours and it is yours. We
are privileged to offer you our best efforts in producing a magazine singly
devoted to our common cause; you are privileged to make our efforts one
hundred per cent effective by seconding and supporting us in every logical
way. Without you, American educators interested in this great visual
movement, we can do little or nothing. With you, we can do much. With all of
you there seem to be no limits to the possibilities ahead.

The "Educators

J J

We have used this Avord in the paragraph above in a very broad sense, a
sense in which we shall frequently use it in these pages. What takes place
within the four walls of school and college classrooms is but a part of that
vast educational process that finally creates the personality of an individual
or a nation, that has made the modern world a different thing from the ancient,
that has put a gulf between the citizenry of the United States, for example,
and a central African tribe.

Who are the "educators,'' then, whom this magazine aims to serve? All
who exercise conscious and intelligent influence over their thinking fellows,
young or old, whether it be from pulpit or platform, in club or association,
in social or industrial center, in home or school. These all are vital agents
in our national education, the mighty process that develops the intellectual,
relig:ious. social, economic and cultural personality of the American nation.

Announcements

IN the March issue, and thereafter, the departments "From Hollywood" and
"Theatrical Film Critique" will appear as a single department called "The
Theatrical Field." It will be conducted by Marguerite Orndorff of the Indianapolis
Public Schools, who combines long training and experience in the educational field
with intimate knowledge of the screen and close study of motion picture problems
at first-hand in various centers of production.

54 Editorials The Educational Sera

AMONG the contents for March will be an article entitled ''Some Problems re-
lating to the Use of Motion Pictures in Secondary Schools," by George C.
Wood, Ph.D., of the Science Department of the Commercial High School, Brook-
lyn, N. Y.

BEGINNING in an early issue we shall have the privilege of presenting a series
of definitive articles on the use of stereopticon slides in education, written for
The Educational Screen by the eminent authority in this field, A. W. Abrams,
Chief of the Visual Instruction Division, University of the State of New York.

This magazine will endeavor to lay more and more emphasis on the high
value of the stereopticon in real teaching. The slide, established as a powerful
means of instruction for many years passed, is easily neglected in present-day writ-
ings on visual education in favor of that very recent novelty, the film. We shall
do our best to restore a proper balance of emphasis between the slide and film.

Will Hays' Handicap

THE height of a hope measures the depth of its disappointment. To lessen the
disappointment one has only to moderate the hope.

A very large and important element of the country has been cherishing high
hopes of Will Hays. It might be as well to keep these hopes within modest bounds
and thus be prepared for disappointing developments that may be very near at
hand.

There were two great things Will Hays might have done. First, improve the
theatrical screen, or at least establish a program that would lead to improvement ;
second, turn the attention of able producers to the vast possibilities of the non-
theatrical screen. With real authority behind him he could have accomplished
both. Without it, it is extremely doubtful if he can accomplish either — and we
wonder why he ever accepted the job under such conditions.

We believed Mr. Hays too wise to think that the Herculean task could be ac-
complished without full authority in his hands, too shrewd to undertake it with-
out absolute guarantees of such authority. A Daniel is needed among the lions,
not a boy with a butterfly-net. We believed also that Will Hays was too politic to
accept subordination when he had known only command, and too high-purposed
to turn his splendid talents to lower ends for a mere fantastic salary. There is a
paradox here, which may be explainable, but we must wait for the explanation
till Mr. Hays chooses to give it.

As far as Mr. Hays' influence is concerned, we may as well moderate, if not
lay aside, our hopes for the theatrical screen. The steps in the Arbuckle aflfair are
practically final evidence of the emptiness of Mr. Hays' "presidency."

The powers behind his throne — with their customary shortsightedness — pro-
posed to cash in on Fatty's films immediately on the heels of the notorious trial.
They should have known better, of course, but why did not Mr. Hays forbid this
folly at the start ? It is only charitable to think that he had no power to forbid it.

February, 1923 EDITORIALS

Public indignation rose like a tidal-wave in a week. The movie masters, under-
stood, and ordered or allowed their president to forbid the showing of Arbuckle
F films. The tidal-wave subsided as swiftly as it came.

A few months passed. The million or so tied up in Arbuckle celluloid made
its owners uneasy. Why not try once more to ''put it over"? To do this, their
president must reverse himself and, at such a salary, why should he not do a little
thing like that when necessary? It needed only an "explanation" to the public to
account for the reversal.

It came — over Will Hays' signature — that sorry subterfuge of "give every
man a chance" — too flimsy, too transparent, too absurd to be worth calling imperti-
nent. As if the maintenance of such an individual as Arbuckle in his unaccus-
tomed luxury could justify the tarnishing of millions of young minds with the
inevitable thoughts that Fatty on the screen again would inspire !

What was the result of Will Hays' reversal on the Arbuckle question?
Exactly, we fancy, what Mr. Hays thought it would be when he issued the edict
(reluctantly?). Emphatic rejection by scores of civic and professional leaders in
national life, — by dozens of civil, social, and humanitarian organizations — by the
National Education Association — by organizations practically hand-in-glove with
the movie industry — by Mr. Hays' own Committee on Public Relations — in short,
emphatic rejection by the nation at large of the preposterous proposal. And now
even Arbuckle has recognized the verdict and announces his withdrawal from the
screen! It is a pitiful state of things, Mr. Hays having to be rescued by the
American public in his hopeless struggle with the powers that pay him.

If lack of authority snuffs out hope of Will Hays' improving the theatrical
screen does it do the same for the non-theatrical field? Perhaps, but not neces-
sarily. For it is here a question of enlightenment rather than control, of expan-
sion rather than reform. The task is to open the eyes of the movie masters to the
great future of the film outside the theatre ; it is not a matter of modifying exist-
ing production but starting a new kind. Will Hays has only to induce them to
consider seriously a virgin field that has greater possibilities than the theatrical
field ever possessed, and this could be done without the powers of a dictator.

Important negotiations are under way between Mr. Hays and some of the
foremost educational leaders of the country. Something may come of it. Great
things could come of it. We shall probably know something about this by the
time the Cleveland convention of the N. E. A. is over. We do not question the
sincerity of Will Hays' many utterances on the "educational" opportunity of the
films but it remains to be seen whether there is anything behind his remarks except
his own sincerity ; whether he is speaking for the industry or merely out of his own
good heart. There is no doubt that the power accumulated by the huge industry
could work wonders in the higher field, if the holders of that power could see it
and direct the power properly. Will Hays might be able to make them see it, and
thus bring about development of the motion picture on a scale that would make
past achievements seem small. There is excuse for hoping that he may, as it
seems the only thing left for him to do. All success to him in the momentous
eflFort.

55

56

The Educational Screen

Visual Education: Its Scope, Purpose and Value

Dudley Grant Hays
Director of Visual Instruction, Chicago Schools

THE present discussion of visual ed-
ucation no doubt has resulted
largely from the great development
of the motion picture industry. In real-
ity, however, the topic is as old as the
human race. The greatest avenue
through which man's mind has been
made aware of the external world has
been that of sight. Sight is the most ac-
tive and far-reaching sense of any with
which we are endowed. The remote
stars of the universe are brought into our
consciousness through the eyes, aided by
means of the modern telescopes. This
immense universe, Avith its almost incom-
prehensible bodies, has been revealed to
us through sight.

Range of Visual Knowledge
I believe it was Professor Michelson,
of the University of Chicago, who not
long ago called our attention to the fact
that the sun is ninety-three millions of
miles away from the earth ; and, to aid us
in getting a slight notion at least of the
immensity of our universe, he said that
if it were possible for a man to step off
through space, making each of his steps
equal to the distance the sun is from the
earth, and to continue taking just such
steps until he had taken a total of 13,500,-
000,000 of them, he might arrive at the
most remote star of which we are now
aware. When we reflect and realize that
this perception has come into our minds
through the sense of sight, we are forced
to admit the high value of this avenue
to knowledge. And yet we have here
only that aspect of the scope of visualiza-

tion which relates to the realm of im-
mense things.

We would also call attention to the fact
that the perception of the very tiniest
germ known to science has been brought
into the mind through the eye by means
of the microscope. Then consider the
immeasurable contribution such knowl-
edge has made to the health and progress
of the world, and we must again be im-
pressed Avith what the eye has done for
us. Couple the thoughts of the greatest
thing remote from us in the universe and
the tiniest thing near us in the universe. J
Then picture in your mind's eye the ■
whole range of intervening objects, and
you get just a slight conception of what
is the scope of visual work from one angle
only — that of its expansive content.

As to the scope of visual education,
considered from the curriculum stand-
point, w^e know that all studies have their .
beginning to some degree in objects of
nature. Pictures or words are symbols
which we use to awaken in the mind im-
ages we have received through the sense
perceptions, especially through sight.

A Fund of Impressions

In the beginning of our educational
work it is quite essential that the pupils
or students be given a very extensive list
of impressions through the senses, and
these impressions should be clear-cut
and distinctive, in order that, through
reflection and reasoning, correct conclu-
sions may be drawn. The great fault in
most of our educational work has been
that of trying to get from pupils clear
expressions and lucid descriptions with

February, 1923

Scope, Method and Values

fT

Duck-billed Dinosaurs inhabited the
earth five million years ago. They were
about 25 feet long. When standing erect
they were about 17 feet high. They
walked on land on their powerful hind
legs, as the Kangaroo does. In swim-
ming they used their tails and their short
fore legs with webbed feet, as the Croco-
diles do now. The covering of their bod-
ies was similar to that on Crocodiles.

out first having been careful to give them
the fund of sense perceptions so neces-
sary for those expressions. In other
words, we have been altogether too mea-
gre in the impression-producing work and
too profuse in exhortations for expres-
sions from the pupils. We forget some-
times, I fear, that the development of the
pupil, and, correspondingly, the whole
achievement of the human being, rests
upon some form of bodily activity. We
have possibly overworked one sense ave-
nue—that of hearing— to the neglect of a
more effective avenue— that of sight.
All Senses Needed
We grant, without going into an ex-
tended argument, that the images held in
the mind are, as a rule, a resultant of

many effects coming into the mind
through the various sense channels. Sight
alone would not give us much knowledge
that would be definite. With .sight there
must be coupled the impressions through
the senses of touch and hearing, in most
cases. Sight gives us light, shade, color,
length and breadth, but these elements
require to be supplemented by further
evidence from other senses before our
mental concepts can become complete.
However, we believe that our gjeat fund
of perceptions, or at least the major part
of them, reaches the mind through sight,
and hence we assign a supreme import-
ance to visual work. The scope of visual
education, in short, includes all percep-
tions reaching the mind through the eyes.

Purposes of Visual Instruction
In turning our attention to the purpose
of visual education, we do not hope, in
the brief time at our disposal, to exhaust
the subject; but wish to call attention to
some of the ideas that we believe are fun-
damental.

The primary purpose, of course, is to

While the Kangaroo is not so large as
the Dinosaur, what resemblances do you
observe? What differences?

58

Scope, Method and Values

The Educational Screen

According to this picture, recently pub-
lished in the Chicago Tribune, man's
mind is repeating a thought which was in
some mind when Dinosaurs were created.
Of course, the bridge cannot move itself;
the Dinosaur could. Can you mention
other likenesses and differences?

establish sense contacts with the mate-
rial world and to bring about a reaction
in the individuals resulting from these
contacts. We also have in mind the
thought that we are to train the observ-
ing power of the pupils, especially along
the line of the use of the eye. To turn
the eyes toward an object does not nec-
essarily mean that the pupil is receiving
sense impressions of that object in his
mind. We must see to it that interven-
ing objects are removed, and that the
sight of the child be so clearly focused
upon the particular thing we wish to have
imaged in his mind, that he will through
his own consciousness receive and hold
the image we are endeavoring to make
his possession. In visual education work
we should endeavor to present the object,

the picture or the representation in such
a way that distracting things be kept inj
the background, so that clearness of vi-
sualization may result, or we may not at-
tain that which we set out to do in the|
presentation of the visual material. To
awaken in the child a consciousness of
the thing under observation, and to train
him to look for something worth while
in the thing studied, are the prime requi-
sites to be kept in mind. It requires a
great deal of patient work to lead the
child to the point in his development
where he can discern the essential from
the non-essential in the things that he is
visualizing.

It is our purpose also in visual educa-
tion to lay a good foundation of sense
impressions, which will enable the pupil
to understand the language of literature,
history, science, or whatever subject he
may be endeavoring to fathom. It is also
our purpose further to give the student a
large amount of sense percepts, which he
is to use in the judicial process of his
mind. To lead the pupil in his develop-
ment through perceptions to trace the re-
lationship that exists between causes and
effects, is one of the greatest things that
can be done for him.

The Great End

Of course, in all of this work, the great
idea is to develop the mind of the child.
There are two things very important in
this work. Good, clear, sense impres-
sions must be had as a basis upon which
to do this training. With these acquired,
the pupil is then to be led, through the
judicial process, to trace out the relation-
ships between these various impressions ;
to form causal judgments whereby he at-
tributes certain effects to certain definite
causes ; and, through comparison and dis-
cussion, he can be led to make deduc-

February, 1923

Scope, Method and Values

59

tions which are well founded. To lead
the student to group in an orderly way
his sense perceptions, causal judgments
and classifying judgments, either past or
present, is to store his mind with knowl-
edge in useful form. This is training
the mind for efficiency.

The mind works under laws just as
definite, we are assured by psychologists,
as are the laws of physics. Among these
laws are those of association, among
which we emphasize the law of habit and
the law of vividness as being exceedingly
important in visual education. The law
of habit is that whereby frequent recur-
rence to a particular sense impression or
association is made until it becomes a
permanent possession of the student.
The law of vividness applies especially
to the thought of making the impression
so clear and strong that the pupil will
not fail to grasp it in its right relation-
ship.

Of course, in this work, a deep interest
must be awakened in the child through
the thing being studied, and this is
brought about by seeing how it is in some
way related to his welfare.

The Imagination
Another purpose of visual education,
following along the line of some of the
things we have just said, is to cultivate
the imagination of the child — to develop
in him the habit of reproducing from
memory associated ideas. This has been
done in the days gone by by frequent so-
called reviews, — by word pictures of the
subject matter under consideration. A
frequent recurrence of presentation of
pictorial material — not necessarily always
the same thing, but closely related to it —
will help to bring about this reproductive
imagery. A picture may suggest more
thoughts to a class than could be ex-

In this picture we see another idea
worked out by the brain of a man. Brains
count. A 100-pound man has a 3-pound
brain. The 20,000-pound Dinosaur had a
2-pound brain. The Dinosaur lost in the
struggle for life against more brainy ani-
mals. By using his brains, man becomes
the greatest of living things.

pressed in dozens of oral questions. Then
there is a further thought of developing
what is called the creative imagination,
whereby new combinations of materials
are brought about. The greater the fund
of sense impressions to begin with, the
more easily will the child be able to work
out new combinations, because he will
have a fund of materials with which to
work. We believe this is very essential
in the development of initiative ability
on the part of the child. The encourage-
ment to bring about new combinations
himself is very essential, and all this is
part of what we may call laying the
foundation of an inventive genius.
Americans are noted throughout the
world as being the most highly devel-
oped people in this particular line of
achievement.

Other purposes might be mentioned in
connection with visual education, but we

60

Scope, Method and Values

The Educational Screen

wish to pass on now to a brief statement
of some of the values that we believe
obtain in this work.

Some of the Values

In the first place, properly handled, one
great value is that of developing keener
observers. Only through careful train-
ing can pupils be led to see quickly and
accurately things that flit before their vi-
sion. With the multiplicity of things
pressing upon them for attention, we
must so train them that they may readily
trace out the connecting links between
causes and effects, and enable them to
do accurate reasoning. We believe these
results follow efficient visual instruction :
Keen observation, accurate perception
and sound reasoning.

Another value is that the pupil will be
given the foundations for a better under-
standing of civics, whether related to
his immediate home life, city life, or the
country at large; a better insight into
history, both past and present; a better
ability to interpret literature, both cur-
rent and the great heritage that has come
down to us from the days gone by. It is
also of immense value in the understand-
ing of science as the revealer of biologi-
cal, physiological and hygienic laws lead-
ing to efficient living.

We believe that visual education will
also develop the ability on the part of
the pupil to produce more lucid portray-
als in his descriptions of things about
which he wishes to express himself. In
short, we believe that it will develop in
him the ability for more versatile lan-
guage, either oral or written; a greater
assurance of truthful portrayal by the
plastic arts; and saner reasoning along
abstract lines, because of the habit de-
veloped of looking for fact relationships
as a basis for the judgments he forms.

We grant that there comes a time when
the developed mind revels in ideas not
easily subject to picturization except to
the mind's eye. When we enter the realm
of character study, ideals, motives and
ethical notions, we are somewhat beyond
the need of tangible pictures. We forget
not, however, that that height is attained
through the memory of ideas fixed by the
law of association; that the groundwork
of these higher realms of thought was
born of the sense perceptive and judicial
processes, with which we dealt somewhat
fully in the beginning of this paper.

Importance of the Teacher

In this field of educational work, we
are not unmindful of the great im-
portance of trained teachers, who are the
guiding minds in all teaching. No ob-
jective materials can take the place of
nor supplant the live teacher. We be-
lieve that more attention should be given
to the preparation of teachers in the use
of visual aids. Teachers should not only
have a knowledge of available visual aids,
but should be given training in the effi-
cient use of such aids in the classroom.

Briefly summarized, we have sug-
gested in this brief paper that the scope
of visual education embraces the uni-
verse of material things.

The purpose of visual education is:
(1) to develop the ability quickly to
grasp relationships between causes and
efifects; and (2) to furnish an abundance
of experience in sense perception to be
used in reflecting, reasoning and imag-
ing.

Some values are: Keener observation
power, saner judgments, more accurate
expressions of ideas, and a greater ability
to^ initiate,— in short, a better developed
mind.

A plea is made for adequate training of
teachers in a wise use of visual aids.

February, 1^2$

61

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

(We wish to call particular attention to the kind of film, reviews
offered here. They are entirely impartial, and critical in the finest sense
of the word. They are written from the educational standpoint by the
department editor, who is not only a trained reviewer, but a teacher of
wide experience.

So far as we know, it is the first time that such service has been ren-
dered by any publication in the field of non- theatrical films. — Editor.^

Visual Activities in Iowa

Contributed by
Charles Roach, Head of Visual Instruction Service, Iowa State College

The State Fire Marshal has served formal
notice upon the School Board of Des Moines,
that hereafter no nitrate of cellulose film may
be exhibited in any city school unless projector
is enclosed in a standard, permanent, fire-proof
booth.

The Iowa Tuberculosis Association has been
distributing two prints of the U. S. D. A. film,
"Out of the Shadows." These have been sup-
plemented by four additional prints distributed
from the State College at Ames. It is gen-
erally conceded that no other one thing has
done more to create sentiment in favor of Ac-
credited Herds and safe milk, than these films.
City ordinances have been enacted as the direct
result of the film campaigns in many counties.

The Masonic Service Committee of the Grand
Lodge of Iowa, A. F. & A. M., has been doing
very effective work with films, in conjunction
with their state-wide Americanization program.

Seventy County Farm Bureaus in the State
of Iowa own or have access to motion picture
projectors and are using them consistently to
help carry the message of better Agriculture
and better Rural conditions by way of the
screen.

Sixty-nine schools are using lantern slides
each week as a part of the work in Vocational
Agriculture.

Visual Instruction will be discussed at the
Science Round Table of the Southern Division
Iowa State Teachers' Association, Ottumwa,
Friday afternoon, April 6th, at 2:00 P. M.

The Visual Instruction Service, Iowa State
College, has adopted the "safety first" policy in

the matter of films. All new additions to the
film Hbrary, hereafter, will be acetate of cellu-
lose stock. In view of the wide and general
use of films it is considered wise to place no
limitations either from fire hazard, or increased
insurance rates.

As a pulling power, there is no question in
the minds of the County Agents, that the mo-
tion picture has no equal. It is invariably the
rule wherever motion pictures are indicated on
the program an increased attendance is the
result. The better attendance has put a new
interest in the Township meetings and the re-
sulting good is immeasurable from the point of
view of the Farm Bureau activities.

The Chemistry Club, of Cornell College,
Mount Vernon, Iowa, make motion pictures a
part of their regular meetings.

The Iowa W. C. T. U. owns a print and dis-
tributes the Battle Creek film, "The Tobacco
Plague." This picture has been shown in over
one hundred communities during the past two
years.

The Engineering Extension Department of
Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, is initiating
work in "Safety." Posters, lantern slide lec-
tures will serve a considerable part of publicity.
The Ford Motor Company safety films, "A,
B, C of Safety," "Fire Prevention," and "Live
and Let Live" will be used in the campaigns.
The prints have been modified by Iowa titles.

The Iowa Chamber of Commerce has a set
of lantern slides, "Industrial Iowa" which is
sent out from the office of the Secretary, at
Des Moines.

School Dkpartmrnt

The Educational Screen

Film Reviews

HISTORY

Till- iii>i Alms of a new scries have been issued
by Universal, called Mirrors, "reflecting
Past and Present." Now that the cinema is
more than twenty years old, the first events it
recorded become bits of recent history. It is
suggestive, to anyone who has thought at all
of the possibilities of the screen in the future,
to predict that before long, all cinema records
of events of any importance will be collected
systematically — instead of being thrown into
the discard after they have had their current
runs — such films to become a lasting historical
record. What epics of the sweep of events
those film histories will be — re-creating again
for posterity the exact occurrences as they
happened, and bringing to life again the very
personalities of the characters who figure in
those events.

One viewing these first four releases must
feel a thrill at seeing the San Francisco of
April 19th, 1906, a heap of smoking ruins,
Edward VII of England brought to life again
on the screen, and President McKinley at his
inauguration in March, 1897.

How different can be the history study of the
future!

The San Francisco Earthquake. (Universal.)
Newspaper headlines taken from issues of
April, 1906, form the first titles of the film,
followed by scenes of the "first great disaster
to be recorded in motion pictures." Ruins are
on every side, and dynamiting squads are at
work in an eflFort to check the spread of the
flames. Attention is called to the absence of
motor cars in the streets, and a lone machine
serves as a contrast with our present-day auto-
mobiles. Refugees are seen quartered in the
public parks, and some few days later, the first
street car to be operated (a good scene, and
particularly true to life) gives promise of the
restoration of order in the stricken city.

Throughout the entire reel are scattered
scenes of present-day San Francisco, to show
the contrast between the city then and now.
The San Francisco of today, as seen from an
airplane, follows the scenes of the ruins, and
the shopping district then is contrasted with
the street as it appears today. The ruins of
the City Hall on Nob Hill precede some fine
views of the beautiful structure of today, built

upon the same site. Market Street then and
now is shown, and a general panoramic view of
the city of 1906 is followed by air views of the
city today.

Overtitling mars the first of the reel, and
Universal must have its bit of "comedy relief
by showing the fashions of the day in a scene
which is in questionable taste, and by titles
which are in the class of "Pipe the bird on
Sally's hat!" Educational films are obviously
still made for their entertainment value.

The Funeral of King Edward VII. (Uni-
versal.) Again a newspaper of the day head-
lines: "King of England dead — George V
proclaimed new King."

In the first part of the reel are shown some
of the activities of Edward VII during the last
days of his reign. Both King and Queen are
shown at a public assemblage, King Edward is
seen inspecting his regiment, and the royal party
board a battleship.

There follow scenes of the funeral proces-
sion. The casket, with Edward's crown upon
it, is followed by his horse, and marching in
the funeral procession are most of the other
European monarchs of the time, even to the
present ex-Kaiser. A diagram with the figures
of these monarchs drawn in, helps to identify
them as they pass the camera.

The coronation of England's present King is
most interestingly shown. The coronation
procession passes up the steps, and Prince
Edward, about to become Prince of Wales,
marches up, like any other rather awed little
boy. The ceremony is splendidly shown, and
there follows a scene on the balcony when his
investiture is proclaimed to the people. Princess
Mary is photographed as she appeared then,
and now.

The reel closes with pictures of the Prince
today— easily the most popular young man in
the British Empire— and his three younger
brothers.

On the whole, the subject is excellent It
lacks continuity here and there, as in the place
—where King George, as he is today, is shown
just before scenes marking the passing of King
Edward.

The Inauguration of President McKinley.

(Universal.) For the purposes of review, il will
be just as well to disregard the contents of the
first part of the reel-for they arc obviously

Webruary, 1923

School Department

63

put in simply to extend the footage, and the
subjects are quite irrelevant. For school show-
ing in connection with history classes, we rec-
ommend they be eliminated, and only the latter
part of the reel used.

The first section, called "The Fairyland of
the Magic Camera," introduces the Den!shawn
dancers in slow motion photography — a series
of lovely scenes, perhaps admirable as an art
subject. There follows a bit of cartoon comedy
which is done in mock seriousness, and is
utterly foolish.

The only part of the reel which deserves
attention is the record of the inauguration
itself — the first inaugural parade to be caught
by the camera. Cleveland and McKinley are
shown riding to the ceremony in a carriage
(which the title calls a hack). Here again the
crowds on Pennsylvania Avenue are of interest
to the title writer principally for the styles of
the fair promenaders.

The film also points its contrasts — in the first
place between the artillery of that day as it is
seen in the parade, and ours now, twenty-five
years later. Taft and Wilson are shown rid-
ing in an inaugural procession, as are Wilson
and Harding at the last inaugural, to show the
difference between vehicles then and now.

Throughout the reel, however, it must be
said that the emphasis is laid not so much
upon an effort to present any connected story
of the McKinley inauguration, as to show the
remarkable advance which has been made in
motion picture art within a period of twenty-
five years. The slow movement of the crowds
at the inauguration in 1897 is the fault of the
early camera, as is some exceedingly hazy, bad
photography. The early effort at a "closeup"
is contrasted, of course, with what the camera
can do today.

The Birth of Aviation. (Universal.) An
absorbingly interesting story, begun in France
less than fifteen years ago, when the Wrights
made their first public flights in a motor-driven,
heavier-than-air craft. The camera records this
bit of history, and shows the machines in which
the first experimental flights were taken, and
their launching by the device of the "launching
weight." The first flight achieved a little over
a mile.

"And," says the title, "this is what came of
those early experiments." Then flashes an a'r
view of a fleet of present-day planes in battle
formation.

On October 3rd, 1908, the first passenger
flight was made — a run of 36 miles, staying in
the air 55 minutes. The camera record of that
flight is shown in contrast with exterior and
interior views of our present monster passenger
planes.

While the Wrights were experimenting, other
curious machines were being brought out. The
camera gives us a glimpse of some of those
early attempts at flight.

Finally, Wilbur Weight reached a height of
360 feet — a record for that time. Views that
follow show exceptional scenes taken from
planes flying over mountain tops. In those
early days, "stunting" was unknown. In con-
trast, the film ends with some examples of
present-day stunt flying.

SCENIC

The First People. (Sunset-Burrud.) This one
of the series of Scenic Stories devotes itself to
the Indian in his natural environment. A map
of Montana gives the locality in which the
action takes place, and the succeeding scenes
are set in some of the most beautiful of Na-
ture's backgrounds — rugged peaks against the
sky, and lakes nestled among the mountains.
Little attempt is made, fortunately, to weave
a story, except to show the Chief and his fol-
lowers on their way to the "Shrine of the God
of Cold" among the mountains, to offer sup-
plications to the spirit gods and pray that the
cold of winter might be broken. They bring
back a promise from the Iceland throne to the
waiting people in the Valley of Shining Peaks.
Some characteristic Indian ceremonies are
shown. The sum total is a dignified and beau-
tiful program picture, showing members of the
Vanquished Race still clinging to their former
customs and traditions.

Rheims. (Prizma.) The city of 1918, as it
looked after its four years of horror. Beautiful
scenes, photographed in Prizma color, show the
Town Hall built by Louis XIII, and the Li-
brary, the Place Royal, the Market Place and
the ruins of the house of Jacques Callou, built
during the fifteenth century. German prisoners
of war are shown at work clearing away the
debris.

The most notable views in the reel are of
course those of the "unrivaled" cathedral, the
noblest example of early Gothic art, dating
from the thirteenth century. Fine close views
show the arches, in panorama from top to
ground, the base of the statue of Jeanne D'Arc,

School Department

The Educational Screen

the summit of the Towers 267 feet high, and
the great Rose Window, now a complete
wreck, but formerly containing priceless jew-
eled glass. Views of the ruins from another
angle, and a glimpse of the Royal Apartments
and double chapel of the thirteenth century, are
followed by pictures of General Pershing dur-
ing his visit to Rheims.

A subject which tells a vivid story of the
toll war has taken in priceless treasures of art
and architecture.

In New Madrid. (National Non-Theatrical.)
A Burton Holmes tour through the modern
Spanish capital, where much that is up-to-date
is mingled with some that is thoroughly medie-
val. Ox carts still slow up traffic on the streets,
which in other respects are quite twentieth-
century in appearance. Beautiful scenes show
some of the most picturesque spots in Madrid,
especially her parks and gardens. The Spanish
royal palace comes in for its share of atten-
tion, and one is shown the changing of the
guard — a most serious and impressive cere-
mony, if one may judge by the solemnity with
which it is performed.

For serious classroom showing, the scene in
which the camera makes traffic race to and fro
should be eliminated. So-called "trick pho-
tography" should have no place in an educa-
tional subject.

My Country. (Educational.) One of the
Bruce IVilderness Tales, and a "scenic apprecia-
tion" of our own land— at least the northwest-
ern part of the country, in all its striking
beauty. The photography does full justice to
the subject, and the titling is thoroughly ade-
quate. The reel is ten or fifteen minutes'
worth of genuine enjoyment to anyone with a
taste for the out-of-doors — in a rugged coast
lined with bare rock forms with which the rest-
less sea disputes their right to stand, sparkling
trout streams, and broad rivers over whose
valley clouds form "castles in the air." There
are some unusual scenes, taken from mountain
heights, looking down upon seas of fog which
beat in roUing billows against the mountain
islands in their midst.

The only touch in the reel which is to be at
all resented is the scene of the flaming forest,
before which we read, "My Country is always'
spectacular." A spectacle which the true patriot
will know his country can ill afford to indulge
in, followed as it is by bare, deadened trees
and smoke-filled valleys.

LITERATURE

The Village Blacksmith. (Fox.) Longfel
low's village smith is there — at his forge, swing
ing his heavy sledge; the children come by
from school and stop at the open door; he is
seen in church on Sunday, sitting with his boys
— and the lines of the poem furnish title mate-
rial here and there throughout the seven reels.
But that is as much as Longfellow's poem can
contribute to the action. Beyond that, the Fox
scenario staff must be held responsible. A
rural melodrama is built around the sturdy
figure of the smith — a typical melodrama with
plenty of "heart throbs," as the publicity mat-
ter puts it, "dearly loved by the sob-hungry
public." And it has the typical machinery of
melodrama — a storm through which the heroine
fights, in an effort to end her life, and a mad
race with an express train to avert a wreck,
which comes near ending the promising career
of the blacksmith's son.

The plot concerns itself with the black-
smith's family (seen in the Prologue when the
children are young, and in the later action when
they have grown up) and the family of the
village squire, in which there is a rascal son
who is responsible, directly or indirectly, for
much of the sorrow which comes to the smith
and his little brood. And trouble enough there
is. His youngest son is crippled for life by
falling from a tree, his eldest son is almost
killed, his daughter is struck by lightning, his
wife dies, and then his daughter is accused of
stealing money from a church fund.

Some permissible comedy touches relieve the
tension— thanks to the village characters. The
action throughout is capably handled by such
dependable people as Virginia Valli (the
daughter) and William Walling (the smith).
The production has what is known as "popular
appeal" and, judged abstractly, it is satisfac-
tory enough melodrama. But let no one be
deceived by its title— it is not for the English
class which would be helped to a better appre-
ciation of the pure descriptive force of Long-
fellow's lines. It is not to be expected that it
IS Longfellow, any more than the homely
corner-stone of a building is the ornamented
Structure itself.

Quincy Adams Sawyer. (Metro.) The rural
melodramas have it, among the films in the
month's output. This story by Charles Felton
Pidgin, widely read as it has been, hardly de-
serves to rank as literature, though we must

I

February, 1923

School Department

65

appraise it, if at all, under that classification.
The original story has been thoroughly worked
over and turned out as a 1923 model, even to
the village belle who makes herself beautiful
with "magic clay," and the rural character who,
we are told, is so naive that "he thinks Kelly
Pool is a place to swim."

The story opens in Boston, where on the
famous Commons, Quincy Adams Sawyer, a
young Harvard student, accidentally meets the
heroine, when his dog disturbs some pigeons
she is feeding. The rest of the action takes
place at Masons Corners where the young man
has been sent by his father to straighten out
a legal tangle involving a will. He is opposed
by the village "crook" who is at the bottom
of all the legal trouble — and the melodrama is
on. Here, after several months, comes the girl
he had met on the Commons, who in the mean-
time has gone blind and has returned to the

home of her uncle, the village Deacon, to rest
and regain her eyesight if possible. The vil-
lain does his best to make things difficult for
Sawyer — a ferry cable is cut — the blind girl
alone on the raft is borne downstream toward
the falls — and any reader can supply the rest
from his own imagination.

What really deserves to be called an "all-
star" cast has been assembled for the produc-
tion. John Bowers (who was Ridd in Lorna
Doone) does the part of Quincy Adams Saw-
yer, Blanche Sweet makes a delightful heroine.
Barbara La iMarr is the pampered and spoiled
village belle, the mother is well acted by Claire
McDowell, and the villain's role falls to the
classic "bad man" of the screen, Lon Chaney,
who as usual gives a splendid characterization.
Elmo Lincoln is called upon again to be the
"strong man" — a tool in the villain's hands, and
his ultimate nemesis.

{Continued on Page 66)

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(Wholesome Educational Film Company)

SURELY no more valuable subject for an
educational film could be selected than the
life of Shakespeare. It is a subject, how-
ever, which offers unusual difficulties to the
conscientious screen dramatist. He must either
expand, with balloon-like inflation, the few au-
thentic facts at his disposal or he must eke out
his footage with fancy and supposition. Those
responsible for the direction of this film have,
with few exceptions, presented such events in
Shakespeare's life as the known facts warranted
and by supplying fine historical backgrounds
have made the reels a valuable reflection of the
Elizabethan period as well as pictorial biog-
raphy.

Shakespeare, the young dreamer by the river
Avon, is first shown. Following scenes conduct
him through a very early love affair, then
through his marriage with Anne Hathaway, and
his subsequent embroilment with local authori-
ties and flight to London. One may perhaps
question the authenticity of the romance with
Anne Clopton, pictured in so much detail. There
is no doubt, however, that these scenes supply
much color.

The pictorial narrative which deals with
Shakespeare's life in London is of necessity
somewhat fragmentary, but nevertheless gives

a clear idea of the poet's vicissitudes in attain-
ing success.

The film has the very great advantage of
having been photographed in Stratford and in
London. Quaint village streets, Anne Hatha-
way's picturesque cottage, smooth expanses of
historic lawns are impressively genuine.

The interiors are equally effective in their
chronological accuracy. There are a number
of striking scenes, most valuable from an edu-
cational standpoint: — the interior of an Eliza-
bethan theater showing a play in progress and
the intimacy between actors and audience; the
stately court scenes; the arming for the Ar-
mada. The details of the costumes also bear
evidence of much careful and scholarly atten-
tion.

The average student finds difficulty in visual-
izing easily. A name is nothing but a name, a
classic merely an instrument of torture inflicted
upon him by an unfeeling teacher. A picture
that will give life and vitality to so important
a subject as that of Shakespeare is certainly
of cultural value. While this film might easily
be improved in many places, from a dramatic
standpoint, its sincerity and historical content
give it distinction as an educational film.

Reviewed by the Staff.

66

ScfKMn. Department

The Educational Screen

Film Reviews

iContinued from Page 65)

The film is beautifully photographed and en-
tertainingly titled, and has a minimum of objeC'
tionable elements— although hardly to be rec-
ommended as wholesome fare for adolescents.
and not the best fitted for school showing.

The Little Match Girl. (Prizma.) A child-
hood classic in film form, "modernized" from
the fairy tale of Hans Christian Andersen.
Madge Evans plays the charming little waif,
turned out on the street and commanded by
her mother not to come home until she has
sold all her wares. She tries — but no one wants
to buy, and she finally huddles down on a door-
step in the cold. She strikes a match, and a
vision appears — herself in front of a laden
Christmas tree. The vision dies as the match
goes out, and she sobs aloud, more than ever
aware of her loneliness. A friendly little news-
boy, seeing her distress, brings her an apple,
and they share it, their troubles forgotten
temporarily.

As the scene fades, the child awakens, safe
and warm in a luxurious home, and glad that
it was only a dream. A touch which was
thought necessary, perhaps, for modern chil-
dren, to soften the too grim reality of the
original story.

Mark Twain. (Hodkinson.) Another of the
American Author Series, which follows the gen-
eral plan of the reels reviewed heretofore. His
birthplace is shown, and the house in which he
passed his youth in Hannibal, Missouri. Below
the town is the cave where Tom Sawyer and
his gang concocted their schemes, and there is
also a scene of the island that figures in Huck-
leberry Finn. A glimpse of the pilot house of
a river steamer serves to explain the old river
term which Clemens adopted as his pen name.
Then is shown his New York home on Fifth
Avenue, where he resided after the Civil War,
and the Brick Church where his body lay in
state.

The second part of the reel is given to an
acting out of the story of the "Jumping Frog"
which Mark Twain is said to have heard from

EDUCATIONAL PICTORIAL RELIGIOUS

PICTURES WANTED

by a Christian Organization financially strong (Incor-
porated in Illinois) for Exclusive Distribution to the
Religious and Educational Organizations in the central
states. We have the public's confidence which insures a
quick and thorough distribution of

GOOD, WHOLESOME, SINCERE and CLEAN pictures.
Address The Educational Screen

a gold digger in Cahfornia. It gives oppor-
tunity for some clever character work, although
the chief actor could have put his makeup on
more carefully.

A uniformly good reel, except that the title-
writer is over ambitious to make the scenes tell
more than they do. For instance, after the
title, "Crowds looked af his face for the last
time" (as his body lay in state in the church)
there follows a street scene.

Walt Whitman. (Hodkinson.) American
Author Series. We are introduced to the au-
thor, as well as to his thought, by a series
of none too-successful reproductions of old
portraits, showing Whitman from youth to old
age, each accompanied by some selection from
his philosophy at that particular stage. After
taking thus a quick survey of his mental — and
physical-T-development, we go back to scenes
of his birthplace, the house in Camden where
he lived latterly, and his tomb. There follow
scenes attempting to illustrate his "Leaves of
Grass" — some successfully, and others with
nothing short of grotesque effect, so literal and
unimaginative is the effort. In all justice to the
producers, it must be said there could scarcely
be found an author less objective, and conse-
quently more difficult to picturize, than Whit-
man. Inevitably the result must be far from
satisfactory, as would be any attempt to make a
specific scene fit such a line as:
"Throb, baffled and curious brain!

Throw out questions and answers!

Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of
solution!

Live, old life! play the part that looks back
on the actor or actress!

Play the old role that is great or small ac-
cording as one makes it!"
Hardly stuff for the motion picture, and the
attempt to reduce such thought t9 film were
better not made.

James Russell Lowell. (Hodkinson.) What
little is said, in scenic terms, of the biography
of Lowell, is good, but not much praise can
be given to what follows. "The Courtin' " from
the Bigelozv Papers is acted out — and terribly
overdone, to the point of ridiculous burlesque.
Scenes descriptive of another of his poems,
"The First Snowfall," are more successful in
interpreting the lines. But here the young poet
himself is brought into the story — always a
risky venture in character portrayal. We are
so apt to lose all illusions as to what the poet's
real personality might have been!

February, ig23

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67

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Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

School Department

The Educational Screen

SCIENCE

The Mosquito. (Society for Visual Educa-
tion.) Stages of his Hfe history are shown, be-
ginning with views of ponds and marshes
which are his breeding places. Excellent views
show the eggs laid in little rafts, each egg hang-
ing downwards into the water, and the young
larva wiggling out from the lower end of the
egg, into the water. A microscopic view
shows his breathing tube, swimmerets, abdo-
men, thorax and head. There are fine close
views of the larvae in the water, feeding on
microscopic plant and animal life, but when
it becomes necessary to breathe, through the
tube attached to the posterior end, they hang
head downwards from the surface. Unusual
closeups catch the larvae moulting, the third
time changing into the pupa stage, the head
connected by two breathing tubes to the sur-
face. In this stage the pupa rests at the top
of the water from two to five days, then we
see his skin in the vicinity of the head split-
ting and the mosquito emerging. He rests on
the surface of the water momentarily to allow
his wings to dry. Microscopic closeups show
his wings, the margin and veins fringed with
spicules, and the proboscis of the female (the
only one that stings) and the large ears of the
male — his most distinguishing characteristic.

The stages in the hfe history of the mosquito
suggest methods for his control. Oil spread
over the surface of the water is seen to prevent?
the breathing of the larvae who finally die
from lack of air.

The subject is well organized and carefully
photographed. Admirable for school class use,
or as a natural science subject on a general
program.

Unhooking the Hookworm. (Society for Vis-
ual Education.) An excellent treatment of the
subject, produced by the Coronet Films Corpo-
ration for the International Health Board of
the Rockefeller Foundation. It is splendid
material for the class in Biology, Physiology
or Hygiene.

A map of the world shows the localities in
which the hookworm disease is a menace, and
microscopic views give details of the form and
structure of the parasite. The film gives the
life history of the worm from the time when
the eggs (shown greatly enlarged) are laid in
the bowels, to the hatching (remarkable views
of the tiny worm breaking out of the egg).
The film explains how the little worms are

scattered, how they are picked up on the feet
of the victims how they enter through the skin,
traveling through the body, and finally attach
themselves to the wall of the intestine.

The effects of the disease are shown and the
remedy is suggsted, not only to effect a cure
of the victims already suffering from the dis-
ease, but to destroy the breeding places of the
worms.

MISCELLANEOUS

U. S. Battle Fleet on the High Seas. (Vita-
graph.) A number from the Urban Popular
Classics — this one a scenic record of some of
the activities of our fleet, and a glimpse of the
life on board a fighting ship. There is very
little titling to the reel, and the scenes are left
to tell their own story. Especially good are
close views of the ship's deck, the inspection
of the sailors, and the exercises on board. The
battleships, starting on the cruise, pass the
camera in imposing line. Quite unusual are
views of the submarine submerging, and the
lines of destroyers which protect the fighting
craft. Scenes at a coaling station show fuel
being hoisted on board, and finally with the
ships under way again, floating targets are
placed for practice in firing.

A reel of interest to any audience, and well
suited for school showing.

The Alphabetical Zoo. (Vitagraph.) A reel
which will delight children, and make them ac-
quainted with some new friends in the Animal
Kingdom, as well as renew their acquaintance
with the old. The plan of the reel is stated in
the little jingle with which it opens:
Come, get acquainted with animal life,
The beasts and the birds have their joys and

their strife.
We'll take them in turn, and we'll study them.

too,
On a trip through the Great Alphabetical Zoo.

The titling is cleverly done, and calculated to
amuse a youthful audience. A few examples
will illustrate:
B— is for BISON— he looks overfed,

With brain food, of course, for he's surely
all head.
V— is for VULTURE— you'd think him a
prude.

But he's far from particular in the choice of
his food.

Following each is a brief view of the animal
chosen, photographed in the Zoo. A rare, and
welcome subject, suitable for child audiences.

February, 1923 ScHOOL DEPARTMENT

69

At Last! An Ideal Photoplay Production for Non-Theatrical

Exhibitions

THE LIFE AND WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

IN 5 REELS

This picture will appeal to all classes in the community gath-
ering. It brings both amusement and instruction to the children ;
it will surprise and hold the attention of those adults who had be-
come cynics regarding the films; it will please teachers, pastors,
social workers, and other welfare guardians of the community ; and
it is certain to interest the parents when they see how their chil-
dren enjoy this worthwhile picture.

Exclusive or None Exclusive contract and brand new positive prints available. No
percentage proposition considered

Write or wire

for prices on prints and exclusive territory; also bookings.
World rights controlled by

WHOLESOME EDUCATIONAL FILM COMPANY

804 So. Wabash Ave. CHICAGO, ILL.

Reviewed Previously

The films listed below are those which have been reviewed by the
Editor of the School Department in the first ten numbers of The Edu-
cational Screen. They are here summarized briefly.

LITERATURE AND HISTORY Jane Eyre (7 reels) Hodkinson— Brings
Lorna Doone (7 reels) First National— A Charlotte Bronte's novel to the screen with lit-
fine presentation of the classic which has been tie loss of dramatic effect. To be recommended
a favorite with most of us since childhood. for its finished acting, with Mabel Ball in as the
Maurice Tourneur deserves much credit for the heroine and Norman Trevor as Rochester. Ad-
faithful settings, fine sweep of action and splen- mirable for class study in connection with the
did characterization achieved by the principal original.

figures in the story. Madge Bellamy is Lorna, The Prisoner of Zenda (9 reels) Metro —
and Frank Keenan, Sir Ensor Doone. Ranking among the "year's best." A story of
Oliver Twist (8 reels) First National — A compelling power, directed by Rex Ingram, who
screen masterpiece, with Jackie Coogan demon- further justifies our confidence in his ability to
strating that one may be a master actor at the produce classics of the screen,
age of eight. One of the notable performances Timothy's Quest (7 reels) American Re-
in the history of the screen. leasing Corporation— The story of Kate Douglas
Rip Van Winkle (7 reels) Hodkinson— Wiggin's adequately translated into film form,
Thomas Jefferson gives a film version which with real New England backgrounds,
carries the true atmosphere of Irving's story. Our Mutual Friend (8 reels) Film Booking
Titled with somewhat modern phraseology, but Ofiices— An admirable rendering of Dickens'
faithful in the larger items of background and classic, eminently suited to school uses. Rich
setting. in characterization.

School Department

The Edu'cational Screen

Perfectly

Steady

Projection

Depends primarily upon
skillful accuracy in the con-
struction of the projector,
rather than upon its size and
weight. It is for this reason
that pictures shown with the

Tkt scttetioms of
stmndord films ij
almost tinlimiUd

ZENITH

Motion Picture
Projector

have theiteadyclearncMofthe ttrictly theatrical machines,
*wn at (uch lonR distances as 115 feet.
The price of the Zenith is extremely moderate, yet its wear-
ing quality and workmanship arc remarkable. Uses Mazda
Lamp, requiring no adjustment, and Universal Motor.
Takes any standard film. Stereopticon attachment, if de-
sired. ^«^lly guaranteed. Easily operated by anyone
anywhere. Portable, weighs 50 lbs.

SAFETY PROJECTOR COMPANY

310-312 West Second St. Duluth, Minn.

In writing for catalog, please mention this magazine.

No obligation involved. •■

The Man Without a Country (American Le-
gion)—.^n "adaptation" from Edward Everett
Hale, not without points of excellence, but seri-
ously marred by insufficient direction, scattered
action and poor photography.

Heidi of the Alps (2 reels) Prizma— The
childhood favorite, losing none of its appeal in
the screen version, and gaining much with the
addition of beautiful Alpine scenery and capable
acting on the part of the principal characters.
Especially suitable for child audiences.

Moongold (2 reels) Warren— The old story
of Pierrot and Pierrette, but in this case it is
Pierrette who wanders. A subject artistic in
hs presentation and beautiful in its photography,
with light figures against a background of dark
plush giving a silhouette eflfect.

The Brook (Sunset-Burrud) — A poem in
color— the lines of Tennyson's Brook illustrated
by scenes of a stream as it makes its way to the
sea. Views are in polychrome coloring.

JuUus Caesar (6 reels) Kleine— A life story
of Caesar, following his career until he becomes
Dictator, and picturing the conspiracy against
him and his subsequent overthrow. A splendid
production, correct in historical detail, and filmed
with fine eflfect.

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (24

reels) Universal — A "chapter play" which started
out well enough in picturing Defoe's hero, but
degenerated in later episodes to a depiction of
more elaborate and "thrilling" adventures than
Crusoe ever dreamed of on his desert island,

William Cullen Bryant (Hodkinson) — Amer-
ican Author Series — A brief illustrated sketch of
the poet's life, followed by scenes selected to
intepret lines from Thanatopsis and The Crowded
Street. Only moderately successful in the at-
tempt to picturize the subjective tone of Bryant's
poetry.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (Hodkinson) — A
pictorial biography, followed by a dramatization
of The Height of the Ridiculous, as typical of
Holmes' whimsical, humorous style, which lends
itself well to a picture version.

Edgar Allan Pee (Hodkinson) — The story
of Poe's early life prefixes the acting out of
Annabel Lee, done by two capable child actors.
One of the most artistic of the American Author
Series.

John Greenleaf Whittier (Hodkinson) — Not
so successful is the attempt to illustrate Whittier
by lines from the Barefoot Boy and Maud Mul-
ler. The latter falls far short of an ideal treat-
ment of the poem.

Washington Irving (Hodkinson) — Views of
the author's home are followed by characteristic
scenes from Rip Van Winkle and The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow. Both are adequately done.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Hodkinson)
— This reel follows the general plan of the series.
A sketch of Longfellow's life precedes scenes
from The Village Blacksmith. The film errs in
trying to do too much and to make more of the
poem than is in it.

With Stanley in Africa (18 episodes, each 2
reels in length) Universal— A very little history
along with a great deal of "thriller." The usual
succession of threatened dangers and hairbreadth
escapes of the ordinary serial, woven around the
story of Livingston and Stanley.

ART AND MUSIC

The Beggar Maid (2 reels) Hodkinson —
Based on Burne-Joncs' painting of Tennyson's
Beggar Maid, telling a charming story of the cir-
cumstances surrounding the painting of the pic-
ture, and weaving a romance around the central
characters. One of the beautiful Triart series.

The Bashful Suitor (2 reels) Hodkinson—
Another Triart picture, borrowing its theme from
the painting of Josef Israels. The story centers
around Gretel, her bashful suitor, and his less

February, ig2S

School Department

71

timid rival. Charming Dutch scenes and quaint
characters, an excellent cast and remarkable
photography combine to make an exceptional film.

Hope (2 reels) Hodkinson — The artist
(George Frederick Watt) tells to one of his
models the story of the lightkeeper's daughter,
which was the inspiration for the painting of his
picture. As it is acted before us, it forms a de-
lightful narrative, combined with some excep-
tional photography. Entirely up to the standard
of other Triart subjects.

The Song of the Lark (2 reels) Pathe— To
the girl of the story, the lark's song is symbolic
of her own freedom which her domineering
suitor threatens to overshadow. A bit amateur-
ish in acting, although the reels show much that
is pleasing in photography. A good program
subject.

Beethoven*s Moonlight Sonata (Prizma) —
The story of how Beethoven came to compose
this masterpiece, told in picture form, with Prizma
coloring. A program novelty.

TRAVEL AND SCENIC

Nanook of the North (6 reels) Pathe — A pic-
ture epic of life among the Eskimos. Not to be
overlooked by anyone who believes in the true
educational value of the screen.

Biskra the Beautiful (National Non-Theatri-
cal)— Characteristic views of this desert city, sit-
uated on one of the most famous oases of the
great Sahara. Types of Arab population are
shown, along with glimpses of camel caravans
and desert industries.

Deer Hunting in the Adirondacks (Prizma)
— Natural color views of this lake and mountain
country, seen in company with two deer hunters.

Snow-Bound Yosemite (Sunset-Burrud) —
Fairyland on the screen — the familiar features of
the park clothed in snow and ice.

China (Prizma) — A "natural color" tour
along some of China's rivers and in her crowded
city streets. Views of the famous Summer Pal-
ace and the Temple of the Sun are among the
most interesting in the reel.

Yosemite — Valley of Enchantment (2 reels)
Pathe — A well-nigh perfect reproduction, in
natural color, of the wonders of Yosemite.
Especially valuable for school classes, because
of its guide maps and the quality of its titling.

The Man Who Always Sat Down (Educa-
tional Films Corporation) — As is carefully con-
cealed by the title, the film is a rather remarkable
series of airplane views showing peaks of the
Alps, particularly the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.

The Ford
Educational Library

Special
Announcemen t

NEW PLANS

1. High Standard Educational

School Films at Low Cost.

2. Non-inflammable Standard

Width School Films.

3. Definite Synopsis and Teachers'

Aid for Each Film Lesson.

4. Reliable Projectors Free to Am-

bitious Schools.

5. Definite Plans to Aid Visual Ed-

ucation in Each School.

For full information on the above opportunities
offered to your school and community, fill out the
attached application blank and mail at once. This
service is limited and applications will be filled in
the order received.

New School Films

New Methods New Interest

Safety in the School

Ford Motion Picture Laboratories

Detroit, Michigan

_ _P^'D^i? Jl?£^£

APPLICATION BLANK

{Use this Form Only)

Give full information on this blank of the needs of
your school and community. On receipt of this blank
we will send details of the new plan whereby schools,
churches or community clubs may obtain a motion pic-
ture projector free and secure reliable educational films.

Name Official Position

School or Organization

Street City State.

Is a projector wanted? Direct or alternating

current? For school or auditorium?

Distance to screen? Number of pupils ready for

film lessons? How many reels of film are

needed each month?

The Perfec

DeVn

The DeVry j

12 53 Mariatina Stf

Projector

Perfect projection means more than just a clear,
(lickerless picture, as steady as a rock — it means ease of
operation, portability, simplicity in construction, as well.
Of course, the DeVry will give you flickerless pictures,
as steady and fine in detail as those in a regular theatre,
but in addition to this it combines the elements of abso-
lute simplicity in construction, ease in operation and
extreme portability.

Schools and churches, business houses and clubs,
national bureaus, governments and political organiza-
tions the world over are using DeVry's. That the DeVry
is standing the acid test of service, from the tundra
wastes of Baffin Land to the scorching plains of the
Sahara, is adequate proof of the ability of this projector
to stand up under the roughest abuse.

Where your program demands motion pictures of
theatrical quality — there should be a DeVry.

^rporation

CHicago^IlU

74

School Department

The Educational Screen

The Highway through Wonderland (Sunset-
Burrud)— Hardly up to the standard set by other
Sunset-Burrud subjects. The record of an auto-
mobile trip from San Francisco to Portland.

Algeria, the Ancient (Prizma)— Taking this
French colony of northern Africa as a general
subject, the reel devotes itself to showing some-
thing of Mohammedan life, the desert market
place in Biskra, and a glimpse of typical desert
dwellers at work making sun-dried brick. Beau-
tifully photographed.

The Cape of Good Hope (Prizma) — A reel
especially illuminating to those who least expect
to find beauty and evidences of progress in "dark-
est Africa." Here scenes of Table Mountain,
Cape Town, the bay, its rocky shores and bor-
dering highlands, are followed by views of the
late home of Cecil Rhodes, on Table Mountain,
and evidences of his achievements in South
Africa.

A Dream of the Sea (Sunset-Burrud) — A
succession of beautiful views done in polychrome
coloring, and titled with lines from Whittier-r-
a true scenic poem.

The Blanket Stiff (Educational) — A scenic
and industrial subject which the producers tried
to make so entertaining by injecting a story, and
dressing it with slangy titles, as to make it al-
most worthless for instructional purposes. Con-
tains some fine scenes taken in the wheat fields
of the Northwest.

The Lake of the Hanging Glaciers (Feder-
ated Film Exchanges)— A pack train trip along
a wilderness trail through a portion of British
Columbia. The reel is worthwhile only for its
views of the glacier at close range. Poorly titled.

The City Chap's Chant (Rothacker)— Too
much chant, and only a few views that deserve
the term scenic.

NATURAL SCIENCE
The Four Seasons (4 reels) Hodkinson—
One of the most remarkable nature study pictures
ever filmed. It shows the response of animal life
to its different environment from one season to
the next. Beautifully photographed, and titled
with real artistry.

Honey Makers (Pathe)— The life story of
the bees and their work, entertainingly told, and
admirably adapted for classroom use. Contains
some remarkable closeups, and unusual views of
the workers at their various tasks. One of the
series of Wonders of Life in the Plant and Ani-
mal World.

Ants, Nature's Craftsmen (Pathe)— These
marvels of intelligent community life form the

subject of this reel. The life cycle is traced, and
scenes show in detail the structure of ant dwell-
ings, and the remarkable way in which the ant
"workers" care for the young as they are hatch-
ing.

Major Jack Allen's Wild Animal Pictures
(Pathe) — Each a reel in length entitled, respec-
tively. Netting the Leopard, Roping the Black
Panther, and Capturing Lions by Aeroplane.
They are indirectly a study of these animals in
their native haunts, but much more emphasis is
laid on the chase and the capture. The latter
reel is especially poorly photographed and titled.

Wonderful Water (Prizma) — Combining all
the excellent features of the best scenic with
scholarly treatment of the subject matter: the
effect of running water and wave action upon
the land. Rich in educational material, and
titled with simplicity and directness.

Neptune's Neighbors (Prizma) — Glimpses of
under-water life in the ocean. Novel in subject
matter, and entertaining in presentation.

Seeing the Unseen (Prizma) — A study of
minute organisms by means of greatly enlarged
models. Photographed under the direction of
the American Museum of Natural History.

Depths of the Sea (4 reels) Ditmar — A series
dealing with odd forms of under-water life.
Rather unusual in that it seems a "natural"
presentation, free from the aquarium back-
grounds so common to subjects of this sort.
Its deep-sea actors are especially generous in
performing for the camera.

Jungle Vaudeville (Educational)— "Science
in a lighter vein"— a reel in which various ani-
mals take part in a vaudeville program. An orig-
inal idea for a comedy, but carrying no value
for instructional purposes.

INDUSTRIAL
White Pine— A Paying Crop for Idle Lands
(U. S. Department of Agriculture)— Shows the
reforestation of cut-over lands with white pine,
field planting and nursery practice.

The How and Why of Spuds (U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture)— A story of the potato in-
dustry as it is practiced with modern farm ma-
chinery in Aroostook County, Maine.

Alligator Hunting and Farming (i4 reel)
Fox— A response to the increasing demand for
leather. The industry as it appears in some of
our southern states, showing in addition the hunt-
ing of the animal in his native environment.

The Making of a Book (3 reels) Doubleday
Page and Company— The various processes f.
through which a book must go from linotype ,•

February, 1^23

School Department

75

Bausch & Lomb Portable Balopticon

Traveling lecturers and special instructors find the Model A Portable Balopticon to be
absolute insurance against projection failure.

In addition to reliability, its convenience will also be appreciated. The carrying case,
measuring only 1 33^2 x 1 1 x 6J^, is sturdily made and so easily balanced that it is ex-
tremely easy to carry.

Its 400- Watt gas-filled Mazda lamp operates on any
1 10-volt light circuit. This Balopticon can be fitted
with an acetylene burner, a 6-volt Mazda lamp, for
use with storage battery, or a 30-volt, 14-ampere
Mazda for private lighting plants.

Prices range from $57 to $70
according to equipment.

ASK YOUR DEALER FOR BOOKLET, OR WRITE TO US

Bausch ^Iprab Optical @.

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO ROCHESTER. N. Y. LONDON

machine to bindery — in all 80 operations done
with latest improved machinery and most up-to-
date equipment.

Farm For Sale (Homestead Films) — Shows
the advantage of using limestone on wornout
soils.

Land Clearing (3 reels) Distributed by Mich-
igan Agricultural College and the Department of
Agriculture, University of Wisconsin — The film
shows "brushing," blasting with dynamite, and
stump-pulling operations.

MISCELLANEOUS

Away Dull Care (Prizma) — Picturing a num-
ber of outdoor sports, and full of wholesome
entertainment value.

Sno-Birds (Prizma) — Devoted to winter pas-
times as they are to be seen at the Lake Placid
Club. All scenes in Prizma color.

Along the Moonbeam Trail (Lea-Bel) — A
fanciful, imaginative story of a journey to the
land of magic, particularly suited to an audience
of young, children.

A Trip through Filmland (3 reels) Eastman
Kodak Company — A cinema tour of Kodak Park,
and interesting views of manufacturing film stock
from the raw cotton and bars of silver to the
finished strip ready for the camera.

Magic Gems (Prizma) — A novelty reel,
showing some metals in their virgin state, and
many stones both precious and semi-precious. It
recounts some of the superstitions connected with
the wearing of particular gems.

Graphics (Educational) — The general name
for a number of reels, each a sort of screen mag-
azine or newspaper, containing feature story,
beauty section, sports and cartoon. Nothing ex-
ceptional.

Fresh Fish (Educational)— One of the Burr
series — and an exceptional comedy, of which it
must be said there are few. It combines photog-
raphy with animation cleverly. The actors are
a real boy and a cat, and the little animated
figures a dog, a boy, and a fish.

Water Sports (^ reel) Fox— A "sports" reel,
devoting itself to some of the more exciting mo-
ments of aquatic pastimes.

Thrills and Spills (^^^ reel) Fox— Describes
it exactly. Many of the scenes are photographed
at the winter carnival held in St. Moritz, Swit-
zerland, where skating, tobogganing and skiing
give exhibitions of skill.

Sketchographs (Educational)- '^What's the
Limit?" gives a cartoon history of war from
early times to the present, as an argument against
it and its attendant evils.

76

The haucational Screen

Notes and News

The Review Committee of the Cincinnati
Council tor Better Motion Pictures recently
published a compact and helpful booklet en-
titled

"Selected List of Motion Pictures
for Boys and Girls and Family Groups."

A foreword by the Chairman of the Review
Committee explains the nature and purpose of
the work, and another page gives detailed in-
structions as to the use of same. Then follow
the lists of films classified under Producers and
according to general character and content.
Index letters before each film indicate audi-
ences of different ages for which film is suit-
able. The leading player is always named,
number of reels is given, and necessary cuts
are indicated. At the end are offered "Twelve
Ready Programs" giving recommended films,
with practically no cuts needed, and names of
distributors handling the films. A page of
selected Exchange addresses closes the book-
let.

These booklets — while the supply lasts — will
be sent free upon request. Address inquiries
to 25 East Ninth St., Cincinnati, Ohio.

.nt

The Most Effective Tool

In the hands of Progressive Teachers

To make the Teaching of History,
Geography, Health, Literature,
Civics, Science. Fascinating, Memor-
able and Profitable.

The Victor Portable Stereopticon.
For Class Room, Small or Large
Auditorium. Brilliant Illumination —
Simple to Handle.

Catalogues on request

Slides Stereopticons Motion Pictures

Devereaux Projection Sales Co.

132 West 42nd St.
New York City

643^ Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, New York

After six years of experimenting, George K.
Spoor announces stereoscopic projection ii
perfected form. The key to the whole prob]
lem lies in a black and "penetrable" screen"
which creates the illusion of human vision
without the use of any mechanical device in the
hands of each individual optient, as has been
necessary with other methods devised tor
stereoscopic projection.

The invention requires new apparatus entire-
ly; special camera, high-powered projection,
and a film two and one-half times the size of
standard film. The screen contemplated will
measure 18 by 36 feet. Of present accessories
nothing will remain except the lights in the
studios and the seats in the theatre. Obviously
these features present a very grave obstacle in
the exploitation of the invention for general
use, but the announcement from so eminent a
figure in the moving picture world is signifi-
cant.

The princ'pal event at a recent meeting of
the Newark Public School Visual Education
Club at Burnet Street School was the presenta-
tion by Lieut. Ralph C. Bishop of "The Great
Adventure," an illustrated lecture accompanied
by six reels of exclusive battle scenes from
official sources.

It was an intensely interesting and histori-
cally valuable program. The film depicted a
living and authoritative unfolding of the epic
battle of the Meuse-Argonne. Clear, graphic
and complete, it offered for the first time to
the principals, teachers and educational au-
thorities of Newark an intimate view and study
of that colossal struggle. Described by one
who knew his subject thoroughly, it was alive
with human interest. Its presentation in New-
ark was one of the most exceptional opportun-
ities ever offered to the people of this city in
that it showed what actually took place during
the drama of the Argonne.

Some of the highlights of the film were— the
hurried embarkation of troops at Hoboken at
the outbreak of the war; the long range guns
in action at the battle of the Argonne — the
movements of the tanks and infantry through
heavy shell-fire; the aeroplane activities of
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and Lieut. Quentin
Roosevelt, and the grave of the latter; Armis- ^
tice celebration in Paris, and the Peace Con-

February, 1^23

Notes and News

77

"A Distinct Addition to Our Program'^

DEAN H. W. MUMFORD
College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Wrote

Homestead Films, Inc., January 31, 1923.

Mr. D. O. Thompson, President,
7510 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, 111.
Dear Mr. Thompson:

I am glad to write you that the film, Yoke of Age, was very well received at our Farmers' Week,
and was a distinct addition to our program. It should have a wide distribution and do a great deal
of good. (Signed) H. W. MUMFORD.

The YOKE OF AGE is a seven-reel story of the ups and downs of a country church.
Let it "do a great deal of good" in your community.

ference in session in the famous Hall of Mir-
rors at Versailles.

The conclusion of the film shows the Na-
tion's Capitol welcoming General Pershing and
the First Division as they march down beauti-
ful Pennsylvania Avenue.

It is only after seeing a lecture of this char-
acter that one is imbued with the true signif-
icance of the war. No room for theatrical and
sham heroics for the serious student of history
— war is stark, bare, ugly, naked, unless re-
deemed by a great principle, such as we fought
for four years ago. This is the message of
Lieut. Bishop to the people. This is the mes-
sage of the exponent of truthfulness.

The following announcement comes to us
from Edward Mayer, Secretary of the Depart-
ment of Visual Instruction at the University of
California:

"The History of North America" is a
compilation of extracts from the various
history motion pictures distributed by this
Department and is being exhibited for the
purpose of showing in a small way what
can be accomplished in educational motion
pictures. This film will cover the more
important events of discovery, colonization,
revolutionary and early national periods,
the Civil War and the period of reconstruc-
tion, the Spanish-American War, and re-
cent events in our country's history includ-
ing a few battle scenes and plans of action
of the World War.

This picture was shown to an invitation audi-
ence of Principals and Superintendents at
Wheeler Auditorium, Berkeley, on February
14th.

The National Academy of Visual Instruction
announces that one of the features of its Fourth

Annual Meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, February
27, 28 and March 1, 1923, will be the showing
of new class room educational films. An en-
tire evening will be devoted to this. Many of
these films will be shown for the first time and
some will be pre-release showings. This part
of the program has been made possible by the
co-operation of 30 film companies, says W. M.
Gregory, chairman of the Program Committee
and Director of Visual Education in the Cleve-
land Public Schools.

In connection with the work of showing
school children and "educators" the film "Thru
Life's Windows, the Tale of a Ray of Light",
the Eye Sight Conservation Council of Amer-
ica, brings the message of the importance of
normal eyesight to Chambers of Commerce,
Rotarians and other organizations, which have
for their object constructive work in the com-
munities which they serve. Thus, while the
Council's program was being conducted in the
schools of Newark and Paterson, N. J., the
business organizations of these two industrial
centers invited the discussion at their weekly
luncheons.

The Council opened its work in Newark,
N. J., on December 11, 1922, and following a
schedule prepared by the Newark Board of
Education, delivered the message to more than
ten thousand children ranging from six years
of age up to the adults in the State Normal
School. The message consists of the story
as told by the film, with supplementing lecture,
and lantern slides showing the deteriorating ef-
fect upon the student and the worker in shop
or office, or improper "lighting" and "glare".

This phase of the message heralded by the
Council is of such importance that every manu-
facturer and merchant should get in touch with
it. Of so great importance is it considered by

78

Notes and News

The Educational Screen

Atlention FREE Atlention

Are you interested in securing a
motion picture projector for your use
in your School, Church, Y. M. C. A".'
Rooms, Homes, Community Center,
and elsewhere, absolutely free of
charge, so that you may have the bene-
fit of motion pictures?

I will install a well known projector
and keep same in good condition abso-
lutely free of charge to you, and can
furnish you with the best and latest
films as often as you desire.

For further information
urite or call in person.

M. FELDSTEIN

804 So. Wabash Avenue
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

those who know best the matter of proper il-
lumination, that the head of a $100,000,000
lighting corporation is arranging to have his
entire force of specialists see the film and gain
thereby a better knowledge of the function and
workings of the human eye. He expressed
himself as believing the lesson taught thereby
would be of great value to his assistants in
their problem of furthering better illumination
for the home, school, store and factory.

The work of the Eye Sight Conservation
Council of America was emphasized in Pater-
son, N. J., during the week of December 18-21,
by Mayor VanNoort, issuing a proclamation
urging the necessity of care of eyesight on the
part of all Paterson people. The Mayor is a
professional man and consequently appreciates
fully the great need for the work that is being
done by the Council. The campaign in both
Newark and Paterson brought letters of com-
mendation from principals and teachers endors-
ing the work and testifying to the educational
value of the film.

During the month of January, 1923, the Eye
Sight Conservation Council will present its
message of eye correction and protection and

proper lighting in the schools of Elizabeth,
N. J., and in the schools of South, West and
East Orange, N. J., and in other parts of the
state of New Jersey.

During December, the Council's message
was carried to more than twenty thousand
school children and through the courtesy of the
managers of the larger movie houses in New-
ark, N. J., announcement of Eye Sight Con-
servation Week and the slogan "Save Your
Eyesight" was flashed before their audiences
throughout the week.

The Council will carry its work wltVi dilN
gence into all parts of the country and will
welcome the cooperation of Educators, Cham-
bers of Commerce, Industrial Organizations.
Parents and Teachers' Associations and Civic
Societies.

The largest incandescent lamp ever manu-
factured, having a capacity of 60,000-candle
power and rated at 30,000 watts, has just been
manufactured by the General Electric Co. It is
to be used in moving picture studios and is
said to be the most realistic representation of
sunlight that has yet been attained.

The lamp stands eighteen and one-halt inches
high and its bulb is twelve inches in diameter.
The light is equal to the combined light of
2,400 electric lamps of the size commonly used
in homes. The filament inside the bulb is made
of tungsten wire one-tenth of an inch in di-
ameter and ninety-three inches long, construct-
ed in four coils. If the wire in this filament
were drawn to the size used in the twenty-
five-watt household lamp, it would supply fila-
ment for 55,000 lamps.

In motion picture studios, where the lamp
is already being used, it is declared that the
results are much better than those obtained by
using arc lamps. The incandescent lamp has
no flicker and gives a softer toned light ray.
It has therefore been found more nearly idea!
for studio work. It is lighted from a 120-volt,
250-ampere circuit, consumes thirty kilowatts,
and costs to operate, figuring electric current
at 10 cents a kilowatt hour, $3 an hour.

EDUCATIONAL PICTORIAL RELIGIOUS

PICTURES WANTED

by a Christian Organization financially strong (Incor-
porated m Illinois) for Exclusive Distribution to the
Kehgious and Educational Organizations in the central
states. We have the public's confidence which insures a
quick and thorough distribution of

GOOD. WHOLESOME, SINCERE and CLEAN picture.*.
Address The Educational Screen

February, jp^j

79

From Hollywood

Conducted by Marguerite Orndorfif

Slow Motion Photography

ONE of the most interesting and mysteri-
ous things about the motion picture in-
dustry is the slow motion camera. Already
it plays an important part, and is bound to
play a much more important one in the future,
and yet about all we as audiences know of it
we get from the weekly news reels. A few, few
feet of film showing a dancer in w^hirlwind mo-
tion, or a football team in concerted action, or
a horse racing at high speed; then a caption:
"This is how it's done — isn't it easy?" and then
we see the movement repeated, this time so
slowly and precisely that we almost seem to be
dreaming. The big football tackle floats lightly
to the ground, stretches out his arms in leis-
urely fashion, and gathers in the swimming
quarterback. Gently they lie down on the
ground, and presently comes the rest of the
team to spread itself with all care and delibera-
tion over their prone forms. The horse, the
dancer, seem to have lost weight, to have taken
on the buoyancy of toy balloons; they, too,
float. They give the effect of divers walking
on the bed of the ocean, struggling against the
weight of their heavy shoes and the pressure
of the water. We almost expect to see a trail
of bubbles as they breathe. When the film
flashes back to normal speed again, we feel
more natural, and comment to the extent of
wondering how they do it. That's the myste-
rious part of it. The actual taking of the
picture itself is just the same as taking an ordi-
nary movie; the magic is all in the little box
with the crank.

The principle of the thing is this. The ordi-
nary movie camera takes one foot of film per
second, and there are sixteen "frames," or sep-
arate pictures, to the foot of film. The high-
speed camera — to give it its proper technical
name — is adjusted to take ten feet of film per
second, and when this film, containing ten times
the ordinary number of exposures of a given
motion, is projected on a screen at the normal
rate of speed, the motion is drawn out or re-
tarded, and the result is called "slow motion."

That is about as much as the layman is likely
to know about it for a time at least. The

secret of the high-speed camera is being jeal-
ously guarded by the few who know it. For
slow motion photography is only in its be-
ginnings, and the possibilities before it are so
vast that it behooves the originators of the
device to retain control of it as long as they
possibly can.

Mr. Ed Frowenfeld of the Novograph Film
Company, who told me about it, explained some
of its varied uses at present, and in speaking
of its future, declared that he hardly knew
vv^here to begin, because the possibilities for its
use are so numerous.

Industrially, for example, slow motion pho-
tography will be of value in detecting faults in
machines and their operation. A certain firm,
manufacturers of sewing machines, was having
trouble with its high-powered factory machines.
The thread continually broke at a certain
point and no one could locate the trouble.
Finally motion pictures were taken of the ma-
chines in operation, with a high-speed camera,
and the film revealed the fault.

Films of this sort will be of assistance in
teaching processes and methods to factory
workers. The successive steps in the canning,
bottling, labeling and packing of foods can be
shown to factory employes in many localities.
Another possible use will be to test steel and
concrete to determine the exact amount of
strain each will bear, and the precise point of
breakage.

We may imagine some of the results of slow
motion photography in modern surgery. It is
said that a few years ago, a famous surgeon
whose specialty was the tying of arteries, was
paid ten thousand dollars to perform a special
operation which could be filmed. The picture
was taken, but proved to be a failure, because
the ordinary camera could not record the rapid
motions. The high-speed camera will overcome
such difficulties. The most exacting operations,
those which must necessarily be performed
at top speed, can be recorded in the closest
detail. All of which means a distinct advan-
tage to surgeons and medical students the world
over; for, without the expense of travel and
study in the centers of such scientific knowl-

From Hollywood

The Educational Screen

edge, they can have the benefit of the skill and
experience of the great masters of surgery.

Scientific experiments in other fields can be
filmed and sent broadcast. The formation and
action of gases can be filmed for the study of
chemistry; certain laws of physics can be dem-
onstrated.

But perhaps the most effective uses of this
type of motion picture can be made in military
tactics and drills. At the time this country
entered the World War, slow motion photog-
raphy was just being developed, but even at
this experimental stage, a few films were made
for government use. That they were not used
to any great extent may have been due to the
confusion then existing among department
heads, and not to any failure of the film.s to
accomplish what was expected of them.

As an illustration of their effectiveness, I was
told about some slow motion films that were
made of a bayonet drill. In the rapid change
from one position to another in the soldier's
hands, the gun, it was discovered, actually left
both hands at the same time for a fraction of
a second — time enough, perhaps, to allow an
enemy soldier the advantage he needed. The
captain of the company thus photographed re-
fused to believe that such a thing was possible
until he was shown the pictures.

In army observation, and map making, too,
the high-speed camera has proved its value. I
was told of a picture taken from an airplane
in the second or two that it took to make a
complete loop in the air. Everything in the
picture was clear and slow; it was possible to
see everything that was going on, wherea
with the ordinary camera, the speed of the
plane would have been too great to allow of
any such minute detail.

Sports, too, will be able to claim the ad-
vantages of the high-speed camera. Pictures
of football scrimmage, taken during practice,
can be shown to a team afterwards, and all
weaknesses accurately analyzed. This, as a
matter of fact, is being done now to some
extent.

It may even be that close decisions in sports
will depend on pictures. In a film taken of a
running dog, the high-speed camera revealed
that in jumping a barrier, the animal's hind
leg touched it in three places, although appar-
ently he had cleared the board entirely.

The one thing that is holding back this gen-
eral development is the cost — a familiar tale.
The Novograph company, which has a practical
monopoly on the high-speed camera, keeps
four machines in use, two of which -are in a
continual state of being repaired. Two expert
men are constantly employed in replacing parts
and making adjustments. All this expense
added to the initial cost of the cameras must
be covered, so that the producer who uses slow
motion photography in his pictures, pays at
the rate of something like $250 a day for the
use of the cameras, and the services of their
operators. Or, if he needs less than a day's
work, he gets it on a footage basis, at about
$2 a foot. Those who are statistically inclined
will realize that this amounts to some $1200 a
minute while the camera is in operation.

Naturally the only person Who can afford the
luxury of slow motion photography is one who
is assured of a profitable return on his invest-
ment, and this person is, of course, the theat-
rical producer. The chief use, therefore, is for
entertainment — a few feet of slow motion film
are included in the news weeklies — animal
studies, boxing exhibitions, airplane stunts,
scientific experiments which may be of general
interest. Fast moving objects are best; the
contrast is largely the element that catches the
public.

But besides this the high-speed camera is in
great demand for the regular photoplay. Many
effects are obtained by its use that would be
impossible in any other way. I suppose there
are few tricks in the movie trade that are not
familiar to the blase public, but producers seem
unusually sensitive about revealing the secrets
of slow motion, preferring that their audiences
remain ignorant of how the thing is done.

Production Notes

Among the more notable of Paramount's
scheduled releases for the next six months are
— including several already mentioned in these
columns— a new version of Rex Beach's "The
Ne'er Do Well," starring Thomas Meighan,
Zoe Akins' "Declassee," starring Pola Negri,

"Hollywood," to be directed by James Cruze,
with a cast including practically every one of
the Lasky stars, C. B. DeMille's special pro-
duction, "Adam's Rib," George Melford's pro-
duction of Hergesheimer's "Java Head," James
Cruze's production of "The Covered Wagon,"

February, 1^2$

From Hollywood

81

Mr. Leonard Power,
president of the Na-
tional Association of
Elementary School
Principals, writes:

I must mention
what wonderful re-
sults we are getting
with the new Trans-
Lux Daylig-ht Screen.
. . . From now on
we shall go right on
with our pictures
with better visualiza-
tion than ever be-
fore, with all the
curtains up and win-
dows open. I regard
the invention of this
screen as one of the
big steps forward in
visual education.

Darkened Classrooms Abolished!

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used !n
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used wth artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.

And What Do Its Users Think?

m-

For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

American Lux Products
Corporation

50 E. 42nd St.

New York City

And Rev. Newell
Dwigrht HilUn, na-
tionally knoiiTn an
the pastor of Plym-
outh Church, Brook-
lyn, comments:

At the beginning
we were somewhat
skeptical as to the
results. ... I am
writing not only to
express my gratitude
to you, but to say
that without a single
exception the lec-
turers and ministers
who have used the
screen, both at every
hour during the day
and again at night,
pronounce it the best
screen that they have
ever used. It is quite
beyond any words of
praise.

Pola Negri in "Bella Donna,' Allan Dwan's
production of "Glimpses of the Moon," Alice
Brady in "The Snow Bride," Mary Miles
Minter and Antonio Moreno in "The Trail of
the Lonesome Pine," and "Adam and Eva,"
starring Marion Davies. In addition the com-
pany plans to revive "The Cheat," the picture
which first brought the Japanese actor, Sessue
Hayakawa into prominence.

Gilbert Ames' prize play, "The Hero" which
served Richard Bennett on the stage, has been
filmed with Gaston Glass, Barbara LaMarr and
John Sainpolis in the cast.

An experimental film of interest is
"M. A. R. S." produced by the Teleview Corpo-
ration, sponsors of stereoscopic movies in New
York.

The Metro Pictures Corporation, under di-
rection of Marcus Loew, proposes to abandon
entirely the "program" picture, and plans only
the production of "bigger" pictures. Accord-
ingly, the rights to Kipling's "The Light That
Failed" have been bought for Rex Ingram,
who will make the picture in England this
spring, after finishing his present production,
"Scaramouche." Latest reports add that Jackie
Coogan has signed a contract for four pictures
with Metro, although United Artists, headed
by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, also
offered him a contract.

- David Belasco's great stage success, "The
Girl of the Golden West" is being filmed for
Associated First National Pictures. Edwin
Carewe will direct, but the cast has not been
announced.

Goldwyn announces that King Vidor has

signed a contract as director. His first picture
will be the stage play "Three Wise Fools."

Marshall Neilan is at work on a story of his
own, "The Ingrate."

Rupert Hughes* newest picture is his own
story of studio life, "Souls for Sale."

Mary Pickford has announced her intention
of producing "Faust" with herself in the role
of Marguerite. It was rumored at one time
that D. W. Griffith would film it with Lillian
Gish, but difficulty with censors was anticipated,
so he gave up the idea. More recently, Ferdi-
nand Pinney Earle proposed to make the pic-
ture, and has actually done some work on it,
according to report. But as Miss Pickford can
usually be depended upon to do what she says
she is going to do, we may expect to see her
version of the famous story.

Will Rogers has signed a contract to make
two-reel comedies for the Hal Roach company.

D. W. Griffith has begun on a story of the
south, "The White Rose." Carol Dempster,
Mae Marsh and Ivor Novello are in the cast.

Jack London's "White Fang" has been pur-
chased by Lawrence Trimble and Jane Murfin,
to be produced with the dog, Strongheart.

Cecil B. DeMille plans to start work in the
spring on a picture version of the Ten Command-
ments. This choice of subject matter is the re-
sult of an idea contest recently conducted by Mr.
DeMille. Jeanie MacPherson is working on the
screen arrangement.

Paramount will release thirty-nine pictures
during the six months beginning with February,
topping the list with Pola Negri in her first
American film.

82

The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice-President: Mrs, Claire S. Thomas, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney. Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Educa-
tion, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Toothaker, Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dudley Grant Hays, Ass't Supt. of Schools,
Chicago, Illinois.

W. M. Gregory, School of Education, Cleve-
land, Ohio.

A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark,
New Jersey.

J. W. Shepherd, Department Visual Education,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.

Carlos Cummings, Society of Natural Science,
Buflfalo, New York.

A. W. Abrams, University of the State of New
York, Albany, New York.

W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madi-
son, Wisconsin.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
W. M. Gregory, Chairman, Cleveland, Ohio.
J. V. Ankeney, Columbia, Missouri.
J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma.
Alfred W. Abrams, Albany, New York.
Dudley Grant Hays, Chicago, Illinois.
Edw. H. Reeder, Detroit, Michigan.

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
J. V. Ankeney, Columbia, Missouri.
Dudley Grant Hays, Chicago, Illinois.
W. M. Gregory, Cleveland, Ohio.

10.

11.
12.

CHAIRMEN OF STANDING
COMMITTEES
Research and Standards

J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma

Projection Equipment

. . . . C. G. Reinerton, Jackson, Minnesota
Motion Pictures

R. E. Offenhauer, Lima, Ohio

Lanternslides

A. W. Abrams, Albany, New York

Literature on Visual Instruction

W. M. Gregory, Cleveland, Ohio

Museum and Exhibits

Barrett, Mikmukee, Wisconsin

Community and Group Service

J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma

Legislation

A. P. HoLLis, Chicago, Illinois

Nomenclature

J. J. Nalder, Pullman, Washington

Film Review

Development and Publicity

A. P. HoLLis, Chicago, Illinois

Publications

J. V. Ankeney, Columbia, Missouri

Publicity Committee

D Y order of President Hays, I hereby appoint cation in the Educational Screen or for dis'
^-^ the followmg Publicity Committee. The tribution to the press,
functions of this committee are as follows:

1. To furnish to the chairman of the pub-
lications' committee monthly or more frequent-

2. To keep the Academy and its work b
fore the educators of its community.
. 3. To make recommendations to the public;

ly, articles and news items suitable for publi- tions' committee.

February, 1923

The National Academy

83

This committee will have its first meeting
at Cleveland during the annual meeting.

PUBLICITY COMMITTEE

Chairman, A. P. Mollis, Chicago, Illinios.
Western Section
Chairman — A. Loretta Clark, Los Angeles,
California.
F. L. Griffin, University of California,

Berkeley, Cal.
R. F. Egner, University of Utah, Salt

Lake City.
Dorthea Talbert, Director of Visual Ed.,

Denver, Colorado.
J. J. Nalder, Director University Exten-
sion, Pullman, Wash.
Central Section
Chairman — Naomi Anderson, Chicago Illinois.
Charles Roach, Visual Instruction Service,
Ames, Iowa.

George L. Dickey, Agricultural Ed., Col-
lege Station, Texas.
E. E. Oberholzer, Supt. of Schools, Tulsa,

Oklahoma.
J. H. Beveridge, Supt. of Schools, Omaha,
Nebraska.

Eastern Section
Chairman — Dr. Carlos Cummings, Director of
Visual Education, Buffalo, N.Y.
L. Otis Armstrong, Agricultural Education,

West Raleigh, N.C.
A. C. Eckart, Springfield Night Schools,

Springfield, Ohio.
A. L. Thomas, Director Visual Education,
Auburn, Ala.

J. V. Ankeney,
Secretary of the Academy.
Columbia, Mo.
February 1, 1923.

9:00

9:30

The Fourth Annual Meeting

THE fourth Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Visual Instruction
will be held at Cleveland, Ohio, February 27, 28, and March 1, 2. All
sessions will be held at the School of Education.

Superintendents and teachers from all parts of the United States have an
opportunity to observe at first hand actual class demonstrations of teaching where
slides, films, charts, models, pictures, and other visual aids are used. In addition
to this, the Academy has prepared a strong program. Commissioner of Educa-
tion J. J. Tigert, superintendent Jones of Cleveland, Ohio, Superintendent Wilson
of Berkeley, California, Doctor Frank Freeman, University of Chicago, are
among the speakers. The official program follows :

Program

February 27 to March 1, 1923

Tuesday, 9 a. m. — Room 216.

Registration, Room 216.

Appointment of Committees — General

Announcements.
Visual Education — Its Scope, Meaning

and Value — Dudley Grant Hays,

1:30

2:15

10:30

11:00

1:00

President of the National Academy of
Visual Instruction and Director of Vis-
ual Education, Chicago Public Schools.

Practical Visual Instruction — Supt. R.
G. Jones, Cleveland Public Schools.

Visual Instruction in Relation to Pur-
poseful Study — Supt. H. B. Wilson,
Berkeley, California.

Lunch — School of Education Cafeteria.
1 p. m. — Room 216.

Visual Education in the United States —
A. P. HoLLis, University of Chicago
{Fifth Grade Class).

9:00

Testing a film— "Iron and SittX"— {Fifth
Grade Class)— Dr. F. D. McClusky,
Dept. of Education, University of Illi-
nois, Urbana.

Testing the Educational Value of the
Moving Picture — Dr. Frank N. Free-
man, University of Chicago, School of
Education, Chicago.
8 p. m.

(School of Education Auditorium.)

Special Evening Program of Educa-
tional Films.

(Special reviews of new school films
provided through the courtesy of
thirty film producers.)

Wednesday, 9 a. m. — Room 216.

Announcements.

Analysis of Class Room Use of Slides
in One School for a Period of Eight

84

The National Academy

The Educational Screen

Years — Sherman Howe, Supt. of
Schools, Corning, N. Y.
9:30 Some Fundamental Aspects of Visual
Instruction— A. W. Abrams, Chief of
Bureau of Visual Education, Albany,
N.Y.
10:00 Methods Used in Organizing a Slide Li-
brary for a Large School System —
Rupert Peters, Director of Visual In-
struction, Kansas City Schools.
Discussion,

Report of Committee.
Lunch — School of Education Cafeteria.
1 p. m. — Room 216.
1:00 Teaching Geography by Pictures —
Edith Parker, School of Education,
University of Chicago.
2:00 National Exchange for Lantern Slides —
Dr. C. E. Cummings, Director of Vis-
ual Education, Buffalo, New York..
2:30 A Comparison of the Educational Value
of Lantern Slides and Moving Pic-
tures in Education.
For the Moving Picture — Dr. F. Dean

McClusky.
For the Slide — A. W. Abrams.

8 p. m.
(School of Education Auditorium)
Special Evening Program of Educa-
tional Films.
(Special reviews of new school films
provided through the courtesy of
thirty film producers.)
Meeting of the Ohio Visual Instruction
Association.

8:15 p. m.— Room 216.
^ Mr. a. C. Eckhart, Springfield, Ohio,
Chairman.
Definite plans for completing state or-
ganization in Visual Education.

Thursday, 9 a. m. — Room 216.

9:00 Material for Film Instruction in City
Classes — E. H. Reeder, Director of
Visual Instruction, Detroit Public
Schools.
9:30 A Program for State Wide Film In-
struction— H. W. Norman, Visual In-
struction Dept., University of Indiana,
Bloomington.
10:00 Cooperation in Foreign Film Loans,
Plans for Practical Operation —
Charles Tooth aker. Curator Philadel-
phia Commercial Museum.
10:30 Technique of Chart Construction — J. V.
Ankeney, University of Missouri, Co-
lumbia, Missouri.
11:00 A Summary of Definite Research Prob-
lems in Visual Education — J. W.
Shepherd, University of Oklahoma,
Norman, Oklahoma.
Lunch — School of Education Cafeteria.
1 p. m. — Room 216.
1:00 Committee Reports.

2:00 Using the Motion Picture for Instruc-
tion— A. G. Balcom, Assistant Supt. of
Schools, Nezvark, New Jersey.
3:00 The Educational Screen as the Official
Organ of the Academy — Nelson L.
Greene, Editor of the Educational
Screen.
4:00 Business Meeting.

8 p. m.
(School of Education Auditorium)
Informal Address — "Visual Education'
• — Hon. J. J. TiGERT, Commissioner of

Education, Washington, D. C.
Special Program of Educational Films.
(Special reviews of new school films,
especially provided through the cour-
tesy of thirty film producers.)

Special Announcements

1. Demonstration in Visual Instruction.

The Observation School of the Cleveland
School of Education will give in all grades
daily demonstrations in visuaHzation of
school subjects by slides, pictures, films,
stereographs, etc. Request the special
visual program.

2. Catalogue of Foreign Slides, Pictures and

other visual material. This material is
catalogued and may be used on applica-
tion at the library.

3. The Secretary's office is in Room 218.

4. Mail, telegrams, and packages should be

addressed to:

W. M. Gregory,

Educational Museum,

Cleveland School of Education,

Station E,

Cleveland, Ohio.

5. Special Displays in Room 210:

Cleyeland Art Museum, Cleveland Natur
History Museum, Field Museum, St. Loui.
Educational Museum, Buffalo Natural His-
tory Museum.

i February, 1^23

Advertisement

85

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Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

jg The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The V^isual Instruction Association of America]

OFFICERS

President— Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York Schools, New York City.
Vice-President— A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary— Dq-n Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer— Charles H. Mills, Director of Publicity of the Boy Scouts of America.
Corresponding Secretary— Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

Essential Elements of Visual Instruction
An Introduction

By Ernest L. Crandall, President

In this article President Crandall begins a series of what might be termed
thumb nail sketches of the evolution of visual instruction, to be continued
from month to month. Each article will be brief and deal with some single
phase of the question. (Editor's Note.)

IN approaching any new subject the logically
trained mind is impelled to formulate three
questions, — what, why and how? If you do
not regard visual instruction as a new subject,
the writer would suggest that you try to find
a comprehensive treatise on the subject in any
pedagogical library, or even a reasonably thor-
ough treatment of it in any work on principles
and methods of teaching. If you locate such a
volume or chapter, the writer will be obliged
for the information. To be sure there has been
built up quite a mass of periodical hterature on
the subject, but to say that this lacks both
direction and cohesion is stating the case
mildly.

Perhaps an equally interesting experiment
would be to ask any educator for an ofif-hand
definition of visual instruction. The writer has
tried that experiment, with results sometimes
amazing, not infrequently amusing and almost
always somewhat vague. Yet the term is cur-

rent coin in educational circles today. Doubt-
less we all have a pretty fair idea of what we
mean to include under it, but our definition has
thus far lacked precision. Obviously we shall
do well to begin at the beginning.

One of the elemental modes of definition is
definition by contrasts or by opposites. Every
practical teacher uses this, — as, for example,
long is not short, hot is not cold, new is not
old, or, as the polite little girl said when asked
how she liked school, "Well, you know, it is not I
exactly heaven." j

There is reason for applying this method of!
definition to visual instruction, if only to eradi- 1
cate some current misconceptions. \

First of all, then, visual instruction does not '
mean "movies in the schools." Yet this is the
popular conception. Send any item of visnr't
instruction news to any newspaper and tl
is the caption your contribution will get.
"Movies in the Schools." That is also as far

February, 192^

The Visual Instruction Association

87

some minds have travelled on the subject even
in school circles. There is no occasion to be
scornful about this, for it is about as far as any
of us had gotten, not so very long ago. Ask a
principal if he believed in visual instruction and
he would tell you: — "Certainly, — we have mo-
tion pictures in our school every week. The
children enjoy them very much." "But," you
might inquire, "are they educational motion
pictures?" "Yes," he would probably reply,
'"they are very instructive, at least, most of
them."

I That same principal would never have thought
of alluding only to experiments in natural
Iscience, if you inquired whether his teachers
'used the inductive method. He would have in-
isisted that the inductive method applies in any
subject when the teacher works from the spe-
cific or concrete to the general or abstract; and
|he would have cited cases in geography, in
mathematics, even in grammar, to reinforce the
more obvious examples.

Neither would that same principal have
dreamed of referring to a series of talks in the
auditorium or assembly room as "educational,"
no matter how interesting or instructive these
might have been. He would have been keenly
conscious that the term "educational" should
be applied only to some organized and syste-
matic presentation of the materials of instruc-
tion based on definitely recognized psychologi-
cal principles and following established
pedagogical practice.

In either of these instances he would be on
familiar ground, but the new expression "visual
instruction," caught him oflf his guard. Thus
it was that most of us thought we were really
doing something, when we brought a few score
or a few hundred children together and gave
them a movie show of a reasonably high order.
Perhaps we were not doing any harm. Assur-

edly we were not accomplishing much good.
Incidentally we were retarding the advent of
real visual instruction, by contenting ourselves
quite too readily with what should be termed
either a pitiable make-shift or a palpable make-
believe.

We have been getting away from that stage
quite rapidly in the last few years, but there is
still occasion to insist upon a few fundamental
considerations. First among these is the equal
recognition of all types of visual aids. Since
visual instruction rests quite obviously upon
the use of various mechanical aids to visualiza-
tion, it is of first importance to divorce our-
selves from the notion that only the most
obvious of these should constitute our teaching
tools.

Visual instruction, then, does not consist ex-
clusively in the use of motion pictures; nor
should this be the dominant note in our concep-
tion of it as a method. Neither should we
regard the slide and the stereograph as the only
other aids to visualization. These are perhaps
twin elder sisters of the film which is the most
youthful member of the visual instruction fam-
ily; but it is a large family. These three are
after all but representations of reality. There
are various aids to visualization which depend
upon direct sense experience, rather than a sub-
stitute. There are others which, while purely
representative, serve some purposes better than
the slide, the stereograph or the film. The true
visual instructionist should seek assuredly to
catalogue all such instrumentahties, to evaluate
them all, severally and individually, and to al-
locate to each its appropriate place in the teach-
ing process.

Having made this point, we must bring this
introductory article to a close, hoping in the
next issue to get a little farther away from
what visual instruction is not and a little nearer
to what it is.

V. I. A. of A. Activities at Cleveland

By Ruth Overton Grimwood, Executive Secretary.

The Visual Instruction Association of Amer-
ica will make its second appearance in public
at the Cleveland convention of the Superintend-
ents' Division of the National Education Asso-
ciation. As a great many of the readers of this
magazine will remember pleasantly, at the
Boston meeting of the N. E. A. last July, this
association made its formal bow to the educa-
tional world.

At that meeting, the association gave a con-
tinued program of the latest and best in films
and slides for educational use. This demon-
stration in Mechanics Building was enthusi-
astically received. Since that time, the efforts
of the association have been directed toward
perfecting its national organization. One of the
necessary features for a successful functioning
of the V. I. A. of A. is that there must be a

88

The Visual Instruction Association The Educational Screen

well balanced reciprocity of activity between its
members in every section of the country. The
purpose of this organization is to serve as a
clearing house for all visual instruction needs
and information.

The Executive Board of the Visual Instruc-
tion Association of America is now complete.
The following members have recently been
added to complete its roster: Dr. John F. Fin-
ley, formerly State Commissioner of Education
of the State of New York, and now Associate
Editor of the New York Times; Professor
George D. Strayer of Columbia University;
Miss Olive Jones of the Board of Education of
the city of New York, and Mrs. Susan B.
Dorsay, Superintendent of Schools of Los
Angeles.

The association will be privileged to present
showings of educational film in the main audi-
torium after three of the important sessions. It
is also arranging for a continuous demonstra-
tion of visual aids in one of the headquarters
hotels, and now completing a program of varied
and pertinent interest to educators. It has a
good amount of material placed at its disposal.
The programs have been designed to present
to those who are not aware of the value of
visual aids examples of the newest and best
material for instructional use. Attention will
be given to the method of its presentation in
the class-room; for those who as yet have not
discovered how far an advance has been made
along the road to visual instruction, representa-
tives will answer all queries, and present as

convincingly as possible a visual proof of the
efficacy of visual aids to education.

Several unusual features have been pre-
pared. The aim of the program committee has
been to cover the field from as many angles as
possible. Some new methods of class-room
presentation will be afiforded a demonstration.

The membership of the V. I. A. is drawn
from three classes of those most keenly inter-
ested in the field; educators, producers and
distributors. There is absolute equality among
these members, the only discrimination being
that on the Executive Board, under the consti-
tution, there must be a preponderance of edu-
cators. This insures the shaping of the policy
of the association.

Great progress has already been achieved by
the round table conferences of the various
members. A greater confidence has grown into
existence on all sides. Laying on the table
the problems which present themselves on all
sides has brought a broader understanding and
appreciation to the members of the association.
It is only by the preparatory development of
such an organization that the field of visual
instruction will ever see its immense possibili-
ties made practical. The law of supply and
demand is immutable. Any group of producers
and consumers who recognize this fact must
inevitably head toward success in their line of
endeavor. The Visual Instruction Association
of America has in its hands the key to the solu-
tion of the problem confronting the whole
scheme of visual education, and is stepping on
courageously toward its goal.

Special Notice From the U. S. Post Office

WE are glad to print the following spe-
cial notice issued by The Educational
Bureau of the Chicago Post Office.
Universal observation of this advice would
greatly facilitate progress in the visual field.

Important to Exhibitors

As a general rule, motion picture films
are moving on a regular schedule from
place to place for exhibition and display
on previously arranged dates, and failure
to arrive at destination on time not only
seriously inconveniences the address
but entails a consequential loss upon the
shipper, as the films are exhibited upon a
rental basis.

We are requested by the Post Office
Department through the Chicago Post-
master to advise exhibitors of the fact
that parcels of films when remailed must
bear legible addresses, and that if the old
labels are not removed the new label or
address should be so placed as to com-
pletely obscure or obliterate the original
address.

With this cooperation on the part of
exhibitors, the mis-sending of film parcels
should be reduced to a minimum.

The Educational Bureau,
Chicago Postofl&cc.

I

February, 1923

89

Among the Producers

(This department belongs to the commercial companies whose activi-
ties have a real and important bearing on progress in the visual field.

Within our space limitations we shall reprint each month, from data
supplied by these companies, such material as seems to offer most infor-
mational and news value to our readers.

We invite all serious producers in this field to send us their literature
regularly. — Editor.)

Old Testament in Motion Pictures

This visualization of the world's greatest
story, the Old Testament, has been released by
the National Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures,
Inc., of 130 West 46th Street, New York and
will soon be seen in the various churches of
the city.

These remarkable films made b}^ the eminent
Italian producer Armando Vay, will be shown
first in churches of various denominations and
later in schools and religious and welfare in-
stitutions, throughout the United States, ex-
clusively through the National Non-Theatrical
exchanges.

This production cost over three millions of
dollars and occupied the working hours of ten
directors, fifteen photographers and an army
of technical assistants for a period of five
years, under the supervision of Pietro Antonio
Gariazzo. A large part of the money used to
produce these films is said to have been ad-
vanced by the Italian Government, who de-
sired these to be the most elaborate and
impressive films ever released, on this subject.

In order to secure the authoritative informa-
tion that was necessary to insure historical
accuracy, the directors and scenic writers made
trips all over the world to seek advice from the
leading archeologists, antiquarians and students
of Biblical history. The film, therefore, repre-
sents all of the leading knowledge that we have
been able to gather together by centuries of
patient research concerning the conditions of
life in Egypt, Palestine and adjacent regions
thousands of years ago. Particular pains were
taken in the costuming of the thousands of
men, women and children employed.

In creating the film of the Holy Bible the
Italians carried their operations to the for-
bidden, almost unexplored, Sinai and to many
other scenes of the Bible story. They located
a large part of the story upon Mount Sinai,
where Jehovah spoke to Moses and gave him
the Ten Commandments. Other parts of the
picture were taken in Egypt. Palestine, Baby-
lonia and many scenes were taken in the Sahara

Desert. The Italians and their Government
hired the inhabitants of entire towns to take
part in certain scenes, entire tribes of Arabs,
kings and chiefs, and all the members of ancient
monasteries and convents in the East. In one
scene, the building of the Tower of Babel in
Mesopotamia they employed over twenty thou-
sand actors, and in the entire film more than
one hundred thousand actors were employed.

The stories visualized, include the following
episodes; Creation Adam and Eve, the punish-

Rebecca accompanies Abraham's servant
to become the wife of Isaac

ment of man's first disobedience. Cain and
Abel and the first murder. The Wickedness
before Noah. Noah, the ark and the Worldr
wide tragedy of the Deluge. The fiery de-
struction of the wicked cities of the plains
Sodom and Gomorrah following the visit of the
angels to Lot and his family. The patriarch
Abraham and Sarah, his wife, and the an-
nunciation of the coming birth of Isaac, son of
their old age. The preparation to obey the
divine command to sacrifice Isaac in the full
devotion and obedience to the will of God. The
story of Isaac and his wooing of Rebecca. Of

uo

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

Esau and Jacob and the barter of a birthright
for a mess of pottage. The love of Jacob and
Rachel. The seizure of Joseph by his brethren
and his sale as a slave. The imprisonment of
Joseph and his rise as the first Prime Minister
of Egypt; and First Food Administrator of
record. The meeting of Joseph and his breth-
ren and the incident of the silver cup in the
sack of Benjamin. Reconciliation of Joseph
and his brothers. Discovery of Moses in the
Bullrushes. Deliverance of the children of
Israel from Egypt. The Miracles of Moses.
The Exodus with the magnificent spectacle of
the crossing of Red Sea, and the destruction
of Pharaoh's pursuing army. The journeyings
of the children of Israel thru the desert. The
feast of Manna. Moses smiting the rock; the
Ten Commandments, the Worship ,of the
Golden Calf. The assumption of authority by
Joshua. The solemn impressing parting of
Moses from his people and his ascent into
Mount Nebo to die. Then follows the unfold-
ing of the most beautiful love story ever told
— the wooing of Ruth, The marvelous spectacle
of the glory and splendor of the court of King
Solomon; his royal entertainments and wise
judgments, all shown with an accuracy and
wealth of detail and a perfection of artistic pres-
entation unrivalled in motion picture produc-
tion. The picturing of the idealism of the Song
of Songs, which is Solomon's, with all its
imagery, and the Shulamite personifying its
marvelous emotional climax.

mm

MtJ

Building the Tower of Babel

Each one of these extraordinary series of
productions of wonder Bible stories, adheres
strictly to Biblical history. There is nothing
extraneous, nothing amplified in this heart
gripping, visualized series of Biblical subjects;

the directors adhered closely to the narratives
with their subtle beauty in color, atmosphere and
the types of people which still exist today in
the places where the stories originated.

Nothing can be more nobly inspiring than
these vivid picturings of the soul-awakening
narratives of the Old Testament.

The Message of Emile Coue

Emile Coue, famous French apostle of auto-
suggestion, and at present the most talked of
man in the world, is to put his message on the
screen in the form of a two-reel picture called
"The Message of Emile Coue," which Educa-
tional Film Exchanges, Inc., will release as its
next Short Subject Special. The little druggist
of Nancy will thus carry his message of hope
to the many millions throughout the world who
are unable to hear his lectures or attend his
clinics.

Since coming to the United States recently
to lecture on his theory of auto-suggestion as
a means of attaining health in body and mind,
M. Coue has been flooded with offers from mo-
tion picture producers to make a picture in
which he would personally appear. Having no,
desire for personal gain, M. Coue rejected all
these offers, some of them carrying immense
salaries, until a scenario was submitted to him
which conveyed his message as he wanted to
give it. His share of the proceeds from the
film will go toward founding a Coue Institute
in New York City.

M. Coue and his advisers rejected all scripts
based upon fiction or romance, refusing to al-
low his appearance in the light of a miracle
man.

"The cinema," said M. Coue in approving the
final plans to put his message on the screen, "is
one of the most important agencies in existence
for the wide dissemination of an educational
message on an entertainment basis.

"As a teacher I much desire to have its help,
but I have no ambitions as an actor, and do
not wish to be financially benefited. This edu-
cational screen story is the only one I have
authorized or will authorize for the present,
and the many flattering offers are declined with
deep and sincere thanks."
George Kleine's Educational Film Production

Six reels, constituting six lessons on "Magne-
tism and Electro-Magnets," are available to
schools and college departments. The reels
were photographed in the studios of Thomas
A. Edison, Inc.

The lessons will be sold outright, together or

February, ig2S

Among the Producers

91

separately, and. arc supplied in standard width
film on either inflammable or non-inflammable
stock. The reels vary in length and are sold
by the foot. New prints are made and shipped
within two weeks from receipt of order. Prices
are exceedingly low.

The general contents and approximate length
of each reel are as follows:
Lesson I. Magnetic and non-magnetic

substances, Magnetization 815 feet

Lesson IL The Magnet, Laws of At-
traction and Repulsion 350 "

Lesson IIL The Magnetic Field 405 "

Lesson IV. Molecular Theory of Mag-
netism 535 ''

Lesson V. The Magnetic Field (Con-
tinued) 655 "

Lesson VL The Solenoid and Electro-
Magnet 540 "

Further information may be had from George
Kleine Productions, 114 South Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, 111.
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" Started
Work has begun at Universal City on "The
Hunchback of Notre Dame," a picturization of
Victor Hugo's celebrated novel. Wallace
Worsley, the special director engaged to handle
the making of the Hugo picture, has assembled
an unusual cast, and has given the final seal
of approval for the gigantic sets now being con-
structed.

Signalizing the beginning of work on the big
picture, the entire Universal studio plant cele-
brated the laying of the corner stone of the big
structure, which is to be a full size replica
of the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, of Paris.
This will be the most ambitious building ever
put up for a motion picture. It will reproduce
in great detail all the architectural eccentricities
of the old world edifice. Scores of ten-foot
plaster statues are being turned out in the Uni-
versal City work-shops to fit into niches in the
Cathedral.

The replica of the Cathedral alone will take a
small army of carpenters, plasterers and other
workmen. This set will be one hundred and
fifty feet wide and two hundred and twenty-
five feet high. The huge church will be built
with the three great doorways, with the two
towers, the spires, the Gallery of Kings, and
the large plaza in front of it.

Other sets being constructed include a re-
production of the famous Court of Miracles,
that strange quarter of old Paris where the
mendicants, cripples and fakirs congregated in

the 15th Century, the Place de la Greve, wher.-
criminals were tortured and punished, tht-
Palace of Justice, court room, mansions, and
many Parisian streets. In connection with the
Cathedral there will be an immense interior
vista of the church's aisles and pillars.

The cast assembled by Worsley, and the
executives of the Universal corporation, is one
of the strongest ever put into one picture by
Universal. Norman Kerry plays the role of
Phoebus, the young hero of the novel. Lon
Chaney will play Quasimodo, the weird little
hunchback bell ringer of Notre Dame. Tully
Marshall as Louis XI, Raymond Hatton as
Gringoire, the poet, are other notable members
of the cast.

Dining Car Movies With Pathe Program

Railway passenger service enterprise, accord-
ing to accounts printed in Illinois and St. Louis
newspapers, has proved the utility of free mo-
tion picture shows aboard limited trains and
in terminal waiting rooms,

George J, Carlton, veteran passenger traffic
manager of the Chicago & Alton, is on record
as "father of the dining car movie show," He
was in charge of this original experiment, as-
sisted by other officials of the road. The dining
car projector was operated by A. B. Craven, of
the DeVry Corporation. It was especially con-
structed to overcome vibration, regardless of
rough tracks or rolling waves.

The train was late at Springfield, "but the
passengers were not worried. The first rail-
road movie show had been in operation in the
dining car, and the passengers had b»cn en-
joying the novelty of a complete screen pro-
gram— Harold Lloyd in 'Grandma's B03','
Aesops Fables, the animated cartoon — the
whole works minus advertisements of coming
releases and the tailoring establishments. They
didn't care whether they ever got to St. Louis."

The arrangements for the show were admir-
ably simple. Between meals the tables in the
dining car were removed, the chairs were ar-
ranged to form a miniature auditorium, a screen
was hooked in place, and the neat, compact
machine was mounted on a table at the other
end of the car. Then the shades were drawn,
the lights turned ofif and the reel put in motion.

About two years ago it is remembered that a
similar experiment was made aboard a train on
a Southern railroad. Reports agreed that the
passengers were delighted. But, at the time,
it appears that mechanical obstacles stood in
the way of repeating the experiment.

92 The Educational Screen

Theatrical Film Critique

(Beginning with the March issue, this department will be combined with the depart-
ment "From Hollywood" under the new name "The Theatrical Field." The enlarged
department will be conducted by Miss Marguerite OrndorfT, teacher of English in the
Indianapolis Public Schools. Correspondence is invited on matters pertaining to this
department and all communications will be handled by Miss Orndorff personally. —

Editor's Note.)

fashion. But pretty she is and lovable in spite
of it, as one would expect. She is a poor lodg-
ing house drudge who sneaks out to meet the
Boy every time his ship comes in and poverty
and every other foe to romance are forgotten
when they look into each other's faces. Fear-
less as she is and determined in her love, she
even tries a hand-to-hand with the old "Fury"
himself when their tryst is menaced by his ap-
pearance. She furnished much of the humor
of the play, but has moments of pathos as in
the wrecked wedding plans, that show the Gish
characteristics at their best.

In the end old "Fury" died, the Boy finds his
mother and the two faithful lovers are united.
One of the best things in the play — in fact one
of the most artistic pieces of acting Barthel-
mess has ever done is in the finding of his
mother. How his slightly shaking hand runs
over her ragged shawl, and his eyes round out
with wonder! He has a way all his own and
prejudiced as one may be against this dread-
fully overworked, sticky-sentimental "mother
stufif," there is none of it here. One is bound
to find a little tear in his eye — or at least a
gulp of admiration for the utterly concealed
art with which Richard Barthelmess is able
to do it.

PEG O* MY HEART (Metro)

"Peg o' My Heart" has been much heralded
in the movies because of its great stage success
and the fame of Miss Laurette Taylor in the
title role. This is her first screen appearance
and it must be conceded right at the start that
she films beautifully. Her wistful, large eyes
come forth radiantly and full of expression
from the mechanism of the camera and no signs
of age beyond the sweet girlishness she por-
trays, or miscalculated make-up, mar the fair-
ness of her face.

The plot of "Peg o' My Heart"— as almost
everyone knows— is the good old Cinderella
story dressed up in modern frills and rags, with
a bonny English lord making love instead of a
fabulous son of a king. It is impossible to
wear out this plot. It is so delicious and soul
satisfying to see a poor but beautiful and de

FURY (First National)

The best thing about a film play in which
Richard Barthelmess appears is, of course,
Richard Barthelmess. His name on a produc-
tion immediately pre-disposes us into thinking
there is something to it. And there is a reason
for it, of course. More than one critic, both
professional and casual, has made note of the
fact that he is one of very few in moving pic-
tures who can change really the expression of
his face and actually use the muscles therein
to depict the emotions of his heart. Those
sensitive, strong features cannot move through
the lights and shadows of a picture without
dramatizing it in some interesting fashion.

This time it is "Fury," a sea-going, storm-
tossed tale of love and mother-reverence set
against not only the rocking waves but the
dank wharves and low lodging houses of Lime-
house London. Here and there are sombre,
poetic touches that suggest Thomas Burke's
tales of this region. Frequent bits of humor
and a reasonably "happy ending," however,
quite dispel any lasting idea of similarity in the
stories.

Barthelmess is "The Boy" with a fury of a
father embittered by an unfaithful wife and the
brutal life of the sea. His son's aflfection for
him and refusal to fight back when struck im-
press the father as only "that woman in him"
and he forthwith proposes to beat it out of
him. The Boy's staunch gentleness and per-
sistent "You are my father; I love you any-
way," with blood streaming from his face, give
opportunity for some very fine acting that is
never over-done or made sentimental. Fights
among the crew are also encouraged. A fe-
rocious Skandinavian of giant stature and a
belligerent veteran of many sea crimes are
matched on deck though the Boy shrinks in
sickish horror from the brutality of it, the spec-
tators before the screen of course are highly
entertained. It is a good battle.

The advent of a young girl into this cheerless
life is the Boy's one joy. It is none other than
Dorothy Gish in Bowery garb, chewing gum
and walking herself around in a horrible

I

February, ip^j

Theatrical Film Critique

93

serving maiden raised to riches and such power
that she can shame the haughty relatives vv^ho
previously scorned her, that we rejoice over it
again and again.

"Peg o' My Heart" has the advantage of all
this romantic coloring, but one notices never-
theless that it is put on with rather a thin
brush. Too much footage is devoted to Peg's
childhood, the death of her mother, and her
wandering life with her father in proportion to
Avhat we are permitted to see when the great
moments arrive — great moments like her pick-
ing up a delightful acquaintance on the next
estate who turns out to be the Prince Charm-
ing lord, and the first awakening of love and
approval in the cold hearts of her British aunt
and cousin. These were highlights on the stage.
They are present in the picture and are cleverly
titled, but the tinselled glow, the thrilling, beau-
tiful, Cinderella suspense is mostly missing.

Beautiful and satisfying as Miss Taylor is,
she appears more often than not to be working
too hard to portray youthful vivacity and
action. Her ungainly manner of walking,
standing awkwardly with feet wide apart, and
loose-armed, vociferous jumping a])Out remind
one irritatingly of Mary Pickford. If it is a
deliberate imitation it is unfortunate for almost
all spontaneity or semblance of it is destroyed,
and after all no one can do this sort of
characterization as Mary does it.

But, as has been previously suggested. Miss
Taylor's charm and a plot that can never grow
old make this a picture worth seeing.
JAVA HEAD (Paramount)

Aside from the success and artistic effect of
Hergesheimer's novel "Java Head" — oftentimes
said to be his best work — the film version of
this fascinating story is able to stand on its
own merits. The photography is excellent and
the succession of pictures of New England
homes in the first part is especially notable for
its quaint charm and impression of reality. The
plot has been translated into terms of a scenario
with less loss of sequence of motives and truth
to the original theme than is often the case
when the cinema draws on literary successes.

This is a love story made striking by the
eternal clash of East and West. The contrast,
both tragic and comic, in the manners of a
Manchu princess suddenly set down in a staid
New England community lends itself admir-
ably to the exaggerated effects of a moving
picture. Opposite this role, which is played by
Leatrice Joy, is that of the village girl who

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patiently waited for her lover's return from
Java only to find him married to this strange,
if not outlandish, wife. This part is taken by
Jacqueline Logan and what she does with it is
deserving of great praise. The two old men
whose life-long feud has kept the lovers apart,
and the dope-fiend uncle who is obsessed with
a mad love for the Chinese girl as soon as he
sees her, are also well characterized and do
much to make this picture a really worth-while
attraction.

One cannot help wondering why some of
the tragedy of this tale is not spared by giving
the little Oriental princess some Christian
clothes when she comes home with her hus-
band. Hergesheimer takes care of this in the
novel, but the picture somehow leaves it an
open question which can only be answered by
the usual reflection that otherwise there would
not be much of a story. Aside from this, how-
ever, there are few serious flaws that can be
pointed out.

A photoplay of a novel which one has read
and liked is always in danger of being very dis-
appointing. A picture is fixed and merciless in
its detail, whereas our airy imaginings as we
read are limitless in their beauty and truth and
goodness. No mechanism can possibly do them

94

Theatrical Film Critique

The Educational Screen

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justice. It can be said of "Java Head" that
this drawback is reduced to a minimum, and
that is saying a great deal for it.
THE VOICE FROM THE MINARET (First

National )

You were rather blatantly informed by pub-
licity agents that this picture sees those famous
lovers, Norma Talmadge and Eugene O'Brien
at last reunited. Aside from this stellar con-
junction, however, there is nothing about the
film to startle its optience. The plot deals with
two fond lovers, separated because a decidedly
unpleasant husband persists in living, but the
scenarist so arranges matters as to kill him off
at the end of the footage and all is well. A
conventional drama of a familiar triangle, care-
fully filmed and smoothly acted, but lacking
distinction. (Theatrical.)
THE COUNTER JUMPERS (Vitagraph)

This film is exaggerated slapstick from be-
ginning to end and as such will doubtless
appeal to many good souls who find themselves
wearied with the sex play. There can be
nothing new in slapstick but one finds here
some of the old gags entirely recostumed and
in their way amusing. Larry Semon is a cheer-
ful person but one feels that it would be easier

for an actor to survive a world war than two
reels of such concentrated acrobatic activity.

(Community.)

CAPTAIN FLY-BY-NIGHT (Film Booking
Offices)

Here is a drama of the old Spanish regime in
Southern California filmed against most impres-
sive backgrounds. Unfortunately, however, the
concentration is entirely upon the mystery
involved in a case of concealed identity. Except
for the fact that the actors wear appropriate
costumes and that the settings are those of a
by-gone day, one would scarcely recognize this
as a historical film. Had the director perceived
the possibilities of the material in his hands an
extremely worth-while picture might have been
made rather than a merely interesting one.
(School and Community.)
THE FLAMING HOUR (Universal)

The flavor of this story strongly resembles
that of a serial picture only it is not quite so
highly seasoned with sensational adventure.
The tantrums of two very irritable gentlemen
and the dastardly intrigues of another gentle-
man keep the action swiftly moving. The
flaming hour strikes when the torch is laid to
a gunpower mill. Mediocre entertainment. ( The-
atrical only.)

February, 1923

Theatrical Film Critique

95

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THE PRIDE OF P ALOMAR (Famous

Players- Lasky)

The problem of Japanese occupation in south-
ern California is ineffectively combined with
the situation of an heir cheated out of his in-
heritance. Of course, the heir, portrayed by
the immobile Forrest Stanley, regains his an-
cestral acres and the affection of his enemy's
daughter; and, of course, the Japanese villain
is obliged to make an ignominious retreat,
otherwise the play would not be ethically
sound. The picture, adapted from the novel by
Peter B. Kyne, is not impressive in spite of
careful filming and direction. {Theatrical only.)

THE YOUNG RAJAH (Famous Players-Lasky)

This play was most patiently constructed as
a vehicle to exploit that most superlative sheik,
Rodolph Valentino. What could be more grat-
ifying to millions of movie fans, than to have
this idol appear as a mystic oriental prince to
the orchestral accompaniment of "A Song of
India?" From a dramatic standpoint the plot
is messy and improbable, but it provides Val-
entino with an ideal role. (Theatrical only.)

BULL DOG DRUMMOND (Hodkinson)

The present flair for mystery and detective
plays is responsible for pictures like "Bull Dog
Drummond." Given, a sanitorium run for pur-
poses of extortion by master criminals, ultra-
modern paraphernalia of torture, an insouciant
young gentleman and a beautiful damsel, and
you have all the dramatic accessories. The re-
sult is an exciting picture which does not exces-
sively fatigue one's mentality. Two old-timers,
Carlyle Blackwell and Evelyn Greeley, appear
in this film. (Theatrical only.)
WHAT'S WRONG WITH WOMEN (Equity)

This is a question which seems to be always
bothering some poor souls. According to this
film it is selfishness, discontent and a constant

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desire for excitement and variety. This is really
a very effective little domestic drama, well
acted and directed, and presenting a situation
of matrimonial incompatibility forever inter-
esting. (Theatrical only.)

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (Fox)

Dumas seems to be finding his way to the
screen, first with "The Three Musketeers" and
now with "The Count of Monte Cristo." The
moving picture has already done more to fa-
miliarize the hoi polloi with the name of this
famous Frenchman than have all the libraries
in Christendom.

The chief problems in adapting a classic to
the screen are to maintain faithfulness to the
facts and to have a sympathetic understanding
of that nondescript thing known as atmosphere.
Those responsible for the production of the pic-
ture have been successful in making a gripping
and coherent film. The pages of The Count of
Monte Cristo are ideally suited for filming.
Their romance and color and sharp contrasts
furnish the best cinematic material for they
are pictorial and full of movement and action
rather than reflective or analytical. Much emo-
tion as well as adventure is compacted into the
scenes: the elation of the lover and bridegroom;
the despair, hate and grief of the pitiable pris-
oner; the triumph of suave but efficient revenge.
There has been no attempt, however, to treat
with subtlety the psychology of the situation in
which the Count realizes that vengeance is not
for him to take but that it lies in the hands of
the Divine Being.

John Gilbert is most effective in the leading
role particularly in the later scenes where he
has acquired his fortune and established him-
self in the midst of his unsuspecting enemies.
The supporting cast is excellent, apparently
having been chosen, not only for ability, but

Theatrical Film Critique

The Educational Screen

also for physical resemblance to the types por-
trayed.

Considered from every standpoint, direction,
photography and acting this picture is above
the average. (CommunUy Use).

THE ROMANCE OF THE DELLS (Scenic Ro-
mances, Inc.)

The public seems to enjoy so much the
"scenics" which are nov^^ a regular part of the
programs in the larger moving picture houses
that anything which adds to their interest or
beauty cannot be overlooked.

Mr. W. D. O'Neil, the producer, has begun
a series of "Know Your Native Land" pictures
which gives promise of afiFording something
new, delightful, and educational for those who
love travel and the picturesque aspects of
nature. With scenic beauty as the dominant
thing, Mr. O'Neil purposes to weave in authen-
tic legends connected with each region and to
make them a decorative and illustrative part
of the whole.

His first production is a charming glimpse of
some of the beauties of Wisconsin — the rivers,
falls, dells, cHffs and woods and a wealth of
Indian legend serves to enhance the wild beauty
of this region. In one of the places shown in
this picture there is a rugged cliflf so carved by
rain and wind that it strikingly resembles the
head of an Indian chief. With wonderful effect
a real Indian's face is double-exposed upon this
background so that the one melts into the other
and the likeness is accentuated with striking
success. This is only one detail to illustrate
the care and feeling with which this work is
being done.

The outstanding features of the work are the
unerring instinct shown in selection of views,
the charm of the composition, light and shade
values, and the artistic tinting of the film which
brings out the general color values and the
lone of the scene.

Legends have been filmed before and in ap-
propriate surroundings, but Mr. O'Neil's plan
is broader in that it comprises a series and
seeks to emphasize the natural beauty of our
land by calling up the romantic past of the
people who first lived in the midst of it. The
plan contemplates the rendering of lovely nat-
ural scenes with delicate tracery of bits of for-
gotten history that were enacted there in more
romantic days than ours. (School, Church and
Community use.)

k

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March, 1923

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright, March, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

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at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 3

CONTENTS FOR MARCH

Editorials 101

The Methods of Investigation in Visual Education 103

Frank N. Freeman

Official Recognition of Picture Expression 108

A. W. Abrams

Some Problems Relating to Use of Motion Pictures in Secondary Schools 110

George C. Wood

Newer Issues in Motion Picture Situation 113

H. Dora Stecker

Official Department, National Academy of Visual Instruction 116

Official Department, Visual Instruction Association of America 118

Notes and News 122

School Department 125

Conducted by Marie Goodenough

The Theatrical Field 134

Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

Among the Producers 1"^^

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THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II March, 1923 No. 3

The Cleveland Meeting

AT the Cleveland convention of the N. E. A. there was great activity by
those interested, both commercially and academically, in the promo-
tion of visual instruction in schools. The commercial exhibitors were
there en masse, of course, to display all forms of visual aids, including maps,
charts, models, prints, posters, slides and films. Many of these exhibits were
decidedly impressive. On the professional side, the two national organiza-
tions were active, each operating in a somewhat different way to attain its
ends, the one largely academic, the other largely promotional.

THE National Academy of Visual Instruction conducted, at the Cleve-
land School of Education, a three-day program which was by far the
best it has offered during the four years of its existence. Though al-
ways academic in content and purpose, these sessions kept more closely than
ever before to actualities, to the concrete and practical aspects of the teach-
ing problems of today. The meeting did much to bring down the visual idea
from the realm of vague theory to the realm of vivid reality. Our only regret^
is that the location chosen for the meetings — while ideal in its arrangements
and facilities — was miles from the main convention. This fact effectually
prevented attendance by any but the most devoted visualists, exactly the
ones who needed the meetings least.

Rather than offer a cursory and necessarily superficial account of the
proceedings of the three days, the Educational Screen is to have the pleasure,
and privilege of printing many of the best papers in forthcoming numbers.
The first one appears in this issue, Professor Freeman's exposition of the
methods of research employed during the past year by the Committee on
Research in Visual Instruction under the Commonwealth Fund, of which he
is Chairman. The results obtained from these immensely important investi-
gations cannot be made public until they are printed in a series of mono-
graphs, due to appear shortly from the University of Chicago Press.

THE Visual Instruction Association of America, with headquarters at
the Hotel Statler a few blocks from the Auditorium, conducted its ac-
tivities in the very center of the educational multitude. And its activi-
ties were wholly different from those of the Academy. The Association'
aimed at emphatic publicity for the visual idea. No formal program of

1(»

Editorials ^^^ Educational. Screen.^

speeches was presented, but an energetic propaganda was circulated to reach
t^e q[i;i,4:}C^iiQi.aHdi^nce and notabl^:§<i:yiee.was r^ndei;e^ in foircingthe, yis.ual
idea upon .the attention of a hp.st:pf edUQatorx who had hitherto paid small
heed to the question. Selected films were shown each afternoon and evening
in the huge auditorium, in the very center of convention life. Remarks to be
heard at any time among 'the Vrdwd proved that" this steady, industrious
visualizing of the visual idea was having its intended effect.

' •*lif' visual education is to grOw^a"s "rap idly and as vigorously as its potential
values demand that it shall grow, there is needed a vast amount of sane and
energetic publicity. The educational world is noted for a quality which some
call conservatism, others, lethargy. Education moves contentedly in. a groove^
loves to stay in it and dig it deeper. When the occasion arises to widen this
groove, only the most emphatic and long continued propaganda can rouse
the educational world to the point of decision. The Visual Instruction Assor.
ciation of America has already made marked progress in this direction. A
vast work lies ahead in compelling the country to turn its best and most
serious attenfion to the visual idea in education.

Normal Schools and Visual Instruction

AN article in the current issue of The Educational Review contains a
very suggestive sentence, which emphasizes by contrast a serious
shortcoming in our educational regime as regards visual instruction.

Harry W. Rockwell writes on "Teacher Training in France." After
recalling our original debt to France for the "normal school" idea, he dis-
cusses the character and quality of .her methods of training teachers on a
national scale for national service. Mr. Rockwell emphasizes the effort of
France to bring to her students in training the latest and best developments
in educational procedure, and then remarks:

"They also use the cinema film for demonstration work very extensively."

How slow are the Normal Schools of America to take advantage of this
invaluable tool? In the Normal School above all this visual work should be
emphasized — not only for the educative values it can give to the normal stu-
dents themselves but to teach them how to use the equipment which can
bring such tremendous values to their future pupils, zvhen it is properly
handled.

The last words need the italics. For however excellent the intention, a
teacher bungling over a stereopticon and a few slides or worrying a film into
a projector backwards presents a sorry travesty on visual teaching. Still
more, they must be taught picture power and picture values if they are to
achieve anything more than meaningless amusement for the children who
are to be given into their hands. Teachers must be taught to teach Avith
visual aids. To turn them loose with a stereopticon or projector — or even
with maps, globes, models and a sand-box — is merely to encourage farce in
the classroom.

Here lies a plain duty before our Normal Schools,

March, ip^^^-^jVi^V?^ v

103

The Methods of Investigation in Visual Education'

Frank N. Freeman
The University of Chicago

PUBLICITY is not always an un-
mixed blessing. It has seemed to
me that publicity had its drawbacks
in the investigation of visual education
which I am about to describe. One of
these drawbacks is the natural desire of
those who are interested in visual educa-
tion to learn the results of the study be-
fore those results have been sufficiently
formulated to determine with exactness
what they are. I consider the invitation
to discuss the methods of the study as
constituting also another drawback, al-
though I have acceded to it because it
has come from various quarters. The
description of the method of an investi-
gation apart from the presentation of the
results seems to me to be a dull perform-
ance. However, I shall attempt to make
the description of the methods of the
present study as significant as possible
under the circumstances.

General Scope and Range of the Study

In undertaking an investigation in any
field in which comparatively little work
has been done, one is faced with two al-
ternatives. The first is to make a rather
broad comprehensive survey of the en-
tire field. The second is to make a more
intensive study of certain narrow prob-
lems within the field. Each of these
procedures has its advantages and its
disadvantages. The broad general sur-
vey has the advantage of raising a va-
riety of problems, of pointing the way to
more specialized studies of these prob-
lems, and of contributing something to
the solution of some of these specialized
or narrow questions. The disadvantage.

is that many of the questions which are
raised are left at loose ends and no one
problem is carried sufficiently far to
reach a final solution. The advantage of
the specialized investigation is that it
does solve certain problems, but the at-
tending disadvantage is that these prob-
lems are very narrow in scope.

In planning the present investigation
the advantages of the broader type ot
study seemed to be sufficient to turn the
scales in favor of this type. Conse-
quently the study deals with a variety of
examples of visual education and with a
variety of questions concerning these ex-
amples. The nature of the experiments
can best be grasped from a brief state-
ment regarding the comparisons with
which they are concerned.

The investigation consists largely in a
comparison between various forms of
visual education or between visual and
non-visual methods.

Types of Comparisons Made in the Study

We may first consider the types of
presentation which were compared with
one another in the various experiments
of the study. In the first group of com-
parisons the material in the exercises
which were compared was duplicated as
exactly as possible. For example, if a
motion picture film was to be compared
with lantern slides to determine which
was the more effective, the lantern slides
were constructed so as to duplicate the
pictures which were shown in the film.
In a number of cases the lantern slides
were actually made from selected frames
in the film. This general procedure was

*A paper read at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the National Academy for Visuallnstruc-
tion, Cleveland, February 27, 1923.

104

Methods of Investigation

The Educational Screen

followed out in all of the comparisons of
this group.

One of these comparisons has already
been mentioned. A motion picture film
was shown to a group of children, and
to another group was shown a number
of lantern slides, duplicating sections of
the film. In some cases the accompany-
ing verbal description which occurred in
the captions of the film was presented
orally to the class. In other cases the
captions as well as the pictures were re-
produced upon slides. In these cases the
slides containing the captions alternated
with the slides containing the pictures,
as in the film. Another arrangement
which it would be well to make, but
which was not made in this study, is to
have captions shown simultaneously
with the pictures.

One of the problems frequently raised
concerning the presentation of motion
pictures is whether the instructor should
talk with the film. In order to throw
light upon this problem, films have been
exhibited with and without the accom-
paniment of oral discussion.

Other comparisons have been made as
follows. A class was shown both the
film and a collection of slides made from
the film. To another group the film was
shown twice. Again these modified
forms of motion picture were paralleled
with a lengthened presentation of slides
or with a prolonged oral discussion with
or without charts or pictures. In other
comparisons pictures or charts were used
in place of films of slides. These pic-
tures were taken directly from the films
and were shown with accompanying oral
discussion. In still other cases the pic-
tures were placed upon small prints and
shown > in connection with printed or
mimeographed verbal discussion. This
was to compare the motion picture
film with material which is organized in

the fashion of the text-book. In a few
cases oral discussion was compared with
the film without any accompanying pic-
tures or charts.

For certain types of material, demon-
stration by the teacher was the form of
presentation to be compared ' with the
film or the slide. The study of demon-
stration was applied to the teaching of
manual arts, and of laboratory science.
In teaching position in handwriting, the
effectiveness of a motion picture was
compared with a knowledge on the part
of the pupils of their individual scores
and with the ordinary mode of instruc-
tion.

In all these cases, as has already been
said, the modes of presentation which
were compared contain materials which
are closely similar. In another group of
cases the material used in the parallel
modes of presentation was not dupli-
cated so closely. In an experiment in the
field of health education, for example,
one group of pupils was taught with a
variety of forms of visual devices, in-
cluding motion pictures, posters, and
charts. Another group was taught by
means of projects, such as playlets. A
third group did a large amount of read-
ing, and a fourth group was taught
largely by the oral method. In another
experiment on health education, the divi-
sion was made in this fashion : One
group of pupils was given instruction by
a great variety of methods. These meth-
ods included pictorial presentation, proj-
ects and oral instruction. In the parallel
group all of the methods were used ex-
cept the motion pictures, and for these
was substituted instruction which par-
alleled the films fairly closely.

The foregoing brief survey will serve
to illustrate something of the variety of
methods of presentation that were stud-
ied. It will also indicate that consider-

I

Methods of Investigation

105

able care was taken to avoid the invali-
dation of the results from differences in
the content of the v^ork rather than in
the form in which it was presented.

The comparisons already alluded to
deal with entire films. The purpose in
general was to determine whether the
film as a whole gives better results than
some other method of presentation as a
whole. It is possible, to be sure, by such
a method to analyze to some extent the
effectiveness of the methods which are
compared by classifying the scores which
the pupils make in the different parts of
the tests. An analysis was also made in
a somewhat more definite fashion by
breaking the film itself up and by com-
paring certain parts of -the film with
other modes of presenting these indi-
vidual parts. This was done by cutting
out of the film certain parts and present-
ing them in some other way, while the
rest of the film was left intact. For ex-
ample, a particular film included consid-
erable tabular material in captions. This
tabular material was shown upon charts
or was mimeographed and read individu-
ally by the pupils. In the same film there
were a number of charts made up of line
drawings. These charts again were
shown by themselves and the rest of the
film was shown in its original form. This
type of analytical comparison should un-
doubtedly be carried much further in or-
der not merely to determine whether a
film is good as a whole, but what parts
are good and what parts are poor. It is
true, one must avoid disrupting the unity
of a film, but in certain cases the experi-
ment can be made without serious diffi-
culty on this score.

The types of experiments may further
be illustrated by indicating the classes of
films which were used. The question has
rightly been raised whether the films
represented the truly educational motion

pictures. So far as it was possible to do
so, films were selected which represented
the best types of educational motion pic-
tures. In practically all cases they had
been made specifically for educational
use and were not films which were first
intended for use in the theatre and then
taken over for use in the school. Of the
educational films themselves a consid-
erable variety of types were employed.
They included the subjects of geography,
nature study or biology, public hygiene,
health education, physics, cooking, his-
tory, economics, hand work and hand-
writing. Probably the chief omission is
the dramatic film. A tentative study is
now being made of the effect of dramatic
films also, but the bulk of the investiga-
tion has dealt with what have been called
''text films" or "school films." The study,
in other words, has dealt chiefly with
films which are designed to give informa-
tion or to teach how to perform an ac-
tivity. This is not because of the belief
that dramatic films are not educational
or do not have a legitimate place in the
school, but chiefly because the methods
of investigation of the results of such
films have scarcely been developed to a
point which makes an immediately pro-
ductive study of them possible.

Another type of comparison which was
illustrated to a slight extent in the study,
consists of a comparison of the effective-
ness of a film as a means of introducing
a subject, or as a means of summarizing
it. There is a very large field of study
in problems of this character which are
concerned not so much with the value of
the film as with the best manner of us-
ing the film. The continuation of the
study of this type of problem will un-
doubtedly be very productive in point-
ing the way to the administrative use of
motion pictures in the school.

106

Methods of Investigation

The Educational Screen

The Selection of the Fikns

The problem of the selection of the
films has already been mentioned. It
goes without saying that one could not
draw very definite conclusions regarding
the value of text-books or of the labora-
an experiment with only one representa-
tive of that type. No one would judge
the value of text-books or of the labora-
tory method, from an examination of a
single text-book, or a single laboratory
exercise. This fact, of course, has been
kept very clearly in mind by the authors
of the present study.

There are two ways in which this dif-
ficulty might be overcome. The first is
by as careful a selection of films as pos-
sible. In general the attempt was made
in this study to select definitely superior
films. It might have been possible, of
course, to select the poorest films which
could be found, and in this way to load
the investigation. Another and perhaps
a legitimate procedure, would have been
to attempt to select average films. In
view of the fact, however, that visual
education, particularly in the realm of
motion pictures, is new, it is legitimate
to assume that the grade of pictures will
rapidly improve, and that therefore those
pictures which are at the present time
the best may shortly represent the
average.

It would, of course, be too much to ex-
pect that the selection of pictures should
meet with universal agreement. This is
unavoidable. All that the authors of the
report claim, is that they made an honest
eflfort to select films which would rep-
resent the best of their kind.

The second method of overcoming this
difficulty is to take refuge in numbers.
If an unfortunate selection is made of a
particular film, the error will be counter-
balanced by other films which are ex-
ceptionally good. If a considerable num-

ber of films are used, therefore, as was
the case in this investigation, it is hardly
likely that the results as a whole are
greatly vitiated by the character of the
particular films which were chosen.
However, the number of films which
have been experimented with is still lim-
ited, and it is desirable that many more
be subjected to these and other types of
experimentation.

Subjects of the Study

The general method of making the
comparison of the effectiveness of dif-
ferent forms of presentation or of dif-
ferent elements in a film was the method
of parallel groups. This seems to be the
best method which is available, since one
could not present the same subject to a
group of children first by one mode of
presentation and then by another. In
this case a second presentation would
not be comparable to the first.

Two general forms of parallel group-
ing were used. The one which was em-
ployed in the greater number of cases
involved the careful matching of the in-
dividuals of limited groups. This match-
ing was done on the basis of such char-
acteristics as age, grade, score in an in-
telligence test, score in a reading test,
and score in a preliminary test in the
subject under examination. The organi-
zation of parallel groups in this manner
insures that the error which might re-
sult from a wide divergence in the abili-
ties of the children is at least reduced to
a comparatively small amount.

The second method of organizing par-
allel groups was to take groups which
are so large that individual differences
could be assumed to counterbalance each
other. This, of course, could not be as-
sumed unless the groups were similar in
such general characteristics as age, race,
social environment and type of educa-

Methods of Investigation

lo:

tion. In all cases they were chosen so
as to be similar in these respects.

Test of the Results

The selection of appropriate tests is of
course an important consideration in any
such investigation as this. It is particu-
larly important in the case of visual edu-
cation, since it may be that the results
of this method are of different character
from the results of ordinary teaching. It
is possible, therefore, that the tests which
have been devised to measure the results
of teaching of the ordinary sort are not
well adapted to measure the results of
visual education. This has been recog-
nized as a serious problem in the organi-
zation of our experiments. We have at-
tempted so far as possible to use tests
which should measure the educational
outcome which it was evidently the pur-
pose to secure.

The most puzzling single question in
regard to these tests was whether or not
they measured the interest which is
awakened in children by viewing motion
pictures as compared with the interest
they take in other modes of presentation.
Various methods of measuring interest
directly might be used, but none of them
seem highly satisfactory. The question-
naire method is the prevailing one, but
this is recognized generally as being not
very reliable. It is undoubtedly true,
however, that interest can be measured
in a fairly satisfactory way indirectly.
Even an information test is to some de-
gree a measure of interest, because the
pupil will derive more information from
a subject in which he is interested or
from a lesson which is presented in an
interesting fashion, than from one which
is dull. The same is true of the acquire-
ment of an act of skill. If the pupil is
interested in his task, he will make more
rapid gain, and therefore attain a higher
level of abilitv than if he is bored.

In certain of the experiments, further-
more, the object was to determine how
faithfully the children carried out certain
activities outside the school which were
put before them as beneficial and which
they were advised to carry out. The ex-
tent to which they performed these ac-
tivities is undoubtedly a fairly accurate
measure of their interest. It was planned
to secure still further evidence on this
point by making a comparative measure-
ment of the amount of follow-up reading
which children do in connection with
subjects which are presented in vari(>us
ways. The limitations of time, however,
prevented the completion of this expeii-
ment.

The tests which were used fall in gen
eral under the two heads of "informa-
tion" and of "ability to do." The tests
of information were constructed with as
much care as possible according to the
general procedures of standardized tests.
Such devices as the completion test, the
multiple answer test, and the right and
wrong test were employed. In addition
to these verbal tests, drawing was used
wherever it was appropriate.

The tests of ability to do or to make
something, were used in a number of
cases and the experiments were designed
to give as much opportunity as possible
for the application of this type of test.
For example, after being shown how to
make a pasteboard box or a reed mat
the children actually made these objects
and their products were scored. Aftei
the presentation of a lesson in physics
they engaged in a laboratory exercise
and their performance was scored. After
being taught by various methods to as-
sume correct positions in handwriting,
their positions were scored on an objec-
tive scale.

In order that tests of this character
might be applied, several films suitable

108

Recognition of Picture Expression The Educational Screen

for this kind of an experiment were ac-
tually constructed during the course of
this investigation. This includes the
films showing how to make a reed mat,
how to make a pasteboard box, and
showing good and poor positions in
handwriting.

Conclusions

I make no apology for presenting this
account of the methods of procedure be-
fore the results are fully tabulated and
before any of them can be made public.
The interest in such an investigation as
this is perhaps sufficient to insure some
attention to a discussion of method be-
fore the results themselves are presented.
The authors of the investigation do not

pretend that the methods which they
have pursued are beyond criticism. Their
only claim is that they have made an
honest effort to use the methods of scien-
tific investigation which are available in
the field of education and to carry for-
ward by such methods the objective ex-
amination of a new method in education.
Presentation of the method before the re-
sults are published may perhaps have the
advantage of opening these methods to
criticism independently of the judgment
of the results themselves. A criticism of
the methods is, of course, welcome in
order that better methods may be devised
and the interests of educational research
in general in this special field may be
advanced.

Official Recognition of Picture Expression

A. W. Abrams
The University of the State of Neiv York

VISUAL instruction has up to the
present time got into the schools
too often by the side door. Pic-
tures have been "shown" as an occa-
sional supplementary exercise by teach-
ers who have wished to give pupils a
treat or for the more serious purpose of
offering additional stimulus to the in-
terest of pupils in the subject presented,
but it has usually rested solely with the
teacher to determine whether screen pic-
tures were to be used or not. The course
of study has not prescribed or even rec-
ommended the visual method, and
neither local nor State examinations
have recognized the visual methods as
they have, for example, the laboratory

method in science or the library method
in history. In fact most examinations
have been chiefly information tests with
some semblance of an attempt to call for
abstract reasoning. Almost never have
they tested a pupil's ability to make spe-
cific observations and to express judg-
ments upon them.

The semi-annual examinations of the
Regents of New York State have now
for three successive times included one
question calling for observations and
judgments based upon a picture printed
as a part of the examination paper.

The picture and subdivisions of ques-
tion 15 of the January 1923 examination
are printed below.

Recognition of Picture Expression

109

Question 15

(From the semi-annual High School Examination of
the Regents of New York State, given in January, 19:23)

15 Answer the !"<

a What do you think is in the bales?
b What do you think is the size of one

bale? [Express length, breadth and

thickness in feet.]
c Give two reasons why so many oxen
are used to draw the load.

viiig questions with reference to the above picture:
[This is a scene in Australia]

Tell something about railroads in Aus-
tralia suggested by the picture.

Is this scene on the frontier or in the
more thickly settled part of Aus-
tralia?

The question as a whole was given to
determine whether pupils had visualized
the wool industry including a sheep
ranch and to serve notice upon the
schools that something more than verbal
information is to be required of pupils in
their study of geography.

The State Visual Instruction Division,
of which A. W. Abrams is director, is

building up a collection of visual aids on
the basis of the school course and New
York State schools have no excuse for
not making full use of them. The pic-
ture here reproduced is one of 200 on
Australasia announced in Study 36, a
pamphlet issued by the Division, giving
detailed study notes for these pictures,
which are of great value.

110

The Educational Screen

Some Problems Relating to the Use of Motion
Pictures in the Secondary School

George C. Wood, Ph.D.
Commercial High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.

I

THE projection of motion pictures in
the secondary school for educational
purposes is a new experiment and
the movement is still in its infancy. But
enough has been done in this direction to
develop some pretty well defined reac-
t.ons on the part of producer, teacher and
pupil.

As a teacher and supervisor of biology
in a secondary school, as a licensed mo-
tion picture operator, as a member of the
committee to pass on all films in biology
for use in the New York City schools and
finally as a writer of educational film
synopses, a most unique opportunity has
l.een afforded me to view the problem of
the production and use of films from sev-
eral different angles. The interesting
part of the problem is to reconcile the
^viewpoint of the producer with that of
the teacher and vice versa, at the same
time work out something of real value
to the pupil.

Five years ago the idea of using motion
pictures in the school room was hailed
by producers and teachers alike as the
beginning of a complete revolution in the
methods of teaching. Extravagant claims
were made and in some quarters are now
made for the film as a more than com-
plete substitute for the teacher and the
text-book. Indeed, the imagination of
many as to the future of the film in re-
lation to educational processes ran riot
and exceeded the bounds of reason. Sta-
tistics were compiled to show how many
hundreds of thousands of dollars would
be saved on the cost of text-books alone
when the film came to be generally
adopted. Experiments hurriedly con-

ducted resulted in conclusions that the
thoughtful person could and would not
accept at their face value, not because
the figures were not correct, but because
the field covered was not broad enough
and the time allotted not great enough
to make such sweeping conclusions valid.
Exhibitions with selected classes of what
the motion picture could do have not
been convincing and so far as I know not
a single test has been made to show just
what the same classes could do without
tl e motion picture, but under proper con-
ditions. This would be the only true
basis for comparison.

In the enthusiasm for presenting tlie
motion picture as a vital aid to visual
instruction, any and all kinds of films
already in the libraries of the producers
were ofifered by them to the educational
committees seeking suitable films. The
limitations and results of such kind of
film selection were obvious and the un-
satisfactory results were inevitable.

Of course, this condition was a^ natural
one and foreseen by every one concerned
in the problem. Moreover, it was soon
evident that the cutting and readjustment
of films already in use must follow if any
appreciable progress was to be made.
But just here things moved very slowly.
In the first place, the producer was luke-
warm to the suggestion of film cutting
because he was not so sure that the
teachers knew exactly what they did
want in the film line. To a large extent,
this position was justified, because the
films in use were moneymakers in the
public theaters, with the marked excep
tion o'f the special and technical film.

I M

March, 1923

Motion Pictures in Secondary School

111

'i'hese films lost money and it was just
that kind of a film that the educators ap-
peared to demand. To tie up more money
in these special films was not good busi-
ness.

To meet this situation, the educators
persuaded themselves that they ought to
be satisfied with any film then in stock
which could be used to even incidentally
teach the lessons they had in mind. Es-
pecially was this attitude apparent among
the teachers in biology. The results were
not all that could be desired. We have
been passing through a period of un-
certainty and even dissatisfaction and the
ultimate user of the film is beginning to
wonder if the motion picture is going to
accomplish all that its best friends
claimed for it. Because of the lack of
definiteness in the subject presented in
the film, too many showings have re-
solved themselves into a more or less
pleasant, but expensive form of enter-
tainment.

This situation, to my mind, is the chief
reason why experiments designed to as-
certain the relative powers of grasping
principles possessed by different classes
of pupils, some of which see the picture
and some of which do not, were of little
value, because there was so much in the
film that had no direct bearing upon the
subject under discussion at the time that
the teacher despaired of ever getting the
kernels of wheat out of the large amount
of chaff. He found that driving home the
lesson of the film was more difficult than
it would have been if the class had never
seen the film at all, because so much of
the subject of the film must be eliminated
from the mind of the pupil before the
parts wanted could be brought up in
their rightful place through contrast and
elimination. In my own experience in
the class-room, the results of tests given
which involved concepts gained in the

study of the films which did not exactly
apply to the problem then under discus-
sion, were negative.

Now I do not want to be understood
as condemning the use of motion pic-
tures in the class-room. My experience
shows me that there are unlimited possi-
bilities in their use. But we have not as
yet found out how they may be best used.
Propaganda claims for the motion picture
in education, together with the first flush
of enthusiasm and disappointment are
slowly giving way to a sane and reason-
able attacking of the problem.

Happily, there are signs of a distinct
change in the situation. The experiences
of both producer and educator are be-
coming more or less crystallized into con-
victions as to what ought to be done as
the next step in the march of progress.
Both producer and educator have also, it
may be said, reached and even passed the
point where they have learned what
ought not to be done. A very few of the
producers and most of the educators hav-
ing experience with the films are con-
vinced that pupils should no longer be
subjected to pictures made up of scraps
and bits of films. It is bordering too
much on the impossible to suppose that
the average pupil will have enough power
of discrimination to make the visualiza-
tion of the subject of enough value even
under the guidance of a competent
teacher to justify the time and expense
involved to say nothing of the giving up
of certain concepts which under the cir-
cumstances might better have been de-
veloped in the class-room without the use
of the film at all.

Some producers are now attempting
to meet this situation by having theirt
own experts and educational directors
put out films upon certain subjects which
have a specific aim and lesson to teach.
But in most cases, such films are made

112

The Educational Screen

with an eye to two audiences, — the school
and the motion picture theatre. The
great success of a very few films like
"How Life Begins" and others has given
impetus to this method of solving the
problem.

But unfortunately, this does not solve
the problem. The point has now been
reached where educators are beginning
to indicate to the producer that the only
proper and final solution is the definite
outlining and filming of a definite sub-
ject designed to teach a particular set
of principles or processes and done ac-
cording to the best pedagogical princi-
ples. A few producers are agreeable to
this suggestion with a certain reservation
— namely that the films so made shall be
compromises also — films that can be used
in the theatre circuits as well as in the
school. For my part, I do not see why
this very thing can not be done. The
laws of psychology are universal. A
good film presenting a good live subject
will interest anywhere.

As a writer of educational synopses for
films in biology, I am in a position to
know something of the position of the
producer and the difficulties he faces in
putting out educational films. I sympa-
thize, in a measure, with the stand he
takes. He now has too many feet of un-
productive films of an educational nature
in his library.

Some producers are making a belated
and honest attempt to put out films
w^hich will meet the needs of educators,
but it is surprising and not a little dis-

couraging to view films in relatively large
numbers and then be obliged to admit
that they are almost wholly useless for
use in teaching the principles which they
seem intended to teach. For this reason,
at the present moment, very few new
films are being made for educational pur-
poses, at least in science.

It would seem, then, that the next and
inevitable step is the making of new
films. At the same time the producer
must be convinced that such films will be
reasonably profitable to him. To con-
vince him there must be a greater use of
existing films. But there is increasing
objection to existing films and the
amount of money available for their
rental is unfortunately limited. Thus the
vicious circle completes itself.

Some one producer must take the lead,
assume the role of pioneer, and put upon
the market some few films so good that
a great impetus will be given to the
whole educational film project. And
that producer will be the most success-
ful who secures the services of competent
educators with class-room experience and
a firm grasp of the subject and who can
see the problem from the class-room
standpoint with all that that viewpoint
involves. Such persons ought to be able
to write synopses which when translated
into the film will teach a lesson that no
text-book can teach, Brive home prin-
ciples which would take days of the
teacher's energy to accomplish with far
less effectiveness and make the teaching
of processes a vital, enduring thing.

Did You Read the Notice at the Bottom of Page 98?

I

118

Newer Issues in Motion-Picture Situation*

By H. Dora Stecke»
Secretary of Review Committee, Cincinnati Council for Better Motion Pictures.

WHY has America been concerned about
motion pictures almost from their be-
ginning? Some few have felt, perhaps,
that false ideas of life were being taught to
adults who were impressionable, and, no doubt,
this has been so. They will say that the person
of limited intelligence or background and ex-
perience is influenced by the type of life he sees
portrayed on the screen. What happens is that
people of one station of life get a peep into
what goes on in other strata of society, as con-
ceived by the scenario writer. For instance,
the feminine part of the population in working-
class districts have developed a distinct taste
for fine furniture and interiors, derived from
motion pictures, so the dealers say, which they
in real life would probably never have a chance
of seeing. Some of the amenities, too, have
been introduced in this way, some knowledge
of different countries and opportunity for
vicarious travel, together with totally false con-
ceptions of manners of living. One speaks feel-
ingly of the number of inapplicable revelry and
cabaret scenes which have been dragged in
upon every possible occasion, and of stock
tricks of the trade, such as, the idea that every
man in love, from the "gentlemen" down to the
rough villain of the great out-of-doors, becomes
a beast in the presence of the woman who
spurns him. That criminals, that the vicious,
and the inhabitants of the underworld form the
most fascinating theme of the screen, judging
by the number of photoplays consecrated to
this group. That a prolonged struggle, a good
gruesome fight, is a distinct asset to any pic-
ture, according to motion picture selesmen.
That the only form of humor worth perpetuat-
ing in any quantity and desired, is that of the
vulgar, slap-stick variety. And, finally, that the
acme of production is one of Cecil De Mille's
luxurious panoramas of the idle rich, in which
an all-star cast of the public's favorites enact
nine reels of the lives and loves of the effete.
All of which make for false ideas, false stand-
ards, false taste. In addition, one is led to

believe that the bad taste portrayea on the
screen has alienated more followers than have
the sex and triangle plays.

The public is not concerned primarily with
the effect of the screen output on adults, ex-
cept to sigh for the day when inane plays will
be the exception rather than the rule, and when
originality of theme and sincere, artistic han-
dling will be general. Then the screen will take
its place as a great recreational and educational
instrument; a source of inspiration to men,
women, and children. What every thinking
parent, every teacher, every person who is at
all interested in the younger generation fears,
is the effect which banal and questionable films
may have on young people, and their pathetic
immaturity, impressionableness, hero-worship,
and imitativeness. This fear easily led to the
device of censorship, which seems to have pro-
ceeded in its task in this country on the theory
that every motion picture must be made safe
for the child. No matter how mature its theme,
if a cut is made here and there, a title changed,
an episode deodorized, and the story remodeled
so that no child's ideal is smashed, it may be
passed and shown to any child in the land. Not
that all censors are so meticulous as this, of
course. But is this the proper approach?
Should every picture be brought down to a
child's standards? Personally, I think not.
There is a distinct place on the screen for ar-
tistic, thoughtful plays of mature theme; sub-
jects which are often beyond the comprehension
of children, just as there is a place for this
type of presentation on the stage. The foreign
photoplays of last season were distinctly in this
category. Among adult plays of merit may be
mentioned: "Caligari," "Deception," "The
Golem," "Footlights," Forever" (Peter Ibbet-
son), Griffith's "The Orphans of the Storm,"
"Passion," "Gypsy Blood," and "One Arabian
Night." Such high-grade, plays are in answer
to the public outcry against the sins of the
motion picture producers, and their production
should be encouraged. But when they do come

sion

♦From an address delivered before The Woman's City Club of Cincinnati. Reprinted by permjs-
from The Bulletin for December, 1922, published by the Woman's City Club of Cincinnati. Ohio,

in the interest of Better Citizenship.

114

Newer Issues in Motion Picture Situation

The Educational Screen

along, I do hope they will not be reduced to
the comprehension and spiritual needs of our
youngsters.

It would be infinitely better if we could pro-
tect the child in the following ways:

'a) Classify motion pictures, through state
or local censorship, as to their suitability for
the various aged groups. For instance, Aus-
tralia designates two types: (1) Universal,
which may be seen by persons of all ages; (2)
for adults only. The only differentiation which
our censors make between types of audience
are in those films which deal with pronounced
sex subjects, and from which they occasionally
bar persons under a certain age, or mixed audi-
ences. This is an objective to work for here
in Ohio. This would mean different kinds of
audiences for different films, and would break
down the present-day assumption that a child
has an undisputed legal right to see any motion
picture that is exhibited.

(b) Some restriction, whether legal or vol-
untary, or both, is necessary in regard to the
attendance of children at motion picture per-
formances. In Cincinnati the downtown mo-
tion picture theater men have agreed to bar
children out of the theaters during school hours.
In Pasadena, California, a city ordinance keeps
those under fourteen years of age off the streets
after 6 p. m., and those under sixteen years of
age out of the theater after that hour. Else-
where, children are not permitted to attend the
second evening performance, which usually be-
gins about 9 p. m. All of us have been disturbed
about children who attend "movies" at night
by themselves, but the regulation in certain
large cities, like New York, which requires that
a child be accompanied by an adult in order to
gain admission to the motion picture theater,
has led to promiscuous acquaintanceship on the
part of young persons in their desire to produce
the required elder. What is also needed, is
more widespread parental supervision and in-
terest in this question of attendance. In fami-
lies of high standards very young children do
not attend motion pictures, or only at great
intervals, as they become unduly excited.
School boys and girls of ten or twelve years or
over attend only at week-ends, probably not
every week, and only after mother or father
has looked into the character of the perform-
ance to be given, and is satisfied that it is de-
sirable. Grown members of the family accom-
pany the young persons, explaining when

necessary, and insisting upon good behavior
and a proper respect toward a place of public
recreation. The family does not patronize a
theater which is indifferent to the welfare of
its patrons, either in physical convenience, so-
cial tone, or the quality of pictures that are
habitually exhibited.

If only similar standards were widespread
among large numbers of families, many of our
qualms about motion pictures would be allayed.
In the poorer neighborhoods, the motion pic-
ture is a much more necessary form of recrea-
tion for all members of the family than in more
advantaged sections, and the audiences are apt
to accept what the theater offers more implic-
itly, and to send their children oftener, and to
fail to observe all the safeguards which are
prevalent in the more favored sections. Over-
worked and tired mothers and fathers can not
be expected to be as particular, and observe the
same nicety of standards for their children as
those who have had careful guidance and who
possess background and outlook, and above all I
— time enough for such details. !

More Films Needed That Are Suitable forj
Family Audiences

Often the child goes to a performance be-
cause his elders wish to go. Much could be i
written about the exploitation of young children
in this respect — of the infant who should be at
home, and of the restless little boy or girl who
is agonizing because of the selfishness of a ;
parent; of the little boy who is sent to the thea-
ter to be gotten rid of at home. Moreover, it
is a delicate matter to challenge the standards
of any parent. For instance, while operating a
suburban theater in Cincinnati, I often barred i
children under sixteen or eighteen years of age,
or even older, from performances which I con-
sidered too mature for them, after due public
notification on screen and program; and was
met in some cases by the feeling that, after all,
parents were the best judges in this respect.
Occasionally, but not often, some persons even
objected to cuts which I made at times in films,
designed to render the performance more
wholesome. But in most instances, parents
were appreciative of the information given them
as to the character of the performances, and
their suitability for young persons, and of the
safeguards taken in behalf of their young pc
pie, and looked forward to the Friday evening
which were given over entirely to prograr
selected especially for boys and girls.

March, 1923

115

We are all agreed, I am sure, that what we
need badly, are more motion pictures which
are suitable for family consumption. The mag-
nates of the industry may say that the public
is getting what it wants, and niay interpret its
wants to be melodrama, slapstick comedy, epi-
sodes with a touch of risqueness, or any tawdry
story set in interiors of regal splendor. But
they have been mistaken. The industry is giv-
ing the public what it thinks it wants, but it is
judging unwisely, because, unfortunately, this
monumental business is in the control of men,
for the most part of little background, limited
vision, and a disregard of their responsibility
to the public. If ever an industry needed social
vision, this one does. There are plenty of men
and women in motion pictures with ideals, but
they do not have the capital to be important,

and consequently, have to compound. A few
independents are producing high-class material.
All of you are acquainted with Joseph Urb.an's
productions. The Hodkinson Company is con-
sistently trying to introduce high-class dramas
and short subjects. Burton Holmes in the field
of travel has been a blessing, as are the week-
lies devoted to news, travel, sport, and allied
topics of interest. The regular companies now
and then take a chance on so-called *'high-brow"
subjects, and some of the stars who have at-
tained independent positions and are now their
own producers, appear pledged to give the pub-
lic only the best. In the latter class Douglas
Fairbanks and Mary Pickford are setting new
records by their latest photoplays.

{This article will he concluded
in April issue)

The City of Boston Produces Film

"W

hy are we Careless?" is the title of a
new two-reel film (1,800 feet) to be
released April 1st for use in connec-
tion with safety campaigns and educational
interests generally. The film was made by the
City of Boston "Conservation Bureau," an offi-
cial municipal department of Boston whose
function is educational activities along health,
welfare and civic lines for the well-being of
the people of that city.

"Why are we Careless?" was filmed in the
streets of Boston and aims to show actual
everyday conditions with pedestrians and ve-
hicles contending for the use of the same areas.
The film starts off with a flash of a congested
square with variegated traffic flowing through
from various directions; then the title: "Two
.hundred years ago the fastest thing that trav-
1 eled through our streets and roads was the
i stage coach," with the accompanying^ scene.
j Action switches again to the same congested
I square, thus impressing on the looker's mind
! the changed conditions that have to be dealt
' with today. This is further emphasized by the
i following title: "In the United States 11,000,-
000 motor vehicles are in almost daily use" fol-
lowed by a scene of a parking^ area with sev-
ieral hundred cars lined up at curbstones on
I either side.

How school boys fresh from school disregard
personal safety, the boys' "hooking a ride"
habit, winter street coasting into cross street
traffic with its dangers, failure to watch out for

the street car or automobile coming from the
other direction when crossing the street, and
several other everyday methods of being care-
less are interwoven with views of noon-hour
congestion in a shopping district, business
street conditions and dangers of intersecting
streets for both drivers and walkers.

"Why are we Careless?" was given its
premier showing March 4th at a municipal
mass meeting of city employes held in the
Globe Theatre of Boston under the auspices
of the Conservation Bureau. It was later tried
out with several public and private audiences
as a result of which it is now being given its
final touches for release April 1st.

The creation of the film was made possible
by the cooperation of Mayor James M. Curley
of Boston and General Manager Dana of the
Boston Elevated Railway. The general direc-
tion was in the hands of a committee com-
posed of E. B. Mero, Director of the Conser-
vation Bureau; H. B. Potter, Assisting General
Manager of the Elevated Railway, and L. E,
MacBrayne, Manager of the Massachusetts
Safety Council. The mechanical and a consid-
erable portion of the brain work was contri-
buted by E. P. Cornell & Staff of Boston.

The film will be used widely in and about
Boston. Prints will be made available for
organizations or others in other parts of the
country on purchase or rental basis, although
there is no intention to promote the film com-
mercially. It is for educational purposes.

116

The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

i'ice-Fresident: Mrs. Claire S. Thomas, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Educa-
tion, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Toothaker, Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dudley Grant Hays, Ass't Supt. of Schools,
Chicago, Illinois.

VV. M, Gregory, School of Education, Cleve-
land, Ohio.

A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark,
New Jersey.

J. W. Shepherd, Department Visual Education,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.

Carlos Cummings, Society of Natural Science,
Buffalo, New York.

A. W. Abrams, University of the State of New
York, Albany, New York.

W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madi-
son, Wisconsin.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
W. M. Gregory, Chairman, Cleveland, Ohio.
J. V. Ankeney, Columbia, Missouri.
J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma.
Alfred W. Abrams, Albany, New York.
Dudley Grant Hays, Chicago, Illinois.
Edw. H. Reeder, Detroit, Michigan.

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
J. V. Ankeney, Columbia, Missouri.
Dudley Grant Hays, Chicago, Illinois.
W. M. Gregory, Cleveland, Ohio.

PUBLICITY COMMITTEE
Chairman, A. P. Hollis, Chicago, Illinois.
Western Section
Chairman — A Loretta, Clark, Los Angeles,
California.
F. L. Griffin, University of California, Berke-
ley, Cal.
R. F. Egner, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City.

Dorthea Talbert, Director of Visual Ed.,

Denver, Colorado.
J. J. Nalder, Director University Exten-

.«:ion, Pullman, Wash.

Central Section

Chairman — Naomi Anderson, Chicago, Illinois.

Charles Roach, Visual Instruction Service,
Ames, Iowa.

George L. Dickey, , Agricultural Ed., Col-
lege Station, Texas.

E. E. Oberholzer, Supt. of Schools, Tulsa,
Oklahoma.

J. H. Beveridge, Supt. of Schools, Omaha.
Nebraska.

Eastern Section

Chairman — Dr. Carlos Cummings, Director of

Bisual Education, Buffalo, N. Y.
L. Otis Armstrong, Agricultural Educati.

West Raleigh, N. C.
A. C. Eckart, Springfield Night Schools,

Springfield, Ohio.
A. L. Thomas, Director Visual Education,

Auburn, Ala.

CHAIRMEN OF STANDING
COMMITTEES

1. Research and Standards

J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma

3. Projection Equipment

. . . . C. G. Reinerton, Jackson, Minnesota

3. Motion Pictures

R. E. Offenhauer, Lima, Ohia

4. Lanternslides

. . .A. W. Abrams, Albany, New York

I

March, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

117

5. Literature on Visual Instruction 9. Nomenclature

W. M. Gregory, Cleveland, Ohio J. J, Nalder, Pullman, Washington

6. Museum and Exhibits 10. Film Review

B ARjiETT, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

7. Community and Group Service li. Development and Publicity

J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma A. P. Hollis, Chicago, Illinois

8. Legislation 1^. Publications

A. P. HoLLis, Chicago, Illinois J. V. Ankeney, Columbia, Missouri

I

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Acaaemy news and thought. All mater... appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy.

LAST fall we gave an account of a County
Institute held at Bloomington, 111., on the
subject of visual education. It is a pleasure
to announce another similar meeting in the
same state to be held at the Peoria High School
on March 27th and 28th.

The repetition within a few months, of what
was really but an "experiment" at Blooming-
ton, is most gratifying evidence of the spread
of interest in the visual movement within the
ranks of serious educators. The program in
full follows:

Program for Peoria County Institute on
Visual Education

March 28-29

Peoria High School Auditorium, Peoria, 111.

Lecturers
Dr. E. H. Cameron, Professor of Educational
Psychology, University of Illinois.

Dr. Harry G. Paul, Professor of English, Uni-
versity of Illinois.

Prof. A. W. Nolan, College of Agriculture,
University of Illinois.

Supt. W. J. Hamilton, Oak Park, IlUnois.
Asst. Supt. D. E. Walker, Evanston, Illinois.
Dr. F. D. McClusky, School of Education, Uni-
versity of Illinois.

First Day
8:45— Music.

9:00— The Present Status of Visual Edu-
cation (McClusky)

9:50 — The Place of Concrete Experience

in Education (Cameron)

10:40 — Exhibits and Educational Films. In-
termission.
11:10— Types of Visual Experience and

Their Educational Value. . (Cameron)

12 :00 — Noon Intermission.

1 :20— Music.

1 :30 — Some Concrete Problems in the Ad-
ministration of a Visual Education
Program (Hamilton)

2 :20 — Results of Some Experiments in

Visual Education (McClusky)

3:10 — Exhibits and Educational Films. In-
termission.

3:40 — Aids to Visual Instruction (Hamilton)

4 :30— Close.

Second Day

8 :45— Music.

9 :00 — The Teaching of Geography With

Visual Aids (McClusky)

9 :50 — The Place of Visual Education in

the Rural School (Nolan)

10 :40— Exhibits and Educational Films.

Intermission.
11:10— An Experiment in the Teaching of

Handwriting by Visual Methods. (Walker)
12 :00— Noon Intermission.
1 :20— Music.
l:30_The Use of Visual Aids in the

Teaching of Agriculture (Nolan)

2:20~The Value of Pictures in the

Teaching of English (Paul)

3:10— Exhibits and Educational Films. In-
termission.
3:40— The Technique of Testing Visual

Imagery (McClusky)

4 :30— Close.

Demonstrations of visual equipment and its use
will be given by exhibitors. Two round-table dis-
cussions for superintendents, principals and others
will be held by Mr. McClusky on 4 :30 Wednesday
and 1:30 Thursday.

i

118 The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The V^isual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS

President — Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York Schools, New York City.
Vice-President — A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary — Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer — Charles H. Mills, Director of Publicity of the Boy Scouts of America.
Corresponding Secretary — Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

4

I

"Thumb Nail Sketches"

in

Visual Instruction

By Ernest L. Crandall, President ^

No. 2. What Is Visual Instruction ?

N the last article we attempted to brush If children are taught their numbers by means

aside certain misconceptions that have of an abacus, or their reading by means of

arisen regarding visual instruction and prom- pictures, that is visual instruction of the high-

ised ourselves to proceed a little more posi- est order.

tively in this article toward arriving at a true Among the less noticed and less discussed

definition of the term. visual aids is one of immense value, of uni-

The chief conclusion to be extracted from versal availability, and yet of little efTective-

our hitherto somewhat negative discussion is ness as generally employed. I refer to the

that we should include in our conscious con- illustrated text-book. Here is a visual aid right

ception of visual aids to instruction not only at the hand of practically all teachers toda\ ,

those conspicuous devices commonly associated virtually Ithrust upon them. Yet what pcr-

with the term, but every act, fact or practice in centage of them use it for all that it is worth?
the teaching process which makes its appeal True, in the great majority of illustrated

primarily to the eye. text-books the pictures are so casually con-

If children are taken from the class room nected with the text that they might almost

to a neighboring park or to a manufacturing be denominated incidental accessories, or ornaA

plant, that is visual instruction, because they mental superfluities. Only recently has tl

are taken out to see and to learn by seeing. art of building up the text around the picture.

March, 1923

Visual Instruction Association

119

taken conscious form. Yet even with the
clumsiest of the old-time illustrated texts, in
geography for instance, teachers with the in-

;. stincts of true visual instructionists could
read:iy and profitably build up their lessons
around the pictures. That they do not do so
proves that the need of more teachers who
are visually minded is at least quite as great
and quite as vital as the much heralded need
of greater abundance, of more expensive forms
of visual aids.

To the illustrated text-book might be added
the blackboard, for diagrams, drawings, graphs,
tabulations; models, specimens, collections,
mechanical, geological, biological, industrial;

-Excursions, nature study hikes, shop and plant
inspection, museum visits; postcards, clippings,
scrapbooks, posters, of use in a dozen different
ways, and finally the stereograph, the slide and
the motion picture.

Merely to rehearse this enumeration, by no
means exhaustive, is to remind ourselves once
more to what an extent we habitually neglect
the obvious means at our disposal for reinforc-
ing our instruction with the visual appeal.
Well might we pause and say to ourselves,
"O ye of little faith!" If we really had a deep
and abiding faith in visual instruction as a
principle, and not as a fad or a highly special-
ized method, nothing could restrain us, even
those of us who are denied the luxuries of
slide and stereograph and film, from utilizing
to the utmost those simpler materials so
readily available.

Such a rehearsal also serves the further pur-
pose of disclosing upon how broad a base
visual instruction really rests. If visual in-
struction may avail itself of such diverse mate-
rials, assuredly it is not a process dependent
upon certain mechanical contrivances, but
rather is it instruction conceived of and ad-
ministered from some particular psychological
angle.

Indeed, that is the gist of the whole matter.
As this comparatively recent phase of peda-
gogic lore works out its own natural evolution
in the laboratory of the class room, we may
need from time to time to revise and modify
our conception or even our definition of visual
instruction itself. The best definition I have
been able thus far to evolve, however, would
run about as follows: Visual instruction is in-

struction enriched at all points by the con-
scious dominance of the visual appeal.

I should even be tempted to go a step fur-
ther and to say that visual instruction is any
instruction administered by a teacher who is
genuinely aware of the value and importance
of training the mind through the eye.

Any such definition places the emphasis
where it belongs, not upon the means used,
but upon the character of the instruction, or,
still better, upon the conscious purpose of the
instructor. For after all visual instruction is
just a phase of the art of teaching. Merely
showing a child films, or slides, or pictures, or
even objects themselves, will not instruct him,
save casually and accidentally, according to his
innate powers of perception and observation.
Such showing, to be effective, must be ac-
companied by teaching of the highest order,
based upon sound and accepted psychological
and pedagogical principles.

It is, then, quite clear that none of the de-
vices of visual instruction will ever replace the
teacher. It is equally certain that the film,
generally regarded as the supreme symbol of
visual instruction, can never replace the text-
book. These may seem like somewhat obvious
truisms, yet they will bear repeating, espe-
cially the. latter of the two. Not only are
there still some half-baked enthusiasts guilty
of foolishly sweeping statements anent the
superiority of the screen to the printed page,
but if there is any one peculiar danger inci-
dent to the possible over emphasis of visual
instruction, it lies precisely in the inherent
tendency of the screen, not to replace, but to
displace the printed page. The motion picture
of itself not only does not tend to encourage
reading, but, unless skillfully managed, may
tend rather distinctly to discourage it. It is
one of the supreme functions of the teacher to
see that it does not have that eflfect.

But more of all this later on. We have now
answered both negatively and affirmatively, the
question of what is visual instruction, so far
as is permitted within the sketchy limits of
an article of this kind. Accordingly, in our
next article we may address ourselves briefly
to the why of the proposition, to the reasons
underlying the vital significance of this par-
ticular approach to the child mind, as those
of us see it who insist upon its value and im-
portance as a contribution to the art of teach-
ing.

120

The Educational Screen

University of
Tex a a

Senator
HiVam W« Johnson

St. Louis School
Systems

St.Franci* rio*pH«l
Fort Wayne -Ind.

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

March, 1923

121

Sun-Maid

In+ernaiional
Correspondence Schools

Ford Mo+or
Co»npainy

Japar»e^e
G-overnm€»n-t:

Choice of them all

. Churches, in Schools, in Business and in Govern-
ental Departments — wherever you look, Motion
ctures are being used to instruct, sell and disseminate
formation. It is an accredited fact that the big suc-
sses in Motion Picture Programs are made with
eVry's. ^

tie roster of DeVry owners includes hundreds of
ihool Boards, Business Houses, Churches and Organ-
itions to whom price is the least important item
tien equipment is purchased — they demand the best,
id though willing to pay many times the DeVry price
the fact remains it is impossible to improve upon
eVry quality.

The DeVry Corporation

1248^Marianna Street Chicago, U. S. A.

Mex ican
G-overnment

San Francisco
School Systems

Claibom* Ave. Presbyterian
Church - Mew OrWans

orth€

Church -Chicago

Or^^o^. School
SystrvTkS

Cleveland Twist
Drill Ca^ryp^ny

Dcpt. <?^P"^*««- Health
SprJn^fitfia-lU.

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

122

The Educational Screen

Notes and News

A New Film Produced by Iowa State College

An educational film has been produced by
Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa, 'on a sub-
ject which is of vital interest to the entire
agricultural district located in the corn belt
area. This film, called "Pay Dirt," (3 reels)
was directed by Mr. Harry B. Warner, Soil
Specialist of the Agricultural Extension Service
of Iowa State College. A bit of local color is
introduced by naming all the characters after
various counties in the State. The picture was
produced, however, with the entire corn belt in
mind and the story is applicable to any state
in the section. The picture will be ready for
release on or about March 1st.

A synopsis of the film follows:
"PAY DIRT"
Conservation of Soil Fertility

Warren Lee and his wife, Ida, have come to
the place where they see little hope for the
future in their stony, hilly, worn-out eastern
farm. They receive a letter from Wayne Clarke,
a cousin out west, who urges them to leave
the east and come where "Corn is King, and
the soil will never wear out."

The Lees move out west. As years pass

they possess a fine farm and two husky corn-
fed boys. Clay and Howard. Warren congrat-
ulates himself upon his fine prospects, his fine
family and their fine farm which he thinks is
theirs to do with as they please. His wife
remonstrates and suggests it belongs to the
children and their children's children, Warren,
laboring under the delusion that his farm will
never wear out, burns his corn stalks, and
straw stacks each year. The barnyard manure
leaches away. in the little creek close by.

At last it is observed that corn doesn't do so
well and clover is almost an annual failure.
Warren attributes the trouble to hard winters
and dry summers, but the boys believe weak
soil is responsible for the condition.

County Agent, Mr. Linn, arrives and invites
the boys to take a trip to the Agricultural Col-
lege. They see the experimental plots and ob-
serve the effects of lime, legumes, manure and
other fertilizers. The Soil Specialist shows the
boys how to test soil for acidity. Clay submits
a sample of his soil. It is found decidedly acid.
Lime is recommended and phosphorus sug-
gested.

When the boys reach home they persuade

At Last! An Ideal Photoplay Production for Non-Theatrical

Exhibitions

THE LIFE AND WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

IN 5 REELS

This picture will appeal to all classes in the community gath-
ering. It brings both amusement and instruction to the children ;
it will surprise and hold the attention of those adults who had be-
come cynics regarding the films; it will please teachers, pastors,
social workers, and other welfare guardians of the community; and
it is certain to interest the parents when they see how their chil-
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Exclusive or None Exclusive contract and brand new positive prints available. No
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Write or wire

for prices on prints and exclusive territory; also bookings.
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WHOLESOME EDUCATIONAL FILM COMPANY

804 So. Wabash Ave. CHICAGO, ILL.

March, 1923

Notes and News

133

the father to ask the bank for a sufficient loan
to cover the cost of liming the farm. His visit
to the bank is discouraging. His hard life and
his financial d'fficulties threaten to undermine
his health, a rest is imperative. The farm and
financial problems are left to Clay and How-
ard.

The younger boy is a member of the County
Pig Club. "Blossom" makes a fine hog of her-
self by winning a blue ribbon, $25.00 cash prize
and an extra premium, a car load of limestone.
County Agent Linn makes the boys cooper-
ators and a sign on the fence designates two
expetimental plots, one with and the other
without phosphorus. The boys. lime the soil,
treat a part of the farm with phosphorus and
note the developments.

Winter and Spring pass before the father
comes home. The boys have a surprise waiting
for him. He observes one patch of clover,
failure as usual, but another patch is luxuriant
in growth and when he sees the corn he can
scarcely believe his eyes. The signs on the
fence are the clues. Warren Lee is finally con-
vinced that soil is not merely "pay dirt" which
can be mined indefinitely of its golden fertility,
but rather it is a gift from Providence, intended
for the use of generations yet unborn, and
should be conserved by intelligent farming.

Buffalo Museum Approves Cecil B. De Mille
Picture

Official approval of the efforts made by Cecil
B. DeMille to imitate as exactly as possible the
faces and cranial shapes of prehistoric men and
women in his latest Paramount production,
"Adam''} Rib," has been given by the Buffalo
Museum. One of the "cave man" photographs
from this production has been hung up in the
museum.

Mr. DeMille presented the "cave man" to
the museum and it was accepted by C. J. Ham-
lin, president of the Buffalo Society of Natural
Sciences.

"The 'cave man' photograph is an accurate
and interesting reproduction of life as it was
lived some 25,000 years ago," said Mr. Hamlin,
"and I believe the picture will be a welcome ad-
dition to the art collections of the museum.
That picture producers should be incorporat-
ing something scientific, something of perma-
nent- value into their works is of real im-
portance."

Perfectly

Steady

Projection

Depends primarily upon
skillful accuracy in the con-
struction of the projector,
rather than upon Its size and
weight. It is for this reason
that pictures shown with the

The selections of
standard films is
almost unlimited

ZENITH

Motion Picture
Projector

have the steady clearness of the strictly theatrical machines
even at such long distances as 115 feet.
The price of the Zenith is extremely moderate, yet its wear-
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Lamp, requiring no adjustment, and Universal Motor.
Takes any standard film. Stereopticon attachment, if de-
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SAFETY PROJECTOR COMPANY

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In writing for catalog, please mention this magazine.
No obligation involved.

GRAPHOSCOPE JUNIOR, latest model, new, never used, still

picture shutter, etc. complete. 1,000 or 900 watt lamp. Big
bargain to first purcliaser.

E. J. FIN LEY. P. 0. Box 662. San Francisco. Calif.

"Meeting the Menace of Tuberculosis"

Carlyle Ellis, producer of social service films
at 220 West 42nd Street, New York City, has
just completed for the medical school of Co-
lumbia University, the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, a two-reel film entitled "Meet-
ing the Menace of Tuberculosis." This is the
first instructional film to be made for the use
of this institution. It was made in conjunc-
tion with the New York Tuberculosis Associa-
tion, with Dr. lago Galdston of the association
in charge of clinical details. The story, writ-
ten by Dr. Galdston, is the history of a tuber-
culous family, carrying four cases through the
free clinic, preventorium, hospital and sana-
torium, to a regenerated home from which the
menace of the White Plague has been removed.
In photographing the action Mr. Ellis and his
company travelled within ten days to Saranac
Lake, Otisville and Loomis, N. Y., the New

124

Notes and News

The Educational Screen

The Most Effective Tool

In the hands of Progressive Teachers

To make the Teaching of History,
Geography, Health, Literature,
Civics, Science. Fascinating, Memor-
able and Profitable.

The Victor Portable Stereopticon.
For Class Room, Small or Large
. Auditorium. Brilliant Illumination —
Simple to Handle.

Catalogues on request

Slides Stereopticons Motion Pictures

Devereaux Projection Sales Co.

643^ Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, New York

132 West 42nd St.
New York City

be secured by addressing the National Health
Council, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City.

York City Preventorium at Farmingdale, N. J.,
and Bellevue Hospital here. The film will be
put to immediate class room use.

The National Health Council Issues a List of
Health Educational Films

The National Health Council has prepared
and published a comprehensive list of educa-
tional motion pictures on health subjects. Over
300 titles are included in the list which gives
in addition to the title the number of reels or
the length; the name of the distributor; the
rental or sale price, or both; and a brief note
about the subject matter of the film. The ti-
tles are classified under Child Hygiene, Per-
sonal Hygiene, Public Hygiene, Communicable
Diseases, Other Diseases, Nursing, Anatomy
and Physiology, etc., and Miscellaneous. The
film list will be sent to any person or institu-
tion interested in motion pictures on health
subjects but it is intended especially for public
health workers, connected with official and vol-
untary- agencies. A charge of $.35 per copy is
made for the ligt in order to cover part of the
cost of preparing it.

The published list and other information may

Dr. McClusky Talks to the Acme Sales Organ-
ization

Dr. F. D. McClusky of The University of
Illinois gave a most interesting informal talk
to the sales organization of the Acme Motion
Picture Projector Co., at their factory, 1134 W.
Austin Ave., on March 9th. His discussion, as an
educator, of the commercial development of the
industry was frank and to the point, and he
sent home many truths that exponents of both
factions might well consider. Oil and water
cannot mix — a man cannot be an educator in
the morning and a business man in the after-
noon and the only successful sales organization
is the one which keeps its skirts free from any
educational entanglements and sells its prod-
uct on its merits and not for the "good of the
cause." The relationship between these two
factions must be put on the same basis as that
which exists between the text book publishers
and the educators, an amicable relationship be-
cause neither infringes on the other's preserves.
Commercial companies under the guise of edu-
cational organizations have done more harm
to the visual movement than anything else.

In stating a few of the fallacies of the move-
ment he emphasized particularly the influence
of magazine and newspaper articles causing
erroneous impressions by misleading and exag-
gerated statements; propaganda that films will
supplant text-books backed by such men as
Edison and H. G. Wells; confusion existing
between entertainment and educational films;
and the small number of educational films avail-
able.

The mission of the film today according to
Dr. McClusky is to bring experiences of life
into the class room, to put the pupil in touch
with the actualities of life and above all to train
students in forming habits of harmless enjoy-
ment.

The Already Famous

Berkeley Monograph

Is Ready

The Educational Screen

5 So. Wabash Chicago

March, 1923

125

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

(We wish to call particular attention to the kind of film reviews
offered here. They are entirely impartial, and critical in the finest sense
of the word. They are written from the educational standpoint by the
department editor, who is not only a trained reviewer, but a teacher of
wide experience.

So far as we know, it is the first time that such service has been ren-
dered by any publication in the field of non-theatrical films.-7-Editor.'i

Use of Visual Aids in a Village High School

A RECENT inventory of visual aids in
the Mendon high school showed a good
supply of maps, charts, pictures and one
Bausch & Lomb balopticon (stereopticon and
opaque reflector combined). A moving pic-
ture machine was lacking. Since arrangements
have been made with the local picture theater
to show educational films, selected by the prin-
cipal, this is not missed.

Interest in visual aids in our school dates
back to 1921, when the Modern History class
became interested in the Washington Confer-
ence, then being held at our nation's capital.
After some preliminary discussions the class
decided to put on a "conference" of their
own. In order to obtain the use of a moving
picture machine the "conference" recitation
was held in the opera house. Two members
of the class adept at drawing made about
twenty fine slides to accompany the various
reports worked out by the members of the
class. Old slides were cleaned and covered
with a paste made from prepared chalk dust.
After the slides had dried, maps, cartoons and
statistics were scratched on them by means of
a pin stuck in the end of a lead pencil. A pro-
tecting glass was then fastened to the pre-
pared slide. After all the report had been
given two Fox news reels were shown. These
pictures gave some interesting views of the
Washington Conference and greatly aided in
making it a real event in history for the mem-
bers of the class as well as the audience. Our
experiment was a complete success. Students
as well as patrons of the schools spoke en-
thusiastically of the recitation.

At the beginning of the present school year
about a hundred and seventy dollars were

available for the annual senior present. After
considering the various needs of the school
it was finally decided to buy a balopticon.
The machine has been used now for a number
of months and has proved invaluable. Eight
classes use it. The history classes throw on
the screen cartoons, maps and pictures of pres-
ent day history makers. Occasionally a theme
is put before an English class for general
discussion. The various science clubs use it
continually to illustrate pieces of interesting
apparatus and new inventions. In PhysicS
drawings are used for class instruction and
review work. Increased attention is found in
all classes.

Our balopticon is used out of school as well
as in school. At the last board meeting en-
larged copies of statistics covering school
activities, scholarship reports, cost compari-
sons and teachers' salaries were thrown on
a screen. A general discussion followed each
presentation. The reports were greatly appre-
ciated by the members present. Later these
same statistics, at the request of the president,
were shown at a "Dad's" night entertainment.
The "Dads" were glad to obtain information
concerning their school. In any school a most
important factor in team work is keeping the
board and community informed as to plans;
progress and needs of the school. This is
especially true for the village school that is
putting new plans across. Detailed informa-
tion usually wins support. The balopticon,.
with its opaque reflector, aids greatly in this-
.type of endeavor.

H. M. Leinbaugh, PrincipM.

Township High School, Mendon, III.

12C

School Department

The Educational Screen

Film Reviews

SCIENCE

Trout (Carter Cinema). A valuable reel
done in Prizma color, on the subject of the
artificial propagation of fish. The steel-head
trout is pictured as coming up from the ocean
in the spring to spawn in the headwaters of
California streams. Fish ladders, of the type
constructed by the State Fish and Game Com-
mission, assist the fish in getting around the
rapids, and, at the top, grates turn the trout
aside into tanks. There the eggs are taken
from the female fish, collected in pans and
uiixed with milt. Splendid closeups show the
^elicate eggs which have to be carefully
handled. Those injured when the mass is
emptied into vats turn white and are re-
moved.

The eggs at this stage are packed in iced
trays covered with moss and sent to hatch-
eries. The reel shows the eggs at various
stages in the development of the embryo and
gives interesting enlarged views of the tiny
fry with attached yolk sac from which nour-
ishment is supplied for several days.

To restock streams, the tiny fish are shipped
in cans from the hatchery, in some cases mak-
ing journeys of considerable length. There
they grow rapidly, and good views show the
full-grown speckled trout posed long before
the camera to demonstrate clearly just how
fish breathe. The reel ends, as perhaps all
good fish stories should, with the fisherman
making a fine catch.

Butter Milk (Vitagraph). A number from
the Urban Popular Classics. Several good views
of herds of dairy cattle serve to carry along
the titling at the first of the reel, which tells
of the introduction of cattle from England in
Pilgrim times.

Careful breeding and scientific feeding are
declared to be responsible for the development
of fine dairy herds today. The cattle are shown
entering the barn and finding their stalls —
where everything is arranged in accordance
with the principle that contented cows give
better milk. The yield of each is recorded, a
sample tested, and rations for each measured
accordingly.

The remainder of the reel traces the product
on its way to the consumer. After the milk is
weighed it is sent to the creamery. (Some

disturbing flies in this particular scene cause
some doubt as to whether the milk was being
as carefully guarded as the best practice de-
mands.)

At the creamery each farmer's product is
tested and graded, its weight recorded, and it
is then emptied into huge vats. The pans are
carefully washed and sterilized before being
returned to the owner.

If it had nothing else to recommend it, the
film would be worth while simply for its pictur-
ing of the process of pasteurization — where the
milk in the vats is raised by rotating coils to
a temperature of 142 degrees Fahrenheit for
30 minutes. Then follow fine views of the
surface cooler which instantly reduces the
temperature.

The sterilization of milk bottles is interest-
ingly shown, as well as the filling and capping,
done entirely by machinery.

The familiar milk wagon delivers the product
from the creamery to the individual homes.
Some youthful consumers are shown to close
the reel.

Volcanoes of the World (Fox). To explain
the theory of volcanic action, the film makes
good use of animated drawings. A cross sec-
tion diagram pictures rain percolating through
the surface strata, finally reaching pockets of
molten rock, causing steam to form. The lava
thrown upward by the explosive force below
finds an outlet at the surface.

The film then announces that the spectators
will take an airplane trip to some of the world's
greatest craters — Mt. Popocatepetl, Mexico, first.
There are pictures of the plane starting, and views
from the plane as it approaches the-\'^olcano. The
crater itself and the fumes coming from it are
well photographed.

Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius follow. As an
introduction to the latter there are good pano-
ramic views of Naples and the Bay and scenes
taken along the road from Naples to Pompeii.
The ruined city itself is shown as an example
of the destructive force of its neighboring
volcano.

The views of Vesuvius' crater are easily the
best in the reel. It is seen from several angles
and particularly remarkable are the glimpses
one gets from the plane as it skims along above
the edge of the great crater. A small cone
in the center of the large crater emits volumes

March, 1923

School Department

127

of steam, gases and ash, admirably illustrating
the explosive force of a volcano. A close
view, taken as the plane flies over the very pit
of the crater, closes the reel.

'Gators (Prizma). One of the early Prizma
reels, and made primarily of course for enter-
tainment, yet not without definite value in a
study of this class of reptiles. The young
animals on alligator farms are first shown, an
e^^ is displayed at close range, and the tiny
alligator is seen emerging. The eggs are laid
in nests on the ground and hatch from the heat
of the sun and the decomposition of vegetable
matter. The animals are seen to achieve only
a rather slow growth for the first few months,
but make up for it later during their long
lives — one specimen shown having reached the
age of 275 years.

Good closeups afford a chance to study the
head structure, and the enormous mouth with
its full set of teeth, which is contrasted with
the head of a crocodile.

The second part of the reel takes one to the
natural haunts of the animal. Men in a boat
on a reedy creek search for the alligator and
when he is- "spotted" one dives after him, ties
him after somewhat of a struggle, and dumps
him into the boat — a valuable catch when one
remembers how much in demand are the skins
of these animals.

Gambling With the Gulf Stream (Hodkin-
son). A Bray subject, rather pseudo-scientific
in character. As with most Brays, there is
clever animated drawing which one could wish
were done in exposition of a more serious sub-
ject. The reel is devoted to an explanation of
the proposition (said to have been seriously
advanced at one time in Congress) of building
up from the Grand Banks, which are scarcely
200 feet below sea level, a wall which would
stop the southward flow of the Labrador cur-
rent, turn it outward into the Atlantic where
its colder waters would sink, and leave the
warmer waters of the Gulf Stream full sway in
tempering the climate of North Atlantic lands.

Rather extravagant suppositions are enter-
tained as to how such a scheme would work
in melting Greenland ice, and modifying the
climate of Canada and eastern United States.
It is even suggested that the melting of so
much polar ice would change the balance of
the earth, inclining the northern hemisphere

more toward the sun. Much of the science in
the reel is of the Sunday supplement variety.

The animated drawings which show the cur-
rents of the north Atlantic and explain the rea-
sons for their courses, the cross-section draw-
ings of the Grand Banks and the diagrams
explaining how anchored buoys connecting a
cable laid on the ocean bed might cause a bar
of sand to be built to deflect the Labrador
current, are all excellent.

But the reel also achieves the height of the
ridiculous, and in doing so, becomes utterly
worthless from an educational standpoint. In
letting the imagination play upon the climatic
changes which might result from such a scheme
as has been described, the film pictures an
igloo replaced by a rose-covered summer cot-
tage; in place of construction workmen climb-
ing the steel • framework of a skyscraper in
Times Square, the entire population of eastern
United States, it is predicted, would soon be
climbing cocoanut trees, and a man in the dress
of a native Hawaiian is seen descending the
steps of a city apartment house. The producer
evidently believes that even our Science must
be jazzed.

Attention FREE Attention

Are you interested in securing a
motion picture projector for your use
in your School, Church, Y. M. C. A.
Rooms, Homes, Community Center,
and elsewhere, absolutely free of
charge, so that you may have the bene-
fit of motion pictures?

I will install a well known projector
and keep same in good condition abso-
lutely free of charge to you, and can
furnish you with the best and latest
films as often as you desire.

For further information
•write or call in person.

M. FELDSTEIN

804 So. Wabash Avenue
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

128

School Department

The Educational Screen

Bausch & Lomb Portable Balopticon

Traveling lecturers and special instructors find the Model A Portable Balopticon to be
absolute insurance against projection failure.

In addition to reliability, its convenience will also be appreciated. The carrying case,
measuring only \3}/^ x 11 x 63^, is sturdily made and so easily balanced that it is ex-
tremely easy to carry.

Its 400- Watt gas-filled Mazda lamp operates on any
1 1 0-volt light circuit. This Balopticon can be fitted
with an acetylene burner, a 6-volt Mazda lamp, for
use with storage battery, or a 30-volt, 14-ampere
Mazda for private lighting plants.

Prices range from $57 to $70
according to equipment.

ASK YOUR DEALER FOR BOOKLET. OR WRITE TO US

Bausch ^ Jpmb Optical (6.

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO ROCHESTER, N. Y. London

The Cruise of the Princess MacQuinn. (Pro-
ducer, Lee Bradford Corporation.) Another of
the Canadian Series — this a "pictorial log of a
journey up the west coast of Vancouver." Here
is material to stimulate any producer to turn
out a valuable educational subject; excellent
views of the Northwest coast country, fishing
boats, typical coast villages, copper mines, bas-
ket weaving^ being done by Indian women, an
Indian cemetery, a ghmpse of the whaling in-
dustry, and at Point Alice, a cargo of wood
pulp being loaded onto a ship bound for a
paper mill.

In spite of the possibilities, the reel is chiefly
interesting as an illustration of the pernicious
results which can be achieved with good mate-
rial by the misguided efforts of the ever-pres-
ent title writer. The one who has been en-
trusted with the Bradford productions is re-
solved to be witty, at whatever cost to the
serious use of his film. For example, after a
particularly good close view of a whale being
pulled up onto a wharf, its huge hulk shiny
and dripping, the title artist exclaims with
masterful effect, "That ought to be a lesson
to any whale."

A Mack Sennett among the educationalists.

The Crayfish and the Stickleback. (Pathe.)
A spHt reel, the footage divided between the
two subjects. The crayfish is introduced as
an arthropod belonging to the class of Crus-
taceans. Views of his habitat are shown — the
stony bottoms of rivers and ponds. He is a
nightfeeder, fond of worms, small fish and
vegetable food. A series of closeups show his
strong, powerful jaws; two long, flexible an-
tennae, and his head and thorax closely at-
tached. Eggs are carried attached to the ab-
domen of the female, where they remain until
hatched. The crayfish can reproduce lost parts
and can live for a time out of water. Another
closeup shows the swimmerets which help him
to move with great rapidity.

The second half of the reel shows "the fish
that builds a nest." He is found in streams
and ponds, although certain species also live in
the ocean. He gets his name from the spines
projecting from his back— which he no doubt
uses to good effect when he gets into disputes
about food — a thing which often happens. The
nest of the fish is made by the male, who .
guards it faithfully after the eggs are deposited. \

A most interesting reel, as well for a general
program as for classes in Zoology or Natural
Science.

March, 1923

School Department

109

Mr. Leonard Poller,
president of the Na-
tional Association of
Elementary School
Principals, writes:

I must mention
what wonderful re-
sults we are getting
with the new Trans-
Lux Daylight Screen.
. . . From now on
we shall go right on
with our pictures
with better visualiza-
tion than ever be-
fore, with all the
curtains up and win-
dows open. I regard
the invention of this
screen as one of the
big steps forward in
visual education.

Darkened Classrooms AboUshed!

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.

'Wk

And What Do Ha Users Think?

For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

Trans-Lux Daylight Picture Screen

INCORPORATED
36 West 44th St. New York City

And ReT. N e \r e 1 1
Dwlsht Hilll«, na-
tionally knovrn as
the pastor of Plym-
onth Church, Brook-
lyn, comments:

At the beginning-
we were somewhat
skeptical as to the
results. ... I am
writing not only to
express my gratitude
to you, but to say
that without a single
exception the lec-
turers and ministers
who have used the
screen, both at every
hour during the day
and again at night,
pronounce it the best
screen that they have
ever used. It Is quite
beyond any words of
praise.

Samia Cecropia. (Society for Visual Educa-
tion.) An excellent telling of the life story of
this "giant American silkworm." Splendid close
views show the eggs — 100 to 150 of which are
laid, attached to the under side of leaves — and
the young black caterpillars hatching. After
four moultings, and much feeding, the cater-
pillar seeks a suitable place for his cocoon, and
remarkable scenes show him fastening guy
ropes for support, pulling protecting leaves
about the structure for added security, and
weaving the silk back and forth, spinning a
sheet of fiber about the twig to anchor the
cocoon through the winter. The silk is shown
to be spun very loosely at one end so that the
moth can emerge easily. Details of the finished
cocoon are shown — the exterior layer coarse
and paper-like, the interior fine and silky.

After the cocoon is complete, the caterpillar
within sheds its larval skin, and with the warmth
of spring emerges as a moth. We see him
coming forth, antennae and head appearing
first, climbing onto the twig. His wings ex-
pand, and his body contracts to force the life
fluid into the wings.

Differences between the antennae of the male
and female are shown, as "well as a magnified
section of the wing to show the spicules.

A splendid subject for Nature Study and
Zoology classes, made with a schoolroom view-

pomt.

INDUSTRIAL

Magic Clay. (Prizma.) A splendid subject,
devoted to a description of the process of mak-
ing Rookwood pottery in the workshops near
Cincinnati, Ohio. Color adds much, of course,
to the interest of such a subject.

Various views are given of the factory itself
which looks more like a beautiful country estate
than a workshop. Inside, the workers are busy
"throwing" the clay on the rapidly revolving
wheels and shaping the vases. For the purpose
of demonstrating the absolute uniformity in the
thickness of the clay as it is shaped, a vase is
wire-cut down its entire length.

Again the process of shaping is shown, and
the vase is cut loose from the wheel with a fine
wire.

Some vases are cast in moulds. In that case,
thin clay is poured in, entirely filling the mould,
and the portion next to the mould adheres, the
rest is poured off, the mould is removed, and
the vase disclosed.

"Touching up" to remove all roughnesses, is
done by skilled hands, and girl workers paint
designs on the soft clay, which is then cov-
ered with a thin film of glaze, and a number
of vases are fired in large earthen containers.
These remain under intense heat for two days,
at the end of which time the finished product
comes out in all its exquisite beauty.

The reel ends with several scenes of the
magician and his lump of clay which he, by a
gesture, turns into a beautiful vase. A super-
fluous touch — the real process is fascinating and
interesting enough.

Making Natural Color Films. (Prizma.) Not
a recent subject, and describing perhaps not
the latest perfected color processes, but cer-
tainly giving an idea of how color photography
is done. The reel describes how the film is
sensitized, how colored gelatin covers the cam-
era lens, and how the colors are superimposed.

180

School Department

The Educational Screen

In the finished print, the two colors appear
combined.

Examples of various sorts of subjects are
given, as for instance a rapidly moving object
like a hydroplane. The question of how many
colors can be photographed is answered in the
case of the rainbow. The film even attempts
a stereoscopic effect, and ends by demonstrat-
ing that natural color can be attained in pho-
tographing human subjects.

ART

The Young Painter, 2 reels. (Hodkinson.)
Another of the Triart series, in which there is
less connection with any one masterpiece of
Art than in previous films of the series — this
one based simply on the admiration which a
young artist felt for the great master, Rem-
brandt. At the first we go back in imagina-
tion to the studio of the latter, where we see
Rembrandt and his pupils. Toward one young
man he feels a special attraction, as he thinks
he discovers the spark of genius in him.

Three centuries later, in a Long Island
studio, another young painter looks to Rem-
brandt for his inspiration and guidance.
Through a chance accident, he meets Helen,
whose family have a summer estate on the
island. There springs up between them a strong
comradeship, which .is interrupted by the
arrival of Helen's suitor. The young men dis-
cover they have known each other, and the
artist, anxious to do his friend no wrong, dis-
appears, to take up his life in the artist colony
of Greenwich Village. Helen realizes what he
means to her, and Courtleigh offers to find him.
In the meantime, the artist has made scant
headway; grief and illness have sapped his
strength, and just as Helen finds him, he dies.
A rather literal double exposure shows him
lying on his couch and at the same time rising
to go with Rembrandt who has always been
his guide. A rather heavy ending to what
started out to be a light, fanciful little story.

The film is suitable for school showing, al-
though there is little to be gained in art appre-
ciation from it, except possibly by virtue of its
own beautiful photography. Pierre Gendron
does the part of the young painter, with fine
touches, and Mary Astor is as always the em-
bodiment of youth and charm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson. (Hodkinson.) This
reel falls short of convincing, by a narrow
margin. It wastes, at first, a good deal of
footage on facts of bibliography which could

far better be acquired by the student before
the reel begins. There follow some scenes of
old-world places Emerson visited in his travels,
and the "Old Manse" where he lived upon his
return to this country.

The film attempts to characterize his style
and method of generalization, by scenes illus-
trating lines from his Nature. The home in
which he lived after his second marriage, and
his favorite grove, are shown, but always, as
in the previous view of the Old Manse, there-
is the ever-present sight-seer. I

The bridge and the famous spot where was
fired "the shot heard round the world" are
shown much as they might have looked in that
day, except for a very modern automobile — a
careless lapse in direction.

The reel closes with scenes demonstrating
the truth of Emerson's lines to the effect that
not alone in beauty itself, biit even in the mean-
est surroundings, "something sings." They err
in a too literal exactness. Scenes in a reel of
this sort must be kept general, if they are to
interpret general truths.

Alexander Hamilton. (Vitagraph.) The
first of the American Statesman Series of Ur-
ban Popular Classics, published by the Kineto
Company of America. The chronological plan
is followed in tracing the life of Hamilton
from his childhood in the West Indies through
his later career as a statesman — with Hamil-
ton's own words as the keynote of the story:
"I believe that I have certain abilities, and I
solemnly swear to devote them entirely to
my country."

After showing scenes on the island of Nevis,
the birthplace of Hamilton, rather too much
footage is given to the deathbed scene of his
mother. It is none too skilfully acted, except
for the lad who takes the part of the boy
Hamilton, and slows up the narrative lament-
ably, though it was probably thought necessary
in order to give voice to the precepts with
which Hamilton starts forth in life.

A title tells us that he matriculated at Kings
College (Columbia University) but the action
of the remainder of the reel has to do with
Hamilton during Revolutionary times and later.
Perhaps the best scene of all is that in the ale-
house, in 1774, on the eve of the Revolution,
when a toast to Liberty is proposed, and Ham- ,
ilton, sitting by the fire, apart from the rest,
does not respond. His fellows declare, "What
else can we expect from a West Indian," and
Hamilton, in spite of the sudden entrance of

March, 1923

School Department

131

Redcoats, rises to declare, "I pledge myself
body and soul and brain to the most sacred
cause of the American Colonies. I vow to it
all my best energies for the rest of my life."

Hamilton's later political career is traced,
largely in title, with a few short scenes inter-
spersed, to show him as the leader of men,
one of the chief influences in drafting the Con-
stitution, the first Secretary of the Treasury,
and the moving spirit of the Federalist Party.
The reel closes with a dramatization of the
Hamilton-Burr duel, which brought to an end
the career of "the greatest statesman America
has yet produced."

The film is valuable for giving a fairly com-
prehensive view of Hamilton's life, which must
become more easily remembered for having
seen this film survey.

Grandfather's Clock. (Vitagraph.) Another
of the Urban Popular Classics, built around the
lines of a song of the same title, by Henry C.
Work. It tells the life story of the man, from
the time when the clock was first brought into
the house, on the day of his birth, to the day
he died, when the clock "stopped short, never
to go again." A subject intended perhaps to
be subtle, and suggestive of human destiny, but
succeeds merely in being futile, and wasting
much footage on poor photography.

An old man. taking a candle, totters toward
the stairs, and pauses to wind the clock. The
familiar act takes him back in retrospect, to
his early years, and his interest in the clock
from babyhood on, when it seemed to him that
the clock shared all his joys and his griefs. So
the old man in thought reviews his life until
the candle burns low. In the dead of night
the clock's alarm rings, and the old man's
hour of departure has come.
SCENIC

Missing Men (Educational). One of the
Bruce Wilderness Tales — and a story, to a
beautiful scenic accompaniment, of a man who
with his companion started out from camp
on a hunting trip into the great silent woods
of the Northwest, chose the wrong trail on the
homeward trip and in his wandering alone was
seized with the dread "timber madness." In-
stinct more than reason led him toward home,
only to be mistaken for a beast as he crawled
forward on the ground. He narrowly escaped
being shot, but was finally rescued and resusci-
tated.

The scenic backgrounds truly justify Bruce's
title — "the artist who paints with a camera."

Read Iftese Unsolicited TlMtimQtiial$
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}

132

School Department

The Educational Screen

Seldom are there to be seen such stretches of
snow-carpeted mountain and timber land. The
height of contrast in the dark shadows of men
and trees against the unbroken whiteness of
snow, gives a marked silhouette effect. And
what is really exceptional, the film seems to
catch the hush of the vast silences and the
clear cold of the bright northland in winter.

The Hunting Ground of Hiawatha (Vita-
graph). An Urban Popular Classic, titled with
lines from Longfellow, and illustrated with
landscapes — some of which are, however, not
quite in keeping with their preceding de-
scriptive titles. For example, following a title
which reads:

"Through interminable forests,
Through uninterrupted silence,
With his moccasins of magic,
At each stride a mile he measured,"

comes a view of an Indian on horseback.

The scenes are disjointed, unconnected bits.
chosen to illustrate lines taken from here and
there in Hiawatha, and the result is a notice-
able lack of continuity. Some good views are
suggestive of the spirit of the poem — and par-
ticularly effective is a trail of bison as ,they
outline the top of a ridge. The last views of
the Indian are good, but the reel as a whole
has little to offer in vitalizing the background
to Longfellow's poem.

Towering Wonders of Utah. (Vitagraph.) A
subject from the Urban Popular Classics, show-
ing the "strange scenic phenomena in the moun-
tains of Utah and Nevada." It starts on a trip
through the Mohave Desert, passing Death
Valley, which affords some good views of the
Nevada desert.

The rest of the reel is taken up with queer
rock formations, chiseled out of solid masses
by the work of wind-driven sand, and other
fantastic forms in the Valley of Fire, the
result of erosion in strata of unequal hardness.
In Zion National Park, in southwest Utah,
there are the rocks which give the title to the
reel. Panoramic views show the valley from
a great height, and above the canyon floor
towers the Throne Rock, 3,000 feet high.

The Virgin River lends some pretty scenery
of the more usual sort, and in Bryce Canyon
are some truly remarkable views of the almost
architectural rock forms chiseled out by erosion.
One can almost imagine he is looking at the
careful sculpturing of a mediaeval cathedral —

and some rocks have been named the "Temple
of the Gods," and "The Minaret."

The reel ends with a splendid view of a nat-
ural bridge — even though we must take excep-
tion to the title writer who says it was "thrown
across the chasm when the world was young."
The real history of such a topographic feature,
we venture to say, is as interesting as any
imaginative statement of its origin.

On the whole, a fine reel, especially for the
class in Geography or Physiography who
would study phases of wind work and the work
of running water.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Last of the Seminoles. (Prizma.) Color
photography contributes much to the interest
of this subject, particularly when it comes to
gett'.ng an accurate idea of the dress of these
Indians of our Southland. The reel was filmed
in the Everglades of Florida, where in scat-
tered camps, with only a few families in each,
live the 500 or more of the race who still sur-
vive.

It is, the film tells us, a region lacking in
natural gifts, and probably due to Nature's
nggardly provision, the men it has developed
are of a sturdy type, capable of making tin
most of their environment, and getting their
living by what hunting and fishing they can do.
The homes are crudely constructed, for the
climate does not demand close shelter, and
cooking is done in a primitive fashion.

The only product the Seminole can barter is
the skins he is able to tan. The film shows him
at this sort of work, as well as at the business
of fashioning his canoe out of a tree trunk-^a
task in which he shows no mean craftsman-
ship. In this canoe, armed with a gun, the
Seminole shoots his fish, and when the day's
hunt is over, roasts his catch on a revolving
spit.

The canoe takes him to the nearest settle
ment of the white man where he barters alli-
gator skins and other hides.

A subject of very definite educational value,
in showing the effect of environm.ent on man,
as well as describing the mode of living of
these particular survivors of a departed race.

Wild Babies. (Vitagraph.) One of the Ani-
mal Kingdom Scries, from the Urban Popular
Classics, and particularly suitable for an audi-
ence of younger children. Bird babies arc the
first to be shown, after some preliminary scenes

i

March, 1923

School Department

188

which illustrate the parental instincts of birds.
The vireo is seen building her nest, the mother
bluebird keeps her eggs snug and warm, and
then a close view shows the tiny birds just
hatched — "not an hour old, crying for food
and exhausting themselves in the effort." A
chaffinch feeds the young appetites of her fam-
ily, and we even see the nest and young of the
Red-tailed hawk.

After the birds, come other familiar exam-
ples from the Animal Kingdom. Some tiny
Bunny Cottontails are discovered in their nest
under a heap of leaves. A prairie-dog family
group shows the father on watch while the
mother plays with the baby ball of fur. A
Malatan deer and a three-months-old baby,
and a Rocky Mountain goat with her young,
are other examples.

The Yak in his woolly clothes adapted to
cold Tibet is contrasted with the baby Hippo.
Especially interesting to a child aud.ence will
be the opossum family — the babies clinging to
the mother's back and holding fast to her
shoulders while she climbs to a new and safer
hiding place. Other families are shown: bear
cubs playing in the water; a young zebra as
beautifully patterned as its mother; and a kan-
garoo carrying the young in its pouch.

A subject interestingly arranged — although
we know that many of the "wild babies" are
photographed in some Zoological Garden. It
could spare its last title, and the reel would
lose nothing.

Kiddles. (Prizma.) And their friends found
here and there. The reel is a collection of pic-
tures of the children of many lands — beginning
and ending with our own. Hopi Indian babies
sit by, while the mother makes baskets; Jap-
anese children are seen in their playgrounds
in the Land of the Cherry Blossoms; in the
Navajo nursery the mother is busy carding
wool while she carries the papoose on her back;
and Chinese and Mexican children ofTer strange
contrasts.

For a child audience, to whom the reel con-
tains much of value in giving at least a glimpse
of the child life of many lands, the last few
scenes could well be omitted. A baby of two
or three watches a girl at her dressing table,
and as soon as she has a chance, imitates the
"makeup" with rather grotesque effect of mis-
placed color.

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1S4

The Educational Screen

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

With this issue are combined, under the above title, the former departments called
"From Hollywood" and "Theatrical Film Critique." This brings all matters theatrical
Into one department and into the hands of a department editor who is particularly quali-
fied to handle this important field.

Correspondence with Miss Orndorff on any question pertaining to this subject is
invited.— The Editor.

Consider the Director

I?T'S all very well for one to be a great
.actor, and for another to be a wonderful
r. designer, and another a clever title writer,
and still another an electrical wizard. They
are all most necessary and vital to the motion
picture. But somebody has to fit all their
varied contributions together like the parts of
a puzzle; somebody who knows beforehand
what the .puzzle is going to look like when it
is finished; somebody who can keep his grasp
on the essential needs of the picture as a
whole through all the confusion of detail that
presents itself during the process of shooting.
And that little job belongs to the director.

It is a job that calls first of all for a wealth
of experience and a close and understanding
observation of hfe. It demands a keen sense
of drama, the ability to translate thought into
action, an ever-present realization of the
screen's limitations as a medium of expression.
Last, but never least, it requires unlimited
tact and a considerable quantity of grim de-
termination. This might be said to constitute
the irreducible minimum of requirement for
the ideal director. Any added personal quali-
ties that the individual director may possess
are just so much "velvet."

The damage that a poor director can do to
a good story is too obvious for discussion;
but what a good director may do with a poor
story may offer a wider field for argument,
as the consensus of opinion in certain critical
circles seems to be that practically all the
stories now produced on the screen are bad.
Strange to say, this class even includes some
of the directors themselves. No less a person
than William DeMille is credited with the
statement that ninety-five per cent of all the
pictures are bad. Another well known
director, in speaking of the use of films in
schools, asked me whether or not educators
could find anything worth using "in the mess."
All of which merely suggests that perhaps

after all the movies are not so complacent and
self-satisfied as we have been used to thinking|
them.

The conclusion of the casual observer after]
seeing a few pictures and thinking the movies
over, is that there must be some good dire(
tors. There are, and we ought to know thei
a little better than we do. It is just as well
anyhow, to take stock occasionally, and witj
the movies in the most interesting stage
their career, we may find some interest
speculating on the future possibilities of som^
of our directors, speculation being of coui
futile, but, like many of the useless things in
this world, none the less fascinating.

Well, then, to begin with, there is D. W.
Griffith. Without question he heads the list.
Actors say it; other directors say it and theirs
is the last word. Consider the pictures that
are linked with his name — "The Birth of a Na-
tion," "Intolerance," "Broken Blossoms,"
"Hearts of the World," "Way Down East,"
"Orphans of the Storm," and his latest, "One
Exciting Night." Pictures that stand out,
every one of them; and critics still insist that
"Broken Blossoms" was the finest picture
ever produced, though it was a dire financial
failure. Among his other admirable qualities
as a director, Griffith possesses an uncanny
ability to put his finger on the exact needs
of the movie public. Then, according to his
findings, he produces. a costume play, or a war
romance, or a melodrama, or a mystery story,
and then it is not very long before the others
swing into line and follow his lead.

The DeMilles offer a study in contrast.
C. B. DeMille — his associates say it frankly —
plays to the grandstand. His offerings
definitely bid for popularity, and in his par
ticular kind of thing he is a master; nobody
else can put on a "show" like his. Beginning
'Carmen," his picture, "Joan, the

"Old

with

Woman," "We Can't Have Everything,

March, ig^s

The Theatrical Field

135

Wives for New," "Male and Female," "For-
bidden Fruit," "The Affairs of Anatol," "Fool's
Paradise," "Saturday night" and "Manslaugh-
ter," stand as a glittering record. And literally
they do glitter, for he chooses his casts from
among the brightest stars, his sets are the most
gorgeous that money can . supply, his costumes
are the latest word in luxurious fashion. Lav-
ishness is his keynote, and he deals almost ex-
clusively with the upper crust of society, with
only an occasional dip into the 'lower strata by
way of contrast.

William DeMille lacks the hard brilHancy of
his brother. Here is a softer, dreamier, more
whimsical quality, that finds expression in such
pictures as Barrie's "What Every Woman
Know" and Tarkington's "Clarence" and Zona
Gale's "Miss Lulu Bett." An associate once said
of him, "He will never lower his standard of art
to cater to popular taste." He does not entirely
disregard the wishes of the public, but he never
lets the box office interfere with his idea of a
fine picture.

"I suppose," commented another man, a
writer, "that William DeMille has never made
a picture that actually paid, with the excep-
tion of 'Midsummer Madness,' yet he is a
great director."

Maurice Tourneur stands out in my mind
as one of the first who ever gave his audience
credit for some intelligence, and allowed them
to use their own imagination to enhance his
effects. He is responsible for another of the
screen's financial failures, that picture of
moonbeams and shadows, "Prunella," and he
has to his credit "The Little Princess," one of
Mary Pickford's earlier successes; Conrad's
"Victory," Stevenson's "Treasure Island,"
Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans," and, lately,
"Lorna Doone." There is a directness about
Tourneur's presentation of his subject that is
wholly refreshing, and he has a way of get-
t-ng into the spirit of a story — he is Gounod,
he is Cooper, not just an imitator. And when
next you see one of his pictures, notice the
beauty of his natural backgrounds. He has an
unerring eye for it.

Rex Ingram, inevitably, rode to fame with
'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." His
more recent pictures, "Turn to the Right,"
"The Conquering Power," "The Prisoner of
Zenda," "Trifiing Women," continue to show
the qualities that the first revealed. First,
and perhaps best of all, he has a respect for

the story that is, to say the least, unusual
among motion picture directors — no happy
endings or trite situations when logic and the
story demand otherwise; rather, the story for
the story's sake. Added to this is a positive
genius in casting a picture, and a keenness
and faithfulness in small detail that lift his
work high above the ordinary.

The most frequent comment on his pictures
is that he needs stronger stuff. The rather
slight material of such stories as "The Pris-
oner of Zenda" and "Trifling Women" hardly
merits the expenditure of the inspiration and
energy he has lavished on them. Kipling's
"The Light That Failed" and Victor Hugo's
"Toilers of the Sea," both of which he may
film, will offer sounder material to which we
may look forward.

Marshall Neilan is the raconteur of the
screen. He is a brilliant director, a revolution-
ary, but his critics say he is erratic — apt to
fly off at a tangent, or lose interest, so that
his pictures as a whole are uneven. He has
directed Mary Pickford in "Daddy Long Legs"
and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"; his was
the harrowing but intensely interesting tale of
the newspaper reporter, "Go and Get It," that
amusing satire, "The Lotus Eaters," in which
John Barrymore discovered a modern Utopia,
and that story of the eternal boy, "Penrod."
And as proof of his revolt against convention,
last year he produced "Bits of Life," a unique
experiment in grouping four short subjects
together.

Another eccentric workman is Eric Von
Stroheim, who has built his reputation as a
great director on three pictures, the latest and
most widely discussed of which was "Foolish
Wives."

"A genius, absolutely a genius," one person
said of him, "but he needs to be curbed." The
curb should come, perhaps, in the form of a
better knowledge of the American taste in
literature and pictures. An Austrian by birth,
he is apparently a master at handling stories
of European society and intrigue from the
continental point of view. Without a doubt,
gruesome details are his specialty; one won-
ders what he would make of some of Poe's
tales. But he has yet to prove himself with
a thoroughly American story, and he has that
chance in "MacTeague," a San Francisco story
by Frank Norris.

Fred Niblo has to his credit two enormous

1S6

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

successes in the last year or so, "The Three
Musketeers" and "Blood and Sand." Faith-
fulness in small things, a perfect tempo, and
an amazing ability to enter into the spirit of
the story, mark his direction. He offered so
truthful a picture of Spain and Spanish life in
the Ibanez story that one man who had lived
abroad refused to believe it could have been
done by anyone but a Spaniard.

George Fitzmaurice gave us the exquisite
dream pictures in "Forever," the screen ver-
sion of "Peter Ibbetson" and the romantic "To
Have and to Hold," and very recently the
perennial "crook" story, "Kick In," Versa-
tility, certainly, and a mastery of delicate shad-
ing are to be found here.

Then there is that one who occupies the
securest niche as the greatest comedian on
the screen, Charles Chaplin. We are less
apt to think of him as the director than as
the actor, yet "The Kid" and "Shoulder Arms"
marked a great director. Chaplin works with-
out a script and in the most intermittent and
apparently haphazard way. But the idea is
there all the time — just life — and a comedy
that is based on the deepest pathos. To put
that on the screen as he does needs more
than the actor. And while comedy holds the
stage let me mention Mack Sennett, a director
with the keenest sense of dramatic values and

of the psychology of the comic. There are
those who would like to see him do serious
dramatic things. ■

Now for the "others." It's a dangerous^
business, this of making distinctions. We
agree that there are a few great ones whose
consistent performances assure their positions;
but there are others who show the fire of
genius as well, and where are we to draw the
lines?

For instance, there is Allan Dwan, whose
"Robin Hood" was a personal triumph in direc-
tion; there is Frank Lloyd with "SmiHn*
Through" and "Oliver Twist." There is Hugo
Ballin with "Jane Eyre," Robert Vignola with
"When Knighthood Was in Flower," Henry
King with "Tol'able David," James Cruze with
"One Glorious Day," perhaps the most unusual
picture on last year's list; John S. Robertson
with "Sentimental Tommy" and "The Little
Minister," and Emmett Flynn with "The Con-
necticut Yankee." And still the list is far from
complete.

But when the screen passes beyond the ex-
perimental stage, when color photography and
stereographic pictures have been conquered,
and motion pictures have become less dancing
shadows and more the medium of true panto-
mime— then who will the great directors be?

Production Notes

Charles Ray proposes to follow his Riley
picture, "The Girl I Loved," with Longfellow's
"Courtship of Miles StandisW," in which he
will play John Alden.

"Alice of Old Vincennes'* is scheduled as
Marion Davies' next picture.

Warner Brothers have purchased "Deburau,"
"The Gold Diggers" and Sinclair Lewis' "Bab-
bitt" for early production.

Zane Grey's novels, "To the Last Man,"
"The Heritage of the Desert" and "Wander-
ers of the Wasteland," will be filmed by Para-
mount, as well as other stories to be written
by him in the future. Other Paramount an-
nouncements of interest are the signing of
contracts with Antonio Moreno and Richard
Dix and Herbert Brennon, the director.
Richard Ordynski, formerly stage director of
the Metropolitan Opera, will direct his first

picture, "The Exciters," under the Paramount
banner.

Universal has bought Rita Weiman's play,
"The Acquittal," for Priscilla Dean, and Fran-
ces Hodgson Burnett's "The Pretty Sister of
Jose" and "Naughty Marietta" for Virginia
Valli.

Channing Pollock's play, "The Fool," now
on the stage with James Kirkwood in the title
part, has been purchased by Fox, but accord-
ing to the agreement is not to be released for
two years. William and Dustin Farnum are
engaged on special productions at the Fox
western studios.

Norma Talmadge is at work on "Within the
Law" and Constance Talmadge on "Dulcy "
to be directed by Victor Heerman,

An important change in production policy
was recently announced by the Goldwyn Pic-
tures Corporation, Hereafter the unit system

March, 1923

The Theatrical Field

137

will be employed in making the big feature
pictures to which the company has committed
itself.

Each director will have his own staff and
will be given every facility in putting into his
productions his own individuality and per-
sonality. He will have the cooperation of the
department heads of the Culver City studio,
but each unit will be separate unto itself.

Marshall Neilan recently transferred his
whole staff to the Goldwyn studios and is
releasing his pictures through them. He is
now producing his own story, "The Ingrate."

Eric Von Stroheim, Rupert Hughes, King
Vidor, Clarence Badger, and Hugo Ballin will
also have their own studios.

Franz Lehar's famous "Merry Widow" is
promised under -Von Stroheim's direction, and

a series of Rex Beach stories beginning with
"The Spoilers" will be produced by Jesse D.
Hampton, directed by Lambert Hillyer.

Victor Seastrom, the Swedish actor and
director, has also joined the Goldwyn staff.
He has adapted and directed the stories of
Selma Lagerlof and Johan Stefansson in his
own country.

Douglas Fairbanks, feeling that his pirate
picture demands color, has his technical staff
hard at work on a process which they hope to
be able to perfect for this production. Inci-
dentally, Mr. Fairbanks and Miss Pickford
are turning their attention more and more to
production, their intention being to include
in the United Artists' Corporation a number of
artists, who will have freedom to depart from
the conventionalized type of picture.

Film Reviews

ROBIN HOOD (United Artists)

After watching a few of the scenes in the
actual process of being "shot," and moving
for a short time in the atmosphere of the
Crusades, I find a particular pleasure in the
opportunity to review "Robin Hood." It is a
great picture; it places Mr, " Fairbanks in the
first rank as a producer.

Technically and artistically, it is practically
flawless, and the picture it gives of mediaeval
England, is incomparable. The settings are
little short of marvelous. No pasteboard
"scenery" here, but the castle of our imagin-
ings, the Nottingham of Howard Pyle, and
the Sherwood of Walter Scott and the English
ballads. The tournament scenes are perhaps
the most brilliant that have ever flashed across
the screen — all the glitter and glamor of
"Ivanhoe" and "The Talisman" rolled into
one — the very spirit of the age of chivalry.

The plot is an adroit assembling of the
historic incidents of the period, and the frag-
mentary legends centering around the ro-
mantic figure of Robin Hood. It moves swiftly
and smoothly. The cast is without exception
excellent, and Wallace Beery as Richard the
Lion-hearted does the finest work of his career.
His portrait of the big, laughter-loving ruffian,
who loved his friends and hated his enemies
with equal staunchness, and went blithely cru-
sading as much for the sport of it as for any
other reason, will not be soon forgotten.

Sam DeGrasse and Paul Dickey as Prince

John and Guy of Gisbourne jointly supply the
villainy with good effect, and Enid Bennett is
as lovely a Maid Marian as anyone could wish.
Alan Hale contributes a pleasing picture of
the faithful squire, afterwards Robin Hood's
lieutenant, Little John, and Willard Louis
presents the very image of Friar Tuck. Mr.
Fairbanks as the Earl of Huntingdon in the
earlier scenes, plays with commendable re-
straint, and, if later, his Robin Hood becomes
a sort of grown up Puck, one can enjoy his
antics the more because of the contrast. De-
spite his reputation as an acrobat, one suspects
him also of being an actor, for one of the
most exquisite bits of pantomime that has
graced the screen in a long time comes in his
love scene with Lady Marian on the parapet.

Lighting and photography are rarely effec-
tive; and a word must be said for skilful and
unobtrusive titling. To Allen Dwan, the di-
rector, goes great credit for his admirable
handling of crowds in the tournament and
banquet scenes, which are such vital and
beautiful parts of this extraordinary picture.
(Church, community and school.)

THE HOTTENTOT (First National)

Sam Harrington was afraid of horses, so
it was entirely by accident that he suddenly
acquired a reputation as a skilful horseman.
Then, there was Peggy Fairfax, the girl he
loved, Kentucky bred, and utterly incapable
of understanding why anyone should fear a
horse. And there was Hottentot, the horse

i:f8f

T H E T H EATRICAL FlELD

The EducatioficU- Screen

nobody had ever succeeded in riding. Naturally
everybody expected Sam to ride him. Poor
Sam! Between his pride and his love and his
fear he had a miserable time. But he rode
the Hottentot at last, and v^on the race, the
cup, the girl — everything. They always do!

Douglas MacLean. Madge Bellamy, and
Raymond Hatton shine in this film version of
Willie Collier's stage play. It is funny, it is
beautiful, and it is exciting. The steeple chase
scenes are excellent, and a bit of remarkable
trick photography gives the audience its biggest
thrill in a runaway scene. As might have been
expected, much of the comedy is put over in
the titles, which play far too important a part,
but the audience will overlook the fault in the
excitements of the story. {Community.)

DOCTOR JACK (Pathe)

Harold of the big specs and the wistful face,
in a determined effort to be glad. We find
him as a young village doctor with a firm
belief in the efficacy of sunshine and good
humor as a cure-all. He is called in to consult
on the case of an invalid daughter of a wealthy
man. The older doctor in charge, in order
to assure himself a permanent income, has
coddled the entire family into the idea that
the girl is incurable, and Doctor Jack with his
sunshine and Pollyanna tendencies is decidedly
a disturbing factor. Of course the little girl
recovers-»-she can't help it. Whereupon the
indignant family doctor departs minus his
money and the greater part of his dignity.

As a story it hangs together more closely
tftian the usual Lloyd opus, but as an example
of Harold's happy-go-luck brand of humor,
it falls below par. There is too much of effort
discernible, and the whole is obviously stretched
to make five reels. Personally, we wish Harold
would go back to his two reelers again until
he has worked up enough steam to reach
another high spot Ike "The Sailor Made Man."
'(^Community, church and possibly some school
use.)

MY AMERICAN WIFE (Paramount)

Here is a lavish production in Director Sam
Wopid's usual style. Gloria Swanson is the
Kentucky lady who invades the race tracks of
South America with her string of thorough-
bipeds, capturing among other trophies the
heart of a young Spanish American senator.
Political quarrels and a duel furnish the rest
of ; the plot. The story is acceptably cast,

though Miss Swanson and Antonio Moreno,
who plays the hero, have little to do. Walter
Long as the villain contributes as usual a splen-
did character bit, and the admirable Josef
Swickard is wasted on an unimportant part.
Feminine attention, we suspect, will be about
equally divided between Mr. Moreno's hand-
some face and Miss Swanson's amazing gowns.
(Theatrical only.)

THE DANGEkOUS AGE (First National)

Forty — that's the dangerous age, according
to this amusing little sermon. Lewis S. Stone
shows us a real human being in the restless,
somewhat romantically inclined husband, who,
finding his wife too much occupied with her
domestic routine to humor him, seizes his op-
portunity to turn a business trip into a harm-
less little affair with a younger woman. That
is, it turned out to be harmless. Cleo Madison
as the forgiving wife, and Edith Roberts and
James Morrison as two youthful lovers, add
pleasing performances to Mr. Stone's clean-cut
characterization. A carefully produced picture,
well directed, and one that you will enjoy.
(Community.)

EBB TIDE (Paramount)

A George Melford picture that exhibits the
same fault as his Java Head — namely lifeless-
ness. He never catches the spirit of Robert
Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, who
first wrote this tale of the south seas. Three
outcasts are flung together, "driftwood on the
ebb tide -of fortune"; a disgraced sea captain,
a tough little London cockney, and a one-time
English gentleman. Their utter misery is a
bond that holds them together when the cap-
tain is hired to sail a foundering ship to its
doom. A tropical storm drives them in to an
uncharted island, where they find a white man,
living in solitude with a daughter and some
native servants, and operating a priceless pearl
fishery. Two of the three are possessed with
desire for the pearls; the other finds riches
enough in his love for the island girl; and
against the three is pitted the half-crazed owner
of the island.

The parts of the three drifters are in capable
hands — George Fawcett as the sea captain,
Raymond Hatton as the little London tough,
and James Kirkwood as the gentleman. Noah
Beery has a thankless task as the fanatical \
owner of the pearl fishery, and Lila Lee an-
other as his daughter. Jacqueline Logan strikes

March, 1923

The Theatrical Field

139

a colorful note as a native girl. But in spite
of their efforts, the eiTect of the picture is curi-
ously static. (Theatrical only.)

MIGHTY LAK' A ROSE (First National)

All the elements of a successful picture —
melodrama, bits of comedy, adventure, a hint
of tragedy, true love — what more can you
want? The story is of a familiar type: a little
blind girl, through accident, falls in with a
group of underworld gangsters — not bad peo-
ple at heart, but criminals because of — well,
environment. So it doesn't take the blind girl
long to play her way into their hearts with
her violin; and her appealing helplessness
touches them closer than they know, till an
accident befalls her and she is on the brink of
death. Then, one by one they are won over,
first the "kid" of the crowd, who has been hers
from the start, then the big bully and leader
of the gang, and finally the rest.

They travel the straight road — till they need
money for an operation on the bHnd girl's eyes,
and then they attempt one last "job." They
get the money, but the police get Jimmy, Rose's
sweetheart, who goes to prison with the prom-
ise that Rose will be told he is dead. But in
the end it all comes right. Rose, with her sight
restored, makes a name for herself with her
violin, and one day hears a voice that she
knows — Jimmy's.

Dorothy iMcKail makes a fine thing of the
blind girl's part, and James Rennie plays Jimmy
with a refreshing difference. You may find the
story thin in some places and thick in others,
but an excellent cast and careful direction save
it from the ruck of mediocre pictures. (Com-
munity and Church use.)

RACING HEARTS (Paramount)

This is one of Byron iMorgan's stories of
the "roaring road," the sort of thing that Wal-
lace Reid used to romp through so debonairly.
Theodore Roberts is familiar as the fierce,
cigar-chewing old manufacturer of automobiles,
who doesn't believe it pays to advertise. Agnes
Ayres plays his headstrong daughter who takes
advantage of his absence to have a racing car
built in the hope of winning the Vanderbilt
cup, and recouping the fortunes of the factory.
Richard Dix is pleasant as the rival manufac-
turer's son who loses the race and wins the
girl. The famous racing driver, "Jimmy" iMur-
phy is played by a modest and camera-shy
young man by the name of James A. iMurphy,

greatly to the delight of race enthusiasts who
recognize him. Some very good race scenes,
including one or two narrow escapes and one
honest-to-goodness spill, furnish the excite-
ment. (Community.) . -

UNDER TWO FLAGS (Universal)

Flashing-eyed Priscilla Dean, fighting and
riding like a little demon, against the pictur-
esque background- of Algiers and the desert,
James Kirkwood as the mysterious soldier,
Victor, the suave John Davidson as the treach-
erous sheik^ — enough! It's a good picture. In
places too cluttered with live stock and ragged
beggars, as this type of picture is frequently
apt to be, but in spite of that, interesting and
entertaining. (Theatrical only.)

DARK SECRETS (Paramount)

Dorothy Dalton, Jose Ruben and Robert El-
lis do little with this trite story. A girl crippled
by a fall from a horse; a lover who considers
this sufficient excuse for going off to India,
going to the dogs, and disgracing himself and
his regiment and everybody concerned. An
Oriental doctor of some sort, who cures the
girl through hypnotic suggestion and makes
himself thoroughly obnoxious as well; and the
complete reformation of the lover. iMiss Dal-
ton hasn't had much luck with her pictures
lately, and this one doesn't help the situation
in the least. (No use.)

THE FROZEN NORTH and THE BALLOON-

ATIC (Buster Keaton)

The first— Buster in "snow stuff," Buster
weeping copiously out of one eye as he shoots
the wrong couple, in a bit of fun at the expense
of the drama of the great northwest. From the
moment he emerges from a subway exit into
the great open spaces, till the moment he dis-
appears with a large black bear trailing in his
wake, you'll laugh. The second — not nearly
so funny. The comedy is not as concentrated
as usual, but there is some lovely mountain
scenery to look at, to say nothing of pretty
Phyllis iHaver. (Community use.)
ROB-EM'GOOD (Hunt Stromberg Production)

The broadest sort of burlesque, based on
"Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood." The
high points in the latter picture have been
seized upon and distorted for the purposes of
comedy. It is funny in spots, but it is very
hard to see Mr. Fairbanks' beautiful , Ipve
scenes so maltreated. (Community use possibly.)

140

The Educational Screen

Among the Producers

(This department belongs to the commercial companies whose activi-
ties have a real and important bearing on progress in the visual field.

Within our space limitations we shall reprint each month, from data
supplied by these companies, such material as seems to offer most infor-
mational and news value to our readers.

We invite all serious producers in this field to send us their literature
regularly. — Editor.)

A Conference Proposed

For the purpose of formulating a set of prin-
ciples for the artistic development of motion
pictures, leading novelists, artists, dramatists,
editors, educators and others prominent in pub-
lic affairs in this country and Europe will be
invited by Adolph Zukor, president of- the
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, to attend a
conference to be held in New York in the near
future, when the artistic needs and possibilities
of the screen will be explored.

A supervisory board of well-known men and
women will be appointed by the conference,
and this board will award a series of prizes,
amounting to several thousand dollars, which
Mr. Zukor will offer at the conference to those
elements contributing most to the motion pic-
ture's artistic development during the year.

"While the artistic progress of the motion
picture has been great," said Mr. Zukor, "the
greatest development so far in the pictures'
short career has necessarily been in the tech-
nical side of picture craftsmanship and in the
stabilization of the industrial side,

"Today we have pretty nearly attained per-
fection in photography, lighting, scenery and
in other phases of picture production which go
into the making of merely beautiful and effective
photography. The last two years also has seen
the business put on a firm and stable financial
basis.

"The big field of picture progress, therefore,
lies in developing the screen along the sound-
est artistic principles. Millions of people all
over the world not only get all of their amuse-
ment from motion pictures, but they also de-
pend largely on pictures for their cultural de-
velopment.

"The responsibihty of picture producers to-
ward fostering sound taste and artistic stand-
ards in these people is an enormous one. I
know producers have tried to meet this respon-
sibility, but the growth of the industry has been
so swift that attention has had to be concen-

trated on the physical development of the pic-
ture business. It is my hope that this con-
ference, representing the best in American
thought and American taste, will evolve somt
set of principles which can be accepted by the
moton picture industry as its artistic guide.

A New Itinerant Movie

And now it's traveling motion pictures shows,
via truck!

Industrial Displays, Inc., of New York and
Boston, have succeeded in adapting motion pic-
ture advertising to the outdoors by means of
a truck and a specially designed apparatus
which shows the films in three places at the
same time — on both sides of the truck and in
the rear.

Panels on the sides and one in the rear are
the "screens" of this traveling picture show.

Showing the side panel or "screen" on which
are shown the motion picture's stages on wheels
(a Garford truck) by Industrial Displays, Inc.

Properly illuminated, and with the "show" in I
progress, crowds gather at any street corner ^
where Industrial Displays, Inc., are staging a
"performance."

I

March, 1923

Among the Producers

141

This is one of the most interesting combina-
tions of two modern forces — the motion picture
and the truck — that has been perfected.

There is a 32 volt, 250 ampere storage bat-
tery, charged by a 2 kilowat universal motor
generator. Two hours of daily running are
required to charge the battery for a five-hour
operation of the show at night.

The three displays of the films at three dif-
ferent points at the same time is attained by
means of a triple projector feeding automatic-
ally. Due to the ample radiator capacity of the
Garford truck, in which the "show" is mounted,

Showing the interior of the Garford "Motion
Picture Show" conducted by Industrial Display,
Inc. Battery, motion picture machine and all
controls are safely protected inside the truck.

the generating plant is efficiently cooled; this
saves the necessity of a separate cooling plant.
Much ground is covered by this movie-truck
show. This facility of movement is one of
the chief advantages of this new idea in adver-
tising. The entire outfit, storage battery, mo-
tion picture machine and the control of these
devices, is mounted inside the truck-closed body.
In any weather this "show" can pick up and
move along to its next scheduled stop withoui.
difficulty. The total mileage in a season to be
covered by each of these "movie" truck units will
be extraordinarily high. Industrial Displays,
Inc., have adopted Model 725 Garford, with its
168-inch wheelbase, as the standard struck unit
for this newer form of motion picture entertain-
ment.

U. C. SERVICE

Good Films and Projectors

STANDARD MOTION PICTURES

For Churches, Schools and All Non-Theatrical

Institutions

Wells & Douglass

1108 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.
Graphcscope Service Company

130 West 46th Street, New York N Y
Motion Picture Exhibition Company

Proctor Theatre Building, Newark, N. J.
Scient.flo & Cinema Supply Company

1004 Eye Street, N. W., Washington. D. C.
Edwin J. Wyatt

618 St. Paul Street, Baltimore. Md.
Graphcscope Service Company

933 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa.
William F. Kelley Company

1818 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
Non -Theatrical IVIotion Picture Service

201 Joseph Mack Building, Detroit, Mich
International Church Film Company

861 Relbold Building, Dayton, Ohio
Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange

736 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 111.
James A. Keeny

431 South Dearborn Street, Caiicago. Ill
Francis D. White

306 Film Exchange Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn.
Graphcscope Service Company

314 South 13th Street, Omaha, Neb.
Church Film JService

1822 Wyandotte Street. Kansas City, Mo.
David F. Parker

1913 Commerce Street, Dallas. Texas
Graphoscope Service Company

1924 Third Avenue, Seattle. Washington
Independent Film Exchange

177 Golden Gate Avenue, San PYancisco, Cal.
Standard Motion Picture Service

917 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, Cal.
Educational Project-0 Film Company

218 American Bank Building, Los Angeles, Cal.

UNITED CINEMA COMPANY, INC.

130 West 46th Street New York, N. Y.

Touring Rhodesia with a DeVry Projector and
a Ford Car

(This article appeared in the December issue of
the "Bulletin," a British publication.)

One becomes astounded at the possibilities of
the cinematograph when travelling to places that
are hundreds of miles from the railway, and to
others that have the advantage of the railway
connection but which only boast of a very few
inhabitants.

Several months ago a gentleman wrote to our
correspondent from a point sixty-seven miles
from the railway. He suggested that his town
might support a bioscope, and extended an invi-
tation to call on him. This invitation set him
thinking, and numerous other points which boasted
of greater population than the one which had been
mentioned were considered. We thought it would
be worth speculating on the possibilities of a trip
embodying the whole of Southern Rhodesia, tak-
ing in every point that boasted of a population of
not less than fifteen people. The objective was
to endeavor to create more widespread interest
in the cinematograph. We thought that in places
where the populations were extremely small a
bioscope show once a week would give the inhabit-

142

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

Exclusive Distribution Rights Contract and Brand
New Positive Prints Available

in the three premiere juvenile wholesome productions for the

states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Southern
Idaho. Also California, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington, Ore-
gon, Montana, Alaska and Northern Idaho.

Little Red Riding Hood 5 Reels

Cinderella and The Magic Slipper - - - - 4 Reels
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star 5 Reels

Write for particulars and territory-
No percentage propositions considered
For bookings also write. We will refer same to territorial distributor.

Wholesome Educational Films Company

804 South Wabash Avenue

Chicago, Illinois

ants something to do, and keep them in touch
with the affairs of the world at large.

The scheme was immediately set into motion,
and for the purpose two Ford motor cars were
fitted with a complete DeVry generator apparatus,
accompanying projector, and a program of inter-
est. The one. car was to cover the whole of Mata-
beleland, and the other the whole of Mashonland.
The respective parties set out in the middle of
September, and the tour was completed at the end
of October, a period of six weeks, or, to be exact,
forty-seven days. During that period the one ex-
hibitor held forty performances and the other
thirty-eight. This statement will convey a rough
idea how minutely a territory can be covered.
A brief description of the tour will suffice.

The distance covered in Matabeleland was not
less than 3,260 miles, and, as I have already stated,
forty districts were visited. The smallest attend-
ance at any one performance was twenty-seven,
and at more than six of these over three hundred
people came into town to see the show. This
naturally included a number of children. The
performances were much appreciated, and it
clearly showed that in at least 50 per cent of the
disfpcts a bioscope performance held once per
w.e<^ic', was, a feasible proposition. For. the most
part "the places which were visited had never

previously had a visiting show of any kind, and
the inhabitants themselves were startled at the
number of people present. At districts such as
Belingwe, which only boasts of having a popula-
tion of twenty people, we, as well as the residents,
were astonished to find that sixty-five people at-
tended. They had never seen such a gathering at
their point before. The audience assembled from
an. area covering ten miles, and this proved that if
entertainments were held at that point once weekly
or once fortnightly, people would welcome and
patronize the show simply to make a break in the
monotonous life that their business demanded.
During the six weeks the tour lasted the DeVry
apparatus did not give the slightest trouble, and
the pictures exhibited were on a par with the films
exhibited at the large theatres in the country ; in
fact, quite a number of the people stated that
even at Bulawayo or Salesbury. they had never
§een such clear and steady pictures. This will
give you an idea of the powers of the DeVry.

It was estimated throughout the trip the petrol
coiisiimption only, represented half a gallon per
show, land when one realizes that half a gallon
of petrol is obtained for 8s 3d, a more compre-
hensive idea of the possibilities of the cinema in
small areas will be conceived. The Ford Company
representatives in Rhodesia were astonished ait'th

March, 1923

Among the Producers

143

$15.5? Order Quick $15.5?

A Standard Victor Stereopticon, with
MAZDA ILLUMINATION. Brand
New — Get yours quick at 315.50.

Bargains in good used
Motion Picture Projectors

BASS CAMERA COMPANY

Dept. 210
109 North Dearborn St., Chicago, 111.

results. This was the hrst occasion one of their
cars had travelled over 3,000 miles in six weeks
without any signs of practical damage over what
must be acknowledged as some of the worst roads
in South Africa. At the end of the six weeks
the motor cars, except for a few adjustments that
had to be made, were in perfect condition, and
the same applies in every way to the complete
DeVry apparatus. Naturally, the natives through-
out the territory were dumbfounded. In the
places where open-air performances were held it
is safe to say that hundreds, and on some occasions
as many as a thousand natives stood at the back
of the machinery and watched the performance.
The gestures and weird sounds that emanated
from them could not be described on paper, and
would only be appreciated by readers who are
conversant with the native land.

Owing to the fact that our tour embodied at
least eight places between Bulawayo and the
Victoria Falls, it was necessary for us to take
our cars by rail to Victoria Falls, and we have
the distinction of being the third motor car thai
had ever been driven to that point. The trolley
roads at the Falls to the Rain Forest, to the Boat
House, to the Main Falls and the Devil's Cataract
all lend themselves admirably to travelling in a
motor car, and the appearance of a car taking
sightseers to these various points even astonished
the European population who have been there for
a considerable number of years. The same in a
measure applies to Zimbabwe Ruins, where per-
formances were held.

It may interest readers to have a list of some
of the places that were covered. They included :
The Matopos, Enkeldoorn, Victoria, Mashaba.
Shabani. Belingwe, Filabusi, Balla Balla, Dett,
Gwanda, West NIchobon, Fort Usher, Inyati,
Plumtree, Figtree, etc.

As I said previously, we considered at the con-
clusion of the trip that 50 per cent of these places

I Portable Screens

are unsurpassed for school use
under semi-daylight conditions.

Samples and literature upon request

MINUSA CINE SCREEN CO.

ST. LOUIS. MO.

could support its own bioscope, so that you will
appreciate that as far as this territory is con-
cerned, the cinematograph is entirely. in its infancy.
The writer can only see great success for any
individual who has the enthusiasm and energy
to run a continuous business of this kind. A trip
through the whole territory would take about lour
months, which means that an entertainment could
be held at every point once in that period before
being revisited, and it is quite certain that as a
business proposition the venture has unlimited pos-
sibilities.

Worldseye's New Plant

The Worldseye Company of Cleveland is now
occupying its new plant at 5209 Prospect ave-
nue. This corporation was formed to manu-
facture in improved form and sell in quarttities
motion picture projection machines whjch'were
formerly known as the Cosmograph and which
have given general satisfaction for several
years. These projectors are of the ^portable
type and are made in three different models.

The mechanism of all three machines is
almost identical. Each has the same refined
Geneva intermittent unit, running in oil; a ir^^\-
ing device that frames the picture while filmos'
running; an adjustable friction take-up mechaiv-
ism on the take-up reel; improved optical sys-
tem and approved safety features. The only
materials used in the mechanism are.aluminijm,
phosphor bronze and steel. The ModeJs, B
and C use a 100- watt lamp, but, due , to the
unusual efficiency of their optical sy^tem.^.
they give fine illumination on the screen a^ dis-
tances up. to 70 feet. •'■-'■-- tlJf J

The Worldseye projectors are not^ assembled
^machines, but are .manufactured comple^Ji
their own modern factory, which is , splendidly
equipped with the precision .machinery, .stx^cial

144

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

tools, etc., that makes micro-metric accuracy
possible.

Mr. Andrew Gorretta, who has been con-
nected with the development and refinement of
these machines for a number of years, has
charge of the production and engineering- end
of the business. The selling division is in
charge of men who are known the country
over for their merchandising ability.

The company is ably financed and a sales
policy has been formulated that makes the line
highly profitable to the dealer.

The officers of the company are:

President, Edw. L. Frantz.

Vice-President, C. G. Frantz.

Secretary, W. T. HoUiday.

Treasurer, Geo. H. Lavan.

Factory Manager, Andrew Gorretta.

Two Pamphlets from Power

The Nicholas Power Co., at 90 Gold St., New
York City, have prepared two booklets for
free distribution which are very valuable to all
users of projection equipment, either for slides
or for moving pictures, and with any make of
machine.

The first pamphlet is called "The Edison
Mazda Lamp in Motion Picture Projection,"
and was compiled by the staff of the Edison
Lamp Works at Harrison, N. J. This pamph-
let points out the advantages of Mazda Lamps
for projection service; covering the cost of
operation and field of application, as well as
types of lamps available. It gives in detail the
optical set-up for the Edison Mazda Lamp,
with instructions for its installation and main-
tenance.

The pamphlet also contains data on motion
picture screens, their reflection characteristics
and maintenance; the general characteristics of
Edison Mazda Lamps, such as the functioning
of the gas, variation in candlepower and life;
blackening of the bulbs, reason for 30 volt vs.
110 volt lamps, etc. Also some data on con-
trol equipment, theatre lighting, and testimon-
ials from satisfied customers.

The second pamphlet is called "Power's Im-
proved Projector with Incandescent Equip-
ment," and serves admirably to supplement the
other pamphlet by showing the application of
the Mazda principle to actual projectors and
stereopticons. It explains in detail the placing
of lamp, reflector condenser, etc., and is full of
suggestive helps on installation problems. The
Nicholas Power Co. has devised various forms

of unit equipment for incandescent lighting to
meet varied demands, and these are designed
for use not only with machines of their own
make but for other standard makes as well.

These two pamphlets are of certain value
to any worker in the projection field, whether
on a large or small scale, and they will be
mailed free on request.

A Special Service to Educators

Every State University and Board of Edu-
cation recognizes the advantages of owning
prints of motion pictures for distribution
throughout their school systems, over and
above the plan of daily rental from exchanges.

During the past we have received many re-
quests for the sale of Pathe subjects suited to
school and community use. We are quite cog-
nizant of, and sympathetic with, the advantage
of ownership of prints, but we are faced with
the necessity of protecting a product so easily
lost and so frequently stolen as positive and
negative motion picture film.

After much consideration, we have evolved a
plan that gives the educational group every
prerogative of ownership, while it enables us to
protect our product.

Any authorized educational body may lease
Pathe Pictures for a period of three years on
condition that the print is returned to us at the
end of that period of time. This offer is for
new prints from the laboratory, not prints that
have seen use, and it includes all Pathe sub-
jects.

For details of price and contractual terms,
write to

The Educational Department,
Pathe Exchange, Inc.,
35 West 45th Street,

New York City.

If you believe in
visual education

you want

The Educational

Screen

If you don't

believe,
you need it.

April, 1923

Advertisement

145

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

FOR APRIL

Bass Camera Company

Projectors and Equipment 191

Bausch and Lomb Optical Co.

Stereopticons 146

Beacon Projector Company

Projectors 181

Devereaux Projection Sales Co.

Stereopticons and Projectors. ... 179

DeVry Corporation

Projectors 168-169

Drawing Master Club of America

The Pantograph 145

Eastman Kodak Company

Film Back Cover

M. Feldstein

Films and Projectors

Homestead Films, Inc.

Films 177

Minusa Cine Screen Company
Screens

191

Nicholas Power Company, Inc.

Projectors 148

Safety Projector Company

Projectors 179

Trans Lux Daylight Picture Screen

Screens :':-^.jl^. ],'. . 185

189

United Cinema Company

Films and Projectors 189

Wholesome Educational Film Co.

Films 183, 192

THE DRAWING MASTER BLACKBOARD EQUIP-
MENT VISUALIZES AND PUTS EDUCATIONAL
EFFORT AND INITIATIVE INTO THE HANDS
OF THE PUPIL.

Any child, large or small, can easily use the DRAW-
ING MASTER to enlarge maps, portraits, picture
stories, charts, mottoes and any other illustration on
the blackboard.

THE DRAWING MASTER CLUB OF AMERICA

Affiliated with the National School Club

National Bldg. CLEVELAND, OHIO

AN UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY TO
TEACHERS WHO PLAN TO ATTEND
SUMMER INSTITUTES THIS YEAR

The Drawing Master Club of America plans to be
represented as far as possible in every summer in-
stitute this year.

We are desirous of hearing from teachers who plan
to attend any such institute, with a view to repre-
senting us there.

The Drawing Master Blackboard Outfit will be
mailed to you NOW for a

Thirty Day FREE TRIAL.

If it appeals to you, as we know it must, write us
for our special representative oflfer. It will prove
very much worth your while.

COUPON

The Drawing Master Club of America, E.S. Apr. 23
National Bids:., Cleveland, Ohio.

Gentlemen :

You may send me for 30 days' FREE Trial,
the DRAWING MASTER OUTFIT. I shall be
glad to try it on the blackboard and, if at the
end of that time it has proven of value to me, I
shall send you the purchase price of $5.00; other-
wise I shall return the outfit complete.

Teacher's Name

School

Mailing Address

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

146 Advertisement The Educational Scree}

Bausch & Lomb Portable Balopticon

Traveling lecturers and special instructors find the Model A Portable Balopticon to be
absolute insurance against projection failure.

In addition to reliability, its convenience will also be appreciated. The carrying case,
measuring only 1 3}^ x 1 1 x 63^, is sturdily made and so easily balanced that it is ex-
tremely easy to carry.

Its 400-Watt gas-filled Mazda lamp operates on any
1 1 0-volt light circuit. This Balopticon can be fitted
with an acetylene burner, a 6-volt Mazda lamp, for
use with storage battery, or a 30-volt, 14-ampere
Mazda for private lighting plants.

Prices range from $57 to $70
according to equipment.

ASK YOUR DEALER FOR BOOKLET. OR WRITE TO US

Bausch ^ Jpmb Optical (p,

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO BOCHESTER. N. Y. London

A Share in Educational Progress

is what v^^e offer. The teachers, principals and superintendents who
act as subscription representatives for

The Educational Screen

(including Moving Picture Age)

in their own communities and at Teachers' Institutes in their own
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as well as doing a financial favor to themselves.

We will appoint but one representative in each locality, hence
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This magazine is unique in the history of the visual movement,
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All educators interested in the visual idea are potential sub-
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A postal to us zvill bring the printed terms of our
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Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

April, 1923 147

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Gbbene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright April, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.00 a year Single copies, 15 cents Back numbers, 25 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923, at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 4

CONTENTS FOR APRIL
Editorials 149

Education and the Movies 151

Charles H. Judd.

The Industrial Motion Picture an Influential Factor in Community Life 155

George A. Zehrung

Telling the Educator 158

Edward Mayer

Newer Issues in Motion Picture Situation 160

H. Dora Stecker

Official Department, National Academy of Visual Instruction 163

Official Department, Visual Instruction Association of America 166

School Department 172

Conducted by Marie Goodenough

The Theatrical Field 182

Conducted by Marguerite Omdorff

Among the Producers 1^

By the Producers Themselves

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.
5 SouthWabash Avenue 200 Fifth Avenue

Chicago New York

I

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Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

AprU, 1923 149

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II April, 1923 No. 4

WE wish to call the special attention of our readers to the first article
in this issue, written by Charles H. Judd of the University of Chicago
and appearing originally in The School Review. For at least three
reasons, it is one of the most important articles we have ever had the pleasure
of presenting in our pages.

IN the first place, it is highly significant that the time has come at last when
the foremost educators of the country are willing to give their serious
attention to the "Movies". Jibes have long been flung at visual education
that it is a toy of the "faddists" of the "small-fry" educators, and "that the
really important element in American education would not waste their time
on a matter which is really nothing more than an incidental by-product of a
colossal and unintelligent industry." Such remarks are becoming more and
more ridiculous.

IN the second place, the article is not only one of the first but one of the
ablest discussions of this relatively new question by high educational auth-
ority. Dr. Judd does more than utter eminent opinion on the movie situa-
tion— he points out a definite program for constructive procedure which
should prove rich food for thought and a strong stimulus to action by every
thinking educator under whose eye it falls.

IN the third place, it gives a rare opportunity for the visual field to prove
itself alive. Here is a specific invitation from a high educational court —
Dr. Judd is Chairman of the N. E. A. Committee appointed to confer with the
authorities of "moviedom" — to present some real evidence on a national ques-
tion of grave importance. Such an invitation should be met with wholesale
response from the large body of serious educators and laymen who believe
in the visual movement, in the movies as a tremendous social force today, and
who are in a position to supply from actual experience the data that is called
for.

It is because The Educational Screen reaches precisely the public best
qualified to answer such a summons that we use our space to reprint entire
this significant article.

Read "Education and the Movies" carefully. Then write. Send your
material to The School Review, or to Charles H. Judd personally, or to The
Educational Screen. We shall take care that matter coming to us reaches
Dr. Judd himself. Some of the material may appear in The School Review
if its editors so desire. Much more of it can probably be printed in The
Educational Screen, for it is a magazine particularly concerned with this
field.

150 Editorials ^^^ Educational Screen

VERY soon, probably in the May issue, we shall have some very impor-
tant announcements to make regarding three nev^ departments in The
Educational Screen to cover the Church, Lantern Slides, and Motion
Picture Projection. The names of the men who are to conduct these depart-
ments will be significant of the quality of service to be rendered by this
magazine.

THE merging of two magazines is a difficult task, involving an immense
amount of detail work before the records of each can be straightened
out, checked against each other, and brought into a unified and harmonious
whole. The mere matter of combining two subscription lists, so as to avoid
both omissions and duplications, is in itself a problem of some magnitude.
We believe the whole task is practically completed, but we cannot expect to
have escaped occasional inaccuracy.

We are especially anxious that our records be accurate regarding the
members of The National Academy of Visual Instruction and of The Visual
Instruction Association of America. The subscription, to which every such
member is entitled by virtue of his membership, is dated from January to
December of the current year. Hence every such member should have re-
ceived three issues already for 1923 (January, February, March).

This, therefore, is to invite any member of either organization to inform
us if any one of the above numbers has failed to arrive. The missing copy or
copies will be mailed immediately. As new stencils have now been made for
all members there will be no irregularity in the arrival of future issues.

In some instances subscribers are members of both organizations, and
are therefore entitled to receive two copies. In such cases two stencils stand
in our files. Should any member receiving two copies wish that the second
one be mailed to an interested friend, we shall be glad to make such chang"e
in this office and mail the extra copy direct to the name and address desired.

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN has just been admitted to Second
Class classification by the United States Post Office.
If any reader wonders why we mention a matter so exceedingly
common among educational periodicals, we would remind him that it is ex-
ceedingly rare in a publication devoted to the field of visual education. So
rare, in fact, that it has never happened before. The Educational Screen is
the first magazine in this field to be honored by this sort of approval from
Washington which is but another evidence that The Educational Screen is
what it claims to be — the only independent magazine devoted to the visual cause in
American education.

AMONG the contents for May will be the following articles: "Imagery
in Education" by R. G. Jones, Superintendent of Schools, Cleveland,
Ohio; ''Visual Education in the Teaching of English" by H. G. Paul,
Professor of the Teaching of English, University of Illinois ; "Is Visual Edu-
cation a Fad?" by Joseph J. Weber, Head of Department of Visual Instruc-
tion, University of Texas.

April, 1923

151

Education and the Movies*

Charles H. Judd
University of Chicago

AT the Boston meeting of the Na-
tional Education Association Mr.
Will Hays asked the educators of
the United States to co-operate with him
and the Motion Picture Producers and
Distributors of America, whom he repre-
sents, in improving- the movies.

The production and the exhibition of
moving pictures have gone through a
feverish stage of the most extravagant
expansion. In a little less than twenty
years the industry of entertaining the
American public with picture shows has
become one of the most lucrative and ex-
tensive businesses of the country. Im-
mense fortunes have been made by pro-
ducers and by individual actors, and
every day throngs frequent the theatres,
that have sprung up in every town and
on almost every city street in the land.

This rapid expansion has given little
occasion for deliberate study of the prob-
lems involved in making moving pictures.
The technique of producing and the act-
ing have improved, to be sure, but chiefly
because of the stress of competition.
Competition does not in general push in
the direction of refinement. So it began
to appear about two years ago that com-
petition was becoming too intense even
for those who had profited by the earlier
enormous developments of the movies.

Furthermore, the American people be-
gan at about the same time to withdraw
their support. There are various specu-
lations as to the reason. Some attribute
to hard times the falling off in attendance,
which has been estimated at 30 per cent.
Others believe that satiety has set in and

♦Reprinted in full from The School Review

that the people have been surfeited with
the cheap and repetitious and not infre-
quently lewd pictures with which the
producers sought to stimulate the jaded
appetite of a much entertained nation.

Whatever the cause, the fact is that
the producers began to feel the disastrous
effects of unbridled competition and re-
duced box office receipts. So they began
to study the book of moral and artistic
improvement. They employed Mr. Hays,
declared themselves ready to consider
any formula of improvement that was
offered, and united in an association
which had among other purposes the
checking of disastrous competition.

It was at this stage that the educators
were called in. Every moral cause ap-
peals to educators, and here was a move
in the direction of genuine public reform.

The call to the educators was a little
vague. President Owen of the National
Education Association tried to find out
just what the educators can contribute.
Finally, after a great deal of discussion
of possibilities, he appointed a committee.
This paper is prepared with a view to
stimulating discussions which, it is
hoped, will help this committee in formu-
lating a policy for the association.

It is interesting and impressive to learn
what the producers really think of a com-
mittee of educators. As soon as the com-
mittee took up the work of discovering
its province, the emphatic suggestion
came from the producers that the edu-
cators had better confine their activities
at the outset to pedagogical films. A
pedagogical film is one which is useful in

for March, 1923, by permission.

152

Education and the Movies

The Educational Screen

a classroom and not likely to compete
with the entertainment film commonly
exhibited in theatres.

The committee is gathering material
for some reports on pedagogical films,
and these reports, it is hoped, will in due
time throw light on the difficult problem
of using moving pictures for purposes
of school instruction. In the meantime,
this invitation for discussion is sent out
in the hope of opening up a line of inquiry
which unfortunately, as it seems to the
present writer, the producers prefer not
to have the educators follow, at least at
present. It is a deliberate effort to call
the attention of educators and producers
to an important fact, namely, the fact
that the entertainment which is being
offered to the young people of this coun-
try today as their chief amusement is
essentially unsound in character and cer-
tain to produce all of the unfavorable re-
sults of intellectual dissipation if it is not
radically reformed.

The teacher who thinks that the effects
of the movies do not reach into her class-
room unless she uses a lantern and brings
in films is very shortsighted. The fact
is that young people and old are getting
a type of mental training at the moving-
picture theatre which is fixing mental
habits to a degree which we have not
been recognizing as we should.

Let us put as pointedly as we can the
antithesis between the ordinary moving
picture and those forms of thinking
which the school tries to cultivate. The
school teaches the child that he must
control his imagination so that the things,
which he builds up in his mind conform
to reality. In school two and two always
make four. In school the law of gravity
always operates. In school one learns
that a garden must always be planted be-
fore it can grow. In school one learns
that skill is acquired by application. In

school one learns that health depends on
sound habits of life. In short, one learns
in school that reality is rigid and regular.
What does one learn at the ordinary
movie? One becomes accustomed to the
most extravagant modes of life, to the
most improbable happenings, to unearned
success, and to every possible escapefrom
natural law.

Let it be noted that we are not dis-
cussing at all what is ordinarily spoken
of as the moral aspect of the movie. The
prodigality and the disregard for custom
and social law are not at the moment in
our minds. We are discussing the ordi-
nary happenings.

The matter can be put in psychological
terms. The human mind has the greatest
freedom and flexibility in the manage-
ment of its ideas. One may think of one's
self as floating through the air, or as im-
mensely rich or powerful, although one
knows that all of these things are only in
one's mind. The technical psychologist
calls this freedom and flexibility of ideas
imagination. One can imagine anything
one likes. Not only so. but there is a
kind of relaxation in letting one's mind
go and letting ideas fit together in
kaleidoscopic variety.

Untrammeled imagination as recrea-
tion may be legitimate, but the process
of education is devoted to the task of
developing self possession of one's ideas.
One may fit ideas together as one will,
but in the long run one's imagination will
be constructive and useful only when
one's imaginations issue in effect on re-
ality. One may, if we will, imagine a
Utopia, but the constructive erection of
a new plan of housing the people of a cit\
requires a higher type of trained imagi-
nation.

The school takes the advantage of thr
flexibility of ideas. In the biology class
the mind follows the migration of the

April, 192s

Education and the Movies

163

birds and builds up a life cycle that no
eye has seen in its entirety. In chemistry
the school carries the imagination into
the play of atoms. In history the imagi-
nation sweeps over vast periods of time.
In every one of these cases, however, the
combination of ideas must fit into the
facts. The train of ideas is not a suc-
cession of extravagant happenings; it is
a train of steady, coherent occurrences.

With this kind of goal before class-
room teaching, is it not strange that
teachers have not seen their perfectly ob-
vious relation to the movies? The fact
is that while the school is trying to train
pupils to be critical and exacting in their
own minds, the movie is pulling in the
other direction in 80 per cent of the cases.
The movie has almost all of the freedom
and flexibility of the human imagination.
The hero can climb up the side of a build-
ing. He can ride the wildest horse with-
out any preliminary training. He drives
at speeds that would be ruinous to any
ordinary automobile. He goes through
buildings. This we could all imagine,
too, but we do not do so ordinarily. Yet
every night a very large percentage of
the American people go to a wonderland
where the constructive imagination is
switched off. There is there no law of
probability, no danger of unfavorable
mishap.

This is legitimate recreation, rest for
the mind, someone will say. Certainly,
it will have to be admitted that there is
pleasure not to be denied to human kind
in the utter abandon of an untrammeled
imagination. How often can one go on
this kind of an intellectual spree and
come back to truly constructive imagin-
ing? This is the question which one is
forced ultimately to ask. If one has to
do business in a world full of keen com-
petition where success depends on fore-

sight, which is a form of imagination,
does one get the best training for con-
structive business thinking in the midst
of daily extravaganza?

The question may arise in the mind of
some reader. Is the gist of this article
a plea for less frequent attendance on the
movies? Not at all. This article is in-
tended to suggest a program through
which the educators may help the pro-
ducers.

The reason why the American people
have so long put up with weak and often
utterly stupid movies is that they have
no training in the intelligent appreciation
of movies. This new form of art with
its infinite possibilities has come upon
us with a rush, and we are ignorant and
unappreciative of its possibilities.

Let us think of some of the advantages
of this new form of art. The scenery in
an ordinary theatre is meager and flat
and rigid. The moving picture has all
outdoors and indoors for its background
and for its scenes of action. It can shift
scenes in an instant. It is responsible
for the achievement of some of the high-
est effects of art because of this advan-
tage. Special attention is called to the
word "responsible."

The ordinary theatre cannot emphasize
a single point. It cannot throw in a
close-up and for the moment concentrate
the attention of the whole audience on a
single minute point in the world of hap-
penings.

The ordinary theatre cannot command
many actors for a single play. The new-
silent drama can introduce as many play-
ers as there are in the visible world.

An instructive contrast can be drawn
between the moving^picture and the story
that one reads from the printed page.
There is a richness of detail and a
subtlety of expression in the picture

154

Education and the Movies

The Educational Screen

which pass in concreteness anything that
language can convey.

What has the school done tu make
young people intelligent about this new
form of art? What, indeed, is there any-
where in our literature that discusses
soberly even for adults the possibilities
of artistic use of this new instrument of
entertainment? Do our people know that
a close-up which is intended to show
some overwhelming emotion is in reality
very often screamingly funny as it slowly
exhibits a. distorted face wholly unlike
the natural exhibition of an emotion? Do
our people ever stop to think that lack of
fidelity to nature is an artistic offense,
here as it would be in any other form of.
art?

What educators ought to begin to do
is to help the next generation acquire
what we do not now have, taste in this
new form of art. Do not let anyone make
the mistake of thinking that the only
salutary reform to be advocated lies in
the direction of abstinence. People are.
going to go to moving-picture shows.
Making pictures moral means making
them more worth going to. This means
raising the level of their correspondence
to the highest types of imagination. Do
not let the producers get the impression
that the educators are not going to have
a hand in training taste. Let us over-
come the shortcomings of the past by de-
veloping a vigorous interest in the ar-
tistic side of moving pictures and by
training young people to demand truly
artistic effects.

The method of doing this is not far to
seek. Provide a time in the school for
the discussion of movies. Ask the pupils

to analyze the plot with a view to dis-
covering its probabilities. How likely is
that to happen which is portrayed? Then
ask how well the pantomime expressed
the idea, and what artificial pantomime
had to be introduced in order to shorten
the story. Ask how far the dress of the
actors was appropriate. Ask how far
the facial expressions were appropriate.

In the high school there could be de-
veloped a group of art critics who would
do more to elevate community taste than
any board of censors that could be set up.
There is material here for composition,
for science, and for training in straight
thinking which will be helpful to the
general school program.

The committee of the National Educa-
tion Association which has been in-
structed to report on moving pictures
will be very much aided in the prepara-
tion of its report if teachers will study
the problem suggested in this paper and
contribute discussions. It is planned to
print several other papers on the general
problem which is here introduced. Will
some teachers begin constructive experi-
mentation and help the committee? The
full list of members of the committee is
as follows : Leonard P. Ayres, Cleveland
Trust Company, Cleveland, Ohio; Eliza-
beth Breckinridge, Louisville Normal
School, Louisville, Kentucky; Ernest L.
Crandall, 157 East 67th Street, New York
City; Susan M. Dorsey, Superintendent
of Schools, Los Angeles, California ;
Elizabeth Hall, Assistant Superintendent
of Schools, Minneapolis, Minnesota ; Pay-
son Smith, State Commissioner of Edu-
cation, Boston, Massachusetts ; Charles
H. Judd (chairman), University of Chi-
cago, Chicago, Illinois.

April, IQJJ

155

The Industrial Motion Picture, an Influential
Factor in Community Life

George A. Zehrung
Director of Motion Picture Bureau
International Committee of the Y. M. C,

*'THE END" flashed on the screen, just
as the whistle closed the noon hour. For
the preceding thirty minutes, the whole
works of a Philadelphia concern had been
visiting in West Virginia with Buddies they
had never seen, or possibly had never even
thought of before.

''You know," said Big Steve to his fore-
man, as they walked back to their depart-
ment, ''I never realized that our job here
depended so much on the boys in the coal
and ore mines, and how much they depend
on us. Why, our cutting machines and
drills make their work considerably easier
and increase their earnings. I tell you,
these business pictures are great stuff;
maybe some day the boss will have us taken,
and then the boys in West Virginia can visit
us and see how their machines are made.
Anyway, these pictures bring us all closer
today, don't they?"

"They sure do," replied Bill. "Remember
the shoe picture last week? Well, who
would have thought there was so much work
in making a shoe? The information that
picture gave will keep many fellows from
paying too much or too little for shoes, and
then, too, they will know what to look out
for when buying. You know there are lots
of things I have seen here on our screen that
have appealed to me more than this job, but,
seeing those boys today rip out the coal with
our machines, was one of the most gratify-
ing things I have experienced. It makes
your job different, when you know the
things you are doing, day after day, are
helping someone else to help himself, as well
as others. These pictures, showing us what
the other fellow does and how he does it,

are one of the best things yet in the plant's
Y. M. C. A. Program."

"Now, you said something," replied the
machinist. "And then, this is the only place
you can see them. We pay for the fake and
fun up at the corner, but here we get the
facts free, and the pictures seem a part of
our work, too, I'll tell the world !"

"I was telling my wife," said Steve,
"about the orange picture we saw here sev-
eral weeks ago, and you know, the kids saw
the same picture down at the school. Then
they wrote compositions on how oranges
grow. Now, that's real education."

Tony, the clerk, said: "There are all
kinds of oranges, same as apples, and me
thinking all these years that oranges were
just oranges, but believe me, these oranges
are certainly great."

"But, going back to our machine, did you
notice anything particular about the opera-
tion of that 784 cutter?"

"Yes," said the foreman "I wondered
if the operator was feeding too fast, or if
it was a faulty drive. It's too bad Arch
wasn't here today, for he is responsible for
the new feed on that machine I'm going
to see him about it, and suggest shifting the
balance a little farther front. I think it will
increase the length of the cut and make it
easier to handle from entries to rooms."

"I don't know but what you're right.
I'm sure it wasn't the gears. You know,
I've made the drive gears for that cutter
for the past five years, and this is the first
time I have ever seen one of them eat their
way into the rock," said Steve, as he
switched on the power.

This bit of actual dialogue is taken from

156

The Industrial Motion Picture The Educational Screen

an account of the regular noon-hour film
showing in a Philadelphia mill. Hundreds
of similar exhibitions are occurring daily in
the non-theafrical field.

Strange as it may seem, the pictures in
such exhibitions are those that are given
"thumbs down" by the majority of theatri-
cal patrons. Business, or industrial pic-
tures, as they are commonly called, are be-
ing increasingly used by schools, churches
and other organizations, to emphasize or
illustrate their message. This adaptation, or
adoption if you will, shows remarkable ver-
satility in capitalizing these valuable forces.
This method of application increases rather
than diminishes the message the producer
or manufacturer wishes to convey, through
his industrial picture.

As the commercial entertainment picture
stimulates the emotions and serves to ap-
pease the demand for tears, laughter, love
and hate, so the business picture awakens
:he intellect, develops a broader conception
of life and of our intricate and complex
social system. It creates a harmonious un-
derstanding of, and a greater sympathy for,
those in other walks of life. These pic-
tures are the silent masterful appeal for the
brotherhood of man, and a grim warning
and barrier against intolerance by sect or
class.

During the past five years, industrial pic-
tures have risen from an uninteresting trip
through a factory, to productions of real
merit. These early pictures were ground
out by free-lance and often inexperienced
camera men, with the result that they were
of little value to either manufacturers or
audience. The present day production is
built with as much and often greater care
and preparation than many of our heralded
super-productions. That a business picture
designed for a purpose, artistically and
skillfully produced, brings the desired re-
sults, has been proven over and over again.

Its entertainment qualities open the theatre
to it, and its educational value creates a de-
mand in the non-theatrical field.

During the past year, many of these ex-
ceptional business photoplays have been
royally received in the theatres. Our Bu-
reau, (The Motion Picture Bureau, Indus-
trial Department of the Y. M. C. A.), but
one of a score of distributors, is listing pic-
tures provided by 88 to 100 business con-
cerns of national reputation. The demand
for these films is greater than the supply,
and convinces one that this type of picture
is successful in meeting requirements of the
non-theatrical field, namely entertainment
and informational, and from the manufac-
turer's point of view, a direct sales and
educational service to the consumer.

When boiler-makers request to see how
typewriters are made, and churches are pre-
senting, in connection with their Sunday
evening services, care of the teeth, produc-
tion of coal, growing of oranges, etc., and
coal miners ask for ''A look-in on the silk
industry," one does not have to ask: "Do
people want to know about these things?"
The present system of production and dis-
tribution of entertainment pictures, makes
the securing of the comparatively few avail-
able films, extremely difficult. (Practically
the entire supply of entertainment pictures
to the non-theatrical field, is secured through
independent non-theatrical exchanges, a
service not too bountiful or satisfactory at
the present time.)

Theatrical exhibitors, fearing that the
non-theatrical exhibitions will decrease
their business receipts, demand that the dis-
tributors refrain from providing any the-
atrical pictures to non-theatrical exhibitors.
On the other hand, the exhibitors are con-
tinually being prodded by Committees on
Better Films to select higher class pictures,
and are seriously handicapped by the meth-
ods through which they must book pictures
from distributors. Few, if any, exhibitors

April, 1923

The Industrial Motion Picture

157

have the option of selection, or choice of
programs.

The theatrical field producers figure on a
quick turn-over, the average expectancy
being a complete return of their initial in-
vestment in 14 weeks or less, with one hun-
dred percent profit in an additional fifty-
two weeks.

Until some philanthropist or philanthro-
pic organization makes possible the pro-
duction of special pictures for the church
and school, without the thought of financial
return, they will have to be content with the
''catch as catch can" from the various non-
theatrical film agencies. The school, though
able at the present time to secure but a
few experimental, complete film courses of
study, or direct supplementary material for
their text, is in a much more favorable po-
sition than the church, as practically all
scenics, comedies, serials and many dramatic
pioductions, have a direct bearing upon the
subjects of physical and commercial geog-
raphy, history, physics and literature, while
the industrial or business pictures lend them-
selves readily to vocational guidance, sci-
ence and mechanics, and provide excellent
material for observation.

One of the most valuable uses, to which
our schools can put the industrial picture,
is in connection with the vocational guidance
courses. There is no doubt in the minds
of educators and employment managers
that a large percent of our industrial unrest
is due to square pegs in round holes; if
through an industrial picture one or more
boys and girls find a more congenial field
of labor, or become more interested in the
things they are doing, the picture will have
served the Nation well.

Members of the Theatre Owners League
of America, have issued a statement, in
which they offered to open their houses any
Saturday morning, to educational institu-
tions or societies, for the free exhibition of
motion pictures, pertaining to education.

Whether the League has realized an un-
usual opportunity to render a priceless
service to our coming citizens, or whether
the offer was prompted in self-defence, or
to create a greater spirit of good will to the
theatre, or to retard a supposed encroach-
ment upon the theatrical business by the
rapidly increasing use of film by industries
and institutions, churches and schools, we
care not, the fact is : they have offered. It
is an opportunity worthy of consideration,
and a service of real merit. It is up to the
local institutions to accept at once this gen-
erous offer.

With the newer types of projectors and
generating outfits, the motion picture is now
available to all communities, from the small-
est to the largest, and to all industries iso-
lated, or in groups. Through the welfare
organizations or shop communities of the
plant, or in co-operation with the outside
agencies, the noon-hour film service is be-
coming quite a popular thing. The indus-
trial picture has its place with the comedy
at the department nights, at the plant Y. M.
C. A.'s, the club houses, or community cen-
ters. It is invariably found on the pro-
grams of the foremen's and managerial staff
meetings. Production departments are
using these pictures as a means of training
new employes, by showing them the rela-
tion of parts to each other, and the im-
portance of the part each plays in producing
a perfect product. These men experience a
new thrill and satisfaction in their work by
appreciating and understanding their con-
tribution, which makes others dependent
upon their handicraft, and their dependance
upon others, after seeing a product devel-
oped from raw material to the consumer.

The screen has been in turn a novelty and
a source of entertainment. It has now be-
come, and will continue, to be one of the
greatest influential factors, in shaping the
future of our Nation. The manufacturers'
{Concluded on page 171)

158

The Educational Screen

Telling the Educator

Edward Mayer
Secretary, Department of Visual Instruction, University of California

ONE of the greatest draw-backs to
the use of educational motion pic-
tures in schools has been the fact
that the educator has been unable to find
material to correlate with school studies.
The blame for this draw-back may be at-
tributed to the distributor of motion pic-
tures. In making a survey of the schools
of California and coming in contact with
hundreds of teachers it was quite a shock
to me to find how few educators really
knew about the vast number of educational
motion pictures that were available for
their use. Why not tell the teacher what
you have?

"Catalogues"

Before me lie more than a dozen cata-
logues of motion pictures, including my
own for 1920-21. Two of these were pub-
lished by commercial concerns and the rest
by universities. The university catalogues
consist of nothing but lists of titles of the
motion pictures available for distribution.
There is not one word regarding the con-
tents of the films, although every one who
deals with motion pictures realizes that
mere titles cannot be trusted. We were all
guilty at one time of not telling the educator
specifically what we would offer; and most
of us are still guilty.

The two catalogues published by the
commercial organizations are beautiful shelf
ornaments. In one is listed about twenty
educational films. These may be obtained
by schools probably when they have had
their runs in theatres or when local theatre
managers give permission. The rest of the
catalogues, some fifty pages, is devoted ex-
clusively to photo dramas, comedies and

"wild westers." The other catalogue is also
a work of art. But it is worthless from the
educator's point of view.

Kind of Catalogues Needed

Realizing that something had to be done
in order to make the educator use the splen-
did material that was available in motion
pictures, I catalogued the films of the Uni-
versity of California Extension Division by
subjects beginning with Agriculture and
going right through to Zoology. This re-
quired careful thought and study. It was
necessary to know the exact contents of
every reel in our vaults. As soon as any
such subject is received by us it is imme-
diately reviewed and summarized. The
summary or synopsis may consist of a list
of titles and a short explanatory paragraph.
In listing agriculture films we went through
our entire lot and jotted down all of those
pictures pertaining to agriculture. We did
the same with Americanization, Biology, etc.
Many motion pictures can be and should be
listed under three or four headings. For
instance, a nature study may also be listed
under biology and zoology; it should be
listed under nature study and given its
proper number and then cross referenced
into biology and zoology. The motion pic-
ture TOADS is a nature study film. In
our catalogue this subject was given num-
ber 14-4. Under Biology it is listed TOADS
(See Nature Study 14-4). It is also listed
under ZOOLOGY— TOADS (see Nature
Study 14-4).

Following the title under its main head-
ing in the catalogue is a short synopsis. The
information cont-ained in the synopses will \
give teachers an idea of the contents of fhe

/Ipril 1923

Telling the Educator

150

Title DOTOOTE OLD POTOMAC

Cat. No. ...;.6??45 No. Reels -.1 Rental Price ...1«.7.6 Coat 1^.0110.

Producer ...£4lBOn

Owned by .Q«Qrg©JKl0lnf>.»..lI6...S*MloM^

Synopsis ... A.trip.through^

Perry to Washington, D,C« Built under the direetion of

Cleor^ .WashintoA^ iiarp.er.!.a..Eerry .and..ruinfl ...of ...old

Government Arsenal. Coal barges* Comparison rail and
...oioMd.. trMspp^^

Catalogue Card, Visual Instruction Department

Form 4-7-2»J-12,'22

Index Card used by the Extension Division of the Uni-
versity of California for classified record of films.

films and will greatly help them in selecting
subjects for use in class v^^ork.

Cross-reference Card Index

We now keep a card index of our motion
pictures. One of the cards is illustrated on
this page. When we are ready to publish
our new catalogue next year, it will be nec-
essary only to rearrange our cards in alpha-
betical order and renumber the subjects.
The manuscript can be readily written from
these cards with a great saving in time and
energy.

Our entertainment pictures which are
also cross referenced, commence with com-
edy and go through to miscellaneous. Under
entertainment are Hsted many of our educa-
tional pictures which have a certain enter-
tainment value and which can be used to
supplement an entertainment feature.

There may be some errors in the cata-
loging of our motion pictures. One error
was perhaps made in listing the industrials
under entertainment but here we have at-
tempted to tell the educator exactly what
material we have available for his use.

Results of This System
What have been the results of this cata-
logue? Previously we had many excellent
reels which were seldom or never used,
because the educator had no way to tell
what they contained. November is con-
sidered a poor distributing month in the
non-theatrical field in this territory, but last
November this Department distributed a
total of 519 motion pictures of which 80%
were in the territory of Northern Califor-
nia and 75% of our distribution was to
educational institutions. We estimate that
this department will distribute from eight
hundred to nine hundred motion pictures
per month from January 1 to June 15. The
most gratifying result is not the great
amount of distribution that we are giving
our motion pictures but the fact that the
teacher is now constantly using the pro-
ductions which received little or no diV
tribution before our descriptive catalog was
published. More thought is given the se-
lection of educational films. The catalogue
has been an incentive to schools not equipped
with projection apparatus to so equip them-

160

Telling the Educator

The Educational Screen

selves in order to make use of this new
educational tool. In 1918 there were about
fifty schools equipped with motion picture
apparatus in this state. Today there are
over one thousand and the number is in-
creasing at the rate of forty per month.

Central Bureau of Information Needed

A plan should be worked out by which it
would be possible for an educator to obtain
from one central point information as to
what is available in motion pictures in any
given subject. It is possible to establish
such a Bureau of Information at a very
small cost. Bui to do so it would be neces-
sary to have the absolute cooperation of
every producer interested in the advance-
ment of his educational subjects. It would
be necessary for an intelligent staff to re-
view hundreds of pictures. As soon as the
picture has been reviewed it could be classi-
fied and cross-referenced and the necessary
index cards immediately typed. As soon
as sufficient material has been previewed a
list should be published giving the title of
each subject, the number of reels, the pro-
ducer, and the distributor together with a

synopsis of the film. A list of the addresses
of the distributors and their various offices
should be printed in a conspicuous place in
the catalogue. The distribution of these
catalogues should be made through the
various disinterested state university ex-
changes. In California this Department
could easily distribute 20,000 such Hsts each
year. Supplements to this list should be
published every month as new material is
previewed and catalogued. At the end of
the year and during the summer months
when there is little or no distribution in the
non-theatrical field the entire list could be
revised at the headquarters and new lists
published.

If there is one thing that the moving pic-
ture industry can do to promote better feel-
ing between the public and the producers,
distributors and theatre men, it is the pub-
lishing of such a list of pictures. To pub-
lish such a list would mean that the pro-
ducer, distributing organization and exhibi-
tor would have to put prejudice out of
sight. Only by the closest cooperation
among all factors in the industry can such
a list be published.

Newer Issues in Motion-Picture Situation*

By H. Dora Stecker
Secretary of Review Committee, Cincinnati Council for Better Motion Pictures.

HOWEVER experimental the motion picture
has been as a medium of expression, how-
ever huge-scale production has evolved to be, how-
ever extensively the factory method of producing
has been developed, with its immense studios,
its thousands of performers, and the studied
detail to each inconsequential episode; the fact
remains that the producer is a most timid per-
son, for the most part. He has been boldly
experimental with the mechanical technique by
which pictures are put together, but he has been
fearsome about straying into original pastures

to find new and unhackneyed themes. For the
most part, he has repeated episode after epi-
sode, and story after story, because the original
was found at some time to have made an ap-
peal. This is really the explanation why we
have quantity production in stereotyped plots
and situations. So much so, that I seriously
propose a limitation of output of certain types
of stories. If we can apply a percentage restric-
tion to our immigration, why not estimate, like-
wise, the per cent of crude melodrama, slap-
stick comedy, and inane adventure serials

♦From an address delivered before The Woman's City Club of Cincinnati. Reprinted by permis-
sion from The Bulletin for December, 1922, published by the Woman's City Club of Cincinnati,
Ohio, in the interest of Better Citizenship.

This article began in March and concludes in this number.

4pril, 19^3

Newer Issues in Motion-Picture Situation

161

which are to be let loose on the public in any
year? This would act as a deterrent to those
companies which specialize in these fields, and
whose productions are destined for the most
part, for the poorer neighborhoods and the
small town; the slapstick comedy and the serial
being intended mainly for children. During one
week last fall a single Cincinnati film exchange
had some sixty serials in circulation in the the-
aters of this locality. Apropos, a survey of mo-
tion picture houses, made in Cleveland, showed
that thirty-four out of the seventy-three houses
which were operating at the time of the survey,
were using serials.

It was only by accident that the industry
discovered the financial asset of wholesome
motion pictures. You remember what a furore
"Humoresque" made several years ago. Here
was a simple mother story, and yet it was a
tremendous money maker. Since then a similar
theme developed in "The Old Nest," and "Over
the Hill," demonstrated the perennial interest
of the public in the less artificial and spectac-
ular things. Good, clean comedy-drama is very
popular, especially for week-ends in neighbor-
hood theaters. If production were attuned to
the habits of the thousands of normal families
who crave recreation at week-ends, and who
desire to share their pleasures with each other,
and there were a plentiful supply of subjects at
hand which were wholesome, entertaining and
informative, an additional clientele of our best
people would be added to present-day patrons
of the screen. The whole business today is on
a false basis — the largest revenues coming from
the first-run houses, which generally are tran-
sient theaters in the urban centers. The needs
and aspirations of the great body of the Ameri-
can people are subordinated, for the most part,
to programs of the commercial traveler type,
the kind of thing Broadway concocts for the
small-town visitor.

The Responsibility of the Exhibitor

Now, what responsibility has the exhibitor—
the man who runs a theater? Local organiza-
tions of the public are apt to vent their dis-
pleasure on him alone, when he is really only
a buffer between them and the absentee who
made the picture, or is responsible for the terms
and conditions of its distribution.

Here you are likely to find a small replica,
with but few exceptions, of the type that con-
trols the industry at the source; most often a
person of meager background. He has been
steeped in the jargon of theatrical advertising

and taught to play up the sensational — thanks
to the publicity methods of the industry. A few
of the largest theaters have broken down this
attitude, and have developed artistic presenta-
tion and a high-class program in its entirety,
but they are exceptions. Most people do not
know that the exhibitor is not a free agent to
pick and choose what films he shall exhibit,
especially if he changes his program often. The
home office usually sells a season's output to a
purchaser and requires the purchaser to sign
for a "bloc" of films, as it is called. Some of
these may be good, some bad, and some indif-
ferent. Some may contain a few stars who
habitually play in slightly dubious themes. I
remember the feeling of futility which overcame
me when I was first confronted with this iron-
clad rule after taking over the operation of a
suburban theater here in Cincinnati. It cer-
tainly works a hardship for the exhibitor who
has the welfare of his audience at heart. Its
reason is the desire of each distributing com-
pany to serve each theater with which it does
business one hundred per cent.

Censorship and Enforcement

The demand for some sort of control over
the content of motion pictures arose simulta-
neously with their growth in popularity. The
public went in for legislative control through
censorship, state and municipal, secure in the
fond belief that all would be right once a law
were gotten on the statute books. They did not
even pause to see if any means of enforcement
were provided in order to carry out the rulings
of the censor's office. You all know that in
Ohio, so far as intent is concerned, we have a
law which gives our censors wide powers. In
most states where censorship is established,
films may not be rejected unless there is some-
thing radically wrong with them, such as ob-
scenity, indecency, immorality, inhumaneness,
sacrilege, or a tendency to corrupt morals or
incite crime. But in Ohio, all moving pictures,
according to the law, must have positive vir-
tues; they must be moral, educational, or at
least, of a harmless and amusing nature. In
spite of these good intentions, and of the indus-
triousness of our censors, the cold fact rema-.ns
that our Ohio law has no teeth — no enforce-
ment power — and that most state censor laws
lack the same power. In our state it seems ir
be an omission in the framing of the pr-'sen;
law.

May I quote what the New York Commis-

162

Newer Issues in Motion-Picture Situation The Educational Screen

sion of Censors has to say in this regard in its
annual report for 1921, a short while afte'* its
creation? "If the statute is to be made efTe .tive,
and the screen purged of objectionable 'llm^,
there must be a system of inspection prov.ded
for. There are about 1,700 theaters in New
York State. Unless the theaters are inspcjted,
there is no manner by which it can be deter-
mined whether films are being exhibited vith-
out the proper identification matter or without
being licensed or a permit granted. There is
no method of determining whether the fiims
exhibited have been deleted as directed by tlie
Commission, unless an actual inspection is had
of the films exhibited. A system of voluntary
inspection has been undertaken in other states.
and has proven very unsatisfactory. The Penn-
sylvania Board of Censors (during eight years
of operation) has tried all methods of in-
spection, and has come to the conclusion that
the only satisfactory way is to have paid in-
spectors. Without proper inspection, the v/ork
of the New York Commission will not only
become ineffective, but the Commission will be
subject to more or less ridicule."

Censors will continue to be storm centers
wherever they are found to do their work
conscientiously, as the industry will not sit
idly by, while, say a million dollar production
is forbidden state distribution by the dictum
of a mere state officer. Naturally the industry
is fighting the extension of censorship. As
yet, there are not more than half a dozen states
operating under censorship; but in 1921 laws
on this subject were introduced into thirty-six
state legislatures, and were defeated in thirty-
four of them. The industry, you see, has en-
tered politics because of the menace of control
by the public.

There has been some talk of federal censor-
ship, and in some quarters one hears the con-
fession that certain companies would welcome
government control, in order to be free from
the inconvenience caused by confHcting stand-
ards of the various state and municipal regula-
tions. Mr. Hays, however, has made it clear
in his recent public utterances that he does not
favor federal censorship or any form of "poli-
tical" censorship (meaning thereby statutory
or legislative control emanating from the pub-
lic) ; as he deems it to be essentially un-Ameri-
can, and believes that if the industry is let
alone it will right itself, possibly, with the aid
of the public in an advisory capacity. Now let

us be elear as to what this means. All of us,
I am sure, have weighed and balanced this
question. The indiscriminate barring from cir-
culation of great literary and scientific books
by prudists, without regard to their high ser-
iousness of purpose, is irritating. The effort,
at times, of well-meaning censors to regulate
our morals make us somewhat skeptical of the
process. Yet the wide-spread and unregulated
attendance of boys and girls upon commercial
motion picture performances makes us pause.
All of us believe that regulation of motion pic-
tures at their source of production is infinitely
mere logical than their rejection or alteration
after a yearly expenditure of approximately
$200,000,000 has been incurred. Consider our
political philosophy which permits a group in
the community to manufacture, without public
supervision, as to content, $200,000,000 worth
of commodities annually, whose social value
may be questioned later on. But in the ab-
sence of any legal safeguard other than what
we have set up through censorship, can we af-
ford t© give that up for something less certain?
At least, we are assured in locahties so safe-
guarded that the worst is kept off the screen;
we must choose with discrimination from what
remains.

Long ago the industry set out to right itself.
I need not recount to you the beginnings of
the National Board of Review, in 1909, I think
it was, when Mayor McClellan of New York
City called together a group of citizens tp see
what could be done about motion pictures,
which were then largely imported from France,
and were found to be objectionable, in many in-
stances. You recall that this became in effect,
the official censor board of the industry. The
industry pays generously for having its pic-
tures reviewed, and paid secretaries and a rep-
resentative of the industry, I am told, to sit in
with each reviewing committee. Relatively few
rejections are made. So much so that the feel-
ing has grown in some quarters, that this body
is primarily an endorsing body for the industry.
At best, it is merely a reviewing board without
legal power of enforcing its decisions on the
industry. Hardly a single reel comes on the
screen in this country without the official
stamp of the National Board of Review. The
uninitiated confuse this with the seal of some
imaginary government body, and think the
film has been passed by Uncle Sam. So you
(Concluded on page 165)

.Iprii 1923 103

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice-President: A. Loretta Clark, Director of Visual Education, Los An-
geles, California.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Edu-
cation, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Tooth aker. Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago Public Schools,

Chicago, Illinois.
Rupert Peters, Director of Visual Education, Kansas City Public Schools,

Kansas City, Missouri.
A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
J. W. Shepherd, Department of Visual Education, University of Oklahoma,

Norman, Oklahoma.
Carlos E. Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buflfalo, N. Y.
W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. All matter appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy,

R

Report of Resolutions Committee

(At the Cleveland Meeting)

ESOLVED that the National Academy of To Professor W. M. Gregory and his asso-

Visual Instruction urge the earliest ciates for the inspiring program,

possible adoption, and universal use of stand- To the film producers who have gratuitously

ard gauge, slow burning, cellulose acetate stock and generously provided the collection of films

for all prints planned or adopted for educational ^^^ ^"^ delectation.

and all non-theatrical use. To the speakers, particularly those not mem-

bers of the Academy, who have contributed so

RESOLVED that the National Academy of willingly to the value of the meeting.
Visual Instruction express its sincere ap-
preciation to the following institutions and

Visual Instruction, appeal to the commercial

To the Cleveland School of Education for producers of educational films for school room

the splendid accommodations provided, and the use, that they shall not lessen the Historical,

excellent arrangements made for our meeting. Geographical, or vital educational values of such

BE it further resolved that this body of
Educators, who are deeply interested in

104

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educaiional Screen

films by mutilating them to insert the spec-
tacular appeals to interest which they so often
and so mistakenly deem necessary.

RESOLVED that these resolutions be
spread on the minutes and published in
"The Educational Screen," and that copies be

sent by the secretary to the parties named.
COMMITTEE

Dr. Carlos Cummings
Mr. Rupert Peters
Mr. Norman Hamilton
Mr. Carl W. Salzer
(Adopted)

Evening Film Showings

(At the Cleveland Meeting)

I

IN response to a general invitation to educa-
tional film producers to send on two reels of
their best production, the following film pro-
grams were put on each evening during the
Fourth Annual Meeting of the National Acad-
emy of Visual Instruction held at the Cleveland
School of Education February 27 to March 1:

Cleveland School of Education

Auditorium

7:50 P. M. Tuesday

Film Program

American Optical Company, Southbridge, Mass.

Through Life's Windows
Better Pictures Corporation, First National
Bank Bldg., Chicago.
Dells of Wisconsin
Bray Productions, Inc., 130 West 46th Street,
New York City.
How the Mosquito Spreads Disease
The Fly as a Disease Carrier
Ford Motor Company, Detroit, Mich.
Luther Burbank
Wheat and Flour
National Tuberculosis Association, 370 Seventh
Ave., New York.
The Kid Comes Through
Jinks
Society for Visual Education, 806 West Wash.
Blvd., Chicago.
Wasps

Dairy Cattle — Tjrpes and Characteristics
^.30 P. M. Wednesday
Film Program
Atlas Educational Film Co., 1111 So. Blvd., Oak
Park, 111.
The Better Way of Milking
Egg Production
Doubleday and Page, Garden City, New York.
Manufacturing of Books (3 reels)

Educational Pictures, Inc., 411 Film Bldg.,
Cleveland, Ohio.
My Country

The Crater of Mt. Katmai (National Geo-
graphic Society)
General Electric Company, Schenectady, New
York.
Wizardry of Wireless (2 reels)
Harcol Film Company, Inc., 330 Camp Street,
New Orleans, La.
Rice Industry
Standard Film Service Co., Sloan Bldg., Cleve-
land, Ohio.

Wonderful Water (Prizma)
Neptune's Neighbors (Prizma)
7. JO P. M. Thursday
Film Program
American Red Cross, W'ashington, D. C.
From Jacques to Johnny
A Letter from Sezze-Romano
American Releasing Corporation, New York
City.
Moongold

Walls of Jerusalem
Homestead Film Co., 7510 North Ashland Ave.,
Chicago.
Corn Industry
McCrum, Dr. Thomas B., Kansas City, Mo.

Keep Your Teeth Clean
National Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures, Inc.,
130 West 46th Street, New York City.
Alaska Text Film (2 reels)
United States Dept. of Agriculture. Washing-
ton, D. C.
Building Forest Roads
The Horse in Motion
Vitagraph, Inc., East 15th Street and Locust
Ave., Brooklyn.
The Hunting Ground of Hiawatha
Spending Six Hundred Million a Day

April, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

ig:

Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.,
East Pittsburgh.
An Electrified Travelogue (3 reels)
Worcester Film Corporation, Worcester, Mass.
From Forest to Fireside (3 reels)
This offered Academy members and all
others interested in Visual Education an oppor-
tunity to view what the producers considered
among their best films.

FOLLOWING is a list of new members that
have been added to the membership roll of
the Academy within the past month:

ACTIVE

D. F. NiCKOLS, Supt. of Schools, 604 Peoria St.,
Lincoln, Illinois.

Seth Hayes, Instructor in Chemistry and Visual
Education, East Technical High School, Cleve-
land, Ohio. . - ,

J. Bell Corbin, Elementary School Principal,
Bancroft School, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Russell W. Ballard, Director of Visual Educa-
tion, East Chicago, Indiana.

Otto Nelson, Director of Motion Pictures, Na-
tional Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio.

Martin V. McGill, Chemistry Teacher, Lorrain
High School, 1444 E. Prairie Avenue, Lorrain,
Ohio.

Mrs. F. C. Busch, Ass't Director Visual Educa-
tion, Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, Buf-
falo, New York.

ASSOCIATE

Marsena Ann Galbreath, Student, 405J/^ North
Fourth St., Marietta, Ohio.

Frank E. Gillett, Teacher Vocational Agricul-
ture, 807 Rollins St., Columbia, Missouri.

Mary Van Etten, Teacher^.. Fairfax School,
Cleveland, Ohio.

Mrs. C. W. Stansberry, State P. T. A. Commit-
tee on Visual Education, 1828 Page Avenue,
East Cleveland, Ohio.

G. Alba Bartholomew., Clerk of School Board,
Middlefield, Ohio.

Newer Issues in Motion-Picture
Situation

{Concluded from page 162)
see, the industry has accepted the principle of
censorship, but censorship by an unofficial
body, with no power of enforcement. Our
fourth largest industry objects to being regu-
lated legally by the public. It is just as if our
public utilities proclaimed the principle that
they did not believe in the state and federal
commissions which the public desired to erect
for their own protection's sake, and advocated
advisory bodies of their own choosing, clothed
with no legal authority, to pass upon the acts
of the same public utilities.
Lack of Organization on the Part of the Public.

With all our concern about motion pictures
during the last eight years, no great national
organization representing the aspirations of a
united public has as yet emerged. Even state
organizations are the exception. What is being
accomplished is largely the work of sporadic
local groups who are working single-handed
with their home situations.

School, churches, community and recreation-
al centers, and various institutions for the care
of the handicapped, dependent, and delinquent,
need guidance in the selection of motion pictures.
At present the industry everywhere resents the
encroachment of socialized groups in a field con-

sidered to be exclusively the domain of com-
mercially conducted screen theatres, and are
making it difficult for these groups to obtain
satisfactory films. This is a vital controversy
— one that has been presented to Mr. Hays
from a number of sources. If, as has been re-
ported, Mr. Hays authoritatively lays down
the dictum that the men in the industry have
to be protected in their investments, and that
only strictly educational and strictly religious
motion pictures should be shown in schools
and churches, respectively, the movement for
carefully selected, high-grade programs under
socialized auspices — the movement away from
commercial recreation, which since the war
has made strides in this country — will be given
a severe set-back. Such a question is a chal-
lenge to the statesmanship of the industry. Let
us hope that it seizes its opportunity to demon-
strate to the public its sincerity in creating a
channel of contact by which the aspirations of
the public may be ascertained and realized.

The Berkeley Monograph
is ready

The Educational Screen

5 South Wabash

Chicago

166 The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS

President — Ernist L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York Schools, New York City.
yice-President — A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary — Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer — Charles H. Mills, Director of Publicity of the Boy Scouts of America.
Corresponding Secretary — Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

"Thumb Nail Sketches''

in

Visual Instruction

By Ernest L. Crandall

No. 3. The Why of Visual Instruction

THERE is an old adage which says: "There borrowed enthusiasms, even though we may

is no great smoke without some small properly and profitably expose ourselves to the

fire." In our last article we insisted some- infection of the real article. When we reflect

what emphatically that visual instruction is in how many thunderous waves of infaUible

its last analysis only a phase of the teaching method have broken upon the shore of our

process and warned against overemphasis. pedagogical experience, each bearing upon its

Nevertheless there must be some explanation crest some prophet shouting "Eureka" (though

of the fact that the term is so much upon the I believe the prophets used Hebrew and not

lips of educators that discussions concerning Greek), and how "flat, stale and unprofitable"

it are heard everywhere, that journals are being some of these "discoveries" have become at the

devoted to its presentation. As there is "no ebb tide, we have reason to go slow in evalu-

great smoke without some small fire," there ating any new approach to the age old problem

must be some genuine warmth of conviction of adjusting the child mind to its environment,
back of all this manifestation of what amounts if ^^ are to accept, we must do so only after

to an mformed cunos,ty even when it is not having discovered sound and substantial rea-

genume mterest. ^^^^ underlying the importance with which its

As tramed educators, however, we may not more perfervid devotees invest this particular

accept bhndly any sort of pedagogical propa- phase of the art of teaching. As I have ap

ganda, least of all in the field of methodology. proached the question, it has seemed to mo

We have no right to be swept off our feet by that the reasons are to seek in two quite dis-

any gathermg tide of simulated, stimulated or tinct directions. In other words, I believe that

April, 19J3

Visual Instruction Association of America

167

there are both historical and psychological
reasons.

It may be impossible within the limits of
this article to treat both of these aspects, but
we may at least attempt |,to explore the his-
torical background.

It has been more or less the custom of those
who write and speak on education generally to
date the inception of the visual instruction idea,
however denominated, from the practice and
teaching of Comenius. Nothing could be fur-
ther from the fact. Everyone knows that Co-
menius' teaching fell on barren ground. Actual
school room practice was not reformed by it,
or even profoundly affected, and even today his
very genuine conception of the real avenue of
approach to the child mind is more dallied with
than practiced, more honored in the breach than
in the observance.

Nevertheless, visual instruction is part of a
phase of human development that does have
its roots in history, and very deeply imbedded
at that. This phase of human development dates
from the one great dividing fact in the history
of Western civilization, the Reformation.

I cannot be too explicit in af^rming that
nothing I shall say in this connection must
be construed as having any sectarian or even
any religious significance. With that we arc
not here concerned. We are simply facing a
great concrete fact in history, and the essence
and kernel of that fact is that at that stage
of human evolution a great change swept over
the mind of mankind.

I have been able to find no better term for
defining that change than to refer to it as the
nascence of a spirit of general revolt, revolt
primarily against authority, as distinguished
from any other form of restraint, and debutting
primarily in the assertion of individual rights.

Now it was inevitable that this change of
attitude ultimately should aflfect man's attitude
toward everything in the heavens above and
in the earth beneath and in the waters under
the earth. With the spiritual, social or scientific
aspects of this movement we are not for the
moment greatly concerned. With its effect
upon education we are almost definitely con-
cerned. That effect, whether direct or indirect,
can be traced chiefly to Rousseau.

Someone has said that the net result of the
Reformation was to teach men to think less
about God and more about themselves. We do
not need to subscribe to this striking half-

truth, in order to extract from it the very es-
sence of the whole movement. The spirit of
the movement was individualistic, and such the
kernel remained, as each successive outgrowth'
went through the various stages of develop-
ment, from germination to dessication. This is
true, despite the fact that, historically, sijch
diverse political theories as anarchism, social-
ism, commuiTtSm, and Nietscheism, may truth-
fully trace their origin to this movement. Man's
attention was directed upon himself. Briefly,
the most significant result of the whole move-
ment was the substitution of psychology for
metaphysics. We owe it to Jean Jacques Rous-
seau that, almost from the beginning, child
psychology kept pace with the progress of the
major science.

There is still another sense in which that
general conception of the art of teaching with
which visual instruction is indissolubly bound
up really dates from the Reformation. Not
only did the individualistic tendency of that
movement result ultimately in the dominance
of self study, that is, psychology as distin-
guished from metaphysics, and a psychology
which had its beginnings in introspection and
self revelation; but the same challenging spirit
which brought about this change effected also
a radical change in the objectives of education,
or at the very least in the objects of study,
which latter change was destined ultimately to
affect even the development of the study of
psychology itself.

I refer to the intense note of objectivity
which crept into man's whole attitude toward
the universe, towards life and naturally ulti-
mately toward education. In the middle ages
men were greatly concerned as to why God
made the world and put man on it. Shortly
thereafter they began concerning themselves
rather with ascertaining how the world is con-
stituted, and how man himself is put together.

This is the inception of what is popularly
denominated as the "scientific spirit." We need
not blindly assume that the results of this tend-
ency have been wholly beneficent, in order to
recognize the fact. The fact is there, that
gradually mankind has assumed a challenging
attitude toward his environment and the facts
of life— a tendency to question everything, to
examine everything, to test everything. Nor
can it be denied that the natural result of that
attitude has been to fix the attention of men
chiefly upon physical phenomena.

Now this has brought about two results,

168

^1

The Educational Screen

O^

The

1248 Mari

April, 1923 169

Portability

JUST where portability starts and ceases is a
question — strictly anything that can be moved is
portable but an explanation so broad becomes
meaningless.

DeVry portabiHty means one thing. It is so
light in weight that a girl can carry it easily and so
compact it is ready to go -in an instant. There are
no parts to screw or bolt on the outside of the
DeVry — no case to pack the machine in — the DeVry
is self-contained, just pick up the handle like a suit-
case, that is all.

This is portability — real portability.

To pack into such a small case, so compact a
mechanism, giving as the DeVry does a picture as
clear and brilliant as those shown in a regular theatre
was a feat of engineering, and yet, so well was the
task done that today the first DeVrys made are still
rendering to their owners perfect satisfaction.

To make a projector heavier in weight is a simple
task — to make a projector better than the DeVry is
impossible.

Where perfect projection and real portability
are essential demand the DeVry.

Vry Corporation

Chicago, 111,

170

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

educationally speaking. First of all, it has
had a profound effect upon the curriculum. The
natural sciences in all their ramifications have
displaced the humanities. This means that
with the years, and with furious acceleration
during these latter days, the volume of what
the child had to learn that came through the
senses exclusively has been enormously in-
creased. In the face of this tendency, it would
have been strange indeed if the importance of
the training of the senses had not received in-
creasing attention from educators.

Secondly, and finally, so far as this article is
concerned, this objective attitude gradually
brought about a radical change in man's no-
tions of psychology itself, so that from the
introspective study that it was in its beginnings

it became gradually a study of sensory impres-
sions, their stimuli, reactions and results. This
is by no means the last word on psychology,
for it does not take into account much recent
development in the way of physiological psy-
chology and mental measurements, to say noth-
ing of instinctive inhibitions. But it suffices
our purpose to have traced the historical path
by which teachers were brought ultimately to
the conscious recognition of the part played by
the senses in the learning process. By that
portal enters visual instruction; and at that
point we are prepared in our next article to
take up in somewhat greater detail the psycho-
logical reasons which seem to us to justify
the recognition of this method of approach to
the child's mind as of first importance.

The Visual Instruction Association of America at Cleveland

THE Visual Instruction Association of
America feels that it made one more dis-
tinct contribution to the cause of visual
instruction through its activities at the Cleve-
land Convention of the Division of Superin-
tendence of the National Education Association.
For the first time in the history of that body,
educational motion pictures were thrown o»
the screen in the big public meeting place,
before and after some of the principal sessions.
Not only were these pictures seen by hundreds
of delegates from all sections of the country,
but they were films of a very high order, peda-
gogically speaking, and they made a notable
impression upon educators of importance. The
variety of subjects alone was calculated to cause
remark and many remained unconvinced when
assured that each film represented only a sec-
tion of a complete program, not ideal but far
from unsatisfactory, in such subjects as biology,
nature study, physical and commercial geog-
raphy, domestic science and physical training,
all built up from existing available material.

This is frank propagandism but we have no
apologies to make. In our opinion the day for
propaganda in this field is by no means over.
It is astounding to discover how comparatively
few educators throughout the country have a
really clear idea of what they can obtain in the
way of visual material, or where they can ob-
tain it, or how they should use it when they
get it.

TJie?? are not all one question^ and to be sure

the answer to certain phases of the problem
does not lie in merely showing educational mo-
tion pictures. But after all the first thing to be
done is to jolt these educators out of their
indifference, or their skepticism, by demonstrat-
ing what a considerable body of really good
educational film exists, if one will go about
seeking it out intelligently.

The glimmerings of a keener interest in the
other aspects of the problem were evidenced
by the constant stream of visitors who fre-
quented our headquarters. From ten in the
morning until six at night each day of the
convention, and some times till bed time, we
kept open house in a parlor-suite at the Hotel
Statler. Thither repaired scores of anxious in-
quirers daily, ranging all the way from the
plain or garden variety of pedagogue, to real
high-brow doctors of pedaguese from the halls
of normal colleges, and haling from every sec-
tion of the country. Each came with a differ-
ent problem and throughout the day, there I
were representatives of the association to wel-
come them and discuss their needs.

One thing that proved a revelation to many
of our visitors was the rapid strides that have
been made in the improvement of projection,
from the mechanical standpoint. Some could
hardly credit their eyes when they beheld both
still views and motion pictures projected on an
ordinary yellow wall, with no screen, with no
shades on the windows and with the electric
lights burning full blaze, aad yet with a degrc
of precision and of illumination that would ho

/Ipril, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

171

entirely satisfactory for ordinary class-room
purposes.

Perhaps quite as striking was the example of
rear projection, through a translucent screen,
within a compass of five or six feet, also in a
brightly lighted room. Frankly, we had never
seen this accomplished up to less than a year
ago. So the mechanics of the art are progres-
sing decidedly. This little device makes it pos-
sible for the teacher to have lantern, screen and
all necessary paraphernalia right beside his
desk, within arms length, and to throw on one
or two slides at a time, without pupil assistance
and without ever leaving his class. Many will
still prefer the regulation lantern and opaque
wall screen, but there are many situations for
which this rear projection idea is excellent.

Incidentally, it is probable that few of those
who saw the pictures in the great Public Audi-
torium were aware that they were witnessing
one of the modern miracles of cinematography.
There had never been a public showing of pic-
tures in that hall before, and the first experi-
mental showing had disclosed such trying con-
ditions that all the lenses were cracked and the
machines put out of commission generally.
Everything had to be overhauled and things
were gotten into shape barely in time for our
first showing. I am credibly informed that this
is the longest "throw" of motion pictures ever
undertaken. And, while I am a fairly seasoned
observer, I must confess that as I watched the
hurrying blood corpuscles or the evolution of a
crystal on the big twenty-six foot screen and
realized that all that gigantic but clear-cut and
vivid animation came through a one-inch bit of
celluloid three hundred and forty feet away, it
just caught my breath a little.

Another fact that made this particular con-
vention a memorable occasion for visual in-
struction was the fact that the Visual Instruc-
tion Committee of the National Education
Society held three sessions there during the
week. These were attended by the President of
the Visual Instruction Association of America,
as a member of the committee.

This is a committee appointed by President
Owen of the National Education Association
just after the summer session at Boston last
July. The immediate occasion for appointing
the committee was a suggestion made by Mr.
Will Hays, of the Motion Picture Producers
and Distributors Association. Mr, Hays deliv-

ered an address at Boston, in the course of
which he made certain remarks since variously
reported and misreported. Whatever their ex-
act language, these remarks of Mr. Hays were
tantamount to an invitation to the educators of
the country to avail themselves of the unusual
resources of the producers whom he represented
and devise some way of cooperating with the
latter in an effort to make motion pictures
more widely available for school use. Dr. Owen
obviously felt that such an invitation merited
at least proper investigation and accordingly
the above-mentioned committee was appointed.
The immediate plans and purposes of the com-
mittee and its proposed method of procedure
have not yet been released for publication, but
from published utterances of the chairman. Dr.
Charles H. Judd, of Chicago University, it is
quite clear that the scope of its activities will
be ultimately much broader than any mere pro-
gram of cooperation with a given group of pro-
ducers. The proceedings and deliberations of
this important committee will be watched with
great interest throughout the country by all
those interested in visual instruction.

It is regrettable that the Visual Instruction
Association of America and the Academy could
not have united on some common program of
demonstration and elucidation at this conven-
tion and thus have presented a united front in
the subject in which we are all so deeply inter-
ested. However, each did its bit, on the occa-
sion, toward keeping visual instruction to the
fore in the minds of the educators of the coun-
try and the cordial relations maintained between
the two bodies thus acting separately, and at
different ends of the town, may foreshadow a
degree of reciprocity and mutual effort in the
future that has not proven feasible thus far.

The Industrial Motion-Picture

{Concluded from page 15T)
obligation is not only to produce and dis-
tribute these industrial or informational pic-
tures, concerning their product, but to incor-
porate in these pictures those qualities which
will influence men and women to greater
appreciation of the value of human labor
and its production, and the conservation, as
well as the development, of our natural and
industrial resources.

in

The Educational Screen

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

(We wish to call particular attention to the kind of film, reviews
offered here. They are entirely impartial, and critical in the finest sense
of the word. They are written from the educational standpoint by the
department editor, who is not only a trained reviewer, but a teacher of
wide experience.

So far as we know, it is the first time that such service has been ren-
dered by any publication in the field of non-theatrical films. — Editor. "i

Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood

IF the cinema is capable of greater achieve-
ments than this, the future will have to pro-
duce them. Certainly the past — even Fairbanks'
past — can boast of nothing like the scope of
this picture of the Middle Ages, not only in its
outward aspect (which would be, relatively,
easy) but in its inner spirit — the Middle Ages
of brave though uncouth kings, strong knights,
marauding bands, cruel tortures, abject pov-
erty of peasants, and lavish plenty of courts.
And over all, Romance and Chivalry.

Fairbanks picks the tournament, the cere-

-to the depths of Sherwood forest, in the
guise of an outlaw:'*

mony perhaps the most typical of mediaeval
chivalry, as an introduction to the court of
Richard of England on the eve of the depar-
ture of the knights on their Holy Crusade.
Stupendous is the only descriptive term to
apply to the settings and ensemble of the court
scenes. Entire castles stand before us, their
towers and turrets lifted high above the English
plain; the field of the tournament is proud with
all the pageant of chivalry — forests of banners,
lines of heralds, knights in armour and the
clash of spears. And afterwards, the great hall
of the castle, its huge arches lit by the flare of
burning knots, where dogs wait for scraps in
the midst of the pomp of the royal banquet.

The England of Richard and Prince Henry.

The King's favorite, the Earl of Huntingdon,
as a reward for his victory over his adversary
in the tournament, is made the second in com-
mand on the Holy Crusade they are about to
undertake. And so departs the flower of Eng-
lish chivalry, with Huntingdon the leader and
inspiration of Richard's knights on their march.
If there is an incongruous touch in the entire
film, it is the elaborate trappings of Richard's
camp — more befitting an exotic Oriental mon-
arch than an English knight bent on a quest
involving privation and no little hardship. But
who shall say that Richard may not have trav-
eled in such state?

Then comes to Huntingdon the message from
England, telling of the evil usurper, Henry,
and his cruel oppression of the people; Hun-
tingdon's decision to return; the King's dis-
pleasure and his mistrust of his Earl's motives;
the casting of Huntingdon into prison; his
escape and subsequent return to his beloved |
England— but this time to the depths of Sher- ^
wood Forest in the guise of an outlaw, "his
life dedicated to revenge, bitter yet joyous."

i

Ipril, 1923

School Department

173

Victor in the tournament, Huntingdon is awarded the wreath at the hands of Lady Marion.

There he gathers around him other loyal out-
laws: Will Scarlett, Friar Tuck, Little John
and Alan-a-Dale.

In all justice to Fairbanks, it is not difficult
to sense that he feels more at home in the
role of Robin Hood, clad in a woodsman's out-
fit, than in the armour of a mediaeval knight.
And a lovable vagabond he is, exuberant,
adored by his followers, feared and wholesome-
ly respected of his enemies — an admirable rob-
ber, a jovial terrorist and a true patriot.
Whether the real Robin Hood was as agile, it
would be hard to determine. This Robin Hood
leaps to the saddle in one graceful bound,
scales a vine-clad castle wall as easily as
though he were going upstairs, and fights a
dozen men single-handed.

Not that the film depends for an instant
solely upon that sort of interest. Much could
with justice be said in praise of the drama in

it. There is movement, incident upon incident,
and fine suspense. Hardly could there be a
more stirring climax than the scene of the
twenty archers, ready and aimed at the figure
of Robin Hood tied to a post in the courtyard
of the castle, the signal of Prince Henry,
twenty arrows with true aim sent to their
mark — only to meet the shield of Richard, and
quiver against the figures of the three lions on
its polished surface.

It is difficult to imagine chivalry without
romance, and the love story of the Earl of
Huntingdon and the Lady Marion has its fine
moments, although it is never permitted to
usurp the place of the larger theme.

Enid Bennett, as Lady Marion, does full
justice to the possibilities of her part. Especial
mention is due Wallace Beery for his splendid
enacting of King Richard. And of Fairbanks,
too much cannot be said. In the big scenes, it is

174

School Department

The Educational Screen

Robin Hood's entrance to the royal castle, as
unceremonious as it is unexpected.

to be expected that he dominates; but in the
finer shades of his acting, his work is no less
admirable. Facial expression and bearing are
perfect. One has only to witness the scene in
which he. hears the news that Lady Marion,
whom he believes to be dead, awaits him in the
convent garden.

The illusion of mediaevalism is kept — rather
than destroyed, as might so easily have been
the case — in the titling. "Exempt me, sire,"
pleads Huntingdon with his King, when the
victor's wreath is about to be bestowed upon
him, "I am afeared of women." And later,
when word comes to Huntingdon of the state
of affairs in England and he realizes he must
return alone: "If the King know of this, him-
self would return and the holy purpose would
be lost." And to his squire, "We wait not on
permission."

One may expect much from a production
done onvsuch a scale, but what is perhaps not
to be expected is that it is so funny. The
goings-on of Robin Hood and his merry band,
deadly in earnest as to purpose, are carried out
in the spirit of fine fun. Not often in the
movie theatre is there such wnolesome laughter
as is called forth by the incident of the hanging
courtier and the boots, and the scene at the
postern door, where the unsuspecting warriors
are knocked off, one by one. The entrance of
Robin Hood's band to the royal castle, tense
as is the moment, has its jovial aspect. The
same spirit inspires much of the revelry which
follows on that momorable night. Witness
the bumping together of the swinging hench-
men of John, and the objection of the usurper
himself.

Originality, beauty, magnificence, finesse,
spontaneity — that is Robin Hood, and there is
nothing finer. {United Artists.)

Film Reviews

TRAVEL AND SCENIC

The Ancient Duchy of Brittany. (Pathe.) A
reel full of charm, portraying that portion of
France where Hfe and customs have changed
little since the Middle Ages. Film maps locate
the area, and a collection of splendid views
shows some of the remains of ancient Druid
temples, characteristically medieval, some of
the windmills which dot the landscape, and as
fascinating as the aspect of the country itself
— the fine types of people. Their native cos-
tumes add to the scenes of market day, where
products of their home industries are displayed
along with their pet live stock.

Miscellaneous views — of clothes being
washed by the wayside stream; of an old spin-
ning wheel which has the dignity of genera-

tions of use; a wedding crowd, and the charac-
teristic folk dancers — bring us to the scenes
without which no picture of Brittany would be
complete; the fishing boats along the rugged
and beautiful coast. On shore are women
doing the necessary work of mending the nets
and over all the hint of the salt sea air. A
sturdy people in one of the most picturesque
districts of all Europe.

Pathecolor adds much to the beauty of the
subject, which is admirably suited to class
showing in connection with a study of France,
or for any general film program where some-
thing of a distinctly fine type is desired.

Kilauea. (Prizma.) An early Prizma sub-
ject, but one which should never pass out of
use, so perfect is its photography, and so vivid

April, 1933

School Department

175

is its picture of the wonder of the Hawaiian
Islands — Kilauea's lakes of fire.

A native Hawaiian guide, who for thirty-five
years has been showing tourists this marvel,
conducts the tour to the crater's edge. Mar-
velous panoramic views show the bubbling
mass of lava, seething as in a giant caldron,
with a temperature of approximately 2,000 de-
grees. There are remarkable scenes of the
liquid lava spurting up in jets 70 feet into the
air, and spectacular night scenes showing
the fiery-hot molten rock bubbling up through
the crust of partly hardened lava on top.

Color adds tremendously to a subject like
this — and no study of the Hawaiian Islands, or
of volcanic activity in general, should be com-
plete without this pictorial portrayal.

HISTORICAL

The Land of Our Forefathers. (Pathe.) His-
tory on the screen, with definite educative
value, is this reel, first picturing by map dia-
grams the three shiploads of settlers who
made their way up the Chesapeake.

In 1609 John Smith made a map of Virginia,
which is interestingly shown. Ruins of the old
church at Jamestown speak mutely of the
faith of these sturdy pioneers. In 1676 James-
town was burned — the only remnants of its
past now to be observed are the graves of its
early settlers, and a few relics of ancient
spearheads and pipes found among the ruins
of the headstones.

The film goes on to show the site of the first
capitol in America, at Williamsburg, Virginia,
and the spot where Patrick Henry uttered his
famous words. Scenic remnants of Washing-
ton's time are followed by views of Yorktown
and its harbor, one of the finest ports along
the Atlantic. Here are built the first customs-
house in America (1715). Views of the city
today probably look much as did the early
town, for even the oldest house in the city Is
still standing, although it numbers its years
from 1699. A view of the farmhouse where
Cornwallis surrendered to Washington closes
the reel.

Athens the Glorious. (Pathe.) A collection
of splendid views showing a number of the
famous landmarks of old Athens — among them
the Acropolis rising some 228 feet above the
surrounding plain, the Temple of Nike, and
fine views of the Parthenon.

The theatre of Dionysus, dating from 120
B.C., which was given over to the presentation
of Greek tragedy, shows a number of remains
of richly sculptured figures.

From the Roman period dates the gateway
to the market place. Theseum also is finely
preserved, and the Arch of Hadrian is visible —
if not with all its ancient background, yet with
much of its ancient splendor still preserved.

From Athens it is but a step to the island
of Crete, where its ruins speak eloquently of
the glory that was once theirs. The ruins of
King Minos' palace are visible, as well as the
Roman bridge.

Modern Crete, and a glimpse of its easy-
going life of today, where travel is still by
the time-honored donkey, where shepherds
tend their flocks, and where spinning is done in
the old way, are in perfect harmony with the
spirit of the ancient relics from the glorious
past.

Acknowledgment is made to the Depart-
ment of Classical Art of the Metropolitan
Museum for assistance in titling and assem-
bling the reel, which is notable throughout for
its scholarly and dignified treatment of the
subject matter.

NATURAL SCIENCE

Br'er Rabbit and His Pals. (Pathe.) One of
the uniformly fine series of Screen Studies — this
devoted to the general subject of Rodents, the
largest order of mammals. They get their
name by virtue of their gnawing propensities,
and the skeleton of the rabbit's head is shown
in closeup to illustrate the structural adapta-
tions in the jaws and the particular develop-
ment of incisors. ,

The enemies of the rabbit are briefly shown,
and the reel passes on to illustrations of other
animals belonging to the same order — the cot-
tontail and squirrel families. Mice and rats
are the pests of the group, and one scene shows
the kangaroo mouse in unusual closeup.

The prairie dog is taken as representative
of those rodents living underground. A cross-
section drawing shows the depth to which bur-
rowing extends, and the plan of a typical sys-
tem of underground passageways.

Some rodents sleep through the winter, and
the reel ends with one of these hibernating
animals being dug out of his hole, to all in-
tents and purposes more dead than alive. But
some instinct which tells him Spring is on
the way brings him out of his hole later, as

176

The Theatrical Field

1 he Jbaucational Screen

though nothing out of the ordinary had hap-
pened.

The Fly as a Disease Carrier. (Bray.) Mod-
els of the common housefly are shown — par-
ticularly those parts of his anatomy most con-
cerned in the carrying of disease. Excellent
microscopic views of the feet show the struc-
ture especially equipped for collecting dirt
and disease germs. A fly is allowed to walk
over a gelatin plate, and somewhat later the
plate shows colonies of bacteria grown from
the dirt left on the gelatin.

Some of the favorite breeding places of the
fly are pictured. His sucking proboscis is seen
in enlarged view, and diagrammatic animation
shows the action of the liquids secreted in his
"body — these liquids making it possible for him
to dissolve substances, and expel the liquid
from his crop.

Germs collected from fly specks are incu-
bated, showing tuberculosis. A chart indicates
the relation of intestinal diseases to flies — tes-
timony borne out bj'- the fact that deaths from
typhoid are found to be immensely greater
during the fly season.

In order to carry on a campaign of exter-
mination, it is necessary to discover their breed-
ing places. The eggs, white larvae, and pupae
are splendidly shown.

A table of figures giving the rate of increase
during three months' time demonstrates the
fact that any campaign to exterminate must
get in its work before the flies are ten days old.
Various methods are suggested, and the film
closes with the slogan: "Make Your Com-
munity Flyless."

Animal Camouflage. (Pathe.) Protective col-
oration, or — perhaps more accurately — protec-
tive mimicry, causes many animals to blend so
perfectly with their surroundings as to make
detection almost impossible. Many examples
are given: of the hermit crab which crawls
into the shell of another sea animal, and other
crabs covering themselves with the refuse of
the sea floor; of worms; and, one of the most
perfect mimics of all, the walking stick — its
whole body structure imitating the form of
twigs over which it crawls, so that only by
its movement is it possible to detect which is
the walking stick and which is the twig.

The praying mantis, one of the deadliest of
insects, which feeds on animal and vegetable
life, is shown in detail, particularly as to the
structure of the neck and the sturdy forelegs

which he uses as his deadly weapons, and care-
fully cleans after a battle with his prey.

The locust resembles rock surfaces to which
it clings, and the tree toad and desert lizard
also furnish further illustrations of protective
coloration as a means of defense.

There is also a "warning coloration" which
marks such insects as the Monarch Butterfly,
which is distasteful to other animals. Other
butterflies in turn are protected by resembling
the Monarch in hue and pattern. The reel
closes with illustrations of the walking leaf of
the East Indies, which the natives declare is
really a transformed leaf.

A study of one of nature's most interesting
adaptations for protection, and a subject of
decided value for nature study classes.

Wasps. (Society for Visual Education.) Tell-
ing first the story of the changing of the grub
to the wasp, and the mature wasp moistening
the walled entrance to her cell and breaking
her way out. '

Nest building by the wasp occupies the
greater part of the reel. The mud-dauber brings
the material from a nearby puddle and is
shown in closeup as she builds. She rounds
the entrance and smooths the inside using her
jaws as a trowel. Good views show her clean-
ing the curled antennae after her strenuous
labors. When the cell is completed she provi-
sions it with spiders, on the last of which she
lays one tiny egg and closes the entrance, after
which she assumes no more responsibility but
leaves the grub to take care of itself.

Other varieties of wasps are shown, particu-
larly the Polestes which builds a one-tier, hori-
zontal comb in a protected nook. The queen
attaches eggs to the sides of the cells, and the
tiny grubs that hatch fit there snugly. When
they are full grown, they spin silken nets over
their nests and the change begins. Good views
show the mature wasp emerging, thus com-
pleting the life cycle.

Our Four-Footed Helpers. (Ruminants.)
(Pathe.) Another of the Screen Sfudics, des-
criptive of the hoofed animals which are man's
chief dependence for food, animal fibers and
leather. The cow is perhaps the most familiar
example, and the habit of cud-chewing, com-
mon to the group known as ruminants, is best
illustrated in this case. A cross-section dia-
gram with animated drawing, shows the vari-
ous sections into which the stomach is divided.
The non-digestive, or storage, stomach re-

April, 1923

School Department

177

A real Feature Film for the Non -Theatrical Field

JVST RELEASED

The Brown Mouse

{From the story by HERBERT QUICK)
{Published by Bobbs-Merrill Co.)

A CLEAN, wholesome production of small-town community life,
-^ ^ with enough comedy and heart interest of the right kind and
quantity to be thoroughly entertaining for any audience.
Do not fail to investigate this film.

For terms and details write

Homestead Films, Inc.

7512 North Ashland Avenue

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

ceives the bundles of grass when first swal-
lowed, and later after grazing is finished, the
grass is returned to the mouth and the cud
into the true stomach where digestion takes
thoroughly chewed, after which it is directed
place.

Examples of hollow-horned ruminants are
given; and to the smaller horned type belongs
the giraffe. Those without horns are the camel,
his near relative, the dromedary, as well as the
llama and alpaca of South America.

One of the most interesting members of the
solid-horned group is the white-tailed deer,
which is shown in fine closeup shedding his
antlers, an event of early spring. Reindeer of
Lapland, that most useful animal of the north,
traveling in vast herds, are filmed in some of
the most remarkable animal scenes ever photo-
graphed. The whole herd follows its leader
into the icy waters of a fjord and swims in a
broad circle to the opposite shore.

A distinct contribution to the number of
scientific reels available for general showing,
and particularly useful for a study of Zoology.

Marauders of the High Seas. (Bray.) Be-
neath the surface of the summer sea, so smooth

and calm, lie innocent enough looking, but in
reality, most ferocious, marauders. Such is the
starfish, each arm provided with suckers with
which he stealthily envelopes his victims.
Splendid views show him in action. Oysters
and clams are especially fearful of his advances,
and unusual agihty is displayed by these ordin-
arily lethargic creatures, in getting out of his
way. At unusually close range we see just how
the starfish gets his hold, and exerts a steady
pressure, then opens the shell and devours his
prey alive.

Also prowling in these placid waters is the
jelly fish, dainty, transparent, seemingly harm-
less, but really vicious — first poisoning, then
devouring his victim, a minnow.

Much attention is given that queer under-
water form called the Portuguese Man o' War
— a sort of jellyfish or — more properly speak-
ing— a whole colony of such pirates, attached
to an air sac or sail which floats on the sur-
face. This "sail" is in some cases as much as
15 inches long, and filled with gas from the
body of the fishes.

Fine diagrammatic animation — carefully done
in this, as in all Bray subjects— shows the

178

School Department

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working" of the long spiral tentacles, which drag
the sea to considerable depths. When the prey
is caught, all tentacles are drawn aside, except
the one in use. The victim fish, once caught,
comes in contact with the feelers and is liter-
ally "sucked up."

Such, says the film, are the merciless and
barbarous ways of some sea animals, yet man
is even more merciless, as demonstrated by
several fine views of a submarine going under
and the wreck of a ship it has left.

Luther Burbank. (Ford.) A view of Burbank's
Santa Rosa horne introduces the scientist who
has given the world something like 300 new
plants. Nearby are the seed and storage houses
in which soil, moisture and temperature con-
ditions are controlled, and plants from all over
the world are carefully watched.

A number of plants which Burbank has de-
veloped, are shown; among them the potato,
said to be his first study; wheat which stands
higher than a man's head and which it took
Burbank ten years of work to produce; oats
with an averag^e of 100 grains to the head, in
contrast to the old varieties numbering about
50; long-stemmed rhubarb; an improved cotton
boll; a sunflower of huge size; and the cactus

which Burbank studied and developed until the
spines disappeared and it could be used as an
ideal forage crop, and the pear on the cactus
leaf became a delicious fruit.

Much of the reel is a rather superficial cata-
logue of the results of Burbank's work, and
the scenes given are not always adequate in
carrying out the declarations of the title mate-
rial. Nothing of Burbank's method is explained,
except as it involves crossing plants, which is
illustrated in the case of the lily, where the
stamens are removed, and pollen taken from
the stamens of another plant is placed on the
pistil; the blossom is covered with a paper bag
to prevent further chance pollenation, and the
seeds of a new flower are produced. The pic-
tures of Burbank himself are delightful, reveal-
ing as they do a charming personality that can
be felt even from the screen.

INDUSTRIAL

Hagopian, the Rug Maker. (Priznia.) A pic-
ture of the life of the arid East, colorful, vividly
portraying the art of the people — an art which
has nowhere been excelled. Wool is their one
commodity, and the film shows the clipping,
washing and carding, and spinning on a primi-
tive distaff. Vegetable dyes are used to pro-
duce the colors and into the rugs are woven
the records of the history of these little-known,
nomadic peoples. The method of tying knots
is explained, and it is said that the number per
inch determines the wearing quality of the fin-
ished rug. The weavers are seen at work, and
the completed design shown.

The film ends with a scene of Hagopian and
his family again on the march, in search of
fresh pasture lands for their one source of
wealth — their flocks of sheep.

The Rice Industry. (Harcol Film Company.)
As far as the pictures in the reel are concerned,
they tell a most interesting story of the Ameri-
can rice industry, as it has been developed in
Louisiana and Texas — but the whole is rendered
far less ideal than it might be for strictly class-
room use by an extremely poor choice of title
material.

In contrast to the laborious hand methods oi
the East, rice is here planted by machine, and
when the tiny shoots are eight weeks' old, the
fields are flooded by letting water in from
nearby irrigation ditches. These views are fine,
as are also the scenes showing the mature
grain, and the harvesting by machinery after

April, 1923

School Department

179

the fields are drained. Threshing is done by-
machinery also, and the story follows the grain
until it is put through the mill, hulled, stripped
of its outer coat, bagged and shipped.

The latter part of the reel discusses the food
value of rice — the mainstay of three-fourths of
the world's people — and gives directions for
cooking so that it is most appetizing and nutri-
tious.

Wheat and Flour. (Ford.) Numbered 40 in
the Ford series, to distinguish it from an earlier
film on the same subject. This begins the story
quite appropriately with the waving field of
grain, after which the various types of wheat
are displayed. Plowing is shown, as done with
horses formerly, and with a tractor on our mod-
ern wheat farms; hand sowing of former times
is in the same way interestingly contrasted with
tractor sowing by means of the seed drill.

Spring and winter wheat areas are indicated,
and a closeup shows the Canadian thistle, one
of the prevalent wheat pests. The old cradle
reaper, in which each bundle was tied by hand
indicates the great labor-saving brought about
by the modern tractor-drawn reaper and binder.

Wheat is shocked, and when dry the bundles
are pitched onto a wagon and taken to the
thresher — going in one side as wheat bundles,
and coming out the other as grain. Close views
show bags being filled, after which trucks carry
them to the elevator, and ultimately the grain
reaches the dock and the huge grain boats
shown in interesting panorama.

Former methods of making flour by grind-
ing with hand stones was superseded by the
grist mill of pioneer days, most interestingly
shown in operation, in which the wheat was
ground between two heavy mill stones. The
modern mill uses steel rollers, and the grains
are cleaned and moistened before being put
through the rolling operations. After five
grindings, the flour runs to the machine which
fills the bags accurately by weight.

An instructive treatment of the subject, par-
ticularly for the light it throws on old and new
ways of doing things.

Fleeced for Gold (Pathe) — A subject which
contains some of the finest views imaginable of a
sheep ranch, the sheep dog rounding up the flock,
the sheep being driven to the shearers, the sorting
pens, the branding of the young lambs, the shear-
ing of the older sheep (hence the title), the pack-
ing of the fleece in long sacks for shipment to the
wool storage house, and finally the sheep being

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turned out on the range for summer grazing.
Material aplenty for a splendid reel suitable for
classroom studies in agriculture, industrial geog-
raphy or industrial history — but marred for any
serious use by the "story background" injected
into it, concerning a young girl who says the man
who wins her must do something worth while.
Opportunely, an aunt sends for him to manage a
sheep ranch, he makes good, the girl comes to
visit, and all ends happily. Even the sheep are
finally shown in the moonlight.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Price of Progress, 2 reels (Pathe) — A
curious scattering of emphasis — or lack of real
plan of presentation — prevents this from being an
exceptional industrial subject showing the lumber-
ing methods in the great forests of the North-
west, or a ringing plea for conservation, to spare
the growth of centuries which now seems doomed
to pay the "price of progress"— deforestation is, as
a title tells us, so alarmingly ahead of reforesta-
tion. Seldom have there been finer views of the
forest, the lumbermen at work, felling trees, the
dragging of logs by chains, the clearing of a right
of way to lay a new spur, a climber trimming a
"spar tree" to hold the rigging or cables, the

180

School Department

The Educational Screen

lifting of logs onto flat cars, hauling the logs by
train to the river and finally dropping them into
the Columbia.

And yet all this splendid material misses the
point amazingly. After an introductory view of
the great woods and titles fitting a reel on con-
servation, we are side-tracked upon a super-
imposed story of an ex-soldier out of work who
applies for a job of grocery clerk, is rejected and
tries for work as timekeeper in a lumber camp.
He sets out for the woods— and in following him
in his duties, we see much that is fine exposition
of science of lumbering. Finally, as we decide
that we must have been wrong about the con-
servation idea, and conclude that the purpose of
the reel must be to show how lumbering is done
in the Northwest, the scene shifts again, the forest
is forgotten, and the timekeeper and the super-
intendent discover that they were buddies in
France. Flashes of the trenches, star shells and
guns take us back to the battlefront. The new
timekeeper is straightway made head of the com-
missary— and all ends happily for him.

A splendid subject made at least 90 per cent
less effective than it could have been, because it
was thought necessary to give it "entertainment
value."

The Brown Mouse. (Homestead Films, Inc.)
Those who read and enjoyed Herbert Quick's
"The Brown Mouse," published a few years ago,
will realize its adaptability for film use. This
interesting story has been put on the screen by
Homestead Films, Inc., in a manner that brings
out all the high lights, yet retains enough indi-
vidual characterization and comedy to make it a
well balanced film.

The Brown Mouse is typified by the hero Jim
Irwin, who, after going through the inadequate
village school, realizes its limitations. So when
he is elected teacher by the school board, he pro-
ceeds to use new methods of teaching which bring
opposition from the parents but distinct approval
from the children. He establishes courses in Do-
mestic Science, Manual Training, Milk Testing,
etc., and by successful results gradually wins rec-
ognition from the community as well as from the
officials of the State University.

The character parts are all well taken and the
comedy is good. Such a film will help to pro-
mote and further community interests and show
the value of the correct instruction and prepara-
tion for the youth whose future is "down on the
farm."

This film has just been released and is available

through its producers, Homestead Films, Inc., 7510
North Ashland Ave., Chicago, 111.

Making Man-Handlers at West Point. (Sport
Pictorial.) West Point from a different angle —
this reel designed to show the physical training
which makes every candidate for the army fitter
for service. All sorts of sports are shown —
boxing, fencing (especially to develop poise and
balance), wrestling, swimming, and "mess," an
indoor sport in which they need no coach nor
training.

Not all the physical training by any means is
indoor gym work. Cavalry cadets are put
through their exercises in hurdling on the drill
field (here slow motion shows very well the
technique involved).

Huge army trucks take athletes, in uniform
for various sports, from the gym to the athletic
field, where football scrimmage, polo games
and other sports are in progress. (Some ultra-
fast views here should be cut.)

The reel ends with cadets at inspection, and
lined up for the full dress parade.

Bird Dogs Afield. (Prizma.) Of particular
interest to the sportsman is this reel about
dogs, their fine points and their training. The
qualities of pointer and setter are indicated, and
the method of judging explained.

Some views of dogs on the hunt are given in
connection with the subject of training. Lovers
of fine dogs will appreciate the remarkable
"pointing" done by some of the animal subjects
— every muscle in the body tense, and held so
apparently without fatigue.

Athletic Movements Analyzed. (Pathe.) 3
reels. As its title suggests, a number of athletic
exercises are filmed, first at normal speed, then
six times slower. Beginning with walking, the
film goes on to analyze the movements involved
in running, which is discovered to be a series
of short jumps. The 100 yard dash is analyzed,
and the position of the runner's body observed
at start and finish; in distance running the plax
of muscles is clearly shown; in various jump>.
points of technique and form are indicated —
notably in the running broad jump, in whicli
an extra step at the end is seen to preserve the
balance.

Form and skill are demonstrated in the case
of wrestling, where various holds are analyzed.
Handball technique finishes the first reel.

Reel II demonstrates some of the familiar
and popular sports, and uses as demonstrators
some of the champions and ex-champions whose ^
names are familiar to the followers of sports.

4pril, 1923

School Department

181

A particularly instructive subject for physical
training classes, where it might profitably be
used as an opportunity for the study of mus-
cular action and control.

A printed syllabus accompanying the film is
the work of the Physical Training Staff of the
Board of Education, New York City.

COMEDIES

Occasionally it is possible to recommend sub-
jects which are worthy of a place on an enter-
tainment program where a little fun is in de-
mand. Good reels in the lighter vein are few
and far between, as anyone who has suffered
through most so-called "comedies" can testify.
Among the more acceptable of the comic sub-
jects are some which combine straight pho-
tography with animated drawings. The first
mentioned is of that class — from the series
called Out of the Inkwell.

Invisible Ink. (Federated.) A clown is the
animated figure, and his antics with objects
drawn in ink which fades at his touch, make
up the substance of the reel. Finally the clown,
to spite the artist who fools him in this fash-
ion, himself turns cartoonist, draws innumer-
able figures like himself, and says to the artist,
"Find me if you can." In the end he dives
into the bottle of invisible ink, his black figure
becomes lighter, and finally disappears entirely.

A harmless, clever, and entertaining subject.

Saturday Morning. (Pathe.) 2 reels. One of
the uniformly clever Our Gang Comedies. The
principal actors in all the films of the series
are children; in this case they are seen as they
meet the situations which go to make up a
child's Saturday morning. The little rich boy
is confronted by two maids, a riding master
and a dancing instructor; the little freckled-
faced urchin, whose mother forces him to prac-
tice on the 'cello, devises a scheme to make
his dog work for him while he catches some
extra Saturday morning winks; two little col-
ored youngsters have some laundry to deliver,
and another little fellow is just playing.

But in the natural course of events they all
meet and decide to be pirates. They sail the
boundless main, on a little stream, until some-
thing goes wrong with the raft, when they turn
their attention to big game hunting. All goes
well until a black bear, escaped from a circus
car, breaks up the hunt — and in the end, each
child is restored to his respective parent. There
are more than the usual number of funny sit-
uations, and all of them legitimate comedy.

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182

The Educational Screen

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

With this issue are combined, under the above title, the former departments called
"From Hollywood" and "Theatrical Film Critique." This brings all matters theatrical
into one department and into the hands of a department editor who is particularly quali-
fied to handle this important field.

Correspondence with Miss Orndorff on any question pertaining to this subject is
Invited. — The Editor.

What's the Matter Now?

MOVIE history is like any other variety:
it repeats itself. Ever since the smash
that followed the first golden boom ip
the movies, producers, stars, cameramen, extras,
have wailed in lamentable tones over the dear,
lost, "old days," just as dolefully as old-timers
in any other way of life. But the movies are
h*ke the fellows in the song, "When you're up,
3'ou're up, when you're down, you're down,"
and at the present time they appear to be
decidedly up. If we pause just here to con-
sider their history of the past year or so, we
may even catch them in the act of— as indicated
— repeating.

A little over a year and a half ago, when I
was newly arrived in Hollywood, a terrible
slump had just struck the motion picture busi-
ness. The public heard from day to day of big
companies that were "curtailing production,"
or in vulgar English, shutting down. They
learned of actors and actresses who were "be-
tween pictures," who were "resting," or who
were off on personal appearance tours of the
country. When I visited one of the big Holly-
wood plants one day during this period, a con-
fidential publicity man informed me that I was
in luck that afternoon, for there were four
companies at work! Trying on a later day to
communicate with the publicity director of an-
other big company, I learned that there was.
for the time being at least, no publicity de-
partment at all!

Altogether things were exceedingly quiet.
Salaries tumbled; a number of prominent peo-
ple quit the movies entirely— some to the
accompaniment of definite statements of rea-
sons in the papers (usually to the effect that
they were several pictures ahead of their sched-
uled releases) and some so quietly that no one
knew they had gone till their pictures began
to be missed in the theaters. Rumors began

to be heard that it was practically all up with
the movies. Theaters failed; small producers
dropped from sight; wise ones prophesied that
never again would the movies see the golden
days just past.

Then, most mysteriously, after a very few
months of this uncanny depression, things be-
gan to pick up again. This studio and that
started production cautiously with one unit, or
even two; company heads held long consul-
tations, and announced conservative policies
regarding future production; the general slo-
gan was, "Fewer pictures and better," — which
was safe if not startling. The machine creaked
a little, but it gradually got under way.

That was the start, and now, a year later,
note the difference. That same studio where I
was lucky to find as many as four companies
working, now carries eight or ten simuhaneous
productions. The same company that sus-
pended operations entirely for a period of
months now maintains four or five producing
units, and is busily signing contracts with one
expensive star after another, in pursuance of
a new policy of expansion. Other companies
that suffered almost to the point of total anni-
hilation, are announcing the acquisition of fea-
tured players, stars, directors, technical ex-
perts; reorganizing their groups of stock play-
ers and adding new ones. With production at
its height, salaries apparently as top-lofty as
ever, and expenditures on a grander scale, if
possible, than before, motion pictures seem
to be balancing precariously on the edge of
another drop.

The recent rush among stars who were em-
ployed by large corporations, to break away
and become independent producers, has un-
doubtedly had much to do with the present
expansion. The established companies, in order
to cover the loss of famous names, and hold on

April, 1923

The Theatrical Field

183

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THE LIFE AND WORKS

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to their prestige, filled up the ranks of their
stars and continued with their scheduled out-
put. The offerings of the newly fledged inde-
pendents constituted an extra source of supply
that had not been counted on. But enthusiasm
has got the better of discretion, and the movies
are suffering from overproduction, a malady
which points to another period of inactivity and
depression.

Not that this state of affairs is wholly bad.
The pubHc, on the whole, has had much the
best of it, for the majority of the really fine
pictures of the year have been independent
productions. But as a result of the oversupply
the movie-going public has developed a pick-
and-choose attitude that is going to make it
hard for the purveyor of poor pictures to make
any great profit. And even the very casual
observer will be safe in predicting that the
slump when it does come is going to benefit
pictures enormously in the long run. It will be
the mediocre stars and directors and writers
who will be quietly dropped, and those who
are doing worth while work will not suffer to
any appreciable extent.

A news article from Los Angeles comments
on the situation as follows:

"Carl Laemmle, president of Universal,
arrived this week from the east, and immedi-
ately disconcerted the thirty thousand odd film
workers here by asserting that the salaries are
too high. Pay checks must be cut, Mr.
Laemmle said, and in addition, exhibitors and
theater owners must cut their prices in half
because the pubhc is in a 'bargain-hunting
mood,' where amusements are concerned. No
word was said about the possibility or neces-
sity of having producers reduce the prices
which they charge for rental of their films,
however, and the actors are insistent that if
any cutting is to be done, the process shall
not begin on their incomes.

Mr. Laemmle's warning, however, may serve
to halt the present feverish activity of the big
producers and the independents of signing old
and new stars at steadily rising prices. Within
the last two months actors' salaries have
jumped about twenty per cent, and the scram-
ble of producers for actors has brought to
Hollywood an era of work and prosperity
unequaled since the prosperous days just be-
fore the smash in 1920.

Meanwhile the independents continue to ex-
pand production plans and to draw stars and

184

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

directors from the big companies producing
program pictures. 'Freedom for art's sake,'
is the slogan of the independents. Fairbanks
denounces the 'machine-made pictures';
Charles Ray vouches for the gratifying success
of his plan for independent production of only
two features a year, instead of grinding out
nine plays in twelve months — his record in his
last year under the Famous Players' banner.
Fred Niblo is with the independents, and
George Fitzmaurice will leave after making one
more film. Others of almost equal eminence

are leaving the big lots. 'This will mean,' the
big producers say, 'another period of overpro-
duction, and the filling of the vaults with un-
marketable features. "

What the next year brings forth will be well
worth watching, and in the mean time it is
interesting to speculate on whether the movie
industry will eventually discover some less
wasteful method of equalizing the output of its
various members, or whether we shall continue
indefinitely to have lean years and fat years.
Perhaps Mr. Hays can solve the problem.

Film Reviews

THE STRANGERS' BANQUET (Goldwyn)

Marshall Neilan at his directorial best is an
intellectual and optical treat; at his worst he
is never to be ignored. "The Strangers' Ban-
quet," from Donn Byrne's novel, lies some-
where between the two extremes. The story
is intricate, there are too many characters to
be kept in mind (fortunately some of them die
off or matters would be worse), and unity and
emphasis are sacrificed to completeness of
detail.

The story centers around the son and daugh-
ter of Shane Keogh, a ship builder, who leaves
to them a great fortune and a great industry,
which he has spent his whole life to attain—
the banquet, spread for those he loves. After
his death, strangers prepare to share in the
banquet. Labor agitators led by one Trevelyan,
an enemy of the Keoghs, attempt to break
down the organization and divide the spoils.
Management of the shipyard falls on the daugh-
ter, Derith, for John, her brother, lacks the con-
structive force of his father. Angus Campbell,
an adopted son of Keogh, as manager of the
yards, tries to keep down unrest among the
workers, but can do nothing against the lead-
ers' unreasonable demands and Derith's con-
ciliatory policy. At the last moment Trevelyan,
shot by one of his own associates, experiences a
change of heart, and persuades the workers to
return to the yards.

Neilan is as keen as ever at character por-
trayal, and whatever the effect of the picture as
a whole, there is nothing sketchy about the
individual parts. Each one is finished. The
fastidious little bomb-maker, eternally filing his
nails, and the pugnacious Angus, with his
habit of snatching off his spectacles and pocket-

ing them before he wades in with his fists, are
two of them.

The cast is an unusual collection of excel-
lent players, including Hobart Bosworth as
Shane Keogh, Claire Windsor and Nigel Bar-
rie as Derith and John Keogh, Rockcliffe Fel-
lowes as Angus, Thomas Holding as Trevelyan,
and a host of others — minor parts in the hands
of such people as Claude Gillingw^ater, Eu-
genie Besserer, Dagmar Godowsky, Stuart
Holmes, Ford Sterling, in rather overwhelming
procession.

Although, as has been said, this is hardly
Marshall Neilan at his brilliant best, certainly
it maintains his reputation for thoughtful work.
(Community use, possibly.) (Adult.)

THE PILGRIM (First National)

I strangle for the time being the temptation
to measure Chaplin's newest picture against
the silver yardstick of his "Shoulder Arms"
and "The Kid," and having done so, I assert
that it is good. It will make you laugh; ergo,
it is worth your time and the trouble you will
have in getting into any theater where it is
showing. But it will do more than make you
laugh— it will come close to giving you a lump
m the throat. You may be ashamed, but you
won't be able to help it. That's Chaplin. He
understands as no one else does, the psychol-
ogy of the comic, and he knows, too, how very
slender is the line that divides the ridiculous
from the tragic.

Forever misunderstood, but philosophical, he
starts out this time by escaping from prison.
You feel sure that he was jailed by mistake
in the first place. Borrowing in haste the clothes
of a minister who chances to be in swimming
in his vicinity, he dashes into a railway station,
purchases a yard or so of ticket, and boards a

April, 1923

The Theatrical Field

I'SS

Mr. Leonard Power,
president of the Na-
tional Association of
Elementary School
Principals, vnrites:

I must mention
what wonderful re-
sults we are getting-
with the new Trans-
Lux Daylight Screen.
. . . From now on
we shall go right on
with our pictures
with better visualiza-
tion than ever be-
fore, with all the
curtains up and win-
dows open. I regard
the invention of this
screen as one of the
big steps forward in
visual education.

Darkened Classrooms Abolished!

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.

■^31 And What Do Its Users Think? m'

For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

Trans-Lux Daylight Picture Screen

INCORPORATED
36 West 44th St. New York City

And Rev. N e vr e 1 1
Dwisht Hillis, na-
tionally known am
the pastor of Plym-
outh Church, Brook-
lyn, comments t

At the beginning
we were somewhat
skeptical as to the
results. ... I am
writing not only to
express my gratitude
to you, but to say
that without a single
exception the lec-
turers and ministers
who have used the
screen, both at every
hour during the day
and again at night,
pronounce it the best
screen that they have
ever used. It is quite
beyond any words of
praise.

train. Devil's Gulch is his destination, selected
by the simple method of shutting the eyes and
sticking a pin at random into the train bulletin
board.

Devil's Gulch is expecting its new minister,
and the unsuspecting Chaplin hops from the
train into the arms of a welcoming delegation.
Not understanding, but accepting the situation,
he shakes hands with his new-found flock with
anxious cordiality, and with a puzzled question
in his big eyes.

His extempore sermon — subject, "David and
Goliath" — is a gem of pantomime. He acts the
story out before the round eyes of his congre-
gation, and when he is furiously applauded by
one small chap, takes his encores with all the
aplomb of a veteran. All too soon he is found
out. The sheriff escorts him to the Mexican
border by way of a polite hint, and the picture
fades out on the little black-coated figure tear-
ing up the road in the distance, misunderstood
and misunderstanding to the last.

There are some hilariously funny episodes,
including one about a derby hat, whose solemn
owner, played by Syd Chaplin, is one of the
best performances of the month. (Community
use) (Family)

TOLL OF THE SEA (Technicolor Motion
Picture Corporation, Metro release)

There are several reasons why* this is a
good picture. To begin with, it is a rather
successful experiment with the new process
of color photography. Then, it has a simple
story by Frances Marion, well cast and excel-
lently directed by Chester Franklin. It is a

slight variation of the Butterfly theme, telling
of a Chinese legend of the sea, which gives
bountiful gifts of love and happiness, but
exacts its payment in loneliness and sorrow.
Lotus Fiower, a Chinese girl, living in a garden
by the sea, one day finds among the rocks, the
body of a young man, washed ashore uncon-
scious. She accepts him as the gift of the
ocean, and he, charmed by her beauty, stays,
and eventually marries her.

The inevitable message calls him home, he
leaves her, forgets her, and marries his child-
hood sweetheart. After a while the American
wife, learning of the little Chinese wife who is
waiting, sends the man back to her to tell her
why he can never return to her, and to ask
her forgiveness.

"There is nothing to forgive," says Lotus
Flower. Then, after seeing her little son safe
in the American wife's arms, she goes down
to the rocks at the foot of the garden and casts
herself into the waiting ocean, in payment for
its gifts.

The delicacy of the story and color effects
is preserved in the acting of Anna May Wong,
a dainty Chinese girl who plays Lotus Flower
exquisitely. (Community use, possibly some
church use) (Adult)

A BLIND BARGAIN (Goldwyn)

Lon Chaney is unquestionably a fine charac-
ter actor, and an artist at make-up. But why
we have to watch him in such grotesque mum-
mery is one of the great movie mysteries.
Granted that his picture of the ape-man is
convincing and pathetic, evidently the result

186

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

of faithful study. But after all, we go to the
movies for entertainment. To be entertained,
we must in some measure be pleased — and there
is not one pleasant thing about this picture.

A famous surgeon with a mania for surgicai
experience that will prolong human lie, takes
every opportunity to perform gruesome opera-
tions on apes and such humans as he can per-
suade to his purpose. Not having been able,
naturally, to obtain any but inferior subjects,
he has been unsuccessful in his results, and his
house is filled with pitiful creatures, victims
of his mad scientific gropings.

The blind bargain is sealed when the doctor
chances upon a boy whose mother is ill and in
desperate need of help. In return for the doc-
tor's services, he agrees to become the sub-
ject of an experimental operation "in the inter-
ests of science." Of course the thing doesn't
go through, for at the last possible moment,
the doctor is killed by one of his former vic-
tims, but we are spared no detail and no item
of suspense.

Mr. Chaney plays both the surgeon and the
ape-man, and if there is any choice at all
between the two, we choose the ape. Ray-
mond McKee is the near sacrifice to science.
Fontaine LaRue plays the doctor's wife, and
Jacqueline Logan the girl in the case. If you
must see this yourself, don't take the children.
(No use)

MAD LOVE (Goldwyn)

One of Pola Negri's German pictures has
pursued her to this country, and been released
ahead of her first American-made film, for
which we have all been waiting. Certainly
it adds little' to her fame as an emotional act-
ress. It is a somber thing, and runs true to
German type with a tragedy-soaked ending.

The story concerns Andre Lavalle, an archi-
tect, who has fallen in love with a notorious
Parisienne, Liane de Surville. While she pre-
tends great love for him. she carries on an
affair with Bertaut, his employer. Andre finds
them in each other's arms, and the shock drives
him insane. Then from the provinces comes
Pierre Chabot, to look after his unfortunate
cousin, Andre. On his first night in Paris, a
friend carries him off to the Odeon, to meet
the reigning beauties, Fifi, and Liane. He
meets Fifi first, mistakes her for Liane, and
publicly denounces her, while the real Liane
listens, enjoys the scene, and marks the inno-
cent Pierre for a new conquest. He succumbs

to her charms at once (less than two minutes
by the clock), and Bertaut now takes his turn
at being deceived. Pierre, after some mental
struggling over the fact that he is really en-
gaged to Andre's sister, marries Liane, and
takes her on a honeymoon, whither the furi-
ous Bertaut follows. He explains to Pierre
who Liane is, and her responsibility for An-
dre's condition, whereupon the horrified bride-
groom leaves her and rushes gloomily ofif to
the country. Almost immediately he rushes
back again. A great fete is being given, and
as he searches through the crowds for Liane,
the insane lover appears. Into an emotional
reconcilation scene, the madman stalks, and
with a good deal of grinning and eye-rolling,
strangles the faithless Liane.

This is not a notable picture, not even an
interesting picture. It is frequently over acted
and the unrelieved tragedy will hardly appeal
to the general American public. 'Trifling
Women" was a much more effective presen-
tation of the same type of story. (Theatrical
only) (Adult)

THE WHITE FLOWER (Paramount)

Outside of the fact that this picture has real
Hawaiian settings, it has little to recommend it,
and we honestly doubt whether even this is
much of a recommendation. It is possible to
get such excellent Hawaiian backgrounds in
California. It is the usual story — an Amer-
ican falling in love under the spell of the trop-
ics, with a dark gentleman hovering jealously
near. Betty Compson is starred. (Theatrical
only) (Adult)

THE SECRETS OF PARIS (Whitman Bennett
Production)

Not really as hectic as the title would indi-
cate. Only mildly interesting light opera ma-
terial, having to do with the search of a king
for his lost sweetheart, and a mother for her son,
— Paris being the logical place to look for miss-
ing persons. The search ends in a thieves' den.
The mother finds her son dying from a knife
wound, and the king, after some lively fight-
ing and a narrow escape from drowning, finds
the daughter of his long dead sweetheart. After
which the story winds up in an orgy of crowns
and ermine. The story makes no strenuous
demands on any of the players. In the cast are
two old stage favorites — Effie Shannon and
Rose Coghlan, as well as Lew Cody, who
plays the king very casually, Gladys Hulette,

April, 1923

The Theatrical Field

187

William Collier, Jr., and J. Barney Sherry.
(Theatrical only) (Adult.)

THORNS AND ORANGE BLOSSOMS

(Preferred Pictures)

A Bertha M. Clay opus that comes to the
screen with the title intact at least. A Span-
ish singer, an American, one kiss — Americans
abroad are always so simple-minded; and his
friend warned him, too! Rosita refuses to be
a cast off, follows our hero home, and makes
a scene. In her excitable Latin way she pro-
duces a revolver, and in the scuffle ensuing,
she gets shot, and he gets five years in prison.
Learning that he has a wife and child, she re-
tracts the false statements she made at the
trial. He is pardoned, and Rosita goes back to
her singing "with a smile on her lips and a
tear at her heart." This part is very sad.

Aside from its utter commonplaceness, and
the futility of the story, there is nothing the
matter with this picture. Kenneth Harlan
plays the young man with the low intelligence
quotient. Estelle Taylor is the fiery senorita,
and Edith Roberts plays the wife in a blonde

wig by way of contrast. (Theatrical only)
(Adult)

ADAM AND £ FA (Paramount)

On the stage this was a sprightly comedy
about a young fellow who stepped into the
idle, discontented household of a millionaire,
and "business-managed" it on to a practical
working basis. On the screen it becomes just
another picture. Marion Davies, whose dra-
matic ability has suffered a relapse since "When
Knighthood Was in Flower," is surrounded by
an adequate cast and Urban settings, but nei-
ther of them puts the picture across.

As so often hanpens in film translations, the
emphasis is misplaced. In the stage comedy,
it fell on young Adam Smith and his demon-
stration of G. K. Chesterton's hypothesis that
a man can go "down the chimney of any house
at random, and get on as well as possible with
the people inside." In the picture Adam is
merely a necessary evil, and Eva and her
spending ability are played up heavily. As is
usual with this star, there is a dazzling accom-
paniment of gowns, jewels, and scenery. (The-
atrical only) (Adult)

Reviewed Previously

DECEMBER

One Exciting Night (D. W. Griffith)— The
mystery story de luxe! (Theatrical, some com-
munity use.) (Adult.)

Oliver Twist (First National) — A splendid
combination of Dickens and Jackie (Toogan.
(Church, school, community use.) (High School.)

The Old Homestead (Paramount) — Top-
notch melodrama. (Church, school, community
use.) (Family.)

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (Paramount)
— Bad psychology, but good acting. Thomas
Meighan. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Man Who Played Grod (Distinctive Pic-
tures)— The admirable George Arliss indiffer-
ently directed. (Some church and community
use.) (Family.)

The Headless Horseman (Hodkinson) — Will
Rogers usually insures a picture. (Church,
school, community use.) (Family.)

The County Fair (Maurice Tourneur Pro-
duction) — Simple and charming. (Church,
school, community use.) (Family.)

Romance and Arabella (Selznick) — Constance
Talmadge in clever comedy. (Church, commu-
nity use.) (Family.)

The Kentucky Derby (Universal) — Hack-
neyed but enjoyable. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

East Is West (First National)— Constance
Talmadge plays a Chinese girl. (Theatrical
only.) (Adult.)

One Wonderful Night (Universal)— Fairly
good melodrama. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Woman Who Fooled Herself (Asso-
ciated Exhibitors) — An exotic narrative, well
cast and convincing. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Hands of Nara (Metro) — Little worthy
of comment. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Skin Deep (First National) — Milton Sills and
Florence Vidor in an interesting crook story.
(Theatrical only.) (High School.)

JANUARY

Broken Chains ( Gold wyn)— This story won
the Chicago Daily News ten thousand dollar
prize. The others must have been terrible!
(Some community use.) (Adult.)

The Flirt (Universal-Jewel)— A thoroughly
splendid adaptation of Tarkington's story.
(Church, community, school use.) (High School.)

Back Home and Broke (Paramount)— An ex-
cellent team — George Ade and Thomas
Meighan. (Church, community, school use.)
(Family.)

Trifling Women (Metro) — Ingram's excellent
direction makes this a good picture. (Theatrical,
only.) (Adult.)

.Loma Doone (Maurice Tourneur Produc-
tion)—Excellent. (Church, community, school
use.) (High School.) . . . x

Tess of the Storm Country (United Artists)
—Mary Pickford marks time. (Theatrical only.)
(High School.)

188

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

Clarence (Paramount) — Tarkington, again
delightfully pictured. (Community use.) (High
School.)

The Impossible Mrs. Bellew (Paramount)—
Luxury; beautiful- clothes; Gloria Swanson.
(Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Making a Man (Paramount)— A westerner
reforms in the east! Peter B. Kyne story.
(Some community use.) (Family.)

Shadows (Preferred Pictures)— The finest
thing Lou Chaney has done. (Some community
use.) (Adult.)

Enter Madame (Metro)— Rather a dull copy
of a brilliant original. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Rich Men's Wives (Gasnier Production)—
Poor. (No use.)

Kick In (Paramount)— Good crook melo-
drama. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Streets of New York (Arrow)— Not
good, but not dreadful, as pictures go. (Theat-
rical onlv.) (Adult.)

All Night (Paramount)— Entertaining. (The-
atrical only.) (Adult.)

A Tailor Made Man (United Artists)— Not
the old Charles Ray. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

If I Were Queen (Robertson-Cole)— Ethel
Clayton convinces in an unconvincing story.
(Theatrical only.) (Adults.)

Sherlock Holmes (Goldwyn) — One of the
year's best. (Community use.) (Family.)

West of Chicago (Fox) — Pretty far west.
(Theatrical only.) (Family.)

The Masquerader (First National) — Slow,
but interesting. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Haunted House and The Electric House
(Keaton, First National) — Good fun. (Any
use.)

Moonshine Valley (Fox) — William Farnum
"flops." (No use.)

Do and Dare (Fox) — Typical Tom Mix pic-
ture. (Community use.) (Family.)

Brothers Under the Skin (Goldwyn) — Hu-
man— therefore enjoyable. (Community use.)
(Family.)

The One Man Trail (Fox) — Charles Jones
stars. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

FEBRUARY

Fury (First National) — Richard Barthelmess
holds his own. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Peg o' My Heart (Paramount) — Cinderella,
mighty attractive in modern dress. (Community
use.) (Family.)

Java Head (Paramount) — A fairly good
screening of a Hergesheimer novel. (Theatrical
only.) (Adult.)

The Voice from the Minaret (First National)
— Very poky. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Counter Jumpers (Vitagraph) — Larry
Semon remains cheerful under trying circum-
stances. (Community use.) (Family.)

Captain Fly-by-Night (Film Booking Offices)
—Mildly interesting Spanish drama with a his-
torical flavor. (Community, school use.) (Fam-
ily^

The Flaming Hour (Universal) — Mediocre
entertainment. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Young Rajah (Paramount) — Tiresome
and improbable. (Theatrical only.) (Family.)

The Pride of Palomar (Paramount) — Care-
fully done but not impressive. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

Bulldog Drummond (Hodkinson) — Highly
entertaining mystery. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

What's Wrong with the Women? (Equity) —
Effective domestic drama. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

The Count of Monte Cristo (Fox) — Above
the average. (Community use.) (Family.)

The Romance of the Dells (Scenic Romances,
Inc.) — New and delightful scenic pictures.
(Church, comnmnity, school use.) (Family.)

MARCH

Robin Hood (United Artists) — Fine in every
sense of the word. (Any use.)

The Hottentot (First National) — Good farce.
(Community use.) (Family.)

Doctor Jack (Pathe) — Harold Lloyd joins
the medical profession with great success.
(Community, church, possibly some school use.)
(Family.)

My American Wife (Paramount) — Enter-
taining. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Dangerous Age (First National) — Very
good domestic drama. (Community use.) (Adult.)

Ebb Tide (Paramount) — Fair entertainment.
(Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Mighty Lak a Rose (First National)— Very
fair melodrama. (Community, some church use.)
(Family.)

Racing Hearts (Paramount) — Light and en-
tertaining. (Church, community use.) (Family.)

Under Two Flags (Universal) — Interesting
and colorful. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Dark Secrets (Paramount) — Inane. (No use.)

The Frozen North and The Balloonatic
(Keaton, First National) — Good fun, as usual.
(Community use.) (Family.)

Rob-Em-Good (Hunt Stromberg Produc-
tion)— Inane parody of "Robin Hood." (Com-
munity use possibly.) (Adult.)

Production Notes

George Arliss is to screen his famous charac-
ter the Rajah of Ruhk, in a film version of
William Archer's famous play, "The Green
Goddess," for Distinctive Pictures.

There is a dismal rumor to the effect that
Charlie Chaplin will not be seen again on the
screen, at least for a long time, as he inclines
to the directorial end of picture-making. His
first attempt at serious directing is "Public
Opinion," in which Edna Purviance is starred.

Anita Stewart will make four pictures for
Cosmopolitan in the next year, the first of
which win be "The Love Piker."

Preferred Pictures is forming a permanent

April, 1923

The Theatrical Field

189

stock company, which at present includes Ken-
neth Harlan and Gaston Glass, and directors
Gasnier, Schertzinger, and Forman.

First National announcements include Rich-
ard Barthelmess' next picture, "The Fighting
Blade" by Beulah Marie Dix, "TerwilHger,"
directed by Frank Borzage, to be released as
"Sands of Time," Norma Talmadge's next pic-
ture, "Ashes of Vengeance," by H. B. Somer-
ville, Constance Talmadge's new picture, a
story of France in the Napoleonic period, and
Edwin Carewe's production of "The Girl of the
Golden West," now being filmed.

New Paramount productions include a
George Melford picture, "You Can't Fool Your
Wife," Dorothy Dalton in a story by Conrad
Bercovici, "The Law of the Lawless," "The
Rustle of Silk," a George Fitzmaurice produc-
tion, Agnes Ayres in "Contraband," by Clar-
ence Buddington Kelland, Gloria Swanson in
"Bluebeard's Eighth Wife," a William DeMille
production, "Only Thirty-eight," by A. E.
Thomas, and Jack Holt in "The Tiger's Claw"
by Jack Cunningham.

Goldwyn annoimces that Tod Browning and
Emmett J. Flynn have resigned contracts as
directors. Another item of interest is that
Cosmopolitan Productions will release its pic-
tures through the Goldwyn distributing organ-
ization, Goldwyn productions which are
planned or in production, include Hall Caine's
"The Master of Man," Balzac's "The Magic
Skin," Kapek's "R. U. R.," "What Shall It
Profit," by George D. Baker, and "Red Lights,"
an adaptation of a stage play.

Mary Pickford, according to the latest news,
has definitely abandoned the idea of producing
"Faust." Instead, she will begin work at once
on a story of old Spain, to be prepared for the
screen by Edward Knobloch, and directed by
Ernest Lubitsch.

Metro will film "The Shooting of Dan Me-
grew."

Universal releases up to September include
stories by such authors as Owen Wister, James
Oliver Curwood, Gelett Burgess, Courtney
Ryley Cooper, and Gerald Beaumont.

Preferred Pictures is to produce all of Har-
old Bell Wright's work.

"The Man Next Door," by Emerson Hougn,
will be produced by Vitagraph, with Alice Cal-
houn and James Morrison.

U, C. SERVICE

Good Films and Projectors

STANDARD MOTION PICTURES

For Churches, Schools and All Non-Theatrical

Institutions

Wells & Douglass

1108 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.
Graphoscope Service Company

130 West 46th Street, New York, N Y
Motion Picture Exhibition Company

Proctor Theatre Building. Newark, N. J.
Scientific & Cinema Supply Company

1004 EVe Street. N. W., Washington. D. C.
Edwin J. Wyatt

618 St. Paul Street, Baltimore. Md.
Graphoscope Service Company

933 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh. Pa.
William F. Kelley Company

1818 Euclid Avenue, CQeveland, Ohio
Non -Theatrical Motion Picture Service

201 Joseph Mack Building. Itetroit, Mich
International Church Film Company

861 Reibold Building. Dayton. Ohio
Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange

736 South Wabash Avenue. Chicago, 111
James A. Keeny

431 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111
Francis D. White

306 Film Exchange Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn.
Graphoscope Service Company

314 South 13th Street, Omaha, Neb.
Church Film Service

1822 Wyandotte Street. Kansas City. Mo.
David F. Parker

1913 Commerce Street, Dallas. Texas
Graphoscope Service Company

1924 Third Avenue, Seattle. Washington
Independent Film Exchange

177 Golden Gate Avenue, San Fi-ancisco. Cal.
Standard Motion Picture Service

917 South Olive Street, Los Angeles. Cal.
Educational Project-0 Film Company

218 American Bank Building, Los Angeles Cal.

UNITED CINEMA COMPANY, INC.

130 West 46th Street New York, N. Y.

Attention FREE Attention

Are you interested in securing a
motion picture projector for your use
in your School, Church, Y. M. C. A.
Rooms, Homes, Community Center,
and elsewhere, absolutely free of
charge, so that you may have the bene-
fit of motion pictures?

I will install a well known projector
and keep same in good condition abso-
lutely free of charge to you, and can
furnish you with the best and latest
films as often as you desire.

For further information
write or call in person.

M. FELDSTEIN

804 So. Wabash Avenue
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

190

The Educational Screen

Among the Producers

(This department belongs to the commercial companies whose activi-
ties have a real and important hearing on progress in the visual field.

Within our space limitations we shall reprint each month, from data
supplied by these companies, such material as seems to offer most infor-
mational and news value to our readers.

We invite all serious producers in this field to send us their literature
regularly. — Editor.)

Charles Ray in "The Courtship of
Miles Standish"

In the production of "The Courtship of Miles
Standish," work on which is now under way,
Charles Ray has undertaken the most ambitious
picturization ever attempted of an American his-
torical subject. This is the third poem which Mr.
Ray has adapted for screen use, Riley's "The Old
Swimmin'-Hole" having enjoyed a great popular
success and his "The Girl I Loved," being one
of the outstanding attractions of the present sea-
son.

For many months the research department of
Mr. Ray's organization, reinforced by a number
of special experts, devoted the entire time to a
painstaking study of the history and traditions of
the Mayflower adventure. An exact replica of
the craft which brought the Pilgrim Fathers to
American shores — except that the representation
is of steel construction, has been erected in the
Ray studios.

In existence at this time are only four accepted
designs of the original Mayflower. One, made
by Admiral Paris and Captain Collins from the
meager information which they were able to as-
semble, is in the National Museum in Washington,
another in the Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
and a third in the possession of the Plymouth
Society of Boston. The fourth, a representation
in silver, is owned by the heirs of Walter Hines
Page, late Ambassador to the Court of St. James,
having been presented to him with the freedom
of the city of Plymouth, England, a few years ago.

Fortunately, these few designs agree even to
the less important details of construction, so that
the Mayflower to be shown in the picture may be
accepted as absolutely faithful to the original.
This replica was formally christened by Priscilla
Alden Evans, a descendant of John and Priscilla
Mullens Alden, on Forefathers Day, in December
hst, when the California Chapter of Mayflower
Descendants held its annual convention on the
deck of the vessel.

The committee of teachers of the Los Angeles
High School recently requested and received an
opportunity to inspect the studio vessel. In the
course of their visit the teachers learned of the
discovery by the Ray research staff of certain
facts which were not generally recorded in the
textbooks, but which are of deep historical in-
terest. In London archives it was found that in
addition to the passengers on the original May-
flower the crew of twenty-five that manned the
vessel was composed largely of buccaneers and
private adventurers. Most of them and many of
the "extra" passengers were actually criminals
recruited from English prisons, where many a
merchant ship of the time was wont to gather up
her men.

Recognizing the educational value which the
completed picture is destined to have, the Los
Angeles teachers warmly congratulated Mr. Ray
and his associates and expressed impatience for
"The Courtship's" release for use in the schools.
Similar expressions have been received from edu-
cators in other parts of the country, the Los
Angeles Congregational Ministers Union has
voted resolutions of endorsement, and such or-
ganizations as the Alden Kindred, the Mayflower
Descendants, and the Sons and Daughters of the
American Revolution are manifesting deep interest
in the project.

Of his purpose in filming "The Courtship of
Miles Standish," Charles Ray says : "I first began
to give serious thought to something like this
when the big foreign pictures, based upon Euro-
pean history, began to come to this country. The
spirit shown was alien to American lines of
thought, and technically the pictures were inferior
to American standards. Yet they caught the
imagination of Americans and drew a large pat-
ronage.

"After much thought I concluded that this was
because they represented something more than
mere entertainment. They had in each case a
great underlying idea that might be summed up

I

April, 1923

Among the Producers

191

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in the word, 'tradition.' This gives them a reality
that realism so often tries vainly to copy.

"It was while the matter was turning over in
my mind that my sister suggested 'The Courtship
of Miles Standish' as a theme for me. That sub-
ject led me straight into an American tradition of
the finest sort, for the recital of the first American
love story could not be made on the screen with-
out a much larger background, the great ad-
venture of the Pilgrim Fathers and all that it
signified.

"There will be an immense satisfaction to me
in playing a real character, not the puppet 01
some author's invention. In one case an actor
does an impersonation merely; in the other, if he
steeps himself in the subject, he may live in his
imagination the actual life of the figure he por-
trays. It seems hardly possible to doubt that the
public will have a much deeper interest in char-
acters passing before them that they know went
through the episodes unfolded before their eyes
than in any set of figures moving through scenes
that are altogether fictional."

Mov'ng Picture Industry Uses Ocean Liner
as Locale

"A High Seas Honeymoon," the latest achieve-
ment of a Canadian-born moving-picture director,
brings Canada and Canadians into the limelight.

Henry McRae, president of the Oriental Cinema
Association and formerly, director of the Uni-
versal Films of California, writes a striking
tribute to Mr. E, W. Beatty, president of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, from Hong Kong, while
en route to the Court of Siam where Mr. McRae
will film the romantic kingdom. It reads as fol-
lows :

"I wish to inform you that on the way from

Vancouver to Hong Kong, On the good ship,

'Empress of Australia,' I made a moving pic-

ture embracing every important and attractive
feature of the ship from the bridge to the
propellor shaft.

"Almost every passenger on board took an
active part in the picture and thoroughly en-
joyed the experience and although the weather,
as must be expected this time of the year, was
very much against us, and we enjoyed the novel
experience of sailing through a ninety-five-mile-
an-hour gale , the interest of the passengers in
making the picture a success, seemed to make
them forget all about the weather. When we
projected the picture in the dining salon the
night before arriving at Shanghai, everybody
seemed delighted with it. The fact that it was
produced, developed, printed and shown on the
ship, made it very interesting. I am of the
opinion that this is the first time in the history
of navigation that such a notable achievement
has been successfully accomplished.

'T am sure you will appreciate the picture
when you see it, and as soon as we have an-
other print, I will send it to Montreal for your
approval. ; . ,

"I wish also to express my great appreciation
of the proficiency, courtesy and keen considera-
tion of the officials of your organization in your
offices at Los Angeles, Vancouver, on board
ship and here in Hong Kong. My only regret
and that of the people who are traveling with
me, is that your service does not extend to Siam,
where I am going to make a picture of the
King and the attractive features of his king-
dom."

Mr. McRae is enthusiastic concerning Canada's
future in the moving picture world. He is now
casting about for a girl of the Dorothy Phillip's-
type, to star in "Policing the Plains."

"Siguahara of Siam" is the title of the movie
which will be filmed at the request of the King

192

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

Exclusive Distribution Rights Contract and Brand
New Positive Prints Available

in the three premiere juvenile wholesome productions for the

states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Southern
Idaho. Also California, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington, Ore-
gon, Montana, Alaska and Northern Idaho.

Little Red Riding Hood - - - - - - 5 Reels

Cinderella and The Magic Slipper - - - - 4 Reels

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star 5 Reels

Write for particulars and territory

No percentage propositions considered

For bookings also write. We will refer same to territorial distributor.

Wholesome Educational Films Company

804 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, Illinois

of Siam during Mr. McRae's oriental tour. The
director, in this case, intends to weave the cus-
toms, laws, industrial and social conditions of this
miniature dynasty into a picture of educational
and recreational interest. Night pictures by
radium flares, showing an alligator hunt by the
famous "Alex" of Siam, will be features of this
film.

Mr. McRae is carrying a complete outfit with
him and a staff of five assistants.

Across the Pacific With a Zenith Projector

Enjoying motion pictures, at the school, church,
club or theatre, is an almost daily experience with
a large number of folks. It would be tedious
indeed for a majority of us to go through the
days and weeks without this favorite form of
relaxation and constructive entertainment. How-
ever, arrangements are rapidly being made in
various ways so that this enjoyment need not be
missed even by travelers while on their journeys.
Railroad and steamship companies are not slow
in recognizing the advantage and desirability of
providing this favorite form of recreation for their
patrons.

The Pacific Steamship Company is one of those
operating many palatial liners which recognizes

this demand. On January 2nd of this year, the
steamship President McKinley departed from
Seattle equipped with a Zenith projector and ten
complete film programs for the entertainment of
its many passengers on the voyage across the
Pacific ocean. The film programs were provided
by the Cosmopolitan Film Exchange, Seattle, the
enterprising and energetic distributors of the
Zenith in that territory.

The President McKinley returned to Seattle on
February 22nd, having covered approximately
30,000 miles. Needless to say that many shows
were given during the voyage to appreciative pas-
sengers. Mr. D. C. Millward, of the Cosmopoli-
tan Film Exchange, together with an officer of
the steamship company, made immediate inspection
of the Zenith and found everything in good order.
It is reported that the officers of the steamship
company were so delighted with the performance
of the Zenith projector, as well as with the gen-
eral success of the enterprise, that it has been
decided to install Zeniths on all their other large'
vessels as they arrive in port. Thus those con-
templating crossing the wide expanse of the Pa-
cific need not fear that they will be deprived of
the diversion and education afforded by clean
motion pictures.

May, 1923 195

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright May, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.00 a year Single copies, 15 cents Back numbers, 25 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923, at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 5

CONTENTS FOR MAY

Editorials 197

The Flickering Screen 199

James N. Emery

Imagery in Education 202

R. G. Jones

Visual Education in the Teaching of English 206

H. G. Paul

Is Visual Instruction a Fad ?. ' 209

Joseph J. Weber

Official Department, National Academy of Visual Instruction 212

Official Department, Visual Instruction Association of America 218

School Department 222

Conducted by Marie Goodenough

The Theatrical Field 233

Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.
5 South Wabash Avenue 41 East 42nd Street

Chicago V- -New York. _.

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Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

May, 1923 197

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II May, 1923 No. 5

TV/E threatened in the last issue to make important announcements in this one.
^^ It is a great pleasure to be able to do so. The paragraphs below will serve
to answer many requests and suggestions received from our readers during the
last few months. The validity of all these communications we have fully appre-
ciated from the beginning but we preferred not to attempt to meet them with
premature or make-shift arrangements. We announce the following new features
with full confidence that they will satisfy our friends that The Educational
Screen keeps its promises to the visual field it seeks to serve.

Three New Departments in June Number

¥ N order to supply more material of a concrete and practical nature, so greatly
*• needed in the development of this field, we shall begin in the June number
a department of "Lantern and Slide/^ a department of "Motion Picture Pro-
jection/^ and a department of "Pictures and the Church"" — to name them
in the order in which arrangements were closed with their respective editors.

Our long delay in starting these departments has been due chiefly to the fact
that we were intent upon securing as editors only nationally known men whose
authority in their respective fields would guarantee the quality of the service and
information to be offered to our readers. We wanted the best men to be found
and we believe we have succeeded.

"Lantern and Slide"' will be edited by Dr. Carlos E. Cummings, of the
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, an expert with over twenty years of experi-
ence in slide-making, stereopticon projection, projector designing, and in the selec-
tion and organization of great slide collections. All kinds of photographic work,
even in its most elementary aspects, will be treated in this department as our
readers may request.

"Motion Picture Projection"" will be edited by Mr. F. H. Richardson,
technical editor of The Moving Picture World of New York. In this important

jgg Editorials The Educational Screen

field there can be no higher authority than Mr. Richardson. His famous Hand-
book of Projection is a masterful work and represents the finest thing that has
yet been done in the way of a projection manual.

"Pictures and the Church'' will be edited by Dr. Chester C. Marshall,
pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bridgeport, Conn. Probably
no active minister in the country compares with Dr. Marshall for long experience
in the motion-picture field, intimate contact with the great industry and its leaders,
and for the influence he has wielded in various national agencies working for
better pictures. As editor of the Film List published by the Methodist Committee
on Conservation and Advance, Dr. Marshall's selections of films have come to
command the most absolute confidence of church men everywhere and he will
continue this same sort of service through his department in this magazine.

T^HE above departments will gradually come to include the varied material
•*• needed to meet the growing requirements of the great non-theatrical field.
In each department there will be editorial discussion, answers to correspondents,
brief technical articles, and personal accounts of activities by readers themselves.
Correspondence is cordially invited. All such communications will receive the
personal attention of the department editor concerned.

The June Number

THE June issue will necessarily carry more pages than heretofore. Beside
the present departments and the three new ones announced above, we plan
to bring back *The News Chat'' and "Among the Producers" which have
been omitted for lack of space in recent issues. Among the articles will be the
following :

"The Flickering Screen," Part H, by James N. Emery, Superintendent of
Schools, Pawtucket, R. I.

"Visual Instruction in Detroit Schools," by Bernadette Cote of the staff of
"The Michigan Daily," University of Michigan. This article. vnll be illustrated.

"The Use of Visual Aids in Education," by H. B. Wilson, Superintendent
of Schools, Berkeley, Calif.

"A Classic on the Screen — Some Reactions of Very Young Purists," by
A. Marie Cote Weaver, of the University High School, The University of Chi-
cago. This article is of particular interest in connection with Dr. Judd's article
reprinted in our April issue from the School Review for March, 1923.

May, 1923

199

The Flickering Screen

James N. Emery

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Part I.

WHEN confronted by the cold hard
facts, is visual teaching a mere flash
in the pan? When put to the test, is
it a flicker on the screen? Another of the
educational fads which, in increasing num-
bers of late years, have had their hour be-
fore the audience, been hailed for the mo-
ment as a brilliant discovery, and then sunk
into the oblivion of last year's feature film?

We read that certain professors of the
University of Chicago have used an appro-
priation to make exhaustive research as to
v^hether any real results are gained by the
visual method. The results of another
series of tests prove, or go to prove that
one group of children taught by the screen
showed a better grasp in a certain lesson of
3.5 per cent over a group taught the
same lesson by the textbook. What means
we have of knowing whether the mental
powers of one group were equal, inferior
or superior to the other group, deponent
sayeth not.

Oddly enough, the magazines devoted to
visual education seem to be the first ones to
put on the brakes. I am acquainted with
five periodicals that have been devoted,
wholly or in large part, to visual education.
There may be others. Into the editorial
columns of more than one seems to have
crept a note of pessimism.

I quote from a leading editorial of The
Educational Screen :

"Fully 80 per cent, of schools now hav-
ing motion picture projectors use them more
or less — usually more — for entertainment
rather than for instruction. . . . Conclusion
— the chief purpose sought and served by a
motion picture projector in schools today
is entertainment rather than instruction."

The same editorial also states, "schools
declare frankly . . . that it is hopeless to
get enough real educational film to keep
them going, and that even this film, when
obtainable, is so little co-ordinated with
school work that one risks making a peda-
gogical hodge-podge of the whole course
of study."

If this is the calm and reflective judg-
ment of men interested in the cause of visual
teaching, what about the novice, or the
half -convinced? Is it worth while to
bother with film at all, from an instruc-
tional standpoint?

The above editorial is only an example of
much material which is constantly occur-
ring in the various magazines devoted to
visual instruction at the present time. There
must be need for such conservative warn-
ing, if it appears so often. Perhaps it is
the necessary refining, to separate the real
metal from the worthless part of the ore.

In the hands of the humorists woman and
the ever-present hairpin are credited with
being able to accomplish almost anything.
Some of the claimants for this new art have
made almost as many extravagant claims as
have been made for woman's weapon. The
utterances of such men as Edison and Wells,
commanding figures in their own fields,
have given the use of educational film a
world of advertising, at the same time with-
out considering the practical difficulties and
difficulties that the man on the ground must
work out.

I question if teachers and principals, and
certainly all but an infinitesimal few of the
pupils and parents, look upon the installa-
tion of a projector in the schoolroom as
anything more than a means of high grade

The Flickering Screen

The Educational Screen

entertainment, with perhaps a certain amount
of instruction as a sideline. That, of course,
just as the quoted editorial comments,
would be worth while. But the prime rea-
son for any substantial outlay of time and
money for this purpose ought to be in-
creased efficiency in instruction ? How many
teachers look at it from this side ? Does the
projection apparatus do this? How can it
help the everyday work in the classroom ?

Let us leave out of the question the
claims of such eminent non-professionals as
Wells and Edison, or the idea that so many
reels of geography, so many reels of litera-
ture, so many reels of history, may be un-
folded before the pupil, and his work is
done.

Let us leave out the question of commu-
nity entertainments, and their effect on so-
cializing the neighborhood. These are side-
lines, eminently desirable objects in their
way, but just sidelines. What about the
regular, daily, everyday classes, the half-
obsolete idea of acquiring the content of the
course of study? Can the screen help this,
and how much?

Suppose we leave out of the question,
also, any idea that the projector can take the
place of teacher or textbook. The film is a
splendid working tool in the hands of a ca-
pable teacher. It will supplement the text-
book admirably in almost every content-
subject. It cannot supplant either text or
teacher. It must go hand in hand with text
instruction if it is to accomplish its pur-
pose. Under careful handling it may teach,
and it undoubtedly does teach, a great
amount of material much better than the
book can, and with less time and effort. I
make this statement without fear of being
seriously upset by highly specialized or
classified mental tests, figured in mental
ages, or intelligence quotients.

Unrelated pictures, shown haphazard,
whether moving or still, may be of some
slight educational value. Properly corre-

lated, with a good text, discussed by teacher
or pupils, or both, and later committed to
expression, written or oral, their value can-
not fail to be far-reaching. But they must
be used as a means of teaching, not a "pic-
ture show."

Imagine, for example, a business office
in the early Victorian days, as Dickens has
so graphically described it, with clerks on
high stools scratching with quill pens at
musty ledgers. Contrast the offices of the
modern large corporation, with their time
and labor-saving devices. Yet filing cabi-
nets, mimeographs, typewriting machines
and card indexes alone will by no means
make a successful business office, though
they may help wonderfully in reducing the
drudgery and routine.

In putting visual instruction apparatus
into my own schools, I had from the first
the idea of the instruction side. It has been
an uphill struggle to convince pupils, pa-
rents, and even teachers and school officials,
that it was there for serious work, not to
furnish an hour's relaxation and "instruc-
tional entertainment" for the pupils. I
think they are beginning to see it now, but
the problem has not been an easy one.

I have been using films for about three
years in my school work, and slides about
six. I had been using slides and stereo-
graphs about three years before I became
converted to the notion that films were pos-
sible or practicable for my schools. We put
one in. I suppose the first year that our
projector was in use, we committed about
all the pedagogical mistakes that could be
made. We had to blaze the way in a pretty
nearly pathless jungle. Because of those
very mistakes we made, I feel that I can
write with some intelligence on the faults
and flickers of screen work.

We screened films such as welfare work
in various industrial plants, life in national
homes for disabled soldiers, visits of na-
tional conventions to some city, recreational

May, 1923

The Flickering Screen

201

picnics of some great corporation, even
aesthetic dancing. Fairly interesting, some
of these, harmless enough, but requiring a
most elastic imagination to tie these up at
all with the course of study.

We screened the various "magazine re-
views" prevalent at that time, an unrelated
collection of varied subjects, whose very
titles were masterpieces in making you guess
what the contents might be. An instructive
scenic bit of some far-ofif land would be
followed by scenes of pretty bathing girls,
and end up with cartoon comedy. I like fun
myself mightily, but I rather question the
educational value of Bobby Bumps or Jerry
on the Job, for the classroom, at least.

Yet out of this vein of ore I still feel that
we got some real mineral. There was much
of real value in that first year's work, after
all. and we learned by experience. At pres-
ent we are carrying out a course that is
fairly well correlated to our textbook out-
line, and in which slides play an equally
important part with films.

There are still some grave problems con-
nected with the use of visual apparatus.
Some of them are well on the way to being
solved, and in the near future. In the case
of others the solution is difficult, and a long
way off. I have catalogued some of the
chief ones below.

1. Visual instruction is costly, both in
the necessary apparatus at the start, and
its upkeep.

2. It is difficult to obtain suitable films
to illustrate a certain subject when
wanted.

3. It is out of the question for the
average school system, town or city, to
own a satisfactory working library of
films of its own.

4. The amount of real teaching ma-
terial available for classroom use is
slight, much of it. is crudely prepared, or
not prepared with any view to school use.

5. Much of the so-called pedagogical
film is prepared by college experts whose
ideas of the needs of pupils in the elemen-
tary schools is chiefly theoretical.

6. Pupils and teachers look on it as
entertainment, rather than lessons.

7. There is opposition, sometimes
merely passive, sometimes active and
virulent, on the part of parents, who feel
that the time is wasted, or theatrical in-
terests, who feel that school "movies" are
cutting into their field.

8. Films assist only a portion of the
school course, while formal subjects such
as arithmetic, spelling or grammar, are
not aided at all.

9. Many of the films that find the way
into non-theatrical hands are one-sided
propaganda more or less skilfully de-
signed to exploit some special interest or
product.

10. Films must be run at a certain
speed, which precludes comment by the
teacher in charge. Films must often be
obtained at so short notice that the teacher
has no opportunity to acquaint himself
with the contents of the film before it is
shown.

11. Visual instruction has not yet been
j^roved to be worth while.

12. It is not certain that films hold
the child's complete attention.

13. The darkened room presents
grave problems of discipline and conduct.

14. Films cannot by any means cover
the complete ground.

15. Visual education as a whole, some
tell us, has been exploded in theory, and
has gone by.

This is a formidable list of weaknesses,
and yet, with the possible exception of the
last one, they all exist to some degree.

I shall discuss these weaknesses in some
detail in Part II of this article.

(To be concluded in the June number)

202

The Educational Screen

Imagery in Education*

R. G. Jones
Superintendent of Schools, Cleveland, Ohio

AMERICA has pursued a wasteful
process because of her abundance.
We shall find it necessary to con-
serve sometime, but it is not yet the time.
We have pursued the same policy in edu-
cation that we have in some commercial
and industrial undertakings. We have de-
voted ourselves to extensive rather than
intensive processes. A coast-to-coast rail-
way is necessary, although the traffic will
not warrant a carefully kept roadbed. Econ-
omies in education will come when general
economic conditions require it. Education
has been guilty of uneconomic methods, for
various reasons. Its support is usually pub-
lic moneys or philanthropic funds. There
is something to happen, possibly before very
long, that may effect a change in educa-
tional policies more rapidly than is cus-
tomary. Either there will be a more equi-
table distribution of taxes or there will be
a tightening up of educational expenditures.
The public is conscious of the need for
education, but if the tax system goes un-
changed (and a radical change is not in
evidence immediately) the public will want
the same quantity of education and the same
quality for the same cost. This will require
intensive effort and better economic distri-
bution of school resources. . . .

The course in pubHc school administra-
tion, it would seem, is plain.- Keep on the
offensive with a type of education so obvi-
ously effective that the money provided for
education by taxation shall all go into edu-
cation; eighty per cent devoted to the tui-
tion fund and twenty per cent for the busi-

ness administration, approximately. This
relative percentage is fundamental. . . .
This procedure will be one step in safe-
guarding against political occupation of the
school treasury, and a second step towards
efficiency in business management.

The next step is to assure efficient ex-
penditure of the educational 80 -per cent.
The schools- are now engaged in the classi-
fication of pupils — mental diagnosis. The
classification of mentalities will differentiate
children's minds into three general groups:
The Superior Group of 5 per cent, the Mid-
dle Group of 90 per cent, and the Lower
Group of mental weaklings, 5 per cent. The
adaptation of materials, subjects, methods,
to meet the capacities of the groups will
effect considerable economies in cost and
considerable comfort to children if the diag-
nosis is worth while and can be scientifically
done. The group having superior intelli-
gence will, no doubt, assume leadership.
The second group will do the work of the
world, and the third group may be self-
supporting.

It has been estimated that 2 i:>er cent of
intelligence is sufficient leadership to control
a given population. This represents an
equivalent of our total high school popu-
lation.

Can public education be differentiated for
classes? I am not sure what expert opinion
will decide or prophesy on this subject.
Possibly the superior 2 per cent will edu-
cate itself. Possibly the bright 2 per cent
will peter out in part through lack of cer-
tain stabilizing qualities of strength, endur-
ance, patience, integrity; and the real lead-

*An address delivered at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Visual
Instruction, held at Cleveland, Ohio, February 27-March 1, 1923.

May, 1923

Imagery- in Education

203

ership will fall to the inheritance of the
select members of the great middle class.

Where shall the stress in training be laid
if we are to conserve our resources by
spending our educational tax funds advan-
tageously ?

The Place of Imagery in Education

The foregoing is submitted as a basis for
the discussion or consideration of the real
job in education which is not only ahead of
us, but is actually present with us. The
solution will evolve from the world's work
and the philosophy which develops from
day to day unless the economic process that
provides public funds is changed to supply
a better way out than is now in operation.
At present, educational procedure will be
forced to give a better account of its affairs
in economic operation.

The conduct of schools in a general way
has been in the hands of men untrained in
the production and handling of wealth in a
material form. Our product has cost too
much. Better organization will effect great
and good changes.

We are just now devising ways and means
for appraising mental power scientifically.
Whether this can be done as a science re-
mains to be determined. . . .

How are these various mental grades to
be educated? The task, of course, is to de-
velop the maximum thinking power a given
number of brain cells will produce. . . .

Imagery is important and necessary. We
are dependent in our thinking upon the im
ages which are acquired through our senses.
The story of the blind men who went to see
the elephant applies ; each had a different
notion because of his contact.

If children's minds were stored with im-
ages of beautiful lines such as those in the
picture of the *Tot of Basil," the dignity
and proportion of the Parthenon, with the
dainty and lace-like beauty of the French

chateau, the lofty beauty of the cathedrals,
embodying the lines of mountains with the
symmetry and grace of the towering fir
trees of the Yosemite Valley, these children,
grown to adults, would not be content with
four walls for a home. The love for -and
satisfaction in beautiful objects born of
beautiful images stored in the mind's gal-
lery of images awakens ambition and en-
ergy to strive for all those satisfactions that
are worthy and make for a distinguished
civilization. Images are the forerunner of
imagination or vision.

It is the part of education to furnish these
to all mentalities capable of recording them.
The superior group most assuredly must
have them.

Different minds are sensitive to different
types of images. Orville Wright, the in-
ventor, images in the concrete and resists
all attempts at speaking. Henry Ford is
said to image in organized groups and has
limited use for words. John Finley images
in the charm of words and allures one with
word painting to the engulfment of thought.
Stoddard enjoyed this same facility in word
imagery. Others image figures and numeri-
cal quantity with the same ease that another
images the outline of the face of his child.
Mathematical sharks belong to this class —
the type of mind that will register and an-
nounce the numbers of box cars in a rap-
idly passing thirty-car train. In general,
some minds assimilate or image symbols and
other concrete materials more rapidly.

The large part of public education has
been symbolic, but in recent years it has
changed with all speed to the concrete, and
it is pretty surely returning to academic or
abstract standards.

If the view of imagery I have presented
is correct, we shall eventually have means
for testing the types of mind in pupils to
discover what nature of image will stick
in the mind of each. This is a more refined
type of vocational guidance, in that the

204

Imagery in Education

The Educational Screen

mind is trained for one of the grand divi-
sions of endeavor rather than sent untrained
into some specific niche to an assigned but
not selected task.

Illustrations

For those who image concretely, visual
education will at once prove to be a great
saving in time and a stimulus to organized
thought. This, with the provision that the
whole of the content for instruction is not
set up in images ; it should be clearly in mind
that, with all the images furnished complete,
the thinking has been done for the student
and the thinking process will have been
weakened rather than strengthened.

Of the many items which may be treated,
a few are selected for consideration. Of
the important foods, beef and milk take high
rank. Let us set up the image of a cow of
early times and, in contrast, one of our
thoroughbreds of the present time — a set
of images of cows representing the different
breeds developed for different qualities and
purposes. Such pictures set the mental
stage for study of the evolution of stock.
At the same time it will be discovered that
the evolution of stock has paralleled the
development of mankind. When mankind
was nomadic attention was not given to the
care and nurture of animals, but with fixed
places of abode and the improvement of
land, the construction of homes, and the
growth of domestic habits. The animals in
turn became domesticated, until in the small
islands near the English and French coasts
— Guernsey and Alderney — and on the
mainland of Normandy and adjacent lands
the improvement of strains and breeds of
stock made them the parent home of the
best herds of dairy and beef cattle which
have furnished a main food element for
millions of people.

The story of the development of horses
showing the famous draft horses, the Nor-
mans and Clydesdales, may be accounted

for in the same manner. The study of
stock is a fair basis for the study of the
development of agriculture and, fundamen-
tally, of men. . . . This type of the
learning process embodies, in a broad way.
all that is valuable in a project method, and
substitutes much in reason for mechanical
form, and provides an inductive skeleton
that will maintain organized thought proc-
esses.

A study of the evolution of household
furniture — the chair may be taken as a type
— will develop in concrete image the ad-
vancement of ideals from necessity to lux-
ury. The rude stool or the mat on the
ground is the first stage to the chair, to the
throne. This will include all the varied
types of chairs employed for use in the
home, public buildings, or wherever seats
are used.

The study of houses of religious worship
will demonstrate the growth of religious
ideals as a mark of progress of civilization.

The study of the weapons of war will
give still another angle of the advancement
of invention in civilization or the develop-
ment of mankind.

Perhaps no better field for exploration of
culture may be found than that of art and
architecture. Pictures may, through im-
ages, show the progress of line, form and
color. All this may readily be shown in
buildings, paintings, fabrics, landscaping, to-
gether with the materials employed, includ-
ing woods, metals, fibers, clays and precious
stones.

Literature and its imagery, through the
medium of symbols, is perhaps the highest
form of the presentation of the abstract and
one of the most widely used manifestations
for the purpose of conveying impressions
and feelings to others, by reason of its eco-
nomic convenience and availability.

How uncommon it is to know or to un-
derstand that written expression is the result

May, 19^3

Imagery in Education

20:

of images? How much of our teaching of
English is in words born of imperfect im-
ages, and how much more is the product of
indistinct imagery? Consider with what
scant care or concern subjects are assigned
for compositions. We are satisfied with a
vocabulary correct in form and diction.
Beauty of expression can only be prompted
by stimulation of the physical senses. A ripe
and luscious pear stimulates the word deli-
cious. A high and wonderful peak in a
mountain chain stimulates the word lofty.

Visual education prompts appeal to the
sense which are the source of stimulation to
thought expression. Perhaps nowhere in
the realm of visual education is there the
opportunity for gaining control of abstract
thought that exists in written expression of
thought.

All great fiction is based upon fact. Most
of the scenes described have been actual
images woven together in the web of imagi-
nation in real or new combinations, and
until this process is understood and em-
ployed in instruction in language, written
or spoken, only imperfect and indistinct im-
ages will result.

To those whose mental powers are capa-
ble of imagery, should be offered in instruc-
tion a large field of images, with guidance
in graduated transfer from the concrete
image to the abstract expression. The pos-
sibilities for clearing thought and organiz-
ing mental efifort and expression are so
amazing, it is beyond our comprehension
that so little use of them has been in vogue.

Resume

It may be evident that this paper pre-
sents a panorama and was prepared in three
sections: the first, economic; the second,
psychologic ; and the third, applied peda-
gogy. These subjects are the vital ones, in
my judgment, in the operation of a school

system. Financing education is the most
difficult, because it is always difficult to
interest the average individual in a long-
time-deferred income-bearing investment.

We are not sure about mental measure-
ments and measurement of accomplishment.
If we have one assurance more fixed in
belief than another, it is that mental meas-
urement is not a science ; it may be an art
and, most probably, it is a combination of
the two. We have exercised the art for
all time. We are just developing the sci-
ence and we shall be better able than ever
before to select the group to be educated
and we shall do it.

Of the third item, I feel most sure there
can be a vast improvement in the gradu-
ation of mental comprehension from . the
concrete to the abstract through skilled em-
ployment of imagery or visual education.
The idolatry of education is the book. We
are devoted worshippers of the graven im-
age of print; books and more books, mem-
orization and more memorization. Stephen
Leacock tells the story of education when
he contrasts education in Oxford with
American universities. It is hand-made in
Europe, it is on a production basis in Amer-
ica ; quality vs. quantity. . . . Teaching
everything through print is economical with-
out any dividends on the common stock.
90 per cent of our issue is common stock.
If we are to go on the offensive to get all
our stock marketed, we must have dividends
in the common, no matter if it is water.

We boast much of the enrichment of edu-
cation. Much of the enrichment is the mul-
tiplication of vocabulary. What is most
needed is organization and reorganization
of matter, making high lights of the impor-
tant items, setting them in order that mem-
ory may recall them from the pigeon holes.
Imagery is the key to the solution. It is
economic. It is educative.

306

The Educational Screen

Visual Education in the Teaching of English

H. G. Paul

Professor of the Teaching of English,

University of Illinois

TODAY from platform and press we
are hearing a great deal about educa-
tion by exposure which is heralded as
a new planet swinging into our ken in the
educational firmament. As a matter of fact,
education by exposure, including visual edu-
cation, began at creation's dawn and will
continue till the sun grows cold. What is
new and valuable in this movement, how-
ever, is the manner in which we are now
approaching and studying and trying to util-
ize this omnipresent powerful agent of edu-
cation, just as the physicist is trying to
learn how to collect light, heat and power
from the rays of the sun.

Commerce is ever quick to seize upon
means of education which may further its
own ends ; and in no field is this truer than
in matters of advertising. From every page
of the newspaper, from every available inch
of wall space in the street car, from the
flaming window of the drug-store, from the
blatant bill-board, and from the dizzy
heights of the skyscraper comes the insistent
suggestion to Chew Umpty-Dumpty Gum;
and so thorough, so repeated and persistent
is this attack on our consciousness through
this effective visual appeal that, if we do
go to the gum counter, we are almost cer-
tain to call for Umpty-Dumpty.

The teacher of English may well take to
heart the many obvious lessons to be gained
from these devotees of the art of adver-
tising. He must utilize the means close at
his hatid for advertising his wares. Thus,
the class-room bulletin board may be made
one of the most effective servants at his
command for promoting sweetness and light.
If he is skillful, he will lead the class to
•discover the advantages of such a board

and to devise ways and means of procuring
one. Usually a cork carpet, such as may
be purchased of any dealer in linoleums
furnishes the best cover for such a board.
On this board the teacher will place such
class materials as lists of theme subjects,
lists of books for home reading, and some
of the better work done by various mem-
bers of the different classes. Whether
grades for the members of the class should
be here posted, is a very debatable question.
Certainly there may well appear on this
class bill-board an honor list with various
sorts of commendation for distinguished
service, especially for marked improvement
of the work.

Here, too, may appear various bits of lin-
guistic information, such as the derivation
of such interesting words as muscle, salary,
hob-nob, and pocket-handkerchief, the last
of which travels rather far and curiously
around the human anatomy. There may
also be a place for such words as are com-
monly mispronounced through what Dr.
Johnson once called "pure ignorance:"
coupon, bouquet, cupola, oleomargarine.

This humble bulletin board may also be
made a most effective agent of visual edu-
ation in advertising good literature. Here
should be posted from time to time those
Poems You Should Knozv, which api^ear so
frequently in our newspapers and there at-
tract a surprising amount of attention. Il-
lustrative materials drawn from such fruit-
ful sources as The Mentor may bring the
pupils in crowds around the board and may
help remove the delusion that Shakespeare
and Tennyson were contemporaries, next-
door neighbors, and habitual collaborator-

Our choice of the books we read is usu-

May, 1923

Visual Education in the Teaching of English

207

ally largely a matter of suggestion; so the
skillful teacher will occasionally use the
board for advertising some scene from an
interesting and valuable book, such as Lorna
Doone, with which every reader should be
acquainted. Once the pupils are started
reading such a book, the craze for it will
spread like wild-fire through the class.
Equally important is the advertising of the
best that is appearing in the current maga-
zines, for only as our pupils come to know
this better material will they shun such
soul satisfying and highly valuable news as
that a foolish and aged pastor has run away
with a silly young sheep of his congrega-
tion. Have You Read Frances Lester War-
ner's Love's Minor Frictions? You Will
Like It, is a sign which the writer once
saw on a bulletin board which is doing good
service and to which he then owed an in-
duction to one of the most charming essays
of recent years. To this same wayside
preacher he is also indebted for an introduc-
tion to another deHghtful volume — Simeon
Strunsky's In Belsliazzar Court, Is your
bulletin board, good teacher, doing equally
effective work ? One can scarcely pick up a
newspaper which does not contain something
of literary interest which may be clipped for
the board. The Saturday book review pages
of the Boston Transcript, the Nezv York
Times, the New York Post, and the Chicago
Tt'ibune, to cite only a few instances, to-
gether with the rotogravure sections of the
Sunday papers, offer a veritable mine from
which can be extracted much material suited
to our purpose.

The art student may also be drafted into
service to prepare placards and posters bear-
ing epigrams and other short quotations
somewhat similar to those for which the
public pays its money at the art stores, and
which from the desk or the wall teach many
valuable lessons of kindliness, of cheerful-
ness, and of beauty. Or again, such a stu-

dent may prove a valuable ally in those
occasional drives which the teacher may
make to acquaint his pupils with various
authors. Thus, in a certain Illinois high
school one teacher and her class observed
a Mark Twain week. They secured and
mounted on cardboard some of those unique
portraits of the white-clad humorist. They
wrote to the publishers for interesting ad-
vertising materials and prepared posters rep-
resenting notable scenes from his writings.
Little incidents from his life, some of the
many anecdotes concerning him, two or
three of his epigrams, and a collection of
kodaks of the Mark Twain country, made
by one of the members of the class, did their
share in interesting pupils who thronged
around the bulletin board. The program
committee of the school literary society did
exactly what the teacher hoped and ex-
pected they would do, and exactly what they
would do in your school, gentle reader.

Advantage should also be taken of the
widely prevalent and deep-seated interest
in travel literature and its illustrative mate-
rials. Obviously a series of prints depicting
the Scottish lake country is a treasure trove
for the class studying the Lady of the Lake,
and many wide-awake teachers have found
very helpful in their work scenes from War-
wickshire and from Ayre; but perhaps all
too few have made the best possible use of
the *'travellogue" as a class project in oral
composition or have realized how eagerly
and wistfully many pupils drink in these
pictures of those places which they hope
some day to see and know.

So, too, in these years when really good
pictures may be had in such easily accessible
and inexpensive form, we make a mistake
if we neglect another valuable means of
education. Most high school pupils have
had some experience in using pictures as
the basis of their work in composition, but
few of them have the slightest knowledge

308

Visual Education in the Teaching of English The Educational Screen

of artists or can associate a dozen great
pictures with the names of the artists who
created them. To the boy who is quite hazy
as to whether the name Raphael designates
the materials for basket-weaving or a battle-
field of the World War, it is frequently
little short of a revelation to find on the
bulletin board a portrait of that artist with
a short sketch of his life and a few speci-
mens of his best work. Somewhat similarly,
the board may offer some elementary in-
struction concerning music and musicians ;
and while the teacher must never expect
that the average high school boy will ever
regard Beethoven as so great and admirable
a character as Ty. Cobb or "Babe" Ruth,
he will have been paid for his time and
effort, if the boy comes to see even a faint
light.

To the influence of the bulletin board in
thus making a powerful appeal to the eye
should be added that of well chosen pic-
tures on the walls of the school room; not
many of these pictures, indeed, for all too
frequently we have cluttered the school
room with materials far from the best. Let
us have a few of the masterpieces which
may help the pupil grow in his appreciation
of what is really the best in art. Some of
the masterpieces of Rossetti or Holman
Hunt, together with pictures illustrating
scenes from the Idylls of the King such as
make resplendent the Boston Public Library,
and a few representations of famous cathe-
drals, and of the Avon and the Dee are of
priceless worth in developing both the
knowledge and the taste of the boys and
the girls who sit under their daily influence.

Beautifully illustrated books, too, should
play a far more important part in visual
education than is now^ allotted to them. All
of us enjoy looking at the pictures in books ;
instinctively as we first glance through a
new volume we turn to the illustrations,
linger over them, and really form no small

part of our impression of the book from
this first appeal to the eye. Why shouldn't
we be just as proud of possessing and ex-
hibiting a beautiful new book as we are of
decking our bodies in purple and fine linen
for Easter Sunday morning? Frequently,
indeed, is not the content of a good book a
far better subject for adornment than some
of the bodies on which so much is spent to
make them appear fine and attractive ? And
what an array of really lovely books may
be ours if we are only willing to pay the
price of a little sacrifice of our vanity.
Hugh Thompson's wonderfully attractive il-
lustrations of a dozen dift'erent books and
Taylor's illustrations of Longfellow, to men-
tion only two of the many possible examples
which readily come to mind, may help a new
world of loveliness and meaning to swing
into our ken — if we will but let them. How
they brighten and vivify the class hour as
they make their apj>eal along that most
admirably equipped of all the railways run-
ning from the outer world to our conscious
selves !

One final means of visual education espe-
cially valuable to the teacher of English is
the stereopticon. To the writer it has been
of especial worth in taking his classes on
what he likes to call Little Journeys. Lon-
don, Stratford, Oxford, Cambridge, Ayre,
Boston and Concord become to the pupils
veritable realities as they traverse these
streets, loiter in the schools and churches,
catch glimpses of the life, and enter into
the haunts and homes of those men and
women whose writings and whose memories
we shall not willingly let perish.

A large contract this which we have out-
lined? Yes; and one which at times de-
mands tact, resourcefulness, much hard
work, and a unflagging and much enduring
enthusiasm. But this means of cultivating
day by day and year by year the seeing '
eye and the understanding heart is worth
many times over what it costs.

I

May, 1923

209

Is Visual Instruction a Fad?

By Joseph J. Weber

IN recent years the educational world has
heard much of visual instruction, which
seems to be a new movement. Visual
instruction, however, is not really new. It
is as old as education through the eye itself ;
and many of the so-called visual aids —
models, globes, maps, charts, graphs, di-
agrams— are of long standing. What has
given visual instruction the appearance of
a new movement is no doubt the perfection
of photography. Practical photography has
created various means of probable instruc-
tional value. They are the photograph, the
stereograph, the lantern slide, and the
moving picture.

Now the big question for the honest
educator is : Are visual aids merely a fad;
or have they distinct instructional value?
If they are a fad, he wants to guard against
the costly mistake of trying to incorporate
them in his instructional technique. Many
visual aids are expensive, and if their use
does not increase decidedly the effectiveness
of instruction, he must know it so as to be
able to resist the aggressions of commercial
interests. On the other hand, if visual aids
do increase decidedly the effectiveness of
instruction, the sooner the teacher gets
scientific proof of the fact, the better. For
him to ignore persistently a valuable aid to
instruction is plain professional inefficiency

To answer the question in a scientific
manner was the aim of an extensive investi-
gation made in 1921 in one of the Bowery
schools of New York City. The results
have since been written up and pub-
lished as a doctor's thesis.* In this article
I shall briefly describe one of the experi-

ments and submit the results to the readers
of Educational Screen. The problem
which formed the heart of the experiment
may be stated summarily:

Will the use of moving pictures
along zmth a lecture quicken the learn-
ing process? And, if so, how much?

More in detail. Is the educational film
worth a place in the teacher's daily pro-
gram? Should part of the class period be
given over to it? And, if so, when will it
be more effective, before the lesson or
after it? In other words, should the film
introduce a topic, or should it be used as
a summary? These are questions that the
practical teacher will ask, and I have tried
to answer them in this experiment.

The predominant aim, I may repeat, was
to measure the effect of the film when em-
ployed as an aid along with verbal instruc-
tion. In order to conduct the experiment
it was necessary to select first of all a suit-
able film. The one chosen was a travelogue.
It dealt with life in India, and the exact
title was 'The Country of the Mahrattas,
and Other Scenes."

Preparation of the Lesson

From this film a lesson was prepared in
the following manner: The subtitles were
copied on paper. Then the film was put on
the re-wind in the laboratory and examined
picture by picture. Detailed notes were
jotted down on the paper between the sub-
titles. And from this working outline the
lesson was written up. Thus the subject-
matter of the lesson was approximately
identical with that of the film.

The reader will gain a clearer idea of

nVeber, Joseph J. Comparative Effectiveness of Some VisualAids in Seventh Grade Instruc-
tion. Educational Screen, Inc., 5 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. $1.50.

210

Is Visual Education a Fad?

The Educational Screen

Initial Knowleci^e

13-75
la.u

9,0.94

both the fihn and the lesson from a partial
quotation —

The Grain Market. — As one trav-
els through this country one of the
common sights he meets is the grain
market. Here can be seen natives
walking about and carrying bales
(bundles) of grain on their backs.
Some of the men lead donkeys.

Arrival of a Caravan. — Another
common sight is the arrival of a cara-
van. A long file of camels can be seen
lumbering along the street, each camel
being led by a man. As you watch the
caravan pass by, you can not fail to
notice the row of cottages across the
street. All the cottages have thatched
straw roofs.

Altogether nearly five hundred seventh-
grade pupils participated in the experiment,
six classes of boys and six of girls. They
were divided into three groups approxi-
mately equal in size and ability. Each
group had about a hundred sixty children
in it. The groups were known as A, B,
and C.

Three Methods of Presentation
For the experiment each group of chil-
dren was taught in a different manner.
Group A was taught the whole period with-

out seeing the film, just as it happens in our
schools every day. Group B saw the film
at the beginning of the period and then
heard the lecture, while Group C first heard
the lecture and then viewed the film. The
time was the same for all methods of presen-
tation.

Twenty- four hours later an exhaustive
60-question test was given to the three
groups. Here are a few of the questions :

At the grain market, do the natives

carry bundles of grain on their

backs? — Yes or No?
Do they ride on the donkeys? — Yes or

No?
Are the camels in the caravan trotting

through the streets? — Yes or No?
Do the cottages of the village have

shingle roofs? — Yes or No?

Statistically it was necessary to repeat
the experiment twice with different lessons
and tests, shifting the groups along in
triangular rotation. But to go into this
in detail here would make the article too
lengthy and certainly too tiresome, if not
actually confusing. Anyone caring to
know more about the experiment should
study the original write-up in the thesis
referred to above.

May, 1923

Is Visual Education a Fad?

211

Important Questions Answered
Two questions arise now in the mind of
the reader : ( 1 ) Would the group which
did not see the fihii do as well in the exami-
nation as the other two? (2) Of the other
two groups, which one would do better, the
one which saw the film first or the one
which viewed it after the lecture? The
opposite diagram answers both question.s.

By way of explanation, the 31.75 repre-
sents quantitatively the knowledge which
the children brought to the experiment.
That is, each pupil had on the average nearly
32 units of knowledge about India when
the experiment began. How this was de-
termined is another story which will not be
explained here because lack of space for-
bids.

Summary

Summarizing, then, all five hundred chil-
dren under the Lesson-Review Method in-
creased their knowledge of India to 45.48
units. Under the Lesson-Film Method they
raised it to 4^.86. And under the Film-
Lesson Method the average went as high
as 52. 6p. The net increase was 13.73, 18. 11
and 20.p4 respectively. Taking the first as
the base, we get 100%, 132%, and 153%,
which means gains of 32% and 53% in
favor of using a film in connection with
oral teaching.

Our diagram suggests the following in-
ferences :

1. When a correlated film is used as an
aid in a seventh-grade class, it will increase
the effectiveness of the lesson decidedly.
Any teacher who teaches without the aid of
moving pictures today is simply ''traveling
by horse and buggy."

2. This increase in efifectiveness is the
result of (a) greater ease of comprehen-
sion and (b) a higher degree of satisfaction

as a consequence. The presentation is more
realistic, and therefore the children under-
stand it quicker and enjoy it more.

3. Since moving pictures provide substi-
tute, or vicarious, experience, they should
precede the lesson when the subject-matter
is relatively foreign to the learner. This
should not be taken too literally, however.
What is really meant here is that the pic-
tures should come early in the presentation
to provide the children with a fund of
imagery. That will enable them to interpret
the speaker's statements in terms of their
recently acquired experience. In short,
they will know what he is talking about.

Caution

The differences in favor of the film as a
visual aid, as shown by this experiment,
are probably too high for generalization.
The subject-matter of the lessons was essen-
tially foreign, far removed from the expe-
riences of the pupils, and thus hard to
understand and still harder to follow. Had
the film been used to aid in the presentation
of subject-matter more familiar to the
pupils, the efifectiveness would very likely
have been much less. Then the lessons
were long and tiresome and poorly organ-
ized, which made them proportionately less
attractive than the film. Finally, the
teacher was handicapped with many expe-
rimental restrictions which prevented her
from being normally, effective. Under ordi-
nary classroom conditions the efifectiveness
of a correlated film would probably be
closer to half of what the foregoing results
indicate. Subsequent experiments by the
author seem to substantiate this assertion.

But if the use of educational films should
increase our teaching efficiency a mere fizw
per cent, are we justified in going on the old
zvayf Food for thought, educators!

2-12 The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

I

OFFICERS

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice-President: A. Loretta Clark, Director of Visual Education, Los An-
geles, California.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Edu-
cation, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Tooth aker. Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago Public Schools,

Chicago, Illinois.
Rupert Peters, Director of Visual Education, Kansas City Public Schools,

Kansas City, Missouri.
A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
J. W. Shepherd, Department of Visual Education, University of Oklahoma,

Norman, Oklahoma.
Carlos E. Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N. Y.
W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. All matter appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy,

A Communication from the Chairman of the
Publicity Committee

To Members of the Publicity Committee:

The National Academy depends on this new Committee to acquaint the educators
of the country with the aid it has to offer to the educational problem. It is suggested
that each member of the committee do his best to bring this about in his section, in
some of the following ways:

(1) Make an appeal to the teachers and administrators in your own school system
or institution, to join the Academy and get its literature. At the close of your talk
distribute membership cards and show sample copies of the "Educational Screen," the
magazine which publishes the papers and plans of the Academy. Get the membership
cards from Secretary J. V. Ankeney, University of Missouri. Columbia, Mo., and sample
copies of the "Educational Screen" from the editor, N. L. Greene, Mailers Building,
Chicago.

(2) Request your superintendent or president of your institution to authorize you
to take out an institutional membership in the Academy.*

♦Note: The institutional membership remains at $25, but a new membership for local and
state organizations desiring to affiliate with the National Academy of Visual Education has
been established at $5.00.

May, 1923 National Academy of Visual Instruction 213

(3) Write a few paragraphs in your state teachers' journal, in your own school
paper, or in your college bulletin, on the work of the N. A. V. I.

(4) Get the subject of Visual Instruction represented on teachers' institutes, summer
school, and convention programs. Two Visual Instruction County Institutes have
recently been held in Illinois, and th6 wealth of new illustrative material they brought-
to the teachers was a pleasant surprise, and sounded a new note in teachers' institutes.
Write to the Chairman of this Committee for a sample copy of the County Institute
program.

(5) Get engagements for illustrated lectures on Visual Instruction by men and
women especially qualified for this work. Every member of this committee should Hold
himself available to fill such engagements. We suggest also correspondence with any
of the following for lectures. Write to the one nearest you:

Professor F. N. Freeman, Supt. H. B. Wilson,

University of Chicago Public Schools, Berkeley, Calif.

Prof. F. D. McClusky, Dr. W. H. Dudley,

University of Illinois, Urbana, 111. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Dudley Grant Hays, E. PL Reeder,

President N. A. V. I., Board of Education, Detroit, Mich.

Board of Education, Chicago, 111. -^ -^ Norman,

Prof. J. J. Weber, University of Indiana, Bloomington, Ind.

University of Texas, Austin, Tex. j^ jl Peters

Prof. J. W. Shepherd, Library Bldg., Kansas City, Mo.

University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla. q -^ Toothaker

A. W. Abrams, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,

University of the State of New York, Philadelphia, Pa.

Albany, N. Y. A. G. Balcom,

W. M. Gregory, Dir. Visual Instruction, Newark, N. J.

Educational Museum, Cleveland, Ohio j ^ Moyer,

S. A. Barrett, State Dep't Education, Boston, Mass.

Educational Museum, Milwaukee, Wis. p p balder,

Prof. J. V. Ankeney, State College, Pullman, Wash.

University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. ^jg^ ^^^ members of the Publicity Corn-
Director F. W. Reynolds, mittee as printed at the head of this

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah department and all state Vice-Presidents.

(6) Several states have organized either separate state societies of Visual Instruc-
tion, or Visual Instruction Sections in their State Teachers' Association. Can you not
issue a call for an organization of this kind in your territory?

(7) Get some teacher or student to *ake subscriptions for N. A. V. I. memberships
or for the "Educational Screen" or for both at all teachers' gatherings in your state.
Write Secretary Ankeney for membership blanks, and the editor of the "Educational
Screen" for subscription blanks. The fee for active members is $3.00 and includes a year's

' subscription to the "Educational Screen" as well as the Proceedings of the Academy.

(8) Send the Chairman of the Publicity Committee further suggestions for promot-
ing the work of the Academy.

Sincerely yours,

A. P. HOLLIS,
Chairman, Publicity Committee.
This letter is being sent also to State Vice-Presidents whose co-operation in these
publicity plans is earnestly requested.

214

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educational Sera

Slide Quality Set

One of the significant actions of the Cleveland
meeting was to authorize the Committee on
Lantern Slides to produce a set of slides illus-
trating standards of quality in lantern slides and
what to avoid. These sets will be available to
schools and Visual Education departments that
wish to establish ideals of quality in lantern
slide Qollections. Mr. Alfred W. Abrams is
chairman of this committee.

Persons or institutions interested in procur-
ing sets of these slides should communicate
with the Secretary of the Academy.

Constitution Amended

THE following proposals for amending the
Constitution were submitted to the Exec-
utive Committee and were approved, after
which they were submitted to the members of
the Academy at its business meeting at Cleve-
land and approved:

Proposal B
Article II, Section II, B — Be further
amended by changing the fee from $1.00 to $3.00.
Proposal B changes the dues for associate
members to two dollars per year.
Proposal C
To amend Article III, Section II — By add-
ing "G. State and local Professional Visual
Education organizations may be affiliated with
the Academy by paying a fee of $5.00, thereby
becoming a local affiliated or state affiliated
organization. Such organization is then en-
titled to a charter commemorating this affilia-
tion."

Proposal C makes possible the affiliation of
state and local Visual Education organizations.

The Secretary was instructed to make a
study of existing state and local organizations,
after which he would formulate a set of sugges-
tions for the guidance of other groups desirous
of affiliating with the Academy.

Visual Education in Ohio

MR. ALBERT C. ECKERT, of the Spring-
field High School, Springfield, Ohio,
writes regarding the newly formed De-
partment of Visual Education of which he is
temporary chairman:

"This is a direct outcome of a small meeting
of the Ohio Section which was held at the N.
A. V. I. meeting in Cleveland. It was first
started last October at one of the sectional

meetings of the Central Ohio Teachers Asso-
ciation. As yet we have no organization. We
hope to have after the Cedar Point meeting. A
proposed constitution is prepared and will be
acted upon at that meeting. It is the purpose
to become affiliated with the N. A. V. I. and
yet be a distinct part of the Ohio State Teach-
ers Association. It would be a splendid idea to
have similar organizations in connection with
other state teachers organizations, and all affil-
iated with the National Academy. I will be
very glad to report the results of this meeting
after it is over. We want to have an organiza-
tion which will bring about definite results.

"In submitting our first program for the de-
partmental discussion in Visual Education, the
committee feels that the time is ripe for inves-
tigation and professional discussion in this
particular field, and .therefore solicit the sup-
port of all members of the State Association
interested in the use of Visual Aids in Educa-
tion. Will you help by your presence at the
departmental meeting, and consider our plans
for the promotion of this organization? The date
is June 26th. The place is Cedar Point, Ohio.

Program
Introductory remarks by the chairman.
Visual Education, Its Aims, Scope and Values.
Prof. Wm. N. Gregory, Educational Mu-
seum, Cleveland, O.
The Use of Stereopticon Slide in Educational

Work. Speaker to be announced.
The Use of the Motion Picture in Educational
Work. Mr. F. S. Mofifett, High School,
Piqua, Ohio.
Sources and Definite Uses of Other Visual In-
struction Material that the Average School
Can Have. Prof. Wm. P. Holt, Normal
School, Bowling Green, Ohio.

Round Table Discussion.
Partial Report of Research Work in Visual
Education carried on under the Common-
wealth Foundation in the Cleveland Public
Schools. Speaker to be announced.
Report of the committee, submitting proposed
Constitution, and plans for organizing The
Visual Education Association of Ohio. Dis-
cussion and Adoption.

If time permit, several educational films will
be presented at the sectional conference, and
methods of presentation and use in the class
room will be discussed.

The committee wishes also to call attention
to the exhibit of Visual Education material and
equipment which will be on display during the
convention.

May, 1923

The Educational Screen

215

"VISUAL INSTRUCTION"

Being Number Seven of the Course of Study Monographs

For the Elementary Schools of Berkeley, California,
including the Kindergarten and First Six Grades.

....--,. PREPARED BY

A Committee from the Berkeley Public Schools
under the chairmanship of Anna V. Dorris.

The appearance of this Monograph is a notable event in the history of
the development of visual education. It is the first thing of the kind. It is
a manual of procedure prepared by experts, based on concrete^practice instead
of theory, and hence calculated to be of great value to eVery progressive
teacher who has already started the use of visual aids or whp is planning
to do so.

Superintendent H. B. Wilson, of the Berkeley Public Schools, writes, in
his Introduction to the Monograph, as follows :

"This is the first effort which has been made in Berkeley, or elsewhere so
far as I can find, to issue a hand book and guide in the use of visual instruction
materials " ' .' ' ' '

"The committee, which was appointed about two years ago, went about its
pioneering in this field with the idea of gathering from all possible sources in-
formation in reference to (1) the various sorts of materials which might be used
in visual instruction and (2) any results which had been secured from the use of
such m'aterials. The amount of information available of a scientific sort in the
field of the committee's effort was, and is still, very limited. Such information
as could be gathered from other sources has been supplemented by the experi-
ences of the teachers and principals in the Berkeley schools."

TABLE^OF^CONTENTS

10.

Introduction

The Purpose of the Monograph.
The Place of Visual Instruction in
Modern Life.

The. Place and Value of Visual In-
struction in Schools.
Types of Visual Aids.
Methods of Procedure in Using Vis-
ual Aids.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
Geography.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
History.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
Nature Study.

The Use of Visual Aids in Training
for Good Citizenship.

11.
12.
13.

14.

15.

16.
17.

18.
19.

20.
21.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Art Appreciation.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Home Economics.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Music.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Physical Education.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Literature.

After School Entertainment:

The Use of Visual Aids in Primary

Work.

Care and Use of Equipment.

Standard Equipment for Elementary

Schools.

Bibliography.

General Sources of Material.

The Berkeley Monograph is printed on fine grade of paper, 123 pages, nine
photographic illustrations, bound in heavy paper cover.

Price $1.00 Postpaid
One-third Off to Educational Screen Subscribers

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, INC.

5 South Wabash Ave., Chicago 41 East 42nd St., New York

216

The Educational Screen

The DeVry was the first
motion picture projector
to be used in an airplane.
The success attendant
upon this trip established
the practicability of fu-
ture aerial moving pic-
tures.

DeVry Projectors and Gen-
erators were carried through
the heart of Rhodesia in dark-
est Africa and despite the
abuse which the equipment
was compelled to stand there
was never a moment's trou-
ble.

i

In the land of glacial ice — where the foot
of man had never trod — a DeVry was used
to show native Eskimos the country be-
yond the barren waste of snow. So cold
was the temperature that it was necessary
to thaw out the projector before a show
could be given.

Regardless of the many accusation <
against the Japanese, no one has cvu ..v
cused these Orientals of being unprogres-
sive. That they demand the best in their
religious and educational in teaching is
proved by the universal adoption of DeVr>.s
throughout Japan.

May, 1923

217

DeVry Around ^ World

THERE is something romantic in the thought that, with
the eflRcient little DeVry, motion pictures have girdled
the world. Down in the heart of Africa, mid teeming
jungles, the DeVry has projected pictures under conditions
almost unsurmountable.

In the far north, where the mercury dropped 10-20-30
degrees below zero, the DeVry projected pictures before
frightened Eskimos, who saw with amazement, towering
skyscrapers, speeding trains and streets crowded with people.

Under the warm skies of Japan, DeVrys are teaching
religious lessons in Buddhist temples, while the Mexican
Government is using DeVrys to educate the masses of the
people who cannot even read or write.

Romantic and interesting as these facts are, their sig-
nificance is even more important — they have a real bearing
upon the projector you buy. If a DeVry can stand the damp-
teeming mists of the jungle — the arid heat of Mexico — the
sub-zero cold of the far North — if it can be operated success-
fully day in and day out — 4,000 miles from supplies and re-
pairs, it stands to reason that a DeVry will serve you satis-
factorily. For beauty of pictures — for ruggedness of serv-
ice— for genuine satisfaction — purchase a DeVry.

The DeVry Corporation

1248 Marianna Street
CHICAGO, ILL.

21Q The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS

President— Eenest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New "

York Schools, New York City.
Vice-President— A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary— Dou Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer— Charles H. Mills, Director of Publicity of the Boy Scouts of America.
Corresponding Secretary — Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.

This deipartment is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

Luncheon Given in honor of Dr. Charles H. Judd

Don Carlos Ellis, Recording Secretary

A LUNCHEON, in honor of Dr. Charles H. and Mr. Payson Smith, Commissioner of Educa-

Judd, Dean of Education of the University tion of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

of Chicago and recently appointed by the For the reason that Doctor Judd was to leave

National Education Association as Chairman of early in the afternoon for Chicago, he was in-

a committee to cooperate with the Motion Picture troduced as the first speaker. Doctor Judd briefly

Producers and Distributors Association in investi- outlined in a most general way the problem of the

gating the production and use of pedagogical use of motion pictures in connection with school

films, was given by the Visual Instruction As- work, as it appeared to him. He emphasized the

sociation of America at Hotel Astor, New York great importance of the subject and stressed the

City, on April 14th. About seventy-five members need of careful investigation and experimentation

and guests were in attendance. Mr. Ernest L. in arriving at the report which the committee

Crandall presided. Before introducing the speak- hopes to present to the meeting of the National

ers, Mr. Crandall stated the significance of the Education Association at San Francisco next June

gathering, explained something of the work and and July. Doctor Judd called attention to the

purposes of the Visual Instruction Association benefits to be derived from producers and users

and outlined the circumstances surrounding the of films coming together in cooperation to deter-

appointment of the Judd Committee to work with mine what films the schools needed and what

the Hays organization. Mr. Crandall announced the producers could furnish. He stated that the

the other members of the Committee as fol- producers had many films in their vaults and that

lows : Miss Elizabeth Hall, Assistant Superin- one of the problems was to make such film avail-

tendent of Schools of Minneapolis; Miss Eliza- able. He feels that more experimentation is

beth Breckenridge, Principal Louisville Normal needed in evaluating film for school use since no

School; Mr. Leonard Ayres, of the Cleveland adequate tests have up to this time been made

Trust Company; Miss Susan B. Dorsey, Super- and that for use in these experiments it would be

intendent of Schools of Los Angeles, California, necessary to prepare a scientifically pedagogical

Owing to the abimdance of other material for this month's issue, Mr. Crandall's
serial article, "Thumb Nail Sketches in Visual Instruction," has been omitted. The
series will be continued next month. — Editor's Note.

May, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

219

film. He further said that many teachers in
various parts of the country were now engaged in
making tests and that the Committee had already
begun to collect these.

Dr. Rowland ftogers of Columbia University
was introduced as one who had worked most
zealously for the Visual Instruction Association.
He began by saying that if the field cff motion
pictures were to be represented by a circle, one
small segment about the shape of a slice of pie
would represent the entertainment portion, the
balance of the space being taken up with films in
schools, churches and the home.

Doctor Rogers stated that though visual edu-
cation was very new, many excellent films were
already available, including films on such subjects
as Geometry, English, Sciences, the Classics and
Fine and Household Arts. He mentioned these
merely as examples of types of many educational
films which are actually available. He stated that
there is the need of finding out and that this asso-
ciation was trying to determine whether motion
pictures, first, can promote efficiency in school
work; second, whether they can reduce the cost
of teaching; third, whether they can reduce the
time required in teaching, and said that the
members of the Visual Instruction Association are
of the opinion that all three purposes can be ac-
complished by motion pictures.

Mrs. Oliver Harriman, President of the Camp
Fire Girls, spoke briefly of her interest in motion
pictures and stated that the educational film had
deep significance for her as the leader of a large
number of girls who are members of the Camp
Fire Girls' organization.

As an evidence of the power which the visual
appeal has to the young person, she cited the ex-
ample of her own boy who was so intensely inter-
ested in seeing "The Passion Play" at Oberam-
mergau, that he remained in his seat after the
performance entranced by the impression it had
made long after others had left the place of ex-
hibition.

Mr. Sidney Morse was introduced as Chair-
man of the Legislative Committee of the Visual
Instruction Association of America. Mr. Morse
outlined the efiforts being made by the Committee
in helping to secure the enactment of the Steingut
Assembly Bill pending in the New York Legisla-
ture, permitting the use of standard-size, slow-
burning film on portable projection machines
without the need of a booth and licensed operator.
He thought the bill had a very good chance of
enactment. He also told of the formation of the
Motion Picture Chamber of Commerce (Non-

Theatrical), which is in process of organization
and of which he had been designated as Tem-
porary Chairman.

Dr. A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of
the Newark Public Schools, was introduced as
the man who had secured the enactment of a law
in New Jersey allowing any kind of film to be
used on portable projection machines in class-
rooms of New Jersey under the supervision of the
Board of Education, without the need of the
booth. Doctor Balcom spoke of the success which
had attended the use of motion pictures in the
schools of Newark, particularly since passage of
the law referred to, and called attention to the
fact that there was really no danger from film
fires when the use of the projectors were super-
vised hy competent people and that no trouble
of any sort had developed in the schools of New
Jersey since the law had been enacted.

Miss Rita Hochheimer, Assistant in Visual In-
struction of the Board of Education, and Secre-
tary of the Visual Instruction Association of New
York City, told briefly of the work of visual in-
struction in the New York City schools and the
beneficial results attending the work of the Asso-
ciation which she represented and which had
brought together in New York City on an equal
footing producers, distributors and users of edu-
cational motion pictures, with the result that
makers and users of films had come better to
understand one another's problems ; the makers of
films were producing pictures better suited to
school needs ; the distributors were handling these
films in a way better suited to the demands of
both producers and users; and the school people
were not, on the other hand, making impracticable
demands, but were working with the producers on
a more practicable basis, and were getting much
better service than under the conditions existing
before the Association began to function.

Hon. Will H. Hays, President of the Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors Association,
was the last speaker at the luncheon. He stated
at the outset of his talk that he thought the most
important element for the development of educa-
tional films was the organization of the urge. He
expressed the great interest which his association
had in the educational film, and as an evidence of
this fact stated that the two purposes outlined at
the organization of the association were "Estab-
lishing and maintaining the highest possible moral
and artistic standards in the motion picture pro-
duction" and "Developing the educational as well
as the entertainment value and general usefulness
of motion pictures." He declared that, as a fore-

I

220

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

gone conclusion, good pictures arc definitely on
the way and vvill come in greater numliers, and
that motion pictures will do more good than any
other factor for the development of understand-
ing between nations. An as evidence of this, he
cited the effect of films shown by the French
Government to thirteen hostile tribes of Morocco.
After they had seen films taken among the various
tribes, in which their athletics and other activities
were portrayed, these thirteen tribes, who had
never been able to cooperate before, worked ad-
mirably together on a basis of common under-
standing in the World War.

"We are going to sell America," says Mr. Hays,
"to the world by motion pictures, which is the
fourth greatest industry in point of size and the
greatest in point of potential power that there may
be in the world."

He said that outside of the theatrical field there
were two divisions of the use of motion pictures,
first, the use of pedagogical pictures in the
schools, and second, exhibition of entertaining pic-
tures in schools and churches and elsewhere out-

side the theatre. He indicated unqualified ap-
proval of the motion picture industry for the first
class^ He thought that for the second class there
was a definite place and that a proper ethical basis
could be built up for their use In such a way that
the undoubted rights of the motion picture theatre
would be protected. He emphasized the fact that
the motion picture theatre owner who pays taxes
and is earning a livelihood from his business has
certain definite rights that must always be kept
in mind.

In exemplifying the efficiency of visual instruc-
tion, he stated that the one vivid memory that he
had of the discovery of America was the picture
of Columbus, bearing the flag, cross and sword,
landing on the shore of a new land.

"While," said Mr. Hays, "producers of motion
pictures are in the industry for profit, the im-
portant thing in the further development of the
industry is that motion pictures be made, not
from the standpoint of producers who have mil-
lions of dollars invested, but from the standpoint
of the parents who have millions of children in-
vested."

A Significant Legislative Program

ONE of the greatest impediments to progress
in visual instruction, operative for many
years back, has been the excessive cost
•of showing motion pictures. This in turn has
rested largely upon the fact that legislation in
most jurisdictions made it necessary for the school
either to possess a standard motion picture equip-
jnent with a fireproof booth and to have its pic-
tures shown only by a licensed operator, or to con-
fine itself to the library of films extant on the so-
called "safety standard" or narrow gauge film.
This sort of film is printed on acetate of cellulose
stock, 28 millimeters (1>^ inches) in width, as
contrasted with 35 millimeters (13^ inches).

While the laws imposing these restrictions have
been obeyed in school circles, they have been so
openly violated otherwise, that in many cases they
were practically a dead letter. Especially was it
.true that many responsible persons, while they
would not think of using nitro cellulose or in-
flammable stock without a booth, did permit
themselves to. use ^.cetate or non-inflammable
stock of standard width in portable machines.
This was a technical violation of the law, but
of course involved no more fire hazard than the
use of the narrow gauge acetate stock. As a
result, the use of standard acetate stock increased
100 per .cent in one year.

Finally the National Board of Fire Under-
writers recognized the false logic of the situation
and adopted the policy of approving and tagging
portable projectors showing standard width film,
for use with acetate stock only. At the same time
that board voluntarily established the procedure
of notifying local fire authorities of the location
and ownership of each machine so tagged, so
that the latter might guard against their use with
inflammable stock.

Early in the winter the President of the Visual
Instruction Association of America appointed a
Legislative Committee to study this whole situa-
tion. This committee decided to take New York
as a key state and move for remedial legislation.
A bill was introduced in the New York state
legislature at Albany. It is still pending, but we
hope to be able to report in the next number
of The Educational Screen that it has become
a law. It is a very simple amendment to the
present law, merely removing the narrow gauge
limitation and providing that only machines of a
type approved by the National Board of Fire
Underwriters may be used without a booth, and
these only with acetate of cellulose stock. From
the first, all the forces likely to be interested in
this sort of legislation were frankly taken into
confidence, including the National Board and the

May, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

221

New York Board of Fire Underwriters, makers
and users of film, manufacturers of various sorts
of projectors, including the narrow gauge, rep-
resentatives of various welfare organizations, local
fire protection authorities, and finally the Na-
tional Fire Protective Association, x^s a result a
great many conferences were held, and gradually
this growing group adopted the practice of large
joint conferences for the purpose of threshing out
their differences.

As a result it finally became possible to line
up all these forces behind a program, with slight
modifications, first put into form by the National
Fire Protective Association, and which corre-
sponded very closely with a project already under
contemplation by the producers and distributors of
theatrical film.

The central feature of this program, is to place
the whole burden of regulation upon the dis-

pensers and users of nitro-cellulose or inflam-
mable film, and to leave the acetate or safety
stock absolutely free of all restriction. This is
to be accomplished by very rigid licensing regula-
tions governing the handling of the inflammable
film, but it is desirable to withhold, the details of
these provisions until the entire program has
been formulated and promulgated. Suffice it to
say that legislation along these lines will be in-
troduced next January in the legislature of every
state in the Union and such tremendous forces
will be ranged behind these measures, that their
ultimate if not their speedy passage is almost a
foregone conclusion. Thus the solution of this
portable projector problem really seems to be in
sight. The Visual Instruction Association of
America knowing what that will mean in the
extension of film instruction, is gratified" to have
been of service in launching this gigantic cam-
paign.

The Stereopticon

By A. G. Balcom

Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, N. J.

THERE are a number of factors in connec-
tion with visual instruction as applied to the
use of slide and film that must be reckoned
with in teaching a lesson, where these forms of
illustrations are involved. In this article I pur-
pose to consider one factor as applied to the use
of the slide, and it is the stereopticon, or the
mechanism that makes it possible to flash on the
screen an enlarged image of the slide. The stere-
opticon with the mazda illuminant is so simple
of operation that any teacher can Team to operate
it in a few minutes and in a few lessons can learn
to adjust its several parts to procure the most
efficient results. Yet the care of the stereopticon
is seriously neglected. It is allowed to stand in
the classroom or closet unprotected from the dust
and in moving it about the optical system be-
comes disarranged so that poor results in pro-
jection inevitably follow.

No matter how good the slides are or how well
the teacher has prepared the lesson, if the stere-
opticon is not working at its maximum efficiency
the slide illustrations fail to come across and the
lesson becomes only a partial success. Then again
it is astonishing how few teachers actually know
how to use a stereopticon. I can understand that
with the old arc light where the carbon had to be
constantly adjusted women teachers especially
would hesitate about operating the same, but with

the advent of the mazda lamp the operation is so
there is no excuse for a teacher not to know how.

Within the last year I have met groups of
teachers in the Newark schools with a stereopticon
at hand and have carefully explained the use of
each part, how to put it together and how to
make the necessary adjustments for efficient pro-
jection. Also the care of stereopticon when not
in use and the proper way of handling slides
were explained. For this purpose I jotted down
the following data and gave it to the teachers in
mimeograph form :

The Stereopticon in Use

The stereopticon with ]Mazda light illuminant is
very simple to handle, but in order to get maxi-
mum results at all times it should be understood
and properly cared for by those handling it.

The essential parts of a stereopticon are :

(a) Lamp or Mazda bulb (400 to 1000
Watts) with No. 16 wire connections.

(b) A spherical mirror which focuses the
light it gathers and reflects it through the
condenser lens.

(c) The condenser lens, which ordinarily
consists of two glasses known as plane con-
vex, straight on one side and curved on the
other, set with the curved surfaces facing
each other. The purpose of the condensing

{Concluded on page 240)

The Educational Screen

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

The Movies Have Their Wanderlust

THE present novelties of the non-theatrical
as well as the theatrical screen are pictures
of the out-of-doors, in the wilder and more
primitive regions. With the recent, and not at
all surprising, popularity in New York of Hunt-
ing Big Game in Africa with Gun and Camera,
which is reported to have played to capacity audi-
ences at higher prices than any other film on
Broadway at that time, comes a renewal of in-
terest in the remoter parts of the earth. The
Southern Hemisphere is receiving much attention
of late,* and seems temporarily to be threatening
the supremacy of California in the first-run thea-
tres. There are grouped here several productions
of recent release which are of definite educative
value, and available in general for non-theatrical
use.

Bali, the Unknown (Prizma), 4 reels —
There's the witchery of the South Seas in it —
beginning with its very first scene, a smooth beach
of lava sand glistening in the tropical sunlight —
excellent photography with color added to its list
of charms; and above all, a scholarly faculty for
picking the significant and the true in what it sees.
It is an artistic picture of life as it is lived in
remote Bali — not always an altogether pleasant
picture, but always a sincere and genuine one.
There is remarkably little of the deliberately
"theatrical" about it— which should but serve to
recommend it to the discriminating.

At the start, the locality of the island of Bali
is pointed out on a map of the region around Java

"The native makes his offering in the way-
side shrine — that the sea water may al-
ways be salt."

and Borneo, and the film proceeds at once to pic-
ture for us the native life of the island. And
a picturesque life it is, as the film records it,
whether the native be occupied with launching his
curiously shaped outrigger against the waves of
the tropic sea, or seen in his rice fields on the

The fishermaiden, her headdress the
bottle-like container in which she carries
her tiny catch.

mountain slopes. Nor is domestic industry for-
gotten, for the film, shows weaving being done
by the women and girls who are skillful in paint-
ing designs on cloth.

The people of Bali live under the caste system,
as do the countless millions of its neighbor lands.
The appearance of the high caste, of which the
priests' families are representative, seems to be
characterized principally by seven-inch finger
nails ; to the second caste belong rulers and war-
riors; to the third, the traders and artisans (a
swordmaker at his work is a fascinating example
of the painstaking art of the East) and in the
fourth class are the workers in the fields.

And the caste system is strong. There is a
fugitive couple, venturing to marry out of caste.
outlawed and driven from the island.

Not the least remarkable feature of the subject
is the picture it gives of primitive industry. Mpn
go into the sea surf with huge bottle-shaped water
containers, the sea water is collected and thrown
onto the beach sand, where the water evaporates,
leaving the salt particles attached to the surface
sand. This sand is skimmed off, in a filtering
vat the sand sinks to the bottom, the salt brine is

Mayv 1923

-School Department

223

poilred into hewn-out tree trunks, from which
the sun absorbs the water and pure salt is left.
In an island where no deposits of rock salt are
found, the native makes offerings in wayside
shrines to the gods, that the sea water may al-
ways be salt.

Scarcely could there be a finer pictorial tribute
to the ingenuity, th^ patience and engineering skill
of the simple nativeV than the glimpses which the
film gives of the rice fields, the methods of
planting, and the full-grown- grain standing on
hundreds of terraced slopes to which water from
the sea or from wells must be painstakingly con-
veyed.

Nor has the film neglected to record scenes on
market days : women with loads on their heads
after the fashion of tropical countries and the
market place itself, in which cock-fighting offers
diversion when bargaining lags.

One of the most picturesque customs of the
island is the March of the Toadstools, which from
a distance looks exactly like a file of huge toad-
stools wending its way slowly along a fringing
reef. In reality, the toadstools are huge tightly-
woven baskets, each borne over the head and
shoulders of the fishermaidens, who wade out into
the quiet waters, place the baskets on the shallow

human driftwood is shown — opium fiends waiting
to earn a bit of rice for the day's sustenance—
and the superstitious custom of giving entertain-
ment for the pleasure of the spirit world, at which
time gorgeous costumes ornamented with swords,

". . . dancing girls wear crowns and
costumes of beaten gold."

bottom, encircle a large area and drive the little
fish toward the baskets, from which they are
caught and placed in the container worn as part
of the headdress of the fishergirl.

The life of the islands has its sordid and un-
savory phases, which are as faithfully pictured as
some of the more pleasant scenes. Some of the

"Schuman walked up within ten feet."

their hilts diamond-studded, mingle with weird
likenesses to animals.

The material of the four reels is so grouped
that each is a more or less unified subject by
itself. For instance. Reel II is very largely taken
up with the rajah and his many wives, the in-
terior of the harem "an orgy of extravagance"
where dancing girls wear crowns and costumes of
beaten gold and where standards are no better
than we should expect. And the final reel gives a
share of attention to an ape-man of the jungle
who is seen among the monkeys in the tropical
forest, climbing a tree in search of fruit, and; in
closer view, drinking the milk of the cocoanut he
has picked up.

Here and there in the reels, also, are strikingly
beautiful bits of the purely scenic — foliage of the
tropics, views of an active volcano and its crater,
and beautiful panoramas of cloudless mountain
tops.

Man vs. Beast (Educational), 2 reels — A
genuine and realistic story, not without its full
quota of thrills, of the big game hunt in the heart
of Africa, so hazardous that in the end it cost
the life of Louis Shuman, the explorer and sports-
man who was responsible for the expedition of
which this is the record. It is said that the film,
along with his museum specimens collected during
the expedition, are his "heritage to the world."

The arrangement is roughly chronological, start-
ing first with the expedition setting out, and
going along with the pack train of natives, watch-
ing them with their leader participating in some
of the most thrilling moments, when Shuman's

224

School Department

The Educational Screen

good aim alone saved him and the rest of his
party.

They hunted out the wild animals in their native
homes — and although it was the interest in big
game, rather than a scientific study of animals
which prompted Shuman, yet the picture cannot
fail to impress upon one's mind the definite char-
acteristics of the animals it portrays.

There is the hyena — a robber who prowls only
at night — lured to the camp by a zebra skin hung

Decorating the victim with a flower.

out on a rack to dry, the camera concealed not
twenty feet away records the movements of the
animal, he is tracked to his lair, pinned down with
a forked stick and caught with a noose.

Three giant hippopotami are found in a stream,
Shuman's dog assists in cornering them, and two
are shot, their huge carcasses rolled up onto the
river bank.

Among the most fearless members of the ex-
pedition were the dogs. Shuman, in a particularly
daring moment, walked up to within ten feet of
two adult rhinoceroses. One was shot and
wounded. The dogs attacked the raging beast,
which with a quick snap of its head caught one of
them and hurled him high in the air.

Those and many similar scenes make the film
one of the most unusual hunt pictures ever re-
leased.

Head-Hunters of the South Seas (Pathe), 5
reels — The film record of the second expedition
made by Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson on Male-
kula, in the New Hebrides, where they made the
acquaintance of several tribes of cannibals, who
are interesting subjects not only on their own
account, but for indications they furnish as to
how our human ancestors may have lived in re-
mote past ages.

Several localities are touched in the course of

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the case

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I

May, 1923

School Department

225

A real Feature Film for the Non -Theatrical Field

JUST RELEASED

The Brown Mouse

(From the story by HERBERT QUICK)
{Published by Bobbs-Merrill Co.)

A CLEAN, wholesome production of small-town community life,
■^ ^ with enough comedy and heart interest of the right kind and
quantity to be thoroughly entertaining for any audience.
Do not fail to investigate this film.

For terms and details write

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7512 North" Ashland Avenue

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

the expedition — and in one place
we are shown what is perhaps
the finest view obtainable of the
expanse of tropical jungle where
the dense tangle of tree and
vine shows not a break as far as
the camera eye can reach. An
earthquake is actually recorded,
and at the end, Lopeni, a beauti-
ful volcanic mountain, is seen
emitting a cloud of steam far
above the cloud banks lying
against its slope.

Excellent opportunity is given
in the film for type studies, and
observation of racial character-
istics of these uncivilized blacks.
Certain of the customs are ef-
fectively shown, such as the
practice of binding the heads of
very young infants so that they
may grow into the peculiar
conical shape considered a mark
of beauty among these people.

Especially vivid are the views
of the tree people who live like
monkeys in the tops of the

"Tree people who live like
monkeys in the tops of the
banyan trees."

banyan trees, running up the
slanting trunks with the great-
est ease and almost incredible
alacrity. A closeup shows the
peculiar adaptations of the feet
for climbing. These people live
on roots and nuts almost en-
tirely.

Among the most interesting m
the film are the views of the
"devil-devil grounds" and the
dwelling place of the chief. But
perhaps the most startling in the
entire subject are the glimpses of
the head house where a basket-
ful of mummified heads are dis-
played, and ranged around the
walls of the interior are entire
figures mummified, and still
more heads on poles.

Interesting as the material is
to the trained student of an-
thropology, the picture could
have been of much more com-
pelling interest to the general
public had it been a little less
pose-y, and a little more natural.

226

School Department

The Educational Screen

The photographer never loses himself sufficiently
to be interested merely in recording life. We
always see the wheels go round and he wishes
us to be continually conscious that he is doing
the unusual and the dangerous. His is not the

h-'-^-^Js.?

The strange carved forms in the "devil-
devil grounds."

point of view of the historian, scientist or an-
thropologist.
It is a log of a journey to the South Seas,

rather than a human document which could have
l)een invaluable to show life as it is lived there
where man is as primitive and savage as any-
where on the earth today.

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Address Bargain, care of Educational Screen,
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One Pair Simplex Projectors 1921 Model

One Pair Powers 6 B Projectors 1921 Model
One Pair Powers 6 A Projectors 1918 Model
One Pair Motiograph Projectors 1 91 7 Model

All of these machines are factory rebuilt and guaranteed,
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At Last! An Ideal Photoplay Production for Non-Theatrical

Exhibitions

THE LIFE AND WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

IN 5 REELS

This picture will appeal to all classes in the community gath-
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it will surprise and hold the attention of those adults who had be-
come cynics regarding the films ; it will please teachers, pastors,
social workers, and other welfare guardians of the community ; and
it is certain to interest the parents when they see how their chil-
dren enjoy this worthwhile picture.

Exclusive or None Exclusive contract and brand new positive prints available. No

percentage proposition considered

Write or wire

for prices on prints and exclusive territory; also bookings.
World rights controlled by

WHOLESOME EDUCATIONAL FILM COMPANY

804 So. Wabash Ave. CHICAGO, ILL.

May, 1923

School Department

337

Film Reviews

TRAVEL AND SCIENCE
Pageantry in India (Vitagraph). One of the
earlier numbers in the Urban Popular Classics,
and an interesting study of the elephant — ap-
parently the most useful of all animals to the
native of India, and on the occasion of the
Durbar, one of the most ornamental as well.

After glimpses of the elephant at work, the
animals and their keepers' are seen in prepara-
tion for the Durbar (meeting of the chiefs)
"the occasion when the elephant comes into his
own." He is first bathed by being driven into a
pool, where the keeper, riding on the elephant's
back, forces him to get entirely under water —
a' performance which the beasts seem to regard
with the same spirit as do the keepers, who
themselves take a dip betimes.

; After the bath, the animals are painstakingly
decorated, their huge heads elaborately painted
by the keepers, and trappings and cloth of gold
blankets put on,

• The parade starts — and although there are
Qther animals, such as the Zebu and the Camel,
appearing as the procession passes in review
before the camera — it is the elephant which is
the most impressive. Particularly interesting
are the strange conveyances drawn by the ani-
mals, or carried on their broad backs. All
typical of the Oriental love of display in the
midst of the general poverty of the natives, for
India is a spectacular-loving country, "treading
unquestionably the beaten path of ancestral
precedent."

Torquay (Prizma). "The gem of South Eng-
land" on the coast of Devon. A wide panoramic
view shows the city built on seven hills, as
Rome was, and fronting on a beautiful natural
harbor with hundreds of little boats at anchor.
The warm winds from the Atlantic foster a sub-
tropical vegetation in this sheltered spot, and
the reel permits us to look into some of the
city's finest gardens.

"Seascapes" of rare beauty along the rugged
Devon coast are among the most picturesque
scenes in the reel— the barren rock offering a
ledg€ here and there on which a house may
perch high above the waves — and a hint of the
romance of old times clings to the sea cove,
the ancient. rende?^vous of pirates, but now one
of the spots most favored by the summer colony
of visitors-.

Within walking distance of Torquay is the

village of Cockington, pictured in all the quaint-
ness of the typical English countryside.

A charming reel, beautifully photographed in
Prizma color.

Playdays at Banff (Federated). Produced
by the Associated Screen News of Canada, the

reel is devoted to the "American Alps." Some
views of the little city of Banff — its railroad
station and main street — prepare one for a
glimpse of the Banff Springs Hotel on its beau-
tiful site "rising against its rugged background
like a mediaeval castle." The bathers may en-
joy its hot pool while admiring the snow-clad
mountains rising on every side.

Some scenes in the reel are devoted to the
Indian gathering at Banff, when the Stony
Tribe set up their tepees and prepare for their
annual pow-wow.

The remaining scenes give a splendid idea of
the beauty of the surrounding country — Bow
River Falls, and the Spray River — and the ever-
present majestic mountains. Johnson's Canyon
is especially picturesque, the gorge with its
tumbling waters accessible to the tourist by
means of the stairway along the rocky sides.

By the Still Waters (Federated). A succes-
sion of views of the beautiful country in south-
ern British Columbia — but not always recorded
in photography adequate to its subject.

Great valleys, mountain-walled, are occupied
by little quiet lakes, turbulent streams break the
still darkness of the mills, and across Kootenay
Lake, busy stern-wheeled steamers make their
way.

Along with its wild primitive beauty, this
district of British Columbia boasts stretches of
cultivated country where flourish wonderful
orchards, shown first in blossom time, and later
when the harvest brings girl harvest hands into
the orchards.

Of purely entertainment value.

PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE

Your Mouth (United Cinema Company). A
subject well organized and carefully worked out.
to show the importance of dental hygiene and to
outline methods by which the teeth may always
be kept in a healthy condition.

The statement is made that the digestive sys-
tem is all automatic except the chewing ma-
chine, which has a most vital part to play. Some
examples are shown of badly decayed teeth,
which furnish breeding places for millions of

328

School Department

The Educational Screen

Bausch & Lomb Portable Balopticon

Traveling lecturers and special instructors find the Model A Portable Balopticon to be
absolute insurance against projection failure.

In addition to reliability, its convenience will also be appreciated. The carrying case,
measuring only 13J^ x 11 x 6}/^, is sturdily made and so easily balanced that it is ex-
tremely easy to carry.

Its 400- Watt gas-filled Mazda lamp operates on any
1 1 0-volt light circuit. This Balopticon can be fitted
with an acetylene burner, a 6-volt Mazda lamp, for
use with storage battery, or a 30-volt, 14-ampere
Mazda for private lighting plants.

Prices range from $57 to $70
according to equipment.

ASK YOUR DEALER FOR BOOKLET. OR WRITE TO US

Bausch ^ Ipmb Optical (p,

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

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disease germs. A minute portion of debris is
removed from the surface of a decayed tooth
and incubated in an oven at body temperature
for a few hours. The appearance of the gela-
tine plate brings out in a startling manner the
menace to the whole body of such a condition.

Much of the reel is devoted to an exposition
of the measures for preventing dental decay.
Proper food is pictured, which will build and
nourish healthy teeth, and the proper use of
the tooth brush and dental floss are illustrated,
first on a model of the jaw, then by a girl in
nurse's uniform who demonstrates the different
movements involved.

The reel goes on to say a word for school
dental clinics in which children's teeth can re-
ceive proper inspection and care, thus avoid-
ing trouble later. Views are shown of the
Forsythe Dental Infirmary for Children at Bos-
ton, the first institution of its kind in the
country.

Bending the Twig (Vitagraph). One of the
Urban Popular Classics, especially designed to
impress upon a child audience the importance of
correct habits of cleanliness. It demonstrates
correct washing of face and hands, brushing of
teeth, and proper conditions for sleeping. It

explains that eating between meals is bad, as is
also the habit of eating too fast; and it sug-
gests the best foods for growing bodies.

Useful for school showing in connection with
elementary classes in hygiene.

INDUSTRIAL

Sugar Refining (2 reels). American Sugar
Refining Company, 117 Wall St., New York
City. A most adequate and interesting story
of sugar, from the time it is planted in Cuba
to the sealing in cartons ready for market.

Although the emphasis of the subject is
largel}' on the process of refining, enough is
shown of the sugar plantation to give a very
good idea of the planting and gathering of the
crop. A close-up of the stalk is shown, and
views of the virgin forest land in Cuba which
is cleared for the planting of cane.

The camps of the workmen and the homes of
resident officials give one a good idea of the
scale on which the industry is organized in
Cuba — after which the reel goes on to illus-
trate planting operations in this virgin soil,
which it is said will produce crops for 10 to
12 years from one such planting.

Splendid views show how the cane is stripped
of its long leaves and cut, then loaded on typical

May, 1923

School Department

229

TO TEACHERS ATTENDING SUMMER INSTITUTES-SPECIAL REPRESENTATION OFFER

The Drawing Master Club of
America desires to hear at
once iyoxw teachers who plan
to attend Institutes this sum-
mer. Please give us the name
of the institute, the dates and
time you will be there, and
state whether you would like
[\^| ,to make arrangements to rep-

resent us very profitably in
demonstrating the Drawing*
Master Blackboard Outfit and
its use in Visual Education.

Send In This Coupon at Once

THE DRAWING MASTER CLUB OF AMERICA, National Building, Cleveland, Ohio

1 am planning to '^"^"<^ at

ic^'^" Summer Institute

f to > and am interested in

knowing more about your Special Field" Secretary representative offer.

Name •

Present School Position • •

Summer Mailing Address • ; •• ;••••

State whether you are acquainted with or are now using .the Drawing Master Equipment.

E S 5-23

high two-wheeled carts, drawn by oxen to the
railroad, where the load is picked up bodily
from the wagon and transferred to the freight
car. The train on its way to the sugar mill
is drawn by a fireless steam locomotive (reduc-
ing the possibility of fire in the cane fields)
which is also seen taking its charge of steam
from huge boilers.

Especially good are the scenes showing the
unloading of the freight cars by tilting tables,
so that the cane stalks fall upon a moving belt
which carries them into the mill to be crushed
between horizontal steel rollers. The crush-
ing machinery is pictured in detail— and the
juice (about 80% of the weight of the cane)
passes to the vacuum pans, where crystallization
takes place. Laboratory tests are continually
made to determine the granular structure of
the sugar.

In the huge centrifugalmachine, the sugar
is separated from the molasses, and then the
raw Sugar is packed in bags ready to ship to
refin-eries in the United States.

The reel makes quite clear the reasons for
the location of the large refineries in this coun-
try. The raw sugar, moist and consequently

heavy, is refined at seaports, to avoid the ne-
cessity for an overland journey. A boat load
is seen passing the famous Morro Castle, on
its way from Cuba to the States.

At the dock of the refinery, the bags of raw
sugar are unloaded, weighed, and the sugar
crystals crushed, after which it is taken to the
highest level of the refinery and worked down
by gravity. Water is added, and the sugar
goes to the char filters which remove coloring
matter from the liquid. Samples show graphic-
ally the difference between the liquid before and
after filtering,

Again the sugar must be crystallized, the
crystals washed, and the moist sugar delivered
to the drying drums, where excellent closeups
make clear the process.

Not the least interesting is the complicated
machinery by which the cartons are filled, the
contents weighed and the packages carried
away on moving belts.

The method of making crystal tablets (lump
sugar) is interestingly traced. Moulds shape
the sugar into plates of the proper thickness
which in turn are dried on long racks, then pass
under saws and are cut into strips, then into
tablets. Packing and sealing complete the op-

330

School Department

The Educational Screen

The

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treatment of the same subject is also available
from the American Sugar Refining Company.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Dahlia (Prizma). A reel for garden
lovers, picturing most eflfectively in color a num-
ber of different varieties of this widely culti-
vated flower. The picture was filmed at the
Peacock Dahlia Farms in Berlin, N. J. — where
millions of blossoms are raised each year for
market. A remarkable panorama shows the ex-
tent of this garden-farm, and details of planting
and cultivation .are explained. Strong field roots
are set out, and when the plants have come up,
all but the strongest shoots are pinched off.
When the buds have formed, all are plucked
except the terminal bud. Artificial pollenation
crosses a number of different plants, so that
great variety of blossoms results. Many of
these varieties are shown in a series of beautiful
close-ups, astonishingly perfect in the reproduc-
tion of color they display.

Workers cut great armfuls of the blossoms
and carry them to the storehouse where they
are kept for a few hours to condition them for
shipment. Views of the packing house show
how the blooms are sent to market — at the
rate of 50,000 a day during the height of the
season.

The Forest King (Bray). A Canadian back-
ground, and the chief actors the moose. The
reel is the narrative of a camping party's jour-
ney from Montreal into the moose country, and
records as well some of the wild scenic beauty
of that section of Canada. Some unusual and
beautiful pictures of deer are included, as the
animals are discovered in a placid lake, standing
out in all their graceful beauty against the dark
evergreens on the shore.

Mr. Leonard PoTver,
president of the Na-
tional Association of
Elementary School
Principals, writes:

I must mention
what wonderful re-
sults we are getting
with the new Trans-
Lux Daylight Screen.
. . . From now on
we shall go right on
with our pictures
with better visualiza-
tion than ever be-
fore, with all the
curtains up and win-
dows open. I regard
the invention of this
screen as one of the
big steps forward in
visual education.

Darkened Classrooms Abolished!

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
IS non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.

"^H And What Do Its Users Think? f^

For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

Trans-Lux Daylight Picture Screen

INCORPORATED
36 West 44th St. New York City

And Rev. Newell
Dwigrht Hillls, na-
tionally known as
the pastor of Plym-
outh Church, Brook-
lyn, comments!

At the beginning:
we were somewhat
skeptical as to the
results. ... I am
writing- not only to
express my gratitude
to you, but to say
that without a single
exception the lec-
turers and ministers
who have used the
screen, both at every
hour during the day
and again at night,
pronounce it the best
screen that they have
ever used. It Is quite
beyond any words of
praise.

May, 1923

School Department

231

'Mcintosh Lanterns Are Honest Lanterns^

Whatever You Need

We catalog and supply hundreds of lantern slides that are
chock full of "teachability". And can make slides from
your negatives and pictures, too. Drop us a line.

for classroom use in Vis-
ual Instruction, the one
thing (next to black-
boards) that is of greatest
pedagogic utility, is the
Mcintosh Automatic
Sciopticon.

It attaches to any incandescent
socket, is simple, noiseless, re-
quires no attention or opera-
ting— in a word, is the ideal
classroom projector. Can be
fitted for use without elec-
tricity, too.

Ask for Special Circular.

Mcintosh Srr"

485 Atlas Block

CHICAGO, ILL.

Finally the much-desired moose is glimpsed,
swimming through the water. Not satisfied
with so fleeting an acquaintance, the camping
party penetrates still farther into the interior,
passing beautiful river banks, heavily forested.
At last, the heart of the moose country, and
the record of the camera's encounter with this
most interesting animal completes the reel.
One unusual ''shot" is obtained by following
the bull-moose for a long distance as he swims
across a lake.

Dwellers of the Deep (Vitagraph). An Urban
Popular Classic, filmed in the aquarium of the
New York Zoological Society, at Castle Garden.

The reel opens with a view of a boat sent
out by the aquarium to gather fish from traps,
follows with some exterior and interior views
of the aquarium, and shows a number of the
varieties of under-water life which form the
displays to be seen there. Especially interest-
ing are the sea lions — said to be the most
popular with the spectators, who gather in
crowds to watch the restless animals being fed.
An unusual view shows a baby sea lion, which,
the title explains, lived only 24 days, since sea
lions born in captivity do not thrive.

Under-water views of many interesting

species follow — the catfish, whose ugly "feel-
ers" make it possible for him to detect food in
muddy waters where eyes are of no use; the
strange three-cornered coffer fish, his body en-
cased in a hard shell; and splendid close-ups of
sharks, to one of which is attached the queer
"sucking fish" who thus makes the journey to
new feeding grounds with the minimum effort
on its own part. The spade-fish appears with a
zebra-like coat, and the globe fish, a strange
form, swelling when frightened in order to
float on the surface and escape its under-water
enemies.

The views in the reel are most interesting and
entertaining, and the subject as a whole is ad-
mirable for non-theatrical showing. It would
have been refreshing, however, if the title artist
had refrained from making the allusions for
which his subject gave him obvious oppor-
tunity. Such titles as: "Because baby sea lions
must be taught to swim, and this one never
learned, he was dubbed 'Volstead the Dry,'"
may be hilariously funny to a theatrical audi-
ence, but will never endear the film to the hearts
of educators. Barred ofiicially from our best
vaudeville, it is time such remarks were struck
out of our intelligent movies.

332

School Department

The Educational Screen

The Most Effective Tool

In the hands of Progressive Teachers

To make the Teaching of History,
Geography, Health, Literature,
Civics, Science. Fascinating, Memor-
able and Profitable.

The Victor Portable Stereoptlcon.
For Class Room, Small or Large
Auditorium. Brilliant Illumination —
Simple to Handle.

Catalogues on request

Slides Stereopticons Motion Pictures

W. C. BLIVEN

130 West 42nd Street
New York City

Shades of Noah (Prizma). A reel designed
simply for entertainment, and devoted, as the
sub-title tells us, to "an intimate study of a
few of the creatures that made Noah famous."
Photography by courtesy of the Zoological
Society of Philadelphia, it runs through the
alphabet of animals, from Alligator to Zebra,
show^ing many more or less familiar, and a few
rarer specimens.

The titles are well made, with good informa-
tional material, and color adds to the attract-
iveness of the subject.

The Sky-Splitter (Hodkinson). One of the
Bray Romances, several of which have been re-
viewed previously in these pages. It tells the
story of the effort being made by one Pro-
fessor Cooley to solve the world's power prob-
lem by experimenting with atomic sources of
energy. With his accelerating motor, the old
scientist hopes to circle the globe in a few
hours. He tests his machine on an automobile
—and the car speeds so fast that it is wrecked,
and the scientist finds himself by the roadside!

He sees the experiment a success, however,
since it proves that the motor will operate,
if only he can devise some means of control.

Then comes the extraordinary aereocar, built

and provisioned for the test voyage. The in-
ventor explains to admiring friends what may
be expected when the car, rising above the
earth's atmosphere, will travel faster and faster.
The start is shown, and the plane travels on and
on, past stars, planets and meteors, until finally
it is lost in space. At last the old scientist
gains sufficient control of the car to make a
landing on a strange planet— and he finds him-
self able from that vantage point to look back
through a huge telescope toward the earth.
He estimates that he is on an inhabited planet
somewhere in the vicinity of the North Star,
from which if would take light 50 years to
reach the earth. He locates his home, and
discovers it to be as it was 50 years ago, and
sees himself as a boy in 1875. By the marvel
of his invention he has traveled faster than the
speed of light— but he wakes to find himself
by the roadside stunned and dazed in the wreck
of his experim.ental car.

A subject interesting enough from the angle
of the purely imaginative, if one wishes to let
his mind play upon the possibilities of scien-
tific development, forgetting all its limitations
and giving his fancy full sway.

The Making of a Man. (Prizma.) A stirring
picture of the United States Military Academy
at West Point, and an account of some of the
training which the boys receive as cadets. The
film goes through one day with them. Ranks
form, the cadet officer of the day appears, and
sections are seen marching off to classes. All
cadets receive instruction in all branches of the
service, for each must have a knowledge of all.
whatever his particular specialty is to be.

The different uniforms which every cadet
has, are displayed, and perhaps the most inspir-
ing scenes of all are those showing dress parade
where the long lines of erect, grey figures seem
endless. They pass in review at the close of the
reel— in a scene which is calculated to send a
thrill of pride through the most hardened on-
looker.

A reel especially fitted for showing in every
school, church or community center — and espe-
cially adapted for a patriotic program.

"Hats Off! A Story of the Flag (Society
for Visual Education)— A view of the past his-
tory of the flag, and its significance in crises of ,
our history, told to teach a careless schoolboy \
flag etiquette.

May, 1923

233

The TheatricaLField

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

Starring the Character Man

IT'S a pet theory of this department that the
motion pictures, as constituted at present,
require practically nothing of women stars
in the way of dramatic ability. (With the few
exceptions necessary to prove this the rule.)
If they are young and beautiful, screen well
and can wear fine clothes, they may go far.
They need merely look sad, or thoughtful, or
alluring, and the men in the cast will supply
the dramatics. Not necessarily the leading men,
either. It's not their business to stir up trouble
anyhow. As a general thing they are really
only there to offer convenient shoulders for
heroines to cry on, and to interpose strong
right arms — and fists — at the exact point in the
story where they will do the most damage to
the villain. No, it is not the leading men I
am referring to, but the ones who are respon-
sible in one way or another for at least ninety
per cent of the emotion that emanates from the
screen, and who not infrequently manage, if
not to run away entirely with the acting honors
of the picture, at least to dim the brilliance of
the featured beauties to a considerable extent.
Because in many cases they haven't either youth
or beauty to depend on, so they know they
have to play the part, and they do. It's the
character men I mean.

In "Blood and Sand" there flourished a pic-
turesque and dirty bandit, Plumitas by name —
not an important character, but certainly one
that stood out strongly. Then, who failed to
chuckle over the tough little taxi driver in "The
Dictator" who trailed his fare through the
mazes of a South American revolution for — a
dollar and thirty cents, wasn't it? — and who
made such a rich scene out of his attempted
execution by the revolutionists because he never
did discover what they were trying to do, but
thought he had been hired to drill the rifle
squad? The brutal detective of the very recent
"Kick In," and the nigger, Gus. in the very
remote "Birth of a Nation," — do you remember
them too? They were all played by Walter
Long, who rarely fails to register his character,
because he does more than go through the mo-
tions. They call Walter Long one of the most
reliable "heavies" in the business, but he is,
more than that, an artist.

It was Lon Chaney who contributed the
most remarkable portrait to that collection of
remarkable portraits which composed "The
Miracle Man" — that of the unspeakable cripple.
Since then he has added his two pirates in
"Treasure Island," the legless man in "The
Penalty," a marvelous Fagin in "Oliver Twist,"
the ape-man in "A Blind Bargain," and the
pathetic little Chinaman in "Shadows," the
best of all. In his case, acting is apparently
first, a matter of conviction, and second, of
make-up, and no matter what your reaction to
the type of character he shows, you admit that
the memory of it stays with you.

Then, of course, there's Wallace Beery,
whose villainy ranges from that of the Hun
in such pictures as "The Four Horsemen" and
"Behind the Door," to that of the mate, Borg,
in "Hurricane's Gal," and the brutal plumbe'*
in Jackie Coogan's "Trouble." But he turned
the tables when he created that utterly lovable
roughneck, Richard, in "Robin Hood," and
set up a new mark for all the character men
in the movies to shoot at.

W. J. Ferguson, who has played on the
stage and in the movies for a long time, has
to his credit some of the most absurd and
touching characterizations. The father of the
little dancer of "Dream Street" was one, his
flute-playing psalmist, Jeremy, in "To Have
and to Hold" was another; and his subtly
humorous butler in "The World's Champion"
was to me the one bright spot in a dull picture.
There is a fragile quality about his work that
makes it unusual.

Raymond Hatton is one to reckon with. For
a while his specialty was kings — there are
characters for you! — and he played the insane
Charles in the Huguenot tale of "Intolerance,"
the king of France in "Joan the Woman," and
the feathered Aztec monarch in "The Woman
God Forgot." Then there was an unforget-
table portrait in one of Will Rogers' early pic-
tures, "Jes Call Me Jim," the terror-stricken
little hero in "His Back Against the Wall,"
and recently an inimitable comedy butler in
"The Hottentot."

In Tully Marshall there are the makings of
the finest old skinflint on the screen, as wit-

2U

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

ness his rag man in "Hail the Woman"; and
yet his picture of the henpecked husband in
"Is Matrimony a Failure" was good for a con-
tinuous stream of chortles. And you may see
him next as a cruel landlord or a hard-hearted
lawyer.

Theodore Roberts and his cigar are two im-
portant factors in any picture they may hap-
pen to grace. But Theodore Roberts without
his cigar is no less important. His puritan fa-
ther in "Hail the Woman" and his kindly
Uncle Josh in "The Old Homestead" testify
to that. And to them we may add his attrac-
tive, bewhiskered old sinner in "If You Be-
lieve It, It's So." and his gallery of irritable,
likeable fathers in such pictures as "Across the
Continent," "What's Your Hurry," "Excuse
My Dust," and their ilk, to say nothing of the
memorable Drightie in "Miss Lulu Bett," or
the old fiirt in "Old Wives for New." But the
story is not complete unless you could have
seen him as I did in the Writers' Revue, bur-
lesquing Little Lord Fauntleroy, in black vel-
vet and lace, red sash and blond curls, with a
bigger, blacker cigar than usual.

Many of us treasure memories of George
Fawcett, who can screw " his face into such
quizzical tangle. His was the quaint old village

character in "Hearts of the World," the stub-
born old dad in "The Cinderella Man," the
hard heart in "The Old Homestead," the elder
in "The Little Minister." His, too, was the
portrait of the soldier of Napoleon, who after-
ward became such a quivering old wreck, in
"Forever."

Edward Connelly comes in for his share of
character honors. His vain old fop in "Trifling
Women" was a gem, and so, too, his prime
minister in "The Prisoner of Zenda," and we
shall surely not forget his caretaker in "The
Four Horsemen." And while we are on that
subject, let us recall Josef Swickard, the splen-
did Desnoyers of the same picture, and Nigel
DeBrulier, who played the Stranger, and later
gave us such a perfect Richelieu in "The Three
Musketeers."

Here, then, is the character man, the one we
can expect fine things of because he has given
them to us again and again; the one we look
for after we tire of the "pretty picture," the
one on whom the casting director spends per-
haps more thought than on any other member
of the cast. Rightly so, because he. at least
has to do more than stand 'round. He has to
"act." and — you never can tell — in the process
of "acting" he may run away with the picture!

Reviews

THE GLIMPSES OF THE MOON (Paramount)

If you like Mrs. Wharton's novel, you are go-
ing to be disappointed in the celluloid edition of
it. Partly, of course, because of the changes
which film presentations always require in a story,
and partly because in this case the adapter couldn't
find any motivation whatsoever for any of the
characters. They are just puppets. You will
know the hero by his shiny hair, and the vamp
by her wicked eyes, and so on. But why they
are what they are, or why they do what they
do, are questions you'll carry away with you un-
answered.

It isn't a matter of direction or acting, for
both are very good. It is a matter of finding the
right kind of material for the screen, and "The
Glimpses of the Moon," which is only one of
many, and far from the worst, is simply the latest
example of what not to put into the movies.
There has to be action in a motion picture, and
the general run of modern novels does not pro-
vide enough of that very essential commodity.

Aside from the story itself, the picture is
wholly pleasing to the eye. Settings and costumes

are gorgeous. Bebe Daniels and David Powell
are suitable as the two poor young things whose
honeymoon depends upon the charitable impulses
of their wealthy friends. Nita Naldi is eflfective,
if hefty, as the designing cousin, and Rubye de
Remer, Maurice Costello, and Charles Gerrard
complete a satisfactory cast. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED (Warner
Brothers)
Deprived of the fillip of its author's style, this
story of F. Scott Fitzgerald's becomes very ordi-
nary screen entertainment. The main thing to
comment on is the cast, filled with brilliant names
and headed by Marie Prevost and Kenneth Har-
lan. They do good work and really deserve more
than this picture gives them. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

ALICE ADAMS (Associated Exhibitors)

Booth Tarkington's latest Pulitzer Prize novel ^
has reached the screen in a rather talky form, due

May, 1923

The Theatrical Field

235

to many titles ; but it is interestingly and carefully
presented, and merits the attention of more than
just the Tarkington admirers. It ends in abrupt
fashion, but that fault may be easily corrected.

That excellent actress, Florence Vidor, plays
the imaginative Alice. Harold Goodwin presents
a faithful study of a younger brother. Claude
Gillingwater and Margaret Wade play the easy-
going old drug clerk and his nagging wife in fine
fashion, and Vernon Steele is acceptable as
Alice's "young man." (Community, possibly
church use.) (Family.)

ADAM'S RIB (Paramount

A familiar story, but according to Cecil De-
Mille's usual custom, a de luxe edition. We have
had the tale of the busy father, the romantic
mother, and the flapper daughter before; but this
time we get in addition a variation on the peren-
nially popular Graustark theme, and an illumi-
nating glimpse of life as Mr. DeMille thinks it
was lived in the days of the caveman.

Milton Sills and Anna Q. Nilson lead the pro-
cession as the husband and wife. Pauline Garon
is promising as the flapper, and Elliot Dexter is
interesting as her middle-aged sweetheart. Theo-
dore Kosloff is well cast as the romantic king,
Jaromir, but alas ! — he knows it. (Theatrical
only.) (Adult.)

THELMA (Film Booking Offices)

An innocuous but artificial picturization of
Marie Corelli's novel. Jane Novak is well cast as
Thelma, and Bert Sprotte does good work as her
father, Olaf. There are times when the spectator
wonders what it is all about, but everything
seems to come out right in the end. (Theatrical,
possibly community use.) (Adult, high school.)

PRODIGAL DAUGHTERS (Paramount)

Another flapper story — not half bad. There are
two of them in this version, tossed high on the
crest of the jazz wave during the three years their
father has been in France directing reconstruc-
tion. When, on his return, he asserts his parental
authority, they rise in high dudgeon, denounce
his old-fashioned narrowness, and leave home to
"live their own lives." They are fairly success-
ful until father cuts off their credit, and after a
few stiff bumps, they sneak home gratefully and
much crestfallen.

Gloria Swanson as the older sister, does the
best work this reviewer has ever seen her do.
Ralph Graves is the necessary young man, and

U. C. SERVICE

Good Films and Projectors

STANDARD MOTION PICTURES

For Churches, Schools and All Non-Theatrical

Institutions

Wells & Douglass

1108 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.
Graphoscope Service Company

130 West 46th Street, New York. N. Y.
Motion Picture Exhibition Company

Proctor Theatre Building. Newark, N. J.
Scientific & Cinema Supply Company

1004 Eye Street, N. W., Washington. D. C.
Edwin J. Wyatt

618 St. Paul Street. Baltimore, Md.
William F. Kelley Company

1818 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
Non -Theatrical Motion Picture Service

201 Joseph Mack Building, Detroit, Mich.
International Church Film Company

861 Reibold Building, Dayton. Ohio
Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange

736 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago. 111.
James A. Keeny

431 South Dearborn Street, Chicago. 111.
Francis D. White

306 Film Exchange Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn.
Graphoscope Service Gompany

314 South 13th Street, Omaha. Neb.
Church Film Service

1822 Wyandotte Street. Kansas City. Mo.
David F. Parker

1913 Commerce Street, Dallas. Texas
Graphoscope Service Com(Iany

1924 Third Avenue, Seattle. Washington
Independent Film Exchange

177 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, Cal.
Standard Motion Picture Service

917 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, Cal.
Educational Project- 0 Film Company

218 American Bank Building, Los Angeles, Cal.
Southern Church Film Corporation

104 North 17th Street, Birmingham. Ala.

UNITED CINEMA COMPANY, INC.

130 West 46th Street New York, N. Y.

Vera Reynolds, Robert Agnew, Charles Clary,
and Theodore Roberts complete the cast. (The-
atrical only.) (Adult.)

SAFETY LAST (Pathe)

For about three reels of the seven, Harold
Lloyd crawls up the face of a tall building in a
manner that causes the hair to rise and the spine
to chill. The rest of the picture is comparatively
mild, and frequently humorous.

Harold goes to the city to make a fortune, and
begins as a clerk in a drygoods store. Hjs sweet-
heart pays him an unexpected visit, and his
troubles begin when he tries to pass himself off
as the manager of the store. His thrilling climb
is a publicity stunt, a desperate effort to earn
money enough to marry on.

Mildred Davis lends her dainty presence as
usual, and Noah Young and several others add
greatly to the fun. (Community.) (Family.)

GRUMPY (Paramount)

Theodore Roberts carried off all the honors of
this engaging little tale of a grouchy old fellow
— now retired, but once a brilliant criminal lawyer.
Idle, and petted to death by his solicitous family

236

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

and servants, he welcomes the chance to try his
old detective skill when a famous diamond dis-
appears from his house. He goes at the problem
in his own way, taking a sly delight in mystifying
all the other people concerned. Mr. Roberts
creates a distinct and likeable character in the
crochety old "Grumpy," and is capably supported
by May McAvoy, Conrad Nagel and Casson Fer-
guson. William DeMille directed. (Community
use.) (Family.)

YOUR FRIEND AND MINE (Metro)

Familiar story of a flighty young lady, who in
the absence of her adored husband, becomes in-
fatuated with a wicked artist, and has to be
taught a lesson by two faithful friends of the
family. It was the husband's fault really, be-
cause he had welcomed the wicked artist into his
household in the first place, and having probably
never read modern novels or seen any movies,
could not know he was endangering his domestic
bliss, by allowing the artist to paint his wife's
picture.

Enid Bennett and Huntley Gordon play the
husband and wife, Rosemary Theby and Willard
Mack the faithful friends, and J. Herbert Frank
the wicked artist. The story, by Mr. Mack, starts
out seriously, forgets and drops into silly farce
every once in a while, and ends by hauling itself
back to the plane of the serious. It may interest
you. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

THE FLAME OF LIFE (Universal- Jewel)

Frances Hodgson Burnett's 'That Lass o'
Lowrie's," a slice of life out of the English coal
fields of half a century ago, filmed very con-
vincingly, but very drably indeed. Priscilla Dean
plays the "lass" with less flash and more real
ability than she has exhibited in many a day.
Wallace Beery, playing "Lowrie," dominates the
picture as one of the typically brutal characters
for which he is famous. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

SINGED WINGS (Paramount)

One of the most amazing messes of maudlin
sentimentality, improbable situations, and lovely
scenes that was ever concocted. Penrhyn Stan-
laws, the director responsible for it, can make
beautiful pictures, but they don't mean anything
— which is doubtless the reason why he has left
the movies in the lurch and gone back to illus-
trating! Bebe Daniels and Conrad Nagel are
among those sacrificed. (No use.)

SUCCESS (Metro)

A trite story of the theatre, well cast and rather

carefully directed by Ralph Ince. Brandon Tynan
is convincing in the part of an old actor. (The-
atrical only.) (Adult.)

THE SIREN CALL (Paramount)

A caption tells us that the "siren call" is the
lure of the north, but that is as close as the
picture ever comes to its title. It's a tale of a
good girl in a bad dance-hall, her good-for-noth-
ing husband, who includes her in a trade with a
trapper — one of those "wolves of the north," and
the virtuous young stranger who turns up in the
nick of time. (It is wonderful what these tender-
feet can stand. This one survives a terrific fight
on a wobbly raft, a knife wound, and a nasty
drop over some rocky-looking falls.).

Dorothy Dalton plays the girl indifferently.
Edward Brady and David Powell as the husband
and the stranger respectively, earn their salaries
in that fight. Mitchell Lewis as the trapper IT^s
the best opportunity of them all, and makes the
most of it. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

THE ISLE OF LOST SHIPS (First National)

Adventure with a capital A! The "Isle" is a
great tangle of derelict ships of all times, that
have drifted together from every part of the
Atlantic, and now lie bound together by great
kelp beds, floating in the Sargasso Sea. Into
this place of mystery and romance, the author
brings his characters, a girl, a detective, and a
former naval officer, convicted of murder.

Milton Sills does fine work as the naval officer,
and Anna Q. Nilsson and Frank Campeau give
equally good performances. Walter Long makes
an interesting study of Forbes, the ruler of the
lost island, and two character parts are well done
by Aggie Herring and Bert Woodruff. There
are some very beautiful photographic effects, in-
cluding excellent scenes of a storm at sea.
Maurice Tourneur has produced the picture with
his usual vigor and directness. (Theatrical only.)
(Family.)

THE GO-GETTER (Paramount)

One of Peter B. Kyne's stories, embroidered a
little, and stretched to make a full length picture.
As the title indicates, it is about one of those
breezy young men who simply can't be suppressed.
T. Roy Barnes makes the most of the irrepres-
sible hero, with Seena Owen playing opposite.
The well-known Cappy Ricks bobs up, played in
very happy vein by William Norris ; and Louis
Wolheim of "Hairy Ape" fame appears in a small
part. On the whole, enjoyable. (Community
use.) (Family.)

May, 1923

The Theatrical Field

237

THE BRIGHT SHAWL (First National)

A very beautiful picture, rich in the sunlight
and shadows of the tropics, and glamorous with
the costumes and graces of the romantic period
when Cuba was struggling for freedom. The
story has to do with the efforts of a wealthy
young American, Charles Abbott, to assist some
Cuban friends in their fight against Spanish op-
pression. A gorgeous figure in the maze of plot
and counterplot, is La Clavel, a Spanish dancer,
with whom Abbott carries on an ostentatious love
affair, for the purpose of obtaining information.
But the dancer, infatuated, helps him willingly,
and her bright shawl, a familiar sight in the gay
gathering-places of Havana, becomes a symbol of
Cuban freedom, for which she finally gives her
life.

Dorothy Gish as La Clavel gives a brilliant
performance. That of Richard Barthelmess as
Charles Abbott is finished and wholly delightful,
but the part is somewhat disappointing in the
slender opportunity it offers him for the fine work
of which he is capable. The cast in general is
excellent, the work of William Powell and Anders
Randolf being particularly noteworthy.

Although Mr. Hergesheimer's story has suffered
changes, notably in the characterization of
Abbott, the spirit of the place and the period has
been admirably caught by the director, John S.
Robertson. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

DADDY (First National)

There is no question about the dramatic ability
of Jackie Coogan, but it is doubtful if even his
baby genius can survive a series of poor pictures.
"Daddy" is a conglomeration of hackneyed situa-
tions designed to exploit the little star's particular
gifts, and the result is a series of forced and un-
natural episodes.

The son of a violinist, his parents separated in
his babyhood by a foolish mistake, Jackie is cared
for by an old couple until he is six. Then hard
times befall the old people, they are turned out
of their home, and the child, fired by the story
of Dick Whittington, takes his fiddle and runs
away to the city to make his fortune. There he
comes under the protection of an old musician,
who, before he dies, is the means of restoring the
boy to his own father.

The picture has been carefully produced, and
undoubtedly holds a certain appeal; but it will
do little to maintain the standard set by "Oliver
Twist." (Community, church, possibly school
use.) (Family.)

GIMME (Goldwyn)

Rupert Hughes has done it again — ^this time
with the aid of Mrs. Hughes. He has a fond-
ness for picking out little human weaknesses
and holding them before the camera in a most
amusing light. Here it is the reluctance with
which the modern bride — used to the independ-
ence of her own earning-s — first approaches her
husband with the inevitable "Gimme." The
usual "other man" adds the complications.

There's lots of fun in this picture, and lots
of truth for husbands. I heard a good many
mascuHne chortles during the performance, but
was unable to decide whether they indicated
real enjoytnent or mere bravado.

Helene Chadwick plays charmingly the in-
dependent wife, and Gaston Glass is the dense
young husband. Henry Walthall as Mr. Mc-
Gimsey, plays a real character bit in a way
that is seen all too rarely on the screen.
(Community use, possibly) (Adult)
SILAS MARNER (Associated Exhibitors)

A fairly faithful version of the George Eliot
classic, plodding, slightly wordy, as was per-
haps inevitable, but generally satisfactory.
Settings and photography are in many instances
very lovely, and the casting is excellent. Craw-

Attention PK££ Attention

Are you interested in securing a
motion picture projector for your use
in your School, Church, Y. M. C. A.
Rooms, Homes, Community Center,
and elsev^here, absolutely free of
charge, so that you may have the bene-
fit of motion pictures?

I will install a well known projector
and keep same in good condition abso-
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furnish you with the best and latest
films as often as you desire.

For further information
write or call in person.

M. FELDSTEIN

804 So. Wabash Avenue
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

238

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

ford Kent seemed hardly to possess the dreamy
quality of George Eliot's Silas, but was never-
theless interesting in the part. (Church, com-
munity, and school use) (Adult, high school)

NOBODY'S MONEY (Paramount)

This is the familiar tale of the young heir
who returns from a long sojourn abroad and
poses as a book agent in order to investigate
the rumor that his manager is mishandling his
estate. He gets mixed up in a crooked polit-
ical campaign, and ends up by outwitting all
the grafters, re-electing the governor single-
handed, and winning himself a wife. The cast
looks good on paper — Jack Holt, Wanda Haw-
ley, Harry Depp, Walter McGrail, Robert Scha-
ble, Julia Faye, Josephine Crowell and others;
but they never get a chance to do anything for
the story is told almost entirely in the sub-
titles. Harry Depp manages to extract a little
comedy out of his part, but otherwise it is de-
cidedly dull. Jack Holt doesn't belong in light
comedy anyway. (Some community use)
(Family)

THE WORLD'S APPLAUSE (Paramount)

William DeMille out of his element, or (bet-
ter explanation, perhaps) in a weak moment.
Bebe Daniels, Kathryn Williams, Lewis S.
Stone, and others do what they can with a
mediocre story of an actress' craving for no-
toriety, but the result is poor. (Theatrical
only) (Adult)

RAGS TO RICHES (Warner Brothers)

Wesley Barry furnished an entertaining, if far
fetched, screen characterization, unmarked by the
usual conceit of his self-conscious acting. (Com-
munity use.)

A Boy, a Bear and a Dog (Fine Art Films)
— A delightful story, full of simplicity and natur-
alness, woven around the animal characters. An
admirable program subject.

Production Notes

Paramount productions now in the making

include William DeMille's "Only Thirty Eight,"
with Lois Wilson, Elliott Dexter, May Mc-
Avoy, and George Fawcett; Herbert Brennon's
production, "The Woman with Four Faces,"
starring Betty Compson; George Melford's
"Salomy Jane;" "Fair Week," directed by Rob
Wagner and starring Walter Hiers; "The Silent
Partner," ,ope . of,. Maximillian Foster's Saturday
Evening Post stories; "Children of Jazz," adapted
from a play by Harold Brighouse; and P. G.

Wodehouse story, "A Gentleman of Leisure," for
Jack Holt.

C. B. DeMille's production of "The Ten Com-
mandments" is being planned on a very large
scale. Work will begin some time in May.

"In the Palace of the King," by F. Marion
Crawford will be Emmett J. Flynn's first picture
for Goldwyn; Tod Browning will direct Arthur
Somers Roche's "The Day of Faith;" Charles
J. Brabin will make an Elinor Glyn story, "Six
Days."

Distinctive Pictures, which will release in
future through the Goldwyn Company, has
ready "The Ragged Edge," by Harold Mc-
Grath; "Steadfast Heart," by Kelland, and
"Two Can Play" by Gerald Mygatt.

The title of Eric von Stroheim's picture, "Mc-
Teague" has been changed to "Greed."

Associated First National has announced a
contract with Thomas H. Ince, under the terms
of which he is to deliver four special feature
pictures during the next year. The first will
be "Her Reputation" by Talbot Mundy, di-
rected by John Griffith Wray and featuring
May McAvoy. "Country Lanes and City Pave-
ments," the last story of the late John Fleming
Wilson, will be directed by Mr. Ince himself,
and will feature Madge Bellamy. The other
two will be Vaughan Kester's "The Just and
the Unjust," to be directed by Wray, and
"Unguarded Gates" with Madge Bellamy.

Other First National news of interest includes
the announcement of J. K. McDonald's produc-
tion of "Penrod and Sam," the sequel to
"Penrod," "The Wanters," a comedy to be
produced by John M. Stahl who directed "The
Dangerous Age;" "Wandering Daughters," a
James Young picture; "The Meanest Man in
Town," Sol Lesser's production of the Cohen
play; Maurice Tourneur's picture, "The Brass
Bottle," and "The Phanton Pack," which is
being made at Banff and Lake Louise, and fea-
tures the dog, Strongheart.

Norma Talmadge's forthcoming picture,
"Ashes of Vengeance," is to be very elaborate.
Among other important features of the produc-
tion will be the filming of the massacre of St.
Bartholomew's Eve. A good deal of research
work preceded the filming of the picture, and
Joseph M. Schenck the producer intends it to
be "his answer to the accusation that there is
no art in the motion picture of today." ^

Mary Roberts Rinehart's Story, "Long Live '

May, 1923

The Theatrical Field

239

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A Standard Victor Stereopticon, with
MAZDA ILLUMINATION. Brand
New — Get yours quick at 315.50.

Bargains in good used
Motion Picture Projectors

BASS CAMERA COMPANY

Dept. 210
109 North Dearborn St., Chicago, 111.

Portable Screens

I

INSURE HEALTHY EYES

Samples and literature upon request

VIINUSA CINE SCREEN CO
ST. LOUIS. MO.

the King" has been purchased for Jackie Coo-
gan.

Wallace Beery, having made a remarkable
success as Richard the Lion-Hearted in "Robin
Hood," will play the same role in Scott's "The
Talisman," to be produced by Allied Authors.

William Fox announces three costumes pic-
tures, "Cameo Kirby," "The Shepherd King,"
and "The Warrens of Virginia."

Harold Lloyd's new comedy is tentatively
titled "O, My Heart."

There is a rumor that John Barrymore is to
play "Deburau" and "Beau Brummel" for the
Warner Brothers.

"Acquittal" by Rita Weiman will be Priscilla

Dean's next picture for Universal.

"April Showers" with Colleen Moore, "The
Broken Wing," and "After the Ball" are three
of Preferred Pictures' most recent offerings.

"The Three Ages" is Buster Keaton's first
full length comedy.

Harry Garson will produce James Whitcomb
Riley's "An Old Sweetheart of Mine," with
Elliott Dexter in the lead.

Latest information concerning the new Fair-
banks pirate picture seems to indicate that it is
abandoned for the present at least. Other pi-
rate pictures looming in the ofHng, "Captain
Applejack" among them, may account for this
decision.

The Sixth Edition of
The Historical Chart of English Literature

is just off the press

Hundreds of copies are already in the hands of English
teachers— many of whom have used these charts for over
ten years. They pronounce this sixth edition the finest
chart that has yet appeared in the series, which includes
English, American, French and German literatures.

The Educational Screen, Inc., 5 So. Wabash Ave., Chicago

240

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The Stereopticon

{Concluded from page 221)
lens is to converge the rays of light from
the lamp and center them on the slide. They
are set in front of the lamp and on the optical
axis, running between the lamp and objective
lens.

(d) Slide holder with two sections, set so
that it will move to and fro in front of the
condensing lens.

(e) Objective lens, the purpose of which
is to focus the picture on the screen, the size
of which is determined by the focal length of
the lens.

The proper adjustment of these parts de-
termines the kind of projection one will get. The
stereopticon has devices for fixing the position
of the mirror, lamp, condenser lens, and objective
lens. After the lamp is set, the mirror should be
placed so its center falls in the same optical axis
as the filament of the lamp, and the lamp should
be on the same axis as the center of the condenser
lens. The lamp should be moved to and fro until
the screen has a clear, white illumination, elimin-
nating dark spots and yellow fringe. The ob-
jective lens should be moved in and out until the
image is perfectly focused on the screen.

The efficiency of the modern lantern permits
the use of the back of a map or plaster wall or
blackboard for a screen, though a screen made
of white opaque material is recommended when-
ever it can be secured. Better results are secured
in showing pictures in a darkened room, though
it is not absolutely necessary. A room located
where it does not receive the direct rays of the
sun can be used when the ordinary classroom
shades are drawn, provided that some obstacles
are placed where the picture is projected to pre-
vent interference of direct rays of light. The
particular place in the classroom for the stereop-
ticon depends upon the size of the picture wanted
or the size of the space where it is possible to
project the picture.

Care of the Stereopticon

It is extremely important that care should be
taken of the stereopticon during the time it is not
used. It should be covered by material that will
prevent dust from gathering on the mirror, con-
denser lens, and objective lens. The mirror, con-
densing lens, and objective lens should be cleaned
with slightly damp, clean, soft material.

As a result of this personal work with teachers
the requests for and actual use of stereopticons
and slides have increased by leaps and bounds.

June, 1923

241

295

293

287

308

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

FOR JUNE

Bass Camera Co.

Projectors and Equipment
Bausch & Lomb Optical Co.

Stereopticons

Beacon Projector Co.

Projectors

W. C. Bliven

Stereopticons and Project-
ors

Burke & James, Inc.

Motion Picture Cameras

and Equipment 303

Thos. Y. Crowell Co.

Publishers 281

The Deaner Institute

Hygienic Films 312

DeVry Corporation

Projectors 276, 277

Drawing Master Club

The Pantograph 306

Drophead Projector Co.

Projectors 242

Eastman Kodak Co.

Film Back Cover

M. Feldstein

Films and Projectors 312

Graphoscope Mfg. Company

Projectors 304

Holmes Projector Co.

Projectors and Stfereopti-

cons 307

Homestead Films, Inc.

Films 310

Keystone View Co.

SHdes and Stereographs.. 292
Kinema Film Company

Films .....Inside Back Cover
Lea Bel Film Co.

Films 309

Minusa Cine Screen Co.

Screens • 29'*

Monarch Theatre Supply Co.

Supplies and Equipment. 305
Mcintosh Stereopticon Co.

Stereopticons and Slides, 290
Nat'l Projector & Film Corp.

Projectors 311

Nicholas Power Co.

Projectors 244

Pathe Exchange, Inc.

Films 301

Raven Screen Corporation

Screens 297

States Trading Co.

Buyers of Discarded Film 298
Safety Projector Co.

Projectors 285

Theatre Supply Co.

Projectors and Supplies.. 298
Trans-Lux Daylight Screens

Screens 298

United Cinema Co.

Films and Projectors 312

Wholesome Educational Films
Films 283. 289

To the Thinking Public

We want 5,000 more subscribers at $1 a year each.
We offer no premiums. We put every dollar into progress.

The Educational Screen has already more paid sub-
scribers than any other magazine has ever attained in the
visual field. The Educational Screen, just as it is now,
is pronounced by many to be the best magazine the visual
field has yet seen — but we are riot satisfied. We have
hardly begun to realize our possibilities.

How fast we can go in attaining a steadily bigger and
better magazine — in increasing the number of pages, in
offering a greater amount of valuable and varied material,
in adding abundant illustrations — in becoming, in short, the
first source for complete, impartial, and authoritative infor-
mation in this field of vast potentialities, and always at the
same price of $1.00 a year — all this depends on just one
thing,

PAID CIRCULATION

Paid circulation depends wholly upon you — the thinking
public, professionals and laymen. Educators, ministers,
social workers, every thoughtful parent in America — you
are the ones who will determine the limits of our growth
and service. It is a matter of one dollar a year from each
of you.

Send one dollar now — tell us
with what issue to start your sub-
scription (any back number, if
you desire) — then watch your lit-
tle dollar* work.

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MONTH YEAR

242

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June, 1923 243

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelsok L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright June, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.00 a year Single copies, 15 cents Back numbers, 25 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923, at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II . No. 6

CONTENTS FOR JUNE

Editorials 245

The Use of Visual Instruction in the Educative Process 247

H. B. Wilson

Visual Education in Detroit • • • • 252

Bernadette Cote

The Flickering Screen, Part II 257

James N. Emery

A Classic on the Screen • 262

A. Marie Cote Weaver

Are the Movies Improving ? 268

Mrs. Charles E. Merriam

The Theatrical Field 272

Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

Official Department of The National Academy of Visual Instruction 280

The New Department of the N. E. A. by Dudley Grant Hays
Visual Education Departments in State Institutions by A. P. Mollis

Official Department of The Visual Instruction Association of America • • • 286

Psychological Approach to Visual Instruction by Ernest L. Crandall

Lantern and Slide ^^

Conducted by Dr. Carlos E. Cummings

Pictures and The Church ^^^

Conducted by Dr. Chester C. Marshall

Motion Picture Projection ^^"

Conducted by F. H. Richardson

209

School Department

Conducted by Marie E. Goodenough
Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.
5 SouthWabash Avenue 41 East 42nd Street

Chicago New York

244

Advertisement

The Educational Screen

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June, ig23

245

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Vol. II

Editorial Section

June, 1923

No. 6

A New Department for the N. E. A.

THE interest in visual education is at a
higher pitch today than ever before. For
years past some thousands of teachers,
principals and superintendents have been con-
scientiously trying it out. They have worked,
for the most part, individually, in isolation and
obscurity. There has been little interchange of
ideas, little knowledge of what their fellows of
the same faith were doing, and practically no
publicity for their efforts. Little recognition of
their achievements has been accorded by the
higher aducational circles but the pioneers have
gone on steadily, seeking actual values and
getting them.

Significant things have been accomplished
with visual aids in many nooks and corners of
the educational world. Rather spacious nooks
and corners many of them are; cities like New
York, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Berkeley^-whole States like New
York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, California,
Utah, etc.

There are now thousands of educators in the
country who know personally that the visual
idea is valuable, who ask no further proofs.
These pioneers have ventured, they have won,
and visual aids will be henceforth part and
parcel of their personally chosen professional
equipment. They are waiting for no evidence,
no surveys, no pronouncenments or ultimatums.
They are going ahead on certainties they have
established for themselves. Only further know-
ledge and understanding is needed, and they
ask expanded facilities for gaining these.

These thousands — most of them still unknown
to the country at large — are the founders and
the foundation of the visual movement. Because
of them visual instruction is now a national
question, commanding the attention of the high-
est and mightiest in the educational realm. The
rank and file have proved that the idea is safe,
that it is no fad, that it completely justifies
recognition by the eminent.

The workers have shown something to the
theorists. The theorists will now proceed to

show the workers how their work should be
done. There is no paradox here. Bridges were
built by thousands before there were any en-
gineering schools; yet vastly better bridges have
been built since the school came. Workers,
create and stimulate the thorists; theorists in
turn inspire and reinforce the workers. The
two groups comprise the whole educational field.
It means, then, that American education is ap-
proaching unanimity on the visual question and
the movement in this direction will take on
speed.

We have, then, a trained personnel ready for
incorporation into the supreme educational body
of the country. It is the time — the exact time —
for the National Education Association to lend
its full strength to a proven cause. The Oak-
land meeting of July, 1923, should date the
real start of a national movement for wider
use of visual aids in teaching. A department
of visual instruction in the National Education
Association is more than a vital need in our
present-day education. It is a distinct opport-
unity for the great Association to add to its
splendid roster of departments one which has
already proved its worth and stands ready for
unlimited development under the powerful in-
fluence and direction of the great parent body
of American education.

Film Review Service

THE motion picture is exercising in the
world a vast, and as yet unmeasured in-
fluence which must be called "educational"
in greater or less degree, in higher or lower
sense, and in right or wrong directions. It is
therefore one of the important services to be
rendered by this magazine to give our readers
the most careful evaluations on the enormous
film output of the studios — whether the films be
theatrical or non-theatrical in content and pur-
pose. Evaluation is needed from at least four
points of view, and we are greatly pleased to be
at last in a position to supply this four-fold
criticism.

(1) Educational values will be treated in

246

Editorials

The Educational Screen

the School Department. All kinds of films,
planned or adapted for serious educational use,
will be reviewed here — primarily from the stand-
point of educative worth and content — by the
department editor personally. Miss Goodenough
combines years of expert teaching with long
experience in the field of educational film pro-
duction.

(2) Dramatic, artistic, and technical values
of theatrical films will be the chief subject-
matter of reviews in The Theatrical Field. The
department editor, Miss Orndorff, a teacher of
English and Drama, is particularly qualified by
long study of and intimate contacts with the
field of motion pictures to give critical estimates
that can be trusted.

(3) Films for church use will constitute an
entirely separate department. Its editor must
have not only trained critical judgement and
detailed knowledge of screen production, but
above all a delicate and trustworthy sense of
fitness in religious matters that can be possessed
only by an active pastor who is at the same time
a scholarly man. Rare as is the combination of
all these qualifications, we have found them all
in Dr. Chester C. Marshall whose "White List",
long published by the Methodist Committee on
Conservation and Advance, has come to be
trusted implicitly by thousands of ministers and
social workers. Dr. Marshall will review
steadily the great film output and give our
readers his selections of suitable films every
month.

(4) Finally — and this touches one of the grav-
est problems of the situation today — a classifica-
tion of theatrical films for child, youth and
adult, is vitally needed. We are very glad to
announce that Mrs. Charles E. Merriam, Na-
tional Chairman of the Committee on Better
Films of the National Congress of Mothers and
Parent-Teacher Associations, wall present to our
readers each month the selections of her Com-
mittee. These lists will show films suitable for
children of 10 years of age and over (thus they
are properly "family" films), and for those of
High School age, 14 years and up. In addition
Mrs. Merriam will make editorial comment
from time to time regarding film selection,
movie attendance, reasons for rejection of cer-
tain films by the Committee ,etc.

We believe the above represents a complete
service of film review, never before offered by
any magazine. However, we earnestly invite our
readers to send in their comment, suggestion
and criticism as always. It is the cooperation
of our readers which has brought the Educa-

tional Screen to its present point, and the same
cooperation will carry it further.

Announcements

HE June issue of The Educational Screen
is the last for the school year. The next
issue, September, Volume II, Number 7,
will appear on the first of the month, which will
be our regular appearance date thereafter.

T

SCORES of teachers, principals and super-
intendents have already been appointed as
subscription representatives for the Ed-
ucational Screen, with their own localities as
exclusive territory.

Our printed "Proposal to Special Representa-
tives" offers very unusual terms. Send for it.
You may accept or ignore, as you choose, with-
out the slightest obligation. ^

T

HE third edition of the unique booklet,
"10.01 Films," is in preparation this sum-
mer. It will be ready at the opening of the
school year in September.

It will be far superior to previous editions in
quality of stock, appearance, size, and in the
completeness and accuracy of information given
on the films selected. In its 125 pages will be
listed over 1,500 films. In addition to specific
indications for each film as to title, length,
producer, distributor, inflammable or non-in-
flammable, standard or small size, etc., there
will be added a concise statement by our re-
viewing staff of the contents and quality of the
film. Church films will be treated in a separate
section, edited personally by Dr. Chester C.
Marshall whose selections have stood for years
as the trusted reference guide for thousands of
churches. The book will contain complete lists
producers, distributors and exchanges, with
their exact addresses. The volume closes with
an elaborate index — ^classified and cross-refer-
enced— a feature which completes "1001 Films"
as the most valuable reference source ever pre-
pared for users of non-theatrical films.

"1001 Films" is not sold. It is given only to
our subscribers and to our advertisers for free
presentation to their own customers in the non-
theatrical field.

W

E increased our pages from 48 to 72 in
this June issue in order to get in every-
thing that should be there. Fifty per
cent increase was not enough. For all omis-
sions, therefore, we apologize — and confidently
expect to be forgiven.

June, 1923

247

The Use of Visual Instruction in the
Educative Process*

H. B. Wilson

Superintendent of Schools

Berkeley, California

THE problem of the school is to edu-
cate and socialize its pupils through
promoting economic, effective learning
on their part, and through affording oppor-
tunities for living in accordance with their
learning. The most the school can do is to
create for each pupil successive educative
socializing situations and stimulate him to
that degree of self -activity vs^hich will in-
sure the maximum of learning in each situa-
tion.

The best current thinking seems to agree
that that teaching is most valuable which
secures the greatest amount of desirable
learning on the part of each pupil. The*
teacher's problem, from the standpoint of
method, therefore, consists in creating suc-
cessive situations in which the pupils go
about doing work. In their efforts to work,
they meet important problems requiring so-
lution, fundamental questions which must
be answered, significant difficulties and ob-
stacles which must be removed, and out-
standing needs which must be satisfied.
Solving their problems, answering their
questions, removing their difficulties and ob-
stacles, and satisfying their needs necessi-
tate all sorts of efforts on their part. They
must read in text books, consult libraries,
interview people, go on excursions to see
things, make things, drill themselves to im-
prove their skills, conduct experiments and
the like. Working in all of these ways ex-
tends their knowledge, improves their habits
and skills, establishes right attitudes — all of
these results maturing them and increasing
their power and ability to do the things

which they try to do as pupils. If what
they are gaining is of general social value,
it is adding to their equipment to function
in practical life situations outside of the
school. The ultimate effect of all of the
efforts of the school to educate and socialize
its pupils is to equip them in accordance
with the time spent and the ability of each
for service in life, vocationally, civically,
and avocationally, and to minister to their
physical and moral development and ma-
turity.

It will be noted that the primary factors
in this process of education and socializa-
tion are ( 1 ) educative, socializing situations
giving rise to meaningful problems, funda-
mental questions, significant difficulties and
obstacles, important needs and (2) effortful
responses resulting in such prolonged strain
and application as are necessary to solving
the problems, answering the questions, re-
moving the difficulties and obstacles and sat-
isfying the need.

What is the place of visual instruction em-
ploying visual (visual is here used to in-
clude all types of materials making sensory
appeals) materials in securing the thor-
oughgoing operation of both of these fac-
tors so essential to learning with resulting
education and socialization?

This question can be answered most sat-
isfactorily by first asking and answering
another question, namely, "What is the
fundamental nature of human personality
in harmony with which good teaching must
work in educating and socializing children ?"
For today's purposes the most satisfactory

♦Partial reprint of address delivered before the National Academy of Visual Instruction at
the fourth annual meeting at Cleveland, February 27, 1923.

248

Visual Instruction in the Educative Process The Educational Screen

answer which has been given to this question
is that given by Royce in his "Outlines of
Psychology," in which he shows that a
human being is a triple personality — sensi-
tive, docile, and capable of initiative.

Translated into a simpler terminology,
when Royce says that a human being is
sensitive, he means that he can be stimu-
lated, that he can be impressed, that he can
be and is eflFected by his environment.

The first requisite, therefore, in the edu-
cative process is to see that proper pro-
vision is made for appropriate stimuli, right
impressions, a wholesome environment.
Since the school is responsible for educat-
ing all types of children, a rich and varied
amount of stimuH and impressions are neces-
sary. Otherwise the school cannot expect
to appeal with satisfactory effect to all of
its varied population.

Not only must the environment be rich
and varied, but each element in it which
possesses educative power should be so used
that it appeals to each child in a variety of
ways. He should be allowed to see it, to
handle it, to use it in any ways that are
proper, to discuss it, and the like. One type
of appeal will be most effective with certain
types of children, another type of appeal
with other types of children, but each sort
of appeal produces some effect with each
type of child.

Not only should the environment be varied
and be presented in a great variety of ways,
but care should be exercised, also, to see
that it is accurate, up-to-date and reliable.
Wrong, inaccurate impressions or impres-
sions which are not clear exercise wrong
educative effects. Each element or influ-
ence introduced into the environment should
possess the greatest amount of reality and
concreteness for each child. It should carry
over to him just exactly what it is intended
to mean and stand for.

Many well intentioned efforts to store the
minds of children with the world's wisdom

have been found to fall far short of their
lofty purposes when the actual effects chil-
dren were experiencing were analyzed. An
investigation of the meaning which the chil-
dren were attaching to certain great songs
which they were being taught illustrates
well how inaccurate and incorrect the effects
may be of a well meant educative situation
because the teacher had not exercised suffi-
cient care to insure that the appeal made
to the children was real and concrete. This
investigation showed that whereas the Sun-
day school teacher was attempting to have
her children sing, "Jesus was a rock in a
weary land," they actually were singing,
"Jesus threw a rock and away he ran."
Likewise she was endeavoring to have them
sing, "The consecrated cross I'd bear." It
was found, however, that the children were
singing, "The consecrated 'cross-eyed bear.' "

The human mind attaches to words mean-
ing in keeping with its previous experience.
The actual language of these songs expresses
which the children who were singing them
had had. They, therefore, proceeded to
read into the song such meaning as it might
possess for them and adapted the language
accordingly. So far as the teacher's effort
was concerned, however, the environment
to which she was subjecting them was an
inaccurate and unreliable one. It would be
easy to illustrate how much teaching of na-
ture study, geography, history and litera-
ture falls as far short of the teacher's
intentions as the songs above cited fall. Un-
der such circumstances, the impressions
made are inaccurate and unreliable and can-
not be productive of the socializing effect-
which were sought.

Visual education has a large contribution
to make from the standpoint of bringing
right stimuli, accurate impressions, rich en-
vironment. Great care, however, must hv
exercised by those who employ this attnu
tive, rather easily usuable device, to insure

Jttne, 1923

Visual Instruction in the Educative Process

2249

that the stimuli and the impressions meet
the standard suggested above.

The moving picture is a very attractive,
winsome new device in the field of educa-
tion. The tendency to rely upon it and to
use it extensively will need to be guarded
carefully, however. Most of the film ma-
terial available was not prepared to be used
with children for educational purposes.
Those responsible for its development have
been concerned primarily to make it inter-
esting and attractive. The moral quality of
the appeal and the accuracy have too often
been sacrificed to dramatic eflfects and at-
tractiveness.

The following quotation from Dr. Charles
M. Sheldon's article which appeared in the
Atlantic Monthly for February, 1921, in-
dicates how little regard has been shown for
accuracy in the production of a type of film
in which we might reasonably expect the
greatest integrity:

''Scene changes from the hotel to the
office of a New York film company. A year
before this scene, the author had been asked
to allow a little story of his, entitled "In
His Steps," to be put into motion picture
form. The scenario was now all completed
and the film ready for production. The
following dialogue "come off" (again the
phrase is used advisedly) between the Au-
thor and the Producer.

Author — I have gone over your scenario
and I have been greatly interested in it. But
may I ask a question?

Producer — Certainly.

Author— I feel a little reluctant about it,
but I think perhaps you gave me the wrong
scenario.

Producer — That is the scenario of your
book.

Author— I am glad to know it. But as I
remember my story, written twenty-five
years ago, there was no League of Nations
in existence. I see notice of one here in
this scenario.

Producer — Sure! I had to put that in,
to bring your story up-to-date.

Author — That was kind of you. And I
noticed a few other little changes as I read
the scenario over. When the story was
written, there was no wireless, no radium,
no automobiles, no San Francisco, earth-
quake, no (jreat War. I find some of all
these in your scenario. Your description
of the Battle of the Somme is realistic in
the extreme. But you know it seemed
to me a little premature.

Producer — You do not understand the
film business apparently. In order to put
your story over with the trade here in New
York and get your story on to Broadway,
the religious teaching of your story must be
enlivened by action — dramatic action. What
better action is there than a battle? That
battle-scene of the Somme will take thou-
sands of people and cost thousands of dol-
lars.

Author — But the Battle of the Somme is
not in my story. It was an oversight on
my part, of course, not to work it in. At
the same time, don't you think it seems a
little — well, a little strange to — to take a
story written twenty-five years ago and put
into it things, even as incidental as this
Battle of the Somme, which had not hap-
pened when the author wrote the story?

Producer — The trade here in New
York demands such adaptation. Your story
wouldn't go at all without adaptation. It
must be brought up to date or you can't put
it over with the trade.

Author— Then, in order to adapt the story
of Moses or David or Solomon to meet the
demands of the film trade of New York,
would you — er, pardon me — introduce a
fight between two submarines, an interna-
tional airship race around the globe, and a
debate between Samuel Gompers and Hiram
Johnson ?

Producer— Sure ! It would add dramatic
action to the story. It would put it over.

250

Visual Instruction in the Educative Process The Educational Screen

Whatever else you do, my dear sir, you must
not let your feelings as an author get in
the way of the practical presentation of your
story. That is the main thing, of course.

Author — But — this scenario is not — well
— it is not the story I wrote.

Producer (with a smile) — Better, I hope.

Author (handing the scenario over to the
Producer) — Take it, my son, and may it be
one of the twenty-six best reelers. I
wouldn't think for a moment of stealing
your story. It's a great story. Full of
fire and blood. Add a few more fights to
it, and I am sure it will more than satisfy
the trade. It will go over the top with a
whoop. Never mind my feelings. After
reading your scenario I haven't any.
(Neither feelings, nor scenario.) Put in
plenty of red fire. And don't forget to add
a mob scene between Colonel Harvey and
Mark Sullivan. Bless you, my son, Bless
you!''

The second attribute of the human organ-
ism pointed out by Dr. Royce is docility,
by which he means that one may derive and
retain certain values unto himself as a re-
sult of the stimuli and impressions which
play upon him, provided he reacts upon
them to understand, master, and interpret
them. In this statement he, therefore, points
out the second essential in the process of
educating and socializing each child.

In other words, merely living in and be-
ing subjected to a rich environment afford-
ing fine opportunities does not of itself guar-
antee that one shall become educated and
socialized. Whether these results appear
in the individual is determined by whether
or not he reacts in fundamental understand-
ing ways to the stimuli and impressions to
which he is subjected. If he does, they will
become meaningful to him, expanding his
personality, and bringing growth to him just
in the measure that his talents and applica-
tions enable him to understand and master
fundamentally.

While stimulating educative situations are
the first concern in the educative process,
the second concern is effortful response in-
volving prolonged strain and such degrees
of struggle and trying as may be necessary
to thorough mastery.

The great danger from the extensive use
of visual aids is that the experiences essen-
tial to growth and power shall not be pro-
vided for in the education of children.
Many will be tempted to rely upon exposing
children to a great variety of materials (vis-
ual aids) in the belief that such exposures
and superficial contacts will provide funda-
mental and lasting results. This is impos-
sible in view of the nature of human per-
sonality and the laws of growth which must
be observed in developing the human being.

The assets of genuine growth and increas-
ing power can only come to a human being
by a process similar to that which adds to
one's worldly possessions, namely, by effort,
strife, struggle, work, under the urge of
adequate motives. Educative situations, if
they are to exercise fundamental enduring
effects, must be so managed that children
give attention continuously and in effortful
ways, marshaling data and information in
answering their questions, in solving their
problems, and in removing the obstacles
and difficulties which block their progress. .
Unless reflective thought and reasoning take
place upon the basis of the data and in-
formation available, increased power and
ability to work cannot possibly be developed.

While the sources of help and inspiration
and stimulus should be many and attractive
in the teaching of geography, for example,
the teacher must ever be mindful that per-
manent effects of a valuable sort can only
come to the children through motivated
study on their part in an effort to master,
interpret, and understand the meaning of i^
the total rich situation. This is also true '
of the teaching of history and literature and

June, 1923

Visual Instruction in the Educative Process

251

science — indeed, of the teaching of all sub-
jects.

In other words, it must not be forgotten
that the thorough -going type of results
which education must secure for chil-
dren can only be had through work. Pic-
tures and other visual aids are valuable to
this end if properly used, but they possess
little or no value if used merely in an enter-
taining way. The use of such materials
for providing brief, exciting experiences can
produce no permanent growth in power.
Only as their use is followed by intense ef-
fort, deep thought, careful reasoning to un-
\ derstand their meaning and their message,
have they been properly used.

Dr. Royce pointed out in the third place
that the human being is capable of initia-
tive. This means that as a result of his
impressions and his mastery of their mean-
ing, he can express himself and can do
things which were impossible before his
experiences.

The third step in the educative process
requires, therefore, that there shall be due
attention given to expression, doing, per-
formance. This step provides the means of
measuring what has actually been acom-
plished in the first two steps. Whether the
educative environment with its rich stimuli
and impressions, and whether the reflective
thinking and reasoning which we have seen
are necessary in the second step, have actu-
ally produced the fundamental results de-
sired can only be tested by each student's
ability to do, to act, to perform, to express
himself. If his efiforts in this direction are
satisfactory, then the whole educative situa-
tion with reference to a given result may
be considered satisfactory.

Visual materials are of definite value in
the third step. The children may check
their formulations and their conclusions
against such data as are provided by visual
aids. They may check their efiforts to make
something so that it accords with a national

custom or an historic age against the sort
of data which is available in flat pictures,
stereographs and films. To omit to do this
in so far as visual materials are relied upon
in the educative process and to stop with
merely bringing the impressions and the
stimuli which visual aids render it easy to
bring is to disregard the two steps in the
educative process which makes possible any
fundamental lasting results coming out of
the first step. Unless fundamental mastery
and through interpretation of data take
place, and unless the matured result finds
expression in a definition, a tested con-
clusion, or a satisfactory external product,
the interesting effects in the first step will
prove to be but superficial and transitory.

In the foregoing I have tried to state the
theory back of our efforts in the Berkeley
Public Schools to make a larger use of vis-
ual materials. During the past two years
we have made considerable progress in ex-
tending our use of such materials and in
our understanding of how to use them witH
greatest educative eflfect.

Early in our work upon the revision of
the courses of study for the elementary
schools, the need of a monograph on Visual
Instruction became evident. As a result,
a committee has been at work for almost
two years investigating, experimenting, and
recording their results in order to determine
the most efifective methods of procedure in
use in various types of visual education in
regular class room teaching. The results
of their findings were organized into a
monograph which has just come from the
press. .

Editor*s Note — Space limitations prevent our
reprinting the rest of this article, which in-
cluded numerous selected quotations from the
Monograph.

The entire article will of course be included
in the Proceedings of the National Academy,
planned to appear shortly.

The Monograph may be obtained either from
this office or from Berkeley. Write to the
nearer address. (Price, $1.00.)

252

The Educational Screen ,

Visual Education in Detroit

As It Looks to an Outsider

Bernadette Cote
Of the "Michigan Daily/' Ann Arbor, Mich.

WHEN a child in the grammar
schools, I would gaze in awe at a
chance visitor, trying to imagine
myself in his situation. How pleasant it
must be, I thought, to watch boys and girls
study and what fun to ask them questions
which did not pertain to lessons! Some-
how these early experiences gave rise to
many vague desires and I hoped that
"when I grew up" I, too, could visit class-
rooms.

Just such an opportunity presented itself
recently when I found it necessary to obtain
some material from the Detroit Public
Schools by which might be shown the ad-
vancement that is taking place in educa-
tional fields through visual aids. In visiting
the various institutions my childhood an-
ticipations were justified, for it was indeed
pleasing to play the part of a visitor.

I was greatly impressed with all that
went on within the classroom. The chil-
dren weren't disturbed by the presence of a
stranger — far less, at least, than I used to be
— but in every case continued their work
diligently. One could positively feel the
interest they had in their lessons, which,
somehow, had been lacking during my own
school training. When I asked the reasons
for this new attitude the teacher replied,
"We have given the child more responsi-
bility and we act only as guides. You must
remember, too, that our facilities are much
more adequate than they used to be." I
understood these statements more clearly
after I had observed several classes in actual
operation.

I was accompanied through the schools
by Mr. Edwin H. Reeder, Supervisor of

visual education in Detroit, who has done
much in a comparatively short time to
promote the use of visual aids in that city.
I asked Mr. Reeder if he thought that par-
ents appreciate the new methods of teach-
ing and he gave me this reply, "They cer-
tainly do. Just last evening we had a
Parent-Teacher meeting at which the chil-
dren gave a program. Slides were shown
and various pupils explained each one. It
was a great success, and the parents were
pleased beyond measure."

Pictures are being shown bi-monthly in
forty-four of the elementary schools and in
several intermediate and high schools. The
board of education has provided thirteen
DeV^ry and six Powers moving picture
machines and a large number of films
which are loaned to the schools, from one
central office, according to a definite sched-
ule. Nine schools which own their ma-
chines are at Hberty to borrow films any
time they desire to do so.

The films are obtained from two sources ;
the department buys many of them and
rents others from various picture corpora-
tions. With such equipment excellent re-
sults can be expected and are actually ob-
tained. It is only under conditions similar
to these that the new ideas of visual aid
can be fully justified. Anyone who has
seen visual methods employed in the De-
troit schools, cannot fail to be convinced,
as I was, that immense profit can be realized
by extensive use of this type of educational
machinery under proper conditions.

The visual education work carried on in
the elementary schools is particularly effi
tive because these schools are conducted

June, 1923

Visual Education in Detroit

253

under the platoon system. This system
provides for an auditorium period at which
time the educational films are shown.
Great effort is being concentrated at the
present time on selecting the type of film
that is sent out, and those who have charge
of this work are attempting to bring about
a close correlation between the moving
pictures and the academic activities. Often,
by special arrangement, the pictures which
are exhibited have to do directly with some
one phase of work
that is being taught.
Discussions of the
picture, carried on
largely by the chil-
dren, usually follow
its presentation. And
here it may be seen
that the teacher docs
act largely in the ca-
pacity of a guide. A
Goldwyn-Bray picto-
graph, 'The Tale of
the Iron Horse," was
recently exhibited to
a group of third and
fourth grade children
of the Pattengill
school. This picture,
dealing with the de-
velopment of the
steam engine, proved

to be especially interesting to the boys of
the class. When one of them asked what
he liked about the film, the child gave an
animated and lengthy reply which promised
to continue indefinitely. The small orator
finally had to be interrupted by the teacher.
Obviously, the film had accomplished two
things; it had stimulated the child's mind
and had given him definite training in silent
reading. A question which I was going
to ask the teacher, "How can one be sure
that Johnny is not merely looking at the
picture?" was answered for itself in this
case. Films may be considered as a type

of reference-reading in picture form.

One of the teachers of the Pattengill
School cites an example which shows how
films tend strongly to stimulate other lines
of thought in the minds of the children.
'Tndian tribes of Canada" was presented
before a group of fourth and fifth grade
pupils. This picture showed the Indians
tanning hides in the old-fashioned way, and
while the film was being exhibited the class
seemed spell-bound. No sound was audi-
ble excepting the dull
buzz of the moving
picture machine and
one might easily have
imagined himself to
be witnessing a pic-
ture in an ordinary
theater. During the
discussion which fol-
lowed, the question
arose, ''What is the
new way?" Such a
query coming from
the children t h e m -
selves, indicated
clearly to me that the
picture had been
looked at with more
than passive interest.
At the C a r s t e n s.
School, projects are
being carried out,
based on visual education, which involve
numerous subjects of other departments.
A sixth grade teacher there has had her
pupils compile a scrap-book which has to
do with the story of wheat. Before actual
work on the book was undertaken, "Wheat
and Flour," a Ford film, was exhibited to
the children. Slides from the Keystone six
hundred set, which many Detroit schools
own, were used to advantage also. Pupils
from the art department made the cover for
the book; the home room arithmetic class
supplied the necessary data on wheat fig-
ures ; the science department furnished the

3'JL:'mfT

-I a #» 'V '^ : IjIJP"

:w^

Ready for the picture in the auditorium
of the Cass Technical High School

254

Visual Education in Detroit

The Educational Screen

facts concerning the wheat states and the
brief compositions accompanying the illus-
trations were written by children of the
literature classes. Visual aid in this case
was considered a fundamental necessity.
Such rnethods help to organize the school
on a project basis.

Stress should be laid on the importance
of the stereopticon and the stereoscope in
visual work. Group study is greatly faciH-
tated by use of the former while individual
work is largely accomplished by means of
the latter. The visual education depart-
ment possesses over eight thousand plain
and colored slides which are booked by the
various schools whenever there is need for
them. I visited a classroom one day just
as the children were preparing to have a
lesson by means of stereographs. It was

Completely equipped projection -room of the
Cass Technical High Schol.

interesting to note the general anticipation
which manifested itself while the instru-
rnents were being passed out. Quite sud-
denly all confusion ceased. Each pupil be-
came lost in a world of his own. I was
informed by the teacher that the child re-
ceives great benefit by having his attention
concentrated on the subject in this manner.
*'It is through this means," she said, "that
he comes to have personal reactions, which

in turn give rise to fruitful inquiry and
valuable discussion."

A teacher of the Carstens school is plan-
ning to have her pupils give a pageant in
the near future dealing with the history
of India. To arouse the necessary enthu-
siasm she exhibited the film, "Glimpses of
India." Slides pertaining to the subject
were made use of also. As a result, the
children have acquired a firm foundation
and a definite back -ground with which to
carry out the larger project.

A greater part of the visual work has
been accomplished in the elementary
schools; little use of it has been made, as
yet, in the intermediate grades. The high
schools, however, are gradually awakening
to the value of visual methods and one in
particular, the Cass Technical High School,
is utilizing visual aid extensively in connec-
tion with many branches of work.

To begin with, the Cass is a superb
building, modern to the last detail, and in-
cidentally the largest high school building
in the world. The equipment for visual
education in this school is of the best and
all precautions for safety have been taken.
The booth is fire proof, having a system
of fusible links, which in case of fire, would
melt and automatically close the doors of
all the apertures, leaving no place for the
flames to escape. A hood .with an exhaust
fan would quickly do away with fumes if
a film should burn.

The metal motor reel cabinet, containing
eight reel compartments and several
drawers for accessories is advantageous be-
cause it automatically rewinds the film.
The double arc transverter is another de-
vice which makes for efficiency. This trans-
forms alternating current into direct cur-
rent which results in a much stronger light
for the screen than is ordinarily obtained
from the same amperage. Two Powers
machines are installed which have many

June, 1923

Visual Education in Detroit

A thoroughly modern classroom, equipped to make young eyes render maximum service in

the learning process.

features convenient for school purposes. A
pilot light on the mechanism head prevents
pictures from being started out of frame.
A special footage indicator records the
length of the film. The machines can be
controlled from either side and can be
used either for motion pictures or for slides.
The booth equipment includes a Bausch
and Lomb model C stereopticon, however,
so that the machines need be used only in
their original capacity. The stereopticon is
an especially powerful one, and fully ad-
justable. A Brenkert spotlight, a Westing-
house safety auto-lock switch, and a tele-
phone communicating with "the stage are
other features which help to make the booth
complete. Such equipment, considered a
novelty perhaps at present, will sooner or

later be as indispensable as the laboratory
or gymnasium.

Mr. James P. Richmond has made ex-
tensive use of visual aid in the science
department of the Cass School. Films
chosen to correlate directly with text-book
work are exhibited at least once a week.
A portable DeVry machine is used in the
lecture room and by means of it, intricate
processes are often made clear, which can
not be illustrated in the laboratory. Mr.
Richmond conducted an interesting experi-
ment, recently, in which he divided six
commercial geography classes into two
groups of three classes each, arranging
them so that each section contained ap-
proximately equal numbers of bright and
poor students. He taught the classes of

256

Visual Education in Detroit

The Educational Screen

.one group by use of the text book only,
while the other group received additional
aid from moving pictures and slides. It
was found that five per cent more received
passing grades who had had visual train-
ing than those who had not. This is but
another bit of evidence which has accumu-
lated from a multitude of similar experi-
ments the country over.

That visual education acts as mental
stimulant and inspiration may be seen from
an incident which occurred in this same
school. During the time that a certain class
was studying the fruit industry, a picture
was exhibited which dealt particularly with
oranges. This picture depicted the mechan-
ical processes connected with industry and
finally showed the method by which oranges
are wrapped by hand. One boy noted that
this was the only process in the series
which was not a mechanical one and
he said, "We need a machine to wrap the
oranges." Immediately he began work on
such a device and succeeded in making a
machine, recently patented, which docs
wrap oranges mechanically. A rather
amusing incident was related to me in con-
nection with this incident. Mr. Richmond,
the instructor, in talking to the boy con-
cerning his achievement, asked him if such
an undertaking hadn't been difficult to
carry out, and the youthful inventor fer-
vently replied, "It has been my life work."

The moving pictures used in the schools
are not all of the didactic type, however;
films illustrating athletic feats and even
wholesome comedies are often included on
the programs. Many of the teachers with
whom I talked seem to be of the opinion
that visual education will gain its real foot-
hold only by means of these latter types.
One program which I witnessed consisted
of one purely educative film, a comedy, and
a short out-door film called "Skiing
Through College." We questioned the

children as to which film they liked the best
and received some surprising answers. Of
course the comedy," in most cases, was the
favorite, but all three pictures, in turn, had
evidently been watched with close interest
and attention, and each had made definite
contributions to the mental stock of the
children viewing.

I inquired of the teacher to find out if the
interest in pictures shown varied among the
bright, mediocre, and poor students and
she replied, "I have never found any dif-
ference in the interest, but the reactions are
sometimes surprising. I have had some
of my poorest pupils ask the most intelli-
gent questions about a picture. In many
cases pupils are dull because they aren't
interested. The films serve to awaken their
interest and this interest even carries over
into their other work."

I talked to many teachers who make use
of visual aid in their classes, and they are
equally enthusiastic concerning the results.
They find that a combined use of the mo-
tion picture, slides, and stereoscopes is in-
valuable, both for the direct information
that is obtained and for the supplementary
work that is aflforded. It became evident
to me that under careful administration,
visual methods can both facilitate teaching
and stimulate learning. Many studies, un-
der the new conditions, have taken on an
entirely new aspect. Lessons formerly re-
garded as imposed duties, have become
pleasant tasks.

In view of such evidence one is strongly
tempted to make glowing predictions about
the education of the future. Certainly it is
not rash to say, at any rate, that when vis-
ual activities become the rule rather than
the exception in American schools the
process of "getting an education" will be
decidedly less painful than the experience
is traditionally supposed to be for the \
younger generation.

I

June, 1923

257

The Flickering Screen

James N. Emkky
Pawtiicket, Rhode Island
Part II

I NAMED a list of fifteen apparent weak-
nesses in our rapidly built up system of
visual teaching of the present day. Let
us look more in detail into some of these
fundamental problems, and see for ourselves
how really formidable they are.

First of all comes the cost. This is a sit-
uation which cannot be dodged or evaded.
Visual apparatus is costly. The portable
projectors cost some $250 or more. The
theatrical type with the accompanying fix-
tures, including compensarc, rewinder,
splicer, fire extinguisher, extra parts, etc.,
will probably make the total cost of the ma-
chine pretty well up to $750 or $800, for the
heavier type, at least. Then there is the
question of fireproof booth, screen, darken-
ing the room. Upkeep includes current con-
sumption, carbons, film cement, shipping la-
bels, and many miscellaneous little things.
The matter of the operator also enters in.
The rental of films varies from $2 to $5 a
reel for a day, besides expressage, and in
some cases war tax. These expenses are
constant, and we must face them without
evasion.

A stereopticon and slides present some-
thing of the same problem, but on a much
smaller scale, and with the elimination of
many of the upkeep charges. It is possible,
to own a fairly large working library of
slides.

Let us frankly admit, then, that visual
instruction, at least as far as "movies" are
concerned, is costly. Each school or organi-
zation must decide for itself whether it is
worth the cost. As for the money — it can
be raised, if you want it badly enough. It
is simply a question of how earnest you are,
how large your community is, how much ef-

fort you are willing to make. In our own
case we had about a hundred dollars when
we started in to put in our equipment. In
less than three months the money was se-
cured and the machine paid for. Since then
the outfit has been more than self-support-
ing.

It is not an insurmountable task to raise
the money for this equipment if you want it
badly enough. This is an individual prob-
lem. It is also another individual problem
what type of outfit you want, gauged by the
question whether your schools are large or
small, compactly grouped, or scattered over
a wide territory and in small buildings.

The second difficulty, that of obtaining
films when you want them, is somewhat al-
lied with the matter of cost. This problem
is far from being solved yet. Early booking
helps a lot. For example, you know that
about the 22nd of February, films deahng
with Washington will be in general de-
mand, likewise along about the 12th of Oc-
tober, every film dealing with Columbus
will be spoken for. Other things being
equal, the school booking them earliest will
have the first chance.

Too many of us have gone into visual
work with the idea that all our films can be
secured gratis from some philanthropic in-
stitution, and when our projector is paid
for, all we will have to do is to show the
films that will be loaned to us, in some cases
even the transportation paid.

Now there is a good deal of illustrative
material to be had, in some subjects, at least,
but you will have to rent it at a fair price.
You can't expect the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, the General Electric
Company, the Bureau of Mines or the West-

!>r)S

The Flickering Screen

The Educational Screen

ern Electric Company, to furnish all your
program. They have some wonderfully
fine films, which will help out a lot, and they
are very generous in letting you have them.
For the bulk of your course you must rely
on the several commercial non-theatrical
companies, who make a business of supply-
ing you with the film you need. They will
give you excellent service in the main, and
assist you on many doubtful points.

It is out of the question at the present
time for the average school to own a satis-
factory working library of films of its own.
This third weakness must be conceded at the
start. The average reel of film costs from
$40 up, and is short-lived, and hard to store.
Only the very largest school systems can at-
tempt anything like the ownership of a li-
brary of their own. I question whether it
has as yet been done in this country to any
extent. For the present, at least, schools
must depend upon rental of films, with the
attendant difficulties.

As to the fourth weakness, there is an
opportunity for an argument. I am not al-
together ready to admit that the amount of
film material suitable and available for class-
room use is so slight as some teachers would
have us believe. That might have been true
two or three years ago.

In some subjects, there is a fairly re-
spectable amount of material obtainable, to
put it conservatively. Some of it may not
have been prepared for the classroom. Sub-
stantial revision and re-editing would help
this a great deal. The same criticism ap-
plies to the textbook. Texts are continually
being revised, or replaced by new ones, to
meet changing conditions and new ideals in
teaching. Shall I fail to use any text in
geography because no perfect one has ap-
peared as yet ? Likewise shall I fail to avail
myself of all the helps in teaching that I
may secure, because they are imperfect?

We got more real geographical meat for
not only one grade, but for several from

'The Bottom of the World," than from
days of textbook work. We find the Burton
Holmes films and those of similar type in-
valuable for the classroom. The possibili-
ties of these are just beginning to be drawn
upon. A new side to geography is being
more strongly impressed. We are discard-
ing the idea of treating geography almost
solely from the physical and climatic side,
just as in turn we discarded the old loca-
tional or sailor geography a long time ago.
The idea of human geography, how peo-
ple in other parts of the world live, how they
dress, make their homes, struggle for exist-
ence, is obtaining a stronger foothold every
day. This is gripping the pupils as the
older types never did, and broadening their
minds, and making geography a vital sub-
ject as the other types never did. Here vis-
ual teaching has its great opportunity.

Certain subjects are better provided with
material than others. A rough account of
stock might give us the following inventory :
Geography. Supply fairly ample, moder-
ately adapted to needs of the subject.
Constantly increasing.
History. Supply very limited. Films of
suitable length very scarce, unsatisfactory
in treatment, or crudely done. Some few
films of historical interest out of the ques-
tion, on account of length, cost, or certain
angles of treatment (e. g., Birth of a Na-
tion, Last of the Mohicans, Theodora,
etc.)
Nature study, biology. Supply limited, but
fairly good, and slowly increasing in
quantity.
Hygiene. Small amount, fairly good.
Literature. Unsatisfactory for the most
part, for the same reasons as history. In
many cases the film treatment of a liter-
ary masterpiece varies widely from the
book itself.
Science. Small amount of fairly good ma-
terial, slowly increasing.
I am touching on tender ground in the

June, 1923

The Flickering Screen

259

fifth weakness. This relates to a certain
type of films, prepared by educational ex-
perts for school use. The authorship and
direction of these films include an imposing
array of names and degrees, doctors of
philosophy, professors and instructors in
Nemo University, and Blank State College
and Dash Normal School. Theoretically
they should be invaluable. I have yet to dyit
a film prepared by grammar school prin-
cipals and teachers for grammar school pu-
pils.

The doctor of philosophy, the university
professor and the head of the department of
history of the normal school prepare a film
which ought to be a pedagogical master
piece. Somehow these films don't seem to
reach the field that they ought.

It is difficult for the university professor
to get down to the mental attitude of
Johnnie Jones in the sixth grade. He thinks
that every little fifth grade schoolma'am
ought to know all about concepts and apper-
ception, the five formal steps, preparation,
presentation, generalization, and so on. The
film technically, may be an accurate bit of
scholastic work, but it doesn't always help
the teacher as much as it might.

Perhaps one weakness of this sort is that
the film parallels the textbook, rather than
supplementing it. Most of our textbooks in
geography and history especially give a
general survey of the field. This very point
of view makes them somewhat difficult to
teach, particularly to younger children. The
average geographical text deals in generali-
zations, such as a few pages about a country
or even a continent, its main industries, a
few of its larger cities, a bit about the cli-
mate, or the vegetation.

A picture, on the other hand, whether it
be a still lantern slide, a motion picture film,
or even an ordinary photograph, can cover
but a small bit. It is an intensive study of
detail. It may take up intimate details, and
illustrate them more graphically than any

text, as regards life, industries, climate or
vegetation ; but it is a fragmentary bit, while
the textbook is a birds-eye. The film may
take up the intimate details of an industry ;
the text suggests industries as a whole.

When the film essays to form a review of
the entire field, it goes out of its own scope
into one where it is handicapped from the
start. In the textbook it finds a rival al-
ready too firmly entrenched to dislodge,
when it would be of splendid service in
complementing a particular bit that for
very detail could not be included in the text.
The sphere of the film is type-study, rather
than generalization.

For this reason I find such films as the
Burton Holmes or Chester Outing far more
useful in the teaching of geography than
the very scholarly films that attempt to take
up a brief review of a section, such as New
England or the United States as a whole,
and are profuse in maps, subtitles and ani-
mated diagrams.

After all, the purpose of the picture is to
illustrate the actual Hfe. The textbook has
by far better maps and diagrams than the
film can possibly have, for study at leisure,
and the pages of the text can handle type
better than can the film's subtitles.

Weakness number six. Teachers and pu-
pils are prone to look upon visual work as
entertainment, rather than a part of lessons.
While a problem widespread at the outset,
this presents no serious difficulties that time
and a little care will not remedy. When
teachers realize that visual instruction is
something besides the mere showing of pic-
tures, and become interested enough to plan
ways and methods to utilize the content, and
secure a visual technique, this will disappear
without any great trouble. The attitude of
the director himself can change this in large
measure.

Allied to this is the opposition, sometimes
the passive distrust of any innovation, some-
times the active and virulent attacks of par-

260

The Flickering Screen

The Educational Screen

ents who feel that time is wasted, or theo-
retical interests, who believe that school mo-
tion pictures are cutting into the amusement
field. Better understanding all around will
ehminate this. The school has no place as a
steady factor in the amusement field. The
institution that puts in a projector solely for
making money and running "picture"
shows'' is treading on dangerous ground.

A certain amount of entertainment may
be desirable and necessary to finance for the
present the serious educational work. The
theatres can have no legitimate ground for
objecting to a moderate amount of this, any
more than the restaurants can consistently
object to an occasional church supper or so-
cial. As to the illustrative use of films to
help in the study of school subjects, before
school pupils, in regular classroom time, and
without admission charges, the theatre has
not a leg to stand on if it seeks to oppose
them.

Flicker number eight. There are certain
subjects of the school course in which films
can be of little or no help. This must be
granted from the start. These are for the
most part the form-subjects, arithmetic,
spelling, formal grammar. But as to the
content subjects, history, geograpl\y, science,
hygiene, language, nature study, athletics
and physical training, cooking, and various
others, the films can help nobly. The film
must not be regarded as a cure-all like the
claims of certain patent medicines.

Nine. A weakness of some weight is
that many of the films that find their way
into non-theatrical hands are one-sided
propaganda more or less skilfully designed
to exploit some special interest or product.
For that matter, the same accusation is made
with regard to some of our textbooks. The
only remedy for this is for the exhibitor to
be on his guard, and, something which
should be done in any case whenever pos-
sible, preview the film before it is screened
before a class. In actual practice this ob-

jection will be found of comparatively
slight weight.

Ten. Films must be run at a certain
speed, which precludes comment by the
teacher in charge. Films must often be ob-
tained at so short notice that the teacher
has no opportunity of acquainting himself
with the contents of the film before it is
shown.

Satisfactory solution of these very real
difficulties appears to be a long way ofif.
Films must be run as they appear, and they
cannot be stopped to allow special atten-
tion to be given any one point — although
this claim is made for certain types of port-
able projectors with a weak light. But for
practical purposes, the use of films pre-
cludes discussion by the class, and even in
large measure verbal comment by the
teacher. In my own case, if films are
shown, I find it necessary to be in the pro-
jection room. With the constant use we
make of motion pictures, cost prohibits the
hiring of a professional projectionist every
day. In the shape that some film comes to
us, I do not feel like trusting its operation to
any teacher gr student operator, and I can-
not be in the projection room and the class-
room too. Captions and sub-titles must in a
large measure supply comment and discus-
sion, and they must be complete and full
enough to call the pupils' attention to the
main points of the picture itself.

Flicker eleven. Visual instruction has
not yet been scientifically proved worth
while. Regardless of the psychological tests
given selected groups of students, and the
attempts to group and classify and label and
pigeon-hole the workings of the human
mind, with all the varying elements that
make up the mental diflferences inherent in
two or more natures ; regardless of the fact
that a group of students test 3.5 per cent,
better rank when taught by visual means
over a group studying in the time-honored \
methods ; if clear vivid impressions count

June, 1923

The Flickering Screen

261

for anything ; if seeing the wonder-spots of
the world as nearly first-hand as may be, if
re-living the lives and struggles of the great
men of history, if seeing the unfolding of a
cOcoon, the cycle of bud to flower, or the
L)usy insect at work, mean anything to the
intelligent pupil, then visual teaching is
worth while.

Some of the mental processes cannot be
measured in percentage tables and graphs.
It is difficult, if not well-nigh impossible to
obtain convincing data ; yet from the stand-
point of a worker with films, from the
standpoint of a school man with a dozen
years' experience with pupils and teachers,
who has been brought into intimate first-
hand contact with hundreds of boys and
girls and their problems in acquiring knowl-
edge, visual teaching, with its many weak-
nesses and drawbacks, and its salient good
features, too, well worth all it costs in
time, money, or labor.

Twelve. There may be some question
whether films hold the child's complete at-
tention. We may be inclined to over-esti-
mate this point. When conditions are right,
(I emphasize this detail) there should be
little doubt of the psychological application.
The very darkened room removes outside
distractions to some extent, and if attention
is not properly concentrated on the picture,
there are generally some physical or me-
chanical distractions which can usually be
corrected.

The hall may be poorly ventilated, over-
heated and overcrowded, with the surety
that attention will wander from the best
lesson. If the pupils are not physically
comfortable, their attention is bound to
stray. The program may be too long, or too
much of the same kind of material used.
The subject matter may be ill chosen, over-
technical or poorly presented. Sometimes
the trouble may be with the teacher or the
subject matter rather than with the method
itself. Ideals and theories are not always

satisfactorily put into practice. The human
equation must be taken into account in one
kind of teaching as in another.

Inadequate and unsatisfactory projection
mars the presentation of what would be an
excellent subject. The film may be out of
focus, run out of frame, insufficiently
lighted, in bad mechanical shape, projected
with glaring spots of light upon the screen,
which itself may be in poor shape, or at a
bad angle from the spectators. Close at-
tention of pupils cannot be held if the pro-
jection is of poor quality.

The darkened room presents problems of
its own as regards discipline and conduct.
Our own experience has shown that these
problems are of no great difficulty. Our
pupils are as accustomed to working in
a partially darkened room as anywhere else.
It is not necessary to have the room in total
darkness. This is neither needed nor de-
sirable. If the space around the screen is
kept dark, a substantial amount of light can
be admitted to the rear of the hall without
impairing the value of the picture to any
great extent. The teacher who uses visual
work should maintain the discipline of her
room, whether in a darkened hall or a regu-
lar classroom. To some extent the very
darkness removes other distractions, and
concentrates the attention on the screen.
Even with such slight drawbacks as it may
possess, so far the darkened room and the
projector, either moving or still, present the
only practical method of getting the same
illustration before a considerable number of
people at the same time.

Fourteen. Films cannot by any means
cover the complete ground. This objection
cannot be denied. The film, the slide, must
concentrate on the study of a type. Yet
this limitation is by no means so great as it
first appears. The type-study is a recog-
nized pedagogical form, most textbooks are
a storehouse, a reservoir of material, from
(Continued on page 279)

The Educational Screen

A Classic on the Screen

Some Reactions of Very Young Purists

A. Marie Cote Weaver
University High School, University of Chicago

THE young purists mentioned in the
title above are a group of boys and
girls ranging in age from thirteen
to seventeen years. They are the mem-
bers of the class in the fourth year of
French in the University High School,
and it will be v^ell to bear in mind their
extreme youth as well as the fact that
the concepts from which they have
formed their judgments and criticisms of
the "Classic on the Screen," which we
are going to discuss, were achieved by
means of a language not their own.

Dr. Charles H. Judd, in an article
"Education and the Movies" which ap-
peared in the School Review for March,
1923, and which was reprinted in the April
number of The Educational Screen,
places before High School teachers a
definite new problem. It is that of form-
ing and developing a sense of apprecia-
tion of worth-while pictures on the screen.
Let me quote in outline : "What has the
school done to make young people intelli-
gent about this new form of art? . . .
What educators ought to begin to do is
to help the next generation acquire what
we do not now have, taste in this new
form. Do not let anyone think that the
only salutary reform to be advocated lies
in the direction of abstinence. People
are going to go to moving picture shows.
Making pictures moral means making
them more worth while. This means
raising the level of their correspondence
to the highest types of imagination. Do
not let the producers get the impression
that the educators are not going to have
a hand in training taste. Let us . . .

train young people to demand truly
artistic effects. . . . Provide a time in
the schools for the discussion of the
movies. . . . Ask the pupils to analyze
the plot . . . the pantomime . . . the
dress . . . the facial expressions. In the
High School there could be developed a
group of art critics who would do more
to elevate community taste than any
board of censors. . . . Will some teach-
ers begin constructive experimentation?"

Our class has been studying a film —
but it is a film that has not yet been
made, so our study is not exactly that
outlined by Dr. Judd, since his sugges-
tions are applicable to a picture that has
already been viewed. We have developed
a "taste," however, and the picture when
it appears will have to be pretty real to
win the approval of this group of
students.

At the end of January, about the time
our class in fourth year French was
finishing the reading of Victor Hugo's
"Notre Dame de Paris," the announce-
ment appeared in various papers and
magazines that Universal was attacking
the project of filming this novel under
the name "The Hunchback of Notre
Dame." This news immediately aroused
everyone in the class and started a flood
of conjecture. There was ever so much
to be said because we know and like this
book so well that every character in it is
very personal and every incident is very
real. The first reaction was that of in-
tense interest and delight — we should see
our story. We should see the old Paris
of the time of Louis XI, its old buildings,

June, 1923

A Classic on the Screen

263

The film representation of "La Place de Greve" of the 15th century which at present
is the site of "L'Hotel de Ville."

its pillories, its roughly paved streets.
We should see people going about garbed
as Hugo has described them, and espe-
cially should we meet fact to face those we
know : Quasimodo, the superlatively hide-
ous hunchback at whom we shudder, yet
whom we respect and almost like; Es-
meralda and her charming little goat;
Phoebus, le beau capitaine; Claude Frollo,
the evil genius and suffering soul; his
impudent but lovable young brother, the
mischievous student, Jehan Frollo; Grin-
goire, the philosopher and poet; and
finally the Recluse, the prematurely old,
witchlike hermit of the Tour Roland.
How glad we should be to meet them
again !

Then entered doubt. Past experience

with movies has taught even these young
gazers that they do not always find what
they expect. Someone remembered that
producers have a tendency to give the
well-known movie ending even to classics
on the screen. Would "Notre Dame de
Paris" be pictured truly or would it be
mutilated to suit the movie public? The
worst was feared and was presently con-
firmed by a passage in the Literary Di-
gest for February 17th informing the
public in general and us in particular that
of course the Hunchback could not be
produced on the lines laid out by Hugo
— that it had to be made to conform to
"picture technique" and to the taste of
the public that would view it. Carl
Laemmle, the producer, is quoted as say-

264

A Classic on the Screen

The Educational Screen

ing: "I am going to take liberties with
Victor Hugo. . . .Let the critical storm
its head off. ... It is high time that in-
telligent people recognized the fact that
the art of the screen is distinct in itself.
... If books and plays were screened
exactly as they are written, the result
would be a lot of piffle which nobody
could keep awake through." A pupil sug-
gested here that the screen has managed
to achieve an astonishing lot of "piffle"
to date by screening books and plays as
they were not written — why not try the
other way? "How many times," said
she, "have I looked at a silly movie and
wished I had saved my money for a
maple-nut sundae!" So here we stand.
Our latest information is that our picture
is to be built to appeal to the movie fans,
not to those interested in it as the pictur-
ization of a literary classic. It may please
us, but it must pay the producer. We
seriously considered writing the company
begging that the book be adhered to as
closely as possible; it was thought that
the use of University sta-
tionery might be impress-
ive enough to have an
effect. Presently, after
some discussion, it was de-
cided that it was no doubt
too late for that plan to be
of any value.

Then came pouring into
the classroom pictures and
clippings giving news of
the progress of the film.
The Educational Screen
for February contained a
note about the colossal ac-
t i V i t i e s involved. The
great army of the research
department was delving in
the archives for pictures
and descriptions, seeking

First picture of Esmeralda
brought into the class room.

details of the period. Gigantic sets were be-
ing built, among them complete portions of
streets of the Paris of the late fifteenth
century. La Place de Greve, so terrifying
and interesting with gibbet and pillory,
and last and most breath-taking, a replica
of the fagade of Notre Dame cathedral,
225 feet in height. This fagade is an old
friend, with its five well-defined stories.
There are first the three portals, then the
row of statues representing the kings of
France, above that the great rose window
flanked by the two smaller lateral
windows, these surmounted by the row
of colonettes, and the whole culminating
in the perfection of the two beautiful
towers.

The query came : Will it be possible to
build the fagade so that it will appear to
have the charm which age had already
given the real one? May not the outlines
be too new and clear-cut? Of course it
must not look as it does today, but will
it be remembered that the cathedral had
even then been exposed to time and man
for nearly three centuries?
Might it not have been bet-
ter after all to go to Paris
and use the real cathedral?
This last suggestion, made
by one of the class, met
with violent objection from
the rest. It would be bar-
baric to expose the precious
cathedral to the mutilating
assault of arms and molten
lead that should be pic-
tured when the inhabitants
of La Cour des Mysteres
seek to rescue Esmeralda.
Besides, the edifice itself is
different in appearance and
setting from what it was
in the days of Columbus.
At this point a pupil re-

June, 1923

A Classic on the Screen

265

membered also that Hugo's description
mentions eleven broad steps leading up to
the portals — in the succeeding centuries,
each new pavement has settled over the old,
ever ascending, and the process has oblit-
erated all but three or four. But there is
no reason to suppose that
the research department of
a great moving picture firm
will neglect this detail.

The difficulty of casting
came next. Naturally the
most exacting role to as-
sign was that of Esmeralda.
The best known names, of
course, were suggested ;
among them, Mary Pick-
ford, Lila Lee, Leatrice
Joy, Mary Miles Minter,
Dorothy Gish, Norma Tal-
made, Constance Talmadge.
It will be noted that these
are all possible players for
the part. Not one is a glar-
ing incongruity, but none
of these stood the test of
analysis. The person was too blonde, too
much of a flapper, too heavy, too playful,
too tall, or too unintelligent — at any rate
she was not Esmeralda and never could be.
A little later Universal published its cast of
characters. Their Esmeralda, Patsy Ruth
Miller, was known to no one in the class.
So we anxiously awaited a picture of
her. The first to appear was quite desir-
able in the particulars of unassuming
personality, appearance and costume, but
the little goat, Djali, was missed at once.
The next picture was altogether delight-
ful and natural. There stood the Es-
meralda of our dreams and at her side
her ever present companion, la petite
chbvre. Too, the cobbled pavement and
the rubbish in the streets were immedi-
ately accepted as realistic details, while

Esmeralda with Djali, her little
goat, in a setting altogether ap-
propriate.

the striking pointed arch of the fore-
ground was promptly recognized as the
arc en ogive, a bit of architectural termi-
nology which from repetition has become
pleasing to our ears.

The next character summoned before
this youthful tribunal was
that of Phoebus, to be
played by Norman Kerry.
We have, as yet, no pic-
ture of the actor in cos-
tume, but the man him.self
has much the same type of
features that we found in
a full page picture of Phoe-
bus in an unabridged edi-
tion of Hugo. (We are
using in class the Wight-
man short edition, 495
pages.) So here again the
casting director has our ap-
proval. Since Norman
Kerry is so naturally Phoe-
bus, it is hoped that his
make-up will in no way in-
terfere with so good a start.
x\n examination of the eyes and forehead of
the actor suggested to a pupil that per-
haps he was too intelligent a person to
play the role of so foppish and empty-
pated a dandy as Phoebus, but that ob-
servation was countered with the remark
that it requires intelligence to portray
stupidity efifectively.

Gringoire soon appeared, with Ray-
mond Hatton to work from. Our picture
is in many ways suggestive of the half-
starved poet. The darned hose, the
shabby shoes, the battered hat were all
approved, although perhaps the doublet
seemed not quite ragged enough. His
expression, indicative of disappointment
but certainly not of despair, hints that
his philosophy will carry him through.
The pen is a pleasing touch.

The stu-

266

A Classic on the Screen

The Educational Screen

dents think that the titles representing
any speech made by the ever hungry and
learned Gringoire should run in one of
two veins. He may make terse remarks
about food or he may utter some of the
many philosophical observations which
follow him throughout the b6ok.

So far our search for advance pictures
of Lon Chaney as the Hunchback has
produced nothing. Even a dozen or so
of fine new stills, recently sent us very
graciously by Universal, included no view
of Quasimodo. This has been a great
disappointment and the first materializ-
ing of our "hero" is eagerly awaited. In
spite of his intense ugliness, and physical
imperfections of sight, hearing and shape,
we have a definite liking and respect for
him mixed with genuine pity. We hope
the film will not give the world the im-
pression that he is a strong, repulsive
brute given over to evil. It was not his
fault that he could not always react to
stimuli in the accepted fashion, since "it
is certain that the mind atrophies in a
body made up of defective organs. Ex-
ternal objects always underwent con-
siderable distortion before reaching his
consciousness. His brain was a peculiar
medium. The ideas that crossed it would
come out badly twisted. Hence the re-
sulting action was bound to be diver-
gent." He could easily be made into an
unmitigated demoniacal influence in the
cinema version. It will be more difficult
to express the poor chime-ringer's good
qualities and worthy impulses as shown
in the pillory scene in the book, in his
unselfish love for Esmeralda, in his poetic
relationship to his bells, and in the real
motive for sending Claude Frollo, his
benefactor, to his death. We are very
anxious to see our own Quasimodo on the
screen, and not something Hugo never
meant him to be.

dies except Phoebus and Gringoire. The
Everybody of importance in the story
class does not want the book to end in
any other way. When the instructor
suggested that possibly the scenarioist
would marry Esmeralda to somebody for
a "happy ending," there was distinctly a
resentful attitude, and it is impossible to
imagine whom she could properly marry.
If it must be done that way, however, it
will be interesting, if painfully so, to see
in what way the characters will be
juggled about so as to give Esmeralda a
logical husband. Hugo has surely made
a deep impression on these young minds.
He has their approval entirely; even
when they don't agree with him they
admire him and will not, without protest,
allow liberties to be taken with their idol.
As one girl put it, "I'd rather have the
picture less elaborate and more accurate."
Are we right, as students of the
classics, to want them unchanged? As
children we did not want our fairy stories
changed by one word in the repetitions.
Now it seems that we want our more
mature concepts reproduced with equal
fidelity. Are these works, as Carl
Laemmle says, "too bloody to be pre-
sented as they are"? (A very unusual
movie argument, this. The scenarioist
habitually pounces upon just this sort of
thing for his "big scenes.") How can
they be cinematized effectively, these
classics? In making the appeal through
the picture it would seem to be a ques-
tion merely of emphasis on parts and
values, as was our method in studying
the book. We did not omit, but we did
not dwell upon the ugly parts dealing
with delicate situations or horrible deaths
— our discussions were not made to
emphasize the torture scenes nor the
terrible ends of the friends we have come
to know through intimate study. We

June, 192s

A Classic on the Screen

267

know these things happened so, but Vic-
tor Hugo's ''Notre Dame de Paris" means
many other things much more. The fact
that our characters have died is not so
important as the fact that they have

live d. Besides
knowing the
people of the
story we carry
away a real idea
of the place and
period. The ca-
thedral of Notre
Dame itself is a
treasure that be-
longs to us. As
one impulsive
little girl re-
marked, "When

Norman Kerry as Phoebus ;
the actor seems ideal for
this role.

I go to Paris, I'm going immediately to see
Notre Dame ; I'm not even going to the hotel
first." A good many of our students go to
Europe and they always send back pictures
of the cathedral with enthusiastic descrip-
tions and thanks for having had the op-
portunity to know it through Hugo's
remarkable story before they went. The
fact that Claude Frollo and his brother
met gruesome deaths there is not what
they think about because that is not what
was emphasized, either in the book or in
the class. Cannot the cinema give less
footage to these violent scenes and more
to the intensive lives which preceded?
And if the agonies must be shown, why
cannot the artistic dominate the harrow-
ing? Those who have seen the film of
Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" know that
even so repulsive a thing as searching for
dead bodies in the Thames, and finding
one, can be done so that it is only im-
pressive and not offensive.

Is it utterly impossible to keep to the
original? Will it always be a question

of getting the money of the masses? A
pupil remarked that frank plagiarism
would be much preferable to distorting
the story. Let them take the idea, change
the setting, do anything with the story,
give it a different name entirely and offer
it as an original achievement. But we
should not be subjected to such disap-
pointment as we usually meet when we
go expecting to see one thing and find
something entirely different and gener-
ally inferior. It is like going to see a
friend and finding him insane.

So we have made our preparations to
see this picture of great possibilities. We
know what we want to see and have con-
tributed our discussions. Let it not be
supposed that we are going to view it
with the idea that it is to be all wrong.
Indeed not. We expect to learn much
because we know that the picture has
been made after much serious study. No
doubt we have ourselves many miscon-
ceptions, due to inaccurate reading or in-
terpretation, s o
we mean to put
ourselves in a
receptive a 1 1 i -
t u d e of mind.
We expect to
have to reread
parts of Notre
Dame to verify
ideas obtained
from the picture
which we missed
in our first
study. It is to
be a great treat.

Many pictures
have cast their
shadows before,
but no picture
has ever been

Gringoire, the poet,
to be played by Ray-
mond Hatton.

awaited with more intense anticipation by a
group of so enthusiastic young critics.

268

The Educational Screen

Are the Movies Improving?*

Mrs. Charles E. Merriam
Chairman, Committee on Better Films of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, Illinois Council.

THIS is the second year that the better films
committee of the Illinois Council of Par-
ent-Teacher Associations has been review-
ing films in order to choose those films which
are suitable for the family to see. As I look
back over the two years of diligent effort and
compare the films of last year and this year, I
must confess, with regret, that the movies are
not improving. We had hoped and had been led
to believe that the industry did honestly intend
tj elevate the standard of films shown. We
were told that our demands for clean and whole-
some pictures for our boys and girls would be
satisfied. We have waited patiently — we are
a patient nation — for the promise to be fulfilled.
Evidently the producers think that we have
been lulled to sleep and that now while we arc
resting and waiting they can hypnotize us into
believing that the trash which they are produc-
ing is really fine art.

The Better Films Committee of the National
Board of Review, so intimately connected with
the movie industry, issues a monthly list of bet-
ter films for the family. I want to quote from
their lists of recommendations to prove my as-
sertion. They recommend for our thoughtful
consideration when seeking recreation for our
families such films as the following: "The Beau-
tiful and Damned," "What Fools Men Are" (the
story of a vain young girl living on her sister's
bounty in her sister's home and who breaks up
that home) ; "The Face On the Bar Room
Floor"; "The World's Applause" (story of an
actress desiring the applause of the world, who
plays with the affection of a married man, only
to become involved in his murder); "Kick In"
(melodramatic story of a reformed crook where
the sympathy is all with the crook); "Only a
Shop Girl" (story of two shop girls; one goes
straight— the other doesn't); "The Kingdom
Within," (containing a horrible close-up of a
repulsive brute, a murderer, about to attack a
cripple and a girl) ; "The Power of a Lie" (story
of a man who nearly wrecks the lives of a
friend and of a sister by lying to keep his wife
from believing anything evil about himself);
"Fury" (story of a dying sea captain who en-

*Abstract of annual report, given by Mrs. Merriam as
cil of Parent-Teacher Associations, at Decatur, 111. May

joins his son to wreak vengeance upon a man
who had deceived the boy's mother); "While
Justice Halts" (story of a husband and wife
parted by his quest for gold in the Klondike
and a second man who covets the wife). And so
the list goes. One unacquainted with its source
might easily imagine that some reformer had
picked out the worst films that could be found
in order to ridicule the industry and to show up'
the trash they are producing and exhibiting.
But remember, these films are listed as "better
films" by a reviewing board whose expenses are
met by the motion picture industry, therefore
that board does not intentionally ridicule the
industry.

One day recently our committee reviewed
four feature films and could not endorse any of
them. The titles that confronted us in the
movie ads were, "The Secrets of Paris," the
story of a girl caught in a rat-hole of an under-
world cabaret, "which makes this a picture you
will never forget," according to the advertise-
ment; "The Beautiful and Damned"; "What a
Wife Learned"; and "The Midnight Guest,"
which is the story of a child of the gutters v.ho
enters the home of a rich man in order to steal.
Why, the worst dime novel one ever dreamed
of reading in the old dime novel days of our
youth was a gem of literature and a narra-
tive of the good, the pure, and the beautiful,
compared with the majority of these films!
Crooks of all types, imbeciles, murderers, hold-
up men, robbers, moonshiners, prostitutes of all
classes and both sexes, drunkards, and brutes
are the human types generally represented.
What parent would allow his children to asso-
ciate with such people in real life? Who of us
would send his child out to walk with a woman
of the streets for two hours? and yet we let
them live with these people for two hours at a
time at the motion picture shows, — and the ma-
jority of feature films are concerned with these
types of men and women.

We try to be so careful about the companions
our children associate with and choose only the
fit for them, and then we take or send them to
the movies to meet the most depraved types of

Qiairman of the Better Films Committee, Illinois Coun-
2nd, 1923.

June, 1923

Are the Movies Improving?

269

humanity, as portrayed in the stories filmed.
Would we deliberately send our children out to
associate by the hour with and get their inspira-
tions in life from a moron who lived in the
neighborhood? or a thief? or a drunkard? or a
murderer? or a brute who beats up his family 01
kicks an animal for the pleasure, to him, of hurt-
ing? No, in real life, we lock up these types,
these defectives and offenders against society,
and keep our community safe from their con-
tamination.

How many of us see these types every day
in real life? If such did live in our neighbor-
hood, we would invoke the law or move away.
No, the people around us are ordinary people
like the rest of us. Criminals are put in jail
and the mental defectives are confined where
they can do no harm. We demand that they be
put where they cannot contaminate our young
people. We have been so drilled in the effects
of being frightened by these creatures that a
superstition has been handed down to us that
our children can be marked for life if an ex-
pectant mother is frightened by encountering
one of these horrifying creatures.

We seem to have forgotten all our horror of
these impressions and seem eager for our young
people to see all kinds of harrowing scenes. At
least that seems to be the theory on which the
producers are working. (The Press Agent for
Bell Boy 13 boasts that Douglas M'cLean had
a badly shattered set of nerves when he finished
making that picture.) The more they can
frighten us, the happier they are, and they say,
as they did about the old sex films, "We are
giving the public what it wants." Peter B.
Kyne is correct when he says that the produc-
ers are trying to shock the nervous system
rather than to appeal to the heart. Recently at
a performance I saw a woman of mature years
sitting on the edge of her seat, holding her
breath at the movie catastrophe about to occur,
exclaiming "Oh! Oh! Oh!," when it seemed in-
evitable, clapping her hands silently when the
hero came and averted it, laughing and crying
by turns as the picture progressed. Some day
they will take her out of a motion picture the-
atre a raving maniac and we will say, "Too
bad! I wonder how it happened." The pro-
ducers boast of these harrowing scenes which
make mature men and women in the audience
exclaim in fright. How much worse must be
the effect on our young people. Other nations
have fallen into decay and other civilizations
passed away; shall we hasten to break down our

own by undermining the nervous system of its
youth?

We believe the close-up of the brutalized faces
and brutal deeds is one of the worst offenses of
the feature films today. If ever we hope to
end war, then this is no time to brutalize our
young people. Nations have been known to
brutalize their people by showing their children
pictures of brutality and accustoming them to
revolting sights. We do become brutalized by
seeing brutality and having no chance to pre-
vent it. Our senses are dulled and we can
learn to take pleasure in it. When a man
throws a stone at a cat, just for his delight in
seeing the creature suffer, and the screen de-
picts his bestial grin — yea, even gives us a close-
up of it in all its repulsiveness, then that kind of
recreation for our young people needs not only
to be censored, but condemned.

The producers feel they have quieted the de-
mand for censorship. That does not seem to
be true. What they do not understand is that
we have now realized that the kind of censor-
ship administered generally which passes such
things as I have been describing for our young
people to see, is not true censorship. It has not
brought clean and wholesome films to them.
We need a different kind of censorship.

The only gleam of hope that I see in the
whole situation is that our boys and girls arc
becoming bored to death with the kinds of films
shown. They are more eager for our lists of
approved films than the average person would
suppose. They ask what there is that is worth
seeing and refuse to go to the others. If the
industry is not careful, it may lose the patron-
age of the young people and that would mean
its certain death. Why does it not think it
worth while to perfect some method by which
young people will know what is worth while
for them to see, the kinds of films that
they really like to see. If we set ourselves
up as a committee on better films and endorse
such a film as Bella Donna for the family to
see, our work would not long command much
confidence.

What would we think of our public librarian
if she suggested that our children read "What
Fools Men Are," or "The Secrets of Paris"?
Or if the English teacher read "The Woman
Who Fooled Herself," with the class? Or sup-
pose a mother told you she had just bought a
new book to read to the family the title of which
is, "My Friend the Devil!" And how many of
us would gather with members of our family or

270

Are the Movies Improving?

The Educational Screen

other friends to read aloud any of the films I
have named?

Recently I have seen Edith Wharton's
"Glimpses of the Moon," as it is filmed. Some
critics have said it is well worth an hour's time.
Perhaps you recall the story, an episode in the
lives of some young married women each of
w^hom spends her time running after some
other man than her husband, leading the worst
kind of indolent lives. I jotted down some of
the sub-titles and I want to present them now
for your edification, simply asking you to bear
in mind that our young girls are going to see
this film and learn many a lesson from it: A
married woman says to Susy, the newly-wed.
"It's a thrill to fool your husband. Wait till you
start to fool yours." Dick remarks to his wife
concerning the people they have always associ-
ated with and accepted favors from, "So they've
dragged you down to their rotten level!" One
married woman speaking to a widow says, "If
you must have a man till Dick is free, w^hy not
console yourself with Streflfy?" And the gossip
of the season was, as so eloquently given in the
sub-title, "who'd be whose wife next season."
Can we expect the girls who see this and read
these sub-titles, to think of marriage as a seri-
ous aflfair, or a sacred one?

These films are more injurious to our young
people than the smuttiest magazine ever pub-
lished, for they are led unsuspectingly into the
web. They seek an hour of recreation, of
amusement, and they find offered them for the
satisfying of a perfectly normal appetite for
what is wholesome, charming and entertaining,
a menu of w^hat is disagreeable, revolting, and
often fairly putrid. And before they, or we,
have realized it, they have partaken of so much
of this unfit mental diet, that fheir thoughts and
actions are warped and distorted by it. One
educator has recently said that it will take this
country thirty years to recover from certain
blighting effects of the movies on our youth.

Is it not time for us to insist that our young
people be saved from viewing these pictures?
The books in our libraries are classified into
adult and juvenile sections. The child under
twelve may not choose a book from the adult
shelves and even the older child is helped to
select a book suitable to his years. All sorts
of books are on the adult shelves, catering to
various tastes, and we care not what the adult
reads; after the mind and character are formed
it matters little, but the girls and boys can be
moulded and are being moulded by the films

they see. We must insist that they see only the
films which stimulate the good quahties.

Problems come to us with our years, but the
young people are not interested in them. How
bored they are if grandpa talks over much about
his "rheumatics." It is an experience which
may easily come to them when they are seventy
— but not at seventeen. So it is with the various
problems that come to and with maturity.
Youth is not interested in them, so why feed it
on films such as "WOMEN MEN MARRY,"
"A FOOL THERE WAS," "MY FRIEND
THE DEVIL," "THE WORLD'S AP-
PLAUSE," "THE OUTCAST," etc. These
are all adult films, reviewed this year but seen
by thousands of our young people. In Lon-
don, films are classified into adult and family
groups. We have asked the industry to do this
classifying itself, to show its good faith in helping
to solve this problem. After waiting patiently
for something to be done and receiving no en-
couragement, the time has come for us to demand
that our children be saved further exploitation.
We can have a law here as well as in London,
making it impossible for this to continue.

Our committee has been doing this work for
you during the past two years, to point out
what we believe is the ultimate censorship. To
show you that something must be done by the
community to prevent our boys and girls from
seeing the unwholesome or adult films. As I
said before, we are not concerned about the
films the adults see, and there are some per-
fectly proper adult themes like "Enter Madam"
and "The Eternal Flame," (for adults if they
care for these themes), but which young people
should not see, because they are too mature for
young minds. Therefore there must be some
way to designate which films are suitable for
young people to see. If films were stamped
before release as family films or as adult films,
and advertised in this way, then you could pick
up your evening paper and know before going
to the theatre whether you will find a film that
you can safely take the family to see or whether
it is safer to stay at home. As it is now, a wise
parent remains at home rather than risk the
show.

During the last six months we have seen 147
feature films and have been able to endorse only
21 for the family and 26 for high school age.
This is about one-third of the number seen.
Last year we endorsed about half of those
showm. Even then we do not say that the \
films listed are worth while. We simply say

June, ig2S

Are the Movies Improving?

271

they are harmless. A few weeks ago, out of
the 101 theatres advertising in Chicago, there
were only two films that we could endorse for
the family. Although our work has been the
choosing of and publishing the best films and
presenting nothing else to you my conscience
would not be clear if I did not tell you now, at
the end of our two years work, how many,
many films there are which are entirely unsuit-
able for our young people to see, and to ask

you all to make it your personal duty to demand
that something be done. We are grateful to the
producers and actors who are giving us clean
and wholesome recreation. Our lists have shown
who they are and the wholesome films they have
produced.

It is important to commend the good films —
but it is just as important to prevent our young
people from seeing the films which are un-
wholesome because too mature for them.

Mrs. Merriam is also National Chairman of the Better Films Commit-
tee of the National Congress of Mother and Parent -Teacher Associations,
and presents this list of films endorsed during the past year.

FOR THE FAMILY (From ten years up) :
The Covered Wagon

H. H. Snow's Hunting Big Game in Africa
Mabel Normand in Suzanna
Tom Mix in Watch My Smoke
Johnny Walker in Captain Fly By Night
Tom Mix in Romance Land
Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack
Laurette Taylor in Peg O* My Heart
The Headless Horseman
A Winter's Tale

Thomas Meighan in Back Home and Broke
The Hottentot

Ethel Clayton in If I Were Queen
George Arliss in The Man Who Played God
Timothy's Quest
The Old Homestead
The Prisoner of Zenda
When Knighthood Was In Flower
Robin Hood

Harold Lloyd in Grandma's Boy
Nanook of the North

FOR HIGH SCHOOL AGE (From fourteen
years up) :

The Famous Mra. Fair

Milton Sills in The Isle of Lost Ships

*The Toll of the Sea (a Madam Butterfly

theme beautifully done in colors)

Charles Ray in The Girl I Loved

Conquering The Woman
Mr. Billings Spends His Dime (perfectly in-
ane, but harmless)
Jack Holt in Nobody's Money
The Third Alarm (sad melodramatic story of
the passing of our fire engine horses)
Marion Davies in Adam and Eva
Agnes Ayrear in Racing Hearts
A Front Page Story (very clever newspaper
story)

Wallace Reid in Thirty Days
Java Head

Monte Cristo (almost like the book)
The Flirt (Booth Tarkington's story)
Jack Holt in Making a Man
Mary Pickford in Tess of the Storm Country
The Pride of Palomar

Lorna Doone (did not keep to the book en-
tirely and ruined the character sketches)
John Barrymore in Sherlock Holmes
Wallace Reid in Clarence (a good character-
ization of Clarence)
Thomas Meighan in Manslaughter
Free Air

Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (This is well
done if you care to witness a child's sufferings)
Charles Ray in Smudge
*The Rustle of Silk

*These films are worthy of mention, and rather ex-
ceptional, but are suitable for the more mature minds.

(The Educational Screen is to have the pleasure and privilege of present-
ing each month hereafter the list of films for the month approved by this Com-
mittee.)

The Educational Screen

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Ornuorff

How They Do It

"A

LL actors and actresses employed in
this studio are required to be on the
ground by eight-thirty, and to be
made up by nine. In case they are not needed
for a picture, requirements as to make-up may
be disregarded. Any failure to appear on the
grounds at or before eighty-thirty will be con-
strued as breach of contract or terms of em-
ployment. Signed, Hal E. Roach."

Thus a neat little notice, tacked on the door,
which I faced as I sat swinging my heels in
the office and waiting for the publicity man — •
who happened in this case to be a woman,

Alas! for the carefree life of a movie actor,
thought I. That business-like little statement,
and others of the same general tenor that I have
noted in other studios, certainly wasn't al-
lowed for in the rosy dreams of the romantic
youngsters who every year journey so confi-
dently out Hollywood way to star in the
. movies! It didn't fit in with the generally ac-
cepted notion of the movie actor, who is popu-
larly supposed to go to bed any old time, rise
very late, work if he feels like working, loaf
if he doesn't, and in any event, never arrive
at the studio before noon. No, this was a
new idea. I was destined to acquire several
before the afternoon was over.

It was May in California. You picture it,
don't you? Hot, yellow sunshine streaming
over everything, brilliant green grass, glaring
white roads, dazzling blue sky, and a soft
breeze from the sea, just stirring the tangled
eucalyptus. That is the way it should have
been, but as a matter of fact, it wasn't that
way at all. It was cold — had been for a week —
the sky was far from blue, and the sun that
copyrighted California article, was nowhere in
evidence. And there was a chill, foggy wind,
straight off the ocean.

The effect of the weather was manifest on
the "lot." Harold Lloyd's company had been
doing nothing all week. There was a hitch
in the story somewhere, and while Harold and
his colleagues puzzled over situations and
"gags" the actors and actresses waited.
Comedy, you know, is made up as it goes along
— no trouble at all, just spontaneous fun! And

so for ten days, the Lloyd troupe had been
wandering about the studio in make-up and
costume, not knowing what minute inspiration
might come, the story untangle itself, and they
be called for action.

We met Mildred Davis, Mr. Lloyd's leading
woman, who seemed to have nothing to do.
The publicity woman who was piloting me
suggested to her that I might like to know
anything she could tell me about comedy.

"Comedy!" exclaimed Miss Davis. A shrug
and a glance included everything — foggy sky,
cold, raw wind, and eternal waiting.

"This, if you want to know, is comedy." She
might have enlarged upon the topic, but some-
one came to her just then with an invitation
to spend the following day at Chatsworth Lake
with Mary Pickford, who was on location
there. Would she go?

"Would I?" cried Miss Davis, turning rosy.
"With Mary Pickford? Why she's my idol! Of
course I'll go — that is, if I can," she added
quickly. "I don't know when I'll be needed on
the set."

The corners of her mouth drooped a little, and
I remembered the notice in the office.

"Anyhow, it was nice of her to ask me," she
said, as someone else came to drag her away to
some sort of conference.

So with that authoritative source of informa-
tion cut off, we set off to learn about comedy
by ourselves. First we went on to the dark
stages to inspect the sets for the Lloyd picture,
and stopped to listen to a bit of harmony, pro-
duced by four actors, who were clustered
around a big piano in a deserted drawing room
set, improving their time while they waited.

Then we went out to look at the animals. A
regular zoo! "Cork," the pony, was very
cordial and friendly. The weather was appar-
ently not bothering him. "Dinah," the trained
mule was "on the set" with one of the children's
companies, but "Bunk," a big Newfoundland,
was at home, and resented our appearance to
the extent of snapping at us in no uncertain
manner. Various Sammies and Billies and
Jimmies in the persons of other dogs, goats,
cats, pigeons and rabbits, held our attention for

June, 1923

The Theatricaf. Fiet.d

273

a little while, but presently attracted by the
sound of voices, we wandered over to the
children's set.

A short street confronted us. At the end of
it stood a red school house, almost obliterated
by a huge signboard nailed diagonally across
the front, reading, "School Closed." The sides
of the thoroughfare were lined with a Coney
Island variety of attractions — ice-cream parlors,
shooting galleries, bath-houses. In the fore-
ground at the corner of the pavement, lay a
small but very muddy puddle. A small chap
in rompers sat on the curbstone, pensively
wielding an unfruitful fishing rod, and beside
him a little girl sat tenderly patting mud pies
into being. The camera was focussed on them
at close range, and the director was talking to
them quietly. Out of camera range stood sev-
eral interested actors from other sets, and a
group of anxious parents.

"Now, Bobby," said the director to a third
small actor, "you come up the street here, and
when you see Margery, you stop and watch her.
Understand?" Bobby nodded.

"Then you ask her what she's doing and she
will say, 'Making mud pies.' Then you sit down
beside her and say, 'Can I have one?' and when
she nods her head, you pick up the mud pie
and begin to eat it. Understand?" Another
nod.

"All right," said the director, "lets try it."

Bobby trotted along the sidewalk and paused
beside Margery with his hand in his pocket.
Margery dipped a grimy hand into the pool and
coolly waped it on the front of her white apron.

"What are you making?" asked. Bobby, with
a careful eye on the pastry.

"Pies," replied Margery, intent upon one of
them. Bobby sat down.

"M'ay I have one?" and without waiting for
the necessary nod, he seized the chocolate cake
which was to be his portion, and took a soul-
satisfying bite.

"Cut," said the director hastily to the camera
man. "No, that was wrong Bobby," he told
the child. "You forgot to wait till she said
yes. Now try again." His tone was coaxing.
So they tried it again, and Bobby forgot again.

Bobby's father took a hand. He knelt down
beside him and whispered to him. The little
boy nodded with a brightened eye, but said
nothing. The photographer took advantage of
the pause to snap some "stills." The camera
man turned to tell us of a small actor who had
entertained them that morning. He had listened

carefully while the director had explained a bit
of business, and then had nodded wisely and
replied, "I sec. You want the comedy angle on
it." One may be experienced even at five years.

"How are you getting on. Bob?" someone
asked the director,

"Slow. We've been all day at this, and 1
want to get the shots before it rains." He cast
a distrustful eye at the grey sky.

One of the mothers standing beside me, ex-
plained that the scenes had gone beautifully in
the morning, but that they had had to be done
over because of the chocolate cake that played
the part of the mud pie Bobby ate. It had a
white cream filling which showed in the picture,
and would never do. A mud pie is brown, and
brown it should be. A morning's work wasted,
and the children tired, but the scene must be
shot.

Everybody drew a long breath and prepared
to try the scene once more. Just then the
mother of the lone fisherman, who up to this
time had never moved or uttered a word, felt
a few words of advice to be necessary. She
ducked into the scene and bent over the young
man. He raised objections; battle appeared im-
minent.

"Lady," suggested the director patiently, "if
you'll just let me handle this — " The mother
withdrew.

"All ready now, Bobby," and the camera man
ground steadily.

" 'What are you making' " ? prompted the di-
rector. Bobby echoed him.

"Mudpies," replied Margery without looking
up. — And then it began to rain!

Production Notes

Costume pictures are quite in vogue just
now, as indicated by the following: Goldwyn's
"Ben-Hur," and "In the Palace of the King,"
Mary Pickford's "The Street Singer," Uni-
versal's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame,"
Metro's "Scaramouche," Douglas Fairbanks*
"The Thief of Bagdad," and Paramount's "The
Ten Commandments," to mention only a few.

From Associated First National: Richard
Walton Tully has completed an all-star cast
for his production of "Trilby." Frank Bor-
zage's new picture, "Children of Dust," ha-s
Johnnie Walker in the leading part. Edwin
Carewe's production of "The Girl of the Golden
West" is to. be released this month.

Over five months will be required for the

274

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

making of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Com-
mandments," and for certain big scenes in the
Biblical portions, crowds of thirty thousand and
more people will be used.

The story as developed by Jeanie Macpher-
son shows the application of the Decalogue to
modern life, with a Prologue of Biblical days,
telling the tale of the coming of the Ten Com-
mandments as related in the Book of Exodus.

Most of the Biblical scenes will be taken on
a desert location, hundreds of miles from Los
Angeles, where Mr. DeMille is to build the
famous treasure city of Pharaoh Rameses II,
which the Children of Israel were forced to
build. This, it is said, will be the largest out-
door set ever constructed, some three times the
size of the Robin Hood castle, which until now
held the record. A tremendous camp will be
established on the desert to accommodate the
thirty-five hundred actors and artisans who will
be required.

"The Cheat," "Fair WeeV and "Holly-
wood" are completed, and work has begun on
"To the Last Man," a Zane Grey story, and
"To the Ladies," a comedy by George S. Kauf-
man and Marc Connelly.

Goldwyn has purchased "The Rendezvous,"
by Madelaine Ruthven. It is a Russian ro-
mance, and the lead will be played by Conrad
Nagel.

Three big pictures just completed by Gold-
wyn are a revival of "The Spoilers," "Three
Wise Fools," and "Red Lights."

New Cosmopolitan productions are announced
as follows: "Little Old New York," "The
Daughter of Mother McGinn," "Unseeing
Eyes," with Lionel Barrymore, "Under the Red
Robe," "Yolanda," "The Flaming Forest,"
"Alias the Lone Wolf," with Bert Lytell, "The
Temptress," by Ibanez, "The Country Beyond,"
"Vendetta," "A Gentleman of France," "Alice of
Old Vincennes," "The Helmet of Navarre," and
"The Garden of Peril."

Film Reviews

BELLA DONNA (Paramount)

Robert Hichens' story of the vain, self-cen-
tered woman, who brought unhappiness and
death to all those who loved her, has been
gorgeously produced for Pola Negri. Money
and energy have been lavishly spent to furnish
a setting worthy of the famous emotional star.
But somehow the jewel fails to flash in its
handsome mounting.

Without question, Miss Negri has some
splendid moments as the passionate Ruby Chep-
stow, but for the most part, her performance
seems to consist of a series of exaggerated
posturings. By far the best performance is
that of Conrad Nagel as the deceived husband;
and Lois Wilson offers a fresh and charming
picture of the girl he jilts for the fatal attrac-
tions of Ruby. Conway Tearle does indifferent
work as Baroudi, the Egyptian lover.

Director Fitzmaurice has made a beautiful
picture of its kind, but the thought and its ex-
pression are too foreign to the American audi-
ence to be thoroughly appreciated. (Thea-
trical only) (Adult)
MISSING MILLIONS (Paramount)

Some of Jack Boyle's "Blackie Daw" stories
adapted to the screen. A true "crook" story of
crime and revenge, practically every member
of the cast being a criminal, with the exception
of the innocent young purser of the ship from

which the millions are missing. Alice Brady
plays Mary Dawson, who engineers the dis-
appearance of the gold, and David Powell is
her partner in crime, "Blackie Daw." Fairly
entertaining, but if you are looking for thrills
you'll be disappointed. (Theatrical only)
(Adult)

DRIVEN (Universal-Jewel)

With a story that is frequently reminiscent
of "Tol'able David" Charles Brabin has made
one of the year's good pictures. It is a simple
story, of familiar type, but a splendid setting-
forth of characters and motives; and the spec-
tator becomes so engrossed in the unfolding of
personalities that the well-worn theme matters
not at all. It is a somber tale of mountaineers,
moonshiners, and "revenuers." The Tollivers
— brutal father and three brutal sons against a
gentle-souled mother and the youngest son who
"takes after" her. The longing of the boy to
get away from them, to save his little sweet-
heart from the black Tolliver who threatens
her, and the mother's desperate rebellion in
order to give him his chance — these make up
the story.

The director has had the good sense to avoid
maudlin sentimentality, and overacting, yet
there is an intensity and a convincing sincerity
about every portrayal that holds the interest.
The performances of Charles Emmett Mack as

June, IQ2S

The Theatrical Field

275

the wistful boy, and Emily Fitzroy as the
mother could not be finer. Burr Mcintosh as
Bill Tolliver and George Bancroft as the
vicious endest son are excellent. Elinor Fair
plays the girl with charm and restraint. A
picture well worth seeing and thinking over.
(Theatrical) (Adult)

THE NE*RE-DO-WELL (Paramount)

The best thing about this picture is Thomas
Meighan, and the next best is the setting,
scenes for which were obtained in Panama.
Lila Lee, Gertrude Astor, and John Miltern
give the star capable support, but the story
seems somehow very trivial, lacking the true
Rex Beach spirit. (Theatrical only) (Adult)

THE CHRISTIAN (Goldwyn)

An earnest and straightforward rendering of
a very famous story, made even more worth-
while by excellent characterization. Richard
Dix as John Storm does perhaps his best screen
work so far. Mae Busch displays charm and
dignity as Glory. The scenes photographed
on the Isle of Man, and in and about London,
carry conviction because of their authenticity;
and a mob scene in Trafalgar Square comes as
an impressive climax. Although the picture is
not one that merits unlimited superlatives, it is
nevertheless, a fine effort. (Theatrical only)
(Adult)
WHERE THE PAVEMENT ENDS (Metro)

Rex Ingram has turned to the tropics for his
latest work, and made a good picture of John
Russell's short story about the love of a mis-
sionary's daughter for a handsome young native
chief. Alice Terry and Ramon Navarro are the
central figures, assisted by Edward Connelly as
the missionary, and Harry Morey, who makes a
fine study of a dissolute sea captain. Mr. In-
gram has listened to the public's (or might it
be the exhibitors') demands to the extent of
making two endings for his story. The logical
one parts the lovers, and ends in a minor key,
in the director's usual style, and the trite one
proves the young chief to be a white man's
son, sending the lovers back to civilization and
happiness. It was this reviewer's misfortune
to see the happy ending. (Theatrical only)
(Adult)

WITHIN THE LAW (First National)

Bayard Veiller's story of Mary Turner, the
girl who was unjustly sentenced to prison,
and who afterward revenged herself upon the

world by directing a group of clever swindlers,
keeping always just "within the law." With a
fine cast, a good story, and excellent direction.
Norma Talmadge comes up to expectations.
Joseph Kilgour and Jack Mulhall play the rich
employer and his son, and Eileen Percy and
Lew Cody do unusually good work as two of
the swindlers. Not a great picture, but a thor-
oughly satisfactory one of its kind. (Thea-
trical) (Adult)

SOULS FOR SALE (Goldwyn)

Rupert Hughes, so expert in showing up the
little faults and foibles of us humans, has at-
tempted a spectacle and fallen down hard on
the job. He has tried to tell the story of a
girl who married in haste, repented in haste,
and made her own way in the world at leisure.
Incidentally he wished to spread a little Holly-
wood propaganda. But the incidentals got
away from him, and grew to such proportions
that what with giving them the footage they
demanded and spinning out the thread of the
story itself, he has given us in the end merely
an incohorent hodge-podge.

There are "big scenes" but they have no pur-
pose; there are "punches" but they have no
aim. True, we do get glimpses behind scenes
in the movies, but the glimpses are so brief
as to be unsatisfactory, and some of the "real"
situations are unpardonably exaggerated. The
woman beside me complained bitterly that they
were running the film too fast, but it wasn't
that. It was just that the director had so much
to show us that he couldn't show us much of
anything.

The cast, composed of Eleanor Boardman,
Mae Busch, Lew Cody, and Frank Mayo, is
assisted by some thirty or forty famous Holly-
wood personages whom it may thrill you to
see as they really are. But to take in the pic-
ture as a whole, you had best choose an eve-
ning when you are feeling well up to anything
and your mind is geared to racing speed. (The-
atrical only) (Adult)
WHAT A WIFE LEARNED (First National)

To have a career or to have a husband —
that is the question that annoys the heroine and
causes all the complications. Sheila Dome goes
west to devote herself to a literary career, but
without meaning to she falls in love with a
serious young rancher, who swears he will
never interfere with her ambition. But when,
after they are married, he is dragged away from
his beloved ranch, to idle in a little flat white

276

The Educational Screen

University of
Texas

Senator
HiVdm W» Johnson

St. Louts School
Systems

St.FrancJj HospUal V

Fort Wayne -I nd. Pf

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

June, 1923

277

Sun- Maid
Kas'in G t-ow<?vs

In+ema+ional
Correspondence Schools

Ford Mo+or
Co>npany

Japar\€>5-e
G-ove rnmen-t

Choice of them all

Churches, in Schools, in Business and in Govern-
intal Departments — wherever you look, Motion
stures are being used to instruct, sell and disseminate
'ormation. It is an accredited fact that the big suc-
sses in Motion Picture Programs are made with
jVry's.

le roster of DeVry owners includes hundreds of
hool Boards, Business Houses, Churches and Organ-
i,tions to whom price is the least important item
len equipment is purchased — they demand the best,
d though willing to pay many times the DeVry price
the fact remains it is impossible to improve upon
jVry quality.

The DeVry Corporation

1248 Marianna Street Chicago, U. S. A.

Mex ican
G-overnmen-t

San Francisco
School Systems

Claiborne Ave.Prfsby+erian
Church - Mew Organs

rthe

Fir5^ eerman M, £.
Church -Chicago

Oept. of Public Health

Ore^ors School

Cleveland Twist
Drill Cox^p^r^y

Please Say You Saw It in The Educational Screen

278

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

Sheila is collaborating with a dramatist on a
play, he changes his mind. With Sheila's suc-
cess, the question inevitably arises as to whose
money they are to live on — his or hers. Jim
asserts his authority, Sheila will not be coerced,
and so they part. The play makes Sheila
famous; but as a rule, when we get what we
want we don't want it, and she finds that she
would rather have Jim after all.

Marguerite de la Motte, John Bowers, and
Milton Sills handle the leading parts very well,
and though the story drags at times, it is never-
theless entertaining and not too stereotyped.
John Griffith Wray directed. (Theatrical, com-
munity use) (Adult)

THE ABYSMAL BRUTE (Universal- Jewel)

A slow-moving, but sincere and well-acted
filming of one of Jack London's tales. The
"brute" is a youthful mountaineer who goes
down to San Francisco and jumps to fame as
a prize-fighter. He falls in love with a society
girl, and in spite of the shock to her sensibilities
when she finds out what his profession is, he
wins her away from a young man in her own
social set. Reginald Denny makes a rather
striking figure as the fighter. Mabel Julienne
Scott plays the girl, and Crauford Kent, George
Stewart, and Buddy Messenger are included in
the cast. (Theatrical, community use)

Reviewed Previously

APRIL

The Strangers' Banquet (Goldwyn) — Neilan
dissipates his directorial genius on a weak story.
The cast is the thing! (Community use, possibly.)
(Adult.)

The PUgrim (First National)— Chaplin's in-
imitable mixture of drollery and pathos. (Com-
munity use.) (Family.)

Toil of the Sea (Technicolor Motion Picture
Corporation, Metro Release) — A color film of ex-
traordinary charm and beauty. (Community use,
possibly some church use.) (Adult.)

A Blind Bargain (Goldwyn) — Lon Chaney in
a pathological monstrosity. (No use.)

Mad Love (Goldwyn) — One of Pola Negri's
foreign-made films — rather uninteresting. (Thea-
trical onh.) (Adult.)

The White Flower (Paramount) — Betty
Compson in Hawaii. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

The Secrets of Paris (Whitman Bennett Pro-
duction)_ — Mildly entertaining light opera stuff.
(Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Thorns and Orange Blossoms (Preferred
Pictures) — A Bertha M, Clay melodrama. (Thea-
trical only.) (Adult.)

Adam and Eva (Paramount) — Marion Davies
in a remodeled stage comedy. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

MAY

The Glimpses of the Moon (Paramount) —
Optically stimulating; otherwise dull. (Theatrical
only.) (Adult.)

The Beautiful and Damned (Warner Broth-
ers)— Screening doesn't agree with F. Scott Fitz-
gerald's style. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Alice Adams (Associated Exhibitors) — Flor-
ence Vidor and a good cast do justice to Tarking-
ton. (Community, possibly church use.) (Fam-
ily.)

Adam's Rib (Paramount) — An ordinary story
with DeMille trimmings. (Theatrical only.)
(Adult.)

Thelma (Film Booking Offices) — Innocuous

but artificial. (Theatrical, possibly some com-
munity use.) (Adult, high school.)

Prodigal Daughters (Paramount) — Gloria
Swanson plays a flapper, with surprisingly good
results. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Safety Last (Pathe)— Harold Lloyd in a dizzy
climb, with comedy as a side line. (Community.)
(Family.)

Grumpy (Paramount) — Theodore Roberts
scores emphatically as a likeable old grouch.
(Community use.) (Family.)

Your Friend and Mine (Metro) — Rather far-
fetched domestic drama, interesting in spots.
(Theatrical only.) (Adult.) J

The Flame of Life (Universal-Jewel)- Film I
version of "That Lass o' Lowrie's." with Priscilla
Dean and Wallace Beery as the highlights. (Thea-
trical only.) (Adult.)

Singed Wings (Paramount) — Poor. (No use.)

Success (Metro) — A trite story, well handled.
(Theatrical onlv.) (Adult.)

The Siren Call (Paramount)— The far north
again. (Theatrical onlv.) (Adult.)

The Isle of Lost Ships (First National)— Ad-
venture with a capital A! (Theatrical only.)
(Family.)

The Go-Getter (Paramount)— T. Roy Barnes j
gallops zestfully throuerh this Peter B. Kync story. I
(Communitv use.) (Family.) *

The Bright Shawl (First National)— Richard
Barthelmess and Dorothy Gish in a very beautiful
picture. (Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

Daddy (First National) — Hokum — and Jackie
Coogan. (Community, church, possibly school
use.) (Family.)

Gimme (Goldwyn) — Highly amusing domes-
tic drama. (Community use perhabs.) (.Adult.)

Silas Mamer (Associated Exhibitors)— Gen-
erally satisfactory, with an excellent cast and
lovely settings. (Church, community, and school
use.) (Adult, hiqh school.)

Nobody's Money (Paramount)— Jack Holt in
a dull comedy. (Some communitv use.) (Fam-
ily.) ' \

The World's Applause (Paramount)— Poor.
(Theatrical only.) (Adult.)

hne, 1923

The Theatrical Field

279

The Year's Best

IT IS A sacred custom among reviewers to
compile at the end of the year, a list of the
ten "best" pictures. This is fully as im-
portant and necessary as the annual selection
of the Ail-American football team. Robert
Sherwood of "Life" feels so strongly about it,
in fact, that he has been known to put eleven
pictures on his list, so as to remain on an equal
footing with Camp, Eckersall, et al. In order
not to be remiss in the duties of a reviewer, or
to overlook any of the privileges of the posi-
tion, I have made my list likewise. And here
it is:

"Robin Hood."

"Nanook of the North."

"The Flirt."

"Back Home and Broke."

"The Pilgrim."

"Oliver Twist."

"The Dangerous Age."

"Driven."

"Toll of the Sea."

"The Christian."

It is not a brilliant list, with the exception of
"Robin Hood," which stands as the cinema
achievement of the year, but these pictures
generally possess those quieter virtues that seem
to be getting lost or disappearing entirely in the
furious scramble after the bizarre and the
obvious in present-day movies.

Truth, it strikes me, is the outstanding char-
acteristic of every one of them — and whole-
someness, which follows inevitably. "Back
Home and Broke," for example, is on the list
because of its thorough demonstration that a
clean, live, humorous screen play does not
necessarily depend upon guns or other weapons
for its dramatic interest.

Faults, of course, there may be — these are
not perfect pictures, remember — but if you
have seen them, you have seen some of the best
the screen has to offer you.

The Flickering Screen

(Continued from page 261)

which the skillful teacher will select the ma-
terial most fitted to the needs of her class.
Out of six fourth-grade rooms, no two
teachers would probably take up the lesson
on "Mountains" in the same way. If they
did, teaching would be but a sorry mechan-
ical routine, and all individuality would dis-
appear.

Last flicker. "Visual education is an ex-
ploded theory." This statement, occasion-
ally heard by over-conservative teachers, is
as ridiculous as false. It is not altogether a
new thing. Back in 1658 Johann Amos
Komensky started the movement, when he
first introduced the use of illustrations in
schoolbooks. Komensky, or Comenius, as
we know him, faced even greater difficulties
than the modern educator contends with.
His life was one long struggle against ultra-
conservatism. Comenius had no moving
pictures, no lantern slides, no stereoscopic
views to help him. The art of photography

was not to be born for two hundred years
more. The use of an illustration of any
sort, even the crude woodcuts of the day, in
a schoolbook, was as radical an innovation
as ever the use of the motion projector in
the schoolroom would appear today.

Comenius, however, faced the opposition
of all the educational tradition of centuries,
and drove home his point. Today he is ac-
claimed as one of the great educators of all
time. It was as difficult then for him to
work out the details of visual education for
his day as it is for the modern educator to
divert the film from a purely theatrical en-
terprise to serious work in the schoolroom.

Comenius died 250 years ago. Yet as he
succeeded beyond his dreams the modern
educator has made but a beginning, and is
standing on the threshold of a new vista, an
inspired and of times faulty enthusiast, yet a
dreamer whose visions have the promise of
priceless fruit.

(Concluded on page 293)

-p- The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois,

Vice-President: A. Loretta Clark, Director of Visual Education, Los An-
geles, California.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Edu-
cation, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Toothaker, Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago Public Schools,

Chicago, Illinois.
A. W. Abrams, Chief of Visual Instruction Division, University of the State

of New York.
Rupert Peters, Director of Visual Education, Kansas City Public Schools,

Kansas City, Missouri.
A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
J. W. Shepherd, Department of Visual Education, University of Oklahoma,

Norman, Oklahoma.
Carlos E. Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buflfalo, N. Y.
W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

i

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. All matter appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy.

The New Department of the N. E. A

By Dudley Grant Hays

President of the National Academy of Visual Instruction

THE National Academy of Visual Instruc- privilege of participating in the business meet-
tion is now in its fifth year of service. It ings of trade organizations, nor do we think
is strictly an educational organization simi- it best to grant members of such organiza-
lar to and affiliated with the N, E. A. It has tions the privilege to vote in the official meet-
no commercial ties, nor do its policies depend' ings of the N. A. V. I.

upon the vote of those engaged in providing There might be some standpoints from
visual materials. It recognizes the great value which this would be helpful. Material pro-
of producers and manufacturers of visual aids, ducers, no doubt, would contribute funds lib-
but believes that educational endeavor should erally if only they could be given the direction
be free from trade bias. This has always been of our policies. If we remember correctly, last
the policy of the N. E, A. A most cordial year an oflfcr of $100,000 was made to the
attitude and friendly relationship exist be- N. E. A. if only it would prescribe the par-
tween the active members of the N. A. V. I. ticular types of films we should use. In the
and those who are developing and perfecting past the N. E. A. has not deemed this policy
visual aids for our use. We do not ask the wise. Following the lead of the N. E. A. we

June, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

281

Ready July 1

A Book every Progressive Educator will find of Interest

MOTION PICTURES IN EDUCATION

By DON CARLOS ELLIS and LAURA THORNBOROUGH

Both authors have had practical exp3rience in the teaching field
and also in that of Motion Picture production. They write from
inside and expert knowledge. They discuss both sides of the subject,
give lists of films available, manufacturers of equipment, teaching
methods and every other fact that the educator needs to know.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
P. P. CLAXTON, Former U. S. Commissioner of Education

(Net $2.50. By Mail $2.60)

Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 426 West Broadway New York

have avoided business entanglements which
might react in a harmful way in our educa-
tional procedure. Because of our policy in
this matter, we were affiliated last year with
the N. E. A.

Believing that strength of numbers and the
increasing use of visual aids justified the
action, we petitioned the N. E. A. at the Bos-
ton meeting to permit us to organize a Depart-
ment of Visual Instruction in the N. E. A. that
we might render more efficient service to the
teachers of the nation than was being rendered
by the visual section with its one short pro-
gram each year. This petition will be up for
final action at the Oakland-Frisco meeting.
We believe no valid reason exists for delaying
the time of our organizing this department
which concerns those of us who are active
members of the N. E. A., and are devoting our
time to the work of visual instruction in the
school system.

In a recent conference with Dr. William B.
Owen, President of the N. E. A., he said: "I
believe the visual instruction work in our pub-
lic schools is here to stay. We should have
had a department attending to this vital work

before now. I am for it, and will do all I can
to help it along."

"We are rejoiced to know that men of the
type of Dr. Owen no longer doubt that great
good will result from laying hold upon the
modern equipment in the visual field and turn-
ing it more fully to advantage in the class-
room. Let the N. E. A. Committee, which
was provided for by Mr. Will H. Hays, go
on with its very helpful work to ascertain what
types of films seem most effective in our
school work. We will welcome their construct-
ive suggestions and profit by them. Meanwhile
we must continue to make use of all the other
visual aids, such as nature objects, maps,
charts, globes, models, photographs, stereo-
graphs, lantern slides, commercial and museum
exhibits, in such ways as teachers in the class-
room, on the "firing line" of the real work,
report as result-getting and worth while.

To give immense impetus to the great work
already under way in visual instruction, there
should be no delay in organizing this new de-
partment. Not to grant the petition of its
active members when the requisite number
have complied with its regular method of pro-*

282

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educational Screen

cedure laid down by the N. E. A, will be a
reversal of the time-honored practice of that
great organization.

We urge all N. E. A. members who are in-
terested in the development of this work to be
on hand at Oakland, and to stand for prompt
action in this matter. So far as we have the
ability, let's continue to do our own thinking,
testing, evaluating, and reporting our findings
to our special committees composed of those
who are actually doing the teaching in the
class-room. Our team work will come up for
consideration in annual meetings of our de-
partment. The responsibility of "putting

over" the subject matter of the curriculum
and getting therefrom such a healthy reaction
that the pupils placed under our care will de-
velop into worthy, efficient citizens, rests upon
us. We must go forward with our work, using
such aids as we are able to procure. Let's
get together; listen to reports from the front
where action has been most vigorous; receive
suggestions from the prospectors who have
located mines worth working; encourage sur-
veyors to continue surveying; but not sub-
scribe to the policy of "watchful waiting" and ,
doing nothing more.

Visual Education Departments in State Institutions* (Part I)

A. P. Hollis

Chicago, 111.

A. Professional Status of Visual Education
Officers

AS visual education departments are very
recent additions to educational systems,
their place in our educational institutions
is not very well defined. It is desirable as early
as possible (1) to find out what the existing
practices are, (2) to institute comparisons
among them, and (3) to use these as furnishing
clues for establishing the most desirable types
and standards.

There are two groups of educational plants
that have concerned themselves with an organ-
ized distribution of visual aids to schools. These
are (1) larger city schools systems and (2)
state institutions.

The necessary information concerning the
present status of visual education departments
was secured by sending inquiries to these two
educational groups. The questionnaire was
sent to cities most likely to have such depart-
ments. These were the cities of 100,000 popu-
lation or over, 73 in number, and one smaller
city, Berkeley, California, 74 in all. It was
also sent to the state institutions of higher
learning, and one state normal school, making
78 higher institutions. 152 questionnaires were
sent out to the two groups.

Replies were received from 40 cities, or 55
per cent of those sent out, and from 54 state

institutions, or 68 per cent. 60 per cent of all
questionnaires were returned. The institutions
that did not return the questionnaires were in-
variably those that did not have departments of
visual instruction.

All of the total returns indicated some form
of distribution or use of visual aids. But not
all of them had a special department or officer
for handling the distribution. As the inquiry
was directed especially to the relation of such
special officers to the school staff, only those
cases are used in this paper, that had reached
a degree of organization requiring a special
officer or one whose principal duties related to
Visual Instruction*. A presentation of the
more loosely organized systems and an exam-
ination of a different group of facts which were
secured from the data, are reserved for a later
study. No institutions were included in this
summary, which merely used visual aids, in-
stead of distributing them.

Visual instruction departments started as ex-
tension activities in the state institutions, and
these will be considered first. Twenty of these
reported on, showed the departments suffi-
ciently well organized to employ special officials
to handle visual aids. The New York State De-
partment and the Massachusetts State Depart-
ment of Education conduct a visual instruction
(Continued on page 284)

*An address delivered at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Visual
Instruction, held at Cleveland Ohio, February 27-March 1, 1923.

June, 1923 National Academy of Visual Instruction

283

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THE LIFE AND WORKS

OF

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IN 5 REELS

Mr. M. Feldstein,
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Visual Instruction Meetings at Oakland

THE National Academy of Visual Instruction affiliated with the N. E. A. last year, and
at once took the necessary steps to develop a department of visual instruction in the
N. E. A. If the usual procedure provided for in the regulations of the N. E. A. is
adhered to, this department will be fully established at the coming meeting.

Because of the strictly non-commercial nature of the Academy, and the fact that its
President was instrumental in starting the movement for this new department, pending
the time of its organization, he was requested by Dr. William B. Owen, President of the
N. E. A. to prepare the visual program for the Association at Oakland this year. At the
start of the preliminary work on this program, Dr. H. B. Wilson, Superintendent of Schools
of Berkeley, California, was chosen as Chairman. He has given much time and energy to
the cause. With his fellow-workers on the coast, he has arranged splendid programs, rich
in vital ideas related to visual instruction, for the afternoons of Tuesday, July 3, and Thurs-
day, July 5th, in Aahemes' Temple, Oakland. Some of the best-known speakers who will
attend the Oakland meeting will appear on the program of the two sessions of the Visual
Instruction Department. In addition to the programs there will be interesting exhibits of
the latest available materials and most valuable equipment which can be had for use in
visual instruction. We present herewith the tentative program of general subjects to be
discussed by a dozen or more speakers of national prominence from various sections of the
country. The names of the speakers will be announced later.

1. The Materials and Equipment Available for Visual Instruction.

2. Handicaps to the Successful Use of Visual Aids.

3. How to Render the Teaching Staff of a School System Keen and Alert to the Values

and Uses of Visual Materials. , tt-

4. The Training of Teachers for Service and During Service in the Uses of Visual

5. Experimental Evidences in Reference to the Value of Visual Aids, and the Best Pro-

cedure in Using Them.

284

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educational Sera

service and are included in the list. So also is
the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, which
receives an annual state appropriation, and
conducts a state wide service.

The full questionnaire included 27 points.
Only the first nine are used in the present
paper. They deal respectively with Depart-
mental Relations, Titles of Chief Officers of
Visual Instruction, Duties, Qualifications, Sal-
ary, Rank, Assistants and Budgets. These re-
late to the professional standing of the depart-
ments and their personnel, and were considered
important enough to constitute a separate phase
for report.

Other topics relating to the character of the
visual aids used and the extent and nature of
the distribution, are reserved for a later con-
sideration.

The summaries and some observation based
on the data may prove of some interest.

All of the twenty departments did not report
on all of the items, so that the averages cited
are computed sometimes from a less number
of cases than twenty.

Under What Department?

Ten institutions report visual instruction de-
partments under Extension Divisions, which
was to be expected, as the distribution of visual
aids is clearly an extension function. As to or-
ganization therefore, most frequently, it is not
technically related to the teaching staff of the
colleges, but as to service, qualifications and
spirit, it is very closely related to the teaching
on the campus and in the schools of the state.
Nearly all these men report that though they
were in extension, they nevertheless attend
faculty meetings. As they supply campus
classes with visual aids, this is a very desirable
feature.

The Philadelphia Commercial Museum is a
unique institution, but as it gets $15,000 a year
from the state, and its material is available to
the schools of the state, it is really functioning
as a state institution for the distribution of
visual aids.

Duties

The duties attaching to the new departments
present as rich, a variety as the titles. Twelve
are especially mentioned. The data shows that:

(1) All officials supervise the distribution of
visual aids.

(2) All officials select, and either purchase
or rent visual aids:

(3) Four report that they have supervised
the production of films.

(4) Four report that they prepare the synop-
ses of the films or lectures for the slide sets.

(5) Five specify under Duties that they give
courses in visual instruction to either students
or teachers, but elsewhere on the question-
naire, it would appear that fifteen give such
courses.

(6) Two state that they manufacture slides.

(7) Three have conferences with campus
departments to plan visual aids for class in-
struction.

(8) No one mentions the printing of pro-
grams, bulletins, labels and other printed mat-
ter; but undoubtedly that was taken for granted
— as, a full equipped department requires a wide
variety of labels, records, lists and forms.

(9) One "spreads Visual Instruction
throughout the state."

(10) One "collects photographic negatives
and makes slides and prints. Distributes also
high grade carbons, gravures and color prints
for school walls. Passes upon projection ap-
paratus and works of art, for which state grants
aid to schools. Evaluates visual aids and makes
suggestions."

Altogether it would seem that directors of
Visual Education have discovered duties
enough to keep a full fledged department prof-
itably busy throughout the school year. In
my own work as a state director, I found the
year divided itself roughly into two six months
periods — the busy period of booking, from No-
vember to April inclusive, and the dull period
from May to October inclusive. While the
dull period was light in bookings, the extra
time was profitably employed in searching the
country for new material, repair and better or-
ganization of old material, and in the summer,
especially, conducting teachers' courses in Vis-
ual Instruction.

Rank

The rank in the teaching staff seems to have
been determined frequently by the previous
position held by the official instrumental in
organizing the work. This seems evident where
the terms, assistant professor, instructor and
agent are used. Nine cases rank as Heads of
Departments, though the title used may be sec-
retary, assistant extension director, or assistant
of associate professor. Head of Department
then may be regarded as the central tendency J
for rank of the new officials in the state insti- ^
tutions. Seven are either associate or assistant

June, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

285

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professor and also in charge of Visual Instruc-
tion— but of these, I have listed only those
whose chief duties were Visual Instruction.

Budgets

One is impressed with the small size of the
budgets less salaries. In most college depart-
ments, the salary is the main expense and when
the salary of the professor is provided for, that
is the end of it. In all but seven cases, the
salary greatly exceeds the rest of the budget.
Four have no budgets but are dependent upon
gifts or allowances from the main department
or some general fund. The range of the budgets
less salaries in the state institutions or depart-
ments reporting is from $200 to $22,000, and the
average is $4,808.

If we leave out the two large budgets from
the Philadelphia Commercial Museum and the
State D-epartment at Albany, New York ($15,-
000 each), the average for the State institutions
drops from $4,808 to $3,553.

The best organized departments, show an an-
nual budget, and one ^large enough to permit
the purchase of slides and films and, in a few
cases, their manufacture. A visual instruction
department is primarily concerned with ma-

terials to be distributed. Its nearest analogy
in a state institution is the library, although the
distribution covers a much wider territory. In-
stitutions contemplating such departments
should bear in mind that an initial expenditure
of a comparatively large sum of money is
needed to procure a stock of slides, films and
exhibits, worth the distribution. Commercial
and propaganda materials on a more or less
free basis, with which many departments had
their start, are of uncertain educational value,
and while many of them are incidentally of
high informational merit, the main reliance of
educational distributing agencies must be upon
materials produced by educators for educational
ends. Just what amount would be available is
difficult to state. The writer ventures suggest-
ing, however, a proportion. The budget for
materials should at least equal the budget for
salaries of officials who are to handle the ma-
terials. Two of the states reporting support
more than one center of distribution. Where
the state supports the service it will materially
reduce expense to have only one center of visual
instruction in a state. It will then be possible
to give that center adequate funds for a state
wide distribution.

86 The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD

President — Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York City Schools.
Vice-President — A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary — Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer — Charles H. Mills, Director of Publicity of the Boy Scouts of America.
Corresponding Secretary — Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.
John H. Finley, of the Editorial Staff of the New York Times, formerly President of

the College of the City of New York, and Commissioner of Education of the State

of New York.
George D. Strayer, Professor of Education and Director of the Division of Field Study,

Institute of Research, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Susan B. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California.
Olive Jones, of the N. E. A. Board of Trustees, Principal of Public School 120 and

Annexes, New York City. .

This department is condiw:ted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

''Thumb Nail Sketches '' in Visual Instruction

By Ernest L. Crandall

No. 4 Psychological Approach to Visual Instruction

N OUR last article we traced briefly the his- hand, is universal, general, absolute. Either

torical development whereby, through man's together with countless cherished intuitions

wholly changed attitude toward hfe and the common to all mankind. Moreover, we should

world, his attention finally became riveted upon also run counter to much that is recognized in

his own psychological processes and especially virtually every school of psychology. Even

upon sensation as a source of knowledge. In those who would flout Divine inspiration, scoflf

conclusion we pointed out that it was by this ^^ psychic phenomena and even resent the

avenue, historically speaking, that visual in- designation of the inner self as the Soul, fear-

struction entered upon the educational arena, ^"^ ^^^^ spiritual connotation, are compelled

since its very essence consists in the substitu- *° recognize certain physiological or biological

tion of direct sensory impressions for the inheritances mstincts, inhibitions, impulses,

o^^u^« ^^ -^t- u 1 • <tu i. t-- what not, that are quite apart from, and that

spoken or written symbol, in the teaching . ,, rr ...... .. c . ,

profoundly affect the interpretation of external

process ■ . .

,.. .' , , . stimuli. What is still more significant, if we

We frequently encounter the sweeping state- ^,,,pt ^^e postulate that all knowledge comes

ment that all man's knowledge comes to him through the senses, we bind ourselves irrev-

through the senses. To subscribe to that for- ocably to the proposition that truth is relative,

mula, we must consign to the same scrap-heap Sensation is individual, specific, variable. Your

the visions of the Hebrew prophets, the Chris- sensation is not my sensation. It may not even

tian mystics, and all the poets of all the ages, resemble my sensation. Fact, on the other

I

i

June, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

287

there is a violet ray or there is not, however it
may appear to you and me. Either two is more
than one or it is not; even though I may see
two where you see one, or might have done so
before prohibition. Even Mr. Einstein, I fancy,
does not wish to sweep us altogether away from
this bit of intellectual terra firma. The relativ-
ity of sensation, perception, conception, knowl-
edge, should only emphasize the necessity of
postulating absolute verity somewhere.

This reservation is needful, not so much for
an appreciation of visual instruction, as for
the sake of emphasizing that our first concern
as teachers is not the comprehension of this
or that phase of the educational process, but
a genuine understanding of the child mind as
a whole, of the child spirit, — if you do not ob-
ject to the term. The whole tendency of our
modern teaching, as of our modern life, is so
strongly toward mere objectivity, we spend so
much time and energy in piling up data and
devote so little reflection to arriving at con-
clusions, we scrutinize life processes so metic-
ulously and give so little heed to life's pur-
poses, that we need now and again to bring
ourselves up with a round turn and recognize
the philosophical necessity of recognizing the
existence somewhere of fundamental, universal,
transcendent truth.

We are teachers, not of physics and mathe-
matics, not of language and expression; we are
teachers of children. We are trainers of the
child mind. If appreciation of visual instruction
were to lead us still farther along the path of
identifying mind training with sense training,
than we are prone already to go, through the
dominance of the modern objective attitude,
then I for one should wish to discard this
method altogether.

Unless we wish to produce a race of egoists,
egotists and crass materialists, then our first
duty is not to multiply sensations for the child,
but to aid him in their interpretation; not to
busy ourselves continually about accumulating
a vast store of percepts for the child, but to
devote the major part of our attention to help-
ing him weld these into sound concepts; not
even to conceive of our supreme function as
that of enriching the child's mind with depend-
able concepts, but that of leading his imagina-
tion out from these to some generic notion of
God's great universe and its laws.

It may be wholly a question of emphasis, but
wrong emphasis is the whole secret of bad
teaching. It is just because the mere mechan-

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288

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

ics of visual instruction tend so strongly to
emphasize sensation, the objective, the con-
crete, that I have felt impelled to sound this
warning note at the very outset.

Happy the teacher who can enter somewhat
into Wordsworth's beautiful vision of child-
hood : —

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting

And Cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home."

For those to whom this may seem like poetic
mysticism it may still be possible, with Tenny-
son to "dimly trust the larger hope," or, with
gentle Matthew Arnold, to reach out in our
appraisals of life, of history, of the universe,
after that "somewhat, not ourselves, that makes
for righteousness." In any case, a teacher with
no spiritual anchorage, no spiritual background
for his teaching, is no teacher, but a blind
leader of the blind.

With these reservations made, it is safe to
proceed to the formulation of the place of sen-
sation in the learning (consequently also in the
teaching) process. I think we should have lit-
tle difficulty in agreeing to a formula something
like the following: — "Sensation is the reaction
of the ego (self, soul) to stimuli from the out-
side world, transmitted through the nervous
system by means of which the individual ar-
rives at a consciousness of self and of the world
about him, and through the interpretation of
which he derives some conception of the uni-
verse."

It will be noted that this definition seeks to
be neither exclusive nor inclusive; but it is
clearly descriptive of the process by which we
acquire most of our information, particularly
our practical information. It is thus that we
obtain at least our working knowledge of the
world about us, and of our relation to it. And
this is especially true of the child. Hence the
importance of training the senses and of teach-
ing through the senses.

In visual instruction recourse is had to the
direct sense appeal. The child is taught to vis-
uaHze through visualization. As far as prac-
ticable he is presented with objects or the visual
representations of objects, rather than with
words. As a result his mind is stored with the
images rather than with symbols. These are

the raw material of which the voluntary and
involuntary combinations and permutations are
compounded, upon which he rears his structure
of percept, concept, thought and knowledge.
That such a method encourages observation,
stimulates imagination, sharpens judgment, en-
riches information and generally broadens,
deepens and solidifies the whole process of ac-
quiring knowledge, can hardly be disputed.

To presume that the sense of vision alone
should be appealed to would be absurd. Equally
bootless is it, in my opinion, to indulge in fine-
spun calculations as to what exact percentage
of human knowledge is acquired through this
particular sense, which some have stated to be
as high as 85 or even 87 per cent. The signifi-
cant fact is that in the common every-day
conduct of life, the sense of vision is the one
great dominating sense, and not only that, but
the one great unifying sense. It is the one
chief instrument of co-ordination, through
which all our other sensory impressions are
marshalled and put in order. Even the tiniest
child instinctively seeks with the eyes the
source of sound and bends a scrutinizing glance
upon whatever he touches.

One more word of warning and we may con-
clude this article. Just as the visual instruc-
tionist should keep ever in mind that he is a
teacher of children and not a mere trainer of
senses, so should he be careful not to exagger-
ate the importance of the visual appeal to the
exclusion of other forms of instruction. To
prove a blessing and not a bane, visual instruc-
tion must be adjusted with perfect nicety to
every step of the learning process and to every
phase of the child's psychological development.

Surely, the study of the precise function of
visual instruction, and of its several variant
forms, with relation to the various phases of
the recitation, with relation to the various
stages of the whole learning process, with rela-
tion to the psychological age of the child, with
relation to the subject matter, and with rela-
tion to various other devices in the art of teach-
ing, affords matter for grave deliberation,
earnest discussion and wide experimentation.
To embark upon such a study without recur-
ring from the outset and continuously to the
first principles of psychological pedagogy,
would be like rashly attempting to sail upon
uncharted seas, with plenty of charts and map-
at hand. Accordingly, in our next article \\
shall make our first preliminary excursion into
those familiar but always surprising waters.

I

June, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

289

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Department of Visual Instruction,
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Legislative Progress

In the last issue of The Educational Screen
announcement was made of two measures
pending before the New York Legislature,
which would open up the use of standard gauge
non-inflammable film in portable projectors,
without booth or operator. These bills have
now passed both houses of the legislature by
an overwhelming majority and are before Gov-
ernor Smith for signature.

The Massachusetts Legislature is still in ses-
sion at this writing and has before it a similar
legislative proposal, which the Visual Instruc-
tion Association of America is vigorously push-
ing.

Meantime the Fire Protective Association of
America, in session at Chicago, has unani-
mously approved in the last detail the nation-
wide legislative program outhned in our pre-
vious announcement, a program worked out by
a representative group of persons brought to-
gether by the Legislative Committee of the
Association.

Visual Instruction at the
Oakland Convention

The arrangements now virtually completed
between the Visual Instruction Association of
America and the business management of the
N. E. A. insure the most striking presentation
and demonstration of visual instruction mate-
rials and methods ever attempted. The far end
of the exhibition floor, opposite the main en-
trance and constituting about one-fourth of the
entire floor space of the hall, has been allotted
to visual instruction. This segregated exhibit
will be under the management of the Visual
Instruction Association of America, which has
hired the space outright and will sublet it to
exhibitors of visual instruction materials.

In addition to the individual booths, two
commodious display counters for common and
co-operative use have been provided, also a
general rest and conference room. A separate
projection room, seating upwards of one hun-
dred persons will be in constant use for film
and slide demonstrations, in addition to which
six or eight other screens will be provided in
various parts of the exhibit.
This is the first time that visual instruction

290

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

"Mcintosh Lanterns are Honest Lanterns'

PLEASE

|-|r:il|^ A/'Ol 1 t*QF^I 1 ^° ^^^ ^^^ "^ ^° ^^^^ ^°^ some real service and
1 It/lJ^ y yJlAi 0\-/ll good prompt shipments by placing your order now,
and avoiding thelFall "School Rush." you'd be surprised at how

much difference it makes if

you

Shop Early

Meantime, if you want any
help (information, advice,
technical assistance) we are
the people to ask for it.

Mcintosh Stereopticon
Company

485 Atlas Block

CHICAGO

exhibits have been thus segregated and, when spectacular. To quote Mr. H. A. Allen, busi-

one adds to this segregation the strategic situa- ness manager of the N. E. A., "This is promot-

tion of the floor space allotted, it will readily ing visual instruction through visual instruc-

be seen that the effect can hardly be less than tion."

1=^

r

A.

J-L

III II I I I I I I I ^prnii

I 2 SHADOW I tOXIl I MKOOW 1 BO«tI 1 IKACIOW f 50«lt I

I ij ^ £11 ^ £j ijt

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• MAIN AISLE Of EXHIblTIOH FLOOft,

PLAN - VISUAL INSTILUCTION GftOUP

I J

Plan of space taken by tlie Visual Instruction Association of America for special exhibits

in this field.

June, 1923

291

Lantern and Slide

Conducted by
Dr. Carlos E. Cummings

The editor of this department will attempt to answer all queries sub-
mitted, on the making or projection of lantern slides, lanterns or still
projectors, or pictures made by photography for educational purposes.
All matters connected with moving pictiure projection or films will be
discussed on another page. All readers of the Educational Screen are
invited to make use of this page, and submit questions on any topic
properly considered herein.

THE projection of still pictures on the
screen has been a practical accomplish-
ment for at least two hundred and fifty
years and the modern magic lantern has been
developed almost to perfection in the matter of
simplicity and efficiency. It may therefore be
proper to offer a word of explanation as to the
necessity for a department devoted to the
mechanics of projection.

Experience has demonstrated, to the writer
at least, that very few exhibitions of lantern
slides can be considered as displaying absolute
perfection in this art. Compared with the type-
writer or sewing machine a stereopticon lantern
is ridiculously simple in its operation, but the
fact that it is connected to a source of electric
power invests it with a mysterious quality
which seems to pervade the entire piece of
mechanism. The writer is the head of a de-
partment which loans out several hundred
lanterns a season and if the condition in which
these machines is returned is any evidence of
the efficiency with which they have been used,
scarcely one out of the lot has performed its
service in a satisfactory manner.

More than twenty years ago the writer began
the use of lantern slides in educational work and
even today we find that we are still able to
learn. It may be that the very simplicity of
a magic lantern renders us careless in its opera-
tion, but the fact remains that seldom do we
find perfect projection exemplified. This of
course is not always the fault of the lantern or
the operator. During the past season profes-
sional speakers have appeared before our audi-
ences with lantern slides which displayed a most
regrettable lack of appreciation of the limita-
tions of projection. Slides without thumb
labels are so common as to be the rule rather
than the exception, and in one instance we were
called upon to project what it must be admitted
was a set of most unusual character and splen-
did technical quality, which were not only free

from mats but were not even dignified by being
supplied with cover glasses. Undoubtedly a
good deal of this carelessness is due to a lack
of appreciation of projection difficulties and pos-
sibly this department may be the means of
assisting in reaching the ideal condition where-
in the operator, teacher and audience are abso-
lutely unconscious of lantern or operator, and
the picture alone attracts their attention.

There are a thousand and one minor details
and questions which we are called upon daily
to answer and undoubtedly this also apphes to
any institution or individual using projection
apparatus. Practically all of the formal dis-
cussions in regard to visual education methods
as far as slides are concerned are given over to
questions as to proper selection of sHdes and
the proper methods of displaying and explain-
ing them, and very little attention is given to the
mechanical end. This can only be considered
as unfortunate, for no teacher using sHdes in
the class room can attain one hundred per cent
efficiency except such slide be of proper tech-
nical quality and shown with a brilliancy and
sharpness which makes its viewing entirely
free from strain or effort on the part of the
pupil. The old fashioned idea that a child can
learn music on a cheap piano out of tune is not
based on reason, and there is no reason why a
class viewing lantern slides should not at the
same time develop an appreciation of art qual-
ity without in any way subordinating the
purely pedagogical quality of the illustration.

We therefore propose to utilize a page or two
oif this publication every month to develop the
use of the lantern from the standpoint of the
mechanical features of projector and slide. As
has been explained, we will make no attempt to
discuss choice of subject or teaching value of
pictures. This is properly covered on other
pages. In addition to purely technical matter
which will be based as far as possible on
definite inquiries which we may receive and

292

Lantern and Slide

The Educational Screen

Stereographs and
Lantern Slides

are the teachers'greatest help

Plan now to equip
your school with these
most efficient Visual
Aids.

©K. V. Co.

Stereographs in use in classroom

Stereographs and Lantern Slides — selected and classified for primary and
intermediate grades, Junior High and High Schools are now available.

Write for further information.

KEYSTONE VIEW CO., Inc. Meadville, Penna.

which are solicited from any user of projec-
tion apparatus, we hope to be able to broaden
the department as space permits to its utmost
of practical value.

We will be glad at any time to answer ques-
tions as to proper type of apparatus, covering
such points as electric current available, size of
screen and distance from screen, character of
illuminant best suited, and possibly methods by
which equipment may be secured. We will be
j?lad to make suggestions as to Dark Room
equipment and materials and methods, and in
•his connection it must not be forgotten that
»ne making of a lantern slide begins with the
making of the original negative. We shall
attempt to answer any question as to cameras
for field or laboratory which would be suit-
able for our needs. We should also have on
file a directory of the competent recommended
lantern slide colorists, as this is one of the
biggest practical problems which we meet in
our work, and the Department may be of serv-
ice eventually in compiling an Intelligence
Bureau to be called on in securing and placing
competent Dark Room operators. We may be
able even to act as a center of exchange for
duplicate slides. If the Educational Screen

had on hand a list of materials which subscrib-
ers have to offer, such exchanges could be
very readily accomplished.

As this may be considered as a rather ex-
tensive program, it would not be wise at this
time to take the position that we can do all of
these things. However, with the idea in mind
of making the Educational Screen of the utmost
practical value to teachers using visual edu-
cation methods, we shall make the effort at
least and time alone can determine what lines
will prove to be of the greatest value. If you
have any problems in your work in any way re-
lating to photography, making of slides, or
projection, do not hesitate to apply for in-
formation. It must be remembered that this
Department is limited to still pictures and all
matters connected with the motion pictures will
be taken up in another place.

Probably the most serious problem facing the
universal use of slides confronts the rural
teacher whose teaching quarters are not
equipped with electric current. The wide-
spread and recent expansion of lantern slide
work in the schools has been brought about,
very rapidly by the development of the small ,
portable projector, the current consumption of

June, 1923

Lantern and Slide

293

Perfect Slide Projection— for
Class Room or Auditorium

The Model BB Balopticon gives the most pleasing dissolving effects, one
picture blending with the next — the best way to show slides.

It is virtually two lanterns in
one, yet is very compact and has
no complicated adjustments.
Equipped with two powerful
Mazda lamps, it is entirely silent
and automatic in operation, and
works on any regular lighting socket.

Ask your dealer or write us for complete description

Bausch ^]pmb Optical (o,

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO ROCHESTER. N. Y. London

which is so low that it can be attached to an
ordinary lighting socket without danger of
blowing fuses and whose source of illumination
is a simple electric bulb.

Many of us can remember when the equip-
ment for showing slides was of a cumbrous and
often unsatisfactory character. Probably for
softness and pleasing quality the calcium light
has never been excelled, but this equipment is
practically obsolete today and it is doubtful if
the necessary gas could be secured. Mantle
lamps consuming alcohol and other fuels have
been made to serve, with more or less satisfac-
tion, and acetylene burners, either direct flame
or projected against a refractory earth, have
been developed. All of these methods however
are complicated, unsatisfactory and very apt to
be put out of commission accidentally.

There is a big opportunity for research in
this direction but it would probably be too much
to hope that it will ever be accomplished, as
the expansion of electric service is taking place
so rapidly that the sale of such outfits would
become less with each passing year. It is only
a short time ago that the Nernst light was
brought out, presented as representing perfec-
tion in lantern illumination, but the high effi-

ciency tungsten bulb has completely surpassed
it in cheapness and brilliancy.

In assuming the responsibility for this De-
partment the writer realizes that the limitations
of space must confine the material presented to
that which offers practical value and service.
We earnestly request you to send in your prob-
lems without hesitation. Your difficulties are
probably someone else's difficulties.

The Flickering Screen

(Concluded from page -279)
"There is no royal road to learning.''
From earliest childhood that statement has
been emphasized to myriads of learners.
There is no royal road to learning, but that
forms no excuse for keeping the roads that
we do have a slough or a dustheap, like the
country highways of our grandfathers.
There is no excuse for clinging to the ox-
wagon when the automobile or motor-truck,
will serve. Pave, macadamize, resurface the
road to learning that you do possess. Then
watch your results.

294

The Educational Scree

Pictures and the Church

Conducted by
Chester C. Marshall,

D.D.

MOTION Pictures in the Church are
still, in the mind of the average indi-
vidual, very much of an innovation, and
like all innovations, are regarded by many with
suspicion and by others with positive hostility.

The Church was the first great patron of the
invention of printing. Here was a new inven-
tion which doubtless many said, as they say
of all new things, "It is of the devil, and has
no place in the Church." But there were
churchmen too wise to stand aside and permit
this revolutionizing process of movable type to
be monopolized by those who, motivated by
desire of gain, should use it to pander to the
low and base. These wise churchmen seized
upon this new method of appeal to the eye for
religious propaganda and education.

What an inestimable loss to the Christian
Church if suddenly all our Bibles, hymnals,
church calendars, church periodicals and re-
ligious and devotional books were swept out
of existence! But if the reactionary and ultra-
conservative elements of the Christianity of the
early days of printing had had their way it is
safe to say that the Church would have held
aloof from printing until the art had become
so debased and abused that it would have been
extremely difficult to rescue it for the holiest
uses of life.

Now, motion pictures are simply the evolu-
tion of printing. Instead of taking off an im-
pression from movable type on paper, motion
pictures are a form of printing upon celluloid
film. If a printed page can be used for further-
ing the work of God, then why cannot the
motion picture, in an even more effective way,
be used for the same purpose? It was a clergy-
man who developed celluloid film for motion
picture use, and those who first saw possibili-
ties in motion pictures saw the greatest possi-
bilities for their development and usefulness in
the field of religion and education.

But early in their development third-rate
purveyors of cheap entertainment seized upon
the infant industry, set up their rude projectors
in empty store rooms, and the greatest tribute
one can pay to the inherent possibilities of
motion pictures is that they survived the days
of wretched, flickering films of the dark, musty,
ill-smelling nickelodeons. These men thought
to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, but

the goose, like the proverbial cat, was possessed
of nine lives, and was not so easily to be killed.
Indeed, the industry, almost over night, has
come to be the third from standpoint of size in
America. It is still, to a degree, in ill-repute
for the reason that those who might have been
expected to see the vast possibilities of its use
in the realm of education and religion stood
aloof from it. It did not seem to have sufficient
. dignity, and it was an innovation. The conse-
quences were that an art, so marvelously de-
veloped from an entertainment side, is still in
its infancy so far as the church and school are
concerned.

Up to the very recent past, the motion pic-
ture has been produced with only the theatrical
audience in mind, and all distributing agencies
have been adapted to serve that particular field.
Those who have been determined to use it for
religious and secular education have been sorely
tried in their efforts to secure knowledge as to
appropriate film, and when once they have
known what was appropriate they have only
too often found this material unavailable for
their use.

Seriously minded men are thinking of the
adaptability of the motion picture for the
church as never before. The writer once said
to a prominent clergyman connected with a
great publishing agency that the day would
come when the motion picture department and
library of his concrn would be larger than the
present publishing department, and he predicted
this time was not more than fifty years in the
future. After a few moments reflection this
publisher replied, "I shouldn't be surprised if
you are right." The writer repeated this con-
versation some time later to a conservative lay-
man, and to his astonishment this layman re-
plied, "Why put it fifty years in the future? It
isn't going to take nearly that long."

There are hundreds of ministers in America
who are far more deeply interested in the
possibilities of motion pictures than we are apt
to realize. But the impression is deep-rooted
that there is not sufficient available material.
This impression is erroneous. There are liter-
ally thousands of reels of film already existatit
which can be used for the three-fold purpose -
for which the Church needs film — for com
munity entertainment, for education and for

June, IQ23

Pictures and the Church

29^

You Must Have the
New Bass Catalog!

This new 52 page book is your
guide to correct buying in Motion
Picture Cameras, Projectors, and
Supplies. Price lowest. Quality
and Service as only Bass knows
how to give. Write or wire for your copy today.

BASS CAMERA COMPANY

Dept. 210-109 No. Dearborn St. Chicago, III.

evangelism. But the channels through which
information as to these films may be spread to
ministers scattered all over the land have been
utterly inadequate.

It is also to be borne in mind that much of
the material which would be exceedingly valu-
able cannot be secured, because many exchanges
are not permitted by the exhibitors to render
service to churches.

We confidently state that thousands of pas-
tors are just waiting till they can be assured
of proper distribution service and ample mate-
rial of the right sort to install projection equip-
ment and to use this greatest human invention
for the work of the Kingdom of God,

We can also predict with considerable con-
fidence that such a day is now dawning. The
Educational Screen, with its various depart-
ments, its dissemination of information, its
issuance of film lists and all its other plans,
will fill a need which has been utterly neglected
hitherto.

It is a matter for deepest gratification that
there are now a few producing companies with
personnels and financial backing which will
enable them to produce really worth-while pic-
tures for the church field.

And in the third place, the vulnerable weak-
ness of the past is in a really fair way to be
overcome, namely the problem of distribution.
This problem is too intricate for the uninitiated

Portable Screens j

INSURE HEALTHY EYES

Samples and Uteraiure upon request
MINUSA CINE SCREEN CO

ST. LOUIS. MO.

to understand all the difficulties to be overcome.
The keenest minds are giving their undivided
attention to this problem at this time, with
every indication that the solution will be found
very soon. A long step in advance has been
taken by the recent organization of a National
Chamber of Commerce of Non-Theatrical Mo-
tion Pictures.

The time has now come when we can say
with perfect confidence to any church that it
is safe to install the very best and most perma-
nent projection equipment with a certainty of
being able to get ever increasingly satisfactory
service.

If 90 per cent of the impressions of life
come through the eye, surely it is high time
the Church of the Living God seized upon this
marvelous instrument of appeal to the eye, that
through the eye-gate we may impart the re-
ligious instruction and evangelistic appeal it
brings within our reach.

To anyone who fears pictures will compete
with the time-honored spoken word let me
say such is not contemplated and will never
transpire. The eye and the ear are not to
seek to supplant each other but to supplement
each other. Jesus used the only kind of pic-
ture available in his day — the word picture —
and how abundantly and marvellously He vin-
dicated its use. Shall not we follow Him by
using the works of man to make men praise
Him?

Beginning with the September issue. Dr. Marshall will supply each month
his list of films suitable for church use, selected from the month's releases.

As far as space permits, questions pertaining to the church field will be ans-
wered in this department. Correspondence is invited.

Further, as stated in the editorials for June, Dr. Marshall will edit the
church films to be included as a section of "1001 Films," the third edition of
which appears in September. — Editor's Note.

296

The Educational Screen

Motion Picture Projection

' Conducted by

F. H. Richardson

Technical Editor of The Moving Picture World and Author of "The Blue Book of Projection.

SOME while since I agreed with Mr. Greene,
the Editor-in-Chief of The Educational
Screen, to undertake the editing of a Pro-
jection Department therein. Since that time I
have wondered whether or no I acted wisely in
assuming this task, for the reason that the prob-
lems of professional projection — theatre work —
with which I have been so closely alHed for
many years, are very different from those of the
non-professional field.

Well, anyhow I have passed my word and
that settles it. I shall do the best I can — and
I have observed that one who enters upon a
task with that determination usually, at least,
does not make an entire failure.

While I am at the head of this department I
shall endeavor to make it as helpful to the read-
ers of the Educational Screen as possible. The
readers are at liberty to consult me on any of
the many problems of projection and I will do
my best to give them aid. I ask, in return,
that such of you as may feel able to contribute
anything which will help someone else in pro-
jecting a better screen image will do so, to the
end that we become co-operatively helpful.

Projection Includes Many Things
The term projection, as applied to motion pic-
tures, I hold to include all those various things
which have to do with the excellence, or lack
of it, on the screen. It therefore includes not
only the actual things connected with the pro-
jector mechanism and optical train, but also the
screen surface, the screen surroundings, the

The Blue Book of Projection

A 934 page text book of projection —
375 illustrations — may be had of the
Chalmers Publishing Company, 516
Fifth Ave., New York City. Price six
dollars, cloth bound, post free. It is
the standard text book of projection
and is so recognized in all English-
speaking countries.

lighting of the room in which the picture is
shown, et cetera.

And now a few words concerning the impor-
tance to you of excellence in projection and the
things necessary thereto.

It has perhaps never occurred to you that,
while you may buy or rent a film upon which
is imprinted wonderful scenes, by means of very
wonderful photography (of course I well know
not all films have either wonderful scenes or
wonderful photography — I speak now only of
those many which have one or both), those won-
derful things must be reproduced upon the
screen in such manner that they will appear ex-
actly as did the original scenes, and must be
so lighted that all details of photography im-
pressed upon the film be apparent to the eye of
the observer, else something will be lost.

Projection is 100 per cent perfect only when
those things impressed upon the film in photog-
raphy have 100 per cent value to the eye of the
observer. Unless projection be 100 per cent
perfect you have not reached the full value of
what you have rented or bought.

Consider for a moment. Imagine what the
difference will be, in either instruction or
amusement, as between a screen image bril-
liantly lighted, and with sharp definition (focus),
reproduced at such speed that all moving ob-
jects move at the same speed they were mov-
ing when the "eye" of the camera "saw" them,
and a screen image which, by reason of poor
lighting, is dull, in which the definition is
"fuzzy" and in which moving objects move at
unnatural speed. Don't you really think that
even the student will be taught far, far better
with the brilliant, sharp correctly timed pic-
ture? Don't you really think that very much
indeed may be lost and the value of the film
more or less greatly reduced by wrong pro-
cedure in projection?

First of all it is essential that the light be
sufficiently powerful to make visible to the eye
of the spectator all graduations and shades of
photography contained in the photograph on the
film. In this I, of course, speak only of tlio
normal or average eye, since projection cannot ^
possibly cater to abnormalities of vision. Un-

June, ig23

Motion Picture Projection

297

less the light be sufficiently powerful it is inevit-
able that some of the details of the picture will
be lost to the observer. In this I have in mind
not only the power of the light source itself,
but also the proportion of the available light,
which is, by wrong procedure, mis-directed and
lost.

Modern photography is at such a marvelous
stage of perfection that, if the subject you use
has been photographed and finished by profes-
sionals, it is almost certain that the film photo-
graph contains all essential details of whatever
the subject may have been. If these details do
not all appear upon your screen, or if they ap-
pear imperfectly, it is pretty safe to assume they
have been lost through imperfection in projec-
tion.

It is perfectly wonderful how much may be
lost to the screen in so apparently simple a pro-
cedure as projection. There is a rather preva-
lent idea among laymen that, given a motion
picture projector, of almost any sort, it is only
necessary to be able to thread a film into it cor-
rectly, light the lamp, start the motor going,
point the lens in the general direction of the
screen and everything is Just simply bound to
be lovely. That is all there is, or possibly can
be to it.

If you entertain any such idea, my friend, dis-
card it immediately, or as our Mexican friend
says, "pronto," for you were never further from
the truth in all your life. It is true that almost
anyone can "get a picture" OF SOME SORT
upon the screen, but to get 100 per cent value
on the screen, meaning all there is to be had
from any given subject you may have, requires
a high grade equipment plus considerable
knowledge and lots of care.

Our Part

It is not and will not be the province of this
department to advise you as to what projector is
best. The department duty will be to try to
teach you how to get the best possible results
from the films you have with the equipment
you have; also to teach you the basic, under-
lying principles which govern in projection. To
this end I will reply to any and all questions
having to do with motion picture projection, ex-
cept such as would oblige me to compare dif-
ferent makes of equipment, which latter I could
not do without being accused of commercializ-
ing the department. I will also write such edi-
torial matter as may seem necessary or advis-
able.

cmmmh

EDWARD BO\)?Ef /m&ing dipectoe
PKESENTATiONf ^Wt. L. ROTHArEL

EQUIPPED A WITH

. ra:^en

S

Mfffiiif '

also used by the

CASS TECHNICAL HIGH
SCHOOL

Detroit, Mich.

Raven Screen Corporation

One Sixty-Five Broadway New York

Your Part

If you are puzzled with regard to some point
regarding your apparatus, or are not satis-
fied with the results you are getting, write me
and I will do the best to help you BUT RE-
MEMBER THIS: In writing me be sure,
SURE, S-U-R-E to give all the necessary de-
tails, such as kind of projector and its manu-
facturer's number, which you will find on the
name plate. Tell me the kind and capacity of
your lamp. The kind of screen and size pic-
ture you project. By size the width is meant —
the height is always three quarters the width.
In fact give data concerning everything you
think might have any bearing at all on the
trouble. It is always hard correctly to diagnose
a case when one is from one to three thousand
miles away. Without full data it is impossible.
Too little information is fatal — too much does
no manner of harm, except a bit of wasted en-
ergy.

In February, 1910, I started a projection de-
partment in the Moving Picture World, the old-
est, and I think the best moving picture trade
paper ever published. That department was and
still is immensely popular. I only hope that
this one may have as long and useful a life. It

298

Motion Picture Projection

The Educational Screen

Mr. Leonard Tovter,
president of the Na-
tional Association of
Elementary School
Principals, writes:

I must mention
what wonderful re-
sults we are getting
with th« new Trans-
Lux Daylight Screen.
. . . From now on
we shall go right on
with our pictures
with better visualiza-
tion than ever be-
fore, with all the
curtains up and win-
dows open. I regard
the invention of this
screen as one of the
big steps forward in
visual education.

Darkened Classrooms Abolished !

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.

"Si

And What Do Its Users Think?

For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

Trans-Lux Daylight Picture Screen

INCORPORATED
36 West 44th St. New York City

And Rev. N e vir e 1 1
Dwigrht HiUis, na-
tionally kno'wn as
the pastor of Plym-
outh Church, Brook-
lyn, comments:

At tlie beginning
we were somewliat
slceptical as to tlie
results. ... I am
writing not only to
express my gratitude
to you, but to say
that without a single
exception the lec-
turers and ministers
who have used the
screen, both at every
hour during the day
and again at night,
pronounce it the best
screen that they have
ever used. It is quite
beyond any words of
praise.

will, too, if you make use of it and let it help
you.

In this department I shall probably have
cause to refer to the "Blue Book of Projection"
more or less frequently, though I shall do so
only when necessary, as many of you have no
copy. Limitation of space here will often pre-
clude full treatment of an important topic and
the simplest method will be to refer you to an
accepted standard text on the subject.

Worn Aperture Tracks

John R. Bollinger, Winnipeg, Manitoba, says:
"I have a DeVry suitcase projector which I
have had for a bit more than four years. It has
been used quite a bit, but I have taken very
good care of it, or have tried to. Used a good
oil, selected and applied according to informa-
tion in the Blue Book of Projection and former
editions of the same, all of which I have. This
projector is used both in my home, in the home
of my friends and in business. It seems to be
in excellent condition. I am unable to detect
anything wrong with its mechanism, but of late
the picture has a tendency to blur in the center
occasionally. By this I mean that while the pic-
ture will be perfectly sharp all over, it will sud-
denly blur in the center. Then it may (or may
not) get sharp again almost immediately. Can
you advise me as to what is wrong?"

Your trouble seems to be rather obvious: A
lens works on certain definite focal points. If
the object of which it is to form an image is
a certain distance from its optical center
it will focus the image a certain definite
distance on the opposite side of its optic
center. Suppose the film to be three inches from
the optic center of the lens, and the image thirty

feet, or 360 inches on the opposite side. It will
be readily understood that a very slight altera-
tion in the shorter distance will mean a consid-
erable alteration in the larger one, the propor-
tion being 120 to one. In this connection see
figure 36D, page 146 of the Blue Book of Pro-
jection.

In all human probability you will find, by
careful examination, that the tracks of your ap-
erture plate have become worn, which causes
the film to "buckle" as it passes the aperture,
hence not always to lie fiat. This has the effect
of altering the distance of portions (particularly
the center) of the film photograph from the lens,
the efifect being to throw that portion of the pic-
ture out of focus. You should have a new aper-
ture, which you will be able to obtain from any
DeVry projectors, or from the manufacturer
direct. His address will be found in his adver-
tisement. I would suggest the advisability of
sending the entire mechanism in to the maker
for a general overhauling. You have had it
four years. It deserves attention. F. H. R,

WANTED— Discarded Safety Films

States Trading Co., 27 Third Ave., New York

FOR SALE

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One Pair Powers 6 A Projectors 1918 Model
One Pair Motiograph Projectors 1 91 7 Model

All of these machines are factory rebuilt and guaranteed,
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The Theatre Supply Co., Film Bldg., Cleveland, Ohio

June, IQ2S

299

School Department

Conducted by
Marie E. Goodenough

Noon Movies as a Student Project

WITH two lunch periods of an hour
each, and at least 90% of the stu-
dents in Junior and Senior High School
obliged to stay at school during the noon hour,
the problem of what to do to occupy the free
time during the noon period assumed serious pro-
portions. The gymnasium was thrown open last
fall as soon as bad weather prohibited use of the
school grounds as a play yard, but an exclusive
program of dancing five days a week was
thought unwise.

What to offer as a counter attraction? The
movies presented a solution, but obviously thfe
element of coercion in attendance must not ap-
pear, or any plan would defeat its own purpose.
The whole scheme became a question of pre-
senting the noon movie program in a manner
sufficiently live to enlist student cooperation.

In the first place, good projection was essen-
tial. For a movie-wise audience, a dim picture,
unevenly focused and full of vibrations, would
never hold attention. Before the students were
taken into the plan, a new screen was secured,
and an improved model, standard theatre pro-
jector installed.

With the equipment ready, a plan was pre-
sented to the student body, and won enthusi-
astic support. From each "home room" in both
Junior and Senior High School, a chairman was
chosen — all taken together to constitute a Stu-
dent Advisory Committee, with several impor-
tant functions to perform. In the first place,
the Committee was to fix a fair subscription
rate, collectible from every student in the
school, to constitute a Movie Fund. A weekly
collection of 5 cents apiece was in operation for
a time, but after a trial it was decided to fix 25
cents, payable monthly, as a fair price for the
month's programs — from eight to twelve, or
even more, in number. Little difficulty was ex-
perienced in collecting from every student regu-
larly, although there was nothing compulsory
about it, and no student was refused admission
because he had not been able to pay his monthly
fee.

Secondly, the Committee was from time to
time called upon to act in a truly advisory ca-

pacity—to bring student reaction and comment
to bear upon the selection of films, and in sev-
eral instances to take a census of the student
body to find out what percentage had seen a
picture in question before steps were taken to
book it.

Projection was also in the hands of students.
The operator was a Senior who had had the
benefit of some previous experience in the
handling of projection equipment. With some
necessary supervision, he was given charge of
projection, and held responsible for the results.
Under such a scheme, it is a matter of satisfac-
tion to record that during the entire season of
twelve weeks, it was never necessary to stop the
showing on account of breaks in the film, or
other projection difficulties. Toward the end of
the season, four so-called "Junior Operators"
were chosen to receive special training which
would fit them to handle projection next year.

Students also became stage managers, whose
duty it was to see that the screen was properly
lowered, scenery placed, the stage darkened,
house lights ofif at the proper time, and drop
curtain regulated. They even took particular
pride in achieving a sort of theatre eflfect, in
allowing the first few frames of the picture to be
projected into the draped velvet curtain, which
immediately was drawn back to reveal the pic-
ture on the screen behind it. Counting the
number of people in the audience was also in-
cluded in the duties of the stage manager's as-
sistant.

Nor was the movie presentation lacking in
musical accompaniment. Students volunteered
to play the piano, placed in the wings and fitted
with a drop light, so that the musician could
see the screen and fit his music to the picture.
Some clever effects were thought out by the
student pianists, and the small eflfort made this
year is particularly suggestive of the possibili-
ties for cooperation with a student orchestra,
who could develop music scores for certain spe-
cial features.

Several matters of general policy were early
determined upon, and held during the season.
No announcements were ever made beforehand

300

School Department

The Educational Screen

as to the film for the next program, and no ad-
vertising was done to attract a crowd. Pro-
grams were taken on faith, and "Come and
see," was the only answer ever given to in-
quiries.

Much might be written upon the nature of
the selections made from the film field. Many
sorts of films were experimented with: the news
w^eekly, coniedies, the scenic, the scientific film,
and the "feature" picture. Frequently a film
short-subject, secured primarily for special
classroom use, was found of sufficient general
interest to make it a part of the noon program.
It was, however, an entertainment hour, and
the films found most satisfactory were the fea-
ture pictures of four to eight or even nine reels
in length. Obviously, since the noon program
was limited to a half hour, it meant breaking the
picture into two, three, or even four parts, and
presenting it as a serial story on successive days
— an arrangement which loses something in ef-
fectiveness perhaps, for the picture, but which
seemed to answer the particular need the best.
In this manner, were presented such worth-while
productions as Nanook of the North, The Last
of the Mohicans, Lorna Doone, Rip Van
Winkle, Our Mutual Friend, The Four Seasons
and The Little Minister, Nothing was run
which was not worth while from both an enter-
tainment and cultural standpoint. All films
'were pre-viewed, but no more serious censor-
ship exercised than to eliminate a title here and
there, or "trim" a scene.

The ultimate question is bound to be, "Did it
pay — were the programs self-supporting?" It
was definitely expected at the outset that the
plan would not support itself — that there would
undoubtedly be a considerable deficit at the end
of the season which would have to be met from
school funds. When the books were audited at
the end of the season, however, the collections
were found sufficient to meet all film rentals,
messenger expenses, and incidentals, with the
exception of $8.64.

If attendance records are a testimony of stu-
dent interest, there can be little doubt that the
plan "took." The attendance showed a more or
less steady increase from the beginning to the
end of the season, and percentages ran from
76% to 98% of the entire student body, making
no allowance for the inevitable number of ab-
sentees from school, nor for those who left the
school grounds during the noon period.

M. E. G., Shaker Heights School,
Cleveland, Ohio.

Film Reviews

Down to the Sea in Ships

(8 reels)

UNIQUE in its theme, unique in the man-
ner of its presentation, unique in its
quaint setting, it is visual history and visual
literature, combined with one of the most
charming love stories on the screen.

The world has cause to be grateful to the
citizenry of New Bedford, Massachusetts, for
the spirit in which they organized the Whal-
ing Film Corporation, its purpose to perpetu-
ate for all time the adventurous story of the
old whaling days, now fast passing into his-
tory. The result is a film chronicle startling
in its realism — even to the ship, the square-

i

I

Throwing the haxpoon — a business
requiring no little skill.

rigger Charles W. Morgan, built in New Bedford
in 1842, and undoubtedly one of the oldest
whaling vessels afloat, the crew of which for
this voyage to the Carribcan was recruited
from veteran whalemen. And to his task of
rounding all into a complete whole, Elmer
Clifton brought imagination and a fine sense
of the dramatic, so that the finished produc-
tion stands as a splendid example of skillful
direction.

The whaling colony of New Bedford are
Quakers, clinging to their old customs of dri--<
and manners, gathering in the severe meetin',^
house on Sundays, and while making a gala (
event of the sailing of a whaling vessel, y

I

June, 1923

School Department

301

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never forgetting to hold service aboard, that
the voyage may be successful, and the return
safe.

Scenic backgrounds are typical of New Eng-
land atmosphere and charm — quaint houses, gar-
dens in full bloom close to the sea, and the
old mill v^here spindles and looms are busy
after the thrifty Quaker fashion.

The old father of the story, a stern man
grieving over the loss of his only son, requires
his daughter to promise she will never be
other than a whaleman's wife. To the youth-
ful suitor for Patience's hand, the father's only
reply is: "Thee is not a Quaker. Unless thee
has thrown a harpoon into a whale, tell thy
story elsewhere."

Allan's course is clear. He signs for a
whaling vessel outbound on a long cruise, but
he is shanghaied at the same time that con-
spirators plot to steal the Morgan ships and
make way with the old man's daughter.

The crowd gathers on the dock. "Greasy
luck," is the cry of farewell to the captain of
the departing ship, on adventure bound. Then
begins as thrilling a record of the sea as films
could ever hope to tell, and a vivid story of
whaling, with all its fascination and its hazard.

The ship finds a floating whale which is
brought alongside. "Cuttin' in" takes oflf the
blubber, the head is hauled overboard, showing
in remarkable detail the tiny eye, the throat
bigger than a hogshead, and the huge lower
jaw unhinged and brought on deck. The most

"The monster darts under the dory, fling-
ing it high out of the water."

valuable oil is baled out of the head, and
straightway put through the first refining on
shipboard.

Allan, however, holds fast to the hope that
he himself may harpoon a whale. With its
sails full in the wind, the graceful vessel glided

302

School Department

The Educational Screen

on. Porpoises are speared — and at last Allan
on the lookout discovers a school of spouting
sperm whales. Hurried lowering of the boats
— a pursuit with every ounce of strength be-
hind the oars, and at least Allan gets close
enough to sink his harpoon with true aim.
Then follow unforgettable scenes — a wild race
of the wounded whale, tossing the little dory
in his wake, until
finally in a rage, the
huge 90-ton mon-
ster turns on his
captors, darts under
the dory, flinging it
high out of the wa-
ter, and tossing the
men into the shark-
infested waters.

Finally, the lanc-
ing of the whale
and the reward— the hold filled with the precious
oil, and the vessel homeward bound.

In the Httle New England village, Patience
has obeyed her father's wish, and given her
promise to marry. The wedding day dawns,
and Patience, charming in her Quaker bonnet
and cloak, makes ready for the meeting house
where the ceremony is to be read according
to the Quaker "Discipline." At sea a great
storm menaces the vessel, but Allan comes in
the nick of time. Happiness in the end, the
Quaker marriage cap, and for the old man, a
grandson in the old-fashioned wooden cradle.

As far as the proper emphasis of the subject
is concerned, there is far too much action after
the real climax— the capture of the whale— in
an effort to give a stirring finish to the human
story. And in the end, one is left in doubt as
to the unfolding of the minor plot. Matters
of relatively little importance, however, in an
otherwise perfect production. (Released by
Hodkinson.)

H. A. Snow's Hunting Big Game in Africa

With Gun and Camera

(9 reels)

AGAIN there has been added to the reper-
toire of the screen a classic — the record
of a two-year experience from end to end of
Africa, condensed into a film document as ab-
sorbing as anything which has been brought
forth in many a day.

The picture has the sweep of the great out-
doors to recommend it, as well as movement,
suspense, novelty, variety, excellent photogra-

Rescued from the wreck of the dory.

phy, and throughout a great naturalness and
little striving for effect. Titles have been done
for the information value they could carry,
and not simply to entertain, although they do
not lack a dash of legitimate humor here and
there. Amusing, too, and somewhat satirical,
is the part which is played by the familiar
Ford coming confidently, almost audaciously,

into the realm of
the primitive, and
outclassing some of
its wild contestants
in the chase.

But more than all
else, the observers
through whose eyes
we see, have the
true scientific view-
point, and they add
the benefit of inter-

pretation to what they see.

The Snow expedition was sent out under the
auspices of the Oakland Museum of Natural
History, and worked from south to north in
Africa — from the Cape to the Sahara. Inci-
dentally, the film is worth while for the purely
scenic — its glimpses of Cape Horn, Table
Mountain, the waterways of the wild interior,
and the unusual views of the desert and the
camel train skirting its edge.

As a phase of the "big game" subject. Snow
pauses long enough on his way to Capetown
to take some spectacular views of the whaling
industry as it is practiced in that part of the
world, where anti-submarine guns replace the

The "king of beasts" crouched
over the carcass of a zebra.

t

more picturesque methods of attack. A 60-
ton whale is shown in the tow of the ship,
which when later brought upon shore, yields
upwards of 50 barrels of sperm oil.

On their way northward from the Cape, tlio

June, 1923

School Department

Snow party secures a remarkably complete
story of diamond mining in the Transvaal.
Views far below the surface, showing miners
at work, are followed by the dumping of the
mine cars, leaving their contents exposed to
weather for years, after which the earth is
sent back again to the plant for a series of
water treatments, in the course of which the
diamonds gravitate to the center of the trays.
This part of the film is a complete industrial
subject in itself.

But of course the chief emphasis is on the
study of wild life, in remarkable variety, and
under conditions which are Nature's own.
Many of the views are those obtainable only
at the water holes — "the greatest magnets in
the parched African veldt." The characteris-
tics of various forms of animal life become per-
fectly apparent through the trained eye of the
scientist-observer. He lets us see the young
lion cubs, whose instinct makes them slink
close to the ground, and the ostrich nest which
must not be molested, for if the parent birds
found it disturbed they would destroy it en-
tirely. We learn that the giraffe is the only
animal known to man which lacks vocal cords
and is unable to utter a sound. The giant
hippo, living in the water for protection, is
really a vegetarian and feeds on grasses along
the river bank.

Two remarkable hunts are the high spots for
excitement in the picture. The rhino is the

Preparing to charge the camera.

first victim — and the actual charge of the beast
straight at the camera is recorded in all its
hair-raising vividness. The climax comes
with the invasion of the elephant country —
the immense crater of an extinct volcano, a
rugged refuge for these giants. Passing a
rock rubbed smooth by generations of ele-

Mr.'J M:..
Martinjohn-
son Filming
Savages

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304

School Department

The Educational Screen

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phants, fresh tracks are discovered, and near
the crater bottom, a group is glimpsed in the
open. Views amazing in their graphic real-
ism lead up to the stampede, with devastation
in its wake. One of the monarchs fell victim
to Snow's gun — gleaming tusks which stand
higher than a man's head, wrinkled, leathery
hide more than two inches thick, and feet 24
inches across.

Nor does the film neglect to show the life
of the natives, in their
ceremonies and their
crude industries, such
as the curing of a 600-
pound rhino skin,
which must be treated
within a few hours,
and for which the salt
must be ground fresh
on the spot.

Perfectly adapted for
school and non-theat-
rical showing, except
that some titles should
be dropped for the
former sort of audi-
ence. (Released by
Universal.)

Trailing African
Wild Animals

(7 reels)

ANOTHER screen record of African wild
animals in their native haunts has many
fascinating features to recommend it. It bear?
the endorsement of the American Museum of
Natural History, and stands as the photo-
graphic diary of several years' experience in
tracking the wild animals of the Dark Conti-
nent— the more spectacular from a theatrical
standpoint because a woman (Mrs. Martin
Johnson) was a member of the safari.

Zebra, whose instinct prompts them to
drink with their heads together, all fac-
ing in the same direction. The less grace-
ful gnu in the background.

It begins at once in British East Africa and
works north to the desert — including on the
way some beautiful examples of African scen-
ery, from the thick wooded banks of the jungle
watercourses to the sandy wastes of the Sa-
hara. The glimpse of the desert is rightly
called "a page from the Old Testament, with
the traditional sheep-herder repairing his train
for the desert journey."

Native types are brought in here and there
within the footage —
more, one suspects, for
their entertainment
value than from any
serious desire to throw
light on life as it is
lived in the most un-
civilized of continents.
The animal views in
the reels are excellent
from the standpoint of
detail, and with film
footage lengthy enough
for extended observa-
tion. The building of
the "blind" is interest-
ingly show n — f r o m
which vantage point
near the water holes
the wild subjects are
observed and photographed. A herd of lions,
giraffes in great bands trekking along the hill-
tops or standing close by, their 18-foot height
bent to drink from the waterhole, zebras in re-
markable variety, and great flocks of birds — all
in fine close view. Some little imagination is
brought into play in the case of the elephant,
photographed in surroundings which might eas- ^
ily have been prehistoric scenes — the huge bulk \
stalking in the openings of jungle vegetation —
"the greatest sight in all Africa."

June, 1923

School Department

305

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As a welcome relief to the somewhat mo-
notonous succession of similar closeups come
the thrill moments of the picture — the rhino
hunt and the charge of the elephants.

Just there lies the picture's greatest short-
coming. There is throughout too much effort
constantly to impress the audience with the
danger which many of the scenes involved — a
hazard which is sufficiently evident to the ob-
server with a grain of imagination to hi^
credit. One cannot re-
sist the wish at times
that the humans in the
picture would step to
one side that one might
better observe the more
interesting animal sub-
jects. Miserable titles
— too often meaning-
less and characterized
by a forced humor —
seriously mar the film
as it stands for the
best non-theatrical
showing, (Released by
Metro.)

TRAVEL AND
SCENIC

Guatemala (Prizma) — A most fascinating
tour to this little-known city of Central Amer-
ica. A wealth of picturesque detail carries the
spectator into the atmosphere of Spanish
America — Indians bringing their pottery and
rolls of matting into market, the wayside foun-
tain, and the market place itself where after
the fashion of the Old World, goods are
bought and sold.

Ancient cathedrals, built by the early con-
querors, have been partly destroyed by earth-

Giraffes, the animals of dry, open coun-
try, where vegetation is abundant and
unobstructed.

quakes, and stand as eloquent evidence to the
former glory of Spain in the New World,
There are still to be seen monuments to
ancient Indian gods, in their form showing
interesting resemblance to the totem poles of
the North, and still held in reverence by the
present populace.

An old gate in the road is an additional evi-
dence of the ancient Spanish regime, as are
also the ruins of a splendid city at the base
of Mount Agua, the
volcano responsible
for its destruction.
The courtyard of the
ruined San Francisco
Cathedral gives a hint
of the architectural
achievements of that
past time.

The twin volcanic
mountains, cloud
capped, stand as senti-
nels alike, over the
relics of the past and
the colorful life of the
present.

From the Windows
of My House (Edu-
cational Films) — With-
out doubt one of the most artistic Bruce Wilder-
ness subjects, with the charm of great variety in
the beautiful aspects of Nature in records.

Told in the first person, it lists the require-
ments in vistas of natural beauty which must
be met in the quest for a home site. Mountain
and glacier and snow-capped peaks, evergreen
valleys, in which clouds form and rise, are
contrasted with broad fertile stretches, a lake
among the hills and a beautiful winding rive^.
His windows, says the scenic explorer, must

306

School Department

The Educational Screen

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look out also upon the sea, which is represented
by superb views of breakers and billows seen
first through the branches of twisted trees
along the shore, great waves crashing against
rocks, and beaches where the tiny waves slip
in quietly over the smooth pebbles. Unusual
views, looking down the trough of the sea
show waves in even succession coming up onto
the broad beach.

Nature and Poet (Vitagraph) — Titled with
lines selected from the poems of Bryant, the
reel is in itself a picture poem. Beginning
with a crowded city street, there follow the
lines :
"Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which

needs
No school of long experience, that the world
Is full of guilt and misery; and has seen
Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares,
To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood
And view the haunts of Nature,"
which introduce some views of exceptional
loveliness: the cool green of the forest, a glis-
tening pool, waving tree tops against the
clouds, an evening sky seen through the leafy

curtain, a deep glen with rushing water at its
base, and a little stream hurrying along over
its clear bed of pebbles.

No less beautiful is the section illustrative of
Bryant's poem, To a Cloud, which includes
some distinctly unusual cloud pictures — and the
moving shadows of clouds on hillside slopes
and fields far below. Dark cloud banks are
fringed with silver edges, and over the surf
on the shore, clouds make several superb scenes.

One of the most successful attempts on rec-
ord to fit nature photography to nature poetry.

The Impi (Prizma) — From Swaziland, South
Africa, comes the film record of these highly
trained native warriors, the Impis. Their ever-
present shield is used as a protection against
the hot sun — as well as a defense against
equally warlike adversaries. The shield is made
of ox skins, and the process of fashioning it
is most interestingly shown. The skin of the
animal is stretched, hung on racks and then
twisted to make it pliable. Only priests are
qualified to cut out the new shields, which
are then perforated and mounted.

Groups of warriors in full array are shown,
and it is explained that all their elaborate trap-
ping is the property of the Crown Prince. The
battle formation is an impressive sight, and
extensive preparations are indulged in that
the combatants may be in sufficiently warlike
mood to meet their individual opponents. Two
are engaged in combat as a fitting climax.

Jenkins and the Mutt (Educational Films) —
One of the Bruce Wilderness Tales, which is
largely taken up, however, with telling the
story of a sort of modern Rip Van Winkle —
a henpecked husband who with his dog takes
to the out-of-doors and becomes a wanderer.
Some few beautiful spots are discovered, and
recorded faithfully, but the ever-present story
holds the center of the stage to the detriment
of the Nature photography which one has
learned to expect from Bruce, the artist.

NATURE STUDY

The Silvery Salmon (Vitagraph) — A most
interestingly-told story of his life and adven-
tures. At first there is shown a perfect speci-
men of the Royal Chinook from the Columbia
River, photographed in a tank at close range.
Then the fish are seen in the river on their
way upstream in response to the peculiar in-v
stinct which calls them away from the ocean
in the spawning season.

June, ig23

School Department

307

HOLMES

Continuous Film
Stereopticon

As Used in .^i^^-^s!-^«^«i=«— ■«.

The Classroom 4^§^^^^^^^ MakeS

Visual Education
Practical

Portable. Light weight— 19 lbs.

No Glass Slides. Uses a film — standard width, non-inflammable. Slides break.
Films do not. Slides are expensive. Cost of film is only a fraction of the cost of slides.

No Changing of Slides. Operator stands in front of audience — not behind. The
machine is its own operator. It changes pictures whenever the lecturer desires or
holds them on the screen indefinitely.

Adaptable. Film can be made from any kind of pictures, photographs, drawings,
half tones, clippings, printed matter, etc.

Holmes Projector

The film does not make any twists or turns in the
Holmes Projector — a decided advantage, as this is
very severe on the film.

The motors can be changed instantly, making it pos-
sible to use the machine on any voltage.

Any lamp, regardless of size or voltage, can be used
in the Holmes Projector, and can be readily changed
at will.

Shaft Drive. The simple shaft drive mechanism
of the Holmes Projector. Positive in action. Ball
bearing throughout. Smooth running worm and
helical gears make it noiseless. A marvel of mechan-
ical precision.

WRITE FOR LITERATURE

HOLMES PROJECTOR COMPANY, 724 N. CURTIS ST., CHICAGO

308

School Department

The Educational Screen

' ^^^

The Most Effective Tool

In the hands of Progressive Teachers

To make the Teaching of History,
Geography, Health, Literature,
Civics, Science. Fascinating, Memor-
able and Profitable.

The Victor Portable Stereopticon.
For Class Room, Small or Large
Auditorium. Brilliant Illuminatipn —
Simple to Handle.

Catalogues on request

Slides Stereopticons Motion Pictures

W. C. BLIVEN

130 West 42nd Street
New York City

For artificial propagation, they are rounded
up in pools, and with nets the males and
females are taken from the water, and the
females killed. Their eggs are collected, mixed
with milt, and delivered to the hatchery.
There they are spread upon trays, the infertile
eggs are removed, and in a short time occur
"birthdays by the million."

Some good close views show the tiny fry
as they go through the wire screen and swim
to the bottom of the tank. At the age of ten
months they are set free and swim down-
stream to the ocean.

After three or four years of ocean life, they
join the "salmon run," which is pictured to
show the salmon fighting their way upstream,
through the rapids, oftentimes against great
odds. At the waterfalls, there are more seri-
ous obstacles, which the fish must be assisted
to overcome. The fish ladders at Willamette
Falls present an interesting picture of a series
of water terraces which the acrobatic fish climb
with no great difficulty. The film includes
some very good views of the salmon jumping,
as well as excellent closeups of the gill action
of the mature fish and the jaws of the male.

set with teeth which become his most effective
weapon of attack and defense.

Admirably done for instructional purposes.

Bobbie's Ark (Vitagraph) — A film puzzle —
the trick being to name accurately the fifty-
odd animals pictured, Bobby, the youthful
actor in the drama, is busily engaged in lead-
ing toy animals into a Noah's Ark when he
falls asleep beside his toy. What follows is
his dream of the various sorts of toys come
to life — among them the giraffe, elephants,
llamas, zebras, lions, the ostrich, leopard, buf-
falo, rhinoceros, and many others not so fa-
miliar.

The arrangement is unique, in that the film
is without titles. It contains some excellent
close views, photographed of course in the
Zoological Garden, but exceptionally well done.

An interesting novelty for a program, and
especially acceptable as entertainment for a
child audience. From the series of Urban Popu-
lar Classics.

Pirates of the Air (Vitagraph) — One of the
Urban Popular Classics, picturing a number of
aerial hunters which get their living by prey-
ing upon other birds and various forms of ani-
mal life. The film was recorded at the Wash-
ington and Philadelphia Zoological Parks, and
is a succession of interesting views of owls,
eagles, vultures, hawks and the condor of the
Andes. Included among the pirates is the im-
portant looking secretary bird (the origin of
whose name is interestingly accounted for),
which is a snake killer, stamping his victim to
death with his powerful claws.

Titles are well written to carry entertaining
and instructive information along with the
views presented.

INDUSTRIAL

The Orange (Prizma) — A beautiful pano-
rama of orange groves introduces a pictorial
history of an individual tree, from the time
when the seedlings are started in the nursery
until, after two years' cultivation, they are
transplanted and the base "budded." Grafting
places a bud cut from a tree of known pedi-
gree on the original seedling, after which its
roots are wrapped in burlap for shipment to
the grove. There the trees are planted 125-150
to the acre, and begin to bear at the age of
four years.

Especially good are the scenes showing just
how the valuable groves are irrigated with

I

June, 1923

School Department

309

EDUCATORS

Suggestions For Some of Your Next
Season's Film Service

''Persecution," Adapted from the Book of
Esther ...... 7 Reels

The Birth of a Race - - 7

Before the White Man
Came

In the Palace of the King
Dombey and Son - -
Heritage - - - - -
The Littlest Rebel - -
The County. Fair - -
Richard Third - - - - 5
The Colonial Girl - - - 5
Modern Mother Goose 5
The Battle of Gettysburg 5
Locked Hearts - . - 5
Uncle Tom's Cabin - - 5
No Children Wanted - s

Little Miss Grown Up

Midnight Burglar

Wanted A Brother

Little Sunset - - -

Treasure Island - -

In The Beginning

Hansel and Gretel

Custer's Last Fi^t -

Lady of the Lake - -

Hamlet - - - - -

Landing of Columbus

A Winter's Tale - -

The Passion Play

Submarine Pirates
(Comedy) - - -

Along The Moonbeam

Trail

Reels

Motoy Novelties, Comedies, Scenic, Travelogs, Patriotic,

Industrial, Dramas and Zoological,

One Reel Subjects.

Pleased to forward complete lists with prices on request

The Lea Bel Film Company

Eighth and Wabash Ave.
CHICAGO, ILL.

310

School Department

The Educational Screen

A real Feature Film for the Non -Theatrical Field

JUST RELEASED

The Brown Mouse

(From the story by HERBERT QUICK)
(Published by Bobbs-Merrill Co.)

CLEAN, wholesome production of small-town community life,
with enough comedy and heart interest of the right kind and
quantity to be thoroughly entertaining for any audience.
Do not fail to investigate this film.

For terms and details write

Homestead Films, Inc.

A

732 South Wabash Avenue

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

water brought from the mountain streams.
"Smudging" wards off frost, and the bearing
grove is pictured, a beautiful sight with fruit
and blossoms on the tree at the same time.

Picking is done with the greatest of care,
in order not to injure the fruit, and clipping
operations are shown in detail. Boxes of the
fruit are taken to the packing house to be
graded and prepared for shipment.

A splendid view of the groves against the
mountain background makes a fitting close.

From Trees to Tribunes. Here we have an
industrial film so well permeated with beauty
and excellent photography that commercialism
becomes a secondary factor, and in a manner of
speaking we are fed our statistics from a silver
spoon.

We all know that paper is made from wood
but here we are shown just what happens from
the time the huge tree is felled in the Canadian
woods until the printed page is delivered at our
back door. Dynamiting the logs down the river,
loading the boats and the ride past Quebec
through fifty-six locks to the mill, where the
shortened lengths are put into giant presses,
are only a few of the things that take place in

transforming acres of spruce trees into rolls of
paper. This part of the film contains many
beautiful views of the Northwest, Rock River
Falls and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so carefully
and artistically made that they may be classed
with those of our best travelogues. After show-
ing in interesting detail the actual transforma-
tion of wood into finished paper the remainder
of the film is devoted entirely to printing and
pubHshing and is complete down to the smallest
minutia.

While this is a splendid picture for schools, it
has no limitations. It would be interesting to
any audience. (Free distribution from Picture
Service Corporation, 208 South LaSalle St.,
Chicago, 111.).

Tommy Tucker's Tooth (One reel). The sub-
ject of dental hygiene is cleverly treated in
this film to impress upon children the impor-
tance of keeping the teeth in good condition.

The reel begins with the picture of a group
of children surrounding the "Story Lady," who
tells them what happened to Tommy Tucker,
who had cultivated the habit of caring for his
teeth, and Jimmie Jones, who was careless and
neglected his.

Tommy, contrasted with Jimmy, is a stro:

n^

une, 1923

School Department

311

THE

NATIONAL

PORTABLE PROJECTOR

Model "B"

THE

NATIONAL

SEMI-PORTABLE PROJECTOR

Model "S"

THE
NATIONAL PROJECTORS

shown here are machines of real merit
that any owner will be proud of, due to
their continuous and faithful perform-
ance.

Both models of "NATIONALS" pro-
ject successfully attached to any voltage,
such as is used in a City, Country Town
or where Storage Batteries only are
available, with equally good results, pro-
jecting a clear, sharp, steady, flickerless
picture of ample size, equal to theatrical
quality.

The feature of a STILL PICTURE is
incorporated in both models for the con-
venience of the Educator, Lecturer and
Salesman.

Model "B" is the projector wanted
for portability, being compact, light
in weight, simple, but durably con-
structed and very easy to operate.

Model "S," the MONARCH OF
ALL SEMI-PORTABLE PRO-
JECTORS, has every feature incor-
porated in its construction that is
now standard equipment in the Pro-
fessional Types of Projectors.

Can either be mounted on floor
with extension legs at any angle,
or can be placed on a table.

Sufficient illumination can be ob-
tained from this Projector to be
ample for the most severe projec-
tion.

Write for circulars and descrip-
tive matter on our projectors, which
we know will be of interest to you.

ENERGETIC SALESMEN AND DEALERS WANTED FOR OPEN TERRITORIES

THE

NATIONAL PROJECTOR & FILM CORP.

GENERAL OFFICES & WORKS
NILES, MICHIGAN

312

School Department

The Educational Screen

U. C. SERVICE

Good Films and Projectors

STANDARD MOTION PICTURES
For Churches, Schools and All Non-Theatrical
Institutions
Wells &. Douglass

1108 Boylstmi Street. Boston, Mass.
Graphoscope Service Company

lao West 46U) Street, New York, N. Y.
Motion Picture Exhibition Company

Proctor Theatre BuihiiiiK, Newark, N. J.
Scientific &. Cinnma Supply Company

1001 K%e Street. N. W., Washington, D. C.
William F. Kelley Company

181S l}uclid Avenue. Cleveland, Ohio
Non -Theatrical Motion Picture Service

201 Joseph Mack Building, Detroit, Mich,
international Church Film Company

StU lU'lbold Building. Dayton, Ohio
Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange

736 Sou til Wabash Avenue, Clilcago. 111.
James A. Keeny

431 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111.
Francis D. White , „.

306 Film Bxcliange Bldg.. Minneapolis. Mlijn.
Motion Picture Service Co.

314 South 13Ui Street, Omaha, Neb.
Church Film Service ^

1822 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, Mo.
David F. Parker _

1913 Q)mmerce Street, Dallas. Texas
Graphoscope Service Company

1924 Tliird Avenue, Seattle. Washington
Independent Film Exchange „ .

177 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco. Cal.
Standard Motion Picture Service

917 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, Cal.
Educational Project-O Film CO'mpany

218 American Bank Building, Los Angeles, Cal.
Southern Church Film Corporation

104 North 17th Street, Birmingham, Ala.
Church and School Film Exchange

316 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.

UNITED CINEMA COMPANY, INC.

130 West 46th Street New York, N. Y.

Attention FREE Attention

Are you interested in securing a
motion picture projector for your use
in your School, Church, Y. M. C. A.
Rooms, Homes, Community Center,
and elsewhere, absolutely free of
charge, so that you may have the bene-
fit of motion pictures?

I will install a well known projector
and keep same in good condition abso-
lutely free of charge to you, and can
furnish you with the best and latest
films as often as you desire.

For further information
write or call in person.

M. FELDSTEIN

804 So. Wabash Avenue
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

argument for good care of the teeth". In tho
first place, he never has toothaches. A cavity
forms in the neglected tooth and, like a hole in
a stocking, it gets larger when it received no
attention and causes painful toothaches. Sec-
ondly, Jimmie's decayed teeth impair his health,
while Tommy is a normal healthy boy. Finally,
when the boys apply for a job, the employer
is impressed with Tommy's neat appearance and
turns Jimmie awa\\ This wakes Jimmie up and
he immediately makes a date with his dentist.
When he applies again, his clean sound teeth
make him hardly recognizable as the same boy
and he has no difficulty in securing the job.

The reel contains animated diagrams, show-
ing the formation of a cavity and the pain ac-
companying it. The correct way of brushing
the teeth is clearly demonstrated on a model of
the jaw and by Jimmie.

The simple narrative form of this film is very
effective in its appeal to children and makes a
greater impression on them than would a more
scientific treatment of the subject. (Produced
and distributed by The Deaner Institute, 3520
Broadway, Kansas City, Mo.)..

The Cost of Carelessness (Prizma)— An
early Prizma subject, but as apropos now as
ever in the lesson it teaches. Campers in the
woods choose their site and set up camp,
start their fire and cook their appetizing sup-
per. When they set out on the trail again, if
they do not carefully extinguish all fires, they
may be the cause of the destruction of thou-
sands of acres of forests.

Most realistic and terrible scenes of fire in
the forest, follow. Fire-fighters dig trenches in
an" effort to check the flames which burn on
through acres of fine timber land, leaving it
permanently ruined.

The subject as a whole is quite in harmony
with the program of popular education under-
taken by the Forest Service in instructing the
public how to use, but at the same time how
to safeguard our National Forest Reserves,

'^

TOMMY TUCKER'S TOOTH

A DENTAL EDUCATIONAL FILM-FOR CHILDREN

1 000 Foot length. $60.00 per print— rental rates, by request
Distributed by

The Deaner Institute, 3520 Broadway

Kansas City, Missouri

September, 1923 315

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright, September, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.50 a year Single Copies^ 20 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923, at the Post Office

at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 7

CONTENTS FOR SEPTEMBER
Editorials 317

Suggestions for a National Exchange for Lantern Slides 321

Carlos E. Cummings

Results of a Motion Picture Survey 324

Bertha B. Hughes

How to Use Pictures— An Illustration 33C

A. W. Abrams

How May the Public Improve Motion Pictures 33Jt

Hazel B. Stevens
Official Department of The National Academy of Visual Instruction

The Oakland Meeting By Dudley Grant Hays 333

Training Teachers in the Use of Visual Materials by Anna V. D orris 335

Official Department of The Visual Instruction Association of America

"Thumb Nail Sketches," (No. 5) Child Psychology and Visual Instruction by Ernest L.

Crandall 338

Visual Instruction at the N. E. A. by Ilsley Boone 342

The Theatrical Field Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

A Picture in the Making , : 344

Production Notes 346

Film Reviews 347

Film Recommendations of the Parent-Teacher Associations 349

By Mrs. Charles E. Merriam, Chairman Better Films Committee

School Department Conducted by Marie E. Goodcnough

Make Each Film Do More by W. /. Wilt 350

Film Reviews 351 to 359

Special Reviews (The Covered Wagon, Black Shadows) 354

Pictures and the Church Conducted by Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

Motion Pictures to Get Audiences 360

Lantern and Slide Conducted by Dr. Carlos E. Cummings

Some Common Faults in Lanternslides 362

The Industrial Field • • • • • •• 365

Conducted by Homer V. Wmn

Among the Producers • • • • • •. • 366

{Where they tell their own story)

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.

5 South Wabash Avenue 236 West 55th Street

Chicago New York

316

Advertisements

The Educational Screen

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educationai. Screen

September, 1923 317

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

{ Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II September, 1923 No. 7

The New Department of the N. E. A.

SOMETHING very important happened last July, on Friday the sixth, at Oak-
land. The National Education Association formally established a Department

of Visual Instruction within itself. The mere announcement of this action
will have a great influence on both the immediate and the ultimate future of
the visual movement.

Some thousands of earnest educators, to be sure, have been working along
these lines for years, but against fearful odds. The wise action of the N. E. A.
will give a strong additional impulse and incentive to their work. In the minds
of many other thousands, visual education will now cease to be a *'fad" — as they
were afraid it might be — because the fiat of the great Association has been set
upon it. The visual movement now has its credentials, with the official vise upon
them. With such credentials it will travel fast and far.

Slides and Stereopticon

AFTER long delay, which we have done our best to shorten, we are at
last in a position to give adequate emphasis in our pages to the Slide —
in our firm opinion the most effective single instrument of visual in-
struction today, and likely to remain so through all the tomorrows. The
growing use of film for educational purposes, far from usurping the field, w^ill
but emphasize and extend the teaching possibilities of the still picture on the
screen. There are few subjects in which the slide is not of great value ; there
are many in which the film is all but useless by the very nature of the matter
to be presented.

First, the regular monthly department, Lantern and Slide, has been
established under the editorship of an expert in still-picture projection who
has also long and intimate experience in the educational field. Beside editor-
ial matter in each issue as occasion arises. Dr. Cummings is ready to serve
our readers in all possible ways, by information, suggestion and advice on
all questions whether highly technical or very elementary in this field. (Ad-
dress Dr. Cummings personally, in care of the magazine.)

Second, we now have in hand many authoritative articles, and arrange-
ments completed for many more, to be published successively in forthcoming
numbers. These are calculated to give our readers the best in theory,
opinion and experience to be had upon the stereopticon and slide. (Two
articles on the subject appear in this issue.) Further, we invite short articles
or mere notes on the use of slides from the many workers whose achieve-

318

Editorial -^^^ Educational Sereen

ments in this line are as yet *'modest/' but nevertheless extremely valuable
to the host of other workers who are taking their first steps in the new field.
Third, we shall offer through the year a series of detailed accounts of the
activities of highly developed slide libraries in various centers of the United
States, with full illustrations. We take great pleasure in announcing as the
first of these a series of four articles by A. W. Abrams, Chief of Visual
Instruction in the University of the State of New York, which will give a
complete and definitive account of the workings of the famous slide library
at Albany with its state-wide service to schools. These articles will include
much pertinent discussion of the educational questions involved, drawn from
the rich experience of the writer in the visual field. The titles of the articles
will be: (1) Negatives: Standards for Selection, Titling, Accessioning,
Filing. (2) Test Slides and Color Guides, Mats, Standards, Filing. (3) Or-
ganization: Classification, Labels, Printed Lists with Notes. (4) Loans:
Periods, Types of Uses, Direct Service, Packing, Shipping.

The Misfortune of the Movies

THE **Movies" are their own worst enemies — using "movies" generi-
cally, of course, to include not only productions but producers. It is
a fact easily demonstrable, had we space enough to hold the evidence.
Speaking always in averages, moviedom hurts its cause at every turn; from
scenario to release the pictures suffer from pompous ignorance and, worse
still, unconscious lack of taste. Then follow sordid salesmanship, outrageous
publicity, ridiculous displays in theatre lobbies, tawdry "presentation" stuff
— and all punctuated with unspeakable English. Little wonder that the
intelligent public comprises so small a fraction of the "twenty millions a day"
in the theatres. We shall touch on all these things more and more, as time
goes on and space permits, but always — be it remembered — from the stand-
point that it is not the motion picture that is wrong. The motion picture
has been wronged.

Merely to divert a thing from its highest possibilities means no in-
herent degradation for the thing itself. Steel, for example, is the very core
of our economic civilization — binding the world together by transportation,
housing it in mighty buildings, manufacturing its every commodity — yet
steel also equips the thief and the assassin. The poppy is no less beautiful
an adornment of the earth because it can be made to drug humans into
sodden wrecks. Music is still the highest and most spiritual of the arts,
even though it be twisted into jazz to enhance the appeal of the brothel.
All things have their double potentiality.

The motion picture was unfortunate merely in having to fulfill its lower
destiny first. The movie was a foundling in the beginning, and was left on
the wrong doorstep, after failing of acceptance on better doorsteps. The
parents who finally took it did not recognize the infant as a little brother
to the arts, were little concerned over the best methods of up-bringing, had no
conscience regarding child-labor laws. They intended that the foundling
should pay for his keep as soon as possible and at maximum rates. Only a

September, 1923 Editorial tl»

stalwart infant could have survived such handling- by such hands. The mo-
tion picture has survived, has grown enormously in headlong-, haphazard
fashion. Naturally it is an ungainly child, fearfully ignorant, and, shall we
say, with a rather muddy complexion. But it is big and strong, final proof
of inherent vigor and vitality that could not be killed even by the most law-
less treatment ever accorded an infant in the history of industries.

The whole world wants movies — which is exactly why the child has
lived and grown in spite of everything. The whole world will have its
movies, every part of the world, and it will have the kind of movies that it
likes. If the movies have won so far merely indiflference, contempt, scorn, or
violent antagonism from the intelligent millions of the country, they have
only themselves to thank. Certainly it is no fault of the motion picture itself.
It is already generally recognized, and sooner or later will be universally
recognized, as the supreme invention of man since Printing. It has lived
through its babyhood, and will see a greater and better youth, because it is
stronger than the men who are supposed to be its "masters." They may
have their way with it for a time, as the LilHputians had with Gulliver, but
then it will rise in might and show the pygmies how little they really are.

When our motion pictures are made by men equal to the men who make
our printed books, the Motion Picture will take its rank beside Printing —
where it belongs.

A Single Illustration. Movie Publicity vs. Facts

A TISSUE of absurd exaggerations — or of plain misrepresentations and
falsehoods — is poor foundation material for a permanent and solid
superstructure of public approval. It takes no great inteUigence to
grasp this elemental truth, yet the minds that shape the publicity of the
movies seem still unconscious of it. Witness the following.

Moviedom has kept up for years its patter about ''giving the public what

it wants" "pictures must please the public in order to pay" — ''pictures

must pay or we cannot make them" — "we would rather make good pictures,
but they will not pay because the public does not want them" — etc., etc., ad
nauseam. Now compare the facts with the patter.

The National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations,
through its Better Film Committee, puts out each month its list of approved
films as they appear in the theatres. This Hst probably represents the most
severely critical selection by a recognized national body of authority to be
found anywhere. For this Committee applies rigidly the standard of what
is suitable for children under twelve and for those of High School age. This
is a more stringent code than is proposed or practiced by any board of
Censorship.

From Hollywood (August 19th) comes the following report on current
productions. We are glad to quote it entire for it makes so perfectly clear
moviedom's allegiance to the single standard (dollars and cents) :

"The critic who counts the cash — the man in the box-office who

320

Editorial ^^^ Educational Screen

knows in dollars and cents what films the movie fans want, and the ones
they don't— has some interesting comments to offer on current produc-
tions this month. From a compilation based on trade journal returns,
the ten best movie sellers, and the ten worst, are shown. These esti-
mates are made by exhibitors in all parts of the country and represent
solely the box-office appeal of current motion picture productions.
"The ten best are : "The ten worst are :

Enemies of Women, Are You a Failure?

Safety Last, The Lights of New York,

Robin Hood, The Footlight Ranger,

Within the Law, Refuge,

The Bright Shawl, Stormswept,

Dr. jack. Above the Law,

When Knighthood Was in Flower, liackbone,
Penrod and Sam, A Dangerous Adventure,

Down to the Sea in Ships, The Jilt,

Tess of the Storm Country." The Leopardess."

Of the "ten best," the Committee approved seven; of the "ten worst,"
the Committee approved nbne. All of which interests us greatly and sug-
gests many questions, among which are:

"How much more money would the movie folk have made if they had
sought to meet the Committee's standards instead of their own?"

"Why will more pictures like the second group be produced during the
coming year than Hke the first group ?"

"Why w^ill movie publicity keep right on saying that good pictures won't
pay?"

"Why will not movie producers take the chance to make better pictures
and more money?"

"When w'ill it dawn on the movie masters that there are thousands of
men and women outside of moviedom whose judgment is better than their
own?"

"When will those in powder over the movie world begin, to replace the
supposed 'experts' responsible for present pictures, both bad and unprofitable,
with men less 'expert' and more. intelligent?"

Perhaps our readers will be inclined to answer these questions. Without
attempting an answer ourselves we are moved merely to remark that when
stupidity attains certain heights it becomes almost magnificent.

Our Friends and Critics

THERE are two sides to every activity, two elements indispensable to exist-
ence and progress — production and consumption. Either dies without the
other. This holds, of course, for the visual movement.

The Educational Screen stands squarely between the producers and the
educational field. The producers sometimes incline to consider us a trifle too partial
to the educational field — the schools occasionally suspect us of being a trifle too
friendly with the commercial field.

This is exactly as it should be. Were it otherwise we should fear we were
not maintaining accurately our middle ground, upon which our own success and
our best service to both fields absolutely depend.

September, 1923

381

Suggestions for a National Exchange
for Lanternslides*

Dr. Carlos E. Cummings
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences

THE following suggestions are offered
in the line of a contribution directed
toward the definite meeting of a con-
dition which, in the opinion of the writer,
presents the greatest obstacle to the general
and universal use of lantern slides in edu-
cation. Our trouble may be very briefly
summarized as a lack of suitable material.
We may neglect at this time all considera-
tions of type of subject or method of pres-
entation and accept as our theme the state-
ment that good work is impossible without
proper tools.

In the beginning, the building up of a
lantern slide library does not offer very
serious difficulties. I5p to say 20,000 slides
we may depend on the commercial houses
and similar sources, but as we begin to
bring our lists into systematic shape, we
find a vast field which either is not covered
by the dealers or requires hours of careful
search to locate such subjects as we wish
to present. Commercial prices must also
be considered, and while we do not wish
to accuse our friends, the dealers, of prof-
iteering, it must be admitted that $100.00
for a single set of slides very rapidly ex-
hausts the ordinary budget, and no single
dealer has as yet offered anything more
than a very limited list of subjects, with
the possible exception of foreign travel
But we must recognize that dealers cannot
deliberately extend their lists of titles, with
the accompanying expense for negatives,
beyond the possibility of a reasonable re-
turn, and undoubtedly cannot reduce prices
without financial loss.

* Address delivered at February meeting, at
Cleveland, of the National Academy of Visual
Instruction.

I, therefore, admitting the enormous ini-
tial cost and the difficulty in assembling the
personnel of such an institution as I am
proposing, see the solution to our problems
in a central lantern slide foundation whose
purpose shall be to extend the use of pho-
tography in popular education throughout
the United States, through a central clearing
house of lantern slides. Without further
preamble we may outline some of the func-
tions which such a foundation couW prop-
erly perform, and while I have arranged
them more or less in the order of what I
assume to be their relative importance, ex-
perience would very quickly establish a field
of action and undoubtedly require more
attention along lines which at the present
time may appear more insignificant.

1. Primarily, and first of all, it should
collect and maintain a library of negatives
for the preparation of slides suitable for,
educational purposes. This is being done
in a small way by practically every institu-
tion that uses slides, but the use of such
negatives is restricted to the individual in-
stitution and accomplishes very little good
outside of that institution. For example, in
Buffalo we have many thousand negatives
which I have collected in the last twenty
years, many, if not all of which could be
made into slides suitable for use in every
city in the country. The slides are on our
shelves, but are of course unavailable for
the departments in other cities. Many of
you have in your possession negatives which
we would be very glad to make use of, and
there are many private collections of nega-
tives which are not doing anybody any good.
Hie advantage of this central library is so

3»

National Lantern Slide Exchange The Educational Screen

obvious that we may dismiss its further con-
sideration.

2. There should be maintained a labora-
tory for the preparation of slides from these
negatives. While many institutions are for-
tunate in being equipped with suitable facil-
ities for technical work, there are others
who are obliged to depend upon commercial
houses where the making of lantern slides is
purely incidental and the work is done by
men who are not specialists. From a tech-
nical standpoint, the making of slides is
just as much a specialized branch of photo-
graphic art as portraiture or pictorial work,
and requires just as careful training. By
manufacturing slides in quantities and sell-
ing at cost, the price to the consumer could
be very materially reduced.

3. The laboratory should be available
further to provide slides of proper technical
quality from negatives supplied by subscrib-
ers for their particular purposes. Where
permission is grafted, a copy of the negative
should be taken to be added to the negative
library. This would guarantee a careful
and honorable handling of negatives, which
is a rather important matter. Any of us
who have suffered the unpleasant experi-
ence of having valuable plates accidentally
broken by careless handling in commercial
houses or had our most cherished pictures
pirated to appear subsequently on some deal-
er's list, realize that the more responsible
the institution, the more readily do we com-
mit our negatives to it. I do not mean to
say that all commercial houses are pirates,
but it is surprising how frequently the same
picture appears in lots of slides ordered from
different dealers, and it is, of course, abso-
lutely impossible that two or more dealers
should possess the original negative.

4. The Foundation would serve a further
and very valuable purpose by establishing
and maintaining standards of technical qual-
ity and suitable subjects for educational

purposes. It is certainly appalling to note
some of the material which is sent out by
reputable firms today, when viewed from
a purely technical standpoint. The writer
does not grant that any legitimate dealer
has the right to copy half-tones and sell
them as slides without making the fact per-
fectly plain in the catalog, and particularly
when such copy is of so degraded a type
as to be nothing more than a smear on
being projected. I do not mean to claim
that a decent slide and one of educational
value cannot be made from a half-tone cut,
but I do not think that we should be per-
mitted to order such slides without know-
ing they were not from original negatives.

5. The service of this Foundation must
be based on a purely non-commercial, edu-
cational use of all materials, and subscribers
should agree not to traffic in any materials
secured from the Foundation. In other
words, the slides could not be re-sold ex-
cept by permission of the management of
the Foundation.

6. The service should be offered to sub-
scribers only. Such subscribers may be
museums, educational bodies, religious in-
stitutions, or individual educators in school
work or in a private capacity, on registra-
tion, with or without the payment of a fee.

7. The scope of material to be as com-
prehensive as possible along educational
lines and should include among other things
travel, Americanization, science, industry,
history, art, Bible and literature.

8. A very valuable field which could be
covered by this Foundation would be the
assuming of the capacity of a central clear-
ing house and bureau of exchange among
its subscribers for duplicate lantern slide
material. Nearly every educational institu-
tion has a surplus along certain lines which
they would be willing to exchange for de-
sirable material from some other institu- ,
tion. The writer has attempted such ex-

September, 1923

National Lantern Slide Exchange

323

changes in a private capacity, but owing to
the varying standards of technical quality
at present accepted has frequently deliv-
ered a number of high grade slides, to re-
*ceive in return material which served no
purpose except a supply of first class cover
glass. By having all duplicate material
passed on before being offered for exchange
and through the numerous points of con-
tact which such an institution would furnish,
the question of exchanges could be very
much simplified, to the mutual benefit of
the participating parties.

9. The Foundation could act in an ad-
visory capacity in the matter of the pur-
chase of projection apparatus by schools
and individuals. This should be done by
establishing definite standards, irrespective
of manufacture, which all approved appa-
ratus must meet. The average purchaser is
quite ignorant of practical matters such as
focal length of lenses, character of electric
current, and nature of illuminants, and the
average dealer is very much more apt to be
guided by his enthusiasm in making a sale
than a consideration of the customer's wants.
1 have taken in my laboratory many ma-
chines which were entirely unsuitable for
the purpose for which they were intended,
in exchange for suitable equipment. An
alternating current arc on a 25 cycle in-
stallation will frequently give voice to a
more vigorous and effective argument than
any speaker could be expected to main-
tain. I do not wish to be understood as
taking the position that there is any "best"
lantern but that there are many lanterns
sold which are not adapted for the pur-
pose for which they are bought.

10. Arrangements could be made through
co-operation with active educational special-
ists for the preparation of uniform educa-
tional sets. We are all doing that more or
less in our small capacities, but a good set
of titles with a brief explanatory manu-

script is of as universal value as a standard
school text-book, and it is rather a waste of
energy to prepare these sets for purely local
application.

11. The Foundation would be able,
through its manufacturing department labo-
ratory, to provide very valuable research
data for the manufacturers of apparatus.
While our friends, the manufacturers, may
regard such a proposition as a presumption
on our part, I have been able, personally, to
offer one or two suggestions which have
been adopted by certain well known manu-
facturers of equipment, and the suggestion
is offered on the theory that the actual
worker who uses tools is oftentimes better
qualified to know what he wants than the
man in the drafting room who in many
cases has never made any practical use of
the equipment which he constructs.

12. Finally, we come to the most im-
portant proposition and one which the writer
simply offers without any suggestion as to
its solution. We hold that such a Founda-
tion could not be self-supporting. Service
must be at cost and this necessitates an en-
dowment of some form. This thought loses
something of its appalling character when
we realize, with the possible exception of
the private school, no educational institu-
tion can exist on its intrinsic income. A
service of this kind from an ethical stand-
point is just as deserving of endowment as
any other purely educational institution, and
the scope of this presentation is not con-
cerned with educational values. To survive
and operate, an endowment is absolutely
necessary.

As a further development of the idea and
one which from its nature is not included
in the preceding, is the eventual establish-
ment and maintenance of slide libraries in
towns and cities where now none exist.
These could be operated through the local
Chamber of Commerce, High School, or

324

National Lantern Slide Exchange The Educational Screen

suitable non-commercial center, and frequent
changing of the material would afford suf-
ficient variety. The distribution of Govern-
ment and industrial loan material through
the sub-stations would be practical.

To those of you to whom the lantern
slide is obsolete and the future of . visual
education remains entirely in the film, I
may offer by way of apology for confining
my propositions strictly to the slide, that in
our experience in Buffalo we have limited
our loans entirely to glass material. Having
honestly and seriously attempted the cir-
culation of film, we discontinued it, primar-
ily for the reason that legal restrictions in
the matter of fireproof vaults and insurance
rates rendered satisfactory service impossi-
ble. We state further as beyond argument

and self-evident: First, that slides are very
much cheaper than reels of film and more
flexible in their use. Second, the projection
of sHdes is very simple and not subject to
legal or underwriters' restrictions. Slidea
may be shown in any classroom without
any possibility of interterence. While the
portable projector with slow burning film
may have the same privilege, the greater
bulk of our subjects are on a standard film
with its universal restrictions. Third, we
believe that the successful establishment of
a slide library would afford invaluable in-
formation as to the method to be followed
out later in film circulation. Experiments
have been made with film libraries with
more or less success, but never to our knowl-
edge on a large scale with slides.

Results of a Motion-Picture Survey

Bertha B. Hughes
Evansznlle College, Evansville, Ind.

'"TP' HE Motion Picture is a recognized
I power in our present-day life. Much
difference of opinion prevails as to
its educational value, but no one doubts its
power of suggestion. The place this sub-
ject has taken in our modern periodicals,
the activities of local and national organiza-
tions towards its improvement, the restrain-
ing legislation concerning it, all emphasize
the fact that people are considering seriously
their responsibility in relation to this great
amusement.

Some such feeling as this prompted the
survey taken in the Evansville schools last
year. Some twenty questions were an-
swered by five thousand children, ranging
in age from eight to eighteen years. Sixteen
hundred of these were boys and girls of the
two high schools; while twice that number
were of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth
grades of the fourteen grade schools
throughout the city.

I. The first question asked was, "How
old were you when you saw your first
movie?" The answers represented a wide
range. Some as babes, three weeks old, had
seen their first picture ; eight had never seen
a motion picture in their lives. Three of
these last were boys, and one other boy
had only seen one show in his life. The
majority, however, attended first when five
or six years of age.

n. The second question asked, "what is
the first film you can remember?" Natu-
rally, many could not remember the first
one they had seen. Many recalled that it
was a comedy — usually with Charlie Chap-
lin, or a wild west show. The Birth of a
Nation was the film High school pupils re-
called more than any other, while Uncle
Tom's Cabin and The Iron Claw ran close
seconds. Then followed The Million Dollar
Mystery, Snow White, Trey of Hearts, Re- .^
becca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Life of V

September, 1923

A Motion Picture Survey

325

Christ, Neal of the Navy, etc. Grade chil-
dren recalled The Iron Claw, Uncle Tom's
Cabin, The Tarzan Series, Mutt and Jeff,
Daddy Longlegs, The Birth of a Nation,
Jack the Giant Killer and Pollyanna. The
element of interest more than their age prob-
ably was responsible for their memory. For
instance, one child remembered a snow
storm, others Indians, others animals of
various kinds — the thing holding their in-
terest at the time providing the thread of
recollection. The significance, then, of these
answers lies not so much in what the play
was, as in what details held their interest at
that early time.

III. The third question, "Have you gone
regularly?" was answered by the majority
in the negative. While more than half do
not go regularly, the majority do go fre-
quently. The fifth grade children, especially
the boys, go more regularly than those of
the higher grades. Few stated their con-
victions or scruples against going to shows.

IV. The fourth question, "How many
times a week do you go?" brought answers
that showed an average of one and a half
times a week for the four thousand answer-
ing the question. Some two dozen never go.
Two go once or twice a year. Then, there
is the other extreme. Some three dozen go
five or six times a week, and one boy goes
eight times a week — his father owns the
theatre ! It is reasonable to assume that a
moderate attendance of the theatre does not
necessarily reduce the scholarship of the stu-
dent, and that the normal child of average
ability will seek the recreation of the masses.
On the other hand, it is self-evident that a
pupil could not attend the theatre every day
and do his best work in school. It is in-
teresting to note that the exceptions, both
those who do not go at all, and those who
go over frequently, are far below the av-
erage in their scholarship.

V. It seems significant that the High

school students go farther away from home
than the children of the grades. This would
indicate that the former go to the downtown
theaters, while the grade children go to
the small neighborhood show houses. This
is verified by many who name the down-
town theaters they patronize. The small
children, then, are patronizing the "round
the corner" theater, whose capital is usu-
ally too small to bring the best pictures.
This sort does not attempt to compete with
the big houses, whose bill boards and press
announcements must recommend them to a
more or less critical and discerning adult
public. These neighborhood movie houses
cater to the natural desire of the small child
for excitement, concern themselves only
with the dimes he brings, and ignore the
influences of their screen. .They do not
advertise except at their doors. The chil-
dren's parents do not know what they are
seeing and only when lawlessness breaks
out rampant in a school or community, can
parents see the mischief that has been done.
VI. The admission fee they pay also
indicates that the High school boys and
girls go to the best theaters, while the grade
children go to the cheap shows. The former
pay twenty-eight cents — the latter, sixteen
cents. Many lower grade children patron-
ize a three-cent show, and their list of favor-
ite films would indicate that that show
should be condemned, and closed as a public
nuisance.

VII and VIII. The High school students
favor Sunday, with Saturday a close sec-
ond, for attending the theater. The grade
children go more on Saturday, but Sunday
nearly ties with it. This means that either
there is a dearth of things in this community
for children to do when not in school, or a
desire of parents to get rid of their children
on Saturday and Sunday by turning them
over to the gentle ministrations of the men
who watch box receipts only. Inasmuch

326

A Motion Picture Survey

The Educational Screen

as the Sabbath Law is not observed, and
theaters are kept open, at least a rigid cens-
orship of the fihns shown on Sunday should
be required. In fact, the two days on which
children attend in such numbers, the theaters
might well provide suitable films for them
and encourage their attendance only on those
days. Parent-Teacher clubs and other or-
ganizations interested in children should be
willing to co-operate in some such program.
On the other hand, fathers and mothers
might hark back to their own childhood,
and give of themselves on one of those days
to save their children so much of the sensa-
tion and unreal in their leisure hours.

IX-X-XI. In the next three questions,
the pupils were asked what type of film
they like, which they like best, and second
best. Those named were : Comics, serials.
Wild West, Travel, News, Love stories.
Cartoons, Color films, and stories of crime,
such as burglary or holdups. The High
school girl first, last, and always prefers
the love stories. The same is true of the
seventh and eighth grade girls. Comics are
their second choice. The lower grade girls
prefer comics first, then color films and love
films, cartoons and wild west. They like
everything but crime. The High school
boys like everything, but crime is the most
unpopular type. They are not so frank
in their preference for love films as the
girls. They put comics, cartoons, news,
and wild west before love films. But when
they name their favorite actor, it is Rudolph
Valentino, and the Sheik is their favorite
play! The boys of the grades are more
honest, or more consistent. They are unani-
mous for comics and wild west shows and
their favorite actor is Tom Mix in Sky
High.

XII. Of more than a thousand films
mentioned as favorites, the Sheik received
nearly five hundred votes from the High
school alone. It also ranked third in the

grades. This probably was due to the fact
that it had its first big run in one of the
big downtown theaters just prior to the
taking of the survey. It was, however, in
the class almost unanimously preferred by
the High schools. It may be said for it,
that it was a cleaner play than the book of
the same name, and above the average of
such plays in its presentation. However,
a close second was the Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse, which ran eighteen months
before the survey was taken and its choice
needs no apology. It was a powerful play
with a message for its day. However some
cutting was required in this film in Chicago,
while none was required in Evansville. This
suggests the need of censorship or regulation
of some kinds. The Three Musketeers was
the third choice. Over the Hill, Smilin' Thru,
The Birth of a Nation, Way Dozmi East, all
strong plays were followed closely by Peck's
Bad Boy, School Days, The Tarzan Series,
Daddy Longlegs, The Kid, Fascination, Pen-
rod, Go and Get It, The Queen of Sheba, A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court,
Beyond the Rocks, Huckleberry Finn, Thru
the Back Door, and Pollyanna, all of them —
with but two or three exceptions — the best
productions for young people.

The grade children's first choice was the
Tarzan Series — the Ape-man jungle stories,
Peck's Bad Boy, The Sheik (already ac-
counted for). Over the Hill, School Days,
The Three Musketeers, Penrod, Thru the
Back Door, Sky High, Daddy Longlegs,
Huckleberry Finn, The Four Horsemen, My
Boy, Mutt and Jeff, Little Lord Fauntleroy,
Winners of the West, Pollyanna, Smilin'
Thru, The Yellow Arm, Ten Nights in a
Bar Room, Go and Get it. The Old Sunm-
min' Hole, and Chasing the Moon. With
three exceptions, these also are good films.
But this only justifies the taste of the youth.
How many films as wholesome as these
do they see, going once every week for a^

September, 192 s

A Motion Picture Survey

327

year? The producers need to provide bet-
ter films in larger numbers, that the natural
tastes of these children be not permanently
lowered by what they must inevitably see
if they go at all frequently to our motion-
picture houses.

XIV. The favorite actor of the High
school students, Rudolph Valentino, prob-
ably was chosen because he played the lead-
ing role in their two favorite films, The
Sheik and The Four Horsemen. Tom Mix
was the first choice of the grades, probably
for the same reason. He is the star of their
wild west shows, for which they have a
decided preference. The list of favorite ac-
tors for each group upholds this theory,
the high school choosing players of comics
and love films ; Wallace Reid, Douglas Fair-
banks, Constance Talmadge, Harold Lloyd,
Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Tom
Mix, and Charlie Chaplin ; the grades choos-
ing players of comedy, love and wild west
shows, with the emphasis on the wild west ;
Mary Pickford, Wm. S. Hart, Douglas Fair-
banks, Jackie Coogan, Pearl White, Charlie
Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Wallace Reid,
Hoot Gibson, William Duncan, Constance
Talmadge, Harold Lloyd, Norma Talmadge,
Ruth Roland, Eddie Polo, Buck Jones, and
Wesley Barry.

XV. The reasons they gave for liking
these actors were first, because of their good
acting ; second — the real reason — because
they appear in the plays they Hked best;
third, because of personal attractiveness in
some form or another. The grade children
preferred them because they were "full of
pep," were brave, strong, good riders, per-
formed daring stunts, etc. A few preferred
their favorites because they were clean, did
right, were helpful and taught useful les-
sons. Some Hked certain actors because
they played the part of children. One girl
liked Mary Pickford because "she plays the
part of a girl my age." A few gave as their

reason that they saw them more frequently,
hence their preference. Two or three —
grade boys, of course — liked their actors
because they ''were not silly" and ''did not
make love." "They were sensible," and
"did not try to be funny." One girl said
she didn't like any of them because "they
married and got divorced and they were not
the right kind of people."

XVL When asked if they ever went be-
cause of the vaudeville or orchestra, the an-
swers were fairly well divided between the
two. Except in the case of Junior and
Senior girls, the vaudeville had the prefer-
ence. Since good music is a recent innova-
tion in our theaters, and good vaudeville
unknown, it is impossible to judge which
they would prefer if they knew both vaude-
ville and orchestra at their best.

XVH. The children go with their friends
to the movies. They do not go with their
parents to any great extent. The girls seem
a little more carefully attended than the
boys, but most of them do not go with
their parents. The boys' fees would indi-
cate that many of them were paying double,
especially in the Fligh school. While dates
are to be expected at this age, it is of vital
concern to parents and to the community to
know what these yoUng people are seeing
together.

Many indicated that they had seen Bible
or History films. Not only those who had
— but also the ones who had not — more than
four thousand in all, desired to see such
films. The supply of pictures on these two
subjects, with their great educational and
inspirational possibilities is far below what
it should be.

Not only are their favorite films indica-
tive of a high standard of taste among our
young people, but the stories they would
like to see filmed indicate the same fact.
They would Hke to see some of the classics
they have studied in school, some of the best

328

A Motion Picture Survey

The Educational Screen

popular novels of the day, together with
many historical and Biblical subjects. The
High school students asked for such plays
as : Seventeen, Silas Marner, Qiientin Diir-
ward, Call of the Wild, Treasure Island,
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Girl
of the Limherlost, Tale of Tzvo Cities, Bi-
ble Stories, especially the New Testament,
Count of Monte Crist o, Ivanhoe, Little
Colonel Series, Ben Hur, Robin Hood, St.
Elmo, Julius Caesar, Shepherd of the Hills,
etc. The grade school children prefer Robin
Hood to all other stories (it has since been
filmed and justifies their judgment). Oth-
ers were Huckleberry Finn, The Little
Colonel Series, Little Women Series, Rip
Van Winkle, already filmed, and many Bi-
ble stories, preferable from the Old Testa-
ment, like that of Ruth, Moses, Joseph,
David, Daniel; Heide, Robinson Crusoe,
King Arthur and His Court, Uncle Tom's
Cabin, Roland the Noble Knight, Buffalo
Bill, Alice in Wonderful, Ann of Green
Gables, AH Baba and the Forty Thieves,

The Wizard of Oz, Sapphire Signet, Treas-
ure Island, Daniel Boone, The World War,
Oliver Tmist (since filmed). Miles Standish,
etc. Many which they have named have
been filmed, either prior to or since their
choice was written, and it is to be hoped
that many more in this class are to be pro-
duced in the near future. Of the more
than a thousand dififerent plays requested,
comparatively few could in any way be
questioned either for their morality or for
their adaptability to the screen.

Other similar lists taken from the choice
of children over the various sections of the
community would be invaluable in their sug-
gestions to the producer of Motion Pictures.
If to their work was brought also the very
frank criticism of these young minds it
might be possible to crowd out much of the
sex stuff, crime, and other abnormal phases
of our not too perfect adult world from
the sensitive gaze of our nation's youth as
they seek amusement in the motion picture
houses of our land.

Totals and Averages of Replies to Motion Picture Question-
naire, Evansville Public Schools

High School Grade School

Girls Boys Girls Boys

No. of pupils answering 891 754 1687 1667

Average age 14.9 15.7 12. 11.7

Age when saw first movie 5 . 5 6.2 5.5 5.2

Go regularly 266 239 670 765

How often per week 1.6 1.3 1.5 1.6

No. blocks to Theatre 14.7 12.4 9. 10.7

Admission fee 28 28 17 14.5

Day go oftenest Sun. Sat.&Sun. Sat. Sat.

Day go next oftenest Sat. Sun.&Sat. Sun. Sun.

FILMS LIKED BEST

Comics

Serials

Wild West

Travel fihns

News films

Love stories

Cartoons

Color films

Crime, burglary, etc

279 439 864 830

49 57 287 238

165 312 499 1205

135 95 268 166

111 99 127 127

649 89 744 106

18 49 173 96

17 7 141 43

59 70 125 219

SPECIAL INFORMATION
Go with parents 386 191 911 436

Go with chums 744 633 1053 1156

Like movies better

than spoken plays 436 472 883 1234

Never saw a movie — Grade school, 6 boys, 3 girls'

— High school, 1 boy
Never go — Grade school, 4 boys and 8 girls

— High school, 3 boys
— 1 (Grade) girl goes twice a year
— 1 (H.S.) boy "not interested"
— 1 (Grade) girl does not like them

Go 8 times a week— 1 Central High School boy
(Father owns a show)

Go 7 times a week— (Grade) 14 boys, 7 girls— 21
— (H. S.) 1 boy, 1 girl- 2

Go 6 times a week— (Grade) 3 boys, 3 girls— 6
— (H. S.) 4 boys, 3 girls— 7

Go 6 times a week— (Grade) 17 boys, 11 girls— 28 \
— (H. S.) 1 boy— 1

September, 1923

A Motion Picture Survey

329

STORIES THAT THE PUPILS WOULD LIKE
TO SEE IN THE MOVIES

High School pupils mentioned 500 stories, of
which the following were chosen most often:

Times
Mentioned

Seventeen 18

Silas Marner 17

Quentin Durwood 15

Call of the Wild 14

Treasure Island 13

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn 12

Girl of the Limberlost 10

Bible Stories 9

Tale of Two Cities 9

Count of Monte Cristo 9

Ivanhoe 9

Little Colonel Series 8

Ben Hur 8

Robin Hood 8

St. Elmo 8

Julius Caesar 7

Shepherd of the Hills 7

Grade School pupils mentioned over
600 stories, of which the following were
mentioned most often:

Robin Hood 67
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn ' 39

Little Colonel Series 38

Rip Van Winkle 31

Bible Stories 30

Little Women 32

Heide 28

Robinson Crusoe ^8

King Arthur and His Court 25

Uncle Tom's Cabin 25

Roland the Noble Knight 24

Buffalo Bill 22

Alice in Wonderland 19

World War in France 18

Ann of Green Gables 17

Ali Baba and Forty Thieves 17

Wizard of Oz 16

Sapphire Signet 16

Treasure Island 16

Daniel Boone 15

Oliver Twist 13

Miles Standish 13

Tarzan Series 12

Katrinka 12

King of the Golden River 12

Evangeline 11

Pollyanna 11

Jack the Giant Killer 10

Cinderella 9

The Lone Star Ranger 9

FAVORITE FILMS

(1000 in all mentioned)

No. of
choice

1

2

3

4

6

7

5

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

Times men-
tioned by
High School

Times men-
tioned by No. of
Grade School choice

439

406

226

198

157

157

195

124

85

84

81

77

67

62

60

60

57.

49

48

47

47

43

The Sheik 255 3

The Four Horsemen 136 12

The Three Musketeers 208 5

Over the Hill 231 4
The Birth of a Nation

Smilin' Through 70 20

Way Down East 96 16

Peck's Bad Boy 312 2

School Days 208 6

Tarzan Series 368 1

Daddy Long Legs 152 10

The Kid 113 13
Fascination

Penrod 188 7

Go and Get It 56 23

The Queen of Sheba 54 24
A Connecticut Yankee
Hearts of the World
Beyond the Rocks

Huckleberry Finn 149 11

Through the Back Door 172 8

Pollyanna 78 19

Sky High 157 9

My Boy 113 14

Mutt & Jeff 112 15

Little Lord Fauntleroy 93 17

Miners of the West 82 18

The Yellow Hem 61 21

Ten Nights in a Bar Room 58 22

The Old Swimming Hole 53 25

Chasing the Moon 49 26

FAVORITE ACTORS

(200 in all named)

High School Grade School

No. of No. pupils No. pupils No. of

choice choosing choosing choice

1 564 Rudolph Valentino

, 2 423 Wallace Reid

3 391 Douglas Fairbanks

4 253 Constance Talmadge

5 236 Harold Lloyd

6 228 Mary Pickford

7 226 Norma Talmadge

8 218 Tom Mix

9 155 Charlie Chaplin

Wm. S. Hart
Jackie Coogan
Pearl White
Hoot Gibson
Wm. Duncan
Ruth Roland
Eddife Polo
Buck Jones

328

8

315

9

496

4

291

12

280

13

819

2

240

14

1038

1

413

7

525

3

471

5

418

6

301

10

298

11

225

15

214

16

137 17

330

The Educational Screen

How to Use Pictures — An Illustration

A. W. Abrams

Visual Instruction Division, University of the State of New York

AM'AN engaged in educational work re-
cently remarked that he had once
used lantern slides a good deal, but
had given up doing, so because he found that
the members of his classes were giving atten-
tion to the pictures rather than to what he
said. This person had missed the essential
feature of visual instruction. Had he confined
his use of pictures to those occasions when he
wished to present objective facts, which pic-
tures are so well calculated to represent, and
had aimed to lead his classes to observe and
interpret, that is to read, the pictures, he would
doubtless have secured better results.

It must be obvious that the person who
merely discusses or gives out information about
a subject and at the same time throws upon
the screen pictures which he does not lead
his class or audience to observe and interpret,
is dividing attention between seeing and hear-
ing rather than co-ordinating these two avenues
of approach to the mind.

The following notes are furnished by a cer-
tain commercial concern to accompany a pic-
ture of a Swiss chalet:

A Mountain Chalet, Grindelwald, Switzerland

The word "chalet" (sha-la) means "cot-
tage." The term is now used chiefly to
mean Swiss cottages. These are built in
one general style. The lower story is of
stone. The upper story is of wood. The
roof is made of shingles and projects far
out over the house. Where the country is
rough, and mountain floods are common,
the roofs are weighted down with stones.
Sometimes a torrent breaks over a moun-
tain side and plunges into the valley. Then
the houses need to be strong and the roofs
solid.

The view shows an ideal Swiss scene.
Against the side of the cottage is stacked
a pile of wood. This is to be used for
fuel, perhaps for cooking. The pile will
be much larger before winter comes; for
huge fires are needed to drive out the cold
in these mountains when the snow falls.
In the little out-house are to be stored
supplies of food.

The narrow road winds up the valley
past another farm house. It looks like a
ribbon unwound among the foothills. The
little field is strongly fenced. You would
call it only a garden. Most Swiss fields are
only gardens in size. Only a small part
of the land is tillable, but it is carefully
tended. Every village has its herdsman
who drives the cattle each summer morn-
ing up the mountain side where the pas-
tures are green.

In the distance the picture shows the
white cap of an Alpine peak. The snows
on its top are everlasting. In the valley
are trees that shed their leaves in thcj
fall. Beyond and higher, to the right, yoi
will observe the evergreens. Beyond these
the trees are only shrubs. Then plant
life disappears and the line of snow is
reached.

Generally speaking, wild animal life also
stops with the line of vegetation. There
are a few exceptions to this, however.

These notes are well calculated to save the
teacher and the pupil all effort except the. me-
chanical labor of reading them and repeating
information verbally expressed by the writer.

A DifJerent Conception of Notes

For the meaning of chalet send both teacher
and pupil to the dictionary. After observing
the size and form of this chalet, have pupils
search for pictures of others and then answer
for themselves whether they are similar or
varied in type. Why state that the lower story
is of stone? Have the pupils never seen stone?
Most pupils who are ready to study Switzerland
know what shingles are. If they do not, give
them the name after they have noted of what
they are made and their size and shape. Tell
the pupils to compare the amount of projection
of the roof with that of the roofs of houses they
have seen. Would it not . be better to ask
pupils to give possible reasons for the stones
having been placed upon the roof and not be
in too great haste for a final answer?

I am not sure what the writer means by
"ideal." The word is commonly used as th<*
opposite of real — fanciful, existing only in

September, 1923

How TO Use Pictures

331

imagination. ''Typical" would seem to be a
better word. But the chalet is hardly imag-
inary, for a pile of wood is stacked against its
side. Do you not think the pupil would be able
to tell you that? Why tell him? It would
lead more to thinking if the pupil were re-
quired to draw upon his past observations and
to judge that this wood might be needed both
to keep the chalet warm (Switzerland being a
rather cool country) and to cook food. He
would thus get a little experience in classifying
ideas. It is hardly too great a demand upon
the reasoning power of a fifth or sixth grade
pupil to ask him why the pile will be made
larger by the time winter comes. He might
even be expected to report why wood is used
instead of coal.

The field mentioned in the third paragr^oh
is referred to as Httle. Outside of our cities,

Picture No. 1

at least, pupils have seen fields. I would ask
the pupils to compare the Swiss field with these
as to size. I wou4d even venture, if the study
of Switzerland had progressed far enough, to
ask why the field is small. Usually when ob-
jective facts have been definitely noted, it is
safe to call for a judgment. In the case of
Switzerland it should be easy enough to lead
pupils to conclude for themselves that the
country is more pastoral than agricultural.

In like manner, if the details of the picture
are clear enough to warrant any reference to
the kinds of trees, pupils should first report
their observation as to their form, size and
color and also as to the part of the mountain
slope on which plant life does not appear.
Some verbal information as to the relation be-
tween altitude and vegetation would be allow-
able, though after a series of observations the
pupil would judge the relation and with only

Picture No. 2

a little assistance should be able to make a
fairly clear and exact statement of his own.

In selecting pictures to accompany this article
between 300 and 400 were examined. The col-
lection is believed to be fairly representative
of Switzerland and includes numerous chalets.
Note one chalet of two stories, one of stone
and the other of wood, is in the collection. It
would seem that the writer of the quoted notes
drew from a single picture an unwarranted con-
clusion as to the structure of chalets. It should
be clearly understood that picture expression
is always specific. The visual method is strictly
inductive. Generalized statements should not
be drawn from a single picture.

Picture No. 1: This expresses very well the
type of roof mentioned in- the quoted notes.
The cottage has only one story, but the piles
of wood and the cows are characteristic.

Picture No. 2: Here the chalets have over-
hanging roofs and two -stories, besides a base-
ment. The roofs lack the stones. One has

Picture No. 3

{Concluded on page 334)

332

The Educational Screen

How May the Public Improve Motion Pictures?

Hazel B. Stevens
Extension Division, University of Utah.

THE question, how may the pubHc improve
motion pictures, implies by its wording
that there is need of improvement. We
are not, however, doing the industry an injustice
by so stating it, because the most earnest advo-
cates of the motion picture— the producers— are
admitting the need.

Reforms must come from two directions:
within and without. It is too much to expect
that the production end will go very far alone
on the road to reform under the fervor of its
freshly undertaken enterprise — that is, unless
it is met and supported by its public. The cry
has ever been from the studios, "We produce
what the public wants—." And some pretty
"rotten" stuff has made its debut under cover
of that cry. For some time there has been a
quiet concerted movement among certain
groups of the public to refute the cry; but the
time is peculiarly ripe now to make this move-
ment felt. A hopeful sign on the negative side
is the recent failure of a stupendous salacious
production which ten years ago would prob-
ably have made a fortune for its godfather.
As it was, the public put the seal of its disap-
proval upon the picture in the most effective
way — through the box office. A consistent fol-
lowing of this policy would solve once for all
the problem of how to get better movies.

Producers and directors will specialize in
"clean" movies as soon as these prove them-
selves paying propositions; producers and di-
rectors are not in the "game" for their health,
as they will tell you quite frankly; they will
not go on spending good money to "clean up"
the studios unless they are rewarded tangibly
through their pocketbooks for their good deeds.
We, the public, must see to it that better pic-
tures "pay." Fortunately, producers and direc-
tors, though not idealists, are as a rule normally
wholesome in their reactions; the financial re-
turns being equal, they would rather produce
good pictures than bad, — good in the sense of
morally sound as well as of artistically photo-
graphed. In fact, there may be some already
in the field who will come to prefer a smaller
profit in order to satisfy their own sense of

what is community service. Some day surely
there will come, as a result of the present move-
ment toward higher standards, a maker of pic-
tures who has real vision as well as business
perspicuity, who will give us, not accidentally,
but consistently, pictures which will have power
to stir the wells of spiritual aspirations in us,
purifying while thrilling and entertaining us.,
in the manner of great novels and great drama.
A few pictures have already touched this height
— Humoresque, The Miracle Man, The Birth
of a Nation — but none, in the opinion of the
writer, has yet completely attained and main-
tained it.

The "great producer" will come in response
to a demand of public taste. This molding of
public taste takes time; it is not a reform that
can be effected "once for all"; in the mean-
while the commercial interests of the better
sort may time and again lose faith; but the
educational interests must never lose faith, even
though their job takes a complete generation.

It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks; in
other words, it is hard to make over the tastes
of the adult who has been fed from childhood
upon penny novels and cheap movies. It is hard
to teach a confirmed drunkard to appreciate
fresh spring water, — possible, but hard, — for he
has first to lose his taste for strong drink.

It is not so hard to lead the untainted minds
of children to prefer the wholesome to the hec-
tic and perverted. No harder at least than to
teach them to choose right lines of personal
conduct although they are surrounded by peo-
ple who act from lower motives and who seem
to thrive notwithstanding. The latter problem,
too, is a hard "nut to crack" for educational
interests, but they show no signs of wishing to
give it up.

The soil has undoubtedly been prepared for
a better class of movies, of which the very near
future should see a noticeable flowering. Every
member of the public can help by commending
and attending these better things. Those espe-
cially concerned can put forth group effort to
have the better things supported in their com-
munities.

September, 1923

333

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice-President: A. Loretta Clark, Director of Visual Education, Los An-
geles, California.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Edu-
cation, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Toothaker, Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A. W. Abrams, Chief of Visual Instruction Division, University of the State
of New York.

Rupert Peters, Director of Visual Education, Kansas City Public Schools,
Kansas City, Missouri.

A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.

J. W. Shepherd, Department of Visual Education, University of Oklahoma,
Norman, Oklahoma.

Carlos E. Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N. Y.

W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. AH matter appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy.

The Oakland Meeting

By Dudley Grant Hays

MEMBERS of the National Academy of
Visual Instruction will be interested in
the report of the splendid program of
visual instruction which was presented at the
N. E. A. meeting in Oakland in July. The
start for this program was made at our annual
meeting in Cleveland last February, when
Superintendent H. B. Wilson, of Berkeley,
California, was asked to act as Chairman of
the Program Committee for the July meetingi
He accepted the task and carried the work
through in a very successful manner and much
to the satisfaction of all present.

Opinions do not alter facts as a general rule,
but facts should sometimes change opinions.
We were on our second year of affiliation with
the N. E. A., and from the statements in Sec-
tion V of Article II of the By-Laws of the
N. E, A,, we believed v\^e were whol.ly w'ithin

the sphere of consistent action in starting a
visual program for the Oakland meeting. After
the program had been decided upon and
speakers chosen, the officials of the N. E. A,
ruled that the Academy could not put on a
program under its name, notwithstanding its
being an affiliated organization of the N. E. A.;
but that its members, as individuals, might
take part in a program sponsored by the
N. E. A. If you are well trained in visual
work, you, by careful study, may see the point
raised.

To make it easy to get up a visual program,
those officials asked Superintendent Wilson to
act as chairman of a conference on visual in-
struction and to secure speakers for the same.
He accepted that duty and went ahead with
the program he had already arranged. It went
off in good shape. There were two sessions

334

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educational Screen

and a brief report of them, in the language of
Superintendent Wilson, follows:

"The programs throughout were excellent.
All duties were carried by capable people of
experience in the field. At the Tuesday session
a brief introductory address on the importance
of keeping our visual materials broad'was made
by the chairman of the conference, Mr. Wilson.
Following the opening of the conference, Mr.
Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Educa-
tion in the Chicago schools, was introduced as
chairman of the afternoon. He spoke briefly
in reference to the growth and increase in the
pedagogical use of visual material.

''The theme of the remaining addresses of this
first session was 'Equipping for Greater Con-
creteness in Education.' This was developed
by Superintendent Peter A. Mortenson, of Chi-
cago, who spoke on equipment and the handi-
caps to its use; by Mrs. A. V. Dorris, Director
of Visual Instruction in the San. Francisco State
Teachers' College, who spoke on the training of
teachers; and by Dr. A. E. Winship, of Boston,
who showed that the visual appeal is universal
and is irresistible.

"The second session of the conference was
presided over by Susan M. Dorsey, of the Los
Angeles city schools." In opening she spoke
very inspirationally of the use of visual mate-
rials in community work.

"The theme for this session was 'Practice
and Theory in Visual Instruction.' Able ad-
dresses were made by Professor J. V. Ankeney,
of the University of Missouri, and Principal
George C. Kyte, of the University Elementary
School, Berkeley. A round table dealing with
field experiences and answering questions was
participated in by Miss A. Loretta Clark, Di-
rector of Visual Instruction of Los Angeles
city schools. Principal H. O. Welty, of the
Lockwood Grammar School, Oakland, and Mr.
H. S. Upjohn, Deputy Superintendent of
Schools, Los Angeles County.

'At the conclusion of the conference a mo-
tion prevailed directing the chairman to ap-
point a committee to urge the directors to
grant the petition presented the year before,
asking for the creation of a department of
visual instruction in education as a regular de-
partment of the N. E. A. This committee con-
sisted of Superintendent Mortenson, of Chi-
cago; Superintendent Dorsey, of Los Angeles;
State Superintendent Finegan, of Pennsylvania;
Mrs. A. V. Dorris, of San Francisco State
Teachers College, and Deputy Superintendent
Upjohn, of Los Angeles County. The commit-
tee presented the matter to the new Board of
Directors at their first meeting on Friday
afternoon, July 6th. The directors acted im-
mediately, creating the department as re-
quested.

"The creation of this department should
mean much for the right guidance of and use
on the part of school officials of visual mate-
rials. Thus far, the only guidance on the
matter was in the main only such material as
came from sources with commercial interests.
Without doubt, this guidance has been sincere
but there is great need that the N. E. A. should
further the development of a body of literature
setting forth the purposes of and the proced-
ures in the use of visual instruction in educa-
tion. The organizing of this department will
insure regular meetings annually, at which
various aspects of this important procedure in
teaching will receive fundamental attention,
by persons of experience and training."

Thus the movement started over a year ago
at Boston by Mr. A. W. Abrams and Mr.
Dudley Grant Hays in due time and by patient
cultivation has resulted in establishing the much
desired Department of Visual Instruction in
the N. E. A., wherein all teachers and others
engaged in promoting visual instruction can
function in every way consistent with the time
honored ideals of the N. E. A.

How to Use Pictures — An Illustration

{Concluded from page 331)

walls of plastered stone, the other of wood,
except the basement. Note the flowers belong-
ing to the nearer one. Are flowers about the
house characteristic of Switzerlanti?

Picture No. 3: Shingled roof with stones,
wood pilesj evergreen trees below, no vegetation
above, snow near summit.

Conclusion

Verbal information is not education. One of
the peculiar advantages of the use of visual
aids to instruction is the fact that they offer a
means of gaining percepts and stimulate think-
ing. The statements of the notes quoted conr

tribute little to either of these ends.

September, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

335

The Training of Teachers for Service and During Service in
The Use of Objective and Other Visual Material*

Anna V. Dorris

Director of Visual Instruction, San Francisco State Teachers' College

and Berkeley Public Schools

T

HROUGHOUT the programs of this con-
ference we shall be concerned with dis-
I ""■ cussing ways and means of bringing more
concreteness and greater reality in the teaching
process. To this end it is important to have
our schools and class rooms equipped with as
many worthwhile types of objective and other
visual materials as is possible in order that
keener interest, more economy and greater effi-
ciency may be brought to our teaching. It is
also necessary to set up ways and means of
eliminating, as rapidly as possible, all hin-
drances and handicaps to the easy and effective
use of all concrete materials in regular class
room procedure.

The total effectiveness of the use of such
concrete materials, as a means of enriching and
improving our teaching depends very largely
upon the personality and training of the teacher.
To secure the best results from any educational
tool or device the teacher must first feel its
need wholeheartedly and enthusiastically, and
then know how to use it judiciously and effec-
tively. No industrial or commercial institution
would think of introducing new equipment into
its plant without thoroughly training its em-
ployees how to use it to the best advantage.
Yet in our schools we very frequently forget
the need of training the teacher in the use of
new techniques of working.

To me has been assigned the task of dis-
cussing the need of training teachers to make
appropriate use of objective and other visual
materials in teaching. That I may deal con-
cretely with the problem, I shall present, (first)
the results of a survey showing the provisions
now being made in the United States for train-
ing teachers in the values and uses of the
various types of visual material, (second) some
results of my own efforts to train teachers in
the San Francisco State Teachers' College and
(third) the progress made in the city schools of
Berkeley in helping the teaching staff to make
larger use of concrete materials in their work.

To gather the facts in reference to the defi-

nite facilities providing for the training of
teachers in visual instruction in the United
States an inquiry or circular letter was sent to
171 normal schools and teachers' colleges and
to 114 colleges and universities. Request was
made for the announcement of any courses
given with the object of training teachers to
use visual materials as a means of definite in-
struction.

A total of 30 returns were received from
normal schools and teachers' colleges and 37
were received from colleges and universities.
A tabulation of these returns revealed the fol-
lowing facts: But four normal schools and
teachers' colleges offered regular full credit
courses and two offered summer session
courses. Michigan reported that each of her
four normal schools offers to seniors a five
months non-credit course. One institution
offers a three credit course in graphs and their
uses in teaching. For years The Kirksville
Teachers' College has offered a course in pho-
tography and slide making. But two colleges
and universities offer regular courses for credit
and two others offer summer courses only.

Colleges and universities have given more
attention to the developing of centers for the
distribution of visual aids, particularly slides and
films; seventeen of the thirty-seven institutions
reporting maintain such centers, two such cen-
ters are self-supporting and two circulate mate-
rial free to schools and community centers.
Only four normal schools and teachers' col-
leges report the operation of distributing cen-
ters to help schools.

The main object thus far in operating dis-
tributing cenj:ers seems to be to provide clean
wholesome materials for entertainment rather
than class room instruction. The evidence
gathered points rather clearly to the fact that
thus far the main use made of slides and films
is for entertainment purposes.

From the foregoing, it is seen that -of the
thirty normal schools and teachers' colleges re-
porting, but eleven are attempting to provide

♦Address given at Visual Instruction Conference, National Education Association, Oakland, California,
July 3, 1923.

336

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educational Screen

any type of training in the field of visual in-
struction, while of the thirty-six colleges and
universities reporting, only four are attempting
to meet this need. However, several institu-
tions stated that they were using various types
of visual material, mainly charts, slides and a
few films for instructional purposes in certain
courses, especially in science and geography.
Others were frank to say they had made no
attempt nor had they felt the need of offering
such a course. One teachers' college report
outlined its art course in reply to the inquiry
showing that they had no conception of the
richness or extent of the field under investiga-
tion.

Two serious questions arise from the fore-
going. First, in view of the welfare of the
pupils, is it justifiable to allow teachers already
in service to go on in the old traditional way —
slaves to formal text books — using long, dry,
uninteresting methods of teaching without mak-
ing a serious effort to awaken and inspire them
to use newer, more economic and more efiicient
methods of procedure? Second, many progres-
sive school systems in different sections of the
country are now equipping^. their schools with
exhibits, stereographs, stereopticon lanterns and
moving picture projectors. Shall no provision
be made by training institutions whereby teach-
ers may have the opportunity to learn how to
use such valuable tools in order to get the
greatest educational results with the least ex-
penditure of time and energy?

At the present time, as all of us well know,
much of this valuable equipment is used hap-
hazardly and unpedagogically or for entertain-
ment purposes only.

In order that we might begin to meet these
problems raised by the above questions, the
San Francisco State Teachers' College intro-
duced a full credit visual instruction course last
fall, primarily to meet the needs of the teachers
about the bay region. We began with these
guiding objectives, namely, to provide guidance
as to good practical methods of using such
materials and to encourage and aid schools and
school systems in equipping for the larger and
more systematic use of visual instruction.

The appreciative response from the teachers
about the bay proved to us that there was a
great need for such a course. In the Saturday
course thirty-five teachers and principals en-
rolled the first day. This group was com-
posed of five principals, one supervisor, two

high school teachers, fifteen junior high school
teachers and twelve elementary school teachers.
To the original group there were many addi-
tions during the semester. In the complete
enrollment were represented six different school
systems and twenty-seven different school
buildings.

Our courses offered two types of work. In
the first place, the main course, given at the
Teachers' College, consisted of lectures, con-
crete demonstrations of the uses of alt visual
materials, reports of progress on individual
problems and laboratory work. In the lectures
such topics were taken up as the need of im-
proving and enriching our teaching, fundamen-
tal reasons underlying the uses of visual in-
struction, practical pedagogical methods of pro-
cedure in the class room, special uses and
sources of supply of all visual aids such as flat
pictures, charts, maps, globes, graphs, stereo-
graphs, slides and films, how to start a dis-
tributing center, how to equip schools for visual
instruction and ways and means of earning
money for equipment.

In the demonstration feature of the course,
type lessons were presented either by the in-
structor or by members of the group. The aim
was to illustrate how class work was developed
and enriched through the use of visual aids,
by the children as needs arose. The illustrative
lessons were drawn from geography, history,
current events, nature study, health, safety and
the like. This was probably the most helpful
part of the course since it demonstrated con-
cretely just what the members in the class were
actually accomplishing in their regular class
rooms under the influence of the course offered.

The second type of service rendered by the
courses consisted of field work. Upon request
the instructor visited principals and individual
teachers in their schools and endeavored to
give concrete help in solving their daily prob-
lems in the field of visual instruction. As a
result of the field work twenty-one different
schools about the bay region were visited from
one to four times. Twelve out of the twenty-
one schools were fairly well equipped at the
end of the year to carry on visual instruction
work and three started school libraries with a
small visual center. Every teacher upon finish-
ing her course had accumulated a personal
collection of well mounted pictures, exhibits,
charts and graphs to enrich her own class room
teaching. The improvement in the atmosphere

i

September, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

337

of the different school rooms of teachers taking
courses seemed quite remarkable. The rooms
became real living workshops with attractive
illustrative material on the walls, the library
table and in the cabinets. Boys and girls were
beaming with interest and enthusiasm because
they were learning to solve real life's problems
in a natural, interesting way.

In the Berkeley City schools, our problems
have been somewhat different. For several
years various schools in the system have
been using visual materials such as stereo-
graphs, slides and films along with the older
types of visual aids, but as in all systems, the
material was too often misused by teachers
and principals who had not thought seriously
of the total needs and uses. So there was a
growing desire on the part of many to see the
work organized, guided and encouraged. It
was felt that before much new material and
equipment was placed in the various schools,
the teaching staff should be guided as to its
proper use and application.

Accordingly a committee was appointed
about three years ago, to formulate some sort
of handbook or guide in the use of visual ma-
terials. It fell to my lot to become chairman
of that committee. The various members of
the committee were chosen because they were
specifically interested in some particular field
of work. Each took the work seriously from
the outset. The first year was spent in study-
ing, experimenting and investigating with
methods and materials.

The second year we began to compile our
findings in the form of a monograph. In this
guidebook we have attempted to give concrete
help regarding available materials and how
they may be used to enrich all types of sub-
ject matter.

A few months before the monograph ap-
peared, a visual instruction center was estab-
lished with a part-time director and an at-
tendant in charge. During the year that center
has been in existence we have collected for
circulation for class room use:

3,049 slides (90% being colored)

1,118 stereographs

2,519 well mounted pictures 75% colored
875 illustrative booklets
184 exhibits
1 stereopticon lantern
1 moving picture projector

A special budget is set aside each year to in-
crease the visual equipment.

As a means of training teachers special meet-
ings are held for different groups and con-
crete demonstrations of class room work use
given by teachers and pupils.

But a small beginning has been made thus
far, but we have purposely gone slowly and
carefully. We never circuit films or any other
material. The request must come from the
teacher that material is needed to solve some
definite problem or to enrich some subject
matter.

The last few years we have all been aroused
to look upon public education with a new
meaning and significance. Our objectives have
somewhat changed and we now realize that if
we perpetuate the high ideals of our great
American democracy, we must cast aside edu-
cational tradition and meet the specific needs
of this new complex life. We must make learn-
ing more appealing, more concrete and mean-
ingful, so that it may be attained by all the
various types of minds and that the knowl-
edge gained may actually function in daily
living. The modern school cannot be apart
from life; it is life.

With this in view, we are not so much con-
cerned with imparting an accumulation of facts
which are bodies of information especially in
the elementary grades, as we are in developing
right habits, attitudes and ideals in the minds
and hearts of our on-coming citizens. If we
are able to guide students toward right think-
ing and living and inspire a desire or real
hunger for knowledge, we have certainly paved
the way to self-education. Visual aids are a
valuable means toward this end.

Modern psychology makes.it clear that for
the most part we gain our knowledge thru a
series of experiences which leave a wealth of
images and clear concepts in the mind. Books
can only interpret experiences and are not a
substitute for the actual experience. Words
are mere symbols of ideas. The language of
the printed page can but suggest mental
images, and unless the individual has had
something in his past experiences with which
to compare and out of which to build correct
concepts, the true interpretation is not possible
and accurate knowledge cannot be gained.

It is only thru a wide and systematic use
of the various visual materials to supplement
{Concluded on page 353)

338

The Educational Screeti

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
President— Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York City Schools.
Vice-President— A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary— Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Trcasttrcr— George P. Foute, 71 West 23rd St., New York City.
Corresponding Secretary — Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.
John H. Finley, of the Editorial Staff of the New York Times, formerly President of

the College of the City of New York, and Commissioner of Education of the State

of New York.
George D. Strayer, Professor of Education and Director of the Division of Field Study,

Institute of Research, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Susan B. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California. I

Olive Jones, of the N. E. A. Board of Trustees, Principal of Public School 120 and

Annexes, New York City.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

'Thumb Nail Sketches'' in Visual Instruction

By Ernest L. Crandall

No. 5. Child Psychology and Visual Instruction

WE shall begin this article with a quota-
tion from the. preceding article in this
series, which appeared in the Special
Summer number of the Screen. The reasons
for this are two-fold. In the first place, the
second paragraph of that article was so badly
garbled, through a printer's error, that the
writer, himself, found considerable difficulty in
unraveling the tangle. In the second place,
these little sketches are intended to constitute
a continuous series, and the lapse of time be-
tween this article and the last instalment has
been so great as to justify a little review —
merely that we may get together, recall whith-
er we were tending. The misprinted paragraph,
then, should have read as follows: —

"We frequently encounter the sweeping
statement that all man's knowledge come to
him through the senses. To subscribe to that
formula, we must consign to the same scrap-

heap the visions of the Hebrew prophets, th
Christian mystics, and all the poets of all th
ages, together with countless cherished institt
tions common to all mankind. Moreover, w
should also run counter to much that is recog
nized in virtually every school of psycholog:
Even those who would flout Divine inspiratioi
scoff at psychic phenomena and even reser
the designation of the inner self as the sou
fearing some spiritual connotation, are con
pelled to recognize certain physiological c
biological inheritances, instincts, inhibition:
impulses, what not, that are quite apart froi
and profoundly affect the interpretation of e>
ternal stimuli. What is still more significan
if we accept the postulate that all knowlcdg
comes through the senses, we bind ourselve
irrevocably to the proposition that truth i
relative. Sensation is individual, specific, vap
able. Your sensation is not my sensation. FnV

September, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

339

on the other hand, is universal, general, abso-
lute. Either there is violet ray or there is not,
however it may appear to you and me. Either
two is more than one or it is not; even though
I may see two where you see one, or might
have done before prohibition. Even Mr. Ein-
stein, I fancy, does not wish to sweep us alto-
gether away from this bit of intellectual terra
firma. The relativity of sensation, perception,
' conception, knowledge, should only emphasize
the necessity of postulating about absolute
verity somewhere."

This paragraph was introductory to a warn-
ing note, namely, that in our study of the learn-
ing process, we should never lose sight of the
fact that our duty as teachers is not the im-
parting of information, is not merely to teach
the child how to acquire knowledge, but con-
sists, primarily, rather in leading the child's
spirit, out into the discovery of some phase of
eternal, immutable truth, through the maze of
relative and often illusory data which the
senses supply.

With this reservation in mind, we can safely
posit the theorem that the child's knowledge of
the world about it comes to it chiefly through
the senses and in large and controlling meas-
ure through the sense of vision.

The process by which mere sensory impres-
sions are translated into knowledge, however.
is a complex one. Accordingly as advocates of
a methodology of which the very cornerstone
is the substitution of direct sense-impressions
for linguistic symbols, we cannot too often or
too sedulously examine and re-examine the
various steps of that process.

We shall ask the reader to bear with us,
therefore, during two or three brief chapters,
while we retrace, from the standpoint of our
own peculiar problems, the pathway from sen-
sation to knowledge.

Now, in retracing this pathway, it is not so
much our purpose to review certain general
and generally accepted psychological principles
or maxims, as to seek through such a review
some definite indications as to how visual in-
struction may best be applied to certain
phases of the teaching process, or as to what
form of visual instruction is best adapted to
certain stages of the child's psychological de-
velopment.

Let me illustrate what I mean. It will be
found that psychologists are pretty generally
agreed that the process of acquiring knowledge
divides itself into certain more or less readily

distinguishable stages or phases. Also the
student of psychology will find these several
successive stages, with some little variation,
pretty generally enumerated as follows: —

1. Sensation.

2. Perception.

3. Memory,

4. Imagination.

5. Conception.

A fact not always made quite so clear,
but. still pretty generally accepted or implied,
and certainly a fact very easy of demonstration,
is that each of these stages or phases has its
own characteristic accompanying emotional
state and results in its own characteristic effer-
ent impulse. In short, no single mental act or
state but is tri-une in its very essence. Accom-
panying each purely psychological reaction,
some particular state of feeling will be excited.
Equally, some impulse to action will be en-
gendered, which may be responded to. frus-
trated or inhibited, but which will always be
there, whether consciously noted or not.

Thus, mere sensation results in a state which
is frequently spoken of as if it were a mental
state but which is purely emotional, namely,
attention. At the first dawning of a percept,
however, attention merges in interest; and the
retention, recall and comparison of percepts,
which we shall call memory, whips interest into
curiosity.

Again, mere sensation results only in an
efferent impulse to locomotion, while the dawn-
ing of a percept impels to manipulation.
Arrest the attention of the child, or of an
adult for that matter, by mere light or sound
and you will succeed only in setting him, or
some portion of his anatomy into instinctive
motion. Definitize these sensory impressions
into a clear percept, a recognizable object, and
his first impulse — if he is near enough to na-
ture— will be to touch and handle.

More of this anon. For the present we
have proceeded far enough along this pathway,
to make a point which is of first importance.
It is a point to which teachers and educators
generally have given all too little attention.
That point is, that most of the learning of the
child's earlier years is confined to the first
three stages named above— sensation, percep-
tion, memory.

We do not mean to assert that a child, even
a very young child, has no mental processes
beyond these three phases. Of course he does.
Nevertheless, by far the greater part of his

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September, ig2s

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342

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

mental -activities begins and ends within the
truncated gamut of this first half of the learn-
ing process.

Now, it is equally certain, though not so
readily recognizable, that as the child develops
psychologically, he takes over successively in
increasing degree the remaining stages or
phases of the learning process. Memory yields
to. indeed prompts, imagination; and imagina-
tion, which is memory in a genetic, construct-
ive, creative mood, provides him with clear and
satisfying concepts, built of the scattered per-
cepts with which his brain has been stored.

Now, if all this is true, clearly the first
duty of the teacher is to be guided in his
methods by a careful consideration of those
mental processes, emotional states and efferent
impulses that are characteristically dominant
in the child's particular stage of psychological
development. In other words, there is a time,
or an age, at which to bombard the child with

sensory impressions; there is a time or an age
for bringing the motor impulses into play;
there is a time to give free rein to the imagina-
tion. Even though any of these or other
methods of approach may properly be resorted
to at any stage, there is some particular stage
of mental growth at which each is most ap-
propriate.

This is a vital point, and to none more vital
than to the visual instructionist, whose whole
methodology consists in the correct applica-
tion of the direct sensory appeal.

We shall require some maxims, from time
to time, to serve as road-signs in any rapid
mental survey of our progress. Let us erect
such a sign-post right here and clinch the
lesson of this article by a maxim that our
elders taught most of us many years ago—
namely, that

There is a time for everything.

Visual Instruction at the N. E. A,

By Ilsley Boone

FOR the first time in the history of the
National Education Association, the
theme of visual instruction was given
something like its due recognition at the
Oakland Convention of the N. E. A., held in
the coast city, July 1 to 6. The simultaneous
meeting of the World Conference on Educa-
tion in the neighboring city of San Francisco
and the large number of annual meetings of
allied organizations, brought together what was
probably the largest single gathering of edu-
cators from all over the world that has ever
been held.

In both the World Conference, and more
notably in the N. .E. A., attentive considera-
tion was given to the subject of visual in-
struction. President Owen had requested Dr.
H. B. Wilson of Berkeley to organize two
half-day programs dealing with this subject,
and while it is a matter of regret that the par-
ticipants in the programs presented almost
entirely the methods, programs, and results of
visual instruction in the west and middle west.
to the exclusion of what had been accomplished
in the east, nevertheless, the sessions were ex-
ceedingly suggestive and helpful throughout,
and great credit is due to Dr. Wilson for the
excellent programs which he arranged.
The National Council of the N. E. A. de-

voted the best part of one of its afternoon
sessions to a consideration of the subject.
Papers were presented by Miss Olive Jones
of New York, the newly elected president of
the N. E .A.; Mrs. Susan B. Dorsey, superin-
tendent of schools in Los Angeles, and Mr.
Ernest L. Crandall, director of visual instruc-
tion in the New York city schools — all of
whom are members of the Executive Board of
the Visual Instruction Association of America.
These discussions were all of a high order and
were concerned with the practical application
of motion pictures to the school work.

A report of the N. E. A. Convention, with
special reference to the subject of visual in-
struction, would scarcely be complete without
some reference to the report of what is popu-
larly known as the Judd Committee, a com-
mittee appointed by the N. E. A., with Dr.
Charles H. Judd of the University of Chicago
as chairman, for the purpose of investigating
the materials and methods of visual instruction,
w^ith particular regard to the applicability of
the motion picture to class room work. The
report of this committee in printed form was
distributed during the closing days of the con-
vention. It dealt only with the initial steps of
the committee's investigations, and did little
more than present a partial survey. It is to be

September, 192^ Visual Instruction Association of America

343

regretted that the work of the committee did
not eventuate in a more definitely helpful report
to those who are interested in the subject of visual
education. No effort, apparently, was made to
guide the educators of the country in the prac-
tical employment of motion pictures as an aid in
educational processes. With the keen interest
manifested in this subject, have not the teachers
of the country a right to entertain a reasonable
expectation that the N. E. A. will furnish some
leadership of a definitely helpful and construc-
tive character? Without such help, muhitudep
of schools and teachers will introduce the use
of motion pictures in ways, and under circum-
stances, that can only ultimately work harm.
It is safe to say that vastly more than fifty per
cent of the schools that now employ motion
picture projection are doing so without any
proper regard to the pedagogical technique; to
the proper range of films to be shown; and to
the right sort of equiqment for school use.
The largest service that a committee of the
N. E. A. having this subject under investiga-
tion could render to the schools of America,
would be to line up this subject in its true pro-
portions and with due respect to the needs of
the schools. Perhaps no more could have been
expected from the committee in view of the
shortness of the time and the complexity of
the subject, but it is to be sincerely hoped that
the work thus excellently begun will be con-
tinued until brought to a helpful and inspiring
issue.

Perhaps the outstanding visual instruction
feature of the entire convention was the visual
instruction exhibit which constituted more than
one quarter of the entire exposition in the Oak-
land Civic Auditorium, and which was ar-
ranged and carried out through the close
cooperation between the National Education
Association and the Visual Instruction Associa-
tion of America. The effort was made and
notably realized, to group together all those
exhibitors interested in visual aids to instruc-
tion. This included the makers of charts or
models, as well as manufacturers of micro-
scopes, telescopes, cameras, lenses and other
optical instruments, screens, motion picture
machines, lantern slides, motion picture films,
stereoscopes and stereoscopic views, and pub-
lications in which the visual appeal was pre-
dominant.

For the benefit of these exhibitors, and in
order to carry out the purpose of a unified
visual instruction exhibit, a projection room.

seating 1:25 persons, was set apart for con-
tinuous projection of motion picture and lantern
slide material during the entire time of the ex-
hibit. The equipment was suppHed through the
courteous cooperation of the exhibitors and a
more or less constantly changing audience had
the privilege of viewing practical class room
material. Motion pictures dealing with Biology,
United States History, Physical Geography,
Civics, Physical Education, and other subjects
of the upper grades and high schools, were
shown. The association maintained a corps &i
workers whose purpose it was to further the in-
terest in visual instruction among those who
came into the projection room or visited the
exhibit. Teachers school principals and edu-
cators from many parts of the country en-
quired as to methods of use, source of
material, proper equipment for class rooms and
auditoriums, and a large amount of informa-
tion was disseminated in respect to these
phases of the subject. It was only an exten-
sion of the service which the Visual Instruction
Association is gratuitously rendering contin-
ually from its offices in New York City.

The visual instruction exhibit was largely in
the nature of an experiment, designed to further
a more general interest in the subject of visual
aids to instruction. It was therefore to be ex-
pected that, as in the case of most experiments,
much could be learned from the endeavor. The
intensive qualities of California sunlight; the
practical difficulties of daylight projection in
large and airily lighted rooms; the value of a
daylight screen for projection under difficult
light conditions; the values and some minor
limitations of cooperative effort: all these were
made evident before the exhibit was closed.

On the other hand, there was no mistaking
the fact that immense value resides in a close
cooperation between the educators on the one
hand, and commercial producers of educational
material on the other. This was seen more
clearly perhaps, in the realm of motion pictures,
than in any other single field, since the prob-
lems here involved are so new, the technique
of motion picture use within the class room as
yet so undetermined. A great deal of valuable
information was elicited at the regular afternoon
meetings held in the projection room, where op-
portunity was presented for persons to ask
questions and to tell their own experiences in
the employment of motion pictures for class
room instruction.

(Concluded an page 364)

344

The Educational Screen

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

A Picture in the Making

AT the Lasky Studio they were making
"The Spanish Dancer," and it was my
privilege one morning to watch the work.
The publicity man kindly offered to "park" me
on the set, and left me with authority, in case
I was disturbed or threatened with ejection,
to say I was deposited there by him. But no-
body even noticed me; everybody was too busy
attending to his own affairs. Even the pianist
and the violinist, behind whom I had taken
shelter so as to be sure of avoiding the camera's
eye, had no time for more than an occasional
friendly grin.

The set was a castle interior of impressive
plainness, with a curving stairway in the back-
ground, and in the foreground, a banquet table,
its cover of crimson velvet and cloth of gold
billowing to the floor. Behind it in the middle
rose a tall, carved chair — the host's seat, no
doubt — and on either side of it ranged stools
for the guests. Golden dishes of curious de-
sign held real food, among them a Spanish
galleon in full sail, and a four-wheeled coach
with galloping horses. A bustling "Props" at
a side table was buried in mountains of oranges,
apples, melons, cakes, and mounds o£ some
delicious looking pink stuff, all of which he car-
ried tenderly to the banquet board and covered
first with oiled paper and next with napkins.
A majestic roast pig lay on a golden platter —
no make-believe pig, either, for afterward I
heard a hungry extra describing him to friends
most eloquently as they lined up at the corner
cafeteria at noon.

Mounted on scaffoldings along the sideHnes
stood half a dozen of the big searchlights
called "sun arcs," supplemented by rows of
Klieg lights and small "spots." Each was
manned by an electrician. Assistants and tech-
nical experts occupied themselves with details
of costuming and setting, and in the midst of
everything, walked the director, Herbert Bren-
non, immaculate in white flannels and a woolly
white sweater — it was chilly on the barn-like,
covered stage. Nobody paid any attention to
him apparently, and he seemed to move in a
world of his own imagining. He was going
through the action of his scene minutely and,
it was evident, intensely.

In a detached sort of way he blew a whistle
that hung around his neck: piano and violin
thumped into a march. In time with the music,
Brennon paced from the doorway to a point
just in front of the table, drew an imaginary
sword, clicked his heels, and saluted. Then he
went on briskly, around the table to the great
chair. He stood before it a moment, then raised
a goblet in a toast, bowed to unseen guests,
and seated himself with a grand air.

Toot-toot! The music stopped, and the di-
rector gazed off into space. He went back to
the doorway and paced off the distance to the
table, thought a moment, called for "Harold"
and gave an order. "Harold" shouted for
"Props;" "Props" shouted for "a couple of
hands here;" and in a jiffy the gaudy covering
was swept clear of the floor while a dozen men
were carefully lifting the table to a different po-
sition, the director helping.

Toot! Music again, and Brennon went
through this action once more, this time ap-
parently to his own satisfaction. The sound
of the whistle cut off the music.

"Now where are my six serving men?" In
answer appeared six men in blue costumes with
flowing sleeves. They wore bobbed black wigs
and stiff pink collars, and each individual part
of each one's costume was its own particular
shade of blue. The total effect might have been
slightly bewildering to the conventional-minded
outsider, but was not, to the camera- wise; for
some colors photograph white, and as for the
ensemble of the costumes, they could just as
well have been rainbow-hued provided their
photographic values were correct.

After careful inspection of each actor, the
director instructed them in their "business,"
and gave them their cues, and herded them
into a convenient corner to wait till he needed
them. Then he turned his attention to the
guards. ("All guards on the set," roared Har-
old.) Halberds for these two, swords for those
two, and — "Oh Harold, this will never do!
These swords are of different lengths. They
look very bad." A speedy exchange of weapons,
and the guards were stationed at decorative
intervals along the stairway.

Next came a detailed rehearsal with Gareth

September, 19^3

The Theatrical Field

345

Hughes of a bit of action at the table involving
a large cushion, and there was prolonged de-
liberation over its proper placing. Patiently the
two repeated the thing till every move was as
it should be, the actor's serious countenance
an odd contrast to the incongruous mixture of
medieval rags and modern sweater he wore;
to say nothing of shell-rimmed glasses with
their nose piece swathed in cotton to protect
his make-up.

Spanish soldiers began to wander in from
outside, evidently in anticipation of being
needed, for in a few minutes the call came:
"All soldiers in the places assigned to them
last night!" They stood behind their stools at
the table, and with Brennon facing them in
military posture, gesturing energetically, and
shouting, "Sa-lutc!" they rehearsed again and
again the business of dragging swords out of
scabbards and bringing them to the correct po-
sition at the right time. The director marched
around to the chair and seized a goblet.

"Gentlemen," he cried, "I give you the king!"

"The king!" echoed the soldiers, and raised
their cups.

Antonio Moreno, the hero, brave in maroon
brocades and velvets, laces and plumed hat,
came strolling in, and watched while the sol-
diers performed. All at once there came a
pause. Nobody seemed to be doing anything
at all. I looked for the cause: found it in a
little group around the camera, a buzz of talk,
a laugh. The famous Pola Negri had arrived!
She was not to work that day, and so was not
in costume, and after a short conference, she
left the set. I was sorry, for I had heard ru-
mors of magnificent costumes and a wonderful
bridal procession.

The whistle sounded a new signal, and the
lights buzzed, and flashed for the first time.
Toot! Mr. Moreno started down the steps
to salute his guests, dofif his plumed hat with
a wide sweep, and propose the toast to the king.
Mr. Brennon was not satisfied — it would seem
from my observation to be the fate of directors
never to be satisfied!

"Let's try it with the cloak on, Tony," he
suggested. It was forthwith done, and then
the question of cloak or no cloak was debated.

"I think it's much better without," was
Tony's opinion, and so it was settled.

Then it was decided to add two guards and
a captain to Mr. Moreno's business of entering,
which necessitated choosing and rehearsing

three men — "fine, big fellows," the director stip-
ulated, "men who've had military training."

At last everything really seemed to be ready
for final rehearsal. Toot! went the whistle —
lights. Toot! Music. Entered the captain,
followed by the hero and his attendant guards.

A bridal magnificent in costume and setting

"One, two, one, two. Left, right, left, right/'
I heard them murmuring as they passed me.
They reached the table; the guards drew back
with precision. Click! The swords snapped
to salute, the plume swept the floor. Captain
and guards marched out of the picture — one,
two, one, two. The host passed to his place,
raised his cup. His voice rang out merrily:

"Sefiores, salutamos, el rey!" (What Spanish
I knew came to my assistance.)

"El rey!" responded the soldiers, drank the
toast, and followed it with laughter and talk.

A series of short, vigorous blasts from the
whistle brought the action to a sudden stop.
Brennon spun down from his vantage point
beside the camera in a brief rage of disapproval.

"Why the laughter?" he demanded. "What
is there to laugh at? You are toasting your
king! People who have monarchies don't laugh
at their king!"

346

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

Silence for a space of minutes, while the
actors looked sheepish, and the director recov-
ered his good humor. Then they did it all over
again, this time without mistakes. But that was
not the end; it was not until they did it for
perhaps the dozenth time that the director set
on it his seal of partial approval with, "All
right. Lunch!"

In a second every electrician had slid down
from his perch and disappeared. Assistants,
technical directors, musicians, actors were gone;
Brennon was gone; the place was suddenly
dead. I wandered slowly off the set, stumbling
over workmen who were munching in dark
corners, and getting mixed up in the line that
was forming in front of the hot-dog wagon.

I was wondering whether, after all, we really
appreciate the amount of labor involved in a
motion picture when we sit comfortably m the
theatre and watch it. Here was a whole morn-
ing gone, and not a foot of film to show for it;
perhaps it would be all afternoon, too, before
the scene was finally shot. Yet I had seen
only a very few parts of the big puzzle that is
a picture in the making, put together in logical
form.

Production Notes

Costume pictures are promised in full mea-
sure for the coming season. Mary Pickford's
Spanish "Rosita," directed by Ernst Lubitsch,
opens in New York this month. In addition
there are Norma Talmadge's elaborate French
drama, "Ashes of Vengeance," Constance Tal-
madge's "The Dangerous Maid," Goldwyn's
production of "In the Palace of the King,"
Rex Ingram's "Scaramouche," Paramount's
"The Spanish Dancer," Charles Ray's "Court-
ship of Miles Standish," Universal's "The
Hunchback of Notre Dame," and even other
important ones to follow later.

The comedians, too, have fallen victims to the
costume epidemic. Buster Keaton is following
his "Three Ages" with "Hospitality," a parody
on the days of the first railroad train; and Lloyd
Hamilton burlesques the Pilgrim fathers in
"The Optimist."

Associated First National productions now
being edited include "The Bad man," with Hol-
brook Blinn, "Thundergate," a Chinese story
with Owen Moore and an all-star cast, and
Cynthia Stockley's "Ponjola," with Anna Q.
Nilsson and James Kirkwood.

In the making for the same company are

Maurice Tourneur's "Jealous Fools," "Flaming
Youth" by Warner Fabian, "Her Temporary
Husband," and "The Swamp Angel." Frank
Lloyd is to direct Gertrude Atherton's famous
"Black Oxen," with Corinne Griffith in the
part of Madame Zattiany.

Charles Chaplin has made his first picture
for United Artists, "A Woman of Paris," star-
ring Edna Purviance. This is the comedian's
first serious drama, and it is said by those who
have seen it to mark a distinct departure from
old methods of directing. Mr. Chaplin does not
appear in the picture himself.

Fox pictures in prospect include "The Lone
Star Ranger," and "A Flyin' Fool," with Tom
Mix, "The Best Man Wins," with William
Russell, "A Man," with Dustin Farnum, "Sec-
ond Hand Love," "You Can't Get Away With
It," and "The Temple of Venus."

King Vidor is to make "Gulliver's Travels"
for Goldwyn, according to a recent announce-
ment. It will be produced on an elaborate
scale. "Greed," the von Stroheim picture, will
be released in October, Joseph Hergesheimer's
"Wild Oranges" is just starting under King
Vidor, and Rupert Hughes is at work on "Law
Against Law," his own story dealing with the
divorce evil. Other Goldwyn pictures now
finished are Marshall Neilan's "The Rendez-
vous," and his original story, "The Eternal
Three," "Red Lights," directed by Clarence
Badger, "Six Days," an Elinor Glyn story
directed by Charles Brabin, and Hall Caine's
"The Master of Man," by the Swedish director,
Victor Seastrom.

"Anna Christie," the famous play by Eugene
O'Neill, is being filmed by Thomas H. Ince
under direction of John Griffith Wray, with
Blanche Sweet in the title part. George Marion
plays the part he originated on the stage, and
William Russell plays Matt Burke.

Metro pictures in production are "Held to
Answer," "In Search of a Thrill," starring
Viola Dana, and an Allen Holubar production,
"The Human Mill;" Jackie Coogan's production
of Mary Roberts Rinehart's "Long Live the
King" has been finished and is being edited
for release in October. Victor Schertzinger,
who directed it, is to make an original story,
"The Man Whom Life Passed By."

George Ade has written "Woman Proof" for
Thomas Meighan, and will assist in the making.
It will be directed by Alfred Green.

September, 1923

The Theatrical Field

347

William S. Hart returns to the screen with
Paramount, and has started work on "Wild Bill
Hickok." .;

William C. DeMille's "Spring Magic,"
adapted from Edward Knobloch's "The Faun,"
has been renamed "The Marriage Maker."

Other Paramount pictures finished or in
progress include "Zaza," with Gloria Swanson,
"The Light That Failed," a George Melford
production, "Ruggles of Red Gap," a James
Cruze production, and "Stephen Steps Out,"
adapted from a Richard Harding Davis story
for Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Of special interest are William DeMille's
plans to film Julian Street's "Rita Coventry"
and Owen Davis' Pulitzer Prize play, "Ice-
bound."

Harold Lloyd's latest comedy is called "Why
Worry?" and he has begun work on "The Girl
Expert."

"Dust of Desire" and "Rose of all the World"
are tentative titles for Norma Talmadge's next
picture.

"The Virginian," the film rights to which
were formerly owned by Douglas Fairbanks,
is being filmed by B. P. Schulberg for Pre-
ferred Pictures, directed by Tom Forman, with
Kenneth Harlan as the Virginian.

Universal has ready a number of new pic-
tures, of whi^h the moat interesting appear to
be "Drifting," with Priscilla Dean, "The Vic-
tor," with Herbert Rawlinson, "Where Is This
West?" said to be a clever satire on western
drama, "A Lady of Quality," and "Editha's
Burglar," with Baby Peggy. Booth Tarking-
ton's "The Turmoil" has been purchased and
will be produced by Hobart Henley who made
"The Flirt."

Marshall Neilan has been engaged to direct
Mary Pickford in "Dorothy Vernon of Haddon
Hall." Clare Fames and Alan Forrest have
already been cast for the picture. Miss Pick-
ford has also signed Ernst Lubitsch as director
for one picture a year for the next three years.
The first of the series will probably be "Romeo
and Juliet," and there are rumors that Douglas
Fairbanks will play Romeo.

Film Reviews

MAIN STREET (Warner Bros.)

After the first few scenes Sinclair Lewis
would never recognize his street, or his people.
Not that that's uncommon when best sellers are
filmed, but sometimes the spirit, at least, is pre-
served. Here the whole force of the story dis-
integrates under the pressure of box-ofiice
appeal. Carol Kennicott, that eternal rebel,
succumbs tamely to the Main Street influence;
Bea and Miles degenerate into purely comic
opera characters; and the others are mere cari-
catures. Doctor Kennicott more nearly preserves
his original being than any of them. A compe-
tent cast wasted. (Theatrical only) (Adult)
TRIFLING WITH HONOR (Universal- Jewel)

A baseball story with a moral. The plump
and jovial Buddy Messinger as the small boy
whose loyalty and adoration keep his basebal!
idol from "going wrong." Not a novel idea at
all, but entertaining and well presented. Rock-
cliffe Fellowes and Fritzi Ridgeway play the
principal parts. (Family) (Church and com-
munity use)
THE COVERED WAGON (Paramount)

From the standpoint of realism and truthful
scenic and character detail, this is probably one
of the finest pictures of the year. James Cruze,
the director, has caught the spirit of the pioneer

movement in marvelous fashion, giving us some
splendid scenes, as for example, that impressive
moment when the great wagon train moves for-
ward at the start of its long journey. The fact
that Mr. Cruze might have developed the dra-
matic possibilities of his story to a greater ex-
tent constitutes its one fault from a technical
point of view.

There is an excellent cast. The main "char-
acter," of course, is the covered wagon, shown
in the various vicissitudes of its historic journey
from Kansas City to Oregon. Charles Ogle,
Lois Wilson, Ethel Wales and John Fox, Jr.,
portray the leader of the train and his family.
J. Warren Kerrigan returns to the screen after
a long absence to play Will Banion, and Alan
Hale plays his rival, Sam Woodhull. But the
acting honors go to Ernest Torrence as Bill
Jackson, who knew every foot of the trail to
Oregon, and Tully Marshall as the old plains-
man, Bridger, — two immensely fine perform-
ances. (Church, community and school use)
(Family)

THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST (First

National)

This famous story has lost much of its vigor
in the transfer from stage to screen, largely
because of unfortunate casting, in the case of

348

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

the "girl." Sylvia Breamer is attractive, but she
is not the aggressive and superbly alive mis-
tress of the Polka saloon. J. Warren Kerrigan
as Ramerrez, the road agent, and Russell Simp-
son as sheriff Jack Ranee are adequate. The
story is slightly diluted to suit the demands of
censorship, but the production is on the whole,
satisfactory. (Theatrical only) (Adult, high
school)
ONLY THIRTY-EIGHT (Paramount)

Walter Prichard Eaton's story of a belated ro-
mance, deftly handled by William DeMille and
a good cast. A mother, after twenty years of
suppression under the strong will of a "good"
husband, upon finding herself a widow, asserts
her natural self, gratifies her artistic desires, and
horrifies her sedate eighteen-year-old twins by
eventually falling in love with one of their col-
lege professors. Its delicate humor is a pleasant
relief. Lois Wilson realizes the quiet wistfulness
of the woman who is "only" thirty-eight; Elliot
Dexter is comfortable as the elderly lover ; and
May McAvoy and Robert Agnew give delightful
performances as the twins, whose one thought is,
"What would father think !" (Adult, high school)
(Community use)

TEA WITH A KICK (Victor Halperin Production)
Farce— foolish, but occasionally amusing. Doris
May, Creighton Hale, Louise Fazenda, Stuart
Holmes, Rosemary Theby, and others make an
imposing list of characters. (Theatrical only)
(Adult)

THE EXCITERS (Paramount)

Bebe Daniels in search of excitement furnishes
a fair amount of amusement in the course of her
quest. An airplane crash, a chivalrous house-
breaker, played by Antonio Moreno, and a vil-
lainous assortment of crooks, add suspense. Not
the best of its kind, but fair enough. (Theatrical
only) (Adult)

HUMAN WRECKAGE (Film Booking Offices)

Mrs. Wallace Reid's anti-narcotic propaganda
picture at least indicates sincerity of purpose.
There are a number of excellent actors in the sup-
porting cast, including James Kirkwood, Bessie
Love and George Hackathorne, and in several in-
stances they do good work. The story is, natu-
rally enough, depressing, and logic is occasionally
sacrificed to point a moral. This film may do
some good, yet it seems a doubtful method of
attacking the problem (Possibly community use)
(Strictly a-dult)

FOG BOUND (Paramount)

Another of those stories in which the hero is
suspected of having murdered the heroine's
father. The mystery is smothered by the fog.
Dorothy Dalton and David Powell waste their
time on this. So does the audience. (Theatrical
only) (Adult)

THE LOVE TRAP (Grand-Asher)

An ordinary picture, undistinguished by any
brilliancy of story or direction. Just a fluffy
tale of a girl who is driven by a socially ambi-
tious mother, into a run-away match with the
wrong man, but realizes the mistake in time to
end things happily with the right man. Bryant
Washburn, Mabel Forrest, and Wheeler Oak-
man head the cast. (Theatrical only) (Adult)

LEGALLY DEAD (Universal)

A rambling story, unskilfully built around
the idea of the restoration of life to the human
organism by means of the recently exploited
drug, adrenalin. Alilton Sills in the part of a
man wrongfully accused of murder, convicted
on circumstantial evidence, and executed, after
which he is restored to life by a scientific friend.

Mr. Sills can usually hold his own against
poor picture material, but this time he is decid-
edly worsted. The rest of the cast is equally
unconvincing. (Theatrical only) (Adult)

WHERE THE NORTH BEGINS (Warner Bros.)
This is a typical story of the far north, dis-
tinguished from the usual by the interesting
performance of the featured actor, Rin-tin-tin,
a police dog. The humans in the cast, though
somewhat overshadowed, furnish adequate sup-
port. Children especially will like it. (Commu-
nity, possibly church use) (Family)

THE COMMON LAW (Selznick)

A line-up of stars headed by Corinne Grif-
fith, Conway Tearle, and Elliot Dexter give
this story a rather higher rating than it should
receive on the basis of story or direction. It
rambles a good deal, in getting to the point, and
certainly has lost much of the Robert W.
Chambers flavor. The production is heavily
overdressed as to costumes and settings, there
are too many lengthy titles, and for a picture
with so little real action, there are far too many
long shots for comfort. You can't tell what a
man is thinking when he is a mile away. The
actors are as good as they are permitted by
the limitations of the story to be, but at best
it's slow entertainment. (Theatrical only) V
(Adult) )

September, 1923

349

Film Recommendations by

The National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers

Associations

Mrs. Charles E. Merriam

Chairman, Better Films Committee

npHE National Congress of Mothers and
"'■ Parent -Teacher Associations recom-
mends the following films for the family.
They h^ve been reviewed by the Better
Films Committee and afford clean and whole-
some recreation.

FOR THE FAMILY

(From Ten Years Up)

Penrod and Sam, a Booth Tarkington boy story,
splendidly done, affording the entire audi-
ence, both old and young, a jolly time.
(First National.)

Johnson's African Big Game. Like H. H.
Snow's experiences in Africa, brought
vividly to us. (Metro.)

The Soul of the Beast. A trained elephant per-
forms to the delight of the children. There
is much brutality which might better have
been omitted. If you are in a position to
cut, you can improve the picture greatly.
(Ince.)

Jackie Coogan in Circus Days. In order to
show Jackie's splendid abilities, they give
us too much abuse on the part of cruel
grownups towards him. I do wish his man-
agers would let us laugh with him, instead
of always drawing on our sympathies. No
one likes to see a child abused, and to otlier
children it is too real. (First National.)

An Old Sweetheart of Mine. Riley's short
poem is drawn out to film length. But it
is a clean addition and in harmony with the
poem. If it will induce other mothers to
take out the Riley poems and read them
to the children, even to the little four-year-
olds (especially the Bear Story), then the
filming of this little poem has been a won-
derful achievement. (Metro.)

The Go-Getter. A Peter Kyne story of a
young man out to win a girl and a for-
tune. (Famous-Players.)

Slippy McGee. From the story of same name.
An unusual film became it reproduced the
spiritual message of the book. (First Na-
tional.)

Wrecks. A good, ^ clean comedy about old
autos. (Educational Films Corp.)

FOR HIGH SCHOOL AGE
(Or Over)

Charles Ray in The Girl I Loved. From Riley's
poem. A beautiful production but, to many,
it was spoiled by the overdone dreams. If
these were cut out it would make a per-
fect production. (United Artists.)

Walter Hires in Sixty Cents an Hour. Comedy
drama, inane but harmless. (Famous-
Players.)

Jack Holt in A Gentleman of Leisure. Comedy
drama in which Jack Holt enlists the aid of
a burglar to win a bet. (Famous-Players.)

Down to the Sea in Ships. The pictures of the
sea and whaling make it very worth while.
The quicker you forget the brutal love story
which runs through it, the better. (Hod-
kinson.)

Lon Chaney in All the Brothers Were Valiant.

A sea story. (Metro.)

Human Wreckage. Bec^ise it is said that the
drug habit permeates our high schools, this
film of Mrs. Wallace Reid's is included.
The school or the church, however, seems
a better place to impress this upon the
minds of the young people than the the-
atre, supposed to be a place of amusement.
If this picture will bring home to parents
the horrible conditions prevailing among
many of the actors who are entertaining
our boys and girls and becoming their
heroes, then Wallace Reid's death will not
have been in vain. (Film Booking Offices.)

Thomas Meighan in Homeward Bound. Inter-
esting sea-scenes and a pretty love story
running through it. (Famous-Players.)

Harold Lloyd in Safety Last. One must re-
member that this is trick photography and
there is no occasion for getting unduly ex-
cited. (Pathe.)

350

The Educational Screen

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

Make Each Film Do More

W. J. Wilt

Extension Service, University of Minnesota

HOW is this increasing nation-wide de-
mand for purely educational films to be
used in the classroom, going to be met?
This country has approved the motion pic-
ture as a direct means of education by its
universal use of all visual material available.
So rapid has been the growth of this approval,
however, that the producers and distributing
agencies have been unable to give the educa-
tional institutions enough films to permit them
to depend on these visual aids as a regular
supplement to their work. Practically all of
the film corporations are co-operating by plac-
ing their productions at the disposal of the
non-commercial organizations. On the other
hand, the majority of these non-commercial or-
ganizations have not the finances, as yet, to
organize and support a complete library. The
problem at present simply seems to be the
question of how our schools and other educa-
tional institutions can obtain the broadest and
best service from the films to which they have
access at the present time. It is imperative
that they do obtain this service from this mate-
rial, for in so doingi» they will stimulate and
keep alive the interest that is so current at
present until that time when production will
meet the demand.

The solution which the Department of Visual
Instruction of the University of Minnesota has
found to help meet this immediate problem is
simple and it may be of service to other indi-
viduals or institutions working in this field.
This department is trying to impress upon the
users of visual aids in Minnesota the fact that
practically every film is applicable to more than
one distinct type of instruction.

A purely industrial subject is thought of as
an aid only to the class studying that particu-
lar industry. The same subject can, however,
be used in the same school in connection with
other classes. A class in geography may be
reading of a certain city or state where this

industry is prominent. Will not the use ot
this film here again, help to fix this lesson in
geography more firmly in the minds of the
students? Again, the class in chemistry can
find in nearly every industrial picture the re-
sult of some chemical process or action and its
use by the manufacturing interests of today.
So we find that there are three distinct classes
that can use this one subject with direct bear-
ing on their work. The travel or scenic
pictures, which are perhaps the most common
and easiest to obtain, can be used in a like
manner. The scenic of Brazil showing the
country with its coffee plantations is first used
with a geographical connection. Then it may
be used in physiology or hygiene class where
the stimulating effects of coffee are being em-
phasized. Or the commercial department may
use it in its problems in transportation, or the
economics class in establishing some point with
regard to tariffs or duties, and again we have
made one film directly useful to several in-
structors.

If schools and colleges will only study more
carefully the films to which they have access,
they will find that there are many opportuni-
ties to use a single subject with equal interest
and bearing in several classes. One way to
bring about this closer inspection of films by
the instructors is to have them all see a certain
subject as it is used by one class, and to have
them look upon it with the idea of finding
some way in which it is applicable to their
own work.

The Extension Division of the University of
Minnesota is earnestly trying to get the users
of the service offered by its Department of
Visual Instruction to study the films it has
more closely. By doing this they may find
more opportunities to use them, thereby as-
sisting the university to get the greatest scri^"
vice possible from its material.

September, 1923 ScHOOL Department - 351

The BEST way to challenge the interest of the student in the important events of the day — the

Pathe Current Events Course

based upon the

PATHE NEWS

The step from indifference to enthusiasm becomes easy when you link up class-work
in history with the screening of the most important political, social, national and inter-
national events shown regularly in the Pathe News.

The Course has received the endorsement of prominent educators. It is being con-
stantly used in important school systems.

Pathe News will he leased to educational, social and religious institutions on con-
tract for a period of from six months to one year. Special service in connection with the
Course.

For booklet and full information address

Educational Department

PATHE EXCHANGE, INC.

35 W. 45th St., New York
Exchanges in 35 Cities of the United States

Film Reviews

TRAVEL AND SCENIC A splendid subject— which cannot too often

The Crater of Mt. Katmai (Educational Film J^e brought to mind— and especially interesting

Exchange)— Photographed on the National Ge- ^s illustrative of the region which has been

ographic Society's Mt. Katmai expedition, un- ^ade the Katmai National Monument,

dertaken several years ago, and one of the few Trails That Lure (U. S. Department of Ag-

film records of that remote region of Alaska. riculture)— Notable for its views of the Colum-

The party is followed as it penetrates toward bia River Highway, and the gorge of the river

the interior, and some good views are taken itself. Some artistic photography record

of salmon streams, and of a forest all but the scenes along its course, where there are to be

top of which is covered with volcanic ash. found many tiny cascades and larger falls.

Scenes showing the crater and a glacier at its among them the famous Multnomah, second

steaming edge, are splendid, and the part of the highest in the United States. Sunset Tunnel

reel which is perhaps most instructional is that leads to Bridal Veil Falls, gossamer and shim-

which shows Katmai re-constructed as it was mering. Some of the view^s of falling waters at

before the explosion. The film traces the recent the base of the fall are among the finest in the

history of the mountain, showing how volcanic reel.

pressure at its base formed the Valley of Ten Some footage is devoted to Eagle Creek

Thousand Smokes, and blew ofif the top of the Camping Grounds and a camping party. The

snow-capped mountain, leaving a crater eight reel ends with views of Mt. Hood in the dis-

miles in circumference and 3700 feet deep, with tance.

a milky lake in the bottom. Its huge size is An enjoyable number for a film program, and

graphically brought out by a picture of the valuable to any audience for the glimpses it

Woolworth Building photographed to scale, and gives of this particular part of the Northwest,
looking like a speck in the vast expanse of the

crater. The City (Educational Film Exchange) —

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

353

School Department

The Educational Screen

KINEMA NOW BOOKING

"FALLEN GODS"— Stupendous new production— 8 reels— just

released.

"THE FALL OF BABYLON"— David Wark Griffith's masterpiece
— especially edited for community use.

"THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY"— The famous story by
Edward Everett Hale.

"URASHIMA"— The Rip Van Winkle of Japan.

"THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN"— Prehistoric ani-
mals.

"LORNA DOONE," "THE CRISIS," "FOLKS FROM WAY
DOWN EAST," "WHAT BECOMES OF THE CHILDREN"
and 154 other selected pictures.

GET YOUR BOOKINGS EARLY
WRITE NOW FOR KINEMA'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOG

KINEMA FILM SERVICE

804 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, Illinois

Phone Wabash 3092

A symphonic picture of a great city, its finan-
cial center, its theatrical playground, its monu-
ments in memory of the soldiers of a great war,
its bridges, its towers, its fine architectural
beauties and its busy waterfront. Not a word
is said to label it as New York, yet not one can
be in doubt as to the identity of the city which
furnished the subject.

Scenes as lovely as a painting or an etching
justify the city's claim to beauty as well as to
industry and trade. There are most artistically
photographed scenes of the city's sky line at
night, and some of its towers of steel and con-
crete seen in the late hours of a summer day,
its bridges and towers against a moonlet sky,
its park scenes in summer and winter and the
river Hudson with its boats at anchor as seen
from the famous drive. Some of its especially
famous landmarks come in for their share of
attention — such as Washington Arch and the
church which stands at the head of the city's
money mart.

A Post Nature picture, and a classic of its
kind. , i

JUVENILE

Rumpelstiltskin (4 reels) (Kinema Film Ser-
vice)— A delightful film version of the old story

of the wicked little dwarf, the beautiful daugh-
ter of the miller, and the prince who, disguised
as a hunter, seeks a bride who will love him '
for himself.

It has the refreshing atmosphere of fairy
story — a not too literal adherence to probabil-
ity and a permissible touch of humor here and
there. There is, of course, the good fairy, who
turns the dragon into a harmless frog, the
magic carpet with its great power for good,
Simple Simon and the pig into which he is
transformed, the wicked dwarf and the cruel
king with the tremendous nose. In this latter
character, a touch of burlesque and slang is the
only unfortunate touch in the entire subject.

There is action and suspense — after the man-
ner of the fairy tale — and a perfect justice in
the end which sees the wicked dwarf sentenced
to a life of spinning straw into gold. Proving,
if it proves anything, that virtue always wins,
and that wickedness is a most short-sighted pol-
icy.

Through the Looking Glass (5 reels) (Na-
tional Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures) — As
charming a bit of foolishness as the original
,book of Lewis Carrol's from which this is takcn.\

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

September, 1923

School Department

353

ADVENTURING

WITH THE COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

A six-reel story of Life, Travel and Adventure which takes the student from
the United States to the Tropics of Central America.
Fishing Hunting Sports

Harpooning Sea Monsters Indian Life

Scenic Wonders Wild Bird Life

Terrapin Farming Mountain Climbing

Native Industries Historical Places

Not a dull moment in the six reels.
Highly instructive.
Single reel films of our own make now ready for distribution.
Sugar Industry of Central America Banana Industry

Coffee Industry The Maya of Today

Life as Others Lead It Still Waters

When the Earth Rocks No H. C. L. Here

And many other subjects of from one to five
reels. Complete synopsis of any film on request.

Bookings anywhere in the U. S.

COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

Headquarters P. O. Box 1662

306-7-8 Townley Bldg. Miami, Fla.

Good fun for children, and refreshing for adults
who will enjoy recalling Alice and her "adven-
tures." Here she comes to life as her exact
self — the imaginative little thing whose favorite
phrase is "Let's pretend," and who longs to see
what it is like on the other side of every mir-
ror where "things go the wrong way."

In Looking Glass House at last, she comes
upon the Jabberwock (for all pictures in story
books are alive in Looking Glass House) the
Chessroom where all the Chess people live, the
Red Queen who shows Alice the Rocking Horse
Fly and the Rough and Tumble Bug; she en-
counters the Walrus and the Carpenter by the

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and Service as only Bass knows
how to give. Write or wire for your copy today.

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sea shore where "all the little oysters stood and
waited in a row;" and met Tweedledum and
Tweedledee, Humptydumpty, and the Mad
Hatter in prison, convicted and serving his sen-
tence although he has not yet committed the
crime, for "everything goes backward in Look-
ing Glass Land."

Training of Teachers

(Concluded from page 337)

and enrich text books and other subject matter
that every teaching situation may become an
interesting concrete thought — provoking ex-
perience to the child. No other addition to
the technique of teaching can be so productive
of gains in the total results of the educative
process if wisely handled by trained teachers.
New and better visual material and equip-
ment is being introduced daily and there is a
great need of a nation-wide recognition of the
importance of training teachers to use it
effectively. In this age of transition and prog-
ress no educational institution can afford to
treat lightly any effective educational means
that promises to bring keener interest, more
economy and greater efficiency to the teaching
process.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

354

School Department

The Educational Screen

The thin line of civilization threading its way westward.

The Covered Wagon {13 reels)

ONE of the screen's greatest achievements
to date. It is drama with genuine epic
quality. Not so much a play of individual char-
acters as it is the struggle of man against fear-
ful odds which Nature puts in his path — a
struggle against desert and cold, aginst the bar-
riers of mountain and rushing stream, against
wild animals and savages as untamed, against
hunger and uncertainty. It is the stirring rec-
ord of pioneering of all time.

The story woven into the picture is all well
enough, but the real center of interest is that
long winding train of wagons making its toil-

Youthful minstrel of the expedition.

some way from the plains of the Mississippi
to the little known lands of the great West.
Within that train as it toils onward, life takes
its steady course relentlessly, with its struggles,
its loves and hates, births and deaths, dissen-
tions and losses.

There are some fine dramatic moments — the
start at the given signal, the pioneers with
faces set steadfastly toward the goal thousands
of miles distant; the fording of the great stream;
the fight against the prairie fire and the Indian
attacks; and, not least of all, the silent prayer
at the last, those simple heroes of that journey
on their knees in the Oregon snow of mid-
winter.

And there are classic characters — the old
trader and the guide perhaps pre-eminent. Some
good comedy varies the action, although it is
to be regretted (as far as the possible future
non-theatrical showings are concerned) that
the episode of the liquor is relied upon for so
much of the comedy action. A fault which,
fortunately, a judicious use of the scissors will
modify, while in no sense need it rob the
characters of their picturesque qualities. There
is also a little subtle suggestion that tobacco
chewing on the part of the lad in the srory
strengthens the frontier flavor, though the boy
is hero enough without it. And the obvious
melodrama of the plot might have been softened
to good artistic effect.

A film, however, stands as an incomparable \
picture of that none too well remembered period

September, 1923

School Department

355

,#«^i«^*^«ig£Sa4S^IS?" *«»-^

The gathering of the wagons at the
start of the journey.

of American pioneering, bringing to vivid life the
hardships and sufferings of those heroic days,
and the strength and vigor which overcame and
conquered. There is a stirring something about
it which makes every American pulse beat a lit-
tle quicker with a pride that he belongs to a
race which produced such as these. {Released
by Famous Players.)

Black Shadows (5 reels)

BY all odds the best picture which has yet
come from the South Seas, with a reality
about it that is convincing.
It is "a journey backwards in civilization" —
a trip to the equatorial islands of the Pacific
where the life of the black people is primitive
and the civilization of the outside world has
not penetrated. Good use is made throughout
of animated map work to point out the route
of the journey and the location of the various
groups of islands visited.

A commendable effort has been made to
show something of life as it really is in the
Polynesian Islands. On the way out from the
Pacific port, one of the first stops is at the
Society Islands, where the capital of Tahiti is
visited; street scenes and views of the public
market give a real idea of this "Paris of the
Pacific." In Samoa there is the largest wire-
less station of the Pacific, and the film gives
interesting glimpses of Samoan home life. In
the Fiji Islands the thread of civilization be-
comes faint — and the natives live in their house
craft on the streams and the queer shaped huts
on land in truly primitive fashion. In the New
Hebrides the natives are all cannibals, many of
whom have never seen a white man. Here, as
in the case of many of the other island popula-
tions, the black people are shown carrying on
their primitive occupations, and doing their

various ceremonial dances which form so large
a part of their ritual of the hunt. A good deal
of attention is paid to some of the most inter-!
esting details of costume and ornamentation,
native homes and picturesque watercraft.

In the Solomon Islands a head hunt is en-
acted for the camera, with no little dramatic
effect. The preparation, involving the Dance
of Blood, which lasts all night, the embarking
of the grotesque warriors, on each canoe the
war god of victory; the surprise attack upon,
the inhabitants of the neighboring island, and
the actual battle^all end , with the Dance of.
the Skulls around a pile of trophies on the
shore.

The film has much to recommend it. There
is a minimum of posing on the part of the
native subjects — a fault so common to efforts
of this sort — and the feels are further distin-
guished by some really beautiful photography.
It is, perhaps, from the nature of the subject,
not a film for audiences too immature. But

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A headhunter and the prow of his peculiar
shaped boat.

356

School Department

The Educational Screen

; Ei<

Professor Robert Mc-
Elroy, of Princeton
University, writes:

"I consider the
Trans -Lux Daylight
Picture Screen a
most important and
far-reac-hing Inven-
tion as affecting ed-
ucation. It supplies
a very real need.
Every educatlMial in-
stitution in the coun-
try ought to b€
equipped with these
screens."

MJ^liJif-VtiiM'^^

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be "sed with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.
For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

TRANS- LUX PAYLIGHT PICTURE SCREENtJNC
. 36WEST44!rST, MIW YOBH CITY

Carl E. Alteley, big
game hunter and
curator of the Amer-
ican Museum of Nat-
ural History, writes:

"The Trans-Lux
Daylight Screen is a
wonder. . . 1 am get-
ting infinitely finer
projection than I
have ever had with
any other screen.
Because of its bril-
liancy, much smaller
pictures may be used
and this feature
alone makes a great
appeal to me."

it is true to life — as it is lived in a land far
different from ours— and contains much fine
material of instructional value. {Released hy
Pathe.)

A Trip to the Arctic With Uncle Sam (4 reels)
Each reel is a complete unit of the subject, all
dealing with far northern life as seen by the
U. S. S. Bear of the Coast Guard Service.

In the first reel the Bear is seen starting from
Seattle, and, passing the ice floes off the Aleu-
tian Islands, encounters the ship which rescued
Amundsen. The explorer is shown, with two
Eskimo children and the Eskimo crew of his
abandoned ship as well as the survivors of his
dog team. The Bear makes a search for Amund-
sen's vessel, and tows it down Bering Sea.

Good use is made through the reels of a map
of Alaska showing coast locations visited by
the ship. Point Barrow (the northernmost point
in Alaska), is represented by views of the hos-
pital and the northermost school on the con-
tinent, where Eskimo children are taught.

Throughout, there are interesting views of
various kinds of Eskimo dwellings, and a good
deal of footage is given to Eskimo types, with
their characteristic dress. Especially novel, too,
are views of the Bear among the restless ice
floes along the coast, giving one an excellent
•idea of an ice-clogged coast.

The most serious drawback to the effective-
ness of the picture is the artificial posing which

THE

PERFECT

LANTERN SLIDE

PROJECTOR

SHIPPED ON APPROVAL
THOUSANDS or SLIDES FOR
KEVT ORVOR BALB

the camerman evidently thought necessary in
order to do full justice to his shy subjects.
Titles are not always the best, and the photog-
raphy leaves something to be desired, though
one realizes that conditions are difficult in far
northern latitudes.

The second reel of the series is entitled "In
the Land of the Midnight Sun with Uncle Sam"
and finds the Bear off the coast of Siberia. Es-
kimos come aboard to barter with the sailors,
and dance by way of welcoming these visitors
from the outside world. A hint is given of the
problem of supplying fresh water to the Bear —
for the sailors take advantage of a clear stream
which flows into the harbor, and pump fresh
water to the boat anchored off shore.

Reel 3 shows "Uncle Sam moving his Es-
kimo Family" — a unique yearly exodus of 250
villagers from King's Island, 50 miles out in
Bering Sea, where they go to hunt seal and
walrus but spend their summers on Nome
Beach. There they are seen tanning walrus
hide, which is used for boats and shoes. Most
delicate and artistic work is done in carving
various articles out of the ivory of walrus tusk —
some of which are displayed in closeup.

The last reel on "Uncle Sam's Queer Indus-
tries in the Arctic" completes the series, and pic-
tures the reindeer on Seward Peninsula where
a large herding industry is developing from
stock imported from Siberia. Basket weavers
are seen at work, and the Eskimo use of the
scanty materials at hand is interestingly shown
in the making of sleds — walrus tusks serving as
runners — and boats from reindeer skins.

A rather miscellaneous collection of glimpses
of Arctic life, but containing much material
which should be useful in a study of northern
peoples. (Distributed by Church and School Ft/m >
Exchange, 316 Locust St., Des Moines, la.) V

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

September, 19J3

School Department

357

The shadow on Calvary, to all ages
the symbol of brotherhood and freedom..

The Light of the World

Re-edited Version of
the Birth of a Race

(7 REELS)

Freedom and equality (God's thought in
Creation) followed through the time of
Moses and the Christ period, to our mod-
ern day, when the principle of equality
has become the foundation of enlight-
ened governments, and peace and free-
dom the hope of the modern world.

A stirring drama of historic episodes

Like a Dream the Past
Rises Before One In This
Idealized History of the World

Superior in Conception andTheme
to any other Biblical or Educa-
tional Photoplay Ever Produced

SUPER PHOTOPLAY SERVICE

159 North State Street

Chicago, Illinois

INDUSTRIAL

How Salmon Are Caught (DeVry Circula-
tions)— Produced by the Canadian Government,
it is a summary of the methods of fishing for
British Columbia salmon — by the use of drag
nets, which are laid to surround the school and
then hauled in, by trolling with hook and line,
and by purse seines in open waters. Especially
good are the views of the fish being scooped out
of the trap nets. Separating and sorting the
fish complete the subject.

Your Friend, the Railroad (4 reels) (Agricul-
tural Department, New York Central Railroad,
Chicago).

Devoted to showing how the railroad moves
(1) Live Stock, (2) Grain, (3) Perishable prod-
ucts, and (4) Milk, and delivers them in perfect
condition to the consumer. Each reel is a com-
plete unit in itself, and all admirably adapted to
instruction.

In the first reel of the series, the purpose of
the whole four is brought out by a little ani-
mated cartoon representing the railroad as some
people regard it, the remainder of the film is
devoted to showing the railroad as it really is.

The first reel follows live stock from the ship-

per to the market, through the processes of
loading, feeding, resting the stock, reloading and
unloading at the slaughter houses, giving one
a comprehensive idea of all that is involved in
its handling.

The railroad also makes possible the ship.-
ment of grain at comparatively small cost. It
is loaded from the elevator, and in the great
railroad yards, cars are classified and made into
trains according to their destination. Especially
good views show the operation of the hump
track, and the great freight locomotives that
haul tremendous loads of grain on the east-
ward journey. There is injected into this reel
a bit of interesting propaganda on the subject of
highways — built and maintained with the taxes
from railroad properties, and yet providing a
free right of way for freight trucks competing
with railroads. The tax burden on railroads is
shown to increase the transportation costs, and
the amount of the tax bill becomes impressive
as it is shown in cartoon form.

Taking up the story again, grain is seen in
the storage yards in preparation for export to
foreign countries.

The second reel shows the transportation of
perishable produce, requining special care in

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

358

School Department

The Educational Screen

National Pictures Academy

''The Home of Refined Photoplays"

EXCLUSIVELY
NGN -THEATRICAL

Educational, Dramas, Comedies

Religious, Travelogues, News & Weeklies

SACRED SONGS with Music on Film-
Something New

High Class Pictures at Low Rentals

We pay part of the transportation charges

New and Used MOTION PICTURE PROJECTORS
Bought, Sold and Elxchanged

National Pictures Academy

94 Wisconsin Street MILWAUKEE, WIS.

Telephone Broadway 2006

Free Film List

its handling. The large cold storage plant at
Medina, I'N. Y., is equipped to hold produce to
await a market demand. Cars are iced from re-
frigeration plants, and the exact machinery of
measuring the amount required, and the load-
ing of ice into the cars is a phase of railroad
operation about which too little is known, and
yet without which our city markets would show
far less variety than at present. The produce
is followed to the freight yards and on the car
ferries until it reaches the produce piers of New-
York Ciiy.

Iced cars are also necessary to the transporta-
tion of milk (Reel 4) and views are given of
the new iceless milk container, a car just intro-
duced, which will hold 800 gallons. Milk trains
must travel at express speed, and no interrup-
tions must be allowed to interfere with their
operation, all of which involves clearing the
tracks of snow in winter as well as keeping the
way open at other times. Unloading at the
receiving station is in itself a big job, for New
York City alone receives 1,600,000 gallons of
milk a day over the lines of this one railroad.

Pay Dirt (2 reels) (Agricultural Extension
Department, Iowa S4ate College, Ames. Iowa,)

U. C. SERVICE

Good Films and Projectors

STANDARD MOTION PICTURES

For Churches, Schools and AH Non-Theatrical

Institutions

Wells & Douglass

1108 Boylston Street. Boston, Mass.
Graphoscope Service Company

130 West 46th Street, New York. N. Y.
Motion Picture Exhibition Company

Proctor Theatre Building, Newark, N. J.
Scientific & Cinema Supply Company

1004 Eye Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
Will. am F. Kelley Company'

1818 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
Non -Theatrical Motion Picture Service

201 Joseph Mack Building, Detroit, Mich,
international Church Film Company

861 Reibold Building. Dayton, Ohio
Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange

736 South Wabash Avenue, Cliicago, 111.
James A. Keeny

431 South Dearborn Street, Chicago. 111.
Francis D. White

306 Film E&cchange Bldg.. Minneapolis, Minn.
Mot.on Picture Service Co.

314 South 13Ui Street, Omaha. Neb.
Church Film Service

1822 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City. Mo.
David F. Parker

1913 Commerce Street, Dallas. Texas
Graphoscope Service Company

1924 Third Avenue. Seattle. Washington
Independent Film Exchange

in Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco. Cal.
Standard Motion Picture Service

917 South Olive Street, Los Ajigeles. Cal.
Educational Project-0 Film Company

218 American Bank Bulldinc Los Angeles, Cal.
Southern Church Film Corporation

104 North 17th Street, Birmingham, Ala.
Church and School Film Exchange

316 Locust Street. Des Moines, Iowa.

UNITED CINEMA COMPANY, INC.

130 West 46th Street New York, N. Y.

. This story of a family who, realizing that
their stony farm "back east" holds. little promise,
take a claim out west where they are told the
fine soils will never wear out.

Five years later they are seen in possession
of an Iowa farm, which the father of the fam-
ily works on the assumption that the soils will
never wear out. Crops are planted year after
year, with decreasing returns to be sure, yet
nothing is done to replenish the soil.

The two young boys, however, have different
ideas. When the clover crop turns out a fail-
ure, and the corn grows poorer and poorer,
they take a sample of the soil to be tested at
their agricultural college. The soil expert rec-
ommends lime and phosphorus.

Winter and spring pass, and the father away
at a sanitarium knows nothing of what is going
on. But when he returns, there is a fine crop
of clover as a surprise for him, A good con-
trast is shown between the crop on ground
treated with fertilizer and on that without.

The moral of the film lies in the question,
"Is soil merely 'pay dirt' to be mined as long as
it will last, or is it to be wisely conserved that

it may yield indefinitely?"

September, 1923

School Depart iMent

359

FILMS FOR THE SCHOOL,
CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTER

THE AMERICAN MOTION PICTURE CORPORATION has one of
the largest and most complete libraries of educational, religious and
specially edited entertainment films in the country. More than 2,000
reels of material, including the famous Beseler Film Library, are available
for non-theatrical exhibitors.

All Films can be obtained on Non-inflammable Stock

Write to the exchange nearest you

NEW YORK - - 71 West 23rd Street

CHICAGO - - 744 So. Wabash Avenue

BOSTON - - - 28 Piedmont Street

CINCIMNATI - - - Broadway Film Bldg.

CLEVELAND. Film B'ld'g.. East 2 1 st St. and Payne Ave.

MINNEAPOLIS -
ST. LGUIi
KANSAS CITY. MO.
AILANTA
OMAHA

Locb Arcade

3431 Clive Street

1822 Wyandotte Street

63 Walton Avenue

- 1516 Davenport St.

Ameri

A Constructive
Motion Picture Service

ICTURE

Devoted to the
Non-Theatrical Field

50 Church Street, New York

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

(7 Reels) — Super Photoplay Service, 159 N.
State St., Chicago

ARE-EDITED version of "The Birth of a
Race," w^hich will be remembered as
having enjoyed tremendous popularity
during war days. This version makes more
extensive use of the purely historic scenes than
did the original (in v^^hich the reviev^ of history
formed only the prologue to the war story)
and far less footage is devoted to war — only
enough, in fact, to bring the theme down to
the present day.

As it stands in this version, it is a dramatic
series of scenes which has as its general theme
the development of the idea of democracy and
freedom from the creation to the present. The
Bible narrative is followed faithfully, in review,
from the Garden of Eden, where all was at
first peace and happiness, to the time when dis-
cord and violence came into the world and
man was punished by the great calamity of
the Flood. Then came the time of Moses,
when the Hebrew race, enslaved by the Egypt-
ians, were led by Moses to a new freedom in
the promise land. Again, in the time of Rome,
cruelty and oppression gained the upper hand,

and Christ appeared to preach the brotherhood
of man. Fourteen centuries later, a new con-
tinent, discovered by Columbus, became the
home of a first venture in democratic govern-
ment. Even there, however, oppression ap-
peared, and the Great Emancipator gave him-
self that freedom might survive. Still later,
the Great War blights the peace of the world,
and man must be sacrificed before universal
peace may become the dream of nations.

There are parts of the sequence which deserve
particular mention for the artistry which they
show. The Israelites in slavery and the young
Moses as a champion of his people are scenes
well done. The Bible narrative is kept without
distortion throughout, and especially convincing
are the scenes of the rabble before the palace
of Pilate, and the dramatic moments on Cal-
vary. There are also some truly remarkable
views of the World War armies.

It is perhaps inevitable that there should be
character portrayals that fall somewhat short
of ideal. Bible characters have become more or
less classic personalities, and any effort to por-
tray them in terms of screen figures, with
gestures and makeup, runs the risk of being a
{Concluded on page 361)

360

The Educational Screen

Pictures and the Church

Conducted by

Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

Motion Pictures to Get Audiences*

IF the sole use of the motion picture for the
church is just to get an audience, I doubt if
it is worth our consideration. But to get
people to come in order that one may give them
a religious message is very much worth while,
and anything which enables the preacher to do
this is worthy of his most careful consideration.

What preacher but would feel he was en-
gaged in bigger business preaching to one
thousand people than to one hundred? And
what layman but would support his church and
pastor more loyally if his pastor was preaching
to ten times as many people as he is preaching
to? It would surely be a bigger and better
investment.

It is true that any consecrated preacher
would rather preach the gospel to a congrega-
tion of one hundred than to afiford entertain-
ment for one thousand people — wholesome as
that entertainment might be. But the fallacy of
much thinking to the effect that having a crowd
alw^ays presupposes less care in the prepara-
tion of the sermon ought to be exploded once
and for all.

Ordinarily there is no virtue in preaching to
empty pews. Nobody has yet shown us how
to evangelize wooden benches. If benches could
be evangelized and made into saints there
would be a good many churches over the land
filled with "gospel soaked" pews. It is a trite
observation that pews are only to hold the peo-
ble which are to be brought into the church and
then christianized or trained in Christ-like living.

I have asked what layman would not be hap-
pier to support a church that ministers to large
numbers than to the church of the empty
pews. To answer my own question, I believe
there are some who would rather support a min-
istry to the handful rather than a ministry to the
multitudes— at least if the preacher has to resort
to any modern methods to prevail upon the mul-
titudes to come in.

We are mortally afraid of innovations. Our
fathers were equally fearful and suspicious of

innovations. They resisted the organ, and as
for the violin, was it not the "Devil's" own in-
strument? Our fathers look with equal sus-
picion on the Sunday school as an innovation —
the very same school we now regard as the heart
of the church of today and the hope of the
church of tomorrow.

But there is no more occasion for fear in
regard to the motion picture than there was in
regard to the organ or the Sunday school. Jesus
taught and preached with word pictures contin-
uously. It is worth while to remember that the
word pictures were the only kind of pictures
available in his day. Art was early seized upon
by the church and has been one of its greatest
assets even to the present day. The motion
picture is merely an evolution of the pictorial
art and its possibilities are almost infinite.

Motion pictures, when properly chosen and
projected, are a "crowd getter." Of course, it
goes without saying, the people who know the
best and most artistic pictures and the well-
nigh perfect projection of the theater, will not
go to church more than once to see wretched,
antiquated films projected in an amateurish way
by a toy machine.

But give people worth-while pictures of a
character such as they do not see every time
they go to a theater and they soon learn to
expect something worth while and interesting
and they will come again. Folk want something
interesting. While interest is not to be the
"god" of the church, we need not expect crowds
to come to church unless there is plenty of in-
terest to draw and hold them. The motion
picture can be made a powerful ally in creating
interest.

The speaker had as a special attraction one
Sunday night a few years ago, one of the most
prominent public men in- America. The weather
was beautiful and the church was comfortably
filled. The following Sunday night the speaker
preached on Joan of Arc and used three reels
of the film "Joan the Woman" to illustrate his

WoHd^'^a'Atrantifcrtrltn^^ Departmental of the Annual Convention of the Advertising Clubs of the\

September, 192 j

Pictures and the Church

361

sermon. An hour before service time a
downpour of rain started in and continued un-
abated. When he started to church he had no
idea there would be a sufficient number of peo-
ple present to hold a service. Imagine his
amazement to find the church crowded! Did he
preach less effectively because there were over
one thousand people present than he would
have preached to the handful usually compris-
ing a stormy night congregation?

But one may say that people will come only
for the pictures. My best answer to that ob-
jection is another illustration from my own ex-
perience. For ten consecutive mid-summer Sun-
day nights I announced a sermon series, each
sermon to be illustrated by one of the two-reel
Lincoln cycles. The pictures had been seen well
in advance, copious notes had been taken and
the relationship between the . sermon material
and the picture was in every case very obvious.
The first night there was a large congregation.
We went right through the regular order of
service, and when giving out the closing hymn
it was announced that the regular service would
be concluded with the benediction and that after
the postlude a two-reel Lincoln cycle would be
shown to illustrate the sermon. Every oppor-
tunity was given to the congregation to leave
during the postlude. As a matter of fact, one
woman left the church after explaining to an
usher that she had to catch a train. The same
method was followed for all ten nights. The
congregations held right up with increasing in-
terest to the very end. Had people come only
for the picture the}'- could easily have waited
until after the regular service, but everybody
was on hand for the opening hymn. And what
is even more to the point, those of the regular
congregation who professed not to care for
motion pictures invariably stayed to see them.
The only fair explanation of the success of that
experiment was that the services were interesting.
The picture increased interest in the sermon
and the picture was doubly interesting because

f the sermon which had been preached. Ordi-
narily, a few faithful people would have gath-
ered each of those hot Sunday nights, and they
would have gone through the service with the
ocst show of interest they could simulate. But
as it was a large congregation had a fine, in-

eresting, helpful time on all those ten Sunday

venings.
If pictures are to be used to get congrega-

tions, they must be wisely chosen, studied and
"built in" as integral parts of the service —
otherwise the crowd will come just as an audi-
ence to see interesting pictures, but not as a
congregation. Pictures must not be used merely
to entertain, unless one wants simply a motion
picture audience or "optience." We are after
congregations and not mere audiences.

When used wisely to enforce one's preaching,
motion pictures vitalize a service, and people
will come to a vital service, and what is more
important, they will come again. When we get
them to the church, then it is our business to
give them the best message of life and hope, of
righteousness and salvation that God can give
to consecrated members of His Gospel. It surely
is permissible to use pictures in a proper way
to get people to church in order that we may
get them into the church.

A word of caution. Pictures are not to be
used as sermon substitutes. One should always
preach as long as necessary to deliver his mes-
sage. Nor are pictures to be used as crutches
by lazy men. To select just the right picture
and prepare an appropriate sermon entails far
more work than is involved in the conduct of
an ordinary service. When properly used, the
pictures can be used in preaching the Truth to a
greatly increased congregation. Why should the
church stand aloof or throw stones at this tre-
mendous invention? Why not consecrate it to
the glory of God and the extension of His
Kingdom? The most important entrance into
the soul of man is the "eye gate." The motion
picture can be a genuine ministry to the soul
through the "eye gate."

— Chester C. Marshall, D.D.

The Light of the World

{Concluded from page 359)
bit disappointing. The portrayal of Jesus —
always a difficult and precarious venture — al-
though lacking the force which might be also
associated with the gentleness of the character,
is done with a commendable reverence.

On the whole, the production has the sweep
of a fine historic pageant — a panorama of scenes
all tending to the development of the central
thought — the growth of the world toward real
democracy and human equality, pointing to
the dawn of a brighter day when all the world
shall be at peace.

362

The Educational Screen

Lantern and Slide

Conducted by
Dr. Carlos E. Cummings

The editor of this department will attempt to answer all queries sub-
mitted, on the making or projection of lantern slides, lanterns or still
projectors, or pictures made by photography for educational purposes.
AH matters connected with moving picture projection or films will be
discussed on another page. All readers of the Educational Screen are
invited to make use of this page, and submit questions on any topic
properly considered herein.

Some Common Faults in Lantern Slides

THE standard lantern slide as adopted in
this country is 3^4 by 4" in size. As far
as we know, every lantern manufactured
in the United States will accommodate a trans-
parency of these dimensions. The manufactur-
ers as a rule are very careful in cutting the
plates and as this is a matter beyond the reach
of the lantern slide maker, cannot be controlled
in any way by him. There is very little fault
to be found with most of the slide plates on the
market. Coated on thin glass free from bubbles
and uniform in size, they occupy practically the
same position in the plate holders, making it
possible for us to depend on our ground glass
marking for centering. The best cover glasses
are secured by cleaning up spoiled and obsolete
slides, but this supply is seldom sufficient where
our work reaches proportions of any magni-
tude. The covers which we buy in bulk will
usually average 90% of bubble-free glass. Old
negatives if sufficiently thin can be cut into
good cover glass but we must avoid those of
any great thickness, as a thick cover results in
a heavy bulk and possibly a greater likelihood
of breakage in the lantern.

Our friends across the water prefer a slide
3J/2" square and some American lanterns are
prepared to take this size in addition to the
standard. It is better, however, when the op-
portunity offers to build up these small slides
to standard size. We have used two methods
to accomplish this. The slides can be length-
ened by attaching to each end with binding
strips a piece of cardboard about the thickness
of the slide and .3^ by ^^ in size. A sticker
on both sides will usually produce a sufficiently
strong joint to withstand ordinary wear. An-
other method which gives us the advantage of
producing a more uniform appearing result and
also of .inserting our own mats consists in open-
ing the slide, discarding the cover, and attach-

ing to the positive two pieces of glass 3% by
^" by means of gum strips on the face. This
is then remounted with a standard size cover
and when finished appears uniform with other
slides and allows full space underneath the
cover for whatever labels we wish to place
thereon. While slides too thick to be placed in
the ordinary carrier are unusual, nevertheless
they are sometimes seen, and a slide too thick
to be projected is of no more value than no slide
at all.

The matter of matting is one to which un-
fortunately too little attention is often given.
The mat serves as a frame for the picture on
the screen and also to carry the maker's name,
title, etc., preventing this data from being re-
moved or obliterated by handling. Mats can
be purchased in quite a variety of openings
but most dealers use a round cornered open-
ing about 2}^ by 3" as standard. A round
corner on any form of picture is an abomina-
tion and the use of such openings is more or
less of a habit. It is undoubtedly easier to man-
ufacture a die which will cut a round cornered
opening than to produce a similar die which
will cut a square corner, and it is true that
where the lantern is not set square with the
screen, a round cornered picture does not ap-
pear as distorted as a square one. Small cut-
out patterns of metal can be secured by means
of which openings can be cut with a small
wheel cutter but great care should be taken in
using these cutters to secure a clean, sharp
edge, free from fuzz or fiber. A plate of glass
affords a suitable surface on which to cut but
it has a tendency to dull the cutting wheel. A
piece of thick zinc which can be procured of a
photo engraver gives greater freedom from slip-
ping and is not so hard on the cutter. Where
conditions permit, each slide should be matted
individually to produce the best effect. A pat-^

September, 192s

Lantern and Slide

363

ented device sold by the dealers is a pad of "L"
shaped half-mats covered with parallel lines by
means of v^hich any size of rectangular opening
can be readily and accurately secured. The ob-
jection to this arrangement is its cost and the
time it takes to apply. In our laboratory we
find the quickest and best method is to cut a
binding strip into four pieces and after dampen-
ing slightly place these on the emulsion on the
four sides of the picture as desired. On top of
this a standard mat with a large opening is
placed and the whole bound up. Great pains
must always be taken to produce clean edges,
parallel sides, and square corners, as a defect
which is hardly visible in the slide itself be-
comes enormously exaggerated on projection.

Binding is another simple problem but one
which apparently offers great difficulties to the
beginner. While the binding- of the slide in no
way affects its projection quality, provided the
paper is securely attached to the glass, it is a
very simple matter, if properly done, to secure
a neat and durable result. There is no necessity
or even advantage in cutting binding strips into
short pieces. If the strip is properly gummed
and moistened the glass 'can be placed on it
squarely and the slide revolved till the binder
is fully attached, and by pinching down the
corners without cutting them away, we leave
an additional thickness of paper at the corner;
Frequently in handling, sHdes are stacked and
these reinforced corners serve to keep the glass
surface from coming in contact and thus pre-
vent scratching and dulling of the surface from
rubbing against other slides.

To the operator the most exasperating fea-
ture of the ordinary slide is the thumb label,
or to speak more correctly the lack of it. To
the man in the booth a slide without a thumb
label is worse than no slide at all; and on the
other hand, a thumb label properly placed en-
ables him to quickly and accurately place the
picture on the screen right side up and right
way around. Many lecturers hand their slides
to the operator with the statement that they
are "all in position, right side up and in order,
and thumb labels are not necessary," but with
the greatest of care this method results in
mountains standing on their head and other ab-
normalities. If the thumb label were a difficult
or expensive thing to apply, there might be
some excuse for its absence, but it is possible
to label an entire lecture set in a very few mo-
ments and there is no excuse except careless-
ness for not so doing. This label also serves to
Please Write to Advertisers and

Actual photograph in brilliant sunshine in classroom of a
hading colkge.

Daylight Projection

with the

SPENCER DELINEASCOPE

and the

TRANSLUX SCREEN

The above outfit in
your Classroom means

No Darkened Rooms

Open Windows Perfect Ventilation

No Eyestrain

Wide Angle of Vision

Write for: "The Tvoo Pamphlets"

SPENCER LENS CO

BUFFALO, NEW YORK

New York, N.Y.

San Francisco, C»L

Mention The Educational Screen

364

Lantern and Slide

The Educational Screen

MOTSCO GENERATOR

Operates on any AUTOMOBILE or I RU K. Produces ELEC-
1 ivICITY for Motion Picture Machines and Theatre illumination.
Gives the most satisfactory results for LIGHTLMG your School.
Church, Lodge or Home.

Weight of Complete Outfit only 44 pounds. Full details and liter-
ature upon request.

Machines — Film and All Equipment for
Visual Education

MONARCH THEATRE SUPPLY CO., 724 So. Wabash Ave.

Dept. 32 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

receive the set and serial number by whicb the
slide is identified in storage, but wherever pos-
sible such data should also be placed on the
mat where they will not become obliterated. Do
not attach the labels by rubb'ng all the paste
Oiff on a wet sponge and then expect them to
sHck on glass. The best, if not a particularly
refined method, is to wet them on the tongue,
but if this is objected to the moisture should be
applied with a small brush preferably dampened
in a weak gum solution and the label should
be very carefully rubbed down as soon as ap-
plied. If this is done there is no reason why it
should not last as long as the slide itself. The
proper position for the thumb label is the lower
left hand corner of the slide when viewed as it
appears on the screen. When properly placed
the operator picks up the slide by the label
while standing on the right hand side of the
lantern and it will then appear as it should. The
English slide is usually marked with two dots
on the upper corners. There are eight ways of
putting an English size sHde in the lantern and
seven of them are wrong. Unless thumb-labeled
the odds are strongly against the operator.

The title label should be about 3>^" long and
should not project beyond the end of the glass.
While this is usually attached to the face of the
sljide on the same side as the thumb label, it is
better to put it on the back, attaching it to the
transparency rather than the cover glass. Many
times the binding becomes loosened and the
cover glass falls away in handl'ng and if the
label is attached to the cover glass it may be
lost or misplaced, causing confusion when the
slide is sent in for repairs.

C. E. C

Please Write to Advertisers and

I

Visual Instruction at the N. E. A

{Concluded from page 343)
When it is considered that it was only
year and a half ago at Chicago that the V^isual
Instruction Association was first conceived;
that it was organized only a year ago at Bos-
ton; that the first motion pictures shown in
actual conjunction with the sessions of the N.
E. A. were presented at Cleveland last winter,
it will be seen how rapid and how wide have
been the strides in the direction of increased in-
terest in this field. Whereas, all efforts hereto-
fore made in the direction of incorporating mo-
tion picture instruction in the regular program
of school activities has been undertaken almost
with fear and timidity, there is now a general
recognition that no school is up-to-date that
does not have its motion picture equipment;
that the ideal equipment should bring the mo-
tion picture into the class room, or where this
js impossible, the specific classes interested must
be brought to the auditorium; that no normal
school provides adequate curriculum facilities
to its students unless some provision is made
for training them in technique and the art of
motion picture instruction; and that no city
school system making a pretense of being up-to-
date can much longer neglect the appointment
of a properly equipped supervisor of visual in-
struction, in whose hands should lie the full
development of this newest and most efficient
instrument of education.

The annual meeting of the Visual Instruction
Association of America was held at Oakland on
Tuesday, July 3, at which time the entire official
board was elected with the sole exception that
owing to the services of Charles H. Mills being
no longer available, Mr. George P. Foute, 71
West 23rd Street, New York, N. Y.. was elected
as treasurer. \

Mention The Educational Screen

September, 1923

365

The Industrial Picture Field

Conducted by
Homer V. Winn

Secretary of the Screen Advertisers Association

THE Screen Advertisers Association was
formed several years ago as an organi-
zation of film manufacturers and was to
all intents and purposes a trade body. They
were accepted as a body in the Associated Ad-
vertising Clubs of the World, but did not make
any material progress at any time.

In June, 1922, this association was reorgan-
ized at the annual convention of the Associated
Advertising Clubs at Milwaukee. The purposes
and plans of the new body were changed ma-
terially to incorporate the best ideas of both
film and slide producers and the owners and
exhibitors of such subjects.

Under the present regulations, producers,
owners of films and slides, advertising man-
agers, sales managers and all others interested
in screen activities, are admitted to full mem- •
bership on an equal basis.

Most of the lead'ng film producers are mem-
bers of the association. Many nationally known
concerns, such as the H. J. Heinz Company,
Cadillac Motor Car Company, Long Bell Lum-
ber Company, Commonwealth Steel Company,
and the Northeast Electric Company, are iden-
tified by active membership.

Briefly, the purposes of this association are:
(1) to promote public interest in industrial-edu-
cational films and slides; (2) to raise the stan-
dards of production; (3) to maintain a high
moral and financial reputation among producers,
and (4) to provide its membership with in-
formation regarding the circulation of films and
slides.

The circulation of industrial-educational
films has been the one absorbing problem of
recent years. Hundreds of excellent reels of
film have been produced by the leading manu-
facturers in various lines of industry. These
subjects have been produced at tremendous
cost to the owners and in most cases are wel-
come in the non-theatrical field.

The better class of industrial films, such as
are being produced today, are in demand by
schools, county agents, churches, and clubs and
everywhere pictures are shown other than in
the theatre. Many large universities and col-
leges are using industrial films to supplement
the regular course of instruction.

Through a special arrangement with the pub-
lishers of The Educational Screen, the associ-
ation is enabled to place at the disposal of their
great family of exhibitors the best of industrial
films. Each month this special department
will contain news of the field, information re-
garding the distribution of films, and also
monthly reviews of the best subjects in the
field.

We believe that this courtesy, so graciously
extended by the management of this magazine,
will benefit both the film owner and the ever
increasing family of non-theatrical exhibitors.
The reviews of industrial films, which will ap-
pear each month in this section, will be made
under the supervision and control of the maga-
zine. No member of our association will seek
to influence in any way the judgment of the edi-
torial staff and their opinions of films submitted
for review will be accepted as final by our as-
sociation.

Plans are now being formulated whereby the
various owners of film subjects will be able to
plan their circulation through this department,
so that the greatest number can be served with
the minimum loss of time and effort. Lists of
such films will shortly be in the hands of the
publishers and a special announcement will be
made in a subsequent issue.

THE ATLANTIC CITY MEETING

THE first meeting of the Screen Advertisers
Association, held in connection with the
convention of the Associated Advertising
Clubs of the World, was June 5th and 6th at
Atlantic City, N. J. Papers and reports were
read by members of the association on the
production and distribution of slides and films.
The distribution plans of the International Y.
M. C. A.; the United States government; the
DeVry Circulations and individual companies
were presented and discussed. Interesting
talks were given by Bennett Chappie, American
Rolling Mill Company, on "Motion Pictures as
a Force in Welfare Promotion;" by Mrs. F. S.
Fox, Virginia Public Welfare Department, on
the need of films bearing definitely on Public
Heahh; and by Mr. Chas. F. Hatfield, St.
Louis, on "The Screen Medium in Community
Work."

366

The Industrial Picture Field

The Educational Screen

"The Best Industrial Film of the Year"

AT the convention of the Screen Adver-
tisers Association held in Milwaukee in
June, 1922, the DeVry Corporation of
Chicago offered a portable motion picture pro-
jector of their make for the best industrial film
of the year. The board of judges after re-
viewing all the films submitted in the contest
' unanimously awarded the prize to the Cycle
Trades Association, Their film, "How Dreams
Come True," was produced by the Rothacker
Film Mfg. Company, Chicago.

How Dreams Come True (One Reel— NF).
Ambition rewarded is the theme of this un-
usual industrial photoplay which was awarded
the first prize as the best industrial film pro-
duced during the current year. It features such
well known stars as Ben Alexander, Peaches
Graham, Bobby Hendrick, Claire Windsor and
George Walsh. 1 — This story is built around
the trials and tribulations of "Shorty," a typical
Booth Tarkington character. 2 — "Shorty" was
late for the ball game and his team was de-
feated. If he only had a bicycle he would have
been there on time. He starts out to earn
enough money to buy a bicycle. The spirit
and zest he puts into every job from carrying
luggage to selling papers is well portrayed.
Then comes the bicycle contest, and "Shorty,"
with his unique bicycle, made from a saw horse

frame and barrel-end wheels, wins the prize
and his dreams at last come true. (Free dis-
tribution from DeVry Circulations, 1111 Cen-
ter Street, Chicago.)

Future Meetings

There are to be held during the coming
fiscal year two departmental meetings inde-
pendent of the National Association. The first
meeting will be held during August in New
York City. Definite date of this meeting, as
well as of subsequent meetings, will be pub-
lished at a later date. ■ ||^

Publications

Annual Report, Screen Advertisers Associ-
ation, Atlantic City, June 5th and 6th. — Copies
of this report may be secured by writing the
secretary of the association.

"Motion Pictures as an Aid to Business." —
Four parts. Published in "Administration" for
March, April, May, June, 1923. Ronald Press,
N. Y. Joint authors — P. A. Raibourn, Famous-
Players, N. Y. C, and Roy L. Davis, DeVry
Corporation, Chicago. This series of articles
makes a critical analysis of the production and
distribution problems connected with the use
of motion pictures in business. Reprints of
this series of articles may be secured by ad-
dressing the authors.

Among the Producers

(This department belongs to the commercial companies whose activi-
ties have a real and important bearing on progress in the visual field.

Within our space limitations we shall reprint each month, from data
supplied by these companies, such material as seems to offer most infor-
mational and news value to our readers.

We invite all serious producers in this field to send us their literature
regularly. — Editor.)

System of Exchanges Established by National
Non-Theatrical

THE National Non-Theatrical Motion Pic-
tures, Inc., first in the field of industrial
film distribution, shows again its pigneer
spirit by opening a series of exchanges in the
key cities throughout the country to further
facilitate and popularize the use of the film
for educational purposes.

MV. Levy, the president, says that the time
is ripe for branching out; that activities in the
field, that the sustained profit-making basis
of his organization, that the possibilities for

greater service to the field and the putting of
an extensive library of films at the disposal
of a greater number of customers, justify this

step.

Day by day the need for exchanges in the
different cities has become more insistent.
Thousands of letters have been received com-
plaining of the difficulties attending dealings
with the New York Office, from those in dis-
tant parts of the country, who, no matter
how anxious they may be to secure pictures,
are forced to go without them because of trans-
portation charges. Others chafe at the delay,

I

September, ig^s

Among the Producers

367

the long wait before the films arrive, the risk
of loss and damage in traveling, and their in-
ability to view films in person. There will be
absolutely no . reason now for any school,
church or welfare institution not securing any
film that they may happen to want. Already
several of the big universities of the country,
which have done their best to supply films
from their meagre libraries to smaller insti-
tutions throughout their respective states, have
expressed their commendation of this estab-
lishment of exchanges. (These exchanges are
listed in our advertisement in this issue.)

Each branch office is fully equipped with a
complete library, recently augmented by a
number of the finest and largest productions
in the non-theatrical field, including the eleven-
reel portrayal of the activities of the United
States government departments, entitled "The
Romance of the Republic"; the entire library
of the World Film Corporation series of se-
lected dramas; the Eskay Harris list of juve-
niles, including the famous Alice in Wonder-
land and Through the Looking Glass features;
a ten-reel presentation on a most elaborate
scale of Columbus and the Discovery of Amer-
ica, and others of equal note. These have all
been passed upon by the advisory board of
educators, club women and clergymen of the
various denominations. Each reel is standard-
ized, scientifically tested and edited by Don
Carlos Ellis, secretary of the company, as-
sisted by Miss Marietta S. Higgins, supervisor
of geography in the Hackensack public schools,
formerly geography teacher in Berkeley, Cali-
fornia, and author of the chapters on geog-
raphy in the Visual Monograph, published by
the public schools of Berkeley.

Motion Pictures on the Leviathan

THE use of motion pictures on ships is by
no means a new idea and the United States
Navy has gone in very extensively for this
form of entertainment. Practically every ship
of any importance in the Navy is equipped with
motion picture projectors and the Brooklyn
Navy Yard has one of the largest film ex-
changes in the world from which all these ves-
sels are regularly supplied with the very latest
films. The illustration shown on this page is
a photograph taken of Secretary Benby on
board the U. S. S. Henderson when she took
a party of distinguished guests to Japan last
spring.
The machine shown is a Power's 6A, which

Power's Projector on Board the Leviathan

is used on the Leviathan, the world's largest
ship. This vessel is equipped with a battery
of Power's Projectors and a Raven Halftone
Screen. The requirements of the Leviathan,
of course, are of an exacting nature as it is
necessary to supply motion picture entertain-
ment which is of the highest professional type.
The machine shown, while somewhat smaller
than the professional machine used in theatres,
gives strictly professional results and is well
adapted for use in schools, colleges, churches,
and so on. This type of machine is not strictly
portable, but is considerably lighter than the
larger professional models and can be moved
abbut very readily. As a matter of fact, it is
very essential that motion picture projectors
used on vessels shall be somewhat portable as
a machine is frequently set up in one of the
salons and then taken down after being used
or pictures may be shown on deck in clear
weather and, of course, under such circum-
stances it is necessary that the projector be
set up and removed without delay or difficulty.

New Instruction Book Issued by Acme Motion
Picture Projector Co.

THOSE interested in visual education will
be glad to learn that one of the leading
manufacturers of motion picture machines
designed especially for school use has realized

3()»

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

The
ZENITH

Motion
Picture
Projector

For schools, churches
and similar institutions,
industrial concerns, rail-
way and steamship com-
panies, and all others
with whom clear, steady
flickerless projection is
important, and portabil-
ity is an aavantage.

Equipped for Mazda lamp and with Universal
motor, both adaptable to any standard lighting cur-
rent. May be had with or without stereopticon for
showing slides or views. Stereopticon quickly and
easily attached or detached.

The Zenith produces sharp and clear pictures up
to 100 feet and over. Uses standard films only. The
selection of standard films is almost unlimited.

Simple and easy to operate. Light in weight, less
than 60 lbs. Dependable, adaptable, sturdy and es-
tablished. Endorsed by users; guaranteed. The mod-
erate price appeals to those who desire durable and
standard equipment at reasonable cost. Send for
illustrative and descriptive booklet. No obligation.

SAFETY PROJECTOR COMPANY
310-312 West Second Street Duluth, Minn.

The Most Effective Tool

In the hands of Progressive Teachers

To make the Teaching of History,
Geography, Health, Literature,
Civics, Science. Fascinating, Memor-
able and Profitable.

The Victor Portable Stereopticon.
For Class Room, Small or Large
Auditorium. Brilliant Illumination-
Simple to Handle.

Catalogues on request

Slides Stereopticons Motion Pictures

W. C. BLIVEN

130 West 42nd Street
New York City

Portable Screens

1

INSURE HEALTHY EYES

Samples and literature upon request

MINUSA CINE SCREEN CO.
ST. LOUIS. MO.

the lack of adequate instructional material re-
garding the use and care of such projectors.
To overcome this lack, which is believed by
many to be one of the serious drawbacks to
the more rapid spread of motion picture work
in schools, the Acme Motion Picture Projector
Company has prepared an excellent booklet
which gives complete instructions for the use
and care of their Acme S. V. E. combination
motion picture projector and stereopticon.

This booklet shows careful and intelligent
effort. By making generous use of simple dia-
grams and photographs to illustrate the various
operations, the .^cme Company has succeeded
in producing a set of instructions which are
so easy to understand that anyone can learn to
operate and care for the Acme S. V. E. by
following the suggestions given.

One of the distinctive features of the Acme
Projector is that each operating button is out-
side the case of the machine, and plainly
labeled to show its function. This labeling of
operating controls is a great aid to the novice.
The new instruction book is useful not only
to the novice, but also to the more experienced
operator; in addition to instructions for the
operation and care of the machine, the book
contains suggestions on the care of film, and
other hints useful to projector users.

A copy of "How to Operate the Acme
S. V. E. Type F Semi-Portable Motion Picture
Projector" is sent with each machine shipped
from the Acme factory. The company will be
glad to send one of the books to anyone in-
terested who has not already received a copy.

It is understood that the Acme Company is
preparing a similar booklet for use with the
Model 12 Acme Portable Projector, a suitcase
style machine which has become very popular
among those who require machines of that
type.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

i

October, 1923 371

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelson L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright, October, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.50 a year Single Copies, 20 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923, at the Post Office

at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 8

CONTENTS FOR OCTOBER
Editorials 373

Enriching Learning Through the Use of Visual Aids 378

George C. Kyte

Development and Extension of Visual Education in Michigan 382

Thomas E. Johnson

The Movie and Manners 384

/. E. McAfee

Americanization Through Educational Motion Pictures 385

Stephen F. Pullis

A Picture Service on Wheels 387

Everett M. Parke

The Theatrical Field Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

A Dream Comes True 391

Production Notes 392

Film Reviews 393

Official Department of The Visual Instruction Association of America

The Child and the Commercial Moving Picture 398

Olive M. Jones

Visual Aids and How to Handle Them 400

Ernest L. Crandall

School Department Conducted by Marie E. Goodenough

School Room Projection Otis O. Painter 403

Film Reviews 403

Pictures and the Church 410

Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

Lantern and Slide Conducted by Dr. Carlos E. Cummings

Converting an Old Lantern Into a New Om 412

The News Chat Conducted by The Editor 413

The Industrial Picture Field Conducted by Homer V. Winn

Motion Pictures in Community Development

Among the Producers :/•;•: ; ^^^

{Where they tell their own story)

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.
5 South Wabash Avenue 236 West 5Sth Street

Chicago New York

^^^ Advertisements The Educational Screen

YALE UNIVERSITY

has used the

POWER'S
PROJECTORS

for many years

That results have been satisfactory is clearly
indicated by the recent installation of

POWER'S PROJECTORS

with Incandescent Equipment

in the

YALE GRADUATES' CLUB

and

SAGE HALL OF FORESTRY

Yale University

Thousands of other colleges, schools, churches, etc., have successfully used Powers
Motion Picture Machines for many years.

MCHOUS POWER COMPANY

EDWARD EAFll.. RRes,D«lMT

Ninety Cold St. New York. N.Y.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

October, ig2S

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II October, 1923 ^^ g

A Bulletin

WHEN The Educational Screen passed its first birthday last January,
it became subject to that disease— inevitable for all magazines and fatal
to some — which is known as "Expirations." Naturally it gives us great
pleasure to make the following report on the condition of this patient :

New Subscriptions and Renewals for the past tzvo months are
74% greater than the Expirations for the past six months.

We can trust our readers, our contributors, and our advertisers to appreciate
fully the significance of the above statement.

Novelty, Habit, Merit

HAVE we passed the heyday of the theatrical movie? To answer either
"yes" or "no" requires some temerity, for either amounts to prophecy
which is always rash. But consider one simple aspect of the question.

If the figures given out by moviedom in its most serious moments can be
trusted, there were 20,000 movie theatres operating in the country a few years
ago. Today the same figures from the same sources have dropped to 18,000 or
below.

Back of most of these movie houses was the vision of millionairedom for
owners or lessees. The vision was born of the press agent poison which has
permeated the whole industry to its vast detriment. The type of mind that was
drawn toward movie-exhibiting was the type that could believe the absurd
advertisements. It is the type that can go on believing them as they have grown
more hectic and desperate. And it is the type that will continue indefinitely as
the exhibitors of stupid pictures for the vacant-minded, which will forever con-
stitute the bulk of the movie output.

But some of these theatre-owners were disillusioned rapidly — two thousand
theatres are gone. Most of those remaining have modified their ambition; they
are struggling only to make a living but their method remains the same. They
read the delirious ads of the forthcoming productions, inquire of friends who
have seen or shown them, listen to the fluent patter of the salesman — and try to
guess the truth about a film. When they guess right, they glow over the view
through the glass doors of their lobbies as they "stand 'em up" outside. When
they guess wrong, they accept it as part of the game. It is a gamble anyway.

What does it come to, then — this situation? Eighteen thousand theatres are
apparently enough to run all the films the present movie public will support.

373

374 Editorial ^^'^ Educational Screen

The "novelty" days are over and two thousand theatre-fulls are gone. The the-
atres remaining are filled by ''habit". There is still a large fraction of the public
who have never gone at all, and who never will go except for "merit" in the
films. Nothing but better films — and these must be made by better men — can
bring back the lost audiences and win the new ones. The heyday of the movies
as they are is past. There will be another heyday, however, for the movies as
they can be.

The One Percent

THE chief difficulty with the "visual movement" is that there is hardly
enough of it to move. It is a safe statement that not one teacher in a
hundred in this country is using the visual appeal, consciously and sys-
tematically in the teaching process, to anything like its full value.

Can one per cent be said to constitute a "movement" ? It can. Great move-
ments always start with the merest fraction of one per cent. The first one per
cent is the hardest, and when that one per cent begins active operations on the
other ninety-nine, the movement is under way. This is the present status of the
movement for visual education. The one per cent comprises thousands of teachers.
They know the values they are advocating, and they are going after their col-
leagues vigorously. There is now a genuine "visual movement."

Education by declamation and audition should thank its lucky stars that
pupils have eyes. Those eyes, even without rational direction from the talking
teacher, steadily through all the centuries have been furnishing a large proportion
of the results credited to the educational system. What these eyes can do when
scientifically set to work upon the brains behind them, can only be guessed at now.
(We are beginning to find out, and one of these days we shall know.)

This professional backwardness of visual instruction is due to just one
primary cause — the ignorance of the ninety-nine per cent. It is not due to the
high cost of visual equipment or lack of funds in schools; it is not due to the
crowded curriculum or overloaded teachers ; it is not due to lack of evidence from
. learned theory or actual practice. All these are but secondary and minor causes,
as we expect to show in succeeding issues. The fundamental reason for the lag-
ging progress of visual instruction in the United States is the pure ignorance
throughout the teaching profession as a whole regarding visual aids, their poten-
tialities and their use.

This magazine was founded to let the one per cent reach the ninety-nine.
The performance is going on steadily. One of these days we shall be able to
announce in these pages that two per cent are after the ninety-eight. Such is
progress.

"1001"

THIS is a word to the scores of readers who have been writing to us since
September 1st, asking for the new edition of the booklet, "1001 Films."
Naturally you are impatient. So are we.
The forthcoming edition (the third) is a more elaborate piece of work than
has yet been attempted in this field. Over 6,000 films have been individually carded,

October, 1923 Editorial 375

rental sources determined, and data gathered for summaries and reviews of each
film. Correspondence is still going on with producers and distributors to eliminate
all error, as far as this is possible in such a compilation from heterogeneous
sources and in a field which is still more or less chaotic. The multiplicity ot firms
engaged in the field, the extreme irregularities and variations in their systems of
handling films, and the unreliability of much of the printed data which is distrib-
uted (a heritage from the theatrical film methods) — make the assembling, sifting,
verifying and organizing of such material a formidable task.

It is difficult to name a definite date for the appearance of the book, but we
hope to get it to our readers about the time the next issue (November) goes into
the mails. We shall do our utmost to better this date, but we count upon your for-
bearance if we fail to do so. We believe that you agree with us that maximum
accuracy in the book that is to serve you for a year is of greater moment than a
few weeks delay in its appearance.

Theatrical Films for the Non-Theatrical Field

THE booklet mentioned above will contain, of course, a substantial number
of theatrical films, which for various reasons will be out of rental reach
of many schools and communities. Because of this fact we have received
occasional protests from non-theatrical distributing firms against the inclusion of
such films. These protests are based on some perfectly sound arguments, but
there are also sound arguments on the other side. The whole situation — not a
simple one — will be discussed rather fully in an editorial in an early issue of
The Educational Screen, and it will also be treated in the editorial matter to
be included in the new edition of the booklet itself.

Just here we are concerned with but one of the opposing arguments, namely,
that "the non-theatrical field does not want theatrical films, hence, why list them ?"

It is becoming more and more clear that "entertainment" films are to be the
entering wedge toward visual instruction in the great majority of non-theatrical
centers. Entertainment films, at a very modest admission charge, will pay for
themselves, pay for the projector, and develop surplus funds which can go toward
the purchase of other visual equipment and the extension of serious visual in-
struction.

Only a small proportion of the theatrical film output (the portion we shall Hst
in the booklet) is suitable for this purpose, and such films cost more than the non-
theatrical films now available. But they are also better entertainment. They pay
better, in spite of the higher cost, and the centers that can afford them will use
them. They do use them. That there may be no doubt on this point we reprint
here a recent communication entire, omitting merely the names involved, for we
do not wish to subject the writer and his institution to an epistolary barrage of
question or criticism. (We expect to run a formal article later, written by the
writer of the communication given below, on the activities along these lines at
his institution.)

376

Editorial

The Educational Screen

-College gives a

"To the Motion Picture Reviewer,
The Educational Screen,
Chicago, 111.

'The entertainment course committee of the

moving picture show each Saturday night for the benefit of the students. It
has been our endeavor to select from the lists of the commercial producers
such films as would furnish high-class entertainment and at the same time
be entirely clean and wholesome — such films as teachers and prospective teach-
ers would be pleased to see. For a committee whose experience in this field
has been as limited as ours, this is a rather difficult task. Occasionally we
find ourselves exhibiting a film that is not quite what we expected it to be.

*T am enclosing list of pictures which have been represented to us as
suitable for our use in the course of the next school year. Will it be possible
for you to assist us by giving us your judgment as to the character and
suitabiltiy of each of these films? We shall be very glad indeed for any
sugestions you may be pleased to make." Signed

"The Exciters
A Gentleman of Leisure
Fog Bound
The Snow Bride
Sixty Cents an Hour
Java Head
The Ne'er Do Well
Glimpses of the Moon
You Can't Fool Your Wife
The Rustle of Silk
The Dictator
The Young Diana
The Bonded Woman
Top of New York
Blood and Sand
The Cowboy and the Lady
Clarence
Ebb Tide
Making a Man
Nobody's Money
Adam and Eva
The Leopardess
The Tiger's Claw
The Law of the Lawless
Mr. Billings Spends His Dime
The Woman with Four Eyes

Only 38

Hail the Woman

R. S. V. P.

Song of Life

My Boy

Penrod

Primitive Lover

Sonny

Masquerader

Trouble

Eternal Flame

Skin Deep

East Is West

Mighty Lak a Rose

Sure Fire FHnt

Your Best Friend

Rags to Riches

Heroes of the Street

Little Church Around the Corner

The Road to London

Home Keeping Hearts

Father Tom

The Rider of King Log

Tracks

The Isle of Zorda"

We need not give here our answer to the correspondent, other than to say that we
congratulated him on the general excellence of the list and on the important role he and
others like him are playing in developing activity in this field. We would point out ^

October, 1923 EDITORIAL 377

merely the strong evidence afforded by this single letter on the point at issue, whether
non-theatrical centers do make any use of theatrical films.

All this still does not touch the great question of distribution to the non-theatrical
field. It cannot be answered briefly. We are convinced, however, that the non-theat-
rical field must be served by firms who unders tand and specialize in that field — which means
a form of exchange distinctly different in personnel and methods from the theatrical ex-
changes. This matter will receive considerable space in our future issues, both in edi-
torials and formal articles.

How To Get a Projector

AN illuminating pamphlet, edited by Leon N. Neulen and published by The
National Child Welfare Association, offers nine specific suggestions as to
ways of acquiring a projector. We reproduce on this page a "Booster
Receipt" which is recommended for use in the campaigns. {Continued on page 290)

(Front)

This half good for two admissions This half good for two admissions

BOOSTER RECEIPT
No (Transferable) Nov

Mr of

Name . City State

I accept this receipt in exchange for One Dollar, paid to assist in the purchase of a..

(motion picture projector) for.

*. of

City State

This receipt entitles the hjolder to a refund of One Dollar, with six per cent interest one year from
date, or to Four Admissions at any motion picture entertainment given under the auspices of undersigned
committee.

Committee Chairman.
Date FOR

Organization.

(Bark)

MR. LOYALTY: How many Receipts?

Every cent you keep in your home t^wn makes it a better town.

Every way in which you add new attractions to your town makes for a larger patronage.

Every wholesome home activity you support brings you and your townsmen into better comradeship.

Every GOOD motion picture you can bring to your city gives a new impulse to right living.

Every RECEIPT (of this kind) that you buy will help to do all this. It will maintain a free educa-
tional program, (three reels each week) on some regular selected day. It is good for four admissions to
motion picture entertainments. It will pay for all rental of films for ten weeks. It will leave a profit
balance in your committee's treasury to aid them in becoming braver in bringing to you the best picture
entertainment the producers can offer.

The surplus prpfits will come back to your home town as "bread cast upon the waters."

378

The Educational Screen

Enriching Learning Through the Use of

Visual Aids*

George C. Kyte, Associate Professor of Education,
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

A SHORT time ago a scientist whose
greatness will never be questioned,
paused in the course of his activities
in his own field of effort to indulge in some
rather positive statements on a subject which
was foreign to anything in his previous ex-
periences. He has been quoted as stating
in the course of his remarks that if the total
essential human knowledge could be re-
produced in a series of moving picture films,
an individual's exposure to them would be
sufficient to make of him a well educated
person. Since many teachers using moving
pictures as educational means have made
the same assumption thoughtlessly and
merely exposed pupils to visual materials,
is it any wonder that an eminent lay person
should err similarly in assuming that ade-
quate returns are thus obtained?

Such a type of teaching is analogous to
the methods of planting seed adopted by
the lax farmer. When the planting season
arrives he harnesses his ill-kept nag to a
dilapidated seeder and without further ado
scatters the seeds over his land. Copious
quantities are thrown to the winds in the
hope that a sufficient amount will take root
as will guarantee a good yield of crop.

Not a very long time ago a teaching situ-
ation developed which afforded me the op-
portunity to observe this same method ap-
plied to educational planting. The boys of
a certain school were assembled in the audi-
torium to be exposed to six reels showing
the manufacture of an automobile. The
classes crowded in with evident anticipation
of seeing a "movie" in much the same spirit
as if they were going to a "thriller" in a
local theatre. During the first few reels

they watched the picture with considerable
interest. Then a restless murmur began to
sweep over the audience. It grew and per-
sisted as the program was continued. The
waning of interest in many cases was very
noticeable. Rapidly it approached a climax
when it became certain that the picture
would require time beyond the closing hour
of school. Shortly before this time was
reached a continual stream of boys began to
seek the various teachers and made to them
the strangest collection of excuses for be-
ing dismissed that anyone ever heard. Many
others turned their attention to this grow-
ing fine but refrained from joining it be-
cause of the large number of unsuccessful
pleas noted. I am sorry to say that I did
not have the opportunity to observe the
follow up lessons which took place in some
of the classes the next day, but from what
happened at the showing of the pictures I
am sure that the results were unquestionably
poor. The possible outcome from the pro-
posed moving picture educational plan of
the great scientist would be correspondingly
unsatisfactory without a doubt.

These remarks are not intended to convey
to you the idea that moving pictures should
not have a place in our educational scheme.
On the contrary I am sure that there is no
question in the minds of most of our edu-
cational leaders that the film and in fact
many other kinds of visual aids should be
used more extensively in the classroom in
order to obtain better results in learning.
The problem we face is how to use as well
as what to use as visual aids in order that
efficient learning will be maintained.

The careful farmer exemplifies for us the ^

•Address before the Visual Instruction Conference at Oakland, July, 1923.

\

October, 1923

Enriching Learning Through Visual Aids

379

analogous procedure which we need to fol-
low. Before beginning his planting he in-
spects his seeder and makes all necessary
repairs and adjustments which will put it
into very good working order. Next he
harnesses his well-kept horse to the vehicle
and carefully spreads his tested seed over
his prepared ground. Then he covers the
seed just as painstakingly, not neglecting to
smooth the surface so that the harvesting
can be done most economically and effi-
ciently. His returns are what we should
expect. He obtains a bumper crop, while
his more careless neighbor cited previously
complains about his own meager one. What
produced the good returns? You will say
''Careful previous preparation, thoughtful
sewing, and just as careful turning over
of the seed and finishing of the planting."

Translated into teaching technique we
have determined three principles which
should govern our procedure : ( 1 ) Careful
preparation before using visual aids in order
that real interest may be aroused and mean-
ingful needs felt; (2) Presentation of the
essential visual material as a means of meet-
ing the felt needs; and (3) Directing the
pupils' interest and efforts growing out of
the exposure to the visual aids, into chan-
nels of activities providing adequately for
review of the content. Of course, this is
nothing more or less than the application of
the laws of learning — readiness, exercise
and effect. The pupils will have in mind
definite purposes; they will feel a desire to
accomplish their ends; they are ready for
the experience presented by the visual mate-
rials ; and the success of it will bring satis-
faction to them. Hence, learning will have
become enriched and effective.

The teacher's technique must be just as
thoughtful and purposeful whether she is
using moving pictures, slides, flat pictures,
or other visual education materials. It is
not improbable that through such careful
adherence to sound educational procedure

she will find that visual aids "will supply
some of the intermediate steps in the grasp-
ing of large conceptions" on the part of her
pupils. (Bagley; Editorial in Visual Edu-
cation Magazine, January, 1923.) The en-
richment of the children's experience by
means of the visual aids will be evident in
any of the types of natural attacks in teach-
ing. The solving of problems, the execu-
tion of projects, the use of appreciation les-
sons and the motivation of drill become pro-
ductive of better outcomes as a result of
the thoughtful introduction of the visual
materials. In any one of these activities, it
can be seen readily that right use of visual
materials is in fact the presentation of an
appreciation lesson.

Some concrete examples of teaching
through visual aids which it has been my
good fortune to come in contact with in
the Berkeley public schools during the past
year or so will serve to illustrate the appli-
cation of the principles to practice. The
first case is indicative of the correct use of
a motion picture as an aid to enriching
learning in the execution of a project. The
pupils of a sixth grade class were studying
aboiit Africa. In order that they might con-
struct a floor map of it, they were consult-
ing a large collection of textbooks, books of
travel, the National Geographic Magazine,
and a variety of other materials which they
had obtained. While they were in the midst
of their activity, the pictures filmed in
Africa by the naturalist, H. A. Snow, were
advertised as a coming feature by a local
moving picture theatre. The resourceful
teacher turned the attention of her pupils
to this possibility of getting first hand some
important information about Africa. She
visited a theatre in a nearby city where the
picture was being presented and took notes
while it was being shown. These she used
as the basis of planning with the children
so that when they saw the picture they
would have in mind some very definite,

380

Enriching Learning Through Visual Aids The Educational Screen

meaningful problems which the production
would materially help them to solve. With
this adequate preparation for an apprecia-
tion lesson, the class attended the special
morning show for school children.

The afternoon periods were given over to
a discussion of the picture as a beginning of
the activities involving review. In this first
review even the materials read in books and
elsewhere were introduced and criticized in
the light of the morning's experiences. Also
during the next few days compositions were
written about the pictures, illustrations were
drawn, models made, and similar activities
were carried on. Thus the materials from
the pictures were assimilated and utilized
by the pupils, through a series of interesting
projects requiring repetition of subject mat-
ter.

Another sixth grade class enriched its
learning by means of a second type of visual
aid. The members were studying Egyptian
history having in mind the solution of the
problem: ''What constitutes the essential
historical information which will show
Egypt's contribution to the progress of civil-
ization ?" This problem needed to be solved
before the pupils could continue their proj-
ect, the writing of a pageant depicting the
progress of civilization. With the felt need
in mind, they planned a trip to the museum
to see the Egyptian mummies and other
ancient relics of this early civilization. Un-
der the teacher's guidance the pupils devel-
oped a program, listing the objects they
were to study and what they wanted to find
out from first hand observations. This in-
volved careful planning to the end that the
essentials, even to important details, would
not be missed. The children organized
themselves into groups to each of which
they assigned special responsibilities. These
were natural activities for them in the light
of their interests and purposes. Therefore,
their excursion to the museum presented to

them an exceptional opportunity for enrich-
ing their experiences and increasing their
knowledge by a real experience, exposure
to materials representative of the life and
customs of the ancient peoples. I

The visit required the whole of one school
day. Teacher, pupils, and many of the par-
ents spent a fascinating time in the one small
section of the museum. There was little
evidence of the desire on the part of anyone
to go elsewhere during the time spent in the
building. Discussions, explanations and
questioning were indulged in similar to that
which adult research students would have
carried on in the same situation. For some
time thereafter, this experience served as a
basis for much oral and written composition
involving a review of Egyptian life and
customs. All through the remaining periods
spent on the study of Egypt the influence
of the visit to the museum was very marked
in the thinking, acting and feeling of the
children. It was noted in the contributions
it made to their major project in such activi-
ties as the writing of a section of the pageant
dealing with Egyptian history and geog-
raphy, the making of the necessary stage
scenery, the designing and making of ap-
propriate costumes. The products of these
purposeful experiences were concrete rec-
ords of the desirable outcomes attained.

The use of slides by the children of a
fourth grade class illustrates how these were
utilized to enrich learning when, first, care-
ful preparation; secondly, meaningful ex-
posure; and thirdly, purposeful follow up
or review activities were observed in using
them. The class was studying about the
missions of California. The special respon-
sibility of a group in the class consisted of
developing and presenting reports on mis-
sion life to the rest of the pupils. This
group went to the auditorium and examined
carefully a collection of slides. They read
the accompanying descriptions. The busi-

October, /p-?j

Enriching Learning Through Visual Aids

381

nesslike discussions which followed led to-
the selection of a limited number of good
slides. Then these children planned their
series of reports. Several times during the
course of these activities the teacher joined
the group and gave the pupils the benefit of
her suggestions and criticisms. The whole
performance moved so interestingly to me
that I sought an opportunity to see it car-
ried to a conclusion.

When these children reported to the class
actually using the balopticon in rendering
their appreciation lessons most effective,
the other members listened and observed
with intense interest. The questioning and
discussions which followed the presentations
were sufficient proof of the enrichment in
learning that was occurring.

A similar procedure by second and third
grade children using stereopticon pictures
and stereoscopes in reporting to their
classes which were taking imaginery trips
around the world presented corroborating
evidence that the development of a good
technique in the use of visual aids inevitably
enriches and enhances learning.

It is possible for anyone whose interest
in children's learning leads him to observe
their activities where natural situations are
maintained in the classroom, to add many
examples similar to those presented. Un-
doubtedly some occur to you at this moment.
Therefore to continue at length to present
concrete evidence of how visual aids may
enrich learning is unnecessary. Hence in
conclusion I will cite only one more ex-
ample, doing so because it exemplifies this
type of teaching where very young children
are concerned.

The pupils in a kindergarten had planned
the project of building and furnishing sev-
eral stores using Patty Hill blocks for this
purpose. The teacher led her children to
discuss the various kinds of stores which
contribute in large measures to the comfort

and welfare of the home — the grocery, the
bakery, the hardware store and the like.
In concluding this discussion she planned
with the class a series of visits to the stores
near the school.

Before these excursions were begun, she
went to every store and made mental notes
which she felt would help her in guiding
the children to obtain the best returns from
their trips. She discussed the proposed
visit of her class with each of the store
keepers until she felt that most of them had
acquired a sympathetic attitude with what
she was attempting to do for her children
and also how these business men and women
could contribute materially to make the les-
sons very effective. Just before the chil-
dren started on each excursion, the teacher
worked out with them some questions which
she planned that they should discuss when
they returned to the kindergarten. Hence
she stimulated their observation, by very
careful preparation. The stores that the
children built afterwards and the activities
dramatized in them showed plainly how
valuable visual aids become to young chil-
dren, also when careful planning accompa-
nies their use.

Every teacher in every class can obtain
the same results when she observes the
laws of learning in making use of visual
materials. The learning of her children will
be greatly enriched through their use if she
provides them with : first, an opportunity
to prepare adequately for the program of
exposure to visual materials; secondly, the
wise guidance during their exposure which
will make it a purposeful and meaningful
one; and thirdly, the opportunity to carry
on activities after the experience by way of
review which will involve the utilization of
the content gained from the materials. The
outcomes achieved will be sufficient proof
to her that learning has been enriched
through the use of visual aids.

382

The Educational Screen

Development and Extension of Visual Education

in Michigan

Thomas E. Johnson,
State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

THE use of all visual aids except slides
and films has for years been taught
in all our state institutions of learn-
ing. Students there also to a certain extent
have been made acquainted with the use of
slides and the operation of lanterns, through
their frequent use in some classrooms. How-
ever, the idea of consciously using all visual
aids as tools under increasingly skilful con-
trol, to accomplish expert results without
waste of time, is only now being adopted.
The old attitude is to consider visual aids
as conveniences rather than tools — a passive
rather than an active attitude.

For special purposes, such as health in-
struction, physical education propaganda,
and information as to the resources of the
state, we in Michigan have been sending
occasional motion picture films out to
schools for several years past. One of the
men from the Department of Public In-
struction, with a portable projector, had to
accompany the film.

From these experiences and from other
observation, several facts became more and
more impressive, until it was felt that some
action should be taken. Some of these out-
standing facts are:

The increasing need for the use in
schools of films to show pupils the nat-
ural appearance of processes and mov-
ing objects which can not readily be
studied in the original ;

The financial impossibility of sending
a man and a projector from the offices
of the department every time a film for
teaching purposes should be shown in a
school ;

The lack of knowledge among teach-
ers of how to handle films and operate
projectors, how to make the best use of
films in teaching, and where to secure
suitable films.

During the first half of 1923 we experi-
mented with serving all these needs, and
believe that it can be done — and done prof-
itably, from an educational standpoint — in
any well-populated state where local school
boards will appropriate funds for slide and
film equipment and supplies as freely as for
maps, pictures, blackboards and pianos.

To stimulate the use of school films, the
department purchased a small library of
reels related to public school subjects of
study. These films have been loaned as
requested by schools scattered over the state.
During this half year there has been no
attempt to establish regular circuits nor to
dictate what films should be used or when.
Information has been given to all inquirers
as to where films and projectors of various
kinds can be secured.

School leaders all over the state were
told of the advantages to be had from the
use of motion picture equipment in actual
teaching work, and were urged to secure
serviceable equipment which can be moved
about from room to room or from building
to building as needed. Quite a number of
schools have responded in this brief time,
in addition to those which were already
equipped. The list promises to be greatly
increased during the coming school year.

As has been stated, teachers generally are
unfamiliar with the steps necessary to the
proper use of films in teaching. Seeking

October, 1923

Visual Education in Michigan

383

the most practicable method of correcting
this unfamiHarity, we decided this year to
train as many as possible of the students —
especially the Seniors — in the Normal
Schools* of the State. This was done by
offering in each Normal a short course in
Visual Instruction. The course had three
immediate aims — to acquaint the teachers-
to-be with :

1. The theory and technic of using
films in teaching:

2. How to secure films of various
kinds, and how to take care of them;

3. How to operate and care for a
motion picture projector.

In two Normals the course was practi-
cally limited to Seniors, while in the other
two (smaller) schools the enrollment was
thrown open to all classes. There was no
credit given other than a letter of recogni-
tion from the Department to those who suc-
cessfully completed the course. Owing to
this work being superimposed on an already
full schedule, the lectures had to be given
to six diflferent sections of students, meet-
ing at different hours of the day. There
was time for eight lectures to each section.
In addition to the lectures and some pre-
pared material given out in printed or
mimeographed form, each student who so
desired was given from one to two hours
of individual coaching in the operation of
a projector and the physical care of films.
Under these conditions it is interesting to
note that the total lecture enrollment ap-

*In the University of Michigan, courses of
training in the use of slides and films are not yet
announced and may be postponed until some time
during the coming school year. The same applies
to the Michigan Agricultural College.

proximated 750, of whom two-thirds learned
to inspect and repair film and to operate a
motion-picture projector.

By announcement through school superin-
tendents and commissioners, all teachers in
adjacent areas were invited to round tables
held on two different Saturdays at each
Normal School. While the response to the
Normal Course offering was extremely en-
couraging, the response to the Round Table
invitation was almost negligible — due prob-
ably to the fact that two urgent letters to
each Superintendent with enrollment cards
enclosed, are not enough advertisement to
bring good results.

We beheve Michigan is the pioneer State
in offering such work in all its Normal
Schools. Whether that is true, or not, we
have gained useful experience in carrying
the work thus far.

In concluding this brief summary of a
half year's effort in paving the way for the
proper use of films for teaching purposes
in Michigan, several probabilities may be
stated. The scheme of training should in-
clude courses in the University as well as
the Normals. Demonstration lessons, to-
gether with individual training of teachers,
should be conducted during certain weeks in
the school systems of the larger towns and
•cities. No reliance should be placed on the
response of teachers invited from a given
area to spend one Saturday at an Institute
or Round Table held at a convenient central
point. Suf^cient time should be given to
each course in Visual Instruction to require
each student to practice each principal fea-
ture of technic about which instruction is
given.

384

The Educational Screen

The Movie and Manners

J. E. McAfee
University of Oklahoma

THE blight of the movie upon pubHc
morals is the subject of essay and ser-
mon and diatribe all over the land.
Perhaps a more severe indictment is the
movie theatre's corruption of manners. A
wise man has said that ''manners maketh
man."

The disorder of children and young
rowdies in the small town movie theater is
notorious. Nor are they to be too greatly
censured. Their conduct is entirely un-
regulated. I was standing the other day at
the elbow of a movie theater manager while
a serious lecture with stereopticon illustra-
tions was being conducted in his house. A
citizen rushed up to the group and exclaimed
in distress, "Can not some one come and
bring those children on the front seat to
order? They make it impossible for any
one to hear what is being said."

As a prominent citizen who was standing
by hurried away to try his hand the movie
manager sniffed and muttered in an under-
tone, ''Huh ! That is what we have to put
up with all the time."

Thoughtful observers declare that the
now prevalent disreputable conduct of adult
citizens in stamping out of a public gather-
ing is the outcropping of irresponsible habits
which the movie cultivates. These disturb-
ers of peaceful assemblies seem all the more
intent upon making themselves conspicuous
by their interruptions because the lights are
turned on and their neighbors have a chance
to see them make their parade in or out of
the house during the lectures or entertain-
ment programs. The system operating in
the picture theaters encourages admissions
at any old time and retirement when the
attendant is surfeited. The actors on the
screen have no feelings to be considered,

and, popular habits are formed which often
wreck serious attendance at other public
performances when the speakers or other
performers are present in all their sensitive
flesh.

So habitual are these bad manners in
movie theaters that it is usually impossible
to use some of them for any other purposes
than the unregulated mulling in and out of
the crowds. In connection with our Uni-
versity Extension work, they are some times
found worse than useless. Alanagers are
often most generous in offering their facili-
ties. Usually not only do they permit as-
semblies for our work in their theaters but
they frequently furnish their projectors free
of charge for the exhibit of our films and
stereopticon slides. Yet, the associations of
the public with these theaters are such that
it is next to impossible to assemble a serious
audience before a screen.

Furthermore, prejudices are often so
deep-seated among the most serious citizens
that an exhibit in connection with the exten-
sion work entirely fails of its purpose be-
cause the more thoughtful members of the
community cannot be induced to resort to
assembly halls which otherwise stand for
disorderly and irresponsible conduct in the
community.

When extension work reaches towns
where the high school is equipped with a
projector, the exhibit of films or slides
serves its purpose with splendid effect. The
discipline of the school has usually devel-
oped such habits and traditions of order,
and it is recognized as so dignified a com-
munity center, that the public share and
absorb these traditions. School superin-
tendents and school boards are depriving
their communities of a great boon, who do

I

October, 1923

The MuviK and Manners

385

not utilize the film as an educational factor
and equip themselves for its regular use
under their auspices.

This solution should not, however, lift
the burden of responsibility from any com-
munity to redeem its commercial motion
picture theater. Usually the managers
will welcome any sympathetic and serious
assistance they may gain from citizen boards
or committees in- redeeming their places
from the ill fame into which neglect has
brought them. As a rule, they do not
themselves know how to meet the social
issues of their art. They consider their
work done when they have mastered the
mechanics of their business.

Booth Tarkington, in a recent interview,
has recorded his conviction that the movie
actors have committed their most serious
crime against society not in lowering morals
or cultivating diseased ethical tastes among
the young; he laments most the degenera-
tion of the popular esthetic nature through
the glaring and blase exhibitions on the
movie screen.

Similarly, the serious indictment against
the commercialized movie is the neglectful
])olicy of managers which has allowed their

places to become the centers of rowdyism.
If parents do not feel a responsibility for
accompanying their children, especially the
small squirming, scuffling youngsters, a self-
respecting community will adopt measures
or see that the city management shall adopt
measures to preserve the community's self-
respect in the maintenance of order. A
vigorous campaign of popular education will
be necessary to overcome the depraved
habits which have already been formed.
Schools, by introducing positive programs
for the use of films under their own direc-
tion, can go far towards this needed com-
munity redemption. They must pay for
their neglect, in any case, since corrupted
manners are inevitably reflected in school
discipline, no matter under what auspices
the mischief is done.

Here is a powerful educational instru-
ment which the constituted institutions of
education have been tragically slow to take
over. They are paying big for their neglect.
The community is suffering in every fibre
and filament. ''Manners maketh man."
The movies are turning out a grotesque
product in many communities.

Americanization Through Educational Motion

Pictures

Stephen F. Pullis,
Industrial Secretary, Y. M. C. A., Passaic, N. J.

FOR the past three years the Young
Men's Christian Association of Pas-
saic, N. J., has had as a part of its
Industrial and Americanization program,
the projection of educational films, secured
through our Motion Picture Bureau, Inter-
national Committee, New York City. These
programs are kept going throughout the
entire year, reaching ninety to one hundred
thousand people, of all ages and nationali-
ties. We have found the opportunity to
bring these pictures into industries, foreign-

born clubs and churches, public schools and
out-of-door summer shows.

On more than one occasion motion pic-
tures have gained us the admission into an
industry where no other parts of our pro-
gram appealed at that time and from which
the services of the Association have ex-
panded and will continue to expand in
reaching the industrial worker.

The use of motion pictures before for-
eign-born clubs and churches has been one
which, without a question, has increased the

386

Americanization Through Motion Pictures The Educational Scrc\

process of assimilation of those foreign-born
peoples reached through the program. They
have shown to these foreign-born friends of
ours that America is a mighty force in in-
dustry and commercial wealth, and has, as
well, scenic beauty. The value of such edu-
cational pictures toward assimilation by
the foreign -born of American ideals, insti-
tutions, etc., is inestimable. We have found
also, that they are a valuable adjunct in our
naturalization classes for men and women
preparing for citizenship.

These programs are also furnished to
schools where a large majority of the pupils
are children of foreign-born parents. The
letter quoted below, in part, from an audi-
torium teacher of one of our schools will
show the value of motion pictures in their
work :

'This is to testify that we have been
using motion picture films furnished by
your Association for two years and have
found them of great educational value to
our pupils of third to eighth grades, in-
clusive.

"The grade teachers often speak of the
great fund of general information the
children have derived frorn seeing these
films that reacts in their academic work.

"We find the manufacturing and scenic
pictures of special value."
Out-of-door movies was inaugurated in
Passaic and vicinity three summers ago and
we have found it to be one of the best
mediums to "carry on" throughout the hot
summer months, bringing to those we reach
a fund of educational knowledge and enjoy-
ment through the educational and comedy
reels. We have found that it is not neces-
sary^ to add to this arrangement other than
a one or two reel comedy to hold the atten-
tion of the crowds of people of all races,
nationalities and ages, who flock to the
movie centers eager for each night's pro-
gram. Our programs this summer were the
same as used in the two previous years,
made up of a scenic, two educational and

industrial pictures and finishing with a tw(
reel comedy.

The vice-president of one of our indus
tries writes :

"It gives great pleasure to learn tha
you are going to show your free movie:
again this summer.

"May I say that I can think of no finei
evening's work up in this district thai
this.

"Let me assure you that you have oui
hearty co-operation and support.

"One of the reasons that I think sc
well of' this work, and I know I speak foi
the company, is simply that this is con-
structive and if we had more constructive
acts of this kind and less negative legisla-
tion we should not only raise the mora!
standard more quickly but would have the
great advantage of having made-peopk
happy."

A letter received from the Superintendent
of Recreation for the City of Passaic reads
in part as follows :

"Please accept our thanks and apprecia-
tion for the motion picture entertainments
made possible by your department of the
Y. M. C. A. These pictures were greatly
enjoyed by large crowds of all ages and
nationalities and I personally feel that a
vast amount of good has been accom-
plished through this agency and that the
work should be kept up."
I personally believe that what we have
accomplished through educational motion
pictures can be done by no other agencies
as well. Our equipment is simple : a DtYvy
projector and a portable screen.

We do not care in the least to change the
nature of our motion picture programs at
our out-of-door summer shows for the more
popular three or four reel feature pictures
and a comedy, because the Association will
then have lost its opportunity for attaining
one important part of its objective — educa-
tion, through visual instruction. ^

Ictobcr, 1923

387

A Picture Service on Wheels

Everett B. Parke, Motion Picture Director,
Middlesex County Bureau of Agriculture and Home Economics, Waltham, Massachusetts

IT hardly seems possible that any broad-
minded individual, especially one in
extension service or welfare work, can
;eriously doubt the value of motion pictures.
5ome educator has said, ''We learn three-
iighths of what we hear, five-eighths of
vhat we see, and seven-eighths of what we
io." That, to my mind, gives visual instruc-
ion the balance of power. Through the
proper kind and use of motion pictures, the
nind is taught to retain more than three-
iighths of what we hear and more than sev-
m-eighths of what we do. When you want
:o remember a 'phone number or street ad-
dress, don't you try to see that number in
^our mind? As a matter of fact, you want a
Dicture to remember rather than a sound.
More than once when our agents have been
conducting a demonstration of how to do a
thing, someone has interrupted with, ''That
isn't the way they did it in the movies." The
movie method of doing had stuck.

vSo the why of motion pictures did not
trouble us long. It was the how, and then
the best method of using this power after we
obtained it. Even then we made mistakes,
and no doubt we will make more mistakes,
but I hope each will prove its lesson.

Our trustees, believing in the value of
motion pictures to supplement the work of
our other departments, supplied the money
for the outfit, consisting of a No. 2 Grapho-
scope projector, a Half-tone screen, the
portable, asbestos-cloth booth required by
our State law, and a second-hand, light,
Ford truck. Later we added a Victor stere-
opticon. With this very complete outfit we
put on a show that, when supplemented by
good music, compares favorably with a city
"movie."

We plan our schedule and book the films

weeks in advance in an endeavor to avoid
conflict of dates with local organizations, as
it is inadvisable to split the smalltown audi-
ence. We book the films far in advance in
order to get seasonable subjects or those
that fit the projects the County agents are
working on. During the Fall, Winter, and
Spring we run shows five and often six
nights a week in a dififerent town each night
until we have covered the rural towns of the
County. Then we start around again with a
new program. Our shows run from 8 to 10
or 10:15 p. m. We do not believe in keep-
ing the farmers or the children out late.
This means nine or ten reels except when
there is a speaker. We have found that a
rural audience attracted to the hall through
the movies will give close attention to an in-
structive talk for about fifteen minutes, no
longer. So it is up to the speaker to get his
message over in that time. Most of them
can do it if they understand the game. Some
preacher, speaking of long sermons, said,
"There are no souls saved after the first
fifteen minutes."

We usually have piano accompaniment,
sometimes voluntary, but more often because
of a small emolument and when the music is
fair to good, it adds much to the value of the
program. Eittle accidental noises and the
side remarks of young people are not noticed
and therefore do not distract attention from
the picture.

We generally start the evening enter-
tainment with a scenic reel so the late-
comers (and if we didn't start until nine,
there would be some lat^-comers) will not
miss any part of a story or educational reel ;
also because we do not like to have interrup-
tions after we get into the main part of the
program.

388

Picture Service on Wheels

The Educational Sere

Then comes a one- or two-reeler of edu-
cational matter, and we have given up try-
ing to fit all educational reels definitely to
our local work. It can't be done; anyway,
we believe in the broader viewpoint. We
consider the scenic or travel reels splendid
educational matter.

Next follows a three- to five-reel, prefer-
ably a feature picture containing a human
interest story to bring home the educational
subjects. This if possible can be applied to
our local conditions and our work. Some-
times a short talk helps to show how we
can apply the vital points to our own home
or community work.

Following this picture we take up a silver
collection to help pay the expenses of the
motion picture project.

Finally, comes an educational reel and a
one-reel comedy or a two-reel comedy.
Though the comedy may have no educa-
tional value, it is immensely important. A
good laugh does us all good and we like to
turn on the lights when the audience is smil-
ing and send them home in a happy frame
of mind.

The above program is supplemented with
the use of slides while changing reels. This
not only avoids an awkward break, but is an
excellent opportunity for putting much good
stufif across. Slides containing local an-
nouncements can be made in a few seconds
and are always appreciated by the audience.
SHdes are used showing the standing of
towns in contests, naming the local winners
of prizes, giving announcements of our
meetings and general information regarding
the County Bureau.

People like to sing, though many of us
don't want anyone to see or hear us at it.
So occasionally we sing between reels,
throwing the words on the screen with the
stereopticon. We find the volume of sound
about a third greater if the hall is left in
darkness.

In most of our rural towns these enter-

tainments are an established institution
Everyone that can, comes. Often a suppei
by some local organization precedes the pic-
tures, or perhaps after the collection, re-
freshments are served.

We generally use the town hall, occasion-
ally the Grange, church or school hall. The
pictures could be given outdoors in season-
able weather, but during the Summer we in
Massachusetts have daylight saving — fool
time, the farmers call it — which makes good
pictures impossible until nine o'clock or
later.

We have been at this for a year and a
half and in that time have pretty well ex-
hausted some of the better-known sources
of supply, but new fields keep opening up
and new films are being made, so we don't
despair. It would be a simple matter to
make up programs if we could pay for all
the films, but when most of our program
must come from the free list, — well, it is
more difficult. Speaking of difficulties, the
comedy is our greatest. The requirements
are so great. First, it must create spon-
taneous laughter, because concluding an edu-
cational program, it must lift them out of
the deeper thoughts and let them see life is
not all work. Second, it must have real
points in it and not depend on slap-stick
stuff to create a laugh. Third, it must be
clean. We sometimes show in a church. At
all times we ask the support of the clergy
and naturally we cannot screen anything
objectionable to them. Last year in making
up one of our programs, I inspected 27
comedies before finding one suitable for our
entertainments.

For the educational part of our program
we have used nearly all the Government
films. Some of the earlier ones are poor and
of little value, but the later ones are good,
and for County Bureau work, the Pleasant
View series is excellent.

Among the industrials, I think the Gen-
eral Electric Company heads the list. Their

October, 1923

Picture Service on Wheels

films are always good, not too technical, and
they have a rather large library. The West-
ern Electric also have some very good films.
Our State Board of Health have several and
are producing more. They are invariably
E^ood and of great value. Then there are
hundreds of reels in the industrial field that
ire generally acceptable if the producers
don't blow their own horns too much, and
nost of them don't.

The Homestead Films, Inc., have some
exceptionally good films of the feature type.
We have used most of theirs and hope to use
:hem all. So far they have made but one
:omedy, "Farming in One Lesson." From
:he way our people reacted to this picture,
kve hope for more soon.

Space would hardly permit the names of
dl the good films we have used, but sub-
dividing them as Features (and these are
ilso educational), Educationals, Scenics, and
Zomedies, some of the best are as follows:

Feature
Spring Valley
The Homestead

Farm Bureau Comes to Pleasant View
The Benefactor
Joe McGuire
The Yoke of Age

Scenic
A Prehistoric Bandolier
Summer Fun in Western National Forests
Trails That Lure
A Trip to the Grand Canyon
Tumbling Waters
Wonderland of Canyons and Peaks

Educational
Making Mother's Work Easier
Your Mouth
Revelations
Cherryland

Conquest of the Forest
Food for Reflection
A Matter of Form

Out of the Shadows

Texas Trails to the Table

A Woolen Yarn

Land of Cotton

Apples and the County Agent

The Kid Comes Through

Comedies

Farming in One Lesson

Dog Doctor

Kids and Kidlets

Tin Cans

Papa by Proxy

Too Much Elephant

Occasionally we buy films instead of rent-
ing them. We require a subject for a month
—usually running it 23 or 24 times. We
can buy some films for but little more than
the rentals would amount to, sometimes for
less and we still have the film. In this way
we have acquired the nucleus for a small
library and it is all stock that could be
quickly converted into cash if desired.

A few minutes with a pencil develop some
interesting figures. Since starting the proj-
ect, we have run 2,110 reels, approximately
2,110,000 ft., or 400 miles. This means 33,-
760,000 individual pictures. During the
past season we have given 148 entertain-
ments to a total audience of 24,467.

Now, as to the value of the project and
its cost : Our County agents have been hold-
ing meetings, more or less well advertised,
for years and yet in most towns there were
many people that were not familiar with the
Bureau and its work. We found that in
no other way could we get together so large
z per cent of the population as witli the
movies. Old and young, rural and urban,
they come. Whether they want it or not,
know it or not, they absorb much educa-
tional matter. When they get a kernel they
like, they remember who gave it to them.
This is helpful at town-meeting time, when
our appropriation is to be voted on.

Another valuable point is this: In most

390

Picture Service on Wheels

The Educational Scree

towns there are several cliques, generally
represented by the various organizations in
the town, but they all come to the movies
and we feel a better, more wholesome com-
munity spirit is generated.

That the pictures definitely promote ex-
tension work is beyond doubt. At our
headquarters we frequently have calls for
information on various subjects relating to
agriculture or home economics and find the
idea originated from something they had
seen in our movies.

At times we supplement a Bureau meet-
ing with pictures and there is no question
but what the added attraction calls out a
larger attendance.

Altogether we feel that in no other way
could we reach so many people, place our
service in so many hands, give entertainment
as well as instruction to the rural population
and at the same time so thoroughly and
satisfactorily advertise the County Bureau.

As we operate, the project is not seli
supporting. The cost varies according t
cost of films, distance between towns, music
etc., but averages about $20.00 per nigh
The collections which are purely voluntar
offerings, average $17.00 and we charge th
balance to project work.

Last season the collections averaged $.0
per head. This season to date they hav
averaged a little better than $.09 (the mont
past, $.0998) and it must be borne in min
that our audiences are usually about 25 9
to 35% children.

• Some halls are not large enough to ac
commodate all that want to come and as th
children came early, many adults were force
to stand. In these towns we give a lat
afternoon show just for the young peopl
and in the evening no children are admitte
unless accompanied by a parent. A coUec
tion taken up in the afternoon yields abot
$.05 per head.

Editorials

(Concluded from page 377)

The nine suggestions are not theoretical. They have been used repeatedly
and with success, These plans are workable in any community where there is an
individual possessing genuine interest in the project and the modicum of energy
and initiative necessary to put it through.

1. Make a straight loan from your banker.
You can. sell season tickets at $1.00 each,
covering six or eight entertainments, two or
three times a year. This will give you suffi-
cient funds to own full equipment, while pay-
ing your bank in small regular payments.

2. Schools cooperate with the church in
the purchase .of equiprnent. Have the church
pay one-half the cost and use it on alternate
days. -

3. The School Boards often pay the initial
cost of the equipment and the children main-
tain the cost of the educational and enter-
tainment films by . giving an entertainment
once or twice a month.

4. Alternate ■ with another town. Get an-
other superintendent or minister in a nearby
town who is interested in visual education.
His aid can help you. purchase the equip-
ment.

5. Cooperate with the local representative
of the Farm Bureau. The Bureau will wel-
come the opportunity of using some of the
valuable films distributed free by the United
States Department of Agriculture.

6. An individual can purchase the pre
jector outright and get his funds and th
original purchase price back by giving er
tertainments and educational programs to th
school and church.

7. Parent-Teachers' organization or Ladie:
Aid take hold of the proposition and creat
the interest needed for this community er
terprise. The funds can be raised by sellin
season tickets. This makes visual educatio
a community affair and quickens the interes
in school and community life.

8. Get ten men public spirited enough t
advance $35.00 each. This pays for the equip
ment and these men can be reimbursed at th
rate of so much per week. The funds wi
be derived from the entertainments by collec
tion or admissions.

9. Secure the backing of your patron
through the issuance of loan certificates. Th
value of each certificate may be one dolla
Secure loan through the school conimitte<
Have certificates signed by president of th
Student's Entertainment Committee and t)-J
principal. ', |

Iclobcr, ig2^

391

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

A Dream Comes True

Do you remember the African magician in
the Arabian Nights, who picked up Alad-
din's palace so casually, carried it to Africa,
nd dropped it there? The fellow has been at
is tricks again, but en a much more ambitious
Ian, for this time he has gathered up the whole
ity of Bagdad, whisked it through the air, and
eposited it in merry England, somewhere be-
ween King Richard's castle and the town of
Nottingham.

Not the real Bagdad, you understand — that
^ould be too prosy. No, he's gone and got it
lUt of the fairy tales, picked it up in pieces —
, twisting stairway here, a tower there, a balcony
ir a great, sweeping archway somewhere else —
nd put it together with his curious magic.

Where, in days gone by, proud knights and fair
adies used to wander, and plumes and lances and
:leaming armor flashed, and the thud of gallop-
ng horses' feet sounded on the green turf, there
low sparkle the gilded minarets of the Sultan's
[ream city. For if eyer there zvas a dream city,
his is surely that very cne.

Grey and gold, silver and glistening black, it
tands there, mocking the cynics who never be-
ieved in it. Great archways sweep skyward and
[own again, to lose themselves in twisting pasr
ages. Crooked stairways skulk along walls and
eap dizzily into midair to bridge the way to some
iny balcony, perched at a reckless angle on a
heer wall. Little barred windows, veritable peep-
loles, wink from the immense heights of the
mcoth masonry, hiding — who knows what mis-
hievous faces !

Palm trees flourish in secret gardens near the
ky; billowing Oriental draperies flaunt their
olor and their romance from far balustrades,
ntricately wrought metal lamps lean at odd cor-
lers on their tall standards, as if they drooped
f their own weight; and in the depths of the
>olished ebony that paves the city, reflections
nake little floating pools of color, as its strange
itizens scurry on their mysterious errands.

And through the fantastic lights and shadows
f winding streets and curious dwellings flits a
»rown-skinned fellow with an impish smile — the
Thief of Bagdad!

This same Thief— who, to be strictly accurate,

is really Douglas Fairbanks — says that this new
picture is essentially for children. That naturally
includes all of us who haven't grown up and away
from the days when even mealtime could not
drag us from the delights of the Arabian fairy
tales. He promises us a story of adventure made
up of all the most entrancing bits of the fancies
of Scheherazade — a truly enchanting prospect.
But more than that, he promises us the pictorial
background.

Beauty of line and composition — and let realism
fly to the four winds !

There is gradually becoming settled in the minds
of the progressive picture-makers, the conviction

The genial thief himself

that there is too much realism in the movies. It
interferes with the artistic quality. In his en-
deavor to reproduce exactly a locality or a build-
ing, the art director frequently has had to
sacrifice beauty and simplicity to accuracy. And
in many cases, when he sought to make his back-
ground look "real"— he succeeded merely in mak-
ing it look cluttered. Most of us, no doubt, can
count on the fingers of one hand the pictures
we have seen whose backgrounds had true pic-
torial beauty. Many of them are obviously rich,
but they are generally very prosaic.
Here, then, is an attempt to get away from

392

TiiK Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

The city of dreams

realities, to give imagination free play ; and in
carrying out the idea Mr. Fairbanks is fortunate
in the fairy-tale quality of his story. Nobody
knows what Bagdad really looked like ; nobody
cares — Just so it was beautiful and strange. We
like to think that it was everything that our
practical, workaday surroundings are not. The
Thief of Bagdad respects these treasured illus-
sions, and gives us something to feed our imagina-
tions on.

There is a rather bigger idea behind all this
than seems at first evident. I think Mr. Fair-
banks is putting into his picture ideals and con-
victions that he has clung to this long time. Over
a year ago, in discussing motion pictures in rela-
tion to children, he deplored the unimaginative
modern child.

"They must use their imaginations," he said
emphatically.

We need creative minds. The world at present

would be in a dreadful state if there hadn't been
lively imaginations sprinkled through the ages.
The child of today is t-co matter of fact, too
literal minded. He needs the imaginative and
emotional stimulus of just the sort of thing that
this type of picture is likely to provide him.

It is an interesting experiment, whether one
views it from the artistic standpoint or the psy-
chological— one that is quite likely to open the door
to a new and altogether fascinating phase of
picture-craft.

Mr. Fairbanks once disclaimed to me any
definite educational purpose in making pictures.
He was firm in his statement that he made them
primarily for entertainment.

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"Accurate, yes," he pointed out ; "artistic, yes :
but educational, no — except as they represent with
accuracy certain times or places or actions which
have an educational value."

But in spite of that, and whether he believes
it or not, I think that now he is pioneering in
the field of education.

Production Notes for October

ANNOUNCEMENT has been made by Gold-
wyn that the Balzac story, The Magic Skin,
has been retitled Slave of Desire. The change
was necessary to avoid confusion with a European
picture which has been brought to this country
under the same name. The Hall Caine novel.
The Master of Man, will come to the screen as
The Judge and the Woman — this to avoid con-
fusion with several pictures which have been re-
cently released under very similar titles.

ERIC VON STROHEIM and his company,
making Greed, returned to Los Angeles
safely after almost a month spent in Death Val-
ley. This is the first expedition to go into the
valley for a feature motion picture, and is said
to have been the largest group of persons to enter
it since the emigrants who attempted to cross it
in 1849 and subsequent years. It is said that no
more than one thousand white people have evet

October, i()23

The Theatrical Field

393

been in Death Valley, which is the lowest, drycs\
hottest spot in America.

CB. DeMILLE is editing his film, The Ten
, Commandments, and preparing for produc-
tion of Triumph, a Saturday Evening Post story
by May Edgington.

WILLIAM DeMILLE has started on Every
Day Love, adapted by Clara Beranger from
Julian Street's novel, Rita Coventry.

OTHER Paramount pictures in production or
in preparation are Booth Tarkington's Pied
Piper M alone, Thomas Meighan's next production
—James Cruze's production of the Connelly-Kauf-
man play, To the Ladies — two Zane Grey stories.
The Call of the Canyon and The Heritage of the
Desert— 2i George Mel ford production, Flaming
Barriers, and a Pola Negri production. My Man.

NORMA TALMADGE will be supported in
Dust of Desire, a new picture for First
National release, by Joseph Schildkraut, Arthur
Edmund Carewe, Hector Sarno and Earl Schenck.

J

K. McDonald, who produced Penrod and
^ Sam, is to make another Tarkington pic-
ture, the title of which has not been announced.

A PERIOD play, starring Constance Tal-
madge. The Dangerous Maid, is now in pro-
duction.

SESSUE PIAYAKAWA, the famous Japanese
star, is to return to the screen this month.
He will make twelve pictures for Hayakawa
Productions, Inc., following his return from
abroad, where he appeared in a big French pro-
duction.

LAURETTE TAYLOR will appear in Happi-
ness and One Night in Rome, both written by
Hartley Manners. They will be released by
Metro.

GEORGE HACKATHORNE will have the
leading role in The Turmoil, to be filmed by
Universal.

THE famous novel, Les Miserables, will be re-
filmed with Ralph Lewis in the part of Jean
Valjean, formerly played by William Farnum.

i- y - !

GEORGE K. SPOOR and P. John Bergren
have perfected a "natural vision" motion
picture at the Essanay Studios in Chicago. The
new picture, which is said to have depth as well
as width and height, has required a new camera,
new printing machines, a new projector, and a
new screen. It has taken the inventors seven
vears to achieve their results.

Film Reviews for October

PENROD AND SAM (First National)

For a real exposition of the way a real boy's
mind works, I recommend this picture to you.
It is a sympathetic handling of the Tarkington
story because it was done by somebody who
understands boys. There is no attempt to squeeze
the incidents into the regular channels of a plot.
It's just a record of the things that happen to a
boy from day to day — from the boy's point of
view. It is simple and natural. The "meanest"
man seems perhaps a trifle overdrawn in his
vindictiveness, but it is quite possible that that
was the way he seemed to Penrod and Sam. Ben
Alexander and Joe Butterworth play the title
parts, with Buddy Messinger as Roddy Bitts and
Gertrude Messinger as the beautiful Marjorie
Jones. Gladys Brockwell and Rockcliffe Fellowes
as Penrod's father and mother, Mary Philbin and
Garcth Hughes as his sister and her beau, and

William V. Mong as Mr. Bitts add excellent per-
formances.

HOMEWARD BOUND (Paramount)

If you like Thomas Meighan — which of course
you do — you don't greatly mind the fact that his
stories seldom amount to much. "Homeward
Bound" is a typical Cappy Ricks sea story with
a too obviously faked storm, and the usual pleas-
ant ending. Lila Lee again supports the star,
(This is the picture, we understand, which set
the author of the original story in a rage. Mr.
Kyne's remarks about what the producers did to
his work make vigorous reading.)

CIRCUS DAYS (First National)

As usual, Jackie Coogan plays, as only Jackie
Coogan can, a natural and unspoiled child. But
the story which surrounds him is ancient, and it

394

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

creaks in all its joints. However, in spite of a
weakly sentimental plot, you will find some things
to enjoy in the story of a six-year-old who runs
away and joins a circus in order to support his
widowed mother. The children will be highly
entertained.

SUZANNA (Mack Sennett)

Mabel Normand in one of her rare appearances.
It was a disappointment, on the whote, being
largely a series of pretty but long drawn out
poses. One wondered when it was ever going to
get anywhere. Old California under the Spanish
regime was beautifully pictured; but the plot was
that familiar one in which the babies are changed
and the heroine grows up beautiful but obscure,
but marries the Prince Charming in the end, to
the confusion of the plotters. Miss Normand has
little opportunity for the effective display of her
talents as a comedienne.

HOLLYWOOD (Paramount)

Delightful fooling by the movies at the expense
of the same. A clever story : of how a pretty girl
renounces dish-washing and braves the wrath of
family and sweetheart to be a movie star ; of how
she goes to California; of how she discovers to
her sorrow that there are hundreds of other pretty
girls there; of how her family follows her to
Hollywood; of how they all become wealthy and
famous in the movies; of how the pretty girl sits
at home and wonders how they did it. Most of
the stars on the Pacific coast are in "Hollywood,"
beginning with Mary Pickford; and there is a
particularly hilarious dream sequence in which
the general public idea of "horrible Hollywood"
is gently ridiculed. Of the various pictures on
the subject, you will probably find this one the
most entertaining. James Cruze is the director
responsible.

DULCY (First National)

The "bromide lady" has reached the screen in
highly entertaining form, although many of the
high spots which made the stage play so delect-
able are necessarily missing. Good direction and
a good cast are topped by one of Constance Tal-
madge's cleverest performances as Dulcy, whose
brain is "as good as new because she never uses
it." Her wide-eyed complacency is worth seeing,
as is also the scene in which the demon scenario
writer entertains for two hours with a complete
performance of his latest story. Jack Mulhall as
Dulcy 's husband, John Harron as her brother

Bill, and Claude Gillingwater as the peevish finan-
cier are all delightful.

SALOMY JANE (Paramount)

George Melford has made only fair screen
entertainment of Bret Harte's story. It moves
slowly and the suspense isn't well maintained
for a story of this type. A good cast pulls the
picture up to average, but does no striking work
with the exception of Louise Dresser, whose
characterization of "Lize" stands out. Jacque-
line Logan plays Salomy Jane, and Maurice
Flynn, George Fawcett, Charles Ogle, and
others are included.

MERRY-GO-ROUND (Universal)

Surprising in some ways, yet after all not
offering anything unexpected in the matter of
story, this picture presents an interesting study
in treatment. It changed hands in the making,
having been started by Eric von Stroheim.
Rupert Julian took it over in the midst of pro-
duction and finished it. The story revolves —
literally — around the love of a little organ
grinder in a merry-go-round, and a titled officer
in the service of the Austrian emperor, present-
ing a vivid picture of Vienna before and during
the war.

It is interesting to wonder which scenes to
credit to Stroheim and which to Julian, and on
the whole, not hard to pick them out. One
feels that Mr. Julian has softened the outlines
of the story, and made the characters a trifle
more human than they might have been under
Mr. Stroheim, whose stark realism and heavy
brilliancy of direction are evident in certain
flashes.

To my mind Mary Philbin and George Hack-
athorne are the outstanding figures, as the
merry-go-round girl and the crippled "barker"
with his pathetic love for her. George Sieg-
mann as the brutal owner of the concession.
Dale Fuller as his wife, and Cesare Gravina
as the old Punch and Judy man. do excellent
character work. To Norman Kerry falls the
somewhat difficult role of Count Hohenegg,
who loves the little organ grinder and comes
back to her after the war. He gives a sympa-
thetic portrayal.

THE SHRIEK OF ARABY (Mack Sennett)

I had to sit through this so-called comedy be-
cause I had got in on the tail end of the feature
and wanted to see the first part. I give it space

October, 1923

The Theatrical Field

395

here merely to warn you off. It is excessively
dreary, and the audience viewed it is abysmal
silence. I was sorry the producer and the entire
sales force could not have been there.

SALOME (Allied Producers and Distributors)

Not exactly Oscar Wilde's "Salome," but a very
gorgeous and artistic rendering of the drama. The
appeal is almost wholly pictorial. The drama is
there, very subtly expressed, but it is subordinated.
Personally I felt that the poster effect was marred
by failure to select decorative people for certain
important parts, and ineffective grouping of elab-
orately costumed actors against bizarre, figured
backgrounds. Costumes and settings were de-
signed in the manner of Aubrey Beardsley, by
Natacha Rambova, who perhaps had not as free
a hand in the actual production as in the planning.
Nazimova's great dramatic instinct shows only in
flashes. For the most part she poses — beautifully,
it must be admitted.

Owing to some quirk in the channels of dis-
tribution, you will not find "Salome" at the big
theatres. You will have to hunt it out, but it will
be worth the effort.

THE FAMOUS MRS, FAIR (Metro)

Echoes of the late war have been a long time
taboo. Here, fortunately, they are very faint —
just enough to establish the story of a woman who
left her husband and daughter at home to follow
her son to France and become famous as a Red
Cross worker. Then, having tasted applause, she
was not content, after the war was over, to re-
main at home and piece the bits of her broken
household together again. Myrtle Stedman makes
a sincere and charming Nancy Fair; Huntly Gor-
don does fine work as Jeffrey Fair ; Marguerite de
la Motte, Helen Ferguson and Cullen Landis
represent the younger generation. An excellent
picture directed with all of Fred Niblo's sane
judgment and even tempo.

SOFT BOILED (Fox)

Tox Mix with horn-rimmed specs and his hair
parted in the middle is a decided change from his
usual character, although he does appear in chaps
and sombrero for a few minutes at the beginning
of the picture. This time he inherits along with
the time-honored fortune a hasty temper, which
he is required to tame before he can claim his
money. Various obstacles placed in his way by
the villains, and a little romance as a side issue
provide the interest. Billie Dove supports the

star, and Tom Wilson as an old negro servant is
responsible for a good many laughs.

GARRISON'S FINISH (Associated Producers and

Exhibitors)

While this is not a picture to haul you out of
your chair and make you cheer wildly, it has
some interesting, even exciting moments. The
familiar story of the race track, and the jockey
whose disgrace was brought about by a trick, has
been carefully if not brilliantly done. Jack Pick-
ford, whose features and little tricks of gesture
and expression are at times uncannily like his
famous sister's,\ is pleasing as Billy Garrison.
Madge Bellamy is a picture — not an actress, but
you can forgive her because she is a picture.
Lydia Knott, Ethel Grey Terry and Clarence
Burton add good work to the general ensemble.
A safe picture for the family.

THE SPOILERS (First National)

This is a re-rendering of the Rex Beach novel
already pictured some years ago. A bright and
shining lot of stars, careful direction throughout,
and what would be technically termed a "whale"
of a fight between Milton Sills and Noah Beery,
make this picture. It should be popular, and it
doubtless will be, in spite of the fact that stories
of the gold rush to Alaska no longer hold the
interest they once did.

HER REPUTATION (First National)

A not uninteresting story sugar-coats a rap at
sensationalism in newspapers. A young and inno-
cent girl acquires an unsavory reputation through
the misguided efforts of a zealous reporter. The
action plunges at feverish tempo through fire,
flood, and accident, to end happily and point a
moral. There is a good deal of "hokum," but it
will pass. May McAvoy and Lloyd Hughes are
featured.

The Better Films Committee of the
Parent-Teacher Associations found too
little material to make recommendations
worth while in this issue. Mrs. Charles
E. Merriam, the chairman, will have the
usual page again in the November issue,
with some additional comments.

396

Advertisement

The Educational Screen

■ROTEPT 1>ETERS

Oittttm

DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL INSTRUCTION
KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

201 Pabtic Library Banding
KansQS City, Missoun

March. 21, 1©23

DeVry Corporation
Chicago, Illinois

Gentlemen:

Yours of the 14th, relative to the use
being made of the DeVry projectors in the IiLansas City
Schools at hand. We have three machines at present,
keeping two in constant use and holding one for
emergencies or irregular calls. We show films on
circuit using three-reel programs — the subjects
being chosen to fit the course of study in Geogra-
phy, Nature Study, History, etc. The operator
takes a machine and his can of films, boards a
street car, shows his program at one school at
9:00, at another at 10:45, another at 1:15, and
another at 2:45, returning to headquarters then
to inspect films and machine. His circuit requires
two weeks to cover.

Our macnines are used under all cord it ions
from well-darkened rooms to those having nothing but
light yellow shades eind are giving satisfaction. One
of ours is three years old, ran over a million and
half feet of film last year and will beat two mil-
ion this, .

aillllllllll

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

cfober, 1923

Advertisement

397

iniiimMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiuiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiniiiffiimiiiiiiiiiMiummniiiiiitiiumnimnn

iiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiniimiiiiiiiiimniimniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimimiiiiiiiiiiii'n

Bct projection with^/^^DeYry

re are certain duties a projector in the non-theatrical field must
. It should, first of all, give a perfect picture, steady, clear, flicker-
esides this it should be easy to operate, require little attention and
) years of service. A non-theatrical projector must also be fire-
ght and attractive. All of these essentials are combined in the two
DeVry projectors.

DeVry was the first portable projector made. As it then domi-
e field of projectors, so today the modern improved DeVry domi-
le field crowded with many inferior projectors, which so closely
the DeVry in appearance that they have no time to imitate the

qualities and workmanship that have made the DeVry famous.

3 a known fact that wherever big successes have been made in
>ictures they have been made with DeVry projectors.

l^^SVry

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

398 The Educational Scree

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
President — Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York City Schools.
Vice-President — A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary — Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer — George P. Foute, 71 West 23rd St., New York City.
Corresponding Secretary — Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.
John H. Finley, of the Editorial Staff .of the New York Times, formerly President of

the College of the City of New York, and Commissioner of Education of the State

of New York.
George D. Strayer, Professor of Education and Director of the Division of Field Study,

Institute of Research, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Susan B. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California.
Olive Jones, of the N. E. A. Board of Trustees, Principal of Public School 120 and

Annexes, New York City.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

The Child and the Commercial Moving Picture*

By Olive M. Jones

Principal, P. S. 120 and Annexes, New York City.

THE subject assigned to me calls to my mind the introduction of any activity or equipment i:

at least five divisions, five different points the schools two conditions must first exist: 1

of view from which it might be considered. Secrecy in regard to its introduction. 2. Th

The first is probably occasioned by the use of possibility of profit inherent in its introductior

the word "commercial," which has come to have Neither of these two conditions exist and righ

an unpleasant connotation in the thought of people handling by authorities together with open co

more specificaly interested in the development of ^p^^.^j,,, between the professional and the com

the educational values of moving pictures. Per- • 1 • ^ . -n ^ . n t .i

c^«^ii ju iv^i .1 . . mercial interests will effectually prevent both,

sonally, 1 have little sympathy or patience w th a . t .u . .u t. 1

c„^u ^.-o*- 4.- u ^ T . ■ r ^s to secrecy. In the past there have beei

such distinctions, but I accept it for present use in .

this discussion. scandals in regard to the introduction or use o
The suspicion of commercialism in connection '"^^^"^ materials where some evidence of impropei
with the relations of managers and producers of P'^^^"^^ ^^^"^^^ to be obtainable. These scandal:
films with professional advocates of moving pic- ""^""^ ^^"""^ through furtive agents of certain con
tures for use in visual education can be dismissed '''''■"' ""^^"'^ ^"'"^'''^ connections with superin
with a very few words. I believe that it has t^"^^"^^ °^ prmcipals. In the field of visual edu
little foundation in fact and no basis except the ''^^'°" '''' '^'^''^^^ ^""'^^^ ""^ "^'^^ ^^ permitted tc
difficulties of unbelief and suspicion always ^""^^^ ^" ^° ^^^ ^^ *^^ influence of the Nationa
attached to what is new. Education Association can prevent or expose it
For commercialism, in the sense of undue 01 Competition must be open to all. Closed lists anc
unjust or illicit profit, to exist in connection with ^^^P^'^^^ should not be permitted. Membershif
in organizations interested in the betterment of

.h;^Na?to'Tcou'rj1f='E*ucafio"„ ^^SS, fdt"a?io„' "''""' '^"'^''°" ""<* "^ '"'" P™<luction general!,
Association, July 5, 1923. must be Open to producers and teachers both. Tlt<

Uciobcr, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

390

films in New York schools come from forty-one
different sources and include producers of the
purely commercial type not members of any visual
education association.

As to inherent profit. So far, this is a joke.
The producers of educational films are not making
^money enough to bribe or influence anyone. There
is no market for their goods in the commercial
picture house. Boards of education are not yet
appropriating money enough to make percentages
of profit so attractive as to induce commercial
producers to go into that field. The number of
films possible of inclusion as visual education is
as yet so small and the demand even for those
available is as yet so slight that no opportunity
yet exists for profit considerable enough to afford
temptation.

Forewarned is forearmed. With this we can
dismiss the danger, as well as the suspicion, of
commercialism.

The second division of my subject brings up
the relation of the training of children to the
moving picture now most frequently shown in
houses run for commercial profit. Here I speak
as a practical teacher, who keeps informed in
what is occupying the minds of the children in
her class. From this point of view the com-
mercial moving picture is doing several things to
our children, and most of them harmful.

Last fall Dr. Ettinger, our superintendent in
New York, made an address which he called
"Facing the Facts." It compelled us to look
squarely in the face the matter of the progress
children are making through the grades and the
relation of our course of study to that progress.
It has brought a complete change of the point
of view of many teachers regarding both ques-
tions. Similarly let us face the facts regarding
the moving picture and its influence on our chil-
dren.

Hitherto most teachers have spent their time
inveighing against the evil of moving pictures.
Let us face the fact that the moving picture is
here to stay, like the theatre. As a child and
young girl I was forbidden to go to the theatre
and was taught to believe it was a sinful thing
to do. The first time I went was in secret dis-
obedience to orders. I found out it was good, a
means of making my difficult study of Shakespeare
alive and interesting and remembered. I lost re-
spect for the judgment of those who had told me
it was all wrong and sinful.

Likewise, inveighing against the evils of moving
pictures will never keep children away from them

and only builds up a barrier between us and them.
Let us face the fact that the moving picture is an
unremovable factor in children's lives and con-
sider wherein it is evil and wherein it is good.

Its evil influences are serious disturbances to
the teacher's work and to the training of char-
acter. The most important are:

1. The moving picture makes too strong an
appeal to the imagination, because it wakes tip
and stirs imagination without giving it proper
direction or training.

2. It makes explicit much which should be left
to imagination and for many chil'dren never known
and better never known. It is one thing for a boy
to read about jimmying a lock open, but quite
another thing for a moving picture to show him
how to do it and induce him to try his hand at it.

3. It is a temptation to superficiality and satis-
faction with disconnected bits of knowledge in-
stead of thoroughness, organized knowledge, and
organized habits of thinking.

4. Young children are permitted, and even
tempted, to attend moving picture shows at night,
as is seldom the case with the theatre. The loss
of sleep and the distraction to their studies makes
the. child unfit for school.

At the same time the commercial moving pic-
ture has brought about three results for good,
which teachers fail to realize or to benefit by.
One is that the moving picture gives knowledge
and information not otherwise obtainable by the
average child in public schools. The child in the
large city learns what a wheat field is and the
country child learns the difference between a paved
street and a shady lane.

Second, the moving picture does arouse interest
in subjects of knowledge otherwise closed books
to those same children, no matter how pedagogi-
cally thorough the teacher's work may be. A
notable illustration of this is the impetus given to
geography by the travelogues and news weeklies
of the big motion picture houses.

The third result which makes its special appeal
to me is that the moving picture has provided a
victorious rival for the corner gang, the pool
room, the street battles, and the "Fagins"— which
influences used to provide most of the candidates
for admission among my delinquents, much worse
problems than any we have today.

Facing the facts about the moving pictures
brings us logically to the third division of our
subject: How can teachers aid in solving the
problems precipitated by the moving pictures?

First, let us bring the moving picture into the

400

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educatioual

Screen

schools and make it a means of education rather
than empty amusement.

Second, let us co-operate with the producers so
that they will comprehend our point of view and
not justly accuse us of blind prejudice or "school
teacherish" ignorance of business.

Third, let us give them the right material.
Educators write the best text books for the pub-
lishers. Why not the best scenarios and themes
for the film producers?

Fourth, let us guide children as to the films
they should see as we already do their plays and
literature. Instead of wasting effort in trying to
keep children away from moving pictures, let us
train their taste in what to see.

Fifth, let us apply our old friend, that prin-
ciple we educators call correlative, and make use
of the words and themes and "business" cf the
motion picture in the teaching of classroom sub-
jects of study. To illustrate :
, A recent school test in composition given to
pupils in the eighth year compelled the children
to combine their study of literature with informa-
tion gained by attendance upon moving pictures,
I forget the exact questions, but they were to

this effect: (a) Write the scenario you would
use to produce as a moving picture the scene
between Brutus and Cassius. (b) What captions
would you use, selecting them from the material
provided by the speeches of each character? (c)
What staging and scenery effects would be re-
quired to produce the picture?

The fourth division cf my subject I shall not
attempt to discuss here because it is too technical
and not of immediate interest to us as teachers.
It is the question of the possibility of producing
pictures which children should be permitted to
see and which will permit commercial profit for
their producers. But it is a question which must
not be* forgotten, else the whole structure will
tumble.

OWING to a number of requests for the
publication of Mr. Crandall's address
at the Oakland Convention, that paper is
reproduced in this issue in place of the
serial "Thumb-Nail Sketches," which series
will be resumed in the next issue.

Visual Aids and How to Handle Them

By Ernest L. Crandall

Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction, New
York City

VISUAL aids may be divided into four gen-
eral classes or types :
1 — Real objects.
2 — Loose pictures.
3 — Stereopticon views.
4 — Motion pictures.
Each type has its peculiar characteristics and
should be handled accordingly. I believe the
paramount question is when each particular type
is most appropriately applied— that is, at what
psychological age of the child and also at what
stage of the lesson or recitation. Too little at-
tention has been paid to this vital consideration.

Personally, 1 should apply them in the order
named, objects, pictures, slides and films. I am
convinced, for example, that the motion picture
should come later than the slide, later in the
child's development and later in the lesson.

Let me state it in another way. Those visual
aids should come earliest which involve some

*Paper read before the National Council of Education
at Oakland meeting. July 5, 1923.

physical activity, because the motor impulses are
dominant in the earlier years. Those should
come latest which exact most mental activity to
fit the child's maturing mentality. I would let
a small child handle objects. I would show an
older child motion pictures. Likewise I would
start a lesson with specimens and I would con-
clude it with a film, because, other things being
equal, I believe the development of a lesson should
follow the same lines as the child's psychologi-
cal evolution.

Of course, under proper conditions all visual
aids may be used interchangably at all ages and
stages. I am merely stating a general principle.
Let us see whether closer examinations of each
type will bring us nearer to its appropriate use.
Real Objects

With real objects the child comes in contact
in three ways: (a) excursions, (b) specimens,
(c) experiments,
(fl) Excursions.

The excursion is an invaluable teaching device.

October, IQ23

Visual Instruction Association of America

401

particularly with younger children. It is vir-
tually the only means of introducing the little
folks to certain geographical concepts, such as
land forms, water forms and points of the com-
pass. At this stage it has the great advantage
of bringing into play the motor impulses so strong
in the young child.

Later, naturalist hikes, museum visits and shop
and plant excursions may and should be added.

If you cannot take your children from the
building, there are two recourses (1) the mental
excursion, i:eminding the children of objects and
scenes known to be familiar, and (2) the class
room excursion. For example, if you are study-
ing a group of states, have the pupils label cer-
tain desks, suitably grouped, as states. They may
then distribute specimen products brought from
home — an ^gg for Ohio, any steel object for In-
diana, a jar of bacon for Illinois, a picture of a
Ford for Michigan, etc. Finally let selected pupils
conduct interstate excursions. The essential point
is to elicit self activity, particularly of the motor
type.
{b) Specimens

Speaking of specimens, every class should have
its own specimen collections, especially an indus-
trial collection, for geography is largely a study
of the sources of the great primal necessities,
food, clothing and shelter. Do not aim at gor-
geous, immaculately labeled collections securely
locked behind glass. Let each class make its
own collection, which it can handle freely. This
provides an outlet for the hoarding or collecting
instinct, induces self activity and furnishes an
excellent class project.

Under the general heading of specimens, one
may also include models of various sorts. It
scarcely need be added that where practicable
these should likewise be made by the pupils and
preferably through co-operative effort,
(c) Experiments

Of the experiment little need be said. It is
firmly entrenched in modern school practice. My
own observation is that the elementary general
science teacher uses it more effectively than most
high school physics and chemistry teachers, for
he invariably makes it the initial step of the les-
son— which it should be.

Loose Pictures

Under loose pictures may be designated (a)
the illustrated text; (b) photographs and their
reproductions, chiefly available to the teacher in
the form of post cards and illustrations clipped
from current periodicals; (c) posters; and (d)
stereographs.

(a) The Illustrated Text

The illustrated text is perhaps the oldest of
visual aids. It is still badly made and badly used,
however, because neither author nor teacher builds
the lesson around the pictures. Examine a real
illustrated text, such as those put out by the
American Viewpoint Society and you will see
what I mean.

{b) Post Cards and Newspaper Illustrations

Like the specimen collection, the iriaking of a
model scrap book to which each pupil contributes
post cards, illustrations and clippings, is a suit-
able class project. Here the teacher again utilizes
the rather troublesome collecting instinct, so
strong in boys at a certain age, and socializes it
by applying it to the common good.

Another effective use of post cards and small
pictures applies equally to posters. Both should
be used to dress up the bulletin board and class-
room walls. The girl's instinct for self adorn-
ment, usually appearing at about the same age as
the boy's collecting craze, can thus also be sub-
limated and made to serve a useful and a social
purpose.

Many valuable industrial posters are obtainable.
Also, every teacher should know the National
Child Welfare Association's wonderful posters,
which are sold at cost.

Everything thus posted should also be vitalized
for the pupils through some class exercise, pre-
ferably conducted by a member of the class.
{c) Stereographs

Among loose picture devices must be reckoned
the stereograph and stereoscope. The illusion of
reality conveyed by this marvelous little instru-
ment makes an indelible impression. A well in-
dexed set of stereographs should be in every
school library, for the use of the upper grades.
In the lower grades the best usage is to leave two
'scopes, with two or three pictures each, on each
window sill for two or three days. This enables
the youngsters to examine them at their leisure.
Then whip the whole series into a coherent weekly
or bi-weekly lesson, by reproducing the same ob-
jects on the screen. If this is impracticable, re-
view the series by question and answer.

Thus the motor impulse is utilized by having
the children leave their seats and handle the pic-
tures themselves; and mental co-ordination of re-
tained visual images is effected by the review.
Stereopticon Views

This brings us to the slide or stereopticon
view, which must always remain the staple among

402

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

visual aids, especially in the development stage
of the lesson.

Useful for all ages, the slide is virtually in-
dispensable with pre-adolescents. By shutting
out distractions and facilitating concentration upon
a leisurely series of agreeable images, it lends
itself to an intimate give and take of observa-
tion, inference and judgment that can be secured
by no other means of which I am aware.

Yet the slide is frequently misapplied. Except
with college classes, its use merely to embellish
a lecture, robs it of its value as a teaching aid.
The stereopticon is essentially a classroom instru-
ment, better dispensed with altogether, unless used
in the intimate manner indicated.
Motion Pictures

Last but not least comes the motion picture.
Last in its application to the lesson, because it
presents essentially a review, a summation, a co-
ordination of the detached percepts and concepts
of which the lesson has been built up. Last also
with reference to the child's psychological age,
because it addresses itself to powers of co-ordi-
nation, imagination, judgment and consecutive
thinking, rarely well developed below the seventh
and eighth grade. Last in all these senses, but,
when properly applied, the crowning glory of the
whole visual instruction edifice.

To convince ourselves of this we have only to
reflect how even the theatrical screen has broad-
ened life's horizon for the masses.

No door is shut to the camera's all seeing eye,
no barrier deters, no distance daunts. It mounts
up into the air, rides upon the wind and is com-
panion to the cloud. It dives into the ocean's
depths and brings forth the slimy secrets of the
vasty deep. It penetrates alike the frozen fast-
nesses of the north and the tropic jungles of the
equator, bringing back a faithful record of the
life history of bird and beast and reptile, as also
of the manners, customs and habit of thought of
strange and divers peoples.

It follows the statesman into his cabinet,
mounts the bench with justice and accompanies
the soldier out upon the field of battle. When
the "rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air"
have been translated from poetic trope to grim
reality, it again follows the wounded soldier into
the hospital. Plunging after the surgeon's knife
amid nerves and tissues, it preserves the life
saving operation for future generations of medical
skill.

It takes unto itself the telescope of the astron-
omer and the microscope of the scientist. It
dissects and analyzes all manner of cell forma-

tions, traces the genesis of life, counts the red
corpuscles as they course through the blood ves-
sels, spies upon the virgin crystal, rising like
Venus from its bath in the chemical solution, and
reproduces mimetically the battle of the elec-
trons, thus visualizing the whole structure of or-
ganic and inorganic matter.

It fixes upon the tell-tale celluloid the record
of world affairs and of the human drama of to-
day, revitalizes the story of the past both in his-
tory and in romance, and lends a subtle aid to
man's speculative impulse to prefigure ages yet
to come.

Yet its very power renders the film of all visual
aids the most difficult and dangerous to handle.
Merely turned loose upon the plastic mind of
youth, its effect may be deadening, if not devastat-
ing. Its proper application requires judgment,
skill and constant study. Unlike the slide it may
safely be used for mass instruction ; but in that
case, and in any case, the ground must be culti-
vated in advance and results very carefully
checked up afterwards.

May I offer a summary of ray conclusions, in
the shape of a concrete illustration. If I were
to teach a lesson on cotton to a third or fourth
year class, I would begin with a collection of
cotton products and I would probably end by
letting the pupils examine some post cards, cuts
or stereographs. If I were teaching the same
lesson to a fifth or sixth year class, I would be-
gin in the same way, and probably wind up with
a stereopticon lesson. If the class were a seventh
or eighth year class, I would omit no single
step, but I would add the motion picture.

Many may not accept all my conclusions, but
I think we shall all agree that each of these
typical visual aids must play its particular role
in the teaching process; and that a large part of
our problem is to allocate to each its own most
effective place and function.

Approved EducationalTilms

BEGINNING next month, the Visual
Instruction Association proposes to
publish monthly in The Educational
Screen descriptive lists of educational films
approved by its Reviewing Committee, Miss
Rita Hochheimer, Assistant Director of
Visual Instruction, New York City, Chair-
man.

October, 1923

403

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

School Room Projection

Otis O.
Department of Physics and Electricity,

THE variety of things that can happen in
school-room projection may easily turn a
period of instruction into an embarrassing
loss of time, if thought is not given to perfect-
ing a smooth-running organization. Extension
cords may be broken, plugs lost or out of or-
der, fuses burned out, film broken or wound
backward. These are just a few of the items
to check up before time to show the picture.

A few well-meaning but ultra conservative
teachers will offer opposition in every school.
However, if carefully selected films are shown
to the proper groups of students, without un-
necessary loss of time, this opposition will be
gradually overcome.

Our principal appointed a committee of two
on visual education for the school. Within a
short time we formed a division of labor, and
have kept rigidly within our own spheres of
activity.

Teachers desiring to run a film or slides must
confer with a certain member of the committee,
leaving with him the title of the picture, the
date wanted, the periods to be shown, and the
room to be used. This committee member then
attends to the delivery of films, etc, from the
Visual Education Department so that they ap-
pear promptly at the school. At least twenty-
four hours before the presentation of the film,
a copy of this memoranda is sent to the other
member of the committee.

Ten boys have been trained to operate the

Painter

Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles

portable projection machines. These boys were
carefully selected from the electricity depart-
ment, and recommended for training by the sec-
ond member of the committee, because of their
initiative, dependability, and knowledge of elec-
tricity.

Two of the most dependable boys have been
placed in charge of different phases of the work.
One is responsible for all equipment and the
condition of rooms, and for filling the day's
program with operators. Care is taken that a
boy does not miss too many classes.

The projectors are oiled and inspected, films
inspected, curtains, screens, fuses and cords
looked after before the time to show pictures.
As soon as the tardy bell rings the blinds are
pulled down and the picture starts.

A "Y" connection has been arranged on a
cord, with plugs to fit the projectors. This al-
lows two projectors to be threaded, focused and
connected side by side, and as one reel is fin-
ished the second machine is started without a
break in time.

The other boy previews films at the Visual
Education Department bringing a synopsis of
each to the first mentioned committee member.

Our record week is forty-two periods of pic-
tures. During several of these periods we were
running films in three different rooms at the
same time. Our average week will run between
twelve and fifteen periods.

Film Reviews

LITERATURE

William Tell (Vitagraph)— The dramatic story
of this Swiss legendary hero, re-enacted — as is
periodically done — by the villagers of his native
valley in the Swiss Alps. Prefacing the action
are some characteristic scenes of Switzerland
and Tell's country, and some representative
types of people.

The drama begins with the Swiss returning

to their homes from the mountain hiding
places. Baumgarten encounters fishermen and
begs a refuge from the tyrannical governor.
The former refuse, fearing persecution, but Tell
appears and comes to his aid. The story is fol-
lowed through in pantomime by these sincere
villagers, though it must be confessed not too
skillfully from an artistic standpoint, for the
gestures are a bit methodical, stereotyped and

404

School Department

The Educational Screen

Perfect Slide Projection— for
Class Room or Auditorium

The Model BB Balopticon gives the most pleasing dissolving effects, one
picture blending with the next — the best way to show slides.

It is virtually two lanterns in
one, yet is very compact and has
no complicated adjustments.
Equipped with two powerful
Mazda lamps, it is entirely silent
and automatic in operation, and
works on any regular lighting socket.

Ask your dealer or write us for complete description

B^iusch £^ Jpmb Optical (g.

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO ROCHESTER. N. Y. London

overdone. The scene in the market place is
well enacted, however, and the dramatic
moment loses little of its force.

In closing, the reel shows views of Altdorf
in the fertile valley, the monastery above the
town, and street scenes in the village itself.
Here, too, is a monument to Tell. The reel
should furnish a valuable piece of concrete
background to any study of this classic story.

TRAVEL AND SCENIC

Yellowstone National Park, 2 reels (De Vry
Circulations) — A scenic tour starting at Gard-
iner and visiting the famous spots of this most
popular of our National Parks. Eagle Nest
Rock, Mammoth Hotel and its neighboring
camp, the swimming pool, the terraces of Mam-
moth Hot Springs, Jupiter and Angel Ter-
races, Golden Gate Canyon, fine views of the
geysers. Gibbon Falls, the cascades of the Fire-
hole, and the strange bubbling mud of the
Mammoth Paint Pots — all are shown in ex-
cellent scenes which do full justice to their
natural beauty.

Giant Geyser is not overlooked — and Old
Faithful comes in for its share of attention. A
bit less usual are views of the Obsidian Cliff —

of black volcanic glass, used by the Indians for
arrowheads.

The well known bears play a considerable
part — and the reels close with a brief cartoon
in animation to warn against feeding the pet
animals of the Park. Produced by the North-
ern Pacific Railroad.

Leaves from a Ranger's Notebook (DeVry
Circulations) — Produced by the Motion Pic-
ture Bureau of the Canadian Government, it
tells the story of the day-by-day job of the
Mounted Patrol in the western Canadian Rock-
ies, recording incidentally much of the scenic-
ally beautiful in this region of snow fields and
mountain peaks. For intimate acquaintance
with precipitous heights, beautiful waterfalls,
mountain lakes, and close views of glaciers it
can hardly be surpassed. An exceptional film
of its kind.

Lake Louise (De Vry Circulations) — A col-
lection of interesting views of this famous
locality — including of course the beautiful lake
itself and the hotel nearby. Tourists are seen
in the open tram car designed for sight-seeing,
and starting out on a motor trip on a mile-high
boulevard. Splendid panoramic views repro-
duce the mountains and snowfields, Moraine

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October, 1923

School Department

405

The BEST way to challenge the interest of the student in the important events of the day-the

Pathe Current Events Course

based upon the

PATHE NEWS

The step from indifference to enthusiasm becomes easy when you link uo class-work
m history with the screening of the most important political, social, na^fona^l and inter
national events shown regularly in the Pathe News. ^ti^iidi ana inier

The Course has received the endorsement of prominent educators. It is being
stantly used in important school systems. ^

con-

f.nrffnt'A'^'L'^f/' ^'""-'^ ^^ f^wca^iona/, social and religious institutions on con-
Courle ^'"^ months to one year. Special service in connection with the

For booklet and full information address

Educational Department

PATHE EXCHANGE, INC.

35 W. 45th St., New York
Exchanges in 35 Cities of the United States

Lake beneath the great Twin Peaks, and Para-
dise Valley, as well as the snow tops of the
Saddleback Range. Produced by the Canadian
Pacific Railway.

Trailing the Apache Trail (De Vry Circula-
tions)— From New York City to the Apache
Trail Highway may seem a far call, yet an
animated map makes the route well defined.
And along the highway itself are to be seen
numerous typical aspects of the country — the
sage-brush desert, the mines of Globe, Arizona,
Roosevelt Lake and Dam, the cliff dwellings of
the Tonto Apache Indians, and scenes along
the Snake River. More views of desert and
canyon bring us to irrigated lands and Phoenix.

NATURE STUDY

Do You Know Beans? (Kineto Company of
America) — An exceptional scientific film, af-
fording excellent material for the classroom or
auditorium showing.

It tells the life story of the bean seed from
the time it is planted until the shoot is "up."
In splendid drawings, the different parts of the
seed structure are pointed out — the inner and
outer coat, hypocotyl, plumule, etc., designated,
A strip of the outer skin is stretched to show
its remarkable strength, and the seed leaves

under the microscope seem to be made up of
cells full of tiny grains. Crushed in water, they
give it a milky appearance, and when the iodine
,test is applied, it turns blue— a sure sign of
starch.

The micropyle is pointed out, and in a most
interesting experiment with a bean seed placed
in water under an air pump, the location ap-
pears.

Osmosis is explained, and the force with which
seeds absorb water is demonstrated to be
enormous.

Perhaps the most remarkable part of the reel
is that which shows, by means of long-interval
exposures, just how the tiny plant bursts
through the tough coat. Splendid are the views
of the roots emerging, picturing the swinging
spiral motion as growth takes place. A series
of well planned experiments shows the root
always growing downward, regardless of the
position of the seed, in answer to the force of
gravity. In like manner, side roots are seen
to develop, and the action of the root hairs in
absorbing water is well shown by. animation.

What happens inside — the development of the
plumule, the bending into a crook before push-
ing up — is no less remarkably shown. Thus by

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

406

School Department

The Educational Screen

School Slides of Quality on All Subjects.

Many stock slides, also special slides made to order at
a very reasonable price.

W. C . BLI VEN

40 Lafayette Ave. Brooklyn, N.Y.

(Show Room 130 West 42Dd Street, New York City, by Appointment)
Victor Stereopticians — Spwt Lights — Motion Picture Machines

the miracle of modern photography become
perfectly clear the exact processes of plant life,
which — because they happened so slowly —
could only be guessed at, previously.

Beasts of Prey (Vitagraph) — One of the
Urban Popular Classics and devoted to showing
representatives of Carnivora, as they may be
seen at the National Zoological Park, Wash-
ington, D. C, and the Zoological Society of
Philadelphia. The reel is distinguished by
some splendid photography of the animal sub-
jects— many of them seen at close range. There
is good informational material in the titles,
which are uniformly well written.

The lion, Bengal tiger, leopard, lynx, jaguar,
mountain lion, the cheetah, hyena, wolf, coyote,
red fox, raccoon, and badger are represented —
along with many others — and in the majority of
cases are "caught" by the camera in some char-
acteristic act — such as the scene which shows
the red fox burying his food, the raccoon wash-
ing his green food in the pool before eating,
and the otter catching a fish.

A reel to be enjoyed in the same spirit with
which one visits a Zoo — and perhaps particu-
larly entertaining to a young audience — al-
though much of the titling is too difficult in
phraseology for any except adults or older
children. Splendid material, especially for the
thousands who seldom have the opportunity of
visiting the zoological parks of our larger cities.

INDUSTRIAL

Making Telephone History (De Vry Circu-
lations)— Hardly is there anything more ab-
sorbing than the romance of the development
of our modern means of communication. With-
in the memory of most of the present genera-
tion the telephone has come into general use,
and so accustomed have we become to its con-
venience, that we seldom think of a time when
it was unknown and undreamed of.

This reel, made by the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company, traces the history of
its development from the first model in Bell's
research laboratory of 1875, through the many
stages of evolution in form. The attic work-
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shop of those days is contrasted with the mod-
ern telephone laboratory, and the first crude
switchboard (New Haven, Conn., 1878) seems
primitive indeed beside the modern switch-
board of today. Overhead wiring is shown
to have been displaced by the 18,760,000 miles
of underground cables today. A most inter-
esting scene shows the putting up of an over-
head cable, and a close view of the cut end
of a lead cable discloses the hundreds of in-
dividual wires insulated and sealed within it.

Graphs bring out a summary of growth in
the number of telephones in use — and scenes
show the laying of the world's greatest tele-
phone cable (1921) from Havana to Key West.

A fitting climax comes with the contrast
between the epoch-making long distance con-
versation, of 1877 between Boston and Salem,
and that which took place 45 years later, when
on Armistice Day, 1921, the President spoke
from Arlington cemetery to the whole con-
tinent by means of telephone amplifiers.

The Staff of Life (Vitagraph)— The familiar
but never too frequently told story of the meta-
morphosis of wheat which changes the grain
to the loaf of bread on the table.

Harrowing the ground in the spring precedes
views of the tractor-drawn reaper and binder
harvesting the grain. The harvesting is also
shown as it is done by hand on smaller farms,
where farm laborers pitch the bundles of grain
onto wagons.

A motor-driven "four binder" working on
level land that stretches as far as the eye can
reach, cuts and bundles the wheat, covering
four widths at one round.

The most remarkable sight of all is the com-
bined harvester and thresher, pulled by twenty-
four horses and threshing 1,600 sacks a daj'.
Good close views of various parts of the ma-
chine show the different sorts of operations it
performs. The reaper and binder are also
seen in nearer view.

Threshing as it is done now is interestingly
contrasted with an old-fashioned horse-power ■
thresher. The modern machine, run by steam, ,|
Mention The Educational Screen ^

October, 1923

School Department

407

ADVENTURING

WITH THE COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

A six-reel story of Life, Travel and Adventure which takes the student from
the United States to the Tropics of Central America.
Fishing Hunting Sports

Harpooning Sea Monsters Indian Life

Scenic Wonders Wild Bird Life

Terrapin Farming Mountain Climbing

Native Industries Historical Places

Not a dull moment in the six reels.
Highly instructive.
Single reel films of our own make now ready for distribution.
Sugar Industry of Central America Banana Industry

Coffee Industry The Maya of Today

Life as Others Lead It Still Waters

When the Earth Rocks No H. C. L. Here

And many other subjects of from one to five
reels. Complete synopsis of any film on request.

Bookings anywhere in the U. S.

COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

Headquarters P. O. Box 1662

306-7-8 Townley Bldg. Miami, Fla.

takes the bundles tossed onto the moving belt
and sends the threshed grain through a feed
pipe into the waiting wagon — the chaff blown
out at the other side making a huge pile.

At the mill a sample of the grain is traced
through the various processes of cleaning,
grinding and sifting, until the product of the
miniature process is a fine white flour which
is tested chemically for its proportion of nitro-
gen, ash and gluten. The manner of deter-
mining the content of the latter is especially
well shown.

When the sample has safely passed through
the various processes, the wheat is turned over
to the mill. Interior views show the grinders
at work, the sifter separating bran from flour,
and the "dressing" of the flour through silken
strainers. Finally piles of sacks are ready for
shipment, and are loaded into the hold of a
vessel.

Sunshine Gatherers (Prizma) — Filmed at
Monterey, the subject is introduced by a brief
pictorial history of the landing of the Spanish
and the establishment of missions in this most
picturesque and beautiful part of California.

Panoramas of orchards in full bloom are
followed by scenes of the picking of apricots,

cherries, strawberries, pears, loganberries and
peaches — all photographed in realistic and beau-
tiful Prizma color.

In orchard kitchens, the preparation of the
fruit (peaches in this case) for canning is
shown in interesting detail. Pits are removed,
the fruit is sent to the peeler and then graded
for size before the cans are filled. The fruit
is then covered with syrup, machines cap the
cans and they are delivered to the steam cooker.
Labeling finishes the preparation for market.

A subject admirably photographed and valu-
able alike for the general audience and the
school classroom.

Please Pass the Cranberries (De Vry Circu-
lations).— A revelation as to the peculiar meth-
ods of raising this brilliant addition to our holi-
day feasts. Filmed on Cape Cod, in the center
of the "cranberry country" — which is restricted
to a very few states, and has its greatest area
in Massachusetts.

First is shown the preparation of the bog
soil, involving in many cases preliminary clear-
ing of the land and leveling the surface of the
swamp. Sand is spread on evenly, then the
ground is graded and the vines are set out in
rows. Pumping stations supply fresh water to

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408

School Department

The Educational Screen

consider the
Trans-Lux Daylight
ricturo Screen a
most important and
far-reaohins Inven-
tion as affecting ed-
ucation. It supplies
a very real need.
Every educational in-
stitution in the coun-
try ought to b(
equipped with these
screens."

•W:!>I').HfV.!^

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.
For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

TRANS- LUX PAYLI6HT PICTURE SCREEN* INC
, 36WE$T44II!ST, MiW YORK CITY

Carl E. Akeley,
big game hunter and
Curator of the Amer-
ican Museum of Nat-
ural History, writes:

'• T h e Trans-Lux
Daylight Screen is a
wonder. . . I am get-
ting infinitely finer
projection t li a n I
have ever had with
any other screen.
Because of its bril-
liancy, much smaller
pictures may be used
and this feature
alone makes a great
appeal to me."

the bogs, thus not only irrigating the crop but
preventing frost injury to the vines.

The fourth year after planting, the vines are
pruned, and harvest follows shortly after. Ex-
perienced labor is required, and only when the
bogs are dry can the work be carried on.

Especially interesting closeups show the
workers raking the berries from the vines with
their peculiar basket-scoops. The crop is then
screened — to separate the chafif from the ber-
ries— and inspected by allowing the berries to
bounce on a conveyor; the defective ones being
unbounceable, fall to the bottom. Packing in
crates prepares for shipment.

Keeping Up Railroad Service (2 reels) (New
York Central Railroad, Chicago)— A disgruntled
shipper, complaining of slow freight service,
hears over the radio the story of the progress of
railroading in this country. The story, in pic-
ture form, begins with the contrast between the
first locomotive and the present-day model, fol-
lowed by a description of many phases of rail-
road operation, maintenance of way, and re-
placement of rolling stock. Many interesting
glimpses are given of what to many people are
little known phases of railroading.

In short, the subject is devoted to setting
forth facts of railroad operation which may
not be apparent to the outsider, but which are
really responsible for "making the wheels go
'round." Valuable as a lesson in industrial
geography, or as a study in commerce.

The Romance of Glass (Atlas Film Co. and
De Vry Circulations). — Tradition has it that
the discovery of glass was made by the Phoe-
nicians who, setting up a camp on shore, had
brought from their ship a block of stone con-
taining crude soda upon which they could cook
their meal. The heat melted the soda block,
and with the sand on the shore, produced an

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unknown fluid which, when cool, was found to
be a new transparent substance.

Authentic or not, this little story furnishes
an entertaining prologue to an explanation ot
modern machine methods of glass making in
use today. Molten glass is drawn into the
molds by suction — and clear animated drawings
show the effect of compressed air in shaping
the glass. After the jars are finished, they go
to the annealing oven, and are later inspected
and counted, capped, packed and crated, ready
for shipment. The remainder of the reels deals
with the subject of proper canning, and demon-
strates the Cold Pack method most clearly and
specifically, with several different kinds of food
as subjects of the demonstration. (Produced by
the Ball Bros. Co.)

ENTERTAINMENT

Fruits of Faith (3 reels) Pathe. Will Rogers
makes possible — almost plausible — the story of
a tramp who through faith, the doctrine of
which he picked up from a street preacher, came
into possession of most of those things, which
are considered comfortable assets in this world
— a home, goods, a stray child which Fate casts
on his doorstep, and a woman to preside over
his household. Only by a narrow margin,
achieved through the evident sincerity of his
acting, does Mr. Rogers save many a scene
from the burlesque. In addition, there are
some genuinely funny touches.

Not that the story is a very real one. The
prospector, lost in the desert, meets with an
accident, and the donkey, carrying the mother-
less baby, wanders home to the deserted cabin.
The tramp, through the strange workings of
faith, comes into possession of the child as weU
as the prospector's property', and the father,
reappearing some years later, beholds the happy^

Mention The Educational Screen

October, 1923

School Department

409

family scene, and considerately disappears
again. Truly, a movie solution.

Irene Rich is delightful as the woman, and
two winsome children make up the rest of the
cast.

Urashima (Kinema Film Service)— The film
shows a group of Japanese children being enter-
tained by a professional story teller, who relates
the tale of Urashima, the fisherboy who dozed
off in his boat one day, and is wakened by a
beautiful maiden who is the daughter of a sea
god. As a reward to Urashima, who has been
kind to a tortoise he has caught and put it back
into the sea, the girl takes the humble fisher-
lad to her father's dragon palace. The sea god
receives them and ultimately gives to Urashima
his entire domain and his beautiful daughter as
a wife.

Three years later, a longing seizes him to
visit his native land. He goes — and takes with
him a box which, if he opens it, will prevent
him from returning.

Everything in his own country is strange, and
he marvels that it could have changed so much
in so short a time. He enquires of an old fish-
erman if he had known Urashima, and is in-
formed that the latter had been drowned long
ago. In u cemetery he finds the graves of his
parents and their grandchildren. He opens the
box, its contents burn, and he becomes an old
man at once — for a day in the Dragon Palace
(a part of fairyland) is as long as a year else-
where.

Entertainingly done, and deserving a place on
any program.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Coolie (Prizma) — In overcrowded China,
where man-power is cheap, the street coolie is
the lowest of all society. Roaming the streets
in the search for work, he is distinguished
from other classes of coolies by the bamboo
pole which he constantly carries. All together,
the various classes of coolies are said to make
up one-fourth of the entire population of China.

To their lot falls the work of the teeming
waterfront in the Chinese ports — and there the
coolie is seen carrying burdens from ship to
dock, heavy loads borne by the seemingly end-
less stream of bent figures dog-trotting along.
The load may be 240 pounds of rice, and in case
any stray grains are dropped by the train of

burden bearers, they are speedily swept up—
too precious to be wasted in a hungry land.

Packages of tea are loaded in a two-wheeled
wagon drawn by two laboring coolies. Other
dock scenes picture the weighing of tubs and
barrels, delivered by the human pack animals,
who also carry baskets in which may be fruit,
poultry, or even swine.

The activity of the coolie would be incom-
plete without something said of the ricksha.
Oriental street scenes taken in the foreign sec-
tion of Hongkong are interesting not only for
the coolies drivers of "man-power street cars"
but also for their picturesque signs hung out-
side the numerous shops that line both sides of
the narrow passageways.

A parade of ricksha men bringing tokens of
various sorts in the hope that by so doing,
prosperity may attend them in the year to
come, is the final scene of the reel — which is
not only illuminating as a side light on China,
but also as an intensely human document
eloquent of the conditions of life in the densely-
populated Orient,

Roving Thomas Series (Vitagraph). — A
brief review of one of these will give an idea
of the character of the series, which belongs
to the Urban Popular Classics.

"Roving Thomas on the Western Coast" first
finds the Urban cat (Roving Thomas) in Al-
berta, Canada, where he pauses long enough to
witness scenes of dipping cattle in what he
terms "bovine baths — sanitary chutes." He
"hops" a freight train westward bound and
there follow some interesting enough views of
the Rockies, seen from the moving train, Van-
couver is reached — "an ancient town it must
be," observes the cat, "since they call it B. C."
Bathing beaches, zoo-botanical gardens of Vic-
toria, where trees are trimmed in peculiar
shapes to represent birds and animals, horse
racing at Vancouver, and scenes at Neptune
Beach, California, make up the greater portion
of the reel, along with the footage devoted to
the antics of the cat (a little animated cartoon
figure).

The series contains informative material, but
in a guise unsuited for any serious use. The
reels were built solely for entertainment and
are harmless enough, perhaps, if one does not
mind the antics and "clever" speeches of the
cat

410

The Educational Scree

Pictures and the Church

Conducted by
Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

\

IN a recent symposium on "The Young
People's Problem in the Church," con-
ducted by the Homiletic Review, one
of the leading magazines for clergymen,
there was a tabulation of the principal
causes for the worst conditions which are
discernable here and there among young
people. Eighteen per cent of the letters re-
flecting this attitude assigned to the "im-
moral suggestions of the movies" first place
among the causes for these conditions.

I am inclined to think a similar symposium
among active laymen would assign an even
larger influence for evil tendencies among
the youth to motion pictures. Twenty-eight
per cent of the letters regarded "bad ex-
ample and lax discipline of parents" as the
greatest cause of bad conditions, and an-
other twenty-eight per cent ascribed to
"modern dancing" first place.

Accepting the careful judgment of these
well-informed clergymen as being as near
to the truth as we shall ever be able to ar-
rive, it is indeed disquieting to think. that
the motion picture, the development of
twenty-five years, should come to be thus
quickly so proHfic a power for evil.

We are probably not far from the truth
in saying that the motion picture contains
the greatest power for either good or bad
of any invention or instrumentality of mod-
ern times. That it has done untold harm
scarcely any churchman would care to deny.

As to why so many pictures emphasize
the suggestive, the prurient, the salacious,
the immoral in so many aspects is an inter-
esting question. We are apt to say the low
taste of so many who flock to the immoral
or low-toned pictures has been developed
by a long series of that kind of picture. I
presume the producers of such pictures

would say they found the taste and deman
for such pictures most prevalent and, be
ing purely commercial, they made the kin
of picture demanded by their patrons. Ur
doubtedly there is a great deal of truth i
both statements.

What we must recognize is that this tast
for low-toned pictures is very prevalen
whether the taste prevailed before the pic
tures were forthcoming or whether it wa
developed by the producers. It is a preser
condition that must be dealt with.

The pertinent question is this: How ca
youth be safeguarded from seeing evil pic
tures ?

On first thought we should probably sa
that censorship is the only remedy streni
ous enough for the malady. Now if this i
true, then in spite of the fact that censoi
ship is in my judgment, thoroughly ur
American in principle, we should all advc
cate it for the simple reason that somethin
must be done to give to youth a more whok
some kind of picture.

However, I do not believe censorship :
the only remedy. As a matter of fact, I d
not believe censorship is any remedy at al
Censorship begins at the wrong end of tli
problem. If we are to have good picture
the real work of making them good begir
with the preparation of the scenario and tl^
production of the film. The picture is con
pleted when it comes to the censor. A
the censor can do is to delete objectionabl
scenes and titles. Nothing he can do wi
change the atmosphere of the film, and iY
atmosphere can easily be the most insidioi
and harmful thing in a film. One migl
say that the censor should in such cases cot
demn the film in tofo. Perhaps so, but
a censor had the sweeping power to resQ

ctober, 1923

Pictures and the Church

411

this extreme measure and actually at-
mpted it he would find it in practice an
itire impossibility.

Standards differ so radically even among
ose who are actuated by the same high
otives that it would be impossible to work
It a standard which would be accepted.
But it may be argued that censors, acting
en arbitrarily, by condemning for a short
jriod every picture with even a low moral
mosphere would soon compel producers
id scenario writers to see to it that their
ctures thereafter were above reproach
hen they at last reached the reviewing
udio of the censor. However, if human
iture among scenario writers and directors
ms true to form, and there is every indica-
3n that it does, there will always be the
^termination to produce pictures just as
iar the borderland as they dare be and yet
cape the wrath of the censor. No, censor-
lip puts the cart before the horse. It deals
ith the finished product and can never
fectually revolutionize the spirit and aims
at control the inception of the film.

Censorship can never enhst the vital co-
>eration of the motion picture industry,
Dr can it ever enlist the sympathetic co-
deration of the patron. The twenty mil-
Dn Americans who pay admission daily to
;e pictures will not tolerate this drastic
>rm of supervision. If all the people are
I be induced to withhold their patronage
om the objectionable film and to patronize
e good one (and the opposite has prevailed
» a large extent in the past) it will never
)me by compulsion but by willing and en-

htened co-operation as a voluntary choice.

Few of our readers will take exception to
le statement that where political censor-
lip has been resorted to it has failed
holly or in large part to solve the problem
t good pictures.

Super Photoplay Service

159 N. State Street
CHICAGO

The Shadow on Calvary

Distributors to the World for

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

(Re-edited version of The Birth of a Race)
Has leased Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin to

PICARD PICTURES

804 South Wabash

CHICAGO, ILL.

Now some one may say that if the movies
cannot be cleaned up they must be * 'cleaned
out, root and branch, with a tidal-wave of
righteous indignation that will sweep them
off the face of the earth," to quote from
one letter in the symposium alluded to
above. Who of us has not sometimes ' felt
justified in using language as strong as that?
But the movies are not to be cleaned out,
root and branches. They constitute the
third largest industry of the country all be-
cause they exert such a universal appeal.
One might as well talk of making the Hud-
son river flow north. The movies are here
to stay. We shall have to recognize that
fact and then settle down to a realization
that we can not shunt the problem of mak-
ing them good over to government censor-
ship and that we can not clear our con-
science by standing aloof and throwing
stones at them, but rather that we must find
a way to make them all wholesome.

Censorship is only a lazy and superficial
way after all, and by this method we shall
never reach our goal. I believe there is a
more excellent way, and I shall outline this
method in the October issue of the Educa-
tional Screen. It is not a quick method, nor
is it easy. It will require the continuous,
active and intelligent co-operation of every
good citizen of every community, but it will
be tremendously effective when given a thor-
ough trial. Furthermore this way is Ameri-
can— in principle and spirit. C. C. M.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

412

The Educational Scret

Lantern and Slide

Conducted by
Dr. Carlos E. Cummings

The editor of this department will attempt to answer all queries sub-
mitted, on the making or projection of lantern slides, lanterns or still
projectors, or pictures made by photography for educational purposes.
All matters connected with moving picture projection or films will be
discussed on another page. All readers of the Educational Screen are
invited to make use of this page, and submit questions on any topic
properly considered herein.

Converting an Old Lantern Into a New One

WE have received many queries as to the
possibility of installing incandescent bulbs
in old types of lanterns. Most of the
machines used five years ago and previously were
built to be used with the electric arc or the
calcium light, and as both of these types require
skilled attention to operate it is very often advis-
able to replace this source of illumination with the
bulb. The latest type of bulb is small, tubular
in shape, and the filament in the form of a flat
grid, making its installation much more simple
than the previous types in which the bulb was
round and the filament in the form of a cluster.
Optically there is no reason why an incandescent
bulb cannot be used in any lantern which shows
a satisfactory picture with other forms of illu-
mination.

We have converted a number of calcium ma-
chines by removing the jet and screwing the
socket for the lamp in its place. In this way the
light can be raised and lowered or moved from
side to side to get the necessary centering. In
some machines the lamp housing is small and will
not permit the bulb to be centered, but this is not
apt to be the case in using the small tubular type
of lamp. Ample ventilation must be provided as
otherwise the bulb will become so hot as to melt
the glass. A very important feature to be con-
sidered where conversion is attempted is the size
and diameter of the projection lense. This should
never be less than 2^ inches in diameter. It is
unfortunate that certain dealers are turning out
a machine with a projection lense of the small
size, as the results obtained are not to be com-
pared with the larger size, and the saving in cost
is so slight as to be negligible. Where an incan-
descent bulb is placed in a lantern, particularly if
the lantern is to be carried from one room to
another, the cord should be attached firmly with
tape or a clamp to the base of the lantern. Many
of the manufacturers are very careless in this

matter, bringing the cord directly to the Ian:
socket, which results in the breakage of the wii
close to the socket. The weight and strain of tl
cord should never be allowed to fall on the sock(
itself.

Many of the old type lanterns were equippe
with lamp houses which were open at the bad
and where bulbs are installed, the back shoul
be closed in order to prevent the light froi
shining into the eyes of those in the audienc
sitting behind the lantern. This may readily h
done with a piece of stove pipe iron, or if th
is not practicable the same result can be accorr
plished by hanging a felt curtain on a loop c
wire. Where the flat grid lamp is used, the be5
results are obtained when the plane of the gri
is parallel with the surface of the condense]
and as the relative position of the screw and th
grid may vary with different bulbs, provisio
should be made by which the socket can be turnc
and clamped at the proper point.

A very useful addition is the concave mirro
back of the bulb. The dealers have in stock on
type of bulb in which the mirror is attached to ;
collar fitting on the base of the lamp, while ii
other types of lantern the mirror is separate an(
fastened to the back of the pedestal. The mirro
should be so adjusted that its light is projecte<
on the same axis as the lamp itself. This can h
accomplished by placing a piece of white papei
in front of the projection lense. By moving th(
bellows in and out a point can usually be foun(
where the image of the filament shows plainly ci
the paper, and if the lamp is properly adjustec
it will come in the center of the illuminated spot
A misplaced mirror will show a secondary image
sometimes at a considerable distance from th(
image of the filament, and where this occurs tli(
mirror should be adjusted until the two practi-
cally coincide. While it is true that satisfact.^'x
projecticn may be secured without accurate c

October, 1923

Lantern and Slide

413

tering of the filament, nevertheless such centering
is not difficult and adds very materially to the
brilliancy and sharpness of the field.

A four hundred watt lamp is quite satisfactory
for ordinary class room projection. A five hun-
dred consumes about an ampere more of current
and costs but little more. For long throws or
very dense slides such as autochromes, the thou-
sand watt lamp may be required, but where this
is used we must be sure that the fuses and cord

are sufficiently rugged to stand the load. Switches
placed on the cord should be of the largest and
strongest type available and probably the best
of all is the branched connector which can be
pulled apart. Anyone attempting to disconnect a
thousand watt lamp or even one of half the size
at the socket is very apt to be greeted by a
startling display of fireworks, and no connecting
socket ought ever to be unscrewed until all cur-
rent is cut off from it in some other fashion.

C. E. C.

The News Chat

Conducted by
The Editor

ANEW book, "That Marvel— The Movie," by
Dr. Edward S. Van Zile, comes to us from
the publishers, G. P. Putnam Sons, just as
we go to press. After a hasty, but very eager
once-over, we are inclined to think it is the most
important contribution yet made to the serious lit-
erature of the subject. We shall give an extended
review of the book in our November issue.

FOR many months that portion of the intelli-
gent public, which pays any attention at all to
the theatrical screen has been worrying over
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Interest has
centered mainly — not on the possible greatness
of such a picture, for there is no question about
that — but on what the movie-makers would do to
Hugo.

The film has appeared, and there is much wail-
ing in many quarters. And now we learn that
"one of the scenario-writers is at work rewriting
Hugo's great novel." With the powerful publicity
machinery at their command, the perpetrators of
the monstrosity may sell more copies in six months
than the original sold in a generation. Such
"achievements" are out of reach of the law, as f-
law stands. The Louisville Courier-Journal waxes
indignant in the following words :

"George Bernard Shaw might rewrite Shakes-
peare and, perhaps, make a good job of it, though
it would not be Shakespeare. For Irving Berlin to
rewrite Beethoven would be an entirely different
matter and comparable to the jazzy writers of
scenarios attempting to rewrite Hugo.

"It's a pity that Hugo's copyright has expired
and that Hugo has no way to protect himself.
Really there should be a law to protect these mas-
ters of literature from the vandals of Hollywood."

STARTING with the statement that "the mo-
tion picture is in the schoolroom whether the
teacher knows it or not," the Better Schools
Bulletin for August outlines a very definite plan
for creating better taste in the matter of movies
among High School students. This plan has re-
ceived much discussion in various publications for
many months past, but it can hardly receive too
much emphasis. We are glad to reprint the de-
tails of the plan.

Organize in each high school a High School
Better Films Committee to review and report
upon motion pictures showing in your local the-
aters. Each week a reviewing committee from
one of the English classes will visit the down-
town theaters and on the following morning sub-
mit a report. Senior, junior, sophomore and
freshman classes will be called upon to do this
reviewing in turn. All reports before being
posted on the bulletin board must be approved
by one of the English teachers, thus making the
review serve the double purpose of English com-
position and visual education.

The entire student body should he urged to
confine their movie attendance to pictures
recommended by the reviewers.

Once each month or oftener tlie English
classes will devote a special period to motion
picture study, discussing the month's films from
an artistic and dramatic standpoint and hearing
the report of the reviewing committees.

In furnishing a criticism on films viewed the
following topics are suggested:

1. The theme should be fundamental to the
picture and it should involve that which is of
social interest in a constructive sense. Whole-
someness is a major consideration.

414

The News Chat

The Educational Screen

SALESMEN

Representatives wanted to introduce a -practical
classroom necessity. Complete series of pictures, fully
indexed, for all grades. Special projection lantern.
Something new in visual instruction. Write for par-
ticulars. Address R. L. D., Educational Screen.

2. The main problem should be vital and in-
teresting. The secondary problem should com-
plicate, be relevant to, and build up the main
problem. The solution should bring in the ele-
ments of suspense and climax. It should satis-
factorily solve the minor problem and should
solve completely the main problem.

3. The cast should be well chosen. The play-
ers should possess the qualities of appearance,
ability, and dramatic art to interpret properly
the characters they represent.

4. The photography should be good. The
lighting should be properly focused. The set-
tings should give the proper atmosphere to the
story. Novel, artistic, magnificent settings should
not detract from the story.

It is believed that by following such a pro-
griam as is outlined above a high standard will
be maintained and that only the best films will
be patronized.

EVERY new attempt to organize the mate-
rials of visual education in a thorough
going pedagogical fashion by real educators is
welcome. Every experimenter realizes that his
results establish a record for only a very short
time. So rapidly are events moving in this
field, that by the time announcement is made of
one result a new one appears to raise the
record.

The new De Vry Primary Set consists of 200
slides selected by a practical educator and a
staff of primary assistants. A novel feature of
the set is the use of a new light weight, prac-
tically non-breakable slide, especially adapted
to use in primary departments where the chil-
dren are more apt to knock slides down from
the table. Each slide has a study picture card
accompanying it and all are neatly inclosed in
a case that looks like an enlarged edition of
milady's vanity case.

A Teacher's Manual comes in a leatherette
loose leaf binder, and is replete with suggestions
to the teacher for each slide in the set. Cross
references make the set cover a variety of sub-

jects and even the upper grades will find some
interesting material in Geography, History,
Industries, Science and Citizenship.

Every new offering in the way of slide collec-
tions is welcome for it is another incentive to
expansion in the use of this invaluable visual
tool. The slide performs and will always per-
form a very large share of the work of visual
instruction — its future will grow steadily
greater,, keeping even step with the growth of
the whole visual movement. DeVry Circula-
tions, through this new slide collection, make
a distinct contribution to progress in this field.

T!

iHE New York Central Railroad is proving
itself one of the leading pioneers in the de-
velopment of the visual idea in our national
education. Under Mr. W. H. Hill Agricultural
Agent for the New York Central Lines, there
has been developed a train called "The Service-
Progress Special" which is exercising a mighty
influence in the sections of the country served by
that railroad. As we go to press the train is
covering a 30-day itinerary of over 50 towns in
the state of Indiana.

The train itself is a huge "model" for visual
instruction. It is headed by three engines. At
the front, the latest and largest type of present-
day construction; next, the famous old "999"
that drew the "Empire State Express" when that
train was astonishing the world; third, the orig-
inal "Dewitt Clinton," the little forefather of
them all. Then come several coaches filled with
elaborate displays of pictures, posters, samples,
models, etc. The train carries a stock of slides
and films, with full projection facilities, calcu-
lated to give new knowledge and respect for the
achievement of American railroads, as well as to
dispense invaluable information for the use of
our great rural populations.

The Educational Screen is to have the pleasure
of printing a definitive article on this train, with
full illustrations, from the pen of Mr. Hill him-
self, director of the Service-Progress Special.
This article will be highly suggestive of the tre-
mendous amount of "education" that is going on
outside our schools and colleges, and of the values
being derived from visual aids in the process.

A'

ND still another illustration of education
on a large scale outside of the college walls
is furnished by Mr. Charles Roach, head
of the Visual Instruction Service, Iowa State Col-
lege at Ames, Iowa.

Less than a decade has sufficed to bring about
Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

I

October, 1923

The News Chat

415

MOTSCO GEMIRATOR

Operates on any AUTOMOBILE or TRUCK. Produces ELEC-
TRICITY for Motion Picture Machines and Theatre illumination.

Gives the most satisfactory results for LIGHTING your School,
Church, Lodge or Home.

Weight of Complete Outfit only 44 pounds. Full details and liter-
ature upon request.

Machines— Film and All Equipment for
Visual Education

MONARCH THEATRE SUPPLY CO., 724 So. Wabash Ave.

Dept. 32 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

the following development in community educa-
tion through various visual means, notably the
film. The year in each case closes on July 1st.

Number of meetings
Year supplied with films

1914-15 187

1915-16 220

1916-17 476

1917-18 952 "

1918-19 1,079

1919-20 2,313

1920-21 3,020

1921-22 4,760

1922-23 6,423

We quote Mr. Roach for further details on
this state-wide service.

"Part of the work is conducted through
what are called 'farm bureau film circuits.'
These circuits, as the name implies, are cir-
cuits in which county agents are supplied
with films for use in their counties. There
are 10 counties represented on each circuit,
and it requires approximately 20 weeks for a
film to go the rounds of the circuit. In the
year ending July 1, 1923, films were supplied
for 2,315 meetings on these circuits, and
the total attendance was in round numbers
265,000.

There are also school or community or-
ganizations which use films and lantern slides.
During the past year there were 2,000 meet-
ings of such organizations which were fur-
nished service through the department, with
a total attendance of about 320,000.

There is also what is known as a special
date service, in which films or slides are sent
out for special meetings in various parts of
the state.

Totaling the people reached through the
film service, it was found that there were

Please Write to Advertisers and

approximately 825,000 people in attendance at
all meetings. The film service and the lan-
tern slide service combined reached approxi-
mately 875,000 people during the past year.

MR. FRANK A. TILLEY, editor of the
British "Kinematograph Weekly," gave
some interestig comments on the status of
American films abroad, while making his recent
tour across the United States. His views are,
in part, reported as follows by The Moving
Picture World.

During the war about ninety per cent of the
world's picture supply was the product of
American studios. The United States still
retains a full eighty-five per cent. Not be-
cause of quality. Oh, no! If quality were the
determining factor it would be a waste of
transportation to send many American pic-
tures to foreign markets. America boasts
some of the screen's greatest artists, America
has and still is producing some of the screen's
greatest classics, but I am talking about the
average.

America's monopoly is due to economic rea-
sons alone. The United States domestic mar-
ket is so tremendous that an American pro-
ducer can sink $500,000 into a picture, sell it
only to theatres at home, and still make
money — to where an Enghsh producer can't
spend more than $20,000, and hope to make a
profit from home consumption. You know,
$20,000 is actually a British director's limit—
for actors, sets, story and everything — while
some American directors do not feel they have
made a good start until they have sunk
$150,000 into a production.

Having made a good profit on home sales
alone, everything an American producer takes
in abroad is pure velvet. He can afiford to
sell a $200,000 picture to European theatres
for less than a British, French. Swedish or
German producer can sell a $20,000 film, for
America maintains its monopoly, throttles for-
eign competition, by sheer force of dollars.

From the artistic standpoint Sweden leads
the world todav. But given the same amount
{Continued on page 418)
Mention The Educational Screen

416

The Educational Screen

The Industrial Picture Field

Conducted by

Homer V. Winn

With the cooperation of

THE SCREEN ADVERTISERS ASSOCIATION

A Departmental of The Associated Advertising Clubs of the World

D. D. Rothacker, President

George J, Zehrung, Vice-President
Homer V. Winn, Secretary

This association is composed of leading producers of industrial-educational, advertising
and technical films and slides, sales rrianagers, advertising men, welfare workers and others
interested in non-theatrical screen presentation.

Motion Pictures in Community Development

THE subtle influence of advertising is ever
present in motion picture presentation,
whether in the theatre, school, church or
salesroom. For advertising is, as you know, the
art of influencing the human mind.

Theatrical motion pictures have had a wonder-
ful influence in the every day life of the average
family. Every theatre goer is now familiar with
the geography of California, the desert lands of
Arizona, the great Northwest and through the
various travel pictures we have seen bits of prac-
tically the whole world. Methods of living,
transportation, habits and customs of people and
even the lives of city dwellers are now familiar
to even the smallest hamlets. Motion pictures
have been instrumental in the betterment of com-
munity life in broadening its vision.

Motion pictures have been used in most of the
agricultural states to promote the modern idea of
living on the farm. The United States govern-
ment, working through local farm advisers, has
provided hundreds of excellent educational film
subjects on various subjects. Many manufac-
turers of farm machinery, household appliances
and supplies used on the farm have supplied good
films, intended primarily to advertise a certain
product of course, but most of these subjects are
full of valuable information for the farmer. The
local farm adviser and the farmer audiences ap-
preciate this type of film and the better subjects
are in constant demand.

Industrial-advertising films have been used to
excellent advantage by health officers and welfare
workers to promote health in the community.

The United States itself, acting as one great
community, is carrying on a huge campaign of
advertising this country to the rest of the world.
Prominent manufacturers of automobiles, watches,

clothing, food stuffs, etc.. are financing the pro-
gram and it is certain that American ideas of
government, industry and freedom will be regis-
tered in the minds of communities all over the
world through seeing these films.

Through the use of motion pictures, communi-
ties are learning how to plan parks, playgrounds
and civic centers. They are learning the value of
paved streets and good roads. They are teaching
"Safety First" with films. The schools every-
where are using fil mand slide subjects to visualize
the work in the class rooms. Mothers, fathers
and children are learning together, in the com-
munity center, what life really means.

The industrial, or so-called advertising film, has
played an important part in the education of young
people and grown-ups as well. Today the ro-
mance of business is known to tens of thousands
of people through the agency of the industrial
film. These little journeys through the industries
and business enterprises of the nation have
brought about a better understanding between
buyer and seller and have opened up to thousands
of younger people the possibilities for future life.

There is another angle to this subject that is
worthy of consideration. The value of motion
pictures to a community is very interesting but
the advertising of a community is a new and im-
portant development in recent years.

Los Angeles can give credit for its wonderful
growth in population to the motion picture in-
dustry. The scenic and climatic advantages of
this city are told to us in every picture we see.
The settings for all outdoor scenes are beautiful
as a rule and we have been influenced to believe
" that Los Angeles is the garden spot of the world.

"The Romance of the Dells" is a picture made
in the picturesque Dells of central Wisconsin.

October, 1923

The Industrial Picture Field

417

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This picture was paid for by the hotel owners of
the district and is what might be called an "in-
dustrial-advertising picture" although no advertis-
ing appears on the film. This picture advertises
one community to the whole world and does a
good job of it.

The citizens of New Bedford, Massachusetts,
recently raised $100,000 to finance the production
of "Down to the Sea in Ships", a feature picture
that is now showing in the best theatres. Not a
word of advertising appears in the picture but its
real purpose is to advertise the New Bedford
community.

The state of Louisiana, acting as a community,
has produced a number of films describing many
of its industries, such as shrimp fishing, rice grow-
ing, lumbering and fruit growing. These pictures
have much educational value and serve to adver-
tise the state industrially.

For many years the St. Paul Railroad has uti-
lized films to advertise the Canadian Northwest
and other territory crossed by that road. The
Illinois Central Railroad uses films extensively.
Many other roads have educational films covering
various communities.

The St. Louis Chamber of Commerce some time
ago produced a motion picture of its civic, com-
mercial and industrial life and sent this film all
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over the world for the purpose of advertising the
community of St. Louis. This film was shown in
28 countries.

As these lines are written a new film "The
Spirit of St. Louis" is having its initial showing
in three of the most prominent theatres in St.
Louis. This is a full seven-reel feature picture,
produced by the Rothacker Film Company and
shows the complete history of the city. This new
film was financed by prominent business and pro-
fessional business men of the city.

"The Spirit of St. Louis" incorporates all of
the romance of its early history, the various
periods of its development and the advantages of
the city as it is today. While St. Louis is a large
city the production of this picture, the first ever
completed by a city for its own, is truly a com-
munity enterprise.

Looking at the matter from every angle we are
sure to conclude that motion pictures have a very
important part in the life of a community. Every
community, no matter how large or how small or
where it is located, has an abundance of romance.
People who live in these communities will easily
find this romance through knowing of other com-
munities who have found life in living in the
atmosphere brought to them through motion
pictures.
Mention The Educational Screen

418

The News Chat

The Educational Screen

The News Chat

{Continued from page 415)

of production money either England, France,
Italy or Germany could put out pictures artis-
tically far superior to the present average
American product.

America might not like these pictures, but
the real art would be there. America might
prefer to continue on its present menu of silly
stuff. America is youth mad. American fans
would rather see a pretty school girl or hand-
some young male pose through six reels of
emptiness than view a film with a serious
thought enacted by persons old enough to
know something about acting.

It .has been fondly supposed by many in
this country that American movies are Ameri-
canizing the world. But America is not im-
posing culture on the world in this manner.
The culture exemplified by the average Ameri-
can photoplay is too shallow to make a last-
ing impression abroad.

IN "Arts and Decoration" for September,
Mr. D. W. Griffith writes on the subject,
"Are the Movies Destroying Good Taste?" The
approximate gist of this article would seem to
be as follows:

Mr. Griffith admits that the "rooms of the
rich" on the screen "are crowded with masses
of misplaced magnificence, like a furniture shop
or an auctioneer's showroom." This interferes
seriously with the development among the mov-
ies' vast audiences of a true "sense of beauty,"
which Mr. Griffith thinks is the great end the
screen should achieve.

Then we learn that this sort of stage-setting
is all quite necessary or the producer will lose
money — which would seem quite fatal to the
development above-mentioned. Still, "if occa-
sion offers, he will tempt the lightning of the
gods" and try photographing a room furnished
in good taste. Diminished returns at the box-
office are thus rated as "lightning of the gods,"
the accepted phrase for the supreme disasters
that can overtake human life. One can fancy
that it would be hard to find an "occasion" to
justify such risks. To summarize, the taste of
the movies is bad, but it has to be bad or the
financial results will be worse, yet the movies
should do their best to promote a "sense of
beauty."

Mr. Griffith then gives still more space to a
sort of cultural catalog of the surroundings in
his own boyhood home, where his father's
"orotund voice poured forth the music of Keats
and Tennyson and Shakespeare" in rooms of
impeccable taste and beauty, in a house adorned

exclusively with "forceful pictures, all por-
traits" of Lincoln, Emerson, Washington, Lee,
Grant, Roger Williams, Thomas Paine, and
Rousseau. "Every picture was an epic."

At first we did not see the connection between
these autobiographical data and the subject of
the article, but concluded that they were given
as evidence of Mr. Griffith's qualification to
speak authoritatively on matters of taste. And
this leads us to place next in this column the
following note.

THE Saturday Evening Post recently
printed an article, "My Crystal Ball,"
by Elizabeth Marbury in which she
records memories of her own remarkable
career in the world of Art and Letters. We
quote two paragraphs:

"The list of men who contributed to
the glory of the French stage in those
days would be incomplete without in-
cluding Pierre Decourcellc, the nephew of
D'Ennery, who was the author of the Two
Orphans. Although successful as a
dramatist, he has devoted himself in later
years to the making of moving pictures,
so that he is now preeminent in the world
of films.

"Decourcelle was and still is a very
handsome man. He is a familiar figure
everywhere; not only in the theater but
at every private art view in the Rue de
Seize, at the Hotel Drouot when impor-
tant auction sales are in progress, at
Longchamp on the day of the Grand
Prix, at Auteuil, in Deauville when the
season is at its height, in the most ex-
clusive salons of Paris; in fact, Pierre
Decourcelle is in all and over all. He
is noted for his marvelous taste, for his
knowledge as a collector, for his own
overwhelming energy and for his univer-
sal courtliness."

The outstanding need of motion pictures in
America — and about the only one, as we see
it — is some serious attention from men and
women of the character and quality of De-
courcelle, at the producing end of the busi-
ness. A few of them have tried it. but they
were so few that they were too lonesome to
endure life in moviedom. A few more — '
enough so that they could feel each other's
presence in the great task — could bring the
motion nicture into its own. Some day they
will.

I

October, 1^23

Tnt: News Chat

419

I.V Staaken, half an hour's motor ride from
Berhn city, reports the Film Express, a
huge airdrom is just being transformed into
what will be by far the biggest film studio of
the world. The measurements of the studio are
really enormous, the shed being about 800 feet
in length and 120 feet high. The Staaken
studio will offer to film producers, apart from
its vastness, more and better facilities than any
studio in the world.

All sets in this studio will be built on mov-
able stages which, being lifted through the air
by means of electric cranes, can be posted and
combined wherever they are wanted. All the
lighting units (so far, the studio yields about
15,000 amps.) will also be movable in such a
way that director and camera man will be in
a position to adjust the lightings by telephone
at a moment's notice.

The most interesting novelty in the new
studio, however, (also adopted from the stage
technique) will be the huge cupple-dome which
will allow of painting a finer sky, and better
clouds in the studio than nature would present
to the camera. Thus, all exteriors will be done
away with entirely, and the producer, working
in the Staaken studio, will be entirely independ-
et of climatic condition.

In addition to the super studio, there has
been constructed a "small studio" in conjunc-
tion, which measures, nevertheless, 800 feet in
length by 40 feet in height. This gives ample
additional space for housing executive offices,
library, storage of costumes and properties,
work shops, laboratories, canteens, dressing
rooms, bath rooms, etc., thus making of the
gigantic plant a complete self-contained unit for
film production. Down the center"of the studio
building runs a railroad track, which puts pro-
duction on the same basis as big manufactur-
ing; raw materials come in at one end, and fin-
ished pictures on reels go out at the other for
distribution.

Work is going on night and day under high
pressure to bring to completion this vast plant.
Vv'"hcn the monumental task is finished, its mak-
ers believe it will achieve enormous savings in
time, money and energy — which means greater
output at the same cost as at present.

AN interesting echo from the Oakland con-
vention of the N. E. A. last July has
reached us in the form of a letter from one of
the staff of another magazine, very much our
senior in the educational field. Mr. James A.

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Barr, of the Sierra Educational News, gives
his impression and estimate of the "visual" situ-
ation as if manifested itself during that week.
The quotation below is the more significant
because Mr. Barr is not connected with any
phase of the visual movement. Further, his
broad educational experience enables him to
?peak with geuine understanding of the values
lixvolved, not from the standpoint of a curious
outsiuei miprcssed by the novclt> of the thing.

"Strange to say visual education occupied
pretty near the centre of the 'educational
stage.' I say 'strange to say' for in 1915
when I was Chief of Education of the San
Francisco Exposition. I made a big effort
to make a showing on the educational film,
but the school people were indifferent and
the producers were too busy making 'real
money' to bother with the school end at all.
Now it seems a bit different. Some pro-
ducers, at least, have awakened to the fact
that the educational field is second only to
the entertainment side while visual educa-
tion at a world convention is a major fea-
ture. The world do move! But just a word
on the trend toward visual education as
shown by the unusual interest in the exhibits
and the program.

"The commercial exhibit touched the 'high
water mark' for an N. E. A. Convention.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

420

The News Chat

The Educational Screen

The exhibits were shown in the Oakland
Auditorium and, as they should be, immedi-
ately adjacent to the Registration Bureau,
N. E. A, Postoffice, Secretary's Office and
hall for meetings of the General Assembly.
As a result, the exhibits were seen by every-
body who came to N. E. A. headquarters.
The Visual Instruction Exhibit, a group of
twenty individual exhibits, was the largest,
best arranged and most visited exhibit in the
Auditorium. The service booth of our mag-
azine was near by and I had every oppor-
tunity to see how visual education had taken
hold. Your exhibit, by the way (The Edu-
cational Screen), was finely arranged and
splendidly handled.

"As to the program, visual education was
very much in evidence. The report of the
Committee on Visual Education and Cooper-
ation with the Motion Picture Producers cer-
tainly scored a hit. The National Council
of Education devoted an entire afternoon to
the various phases of visual education. A

special visual education conference gave two
afternoons to considering notable addresses
and reports. Among the most striking were
those by Superintendent Mortenson of Chi-
cago, Dr. Winship of Boston and Professor
Judd of the University of Chicago. No one
could visit the exhibits or attend these pro-
grams with their big audiences without feel-
ing that visual education had come to stay.

"Judging by the comment of dozens of
even conservative leaders at our great Oak-
land-San Francisco meeting, it is very safe
to predict that all types of visual education
will go forward by leaps and bounds within
the next two or three years. It is just as
safe to predict that you and I may live to see
a Film Library as much a part of the equip-
ment of every school as is the Reference
Library of today.

"Knowing your interest in the field, and
appreciating the needed work you are doing
through the Educational Screen, I could not
resist sending you this personal comment."

Among the Producers

(This department belongs to the commercial companies whose activi-
ties have a real and important bearing on progress in the visual field.

Within our space limitations we shall reprint each month, from data
supplied by these companies, such material as seems to offer most infor-
mational and news value to our readers.

We invite all serious producers in this field to send us their literature
regularly. — Editor.)

The Yale Pictures

THE following is a concise and authoritative
account of the important educational enter-
prise known familiarly as the "Yale Pic-
tures," written by Arthur H. Brook, general man-
ager of the corporation. For the privilege of
printing this article we are indebted to the head
of the educational department of Pathe Exchange,
Inc., Mrs. Elizabeth Dessez, for whom the ac-
count was prepared. Mr. Brook says :

I have thought that you might like to have a
concise statement relative to The Chronicles of
America Pictures.

Yale University Press, which is owned by Yale
University, has organized The Chronicles of
American Picture Corporation for the purpose of
producing a series of American historical motion
pictures in 100 reels.

^ George Parmly Day, treasurer of Yale Univer-
sity, president and founder of Yale University
Press, is president of The Chronicles of America
Picture Corporation. Elton Parks, Yale, *04, is
a vice president. Arthur H. Brook is a vice
president, treasurer and general manager.
_ The production of this series of historical mo-
tion pictures is controlled by the Council's Com-
mittee on Publications of Yale University, with-
out whose approval no continuity can be accepted
and no picture can be released. This committee

appointed a board of editors consisting of Dr.
Max Farrand, professor of American History at
Yale University ; Dr. Frank E. Spaulding, Sterling
Professor of School Administration and head of
the department of education at Yale University,
and Professor Nathaniel Wright Stephenson, a
distinguished historian and teacher. Mr. Stephen-
son devotes his entire time to his duties as editor,
having first of all obtained a year's leave of ab-
sence and now having resigned the Chair of
History at the College of Charleston, South Caro-
lina, because of his devotion to our work. These
gentlemen have organized a large staff of re-
search workers and have brought to our service
many of the leading historical specialists in the
country.

The preliminary work of investigation and his-
torical research was in process for over two years.
Following this, the editors, with the aid of their
advisers, have selected thirty-three high lights in
American history which will be the basis for our
plays. These will be, in effect, stepping stones
covering the march of our progress from Colum-
bus to Appomattox.

As we are attempting in a very literal sense to
recreate our past, not only through interpreting
its historical significance but also through depict-
ing its physical aspects, our work of research is ^
much more arduous and extensive than that of j
the historian who is planning to write on the I
subject. The most minute details of our life in ^

October, 1923

Among the Producers

421

the past have to be sifted and verified. When the
historical material for a play has been fully de-
veloped, this is turned over to a continuity writer
who is first required to make a synopsis of the
proposed play. This synopsis is then examined by
the editors and by the outside historical specialist
selected because of his exceptional knowledge of
the subject. Then, the conclusions of the editor,
based on their own viewpoint and the opinions
received from dramatists and other historical
scholars in the matter of the synopsis represeni-
ing absolute historical accuracy, historical signifi-
cance and the utmost of dramatic value consistent
with truth, are passed on and acted on by the
continuity writer. In spite of this extensive work
of preparation in shaping the continuity it has
been necessary for each one to be rewritten many
times. One continuity, in fact, was rewritten
twenty times ; and the developing of each con-
tinuity represents from twelve to seventeen months'
work, in addition to the enorm,ous labor of his-
torical research. Ten continuities are in final
form and eight others are in process.

When the continuity has been approved by the
editors it must be submitted to the Council's Com-
mittee on Publications of Yale University, and
accepted, before it can be put into production;
and, finally, the completed picture must be ap-
proved by the editors and accepted by the Coun-
cil's Committee on Publications of Yale Univer-
sity before it can be released. The actual work
of production is in experienced hands and is car-
ried out by our own organization. The costumes
worn, sets, props, weapons, etc. all represent a
vast amount of research work. We have gathered
already, at great expense, about 9,000 photographs
for use in production. The distinguished histori-
cal artist, Mr. H. A. Ogden, makes a drawing of
every costume worn, indicating clearly in writing
each minute detail of the costume. These costume
drawings usually range in number from seventy-
five to one hundred for each production. Mr.
Ogden also makes drawings of important props
which cannot be bought, rented or borrowed, in
order that they may be reconstructed with abso-
lute accuracy. I believe it is safe to say that this
work is making motion picture history from the
standpoint alone of the enormous amount of work
which is done and the extraordinary amount of
care which is taken in production. The editors
function closely with the production department
and the director. Dr. Stephenson is the resident
editor who is on the ground continuously. Every
step of the work at the studio or on location is
watched closely by the editors, and by the dra-
matic editor whose duties are to assert at all
costs the historical point of view and to see to
it that the picture is absolutely accurate, histori-
cally. Because of this rigid supervision it is im-
possible for us to include many of the legends
which are so commonly accepted as true history,
nor to invent any major historical characters nor
to take any liberty with historical facts. The
pictures, however, in order to be true history
must and will have dramatic force and entertain-
ment qualities.

The Yale Universfty Press in having undertaken

to produce this series of historical pictures has

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aimed to serve the cause of Americanization and
to make vivid and real the great traditions of
the American people through projecting on the
silver screen what the citizen of today would
have seen and experienced if he had lived from
the time of Columbus to Appomattox, and through
that period of 400 years had been an invisible
shadow of the great actors in the drama of
America. The building of this great nation is
the result of hopes, fears, disappointments; con-
flict and struggle. Heroic work on the p-irt of a
band of noble patriots. The true history of
America as we arc presenting it on the screen
is a story of human achievements where the great
men and women of our past are made to live
again and we experience all their hopes, disap-
pointments, and achievements. Entertainment and
a great patriotic uplift will be found in each i.ic-
ture.

Arthur H. Brock.

"L

The Romance of the Mail
OYAL LIVES," the romance of the
United States Mail Service, produced
by Whitman Bennett and released by Vita-
graph, has been endorsed by the National
Letter Carriers' Association of Washington.
This endorsement followed the screening of the
picture at the Whitman Bennett studios at
Yonkers last week, when E. J. Gainor, presi-
dent of the association, accompanied by Major
Mention The Educational Screen

423

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

James A. Buchanan, chief of the Bureau of
Information of the Postoffice Department, and
other officials came from the national capital
to view "Loyal Lives."

"It is a magnificent tribute to the United
States Mail Service and to those men who
contribute so much to its success— the letter
carrier on his route," said Mr. Gainor after he
had seen the picture. "As familiar to the Amer-
ican public as is the postman, few realize what
an important part these men in gray play in
our national life. They are the arteries through
which pass all communication, whether it be
of social or of business nature. The very
familiarity of their presence has made us in-
different to their value. Too little has been
known about the risks of Hfe they accept in
the performance of duty.

"I haven't words to express my appreciation
to Mr. Bennett, the producer, and to Vitagraph,
which will distribute 'Loyal Lives,' for giving
the public an opportunity to see the daily life
of the modest letter carrier. The picture is an
amazing feat in its accuracy as to detail and
the romance which has been so cleverly writ-
ten around the United States Mail Service is
most appealing."

Uncle Sam,'s Work Shown in Films for Non-
Theatrical Distribution
THE Commissioner on Visual Instruction
of the U. S. Department of Education has
received numerous requests from schools
throughout the country, asking for films on
the various activities of the Government. To
supply such motion pictures to educational and
other institutions using films for instruction or
entertainment purposes, National Non-Theatri-
cal Motion Pictures, Inc., announces the ac-
quisition of an eleven-reel series of films made
by the Instructive Films Society of America,
Inc., in co-operation with cabinet officers and
their staffs.

"The Romance of the Republic" as the series
is called, shows briefly, but very clearly to the
layman the beneficent work being carried on by
the Executive Branches of the U. S. Govern-
ment, as follows: State Department, directing
the relations with foreign governments; Treas-
ury Department, under the direction of which
money is made, stored and redeemed, and all
financial transactions of the Government han-
dled; War Department, supervising the activi-
ties of the army in peace and war; Department
of Justice, having charge of the administration

of justice; Post Office Department, handling
and caring for the mails; Navy Department,
which takes care of the naval activities of our
country; Department of the Interior, which
directs the administration of public lands, rec-
lamation, national parks, education, mines and
mineral investigations, Indian affairs and many
other internal activities; Department of Agricul-
ture, which looks after our forests, bird and
game life, the weather and the agricultural in-
terests of the nation; Department of Com-
merce, regulating foreign and domestic com-
merce and activities associated with them;
Department of Labor, having to do with the
relations of labor and capital, the industrial
problems of the country and immigration.

This production is conceded to be the most
complete presentation of the Government's
work, which has ever been made in a single
picture. It can be used either in its entirety,
at one time, or can be used serially one reel at
a time since each reel is complete in itself.

An Unusual Film by Rothacker

A FLOWER that is several days in the
blooming will blossom forth on the pic-
ture screen in a few moments — insects will hatch
within a wink or two of the eye.

Now by the magic of the cinema a 32-story
skyscraper will rise in one reel — sixteen min-
utes.

It has been tried before, but not with great
success. In the past the trouble has been that
when different scenes were made the camera
was in sHghtly different positions. A fraction
of an inch difference in the position of the
camera was so magnified on the screen that
the general result was rather chaotic.

But when the Strauss building on Chicago's
Michigan Boulevard was started, the Rothacker
Film Company was in a position to insure the
desired results.

In Grant Park across the Boulevard a mound
was thrown up. Stilts were driven into this
mound and on top of the stilts the camera
house was built. The tripod was cemented
to the floor of this house and the camera was
bolted onto the tripod so that it could not move
a hair's breadth. This movie equipment will
remain as it is until the building is completed.

Every morning the cameraman mounts t<>
this house on stilts and cranks a few feet of
film.

Next year engineering school students —
or any screen audience anywhere — can behold

October, 1923

Among the Producers

423

¥

a $15,000,000 building go up in sixteen minutes.
The film will also be available to engineering
and architecture organizations, contractors'
conventions, and any other elements interested
in such a picture.

Can a Good Picture Make Good?

IRWIN WHEELER, who operates theatres
in Mamaroneck and Rye, N. Y., has evolved
a subtle line of exploitation which enables
him to book with confidence good pictures of
the class which the majority of exhibitors shy
away from as being "over their heads."

Manager Wheeler's method, as he explains
it, amounts simply to an appeal to the self-
respect of his patrons. Having satisfied him-
self of the merits of a production, he books it,
and then in his announcement of the attraction
he puts this question to his patrons:

"Would you like to see a picture which the
producers and some of the critics say is too
good for you?"

The answer, M^r. Wheeler says, is practical
and conclusive, made in person at the ticket
window. The subject was further elaborated as
follows:

"The idea that producers have that you must
work down to the public is absurd. I have
broken records with pictures that were sup-
posed to be box office failures.

'T got out a four-page herald on 'Nanook
of the North' and told my people it was dis-
tinctly an educational picture, an appeal to the
intelligence, and I have broken two records
with it. My patrons came and thanked me
for showing it to them.

'T believe that you can build up in any com-
munity a love for better pictures. When we
have to run, as we do, half a dozen trashy pic-
tures for every good one, we hurt our audiences
by keeping them away, because they get so
sick and tired of trashy pictures that it is hard
to get them to come back for a good one.
You have got to get the confidence of your
audience, and you can't do that by telling them
that a poor picture is good."

The Courtship of Myles Standish

NEARLY two hundred delegates from the an-
ual convention of the National Education
Association passed through Los Angeles on their
way home from San Francisco and were ex-
tended the courtesies of some of the motion

picture studios. They found that some of the
makers of films are making an honest effort
to raise the level of their art and make it an
educational force in the right direction.

One of the forthcoming productions, in which
the delegates took an especially keen interest,
was the ten-reel picturization of Longfellow's
poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish," pro-
duced by Charles Ray Productions, Los An-
geles, Calif. Through the influence of some of
the teaching staff of the Los Angeles public
school system the delegates were permitted to
see many important shots in this historical
photoplay.

The showing was attended with much en-
thusiasm because of the growing interest in
visual education, which received large attention
at the San Francisco convention and the need
of films with both entertainment and instruc-
tion values. After witnessing the preview,
Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Visual Instruc-
tion, New York City, sent the following letter
to the producer:

My dear Mr. Ray:

Permit me to acknowledge with sincere
thanks your courtesy in giving me the op-
portunity to preview your forthcoming
picture, "The Courtship of Myles Standish."

This is a most commendable undertaking.
It is just this type of plays that will be
welcomed by the better class of patrons
— plays that have both a literary and an
historical value, yet so constructed as to
be full of dramatic interest.

The artistry and photography of your
production seem to me superb. It is clear
that you have spared no pains to be authen-
tic, to the last detail, in your historical
presentation. Best of all, you have not
destroyed, but rather enriched and en-
hanced, the beautiful Longfellow legend.

You are to be congratulated.
Sincerely yours,
ERNEST L. CRANDALL.

Microscopic Films

AN amazing exhibition of movie films made
in Pelham at the studio of Dr. Charles F.
Herm was given recently before a group of
noted scientists at the Pelham Picture House.
The exhibition was private being principally a
demonstration of the marvelous aid which can
be afforded to science now by the new micro-

424

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

LEARN TO WRITE

PHOTOPLAYS

From John Emerson and Anita IjOOs,
two of the most famous, highest paid
scenarists. Have written for Fair-
banks, Mary Pickford, tlio Talmadges,
Griffith, Ince, Paramount, etc. I^et
Emerson Loos these masters teach you to write and

soil scenarios. Big money in it.
Profitable, legitimate side line for

teachers. Oiiportunities for you in both regular photoplay

writing and in tlio Educational and Industrial visual field.

Write today. FREE BOOK— "Photoplay Writing" and Profit

Sharing Plan.

Laird Extension Institute. 512 Laird BIdg., IMinnoapolis, Minn.

scopic movie camera which Dr. Herm has per-
fected at his Fifth Street studios. Dr. Herm
-was formerly connected with the American
Museum of Natural History but of late years
has devoted his time to the development of the
microscopical movies.

Taking miscroscopic pictures automatically,
every ten seconds, every two minutes, or at any
interval desired, this machine can record the
details of chemical reaction, the action of white
corpuscles and the growth of new tissues in the
healing of wounds, the building up of fine crys-
tals from solutions, or the gradual changes in-
side the egg of a fish from the original clear
fluid to the fully formed baby fish. Operated
night and day for two and even three weeks,
this camera has made records of scores of
biological and chemical processes hitherto in-
completely observed.

One of the most interesting of the films so far
made is a miscroscopical study of the life cycle
of the oyster. The oyster lays eggs by the
thousands and scatters them in an unfertilized
condition in the water. The male oyster im-
pregnates the waters with great quantities of
sperm which are individually so minute as to be
difficult of detection by the microscope. The
chance meeting of the two. varieties of cells
fertilizes the eggs and starts the young oyster
on its career which is ended ninety-nine times
out of a hundred by predatory minnows. Those
which escape, however, are still numerous
enough to keep the oyster industry flourishing.

Cilia or whiplike processes soon appeared

Bargain List of Slides

A recent purchase enables us to offer slide users and
distributors a large list at less than half price. Write
for Bargain List.

nil Center Street

DeVRY CIRCULATIONS

Chicago, 111.

WANTED— Victor Safety Cinema,
with 110-volt motor and rheostat com-
plete, state condition, number, and low-
est cash price. Box 7, The Educa-
tional Screen.

with which the new hatched oyster rowed itself
through the water with great speed. Just how
the minute oyster larva propelled itself was
not known before. It shot about with a speed
which prevented the movement of the whips to
be observed by the naked eye.

Taking the pictures through the microscope
at high speed and then showing them at low
speed, however, made the rowing motion dis-
cernible. After acquiring the whips which en-
abled it to charge in all directions for food the
oyster gradually acquired one shell, then an-
other, and its after life was uneventful.

Another film taken over a period of weeks by
this patient camera was the biological history of
an infusion of hay and water. Bacteria first
developed in such quantities as to cloud the
water. The water cleared, as the protozoa, the
smallest animals, multiplied and ate up the ex-
cess bacteria. Then appeared the rotifers, a
little more highly organized, which live on pro-
tozoa. But- the rotifers fattened themselves on
the protozoa only to become themselves the
prey of various water worms. Hundreds of
amazing feats of gluttony were exhibited with
one drop of water for an arena.

Dr. Herm works with the zeal of a scientist
engrossed in his task, not seekinp' the plaudits
of the multitude for his accomplishment. His
scientific investigations revealed by the films
are so amazing as to be almost unbelievable and
their possibilities as an aid in medical research
and educational fields are limitless.

THE FHISTORICAL CHARTS OF THE LITERATURES

ENGLISH AMERICAN FRENCH GERMAN

Now ready'in revised and uniform editions. Send for the new circular— with miniature reproductions

of each chart.
THEfEDUCATIONAL-SCREEN 5 SOUTH WABASH AV., CHICAGO

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

November, 1923 427

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelsok L. Greene, Editor

Published every month except July and August. Copyright, November, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.50 a year Single Copies, 20 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923. at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Vol. II No. 9

CONTENTS FOR NOVEMBER

Editorials 429

Why Put the Reel in Religion ? 431

Rev. Paul G. Macy

The Stereopticon in the Classroom. 434

Clarence H. Bodcn

Film Sense 436

C. J. Primm
Official Department of the National Academy of Visual Instruction

Visual Education 440

Susan M. Dorsey
Official Department of The Visual Instruction Association of America

'Thumb Nail Sketches," (No. 6) Graphic Representation in Thought Processes 442

Ernest L. Crandall

Some Obstacles in the Way ^ ^^"^

Rita Hochheimer

Approved List of Educational Films '*"*^

By the J\ I. A. Film Committee
The Theatrical Field Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

Close-Up of a Director ^^^

Theatrical Film Reviews for November ^"^"^

Production Notes

Film Recommendations of the Parent-Teacher Associations ^^^

By Mrs. Charles E. Merriam, Chairman Better Films Committee
Pictures and the Church Conducted by Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

The Public's Responsibility for Better Pictures ^^^

Film Reviews (By Dr. Marshall personally) ^^'^

The School Department Conducted by Marie Goodenough

460

Difficulties :

. . 462

School Film Reviews ,

468

Among the Producers

Where they tell their own story
Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.

r o 1 .n. t, u A 236 West 55th Street

5 South V^abash Avenue ""^ ,r v i

^, . New York

Chicago

428

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November, ig2s

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

Editorial Section

Vol. II November, 1923 No. 9

Theatrical and Non-Theatrical Production

The market for film, theatrical or non-theatrical, is measured absolutely
by the number of projectors in actual use. The theatrical film-market can be
pretty definitely known, for the projectors in operation can be counted, have
been counted. The non-theatrical film-market can only be guessed at, and
the guesses vary widely. We are informed frequently and emphatically by
correspondents and interviewers as to the present installations in churches,
schools, clubs, social centers, etc.— but the figures range from 7,000 to 133,000.
This seems to suggest a trace of uncertainty still as to the facts in the case.
The simple fact is that no one knows the facts, and it is safe to add that when
anyone starts a complete and systematic count of non-theatrical projectors,
his figure will be utterly obsolete by the time he reaches it. For the non-
theatrical market is growing, the theatrical market is standing still — when it
is not slipping backward.

The number of motion picture theatres in the United States has fluctu-
ated. There have been thousands opened, but hundreds have been closed. In
all probability an approximate equilibrium has been reached. To adopt a
generous figure, we may say there are 20,000 theatres in operation, or 1 theatre
to 5,500 people. This ratio may still be slightly changed if the national appe-
tite for movies increases, but such does not seem to be the present tendency.
It means, therefore, that the theatrical market is at its maximum and can
increase only as the population of the country grows.

On the other hand, for that same 5,500 people there are more than 20
churches, schools, clubs and community centers. When an increase in popu-
lation calls for 1 more theatre, it will also call for 20 more of these non-
theatrical centers. When the film-footage running on non-theatrical projec-
tors equals the footage running in the theatres, the non-theatrical market will
be less than 10 per cent developed. At the present rate of non-theatrical in-
•stallations that time is not far off — and the day when the two runs are equal
will be the last day of the theatrical film supremacy. For the non-theatrical
market will have over 90 per cent of its growth still ahead of it, the theatrical
market none.

With this development there will come gradually great changes and
readjustments. Theatrical producers will have a new interest in producing

429

430 Editorials The Educational Screen

worthwhile films — films which will make money for months in the theatres,
and then more money for years in the larger field. Rental prices will change
when there are years instead of a few desperate months for realizing on an
investment. Non-theatrical producers will increase and multiply — and the
wise ones will prosper. And who will be the "wise ones?" Those who know
three things — ^the technique of good pictures, the field they are trying to serve,
and the folly of the movie methods in the past.

The production of fine pictures for the theatre is, and always will be, a
splendid work. TJiere are some producers who can do it now and there will
be many more. But there will come still another generation of producers
(some of them are at work already), equal in knack and superior in knowl-
edge, for whom the theatrical field will seem too shallow, too narrow, and too
small. They will be the great names in motion picture history as it will be
written some day not many years hence; and their greatness will be achieved
through art instead of bombast.

The New Edition of "1001"

We had hoped to be able to mail with this number of The Educational
Screen a copy of the new edition of ''1001 Films," to which every subscriber
is entitled. It has proved impossible to do so, in spite of the immense amount
of labor which has been expended on the booklet by its seven editors since
our hopeful announcement in the October issue.

Please, readers, to keep in mind the fact that we attempted — and have
nearly finished — a task greater in difficulty, and correspondingly greater in
value, than was ever attempted before in this field. The work is wholly new,
it could be based on nothing previously done. All data has been sought from
original sources, a large proportion of the films have been viewed by the
staflf, every detail has been checked with the utmost care, a new system of
classification has been devised to give greater ease in reference, summaries
and reviews of the individual films have been written — and all this material
will be presented in a typographic form and on a quality of paper-stock never
previously oflfered in such a catalogue.

We can only ask your forebearance a little longer and assure you that
the better service rendered by the book when it appears will amply com-
pensate for this trying but unavoidable delay. We choose rather to delay
than to disappoint. We believe you will second our choice, in a matter which
concerns your comfort and advantage through an entire year.

Index to Volumes I and II

The December number of The Educational Screen will include a full index
of contents for Volume I (1922— page size 6x8>4 inches) and Volume II (1923—
page size 7x9^ inches).

Each Volume is complete in ten issues. For a limited time complete files of
each volume can be supplied to libraries or individuals desiring them. •

November, 1923

431

Why Put the Reel in Religion?

Rev. Paul G. Macy
Hyde Park Congregational Church, Chicago.

THIS title is not meant to be facetious
or irreverent, nor was the title orig-
inally planned for this article, namely,
'Taking the 'Cuss' off Religion." It was
chosen carefully and deliberately after fail-
ure to find another which so aptly expresses
a task which faces the present generation in
the ministry of the Church. There is a
''cuss" on religion — that is, of course, on
organized religion, not on religion in the
deepest and broadest sense. Man is still
"incurably religious," but there is certainly
a popular revolt against the religion of the
churches. Canvass the situation in our great
centers of learning, check up the reactions
to established religion which you get in any
large business office, see in how far the
church is reaching the great industrial
masses, listen in on the star chamber ses-
sions held in Pullman smoking compart-
ments, or compare the total population with
the population of the churches and the fact
is inevitably established that there is at least
a great lethargy, if not an open antipathy,
toward the established forms for expressing
religious feeling.

This is not the place to discuss all the
various causes which have produced this
state of affairs or to fix the blame for them,
if blame there be. There is one fundamental
cause, however, which does concern us here.
It is the testimony of thousands that they
find nothing real in the forms of religion
which are offered them. One woman ex-
pressed it to me as feeling, upon attending
a service, as though she were "at a rehearsal
for something." There seemed to be the
indication of something wonderful to hap-
pen in the future, but the "main show" was
a long way off. A man of deeply religious
nature, in describing his last venture at

church, said that when he saw the clergy-
man, bedecked in varicolored raiment, fold
his hands in artificial pose and intone "Let
us pray," his reaction was a violent desire
to hurl a hymnbook ! Still another said, "The
ringing of the church bells is a signal to
curse and put on a Victor record." These
are but typical of an astounding number of
testimonies to the same lack of reality in the
forms of religion. Let me interject right
here the testimony that I know of many
churches today where a real, vital message
is being preached and that I am personally
acquainted with a number of ministers who
are not posing. On the other hand, it is all
too true that there is a tragic prevalence of
religious training which is utterly lacking in
reality and which brings up children into
adults who turn their backs disgustedly
upon it all. There is, in much of organized
religion, a lack of vital force and in its
place a sort of holy show which fails to fool
the thinking public. "The hungry sheep
look up and are not fed" in many a gor-
geous temple of religion.

Is this a condition of things in which
motion pictures can lend a helping hand to
the church? Can we make religion more
real by putting the reel into its services ? I
think we can. Take, for example, a man
who has been long out of touch with or-
ganized religion. He is probably entirely
misjudging the church which is near him.
He thinks that it is still teaching (and he
may be right) the same sort of thing which
he got as a boy and that is "bunk" to him.
If he should go to a regulation service he
would be so out of touch with the "lan-
guage" of the churches that he would only
see in it all a sort of artificial and superficial
attempt to stir emotion. It would seem

432

Why Put the Reel in Religion

The Educational Si

quite disconnected with the every-day world
in which he does his work. Now he is used
to going to the "movies." He hkes them.
There is something definite and tangible
about them which he can understand for,
of course, they are designed to make him
like them. Therefore, the very use of a
motion picture film in a religious service at
once says to that man, ''Here is something
you can understand, something you are ac-
customed to and like." He goes to such a
service without the prejudice which he
might have had and, going without prejudice
against it, perhaps even W'ith prejudice
for it, he probably likes all of the service.
He did not know that he really loves to sing
the old hymns. He never realized what a
lot of meaning there is for him in some of
the things which the minister reads out of a
modern and plainer translation of the New
Testament. He rather likes it all. There
is something in it to which he reacts most
favorably. The "reel" has not simply at-
tracted him in, but it has "taken the cuss
oflf" the service and he enjoys every bit of it.
At all events this reaction is typical of
the experience which I have had with the
use of motion pictures in an evening Church
service on Sundays, both in a small town
and a very large city. At one time I held
services in a theatre to which men who
never darkened the door of a church came
regularly, usually more men than women.
Best of all, they came not just to see the
picture, for I seldom gave them as good as
that same theatre showed during the week,
but for the whole service. Never have I
had better attention for an out and out reli-
gious message. It was a religious service
from start to finish, although held in a thea-
tre and using motion pictures as an integral
part. The wife of one man who had for-
merly done all his church attendance by
proxy told me that her husband was so
enamored of the service at the opera house
that he even begged ofif to attend w^hen she

was quite sick ! Incidentally my evening
audience in that small town jumped from an
average attendance of 25 to over 300 or an
increase of 1,200 percent!

It hardly seems necessary to argue the
propriety of using motion pictures in a reli-
gious service, although there are still some
people wdio fume against them just as our
grandfathers did against the violin, organ,
and stereopticon. But it is necessary to
make the particular function of motion pic-
tures in the service of religion definitely-
understood. I state my case thus : Jesus, in
His day, faced a problem similar to ours in
the fact that religion had become an un-
reality. The lofty teachings of the great
prophets had become encrusted with cere-
monialism. Between the Old Testament and
the people were the Mishna and Talmud
and a flood of authoritative commentaries
with their intricate provisions for holiness.
Between God and the people stood the
priesthood. Jesus sought to make religion
a real, vital, living thing, a matter of per-
sonal relationship to the Father, God. One
of the favorite ways He had for doing this
was the use of the parable or picture story.
It w^as the accepted and popular form for
presenting truth. Through the parable one
made his hearer "see" with the mind's eye
a vivid picture of what happened in life
when people acted in certain ways. Through
this means a lesson was taught with far
greater impression than through mere moral-
izing. Jesus did just that. He made His
hearers see the Prodigal Son feeding with
the swine as a result of his profligacy, the
house built on the sand crumbling because
of the kind of foundation which the builder
chose, the foolish girls at the wadding left
out of the bridal procession because they
had failed to bring oil enough for their
lamps ; and, seeing, the people understood
and were helped.

The present-day parallel to the parable or
picture story of Jesus' day is unquestionably

November, 1923

Why Put the Reel in Religion?

433

the motion picture. It is the popularly ac-
cepted and vivid way of portraying- truth.
Jt still leaves much to be desired as a vehicle
for presenting religious and moral truth, but
it can he, and in some instances undoubtedly
is, a vital force in the interest not so much
of reel religion as real religion. Thus mo-
tion pictures may not only serve to take the
"cuss" ofif a religious service and so serve
as a way of approach to the outsider but,
when properly used, they may be the active
agent for presenting and enforcing truth.
They can add the "eye gate" to that of the
"ear gate."

Who could witness, for example, such
pictures as "The Servant in the House,"
"Silas Marner," "The Passing of the Third
Floor Back," "A Maker of Men," "Shad-
ows," "The Man Who Played God," or
others like them shown in the setting of a
carefully wrought-out program of worship
and a short vital message from the leader to
direct the thinking of the audience as the
picture is being shown to the accompani-
ment of the great organ — who could see and
hear and not be profoundly moved? How
much greater the message of a really great
picture when presented under such condi-
tions than in a giddy palace of amusement !
I recall particularly the difference in seeing
"Shadows," that wonderful picture in which
Lon Chaney as the Chinese laundryman por-
trays the conquering power of love, first in
a regulation movie house and a second time
in my own Church. It was as though a
different picture had been shown. Dull the
mind and stony the heart that was unmoved
by that service. A minister may proclaim
Sunday after Sunday that "Love never
faileth," but there are some people, yes,
hosts of people, who will not believe it half
so quickly as when a particular incident of
love conquering under terrible odds is
dramatized before them. There is almost
no limit to the possibilities in the right kind

of a picture combined with the right kind of
a service.

Alas, when 1 mention the riyht kind of a
picture 1 am striking at a problem which
immediately confronts him who would try
to use films in his services. At the present
time there are all too few of the pictures
which can be used in a Sunday night serv-
ice, because of their character and especially
because of their length. The average fea-
ture is too long to be run in connection with
a service and yet the service must not be
sacrificed to the picture if the real purpose
of the Church is to be carried out — the pic-
ture alone is seldom enough. Would that
some producer, with the financial power
necessary, might give us clean, strong
dramas of real life in not more titan four
reds of film. It can be done. Many pic-
tures which now occupy seven reels could
profitably be cut to four and be better pic-
tures for it. One hour of pictures in addi-
tion to a service is a great plenty. I believe
that the demand for such pictures would be
large. It is one great lack which causes
many men to hesitate before trying the
experiment.

Again, some of the greatest pictures of
the past few years have been junked in
favor of much less worthy ones. If it is
not "good business" to keep such pictures in
circulation with fresh prints it would at
least be good philanthropy. Are there any
such philanthropists among our producing
and distributing agencies?

While I am speaking of difficulties may
I complain of the number of good films
which are spoiled for real religion because
they have touches which are very unreal to
life. They contain the very essence of what
one tries to escape in their use. Again, there
are so many pictures with a strong story and
a moral lesson at the heart of them which
offend in taste. Is there some way in which
these difficulties can be overcome? It will
not be, I am confident, in sporadic attempts

434

Why Put tpie Reel in Religion? The Educational Screen

to organize separate producing companies
to make "religious" pictures. Most of the
ones I have seen are hopelessly inartistic,
poorly acted, and, with few exceptions, in-
sipid. It will rather have to be in the "con-
version" of the already established methods
of producing to filling the great need.

Where is the man with the vision as well
as the experience, with the heart as well as
the head, with the passion for service as well

as for coin who will come to the aid of or-
ganized religion ? He it is who, in company
with the ministers who would serve their
day and generation, may make motion pic-
tures a vital force in making religion real
to thousands of people who are now seeking
blindly and not finding the goal of their
desires. Him I would hail with glad heart
and call him "Brother in the service of
God."

The Stereopticon in the Classroom

Clarence H. Boden
Public Schools, New York City

EDUCATORS have been slow in fol-
lowing the advice of great teachers
like Comenius (1592-1671) and
Rousseau (1712-1778)— so slow indeed that
those eminent men can hardly be called
"pioneers" of visual education. They were
merely prophets.

"If the objects themselves cannot be
procured," says Comenius, "representations
of them may be used. . . . For every branch
of knowledge similar constructions should
be kept in schools ready for use. . . . True
that expense and labor will be necessary . . .
but the result will amply reward the effort."

In the following Comenius is telling us
pretty clearly why children in present-day
schools "grow dull, and wry themselves
hither and hither out of a weariness
of themselves." . . . "The senses (be-
ing the main guides of childhood, because
therein the mind doth not as yet raise up
itself to an abstracted contemplation of
things) evermore seek their own objects;
and if these be away, they grow dull, and
wry themselves, hither and hither out of a
weariness of themselves; but when their
objects are present, they grow merry, wax
lively, and willingly suffer themselves to be

fastened upon them till the thing be suffi-
ciently discerned."

Rousseau says, "I like not long explana-
tions given in long discourses ; young people
pay little attention to them and retain little
from them. The things themselves! The
things themselves! I shall never repeat
often enough that we attach too much im-
portance to words : with our chattering edu-
cation we make nothing but chatterers."

It is generally recognized that the stereop-
ticon offers the best means of presenting
pictures to a class. The nature of the light,
together with the large size of the image,
gives to the pictures a peculiar sense of real-
ity not found in the text-book or other
small-size illustrations.

There are several reasons why the stereop-
ticon has not come into more general use in
the teaching process. Until recently its use
was inconvenient and somewhat dangerous,
unless carefully handled, because of the
necessity of using hydrogen and oxygen
gases. The new development of the high
candlepower incandescent electric light has
made the stereopticon a very simple, easih
manipulated machine. Yet teachers, includ
ing principals and superintendents, arc ver\

November, 1923

The Stereopticon in tjie Classroom

43.3

generally unfamiliar with these
newer features. It is difficult for
them to get out of their minds the
old associations, and to see in this
a great contribution to education.
Another reason why the stereop-
^ticon has not come into more gen-
eral use is the lack of organized
slides suitable to cover the course
[of study in the various subjects.
|There is a wealth of material
^available, but too much time is re-
iquired of the teacher in sorting it
jout. It is true that some attempts
have been made to put this in
usable form, with some degree of
[success. It is possible to organize
pictures in such a way that they
become as readily accessible in the
daily lesson as the topics in the
text-book. The collection, edited
by the writer, called, "The United
States, an Industrial and Eco-
nomic Geography in 400 Stereographs and
Lantern Slides,""^' is an example of such
organization. Similarly organized collec-
tions should be made as soon as possible
for other divisions of geography, for gen-
eral science, history and, in fact, for every
subject in the curriculum.

A third reason why the stereopticon is
not used more extensively is because meth-
ods have not been developed and standard-
ized. The lecture method is most commonly
used. The teacher says, ''Now, children,
we are going to have a lesson on The work
of water,' " and then proceeds to put the
pictures on until the box is empty. The
pupils have little or no part in the lesson
except that of passive listening. The value
of such a lesson is very doubtful because
the children get little out of it except a few
additional facts.

A second method I shall call, "The teach-

*Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pa.

The Stereopticon Doing Its Work

ing method," and outline, briefly, the three
types: the development lesson, the recita-
tion, and the review lesson. In the Devel-
opment Lesson the teacher uses the pictures
as he does the textbook, merely as a means
to an end. The stereopticon becomes an
important part of the classroom equipment
and the illustrations an incident in the les-
son. It is seldom necessary to employ a
large number of slides to give a clear im-
pression of the ideas expressed by the
teacher or those found in the book. Some-
times only one picture is necessary. Sup-
pose, for instance, the subject under con-
sideration is "Erosion caused by water."
After the meaning of erosion has been ex-
plained the room is darkened and a few-
typical pictures . are shown, such as the
Niagara Gorge and the Grand Canyon. The
essential elements are pointed out by ques-
tions so that the pupils are led to observe
the facts. The class then turns to the text-

43(>

The StEREOI'TICON in the Classroom The Educational Scn-cr.

book for further study. The stereopticon
may be used once or many times during the
lesson.

In the Recitation Type the children are
allowed to use the slides along with the oral
expression of their ideas. This may be done
in a great variety of ways. Topics may be
assigned in advance. The pupils then choose
their own- illustrations from the cabinet and
prepare the subject matter to accompany
them. This may be written, in which case
good practice in English composition is af-
forded, or if given orally in the recitation
the best kind of practice in Oral English is

an incidental result. As almost any unit oi
instruction may be broken up in many
smaller units so that a large number of
pupils in the class may be given an oppor-
tunity to have a part in the lesson. Other
ways of carrying on such a recitation will
suggest themselves to the resourceful
teacher. In this type emphasis is placed on
pupil activity and not on teacher activity.
It is surprising what a lot of work, even the
poorer children will do eagerly, when they
are given a chance.

The third type is the Review Lesson.
(Concluded on page 468)

Film Sense

C. J Primm
Michigan State Board of Education

MANY instructors feel the need of
some sort of intuition or other
means of reaching a satisfying
decision about the value of any film; or
about what film to use in a given connec-
tion. Familiarity with films helps, of
course, but something more is required. To
many, this something seems an intangible,
evasive accomplishment, blindly striven for,
without which they feel continually "up in
the air" over the problem of film selection.
Let us assume that the instructor has a
course or series of lessons thoroughly out-
lined, and knows just what is to be taught.
The subject matter of the course has been
well analyzed. There is no uncertainty in
that direction. Then why not adopt some
such logical method to determine upon the
films to be used? Starting with a very
general analysis of the whole non-theatrical
film field, the instructor will find that it
rapidly becomes easier to deal with groups

of films, and then with individual films,
purporting to be useful in teaching.

One very good way to proceed is to
formulate or adopt one or more schemes
of classifying films. Classify them all.
First eflforts will be crude, but perseverance
in practice will bring very eflfective results.
Each instructor may have his own method
of classification, so long as the object is
the same and is clearly defined in each in-
structor's mind. That object should be to
discover and use in a practical way the best
available film material for the illustration
of each lesson or series of lessons.

Under one such plan, films for school pur-
poses are classified easiest according to
Source and Purpose. At first thought these
may seem to be two very different classifi-
cations. But this is only partly true. The
use of the two bases for one classification
helps to develop that "film-sense" which
eventually saves the instructor much time
and sometimes embarrassment in choosing
films.

November, 1(^23

SOURCE

GOVERNMENTAL

(National)
Dept. of Agriculture
Dept. of Commerce
Navy Dept.
Dept. of War
Dept. of Labor
Reclamation Service
National Parks Service
Bureau of Mines
Bureau of Public Health

(State)
Dept. of Public Instruction
University Extension
Agricultural College
College of Mines
Board of Health
Conservation Dept.

(City)
Board of Education
Museum
Chamber of Commerce, etc.

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
Manufacturers and Mines
Mercantile establishments
Railway systems

Film Sense

\r,

PURPOSES

Record Progress
Teach Technology
Advertise Advantages
General Popular Education

Indirect Advertising
Public Information
Direct Sales Help

Films from the above two sources — Governmental and Industrial Commercial — are cir-
culated free or with a small service charge, the borrower paying the transportation both ways.

NON-THEATRICAL AGENCIES

Religious

Pedagogic

General "Educational" and Civic

Entertainment

THEATRICAL AGENCIES
Those Strictly for Theatres
Those undertaking also General Distribution

Aid in Church Work
Help in Teaching

Community program for entertainment and gen-
eral popular education

Entertainment for Profit
News Dissemination
Popular Education

For films from the agencies constituting the above two sources, borrowers usually pay
a rental as well as the transportation charges both ways.

The reader will note that here are men-
tioned four great sources of films for school
purposes, with the general purposes for
which films are produced or distributed by
each group. Under the Governmental
group, for example, the Reclamation

Service records in films the progress of its
great irrigation and drainage projects, the
Department of Agriculture teaches in films
the methods of doing many things, the
National Parks Service advertises in films
the advantages of our great national play-

1

438

Film Sense

The Educational Scree*

grounds, and the Bureau of Public Health
issues films for general popular education
in matters calculated to raise the average
of American physical well-being.

Under the third great source of films for
schools, the Non-Theatrical Agencies, the
word "Educational" has purposely been
enclosed in quotation marks as a reminder
that the word no longer means anything
when used in connection with films. For
the last decade its use has been growing
so loose and its attempted application so
broad that it has no suggestive value to the
instructor. An "educational film" may
turn out to be anything^ from a fancied
trip to the moon to a custard-pie face-plas-
tering contest. That phrase, "educational
film," should be spoken with the first word
silent.

Of the fourth great source of films, the
Theatrical Agencies, of course, only those
undertaking a general circulation of films
are of use to schools. Occasionally films
are to be found here which seem to have
popular education as their real purpose.
But this phenomenon is not as yet fre-
quent enough to make it necessary to re-
move the line which separates "popular
education" from the other and main pur-
poses of films from theatrical sources. It
is probable, however, that the theatrical

producers' growing appreciation of school
needs will within a few years make true
popular education the primary purpose of
many films.

Another basis of classification, not so easy
to follow before seeing the film itself, is that
of CHARACTER. Classes may range from
the purely entertainment films to the purely
teaching films. It is to be noted that the
real pedagogic film must meet two severe
tests. All producers of films for teaching
purposes should have constantly in mind
the criteria embodied in the definition of
pedagogic films, given below.

These classes are not entirely distinct.
Films may partake of more than one of
these characteristics. A Pastime film may
also be Informational or Instructional. A
Propaganda film must be presented as a
Pastime film; often, if not usually. Many
films of each class can, with proper prepara-
tion, be used profitably in schools.

If the film-user will endeavor to place in
both of these classifications — that on the
dual basis of Source and Purpose, and that
based on Character of the Film — each film
that he sees or about which he learns, he
will soon reach a power of independent de-
cisions about films which will be of ines-
timable value in making selections for school
purposes.

PASTIME FILMS— Drama— Serial— Stunt— Comic— News— Travelogue.

PROPAGANDA FILMS— Geographic— Hygienic— Institutional— Civic— Moral
— Vocational — Political.

INFORMATION FILMS-Chiefly advertising, direct and indirect, Industrial-
Commercial— Governmental Records— Community Boosters.

INSTRUCTIONAL FILMS-Process Illustrations-General Nature and Sci-
ence Studies — Geographic — News.

PEDAGOGIC FILMS-School films exactly related to some course of study,
and scientifically constructed as an aid to teaching.

November, tp2^

439

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President-. Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice-President: A. Loretta Clark, Director of Visual Education, Los An-
geles, California.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Edu-
cation, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Toothaker, Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A. W. Abrams, Chief of Visual Instruction Division, University of the State
of New York.

Rupert Peters, Director of Visual Education, Kansas City Public Schools,
Kansas City, Missouri.

A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.

J. W. Shepherd, Department of Visual Education, University of Oklahoma,
Norman, Oklahoma.

Carlos E. Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N. Y.

W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. All matter appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy.

What the Academy Is

THE National Academy of Visual Instruc-
tion is an organization of men and women
interested in a wider, more intelligent,
and more systematic use of visual aids; in short,
in the development of visual education as an
art and science.

The Academy is not engaged in promoting
visual education commercially. Active mem-
bership and the control of the Academy and
its actions are vested solely in those engaged in
educational, semi-educational, or welfare work,
and who are actual users of or are directing the
use of visual aids for instructional purposes.
No companies, dealers, agents, or persons finan-
cially interested in the sale of visual-instruction
materials shall be eligible to active nwmbership.

An Invitation

THERE are several types of membership
with the fees ranging from one dollar a
year up. Full information on this subject
can be obtained by writing to the Secretary,

Mr. J. V. Ankeney, University of Mfssouri,
Columbia, Mo., who will furnish members with
copies of the constitution and by-laws giving
full details of the method of working through
the National Academy.

We have mentioned in two or three issues of
the Educational Screen the development of a
new Department of Visual Instruction in the
N. E. A. The movement to bring about the
organization of this new department was initi-
ated by the officers and members of the Na-
tional Academy of Visual Instruction,

The question has arisen in the minds of some
whether or not we need to have as many or-
ganizations in the visual field as are now pro-
vided for, and also whether it would not be
wise for us all to unite in the one centralized
organization in the N. E. A. This may be con-
sidered an open question for debate, and dis-
cussions pro and con on this topic will be very
much appreciated, and we call for opinions on
this subject.

Some believe it would be wise to keep the
Academv's activities in existence for the pur-

440

National Academy of Visual Instruction The Educational Scree

pose of conducting educational surveys of this
field as it is developing, and look upon this as
a distinctive line of work aside from the ordi-
nary service of providing equipment for visual
instruction purposes and suggesting ways of
using the same. Others believe it will be pos-
sible for the new department in the N. E. A. to
provide special committees to carry on all
phases of the visual instruction movement, and
that at the yearly meetings the research com-
mittee could report its findings, which would
be used as a basis to guide all in their develop-
mental and regular work. Other committees
could make a study of and present reports on
practical application of the visual aids in spe-
cific lines of teaching. There are still others
who are of the opinion that there should be an
organization combining both educational and
commercial interests. While this has been con-
trary to the general procedure of the N. E. A.
and its subsidiary organizations, earnest efforts
have been put forth to create sentiment for this
combination organization. There are those of
us who see good that might result from such an

organization, while others believe that it woul
be detrimental to educational interests to be
come allied with commercial interests, whicl
might not be a desirable thing in the educa
tional field.

This question is open for discussion, and i
place should be provided for it on the next pro
gram of the N. A. V. I. Looking forward t(
a discussion of these various phases of th(
work, those in charge of the preparation of thi
next program, to be given in February in Chi
cago, will provide speakers to present thes*
various claims for recognition. It is earnesth
desired that a full, free, and frank discussion o
these topics on their merits will be the ordei
of the day.

Suggestions for speakers and topics to b(
discussed will be gladly received by the Presi-
dent of the National Academy of Visual In-
struction, who is also the Secretary of the new
Department of Visual Instruction in the N. E,
A. Communications bearing upon these mat-
ters may be addressed to Dudley G. Hays, 460
S. State St., Chicago, 111.

SO popular and so universal has the motion
picture screen become that we uncon-
sciously associate visual education with
that particular form of photographic represen-
tation. Most of this discussion will be con-
cerned with the motion picture. Before, how-
ever, passing to that phase of the subject, it
should be urged that for educational purposes
there are other types of visual instruction quite
as important. An impressive example of what
may be done for a community is that of Rich-
mond, Indiana, where earnest-minded, art-
loving citizens are accomplishing the progressive
education of a whole community through suc-
cessive exhibits of the best obtainable pictures
with, as a result, the establishment of a per-
manent gallery of art. This effort in education
is not so popular, possibly not so entertaining,
as the motion picture screen, but the educa-
tional results are doubtless more significant as
a permanent residuum of community culture.
As the screen increases in favor there is .i
danger of discounting the educational value of
the slide, although hardly any adjunct of visual

*Address given at the Visual Education Confer-
ence of the N. E. A. at Oakland in July, 1923.

Visual Education*

Susan M. Dorsey
Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, Calif.

instruction surpasses the slide in effectiveness
for two reasons: it remains within the range
of vision so long as desired and lends itself
most readily to the illustration of verbal in-
struction. Few communities in the country
are unable to find someone who can provide
an evening of the finest kind of instruction with
the material furnished by selected slides as a
theme.

The film, however, we must admit is the
most enticing form of visual representation for
adults and child alike. In these days many
things are claimed for it by its inventors, inter-
ested producers, social workers and euucators.
While some of the claims to value are a bit
excessive, he would be rash indeed who would
contest the probable supremacy of the film as
a visual attraction and medium of instruction.
There are difficulties, however; always the
chief of these are inability to finance tho
project and to set in motion the necessai
machinery for satisfactory and continuous
programs of visual instruction. The addition
to an old school building of a room or audi-
torium with booths costs money; funds must
be had for projection outfit and for the rent.iK

November, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

441

)r purchase of films; these are discouraging
terns of expense for a small community and
n a great city, where the appliances must be
ndefinitely multiplied, the cost is almost pro-
libitive and yet, not prohibitive if only we set
ibout to do it.

The cost of darkening rooms in a fashion
lot to interfere with ventilation is a stubborn
problem. My own conviction is that the one
greatest benefit to be conferred by some keen
inventor is a satisfactory device by which the
motion picture can be shown under daylight
and consequently in a well-ventilated room.
At the present time, the cost of darkening ar-
rangements is very considerable. If anyone
has solved this problem for boards of educa-
ion who desire to serve their communities in
a generous fashion, within reasonable limits,
ithat person is a benefactor.

Then there is the problem of safe storage
pf films, safe for the film and safe for the
building and the occupants of the building in
which the films are stored. Since city authori-
ties now require cement or other fireproof
safes for film storage, this means still more
expense for boards of education.

The problem of timely distribution and re-
liable transportation is no mean one. The
only sure way to control that is for the one
in charge of the visual instruction to be given
full authority in the securing of films under
regulations together with transportation facili-
ties for their distribution.

Finally, let me say that it is a great mistake to
suppose that just any teacher will use this
material so that it will be really educational,
or that every use of it is necessarily valuable.
There is no place in our schools for just the
idle showing of pictures; the showing must
have an illustrative purpose and must be made
at a time when the text lesson or the teacher's
comment is supplemented by the picture.
Especially is this true of the motion picture.

The impression seems to prevail in some
quarters that the mere showing of pictures to
children will result in conveying desired in-
formation or in leaving lasting ethical impres-
sions. Such is not necessarily the case. Too
much is being claimed in some quarters for
the motion picture as an educational factor.
Mere motion is not always elucidating; it some-
time interferes with the fullest grasp of the
picture content, confuses instead of clarifies.
The gazing at pictures disassociated from
thought content that leads up to the picture i=

of very questionable value, except as harmless
entertainme^it providing the pictures are innocu-
ous. The viewing of pictures which are un-
related to some experience in the child's life,
or that are not meant to make something clear
through illustration, some incident, principle,
process, or setting, is not educational. Most
teachers fail just at this point. In visual
material we have the very finest illustra-
tive possibilities, but if the teacher does
not know how to use these offerings so as
to make them readily profitable the effect
and the expenditure are pure waste. In one
school system the supervisor of visual instruc-
tion visits the school at the noon hour and gives
help to the assembled teachers in the showing
of pictures so that their educational value shall
be fully realized. The lesson in the textbook
on a given topic is taken up and, in a discus-
sion, the available visual material illustrative
of the text is reviewed. It is pointed out how
the lesson and the picture may be correlated to
realize the full information or ethical content of
both. A teacher needs to be familiar with the
visual material she is to show; this seems to
make necessary a preview had long enough
beforehand to enable her to think out how the
lesson is illustrated by the picture and to de-
cide what points in the visual representation
should be commented upon. If the pictures
are shown for the purpose of civic or ethical
instruction the teacher must plan how best to
lead up through the lesson to the point where
the picture will really illustrate.

The lesson in one school was on thrift and
pictures were to be shown, several reels of
them on successive days, illustrative of this
virtue as, for example, how it may be prac-
ticed in the saving of clothing, in suitable pro-
vision made by the father to protect his fam-
ily through insurance, or the taking care of
one's garden tools and the like so as to pro-
long their possible use. The teacher, before
showing the film, through questions brought
out various phases of thrift that might be
practiced, such as the ones I have indicated.
The reels that followed in successive days
illustrated these phases of thrift, and the
child instantly made the connection between
the lessons and the visual illustration. Most
teachers will benef greatly by suggestions of
this sort.

Visual instructioi is expensive at the best.
It is all the more important, therefore, that it
be made to yield the utmost educational
profit.

442

The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of America

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
President — Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York City Schools.
Vice-President— A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary— Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer— George P. Foute, 71 West 23rd St., New York City.
Corresponding Secretary— Rowland Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.
John H. Finley, of the Editorial Staff of the New York Times; formerly President of

the College of the City of New York, and Commissioner of Education of the State

of New York.
George D. Strayer, Professor of Education and Director of the Division of Field Study,

Institute of Research, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Susan B. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California.
Olive Jones, of the N. E. A. Board of Trustees, Principal of Public School 120 and

Annexes, New York City.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

"Thumb Nail Sketches" in Visual Instruction

By Ernest ,L. Crandall

No. 6. Graphic Representation in Thought Processes

I. Successive stages of the
process of acquiring knowl-
edge through the senses.

1. Sensation

2. Perception

3. Memory

4. Imagination

5. Conception

II. Characteristics of sen-
sation successively involved
in the process.

1. Kind

2. Extensiveness

3. Intensiveness

4. Assimilability

5. Tone

III. Innate capabilities of
mind successively involved
in the process.

1. Sensibihty

2. Selection

3. Retention

4. Combination

5. Association

IV. Emotional states suc-
cessively evoked in the proc-
ess,

1. Attention

2. Interest

3. Curiosity

4. Wonder

5. Elation

V. Efferent impulses suc-
cessively occasioned in the
process.

1. Locomotion

2. Manipulation

3. Imitation

4. Dramatization

5. Expression

November, jg2^

Visual Instruction Association of America

u:;

We have delimited with some degree of pre-
cision the part played by sensation in the proc-
ess of acquiring knowledge. There can be
little quarrel, I think, with our rather cautious
formula, that "Our knowledge of the world
about us is derived chiefiy from our interpre-
ation of our sense experiences." Since sensa-
tion, therefore, constitutes the first step which
we must explore in our examination of the
learning process, it may be helpful to reverse
this formula, and center it upon the function
of sensation itself. From this viewpoint, it
would run somewhat as follows: "Sensation is
the reaction of the ego (s^lf, soul) to stimuli
from the outside world, transmitted through
the nervous system, by means of which the
individual arrives at a consciousness of self
and of the world about him, and through the
interpretation of which he derives some con-
ception of the universe."
' Having thus outlined the function of sensa-
j tion as a factor in the acquisition of knowledge,
it still remains to inquire into the character of
those concrete experiences known as sensa-
tions.

We must confess at the outset that we know
absolutely nothing of their physical nature.
That they are produced by vibration of the
ether, or of air, and by physical impacts of
some sort, acting upon the terminals of the
afferent nerves and transmitted in some way
to the brain and there in some way registered,
recorded and co-ordinated, constitutes practi-
cally the sum of our knowledge. Whether the
effect upon the nervous system, including the
brain, is a chemical or a physical one is thus
far a mere guess. To enter upon it here would
lead us into an interminable discussion, nor is
it of particular consequence for our purpose.
What is of consequence is to note that the
fact of sensation transcends all mechanical ex-
planation, because it involves the profoundly
baflfling fact of consciousness. No account or
description of it is complete that does not briir
it into the realm of the psychic, as distinguished
from the physiological. Perhaps the one point
to which we should adhere most tenaciously is
that sensation is a psychic phenomenon, rather
than a physiological reaction. Before sensation
has been translated into perception, before
there has arisen any faintest conception of the
meaning or significance of this clamor from
the outer world that is beating upon the seven
doors of self, there awakens an awareness of
self and of a something outside of self. Long

before 1 have any idea what 1 am listening to,
I not only hear but I am aware that I hear.
Long before I have any notion what I am
looking at, 1 not only sec but I am conscious
that I see. I may add, at the risk of making
a distinction without a difference, that I am
aware that it is I that see, and that what I sec
is not L Thus the very simplest sensation
brings us not only to the threshold but across
the threshold of that world which we instinct-
ively recognize as a separate realm, the realm
of personality, of subjectivity, of the self, the
soul, the ego.

From this point on we may trust our intui-
tion and accept the human soul as an entity,
measurably master of its surroundings and
captain of its own destiny, tenanting a body
which serves it as a medium of communication
with the world about it and with other psychic
entities; or we may accept the Hegelian form-
ula of thought, feeling and will as mere func-
tions of the cerebral gland, just as digestion
is the function of the stomach, or respiration
of the lungs.

To my mind it will make a tremendous dif-
ference in our teaching which view we accept,
but in either event one thing is very clear. If
thought, feeling and will are mere functions,
we must be careful at every step to distinguish
between the secretion and the gland. The
products of sensation constitute the facts of
consciousness and from the moment that sen-
sation is complete, we are dealing not with
physiological reactions, but with a vast complex
of phenomena which have their existence en-
tirely apart from the reaction which precipi-
tated them and which are linked with external
stimuli only at the point and in the moment
of original impact.

In proportion as we recognize this truth shall
we proceed intelligently to build upon our own
sense experiences, or those of our pupils. In
the realization of this distinction lies all the
difference between training the senses, as one
trains white mice and pet pigs, and cultivating
the mind through the skillful use of the senses.
Proceeding now to a closer view of the intel-
lectual process and beginning with the sensa-
tions themselves, the first step would seem to
be to observe the outstanding characteristics
common to all sensations. I have placed at
the head of this article an outline, or rather a
sort of table, by which I have hoped to convey
some graphic impression of the elaborate train
of psychic phenomena set in motion by sensa-

444

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Si

tion, with all their delicate and intimate inter-
relations. In this depiction I have adhered as
closely as possible to a commonly accepted
terminology, but I have been obliged to depart
from it at times, first because such terminology
has never been standardized and secondly be-
cause I am at certain points not in entire agree-
ment with some of the psychologists as to the
processes involved, or their relation to one an-
other. We shall have to recur to this table from
time to time. Hence, may I ask you to fix it
as firmly as possible in your minds, as a sort of
skeletonized graphic representation of the
whole process which we are about to explore.
It involves two assumptions, beyond the major
assumption already dealt with (regarding sen-
sation as the source of knowledge). These
assumptions are:

1. That there are certain definite phases
or stages in what, for the sake of brevity,
we shall call "the learning process."

2. That in each of these phases or stages
there is a definite and more or less exclu-
sive dependence upon some particular
characteristic of sensation, a definite de-
mand upon some particular innate quality
of the human mind, a definite emotional
state accornpanying this particular phase
of cerebration, and a definite behavioristic

impulse, which, in terms of the nervous
system, is best described briefly as an ef-
ferent impulse.

For example, to take just one illustration at
random, we should find, if our assumptions are
correct, that an act of memory depends for its
quality largely upon the intensiveness of the
original sensory experience or experiences un-
derlying the object, scene or fact remembered;
that it involves that innate capacity of the
human mind which enables it, not merely to
register, but to record sensory impressions,
that is, to retain them and store them up for
future reference, which, of course, implies the
power of voluntary and involuntary recall; that
the emotional state characteristic of an act of
memory is that of curiosity; and that recol-
lection impels to imitation.

Now it is quite clear at least some of thes^
postulates are by no means obvious. On the
other hand, it is equally evident that, if true,
they are of great significance in memory train-
ing. The same might be said regarding the
development of any other phase of mental ac-
tivity. Clearly, then, it is quite worth our
while to check up on the correctness of our
assumptions. This we shall proceed to do in
our succeeding chapters.

Some Obstacles in the Way

By Rita Hochheimer

Assistant Director of Visual Instruction
New York City

THERE has been a great deal of rather
loose talk of late years, regarding the
pedagogical importance of motion pictures.
This has been especially noticeable since the
meeting of the National Education Association
in Boston last July and Will Hays' magnificent
offer of cooperation.

I do not, in any sense, mean to belittle the
importance of that event. On the contrary, I
believe it to be most significant, and I confi-
dently trust it may mean the opportunity for
bigger and finer things in the school use of
films.

But it seems to me that we must beware of
being carried away by our own enthusiasm. It
is a very simple matter for a speaker at a din-
ner or luncheon or woman's club meeting to
assert that "The screen is the great educator
of the future" or "the educational possibilities
of the film are limitless." There has been
enough of it. "When the tumult and the shout-

ing dies," what is needed is a quiet facing of
the facts and a little sober thought. If we are
to make proper progress in the field of visual
instruction, we must first overcome some very
real obstacles, which at the present writing hin-
der the widespread use of films in schools, and
prevent the screen from being the educational
force it might be.

First apiong these I put the lack of national
distribution of films for school use. This is an
entirely different problem from theatrical dis-
tribution, and should be handled by an entirely
different type of person. There are theatrical
exchanges in about every town in the country.
Non-theatrical exchanges are practically non-
existent. And the reason is not far to seek.
The business does not warrant their establish-
ment; and the business does not warrant it,
because we school people cannot locate the
films we want, owing to the lack of national
non-theatrical distribution. Thus is the vicioti^x

November. 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

44J

circle complete. We are beginning to work out
the question of production. The next essential
step is better organized distribution. I believe
the answer in both cases is the same — coopera-
tion.

No one producer has made all the films a
school can use and should use to teach a given
school subject or even one term's work in that
subject. He must therefore cooperate with
other producers to put his product at the dis-
posal of the school authorities or do without
the business. Similarly no one producer has a
sufficient non-theatrical output today to war-
rant the expense of national distribution. Some
years hence that may not be true. Today it is
one of the facts which we visual instructionists
must face if we expect motion picture people
to take us seriously. "They are not in business
for their health," they tell us. It costs thousands
of dollars to make each reel of film. The only
way this money can earn a return is by a na-

tional circulation. No single school system can
support a non-theatrical distributor. And no
one producer can afiford this national distribu-
tion.

Every now and then wc hear rumors that
one or another local exchange is opening
branches in all the large cities. Each time I
pray sounder councils may prevail. Thus far
they have, for no one has actually ventured on
this difficult road. But that is negative comfort.
What the cause of Visual Instruction needs
today is positive action. The first step out, as
I see it, is the establishment of non-theatrical
exchanges throughout the country, not under
the dominance of one concern, but open to all
producers, the expense proportionately borne
by all. This will, on the one hand, render more
film material available for the schools and, on
the other hand, will so definitely crystallize the
school demand that the producers will see what
we want and how much we want it.

Approved List of Educational Films

Rcviezved by the Film Committee of the

Chairman, Rita Hocheimer, Assistant Director of
Visual Instruction, New York City.

A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of
Schools, Newark, N. J.

Ina Clement, Librarian, Bureau of Municipal Re-
search, New York City.

Alice B. Evans, National Committee for Better
Films, New York City.

Kathryn Greywacz, Nezv Jersey State Museum,
Trenton, N. J.

THIS Committee was organized for the pur-
pose of assisting schools and school peo-
ple to find films suited to their needs. Rec-
ommendations are made with these needs in
mind, not from the point of view of the enter-
tainment value of films, nor as in any sense
adding one more to the many agencies already
active in the "better pictures'- .movement.
School people throughout the country are more
and more seeking films for teaching purposes,
and are at a loss to know where to find them.
It is the function of this department to assist
them.

Many of the films listed here will not be
new productions. It is safe to assume that most
of them will not be, especially at first. Most
films are still made primarily for the theater,
and are not available for schools until some
considerable time after production. There is
no point in calling teachers' attention to them

Visual Instruction Association of America

Ruth Overton Grimwood, Executive Secretary,
V. I. A. A., New York City.

Dr. Clarence E. Meleney, Associate Superintend-
ent of Schools, New York City.

Mrs. Dudley Van Holland, General Federation
of Women's Clubs, New York City.

Mrs. Adele F. Woodard, National Motion Pic-
ture League, New York City.

George J. Zehrung, International Committee of
the Y. M. C. A., New York City.

until they may obtain them. However, we
shall try to keep in touch with new productions,
as they appear and as they may prove valuable
and accessible to schools.

The list of approved films published in any
given issue of the Educational Screen will cover
several school subjects. File your copies of
the magazine, and the index to films published
at the close of the school year will help you
locate material suited for any one subject in
the curriculum.

If you have questions with regard to films,
write enclosing a self-addressed, stamped en-
velope and the Committee will answer them.

Twentieth Century Pilgrims. (2 reels.) Pro-
ducer, F. S. Wythe Pictures Corp. Distributor,
The Screen Companion, 71 West 23rd St., N. Y.

First lesson in film series, "Citizens in the
Making," planned for thirty lessons of which
(Concluded on page 468)

440

The Educational Sere,

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

Close-Up of a Director

I ASKED Rex Ingi-am how he cast his
pictures.

Somewhat taken aback at such a direct at-
tack, he said at first that he didn't know, ex-
actly. But we talked around the fringes of the
subject for a little while until he found an open-
ing- Then I learned in part what it is that gives
Rex Ingram his uncanny ability to make char-
acters live upon the screen.

"When I read a story, I visualize the char-
acters," he said. "I make sketches of them as
I think they ought to be, and I give them to
the casting director. He finds the types."

It seemed very simple. Until he showed me
some of his sketches. There were the fat mas-
ter of the inn of "Trifling Women," afterward
played by Hugh Mack; Danton in "Scara-
mouche" — George Seigmann; an impression of
Eric von Stroheim in "Foolish Wives," and
others that appeared startlingly familiar. There
were photographs of a sculptured head or two,
Ingram's own work; and there were still others
— not portraits — just embodiments of fragmen-
tary ideas. Imagination, so vitally necessary to
the director, was there, keen observation, satire,
possibly something of the cynic. No wonder he
is able to cast his pictures so unerringly.

I said so. Ingram smiled.

"Training, perhaps a natural aptitude for
this sort of thing," he replied.

"I studied under a famous sculptor. I think
like a sculptor; I work like a sculptor — I can't
tell you how. When a man begins to lay down
rules, he's lost!"

I wanted to know where he found his types.
Los Angeles, of course, teems with them.
Thousands of them are registered with all the
casting directors in town, and whenever there
is a big production being made, a long line of
them storms the casting director's window in a
continuous siege. In general he chooses those
whose work he is familiar with, those who have
had experience, or, less often, some who for
one reason or another, stand out distinctly
from the mass. Of course Ingram takes advan-
tage of this never-failing supply, but he is al-
ways watching for a new face.

"I find them everywhere. In 'Scaramouche,'

for example, I wanted a man to play Napoleon,
and they brought me a man with a lock of
hair over his forehead. But that wasn't the
thing that made a Napoleon. It's the mask I
look at, and his wasn't the right mask." (He
does think like a sculptor.) "I found a man to
play the part — a young Serbian artist I knew —
and when 1 brought him in, nobody could see
any resemblance to Napoleon. But when he
got the make-up on — he looked like Napoleon!"

His Robespierre and his Danton and some
of the other historical characters in "Scara-
mouche" he selected after studying death masks
of the actual personages. Robespierre he found
fighting in a mob of extras. Another he dis-
covered in a curio shop — the owner of the shop,
in fact — and persuaded him to become an actor
for a little while.

"The great trouble with the movie industry,"
(note, if you please, he called it an industry)
"is that it's a business of personality. Pictures
are built around it.

"You can classify most people under very few
types, but, of course, there are always varia-
tions. I like to play with them. I like to take
new types and bring them out — discover them.
I find that the type who resembles the char-
acter I have in mind is more apt to do the
thing as that character would have done it. He
acts as that character might be expected to act.
And I find that the first picture a character
plays in is his best, because he is that char-
acter. After that — he's just acting. For that-
reason I like to use people in a picture or two
and then pass them on.

"Characterization is the main thing. A story
that amounts to nothing can be made interest-
ing to an audience for six reels through splen-
did characterization. But the characters must
be distinct. If, when I read a story, I can't see
the characters, I don't bother with it, I am
looking for new people all the time — for expres-
sive faces." (There, the sculptor again.) "I use
close-ups a great deal. They come into fash-
ion, and go out, but I have always used them.
They express the mental idea."

But at that Ingram is quite ready to agree
that there is very little that is mental and too\

November, 1923

The Theatrical Field

447

much that is physical on the screen. Pictures
are very obvious; the screen is not subtle —
"Not yet," he adds with Irish optimism.

Who does not remember Madariaga, the old
centaur of "The Four Horsemen?" Ingram
hunted the book through for a description of
him, but could not find it. Then he sketched
him. Ibaiiez, to whom he afterward sent the
sketch, wrote that Ingram's Madariaga was
exactly the man as he himself had visualized
him when he wrote the book.

But Ingram didn't seem to think it unusual.

"As I say," he repated, "I've had a special
training in this, just as some other director is

who wants to do things. If you concentrate
too hard on your particular line, you grow one-
sided. I heard a famus artist say only recently
that if you are to amount to anything at all as

How Rex Ingram explains his ideas for settings and costumes.

trained in some other thing. But this — " he in-
dicated a graceful sculptured head that stood
on the desk amid a scramble of papers, sketches,
and hooVs— "this is what I'm going back to."
A hobby is a most vital necessity to the man

an artist, you must have a fad. I wonder
whether Rex Ingram is a motion picture direc-
tor whose fad is sculpture, or a sculptor whose
fad is motion pictures. I should think it might
work both ways.

Theatrical Film Reviews for November

ASHES OF VENGEANCE (First National)

Aside from the fact that this picture gives
us a vivid and beautiful picture of the France
of Catherine de Medici as well as a swiftly
moving romance, it has a further significance
not to be overlooked. Because Norma Tal-
madge has long since reached the status of a
star, we expect, naturally, to see her starred,
but we find her here playing leading lady to
Conway Tearle, who is practically the whole
"show." That the story did not of¥er a true
starring role for her, seems not to have mat-
tered to Miss Talmadge so long as she could
produce a good picture. Contrasted with the
method producers so frequently employ— that
of bolstering up a weak story with the presence
of a star, or distorting the story to fit the star—

this appears as a most heartening sign. May we
see more like it!

The story, briefly, is of an old feud between
two families. The count de Roche, played by
Courtenay Foote saves, the life of his enemy,
Rupert de Vrieac (Mr. Tearle), and in return
exacts Rupert's promise to become his servant
for five years. Rupert is detailed to the service
of the Count's sister, Yoeland, who loses no
chance to remind him of his lowly position.
But by fighting chivalrously in her defense,
Rupert wins first her admiration, and then her
love, whereupon de Roche is constrained to
release him from his oath, to prevent the pos-
sibility of his ever liking a de Vrieac!

Miss Talmadge as the haughty Yoeland is
lovely, but has no emotional opportunities. Mr.

4 IS

Advertisement

The Educalional Screen

•ROTERT PETERS

DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL INSTRUCTION
KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

201 Poblic Library Buiidinfc
Kansas City. Missouri

March. 21, 1923

DeVry Corporation
Chicago, Illinois

Gentlemen:

YouTB of the 14th, relative to the use
being made of the DeVry projeotors in the iJLansas City
Schools at hand. We have three machines at present,
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takes a machine and his can of films, boards a
street car, shows his program at one school at
9:00, at another at 10:45, another at 1:15, and
another at 2:45, returning to headquarters then
to inspect films and machine. His circuit requires
two weeks to cover.

niiiiiiiiiim

Ple«s€ Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Scbwn

November, ig2$

Advertisement

449

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feci projection witht/^^DeYry

here are certain duties a projector in the non-theatrical field must
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ve years of service. A non-theatrical projector must also be fire-
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he DeVry was the first portable projector made. As it then domi-
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I pictures they have been made with DeVry projectors.

T^^SVry

Please Write to Advertiser* ard Mention The Educational Sckekn

450

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

Tearlc has the advantage of an excellent part,
but even his performance is topped once or
twice by Wallace Beery's portrait of the cruel
and cowardly Due de Tours.

THE SILENT PARTNER (Paramount)

Lcatrice Joy as the wife of a man who is de-
termined to speculate on Wall Street, demands
her share of the winnings, and banks them se-
curely. Then when he goes to smash, there is
a nice little nest egg, on which they can start
all over. Miss Joy takes advantage of all the
opportunities her part offers, but Owen Moore
as the husband has hardly a fair chance.

THREE WISE FOOLS (Goldwyn)

This is good entertainment provided you
aren't looking for anything unusual in the way
of acting or story. It has to do with three old
bachelors who got into a rut and were jolted out
of it when they adopted, sight unseen, the
daughter of a woman with whom all three were
at one time in love. There; is enough char-
acter interest to carry you over the thii places
in the plot which the director. King Vidor, in-
herited from the stage version and couldn't
apparently get rid of. Th« production is well
dressed and adequately cast, with William H.
Crane, Alec Francis, and Claude Gillingwater
as the wise fools, with Eleanor Boardman as
the girl. (See also page 454.)

RUPERT OF HENTZAU (Zelznick)

This generally excellent production of the
sequel to "The Prisoner of Zenda" suffers by
comparison with its even more excellent pred-
ecessor. The story is actor-proof so that as a
result there is very little acting. Hobart Bos-
worth in the role of Colonel Sapt comes near-
est to it, and Lew Cody runs a close second.
Bert Lytell in the double role of the two Ru-
dolphs wears his uniform well, but seems to
be afflicted with a very stiff neck. The cast,
which reads like a movie Blue Book, also in-
cludes Elaine Hammerstein, Claire Windsor,
Margery Daw, Josephine Crowell, Bryant
Washburn, Irving Cummings, Adolphe Men-
jou, and Nigel de Brulier.

BLUEBEARD'S EIGHTH W/F£ (Paramount)

If you see this for the purpose of gleaning
fashion notes you will be richly rewarded.
Gloria Swanson is, as ever, the model de luxe.
The story, which is quite trivial, tells of a much
divorced American who marries a French girl,

and to his own amazement remains married to
her. Huntly Gordon is the gentleman in the
background.

WHY WORRY {Vsiihe)

The title somehow struck me as the most
pointless thing Harold Lloyd has ever had any-
thing to do with, and after viewing the picture,
I regarded it with even less favor. The story
takes us through the sprightly adventures of a
wealthy young hypochondriac who takes his
valet, a pretty nurse, and a suitcase full of pills
to the quaint Latin republic of Paradiso, where
he hopes to find peace and quiet. He drops into
the center of a flourishing revolution. With
the assistance of a giant native whom he makes
his slave for life by expertly pulling an aching
tooth for him, he efficiently quells the uprising.
Out of a number of fairly familiar situations,
I culled two or three very clever and uproar-
ious ones, particularly that in which Harold,
with the aid of a piece of iron piping, a large
cigar, a bass drum, and a basket of cocoanuts,
routs the whole insurgent army. Jobyna Ral-
ston is the pretty nurse, and John Aasen is
Harold's devoted one-man army.

{See also page 438.)

RED LIGHTS (Goldwyn)

If you enjoy being mystified to the nth de-
gree, see this picture by all means. You can't
ask for much more in the way of thrills. One
of the mysteries, by the way, is just what the
story is supposed to be, for in spots it is a most
delicious burlesque of the Conan Doyle school
of fiction, and at times it appears to take itself
quite seriously. Fiery warnings write them-
selves in the air, hairy hands clutch from secret
panels, rugs hump themselves terrifyingly on
the floor, red lights wink from every conceiv-
able spot, and everybody turns out to be some-
one else in disguise. And through all of it
swaggers the most knowing Sherlock that ever
drew breath. Much of the action occurs on a
speeding train, not the least of the thrills being
furnished by a runaway Pullman, cut from the
train on a steep mountain grade. Its hair-rais-
ing flight ends in a really spectacular smash,
which kills nobody but the villain — which is as
it should be. Raymond Griffith is amusing as
the famous "crime deflector."

ROUGED LIPS (Metro)

A story built to measure for Viola Dana,
showing the rough course of true love when it,
concerns a chorus girl who is trying to be\

Xovcmber, i()2^

The Theatrical Field

451

straight, and a Broadway-wise young fellow
who is really in love for the first time in his
life, Tom Moore in support of the star.

THE LAS T HO UR (Mastodon Films Inc.)

Milton Sills as a reformed crook who is so
noble that he gets himself into all sorts of
difficulties trying to protect his unreformed
friends. His extreme nobility finally brings
him to the scaffold, where he spends a very
trying few minutes while everybody else in the
cast is racing to save him. They fail to arrive
in time! The trap is sprung! — but it doesn't
work. We learn that it will take one hour to
repair it. Hence the title. That last hour, of
course, gives the guilty person time enough
to confess, and the picture fades on Mr. Sills
still noble, and beautifully tailored as usual.

TO THE LAST MAN (Paramount)

Hopefully we went to view .this Zane Gray
picture, endorsed in a caption by the author
himself, and great was our disappointment. It
started out with a populous cast, but the title
said "To the last man!" and faithfully the plot
carried out the injunction. One by one they
were popped off, until only Richard Dix was
left, and even he was badly wounded. The
monotony was slightly offset by some effec-
tive scenery, and the not so effective spectacle
of Lois Wilson (of all people!) trying to be-
have like a "hussy."

THE FIGHTING BLADE (First National)

The days of Charles Stuart and OHver
Cromwell come back to us on the screen with
the romance of pretty Thomsine Musgrove,
betrothed of Lord Carisford, and Karl Van
Kerstenbroock, the famous Flemish duellist,
whose name was a terror to every swordsman.
Kerstenbroock came to Oxford on an errand
of revenge, fell afoul of a roistering cavalier,
Wat Musgrove, and promptly challenged him.
Thomsine, fearing for her brother, put on boys'
clothes and went to prevent the duel. She led
Kerstenbroock on a wild chase and caused him
to miss his appointment, to his great rage, for
honor was a very touchy point with him. But
when Thomsine fell into a muddy stream and
lost her big boot, and Kerstenbroock discov-
ered her high-heeled slipper in it, his sense of
humor got the better of his vexation, and so,
when the two lost their way and blundered
into Cromv/ell's headquarters, he agreed to
enter the general's service in return for safe
conduct for "the lad." Then he was sent as a

spy to Staversham castle, the royalist strong-
hold of Thomsine's family. There he was
caught and tortured by the cavaliers, and found
by Thomsine, who hid him and helped him to
escape. With his Roundhead forces he re-
turned in time to spit the villains on his fam-
ous sword and save Thomsine from a loveless
marriage.

Pure romance, as you see, well cast, beau-
tifully photographed, and dominated by the
wistfully appealing Richard Barthelmess in a
new personality. A large part of his charm is
in his naturalness, which does not suffer even
in this artificial atmosphere. Dorothy Mac-
Kaill is thoroughly pleasing as Thomsine. To
John S. Robertson again goes credit for smooth
and sympathetic direction.

THE RUSTLE OF SILK (Paramount)

Betty Compson and Conway Tearle in the
rather ordinary story of a lady's maid who
falls in love with the master of the house. Care-
fully handled by the director, Herbert Bren-
non, it achieves at least the distinction of good
production, but is, after all, very slight ma-
terial.

POTASH AND PERLMUTTER (First Nationa)

On the whole, a satisfactory picturization of
the troubles and the triumphs of our famous
old friends in the cloak and suit business.
Titles are amusing and characterization well
done, Barney Bernard and Alexander Carr as
the kindly partners seem not so much to play
the characters as to be them, so excellent is
their work. Fully up to standard and worth
seeing. {Sec also page 458.)

DOES IT PAY? (Fox)

Without exception the worst picture I have
ever seen. It was so awful that I was fasci-
nated. It had everything — the vain husband,
the wronged wife, the pet daughter, the old
lawyer-friend-of-the-family, the faithful negro
servants, and the vamp. It ran according to
the old formula: the husband divorced his fam-
ily for the vamp. He learned that she had a
lover. Whereupon he squinched up his eyes
and his fists and went home to make a scene.
He discovered the lover kissing his new wife's
little finger. Aha! Then came the scene. And
so on. And on top of the story, a cast that
acted all over the place. They sawed the air,
they tore every passion to tatters— but they
acted! William Fox was responsible.

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

Production Notes

FIRST NATIONAL promises what should
be an interesting program for the next few
niontlis. Norma Talmadge has made definite
plans to film Romeo and Juliet with Joseph
Schildkraut, following Secrets to be directed
by Frank Borzage. The prophets say that
Blanche Sweet is doing remarkable work in
Anna Christie. George Fitzmaurice has fin-
ished The Eternal City in Rome, with Barbara
La Mar, Lionel Barrymore, Richard Bennett,
Montague Love, and Bert Lytell. Richard
Barthelmess* Tivcnty-One is in the cutting
room, and he has started production of Pinero's
77it' Enchanted Cottage with May MacAvoy as
leading woman. Constance Talmadge has be-
gun on The Mirage. Raphael Sabatini's The
Sea Haivk is in progress.

FOX productions include among others, St.
Elmo, Monna Vanna, The Shepherd King,
TiAs Freedom, Gentle Julia, and, in production,
The Warrens of Virginia.

OLTDA'S famous children's story, /] Dog
of Flanders will reach the screen as A
Boy of Flanders with Jackie Coogan as Nello.
Following the satisfactory completion of Long
Live the King, the author, Mary Roberts Rine-
hart, has been asked to write another story
especially for the little star, for Metro release.

BLANCHE SWEET is to play an important
part in The Human Mill, which Allen
Holubar will direct for Metro.

VIOLA DANA will depart from her usual
comedy-dramas and start on a new type
of picture with The Rosebush of a Thousand
Years, soon to go into production.

A SPECIAL announcement from Goldywn
says that Charles Brabin, who directed
Driven and Six Days will be the director for
Ben-Hur. After more than a year since the
company first announced that the rights to
the story had been bought, it is finally to be
produced. The entire production will be filmed
abroad, and it is expected to take at least a
year.

GOLDWYN pictures being edited include
Wild Oranges and Greed.

HALL CAINE'S The Master of Man has
undergone its third change of title. It
is now Name the Man.

THE cast for Elinor Glyn's Three Weeks
includes Aileen Pringle, Conrad Nagel,
Stuart Holmes, Mitchel Lewis, Joan Standing,
Nigel de Brulier, Dale Fuller. H. Reeves-Smith,
John Sainpolis, and Robert Cain.

MARY PICKFORD began work on Dor-
othy Vernon of JLaddon Hall with a lo-
cation trip to San Francisco. The scenes taken
represent one of Queen Elizabeth's "prog-
resses." It was customary in those days for
travelers to take along all their servants, house-
hold goods, and chattels. To supplement play-
ers taken from Hollywood, five hundred extras
with enough horses to mount them were en-
gaged in San Francisco.

JACK PICKFORD has finished Valley of
the Wolf for Allied Producers and Distrib-
utors, ready for late fall release.

PREPARATIONS are under way for the
major sequence in Douglas Fairbanks'
Arabian Nights spectacle, and wMien the work
is at its height it is anticipated that four thou-
sand persons, probably one of the largest
crowds ever assembled in a picture, will pass
before the camera. i

ANNOUNCEMENTS from the Lasky stu-
dios include the news that WilHam S.
Hart has started production of Singer Jim Mc-
Kee, an original by himself, with Phyllis Haver
as the feminine lead.

JAMES CRUZE'S To the Ladies is com-
pleted.

DOROTHY AlACKAILL will play an im-
portant part in Sam Wood's forthcoming
picture, The Ne.vt Corner, from Kate Jordan's
novel.

POLA NEGRI, after finishing My Man will
play Madame Sans Gene, under direction of
Sidney Olcott.

EATRICE JOY will have
r in
Triumph.

LEATKICE JOY will have a featured r<
in the new C. B. DeMille producti(

November, ig2S

Film Recommendations by

The National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher

Associations

Mrs. Charles E. Merriam

Chairman, Better Films Committee

WE WISH to call attention to the very few Films which can be en-
dorsed for the family. When you bear in mind that, at the start of
our reviewing three years ago, we could endorse about one-half of
the output, and that during the past year we could endorse only about one-
third of the output, and that now the per cent is so low, that it approaches
zero — we must surely realize that there is a great community problem con-
fronting us, a crisis if you will.

I have before me a speech that Mr. Will H. Hays made about a year and
a naif ago, and I want to quote briefly. He says : *'And above all, perhaps,
is our duty to the youth. We must have toward that sacred thing, the mind
of a child, toward that clean and virgin thing, that unmarked slate — we must
have toward that the same sense of responsibility, the same care about the
impressions made upon it, that the best teacher or the best clergyman, the
most inspired teacher of youth, would have. * =!= * * y\j^ accept the chal-
lenge in the righteous demand of the American mother, that the entertain-
ment and amusement of that youth be worthy of its value as the most potent
factor in the country's future."

Please keep this quotation in mind and scan over the movie advertise-
ments with me today, the new films which are just being released: Elinor
Glyn's Six Days and Three Weeks, The Common Lazv, Griffith's The White
Rose, The Merry-Go-Roimd, (advertised as a story of the voluptuousness of
Vienna before the war), The Affairs of Lady Hamilton (which shows the illicit
love aiYair between Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson), Flaming Youth, and
West of the Water Tower.

The community does not allow books like The Common Law (which
teaches that marriage is old-fashioned), in the public library — but the com-
munity does allow a producer to take this book and film it for our boys and
girls to see, and it is made so beautiful, that any silly girl will say that it is
more beautiful than any wedding she ever saw. Whose fault is it then if she
emulates this? Why, the community's, of course, and that means you and
me. And for the girl it means disillusionment and suicide. She pays for the
sins of the community, which allows these things to be shown to her.

Take the case of Flaming Youth and West of the Water Toiver—S3iid to be
two of the rankest books published in recent years. These films are just re-

453

-l-M

Film Recommendations of Parent-Teacher Assns. The Educatioml Screen

leased. The producers have made innocent scenarios from these books. But
what happens to the boys and girls who see them? Statistics in our libraries
and book stores show that whenever a book is filmed, the sale of that book
jumps by leaps and bounds. So these boys and girls will be sent back to read
the filthy books.

Shall we stand idly by and permit this destruction of the morale of our
youth to continue? The producers have shown their insincerity of cleaning
up their own industry. Every other business in the country is legislated
regarding our boys and girls— the most precious thing we have in life. The
saloon was allowed in our midst— but boys and girls were not allowed in it.
The poolrooms and dance halls were also barred from our boys and girls—
We parents and guardians of children are even told by the community what
our duty is towards our own children, and yet we allow the motion picture
industry to come in to our communities and undo all the work of the good
home, the good school and the church.

The responsibility is ours and we must not evade it much longer.

'X'HE National Congress of Mothers and Par-
*• ent-Teacher Associations recommends the fol-
lowing films for the family. They have been re-
viewed by the Better Films Committee and afford
clean and wholesome recreation.

FOR THE FAMILY

(From 10 Years Up)

A Chapter in Her Life — Story based on Clara
Louise Burnham's "Jewel." A little girl
wins her prudish grandfather's love and re-
stores happiness in a discordant home. A
picture all children can see without harm.

Dulcy, with Constance Talmadge — The story
of a young and dumb wife who decides to
help her husband with his business, but suc-
ceeds in doing more hindering than helping.

The Drivin' Fool— A rollicking romance of a
transcontinental automobile race, with enough
wholesome action to please the whole family.
The finest kind of genuine amusement. Rec-
ommended for the family.

FOR HIGH SCHOOL AGE

(Or Over)

Rupert of Hentzau— A sequel to 'The Prisoner
of Zenda," but liable to disappoint those who
looked forward to seeing the same cast in
the second picture.

Three Wise Fools — A screen version of the
stage play, wherein a girl is adopted by three
old bachelors. (See also page 450.)

FOR ADULTS ONLY
Little Old New York — Of some historical in-
terest because of its scenes of Robert Fulton
and his steamboat Clermont; but is worth
six reels and not eleven.

Scaramouche — From Sabatini's novel of the
French Revolution. An elaborate production,
starring Alice Terry and Ramon Novarro.
{See also page 458.)

If Winter Comes — From the novel of A. S. M.
Hutchinson. The picture was photographed
in England. The film follows the book per-
fectly and it is a remarkably worth while
production. Lead played by Percy Marmont.
{See also page 457 •)

Ruggles of Red Gap— Could be recommended
for young people except for drinking scenes
and scenes showing the cigarette-smoking Ma
Pettingill. One of the funniest comedy-
dramas of the season.

Where the North Begins — A somewhat con-
ventional story of the North, but saved by
the almost human acting of the German
poHce dog, Rin Tin Tin. A display of re-
markable animal training, but altogether
spoiled for young people by the brutality «^t
the story.

November, 1(^23

455

Pictures and the Church

Conducted by
Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

The Public's Responsibility for Better Pictures

IN the last issue we considered some of the
problems of better pictures. We expressed
the conviction that political censorship would
not accomplish this, and that it is doubtful if
we can ever have any other kind of censorship
Grant that we could get a censorship which
would rigidly enforce a standard in which free-
dom from profanity, obectionable scenes and
plots would be the principal requirements, still
pictures would not be rescued from their stu
pidity or from the atmosphere which is cre-
ated in their production. Most pictures are
more or less stupid and this alone constitute
a very grave charge against them. The effect
upon millions who view these stupid picture?
week after week is inestimable. Censorship
could not eliminate it. There are pictures in
whfch the most rigorous censorship could not
suggest even one elimination, but which never-
theless have a low or even hurtful moral tone;
others are positively vulgar in atmosphere and
suggestion. But all this is so subtle, intangible
and "native" to the film that no amount of
censorship could eliminate it.

If we are to have good pictures, we repeat
we must go back to the source. The scenario
must comply with the highest moral and eth
ical standards. The director must bring the
same standard to producing the film. In othe
words, the author's and the director's phil-
osophy of life must conform to the best Amer-
ican traditions.

Now the question is, "How shall this be ac-
complished?" The task is not an easy one.
We might well despair were it not that equally
difficult things are being done constantly. We
must understand, however, at the very begin-
ning that the process will be far more slow
and difficult than it would be by censorship if
this were an effective remedy.

The first thing is for every respectable citi-
zen in every community in America to realize
that he shares the responsibility for the kind
of pictures now prevailing. This is not pleas-
ing reading, but it is true. We have it on in-
disputable authority that hitherto the better
the picture the larger the financial loss in-

volved. Until very recently the few exceptions
to this statement only served to prove the rule.
Most of the producers do not belong to the
altruistic class who would continue making
good pictures' at a loss. If our community
spends more money to see an objectionable
film than to see a good one then we must share
the condemnation until we do everything pos-
sible to change this state of affairs. The aver-
age man may go to motion pictures when-
ever he is inclined, but for him to evince any
active or public interest in motion pictures
seems to be quite beneath his dignity. This
fact, possibly more than all others combined,
has served to cause the best element in any
community to stand aloof and withhold its in-
fluence from controlling the universal pastime
of our generation.

Even as individuals we could accomplish a
tremendous amount for better films if we made
it a practice to patronize those which promise
to be good and withhold our patronage from
all others. Then when we see a good picture
we could take a moment to express our ap-
probation to the exhibitor, or if we came to see
a good picture and saw one which was objec-
tionable we could express our candid disap-
proval. No one can estimate the impression
that would be made upon the mind of any ex-
hibitor if he received a hundred such appro-
bations or disapprobations of any given picture.
You may be sure he would pass this verdict of
his patrons on by wire to headquarters. Let
this same thing happen in communities
throughout the country where the same film
is being shown and there would be some very
definite emotions aroused in the hearts of the
producers.

If such pronounced results can be effected
simply by the interest of individuals here and
there, and we could adduce many proofs that
such is true, the influence of "organized" com-
mendation or disapprobation would be incal-
culable.

But in order that any expression of opinion
may be permanently effective it is absolutely
essential that the financial returns of good and

456

Pictures and the Church

The Educational Screen

objectionable pictures shall be reversed. Can
wc complain that the exhibitor shows ob-
tionable pictures to our community if he makes
money on that kind and loses on any other
kind? If we can co-operate with him so as to
make good pictures pay at least fairly well, it
is perfectly safe to state that the average ex-
hibitor, especially in the smaller comumnity,
will welcome the opportunity to co-operate
with the best elements for civic betterment,
rather than to be counted a pariah.

We believe most emphatically that the local
committee for better films can effect these
various results (namely, help make good pic-
tures profitable and objectionable pictures un-
profitable, and protect the ideals and morals
of the community, particularly of youth), by
disseminating information as to what pictures
are good.

A committee for better films should be or-
ganized by the united efforts of all the civic,
religious, and educational organizations of the
city. For instance, there should be one repre-
sentative each from the pastors' association,
the schools, the parent-teachers' association,
the women's clubs. Chamber of Commerce and
the various other organizations of the com-
munity for civic and social betterment. This
committee should enlighten itself as to all the
problems involved and should make as tactful
and sympathetic contacts with the local ex-
hibitors as possible. If the exhibitors are con-
vinced that the committee will be reasonable
and that he can make them understand his own
problems and difficulties he will usually sur-
prise the committee by his enthusiastic co-
operation.

As to just how the committee shall function
must be worked out in detail in each commun-
ity according to local conditions. Usually
arrangements can be made to view the pic-
tures before their first public exhibition. It is
not always necessary for all the members of
the committee to view any given picture, but
where there is uncertainty as to the verdict a
second viewing is usually possible, the full
committee being present. In some instances
an exhibitor can change a booking if the pic-
ture is not approved. In other cases he is
compelled to show it. If he can and does
change he has a most effective way of regis-
tering disapproval at headquarters where it
counts. If he must use the picture he can at
least pass the word on to. the distributors that

the picture has been condemned and exert
double pressure to get the right kind of film.
The committee for its part can either list in its
findings every picture being shown and state
whether it is approved or disapproved or it
can simply publish the list of its endorsements,
saying nothing about those disapproved. When
the newspaper editors are invited to enter into
such an enterprise for community betterment
they are almost absolutely sure to place their
columns at the disposal of a committee for dis-
semenating information which will be eagerly
sought by the better people. The public school
superintendent and principal can usually be
included in the committee or at least their con-
sent enthusiastically obtained to post the find-
ings of the committee on the bulletin boards
and in many instances to call special attention
of the scholars to specially good films.

In this way people who want to see good
films and escape the bad ones can get reliable
information. Parents can also know when to
take or permit their children to go to the
movies. It will gradually come to pass that the
box office receipts will show a profit when a
good picture is shown and the results of show-
ing an objectionable film will be unsatisfactory.
Now let this same process be going on in a
thousand communities at the same time and we
shall witness such a genuine desire on the part
of the industry to get at the real standards,
ideals, and viewpoint of American life as they
have never demonstrated before. We may then
reasonably expect the average motion picture
to be quite as good as the very best of the
present productions.

In addition to the above work a local com-
mittee can be very serviceable in co-operating
with the exhibitors and public schools in con-
ducting Saturday morning matinees for chil-
dren.

Where a children's matinee is sponsored it
is usually wise to carry on a definite propa-
ganda for parents to discourage the attendance
of children at movies at other times unless ac-
companying the parents to see a picture espe-
cially approved for the entire family group.

That local committees organized broadly
along the lines of the above suggestions can
accomplish wonderful work is certain because
it has been done and is being done. The ne-
cessity of having every member of the com-
mittee understand all the elements of the prob-
lem and to bring a double portion of tactfulness
to the work is vital to its success. A local \

November, 192s

Pictures and the Church

457

The shadow on Cedvary, to all a^es
the symbol of brotherhood and freedom.

The Ught of the World

Re-edited Version of
the Birth of a Race

(7 REELS)

Freedom and equality (God's thought in
Creation) followed through the time of
Moses and the Christ period, to our mod-
ern day, when the principle of equality
has become the foundation of enlight-
ened governments, and peace and free-
dom the hope of the modern world.

A stirring drama of historic episodes

Like a Dream the Past
Rises Before One In This
Idealized History of the World

Superior in Conception andTheme
to any other Biblical or Educa-
tional Photoplay Ever Produced

SUPER PHOTOPLAY SERVICE

159 North State Street

Chicago, Illinois

committee will also need contact with some
organization which has a wider range and that
can furnish constant information. The editor
of this department would be pleased to corre-
spond with anyone planning the organization

of a local committee for he believes that in this
direction lies the ultimate though very difficult
and slow solution of our problem of getting
better films and protecting American ideals,

C. C. M.

Film Reviews

(By Dr. Marshall personally)

If Winter Comes (12 reels) (Fox Film Corp.)
This extraordinarily faithful and serious pic-
turization of Hutchinson's popular story de-
parts from the book in scarcely a detail. It is
doubtful if this integrity has ever been equalled.
The atmosphere of the novel has been captured
and held throughout. Those who liked the
book will certainly be held spellbound by the
film. Few pictures so richly deserve a place
in a week night program for all over twelve.
Those using other than distinctively religious
pictures on Sunday evenings will find this one
of the very best. The production of a dozen
such pictures in a year would mark an epoch
in motion picture history. {See also page 454.)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (10 reels)
(Universal Films). A monumental picturiza-

ian mobs, with their clash with aristocracy,
their ever increasing resentment at being
treated as brutes, are portrayed most vividly.
Lon Chaney as the Hunchback lingers in the
memory for days. This picture has great merit
realistically and historically. There are many
harrowing scenes which, however, it is prac-
tically impossible to cut. Appropriate for adults
only.

Why Worry? (6 reels) (Pathe). A Harold
Lloyd comedy. The immensely rich young
Harold Van Pelham, as a chronic invalid, seeks
heahh in some Central or South American
country. He does not know he has chosen a
land of "a revolution a day." The new revolu-
tion starts just as he, his beautiful nurse and
his secretary are coming from the pier to the
hotel, but he does not recognize it as a revolu-

tion of Victor Hugo's masterpiece. The Paris

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

458

Pictures and the Church

The Educational Scre^

\

The New
STILL-
PICTURE
Shutter

On the

ZENITH

Motion Picture
Projector

Makes it possible to stop fo'
a still picture any time, without
danger of injuring the film.

The Zenith is especially adapted for schools, churches and simila''
institutions, industrial concerns, railway and steamship companies,
and all others with whom clear, steady, flickcrless projection is im-
portant. and portability is an advantage.

Elquipped with Mazda lamp and with motor, both adaptable to
any standard lighting current. May be had with or without stere-
opticoa for showing slides or views. Stereopticon quickly and easily
attached or detached.

The Zenith produces sharp and clear pictures up to 1 00 feet and
over. Uses standard films only. The selection of standard films is
almost unlimited.

Simple and easy to operate. Light in weight, less than 60 lbs.
Dependable, adaptable, sturdy and established. Endorsed by users;
guaranteed. The moderate price appeals to those who desire dura-
ble and standard equipment at reasonable cost. Send for il-
lustrative and descriptive booklet. No obligation.

SAFETY PROJECTOR COMPANY

310-A West Second Street Duluth, Minn.

tion — at least not at first. He rather mistakes
it for a welcoming committee, and is quite
overwhelmed. He is mistaken for a spy. The
plot thickens in a truly absurd way, and every
new adventure is given the truly Lloyd turn.
There is rollicking fun aplenty. Inspect for
cuts. {See also page 450.)

Potash and Perhnutter. (8 reels) (First Na-
tional). Barney Bernard and Alexander Carr,
who immortalized Potash and Perlmutter on
the stage, appear in the film, and one can
scarcely believe he is not looking at "flesh and
blood men." Their screen work is not one
whit less captivating. It seems almost impos-
sible that so much of the humor and pathos
of the play has been caught in the film. Care-
ful inspection for several cuts is recommended.
It is unfortunate that a film of such rare merit
should require inspection at all.

{See also page 431.)

Three Ages. (6 reels) (Metro Pictures
Corp.). A Buster Keaton comedy. Three par-
allel stories of a wooer's tragedies, one of the
stone age, one of the Roman Empire and one
of the present day, are presented. First a chap-
ter in the affairs of the stone age hero is pic-
tured, then a corresponding chapter of Rome
and then one of the present. For the most part
Please Write to Advertisers and

National Pictures Academy

presents

The Cricket on the Hearth and Our Mu-
tual Friend, two of Charles Dickens'
famous stories; The Prince and the Pau-
per, by Mark Twain; The Headless
Horseman, by Washington Irving;

and
Cardigan, The Bohemian Girl, Jane Eyre,
Timothy's Quest, The Heart of Maryland,
Welcome Children, Muggsy, The Italian
(with George Beban), Quo Vadis.

Have you seen

A COMMON LEVEL

(6 Reds)

An historical masterpiece, with a moral.
Thousands of horses, great mob scenes.
Showing the battle of Attila, the Hun,
with the Gauls and Romans. A picture
for every school and church.

National Pictures Academy

{Exclusively Non-Theatrical)

94 Wisconsin Street MILWAUKEE, WIS.

FREE FILM LIST

this borders upon slapstick comedy but there
are many ludicrous incidents. Appropriate only
for entertainment of the lightest vein. Inspect
for cuts.

Watch My Smoke. (5 reels) (Fox Film
Corp.). A typical Tom Mix story of ranch
life, with the usual number of thrills, and
plenty of "stunts" by his wonderful horse,
Tony.

Scaramouche. (10 reels) (Metro Pictures
Corp.). A very wonderful picturization of Ra-
fael Sabatini's famous novel of the French
Revolution. Very vivid and realistic but not
as harrowing as most pictures " dealing with
kindred subjects. Not very appropriate for
children. {See also page 454.)

The Green Goddess. (9 reels) (Distinctive
Pictures Corp.). George Arliss and Alice Joyce.
From the successful stage production. A thrill-
ing drama in the little kingdom of Rukh in
the Himalayas, in which a British physician, a
major of the army and his wife become the
unwilling guests of the rajah, and are to be
executed as revenge for the execution of the
rajah's brothers by the Government. Like all
Arliss pictures this one has much merit. Not
appropriate for children. Inspect for possible
cuts.

Lest We Forget. (5 reels) (Plymouth Film \
Mention The Educational Screen

November, 1923

Pictures and the Church

459

ADVENTURING

WITH THE COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

A six-reel story of Life, Travel and Adventure which takes the student from
the United States to the Tropics of Central America.
Fishing Hunting Sports

Harpooning Sea Monsters Indian Life

Scenic Wonders Wild Bird Life

Terrapin Farming Mountain Climbing

Native Industries Historical Places

Not a dull moment in the six reels.
Highly instructive.
Single reel films of our own make now ready for distribution.
Sugar Industry of Central America Banana Industry

Coffee Industry The Maya of Today

Life as Others Lead It Still Waters

When the Earth Rocks No H. C. L. Here

And many other subjects of from one to five
reels. Complete synopsis of any film on request.

Bookings anywhere in the U. S.

COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

Headquarters P. O. Box 1662

306-7-8 Townley Bldg. Miami, Fla.

Corp.). A frankly advertised propaganda film
for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment.
The scenario was written by Dr. James K.
Shields, Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon
League of New Jersey and produced under his
immediate supervision. Dr. Shields is author
of The Stream of Life and A Maker of Men.
The story holds the attention from first to last,
and the picture will be exceedingly helpful in
every community where it is shown in the
creation of a sentiment and demand for law
enforcement. An excellent picture for a Sun-
day evening service, or for any occasion.

Columbus. (4 reels) (Pathe Exchange, Inc.).
This is the first of the thirty-odd Photoplays
of American History produced by the Yale
University Press. A board .of historians and
educators appointed by the Council's Commit-
tee of Yale University and assisted by distin-
guished historical specialists, is responsible for
the historical accuracy of all these photoplays.
The adventures of Columbus are vividly por-
trayed throughout the long years of seeking
"for a patron at the courts of Portugal and
Spain, and through the long and discouraging
journey till he and his men set foot upon the
shore of the New World and claim it for God
_and Spain.

Jamestown. (4 reels) (Pathe Exchange,
Inc.). This is the second release of the Pho-
toplays of American History produced by the
Yale University Press. The first permanent Eng-
glish settlement in America becomes a living real-
ity after one has seen this picture.

Note

PHOTOPLAYS of American History. Over
thirty of these photoplays, ranging from
two to four reels, are being made by the Yale
University Press. Two have already been re-
leased, and the others will be released one a
month. A board of historians and educators
appointed by the Council's Committee of Yale
University and assisted by distinguished his-
torical specialists, is responsible for the his-
torical accuracy of all these photoplays, and
not one scene is reproduced which is not his-
torically accurate. This is by far the most
ambitious educational program ever attempted
in motion pictures, and it promises to advance
the educational development of pictures many
years. The first two releases fully live up to
the promises made. The pictures are not only
educational but also entertaining in the highest
degree. C. C M.

Mention The Educational Screen

460

'Ilw Educal'wtial Screen

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough *

Difficulties

VISUAL instruction, in many an institu-
tion, owes its beginnings to the enthusi-
asm and effort of one individual — or at
best a small group of individuals, who by their
demonstration of the effectiveness of the
method, little by little win the support and
confidence of others, and the necessary backing
from the governing body to insure the spread
and extension of the practice.

The pioneering stage safely passed, it has
been the experience of many that there are
even more serious difficulties ahead, which
must be guarded against, if the newly accepted
program be not jeopardized nor its normal
growth retarded. We take the liberty of quot-
ing, rather freely, from several communica-
tions received during the last few months,
which give voice to the experience of many
in similar situations. The writer says:

"Ten or eleven years ago I began slide work
in my own classes, using my own Radiopticon.
The college now has three or four stereopti-
cons, and we are pushing and practicing visual
instruction through films and slides in class-
room and chapel for instruction and entertain-
ment. In addition, we are showing entertain-
ing and instructive films to more than 200
college boys every Saturday evening and thus
keeping them off the streets. But our plans
are handicapped seriously by carelessness and
almost misrepresentation by some dealers in
motion picture projectors and by some film
exchanges."

Nor is this an isolated complaint. Too often
the confidence of the schoolman in the dealer
on whom he must rely, proves to be misplaced.
A business, organized to deal with the the-
atrical field, finds itself suddenly in possession
of a new market for its product. In too many
cases, the only thought seems to be to exploit
this new, rich and unexpectedly promising
field, and altogether too seldom is there mani-
fest a real effort honestly to understand its
problems and serve its needs. In many cases
the exchange man, by virtue of his experience
with the theatrical field, is totally unable to

get the viewpoint of the non-theatrical exhib-
itor.

In some of the larger cities, where there are
numerous film exchanges, the problem is per-
haps simpler, for then there are opportunities
to deal personally with those who handle equip-
ment and films, and there are greater chances
to know and see for oneself. But in the smaller
centers — and many college communities fall
into this class — the pioneering schoolman must
rely upon the "paper promises" of the ex-
changeman. The latter little understands the
viewpoint of the institution, and perhaps cares
not, so long as his rental price is assured.

The same correspondent writes further as
follows:

'T may be a prude, but T think the college
has no business with the motion picture, unless
it selects an ideal and plan different from that
of the theatre. It is of course self-evident that
only the schoolman can plan and direct the
contents of the strictly educational film, espe-
cially the film that accompanies the classroom
work. But also the recreational film shown in
the college or school must have a much higher
moral than is tolerated in the theatre. One
(improper scene in a picture shown under the
auspices of a college faculty will compromise
the efforts of the faculty very seriously. Wc
found that out the other night, when we
received a comedy and a feature film from a
film exchange which prints all over its litera-
ture that it has the correct viewpoint of the
church and college, and its films are guaran-
teed to be morally safe, absolutely. The fea-
ture was based on drunkenness and showed :i
lot of unnecessary scenes. The comedy was
still worse. ... I realize of course that
two dozen persons would not agree exactly on
the moral quality of a specified group of films.
But there are fundamentals on which most
schoolmen agree.

"The exchanges which furnish the films
should become more familiar with the stand-
ards of the different types of non-theatrical

November, 1923

School Department

4(51

The BEST way to challenge the interest of the student in the important events of the day— the

Pathe Current Events Course

based upon the

PATHE NEWS

The step from indiflference to enthusiasm becomes easy when you link up class-work
in history with the screening of the most important political, social, national and inter-
national events shown regt^larly in the Pathe News.

The Course has received* the endorsement of prominent educators. It is being con-
stantly used in important school systems.

Pathe Nezvs will he leased to educational, social and religious institutions on con-
tract for a period of from six months to one year. Special service in connection with the
Course.

For booklet and full information address

Educational Department

PATHE EXCHANGE, INC.

35 W. 45th St., New York
Exchanges in 35 Cities of the United States

institutions showing pictures, in respect to
morals, taste, strength of plot, and physical
condition of the film, so that a guarantee stands
lor something worth while."

Again, perhaps the non-theatrical exhibitor
will discover theatrical films he would be glad
to show — only to find that he comes into con-
tact with the local theatre manager who re-
sents his intrusion into the entertainment field.
In some cases the local theatre makes con-
tracts with the distributing company for ex-
clusive use of all films which the exchange
controls. Unfair, obviously since the school
or church should certainly have the privilege
of using material after the theatre has had its
runs. Schools generally recognize the fact that
the distributing organization must get its "first
run" prices, and the revenue from subsequent
theatrical bookings, to cover production costs.
The worth of most films to the theatrical field,
however, is a matter of "newness" — with which
the school field is very little concerned. Since
the non-theatrical exhibitor is willing to wait
until films have enjoyed a reasonable period of
theatrical runs in his territory, is it fair to all
concerned, to shut him out altogether?

Please Write to Advertisers and

These are some of the fundamental problems
which must be solved if the development of the
non-theatrical field is to be anything but slow
and difficult. And the solution is two-fold.
The school user of materials must familiarize
himself with the field, must appreciate the prob-
lems of the producer, and be able to choose the
best out of the mass of available subjects,
thereby indicating his approval of a certain
type and kind of thing. Too much cannot be
said to urge the present necessity of pre-view-
ing — even after one is satisfied as to the general
wholesomeness of a subject — to guard against
small lapses, while judicious cutting will
remedy to the entire satisfaction of everj'one
concerned.

Among the producers there are many signs
which indicate an effort to study the needs of
the non-theatrical field. The organization of
"Educational Departments" whose business it
is to edit material especially for school use, and
the development of the exclusively non-the-
atrical distributing organization, are factors in
the situation which give signs of promise.

M. E. G.

Mention The Educational Screen

162

The Educational Screen

Film Reviews

TRAVEL AND SCENIC

Old New York (1 reel) (Vitagraph) (Kineto)
— To one who knows New York City, this reel
will be a delight — picturing as it does, the char-
acteristic scenes in the New York of forty or
fifty years ago, in contrast with the familiar
city of today. For those who regard the city
as interesting merely because it is our greatest,
it tells the story of amazing growth within a
few decades, transforming a town into the tow-
ering metropolis of today.

One is tempted to list in detail the various
contrasts which the reel aflfords, in bringing
to view early and modern landmarks. Bowl-
ing Green is shown a quarter century ago —
and now. The old Dutch mill which stood at
the corner of Cortland and Broadway in 1723
is a strange contrast to the skyscrapers which
border the present street; Park Row fifty years
ago bears little resemblance to the present site
of the World Building; the Fifth Avenue of
a generation ago is a leisurely looking thor-
oughfare, and the old horsecars — recent enough
to be remembered by many of the older gen-
eration of New Yorkers — appear strangely
primitive beside our modern street and ele-
vated cars.

One of the most surprising views of the reel
is that which shows the reservoir on 42nd
Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, from
which once came the city's water supply, on
the site now occupied by Bryant Park and the
New York Public Library. The city's amaz-
ing uptown growth is indicated by the con-
trast between the old "Shanty town" in the
neighborhood of 100th Street, and the present
district of imposing apartments. But with all
these evidences of change, one sight remains
as it always was — the glow of the sunset over
the Hudson.

The early views are, obviously, made from
still photographs, but they are done exceedingly
well, and one's attention is never distracted by
poor quality in photography which so often
marks such efforts at reproduction. An enter-
taining and thoroughly instructive reel.

The Crystal Ascension (2 reels) (Pathe)— A
Kiser Artfilm, devoted to a succession of views
of Mt. Hood and its glaciers — the "Crystal Sen-
tinel of the Oregon Cascades."

It is the story of a day with a mountain
climbing party who set out to explore the

snowfields. Much of the footage is devoted to
the climb, and the difficulties encountered, but
there are also many excellent views of the
mountain itself and its glacier — the face, the
surface of the ice, the moraines and some of
the strange ice formations. A ranger's cabin
is visited on the way, and the party returns at
evening to the lodge.

Truly, genuine Alpine scenery is to be found
much nearer home than Switzerland, and plenty
of the thrills of mountain climbing wait at our
very doors. The reel gives an excellent idea
of a mountain glacier and the structure of
glacier ice.

When the Earth Rocks (1 reel) (Cosmopoli-
tan Expedition) — Filmed in Guatemala, where
earthquakes are frequent. Their disastrous re-
sults are distressingly evident in the ruins of
the city which furnishes some seemingly act-
ual scenes of a quake — swaying buildings, in-
habitants in flight, heaps of debris where had
stood stately public buildings, with only an oc-
casional wall and panel spared to stand up-
right amid the ruin.

A serious problem in such a catastrophe is
the provisioning of the city. Scenes show food
being brought in by ox team, and tents for the
refugees are set up by the American Red Cross.
Later views show some of the work of remov-
ing the debris and dumping it from cars.

Hampered by some poor photography, a
rather monotonous sequence, and the "staged"
effect of some of the scenes, it is nevertheless
a convincing enough picture of the devastation
which follows such an upheaval.

.Land of the Zuider Zee (1 reel) (Castle
Films)— Photographed for the most part o:i
the island of Markham, where old Dutch char-
acteristics are perhaps best preserved, the reel
contains some charming scenes of Holland's
canals — an artistic as well as useful feature of
the country — and the neat little houses on the
canal banks, the peculiar canal boats, the peo-
ple in their quaint native costumes, and par-
ticularly the typical Dutch water carrier, dip-
ping buckets full an<i hanging them on tlio
yoke over her shoulders.

Markham houses are built below the street
level, and the people still follow the customs
of their forefathers, removing their wooden
shoes before entering the house.

Fishing boats— a veritable forest of masts-
are eloquent of the chief occupation of the pen

Nozfcjnber, jg2S

School Department

463

Perfect Slide Projection— for
Class Room or Auditorium

The Model BB Balopticon gives the most pleasing dissolving effects, one
picture blending with the next — the best way to show slides.

It is virtually two lanterns in
one, yet is very compact and has
no complicated adjustments.
Equipped with two powerful
Mazda lamps, it is entirely silent
and automatic in operation, and
works on any regular lighting socket.

Ask your dealer or write us for complete description

Bausch ^ Jpmb Optical (o.

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO ROCHESTER. N. Y. London

pic, and a glimpse is given of Holland's wind-
mills, still picturesque, although their useful-
ness is less than formerly — other means of gen-
erating power having taken their place.

It is safe to say that the reel, with all its
excellence of photography, could have been still
more effective if the incongruous automobile
l:ad been kept out of the picture. Why it was
allowed to dominate the quaint old-country
scenes is hard to fathom. Is there nothing
which could be left true and natural, and es-
cape the inevitable "modern" touch?

The Maya of Today (1 reel) (Cosmopolitan
Expedition) — Like the coolie of China, these
Maya Indians are the burden bearers of Central
American — living as their ancestors did cen-
turies ago. In this reel they are shown bearing
huge loads, which it is said they carry long
distances — as much as thirty miles a day over
.rough roads, pausing only occasionally to rest,
then lifting their cumbersome loads and resum-
ing the march. Children are trained from their
early years to carry loads, to lift and balance
them.

The road leading to the city on market day
shows whole families journeying, pack animals
as well as human burden bearers carrying a

great variety of produce and the products of
their crude industries and arts — all destined for
the market place, which is interestingly shown
with its crudely covered stalls.

Public wash houses are a feature of this
market town, offering facilities eagerly made
use of, for washing clothes and for bathing.

Some beautiful glimpses of the country ap-
pear here and there through the reel, some of
which might be more effective if they were
not so deeply tinted that details become ob-
scure. On the whole, however, an admirable-
study of a native people engaged in their char-
acteristic occupations.

SCIENCE

The Cuckcx)'s Secret (1 reel) (Bray)—
Thanks to the work of an English scientist, Mr.
Edgar Chance, the life history of the cuckoo
has been discovered and completely photo-
graphed. Every Spring the bird returns to
England, and although it has been known that
the cuckoo builds no nest, the secret of how
the young are reared has never been completely
revealed.

Now it appears that the bird shirks the duties

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen '

464

School Department

The Ediuational Screen

of motherhood by depositing her eggs, one to
a nest, in the nests of other birds— but in re-
sponse to some strange instinct, as in the case
of the unconscious subject of this photographic
experiment, she choose a nest of birds belong-
ing to the same species as those by whom she
was reared.

The scientists are showm erecting a cage of
greenery in the field to serve as a blind from
which to photograph proceedings. Some re-
markable shots show the httle titlarks protest-
ing vigorously but futilely at the invasion of
the cuckoo, which, taking one of the titlark's
eggs in her beak, lays her own in its place and
flies off to a nearby tree to devour the stolen
egg. Forty-eight hours later, she is caught by
the camera in the act of laying an tgg in an-
other nest, repeating the process— if the count
in the film is correct, twenty-one times in the
course of the season.

A good close view shows the eggs in the
nest of the titlark, the t^^ of the cuckoo con-
siderably larger than the others. It hatches in
twelve days, and the foster parents care for the
strange fledghng, apparently unconscious that
it is not their own. Splendid views show the
nest and the young being fed, the feedin??
duties being assumed equally by both parents.

When only three days old, and still blind,
the young cuckoo works to eject the unhatched
eggs from the nest, and treats the young tit-
larks that have been hatched in the same man-
ner, until finally the young usurper is in sole
possession of the nest, demanding to be fed
even after it has learned to fly. A most un-
usual view shows the cuckoo, now nearly full
grown and several times the size of the titlark,
still being fed by the mother bird who lights
on the baby's back to drop the choice morsels
in the greedy mouth.

Certainly a most interesting subject for cam-
era work, and a revelation in picture form of
the life history of this strange bird.

The Spider (l reel) (Educational Films)—
Great were the expectations of splendid results
in an educational way when it was announced
that there had been developed by Louis Tol-
hurst, a microphotography with the aid of an
intense light of great brilhancy, but practically
devoid of heat, all of which would allow normal
activity of the tiny subjects while being photo-
graphed. And in the two subjects here re-
viewed, there is evident promise of great ac-
complishments by the process— though these

reels themselves, as they have been handled, do
not make full use of their splendid opportu-
nities.

Much footage is expended at the first in
vindicating the spider— justifiable perhaps with
a theatrical audience, but hardly necessary to
the student of nature. Splendid views are
given of the e^S and the nest, and the tiny
spiders clawing their way out.

To demonstrate the spinning ability of the
tiny subject, the photographer devised a clever
spinning wheel, on which the spider, while held
tightly is forced to wind a thread. In this
fashion 280 feet of silk are spun in less than
two minutes, from the spinnerets which are
interestingly photographed in closeup. The
thread of silk, highly magnified, is shown in
comparison with a human hair.

Excellent views give a close-up of the fore-
legs, under microscope, as well as the jaws
and several profile portraits to show various
groups of the spider's eight eyes.

The manner of walking the web is seen, and
the spider's usefulness is demonstrated in rid-
ding the world of numbers of flies which are
shown to be disease carriers.

With such possibilities, it is a matter of no
small regret that the producers have automat-
ically eliminated themselves from the educa-
tional field with the injection of such title
material as, for example, "The spider's habit
of laying many eggs is earnestly recommended
to the hen;" "Having no mother to guide them,
they dine upon each other;" and "Her multiple
eye gets a multiple eyefull." Entertaining—
perhaps — but there must be business of reor-
ganizing, if the reels are to be available for
serious use.

The Ant (1 reel) (Educational Films)— An-
other of the Secrets of Life series, made pos-
sible by Tolhurst's "cold light" microphotog-
raphy.

The underground passages below the ant
hill are most interestingly shown, with the
workers digging feverishly to remove debris.
The head of the ant is magnified to bring '
view its peculiar structure, and splendid clos
ups demonstrate the ant's lifting power. R.
markable "team work" characterizes their ai
tivity, and astonishing loads are pushed and
pulled with seemingly little trouble.

Ant eggs furnish a novel subject for {\w
camera, and the eggs hatch to larvae which in
turn develop into the pupa stage, shown

November, 1923

School Department

4«;

"Pictures Speak a Universal Language"

Modern educators stress the
Importance of Pupil Activity.

The stereograph and lantern
slide encourage Pupil Activity.

Keystone complete sets, fully
Indexed, meet the demands of
Modern Educators.

There is a Keystone Representative
in your district who is a trained ex-
pert in Visual Education.

Write today

KEYSTONE VIEW CO.

Incorporated Meadville, Pa.

Keystone has purchased the Stereoscopic
and Lantern Slide Department of Underwood
& Underwood.

greatly magnified. The dark spot is pointed
out as the developing eye, which is seen to be
compound in structure, like the fly's, and no
doubt extremely defective in vision.

Queens and drones, both winged, are photo-
graphed— and for some reason or other, there
is also pictured the parasite of the ant.

A crane is devised to test the strength of the
ant by fastening a wire around its waist, and
causing it to lift a little pole, as tall to him,
however, as the Woolworth building to a man.

Here again, the common mistake of an over-
ambitious effort to be entertaining as follows:
"It will not surprise the cynical to learn that
the jaws of the female are more powerful than
the male." And again, when the little ant is
forced to lift the weight or be torn asunder,
he once misses his hold, and the title writer
exclaims, "Is it too much for the ant, or did
the noon whistle blow?"

Is the level of intelligence of the average
audience so low, or its appetite so jaded, that
it cannot be counted upon to appreciate the
wonders of the animal world honestly and scien-
tifically presented? The attitude of the edu-
cator toward such a presentation of material
is so obvious as to need no comment.

Please Write to Advertisers and

Nature's Handiwork (1 reel) (Vitagraph
(Kineto)— A collection of remarkable views
showing various phases in the life story of
caterpillars, moths and butterflies. The eggs
of Lepidoptera are first photographed, then
caterpillars of Vanessa are seen feeding on
nettle and spinning a thread from the mouth to
the food plant, to guard against an accidental
fall. The Clothes-moth Caterpillar is pictured
in his peculiar tube made from remnants of
destroyed cloth, and the caterpillars of the
Thorn Moth alTord a surprising example of
mimicry when resting, being quite undistin-
guishable from the twigs which form their
support.

Other caterpillars are interestingly shown,
with their beautiful markings; and the exact
method by which a caterpillar carves a leaf
becomes perfectly apparent in close view.

Among many excellent features of the reel,
not the least notable is the record of the chang-
ing of the Peacock Caterpillar into the chrys-
alis stage, and shedding its cast-off skin. Later
the Peacock Butterfly emerges, and the camera
records the process in its entirety, showing
also the butterfly's developing wings, and, un-

Mention The Educational Screen

466

School Department

The Edu-cational Screen

EXTRA

The accompanying- slide sets are three of the most sensational and popular slide sets in the DeVry
Library. They have been commended by slide users the country over.

JAPAN IN BfeAUTY AND DESOLATION

The beauty of Japanese life and landsc3.pes— a subject brim full of romance— augmented by numerous
photographs of the recent earthquake disaster. This set consists of fifty-four beautifully hand colored
slides. Pictures of the earthquake are adtual photographs and the lecture which accompanies them is
based on the accounts of eye witnesses and government reports.
RENTAL PRICE $5.00 SALE PRICE $75.00

"TUT-ANKH-AMEN AND THE DUST OF EGYPT'S KINGS**

• J 1^- ^V *^^ *""** popular of all slide sets last season, the popularity of this set bids fair to be
mdefinitely extended. Contaming a large number of the actual photographs taken by the Earl of Car-
navon, the set will be kept up to date as further epccavations progress under the direction of Howard
^^''ter. Ihis set consists of sixty hand colored slides and contains exclusive pictures of the ante-chambers
to King Tut s Tomb and an actual plan of the underground tomb.
RENTAL PRICE $5.00 SALE PRICE $75.00

THE PASSION PLAY OF OBERAMMERGAU (1922)

, Produced from the authentic pictures of the 1922 Passion Play obtained by Mr. H. A. DeVry on his
J^^«™!''''*r^i /^-^ .'^ ^ ^'■"^ reproduction of the Passion Play as acted in the little town of Ober-

l^^JSl: 1 J^ ^ ^'"' '"''''^ unpression can be given of this beautiful set. It consists of sixty slides
and Fnlp. .^^In^ ¥ ^'^'^oPjP^^'^d vyith lecture Reservations are now being made for tlie Christmas
D^M^Aw nn^ ° avoid disappointment, order now.

RENTAL PRICE $5.00

For further information on compleU list of slides,
films, stereopticons or motion picture machines write

SALE PRICE $75.00

The DeVry Circulations

Department **A**

1111 Center Street -Chicago, Illinois

der the microscope, the scales which are re-
sponsible for their pattern and color.

To the Nature Study class, the last section
of the reel will be of particular interest, show-
ing as it does the eye of the butterfly under
the microscope, and the structure of the head,
with its clubbed antennae and spiral tongue,
at the tip of which may be seen the organs of
taste. The tongue is shown to consist of two
separate parts, when the butterfly emerges,
the two being almost immediately joined (as
two brushes might be struck together, their
bristles interlocking) to make an airtight tube.

No particular sequence is followed in the
reel, but it contains abundant valuable material
for classroom showing in* connection with a
study of the subject. To a general audience
it should be no less fascinating, and would
serve as an excellent number on an entertain-
ment program.

Einstedn*s Theory of Relativity (2 reels)
(Premier Productions) — A striking example of
the manner in which an abstract and some-
what complex scientific subject may be made
perfectly clear and understandable through the
illustrative medium of the motion picture and
the animated drawing. This popular version

is arranged and selected from a 4-reel scientific
presentation, and edited by Garrett Serviss.

In a lengthy introduction, Einstein's theory
is declared to be built upon the same scientific
laws which have been applied to make the
marvels of yesterday (the automobile, the
steam engine, great bridges, huge skyscrapers,
the radio and the x-ray) the commonplaces of
today.

It is asserted that our senses are not always
infallible — as can be readily demonstrated in
the case of a pencil in a glass partly filled with
water, the line of the wood apparently broken
in the middle — or in the color of a circle which
appears white against a black background,
whereas against true white, it appears decid-
edly grey.

In the same way, our senses are confused in
the case of motion. A man on a boat pushing
against the land with a pole to propel the boat,
seemed to be moving forward in relation to
the boat, but in relation to the land, he is sta-
tionary. This illustration is cited as an in-
stance of the relativity of motion.

Changing our viewpoint to a position outside
the earth, direction on the earth is shown to be
merely relative — the ordinary up and down of
earth becoming meaningless in space. ExccU

November, 1923

School Department

467

You Must Have the
New Bass Catalog!

This new 52 page book is your
"X^ guide to correct buying in Motion
Picture Cameras, Projectors, and
Supplies, Price lowest. Quality
and Service as only Bass knows
how to give. Write or wire for your copy today.

BASS CAMERA COMPANY

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lent animated diagrams show the direction of
a falling ball dropped from a tower on the
earth, as the earth rotates, appearing (as we
see it from space) a curved line. Again, a
cannon ball shot straight up from the earth
and falhng again is seen to describe a perfect
semi-circle.

Motion and direction, therefore, are shown
to be relative. In like manner, size, speed and
time are demonstratd to be merely relative.
One of the most carefully done and especially
instructive portions of the subject deals^ with
the one speed— the speed of light— which is not
relative, but which travels under all conditions
at the settled rate of 186,000 miles per second.
The experiment shows two pistols on a revolv-
ing wheel both discharged at the same instant,
the upper bullet, shot with the turn of the
wheel, traveling faster than the one fired
against the turn, but the two flashes of light
travel iviih the same speed.

The unchanging speed of light shows that
time is not the same in different places— in
other words, time also is relative.

Some workings out of the theory are ex-
plained, as for instance, Einstein's assertion
that space is bent. Light rays are shown to
be bent when passing through space near a
body like the sun— which fact has necessitated
corrections of our telescopic observations. The
eclipse of 1919 is shown to have demonstrated
the truth of this part of Einstein's theory.

A particularly instructive subject, containing
valuable scientific material, but presented in
such a manner as to interest any audience.

HYGIENE

Sir Lacteus, the Good Milk Knight (2 reels)
(U. S. Department of Agriculture)— Not a new
subject, but deserving of mention because of
its having been made specially for children, be-
Please Write to Advertisers and

«MINU/A«

Portable Screens

INSURE HEALTHY EYES

Samples and literature upon request

MINUSA CINE SCREEN CO.
ST. LOUiS. MO.

longing, therefore, to a class of pictures of
which there are all too few.

It tells the story of Mary Strong, who de-
clares she is too old to drink milk, but who
sees in a dream the robber knight, Sir Dis-
ease, in his stronghold. Observing that his
stock of victims is becoming low, he sends out
his robbers, Coffee and Tea, to capture Mary.
She is carried off to a captive cell, but releases
a pigeon which carries word to her parents.
They appeal to Sir Lacteus, who pledges his
and and that of his knights, Sir Sugar, Sir Fat,
Sir Protein, and the others, who advance to the
rescue.

What follows is a rather naive contest, con-
suming considerable footage, between the rival
forces, during which Mary is of course rescued.
The lesson is further brought home by proces-
sions of children bearing mottoes on the value
of milk as an all-round food.

INDUSTRIAL

Where Jungle Meets the Sea (1 reel) (Cos-
mopolitan Expedition)— A picturization of the
banana industry of the Carribean countries, as
it is carried on in the heart of the jungle. The
banana, having no seed for planting, is propa-
gated by transplanting the roots, in each sec-
tion of which is an "eye." A native is shown
digging root, and planting in a section, deep
in the heart of the jungle. Clearing operations
follow, the huge manaca palm leaves bemg
used to build huts. A railroad spur is built
to connect the new farm with tlie main Ime.

Quite the most unusual feature of the reel is
its study of the cross-section- of the stalk of
the tree, showing the broad leaves curled
tightly around the heart of the plant, and the
bunch of fruit in the center, which gradually

Mention The Educational Screen

1

School Department

The Educational Screen

VlCTOKPortdhh
STEREOPTICON

THE

PERFECT

LANTERN SLIDE

PROJECTOR

SHIPPED ON AFPRCVAL
THOUSANDS OT SLIDES FOR
REirrORFORaALX

works it way upward. A view of the top of
the tree shows the head emerging.
• Cutting the bunches requires considerable
skill, that the fruit may not be injured — after
which the bunches are slung over the back of
burros and carried to tram cars. They are fol-
lowed on the journey by way of the pick-up
train to the port where they are loaded by con-
veyors into the ship's hold.

A logical and well-developed presentation,
well adapted for school showing.

The Stereopticon in the Classroom

{Concluded from page 436)
More pictures will be used at one time than
should be used in either of the other two
t3^pes. In fact, all those covering a given
unit may be used in a period. A good plan
is to distribute the slides through the entire
class and, after allowing a few minutes for
study, to collect and arrange in proper or-
der. Then, as each picture is shown, the
pupils in turn make their contributions to
the topic, the teacher asks a question or
makes a comment now and then to bring
out essential points or to preserve the con-
tinuity of the review. Pupil expression is
the aim in the review lesson with the teacher
guiding and directing the result.

If the stereopticon is to find its most ef-
^rient use as a teaching aid it is readily
seen from the above that both the machine
and the slides must be a part of the class-
room equipment, the stereopticon must be
ready for instant use; and the slides must
be organized to fit into the work of the
grade. Fortunately the cost of this equip-
ment is very low compared with the cost of
other school equipment. It is just as essen-
tial to good work as the textbooks, maps,
charts, and blackboards.

School Slides of Quality on All Subjects.

Many stock slides, also special slides made to order at
a very reasonable price.

W. C. BLI VEN

403 Lafayette Ave. Brooklyn, N.Y.

(Show Room 130 West 42nd Street, New York City, by Appointment)
Victor Stereopticians— Spot Lights— Motion Picture Machines

Approved Educational Films

{Concluded from page 443)
thirteen are now ready. Peasant family in
Europe, mother overcome" by excessive toil.
Uncle in United States sends letter urging them
to come to America, enclosing draft. They
gladly accept. Visions of life in the new coun-
try—the Father's visions, a happy home; the
children's, free candy, free gold, Indians. The
ocean trip, arrival in America. Work of wel-
fare organization shown. As the newly arrived
family try to find their way, one child pokes
fun at them, another thoughtfully assists them
to find the station and start on their railroad
journey to their Uncle.

Excellent teaching material. Story form well
handled and developed from child's viewpoint.
Produced in cooperation with school authori-
ties in Los Angeles. Has proven exceedingly
valuable when used in New York schools for
civics, oral and written English. Teacher's
Manual available. From 6th-9th school years.

Niagara Falls. (2 reels.) Producer and Dis-
tributor, Society for Visual Education, 80G
West Washington, Blvd., Chicago, 111.

Not merely the usual scenic on this subject.
l)ut also includes chalk drawings by Prof. At-
wood of Clark University, showing geological
formation, and excellent animated maps of the
Falls. Niagara River, Great Lakes. Map at
right angles to conventional position. Un-
usually valuable teaching material. Prints arc-
not always in good condition. U. S. Geography.
7th-8th years.

The Eternal Question. Producer. William
Park; Distributor, National Non-Theatrical
Motion Pictures, 130 W. 46th St., New York
City.

Visualizes the conception of a solar system
and of the earth as part of it. Helpful to as-
sist children to understand a difficult abstrac-
tion suited for physical geography in upper
elementary school or for science in high
school. Introductory lesson in a scries on the
solar system.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

November, 1923

Among the Producers

469

f;

Prof. Rob't McElroy.
Princeton University,
writes:

"I consider tlie
Trans-Lux Daylight
Picture Screen a
most important and
far-reaching inven-
tion as affecting ed-
ucation. It supplies
a very real need.
Every educational in-
stitution in the coun-
try ought to be
equipped wiUi these
screens."

^^^^^SE

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.
For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

TRAMS-LUX PAYLIGHT PICTURE SCREEN* INC
. 56 WIST44T2 ST, MIW YORK CITY

Carl E. Akeiey.
big game hunter and
Curator of the Amer-
ican Museum of Nat-
ural History, writes'.

'■The Trans-Lux
Daylight Screen Is a
wonder. . . 1 am get-
ting Infinitely finer
projection than I
have ever had with
any other screen.
Because of lU bril-
liancy, much smaller
pictures may be used
and this feature
alone makes a great
appeal to me."

Among the Producers

Wide Demand for Armistice Day Film

THE observance of Armistice Day and the
announcement that the United States is
about to join in an International Economic
Conference, recalls the ideals for which the
Great War was fought and for which so many
thousands gave their lives. Based on these
ideals is the feature picture, "Uncle Sam of
Freedom Ridge," which is being released by
National Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures, Inc.,
of New York.

The dramatic story of an old man's sacrifice
to end all wars, is stirringly told, picturized
from the book by Margaret Prescott Montague.
The scene is laid in Freedom Ridge, a little
town in the South Carolina mountains where
a veteran of the Civil War lives in peace and
happiness with his son and adopted daughter,
Roma, who are never tired of hearing his sto-
ries about the Grand Old Flag.

The townsfolk call the patriotic old man
"Uncle Sam" because of his resemblance to the
national character and because he didn't exactly
know "where his country left off and his God
began."

When the time came for the boy to follow
in his father's steps and answer his country's
call in a new war, his father and Roma, who
had learned to love him more than a sister,
gave him up with pride. From that time on.
Uncle Sam devoted himself heart and soul to
every patriotic rally. Dressed as his national
prototype, he was an important figure in tab-
leau and parade. While Roma, imbued with
his spirit, worked arduously for her sweet-
heart's cause.

One day from overseas came a fateful tele-
gram. Uncle Sam's cronies looked for a
stricken man, but he held his head high and
Please Write to Advertisers and

refused to be downhearted, continuing to give
what he could to his country's cause. Armis-
tice Day came and was hilariously celebrated
in the little Southern town. Then the people
settled down to a humdrum existence.

They took up pre-war ways in every sense.
The altruistic ideals that had inspired them
during the war were soon forgotten. Their

Helen Flint as "Rona" in "Uncle Sam of
Freedom Ridge"

petty, gossipy natures came to the fore again.
Uncle Sam's heart began to ache. He thought
of his dead boy. He thought of other boys and
what they had died for. He looked around him
and saw indifference and forgetfulness. He
grew morbid and one day while the sun was
still high, pulled Old Glory down from her
staff, wrapped her folds around him and quietly
passed on to join his boy.
Mention The Educational Screen

470

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

Interiors architecturally perfect built and
furnishings as correct and artistic as Holly-
wood's best, suggest possibilities for pho-
tographic studios.

Eastman School of Professional Photography
to Tour in 18 Reels

A SCHOOL of photography by motion
pictures! This is the latest innovation of
the Eastman Kodak Company. For years this
company has conducted a traveling school set
up at convenient centers to which professional
photographers were invited for instruction in
their own craft. To the photographers this
school was well known and on its visit to their
parish they shut up their own shops and trav-
eled to the town that had been selected for the
Eastman shop. It was an established riieans of
instruction, carried on at the expense of the
company, to which portrait artists and com-
mercial photographers who keep abreast of the
advance in "photographic methods, looked for-

ward with enthusiasm. At times the class reg-
istration ran as high as 1,500 and seldom less
than 250 attended its sessions.

This old school, while highly successful, had
limitations. It also entailed serious transporta-
tion difficulties, for an actual studio had to be
carried along and set up — a studio fully
equipped with lamps, screens, camera equip-
ment, developing outfit, chemicals, paper, film
and other paraphernalia, that practically filled
a good size express car. And at that it was
only an ordinary working studio — not the elab-
orate, elegant studio that might be and was
built at headquarters, photographed and sent
on its way to serve as a setting for the motion
picture demonstration. It was necessary also
to find a hall adapted to the indoor set-up, to
engage carpenters, electricians and mechanics
to put the studio together and light it. In the

A model studio, suggesting a livable interior
in which posing might be freed from con-
straint.

A model dark room, lighted to show pho-
tographers an ideal workroom.

face of these difficulties and limitations, how-
ever, the old school continued until another and
happier thought came. Why not put all this
instruction and demonstration into motion pic-
tures? Build one real model studio at head-
quarters, show what a photographic studio
might be from door knob to darkroom, pose
the models in it, demonstrate all the latest
tricks of lighting and posing; show developing,
printing, enlarging and retouching and present
the results without waste of time in formalities,
or the hitches that are inevitable in actual prac-
tice? This is what has been done and, in the
Motion Picture School of Photography, in 18
reels, the photographer may not only see more
actual sittings from a greater variety of sub-
jects than was possible under the old mcthod\i

November, 1923 ADVERTISEMENT 471

TEXT-FILMS

THAT PARALLEL STANDARD COURSES OF STUDY IN GEOGRAPHY,

NATURAL HISTORY, BIOLOGY, NATURE STUDY, CIVICS, LITERATURE & HISTORY

ALL ON NON-INFLAMMABLE FILM, STANDARD WIDTH

Prepared by experienced teachers in collaboration with educators
who are specialists in their respective lines. Made entertaining to
hold the pupils' interest but not in any way to subordinate peda-
gogical values, since they are primarily and foremost aids to teach-
ing. Standardized by actual teaching tests before approval by our
Educational Committee consisting of the following:

Dr. Philander P. Claxton Miss Marietta S. Higgins Dr. Chas. H. Gordon

(Former U. S. Com. of Educa- (Director of Geography Dept. (Head of Dept. of Geology and

tion. Supt. of Schools, Tulsa, and Visual Instruction, Board Geography, U. of Tenn.)

Okla.) of Education, Hackensack.NJ.

Read what Miss Rita Hochheimer, Assistant Director of Visual
Instruction, Board of Education, City of New York, says of a re-
cently released film :

/ thifik you are to he most heartily congratulated on your achievement in the production
of the text-film of New England. I consider this film an epoch-making achievement. So far
as my experience goes, it is the first film made for the use of geography classes that is not a
mere scenic, hut has back of it real insight into pedagogic principles and values. It seems to
me further that your constant use of the map and the animation used in producing it are two
points of intelligent and really striking excellence in your film.

Send for our Complete Catalog ES. of Text, Religious & Entertainment Films
NATIONAL NON - THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES, NC.

General Executive Offices— 130 West 46th Street, N. Y.

Boston, 454 Stuart St. New York Exchange,

Copley Motion Picture Service 130 West 46th St., 8th Floor

Chicago Distributors, Detroit, 159 E. EUizabeth St.

Pilgrim Photoplay Exchange Louis F. FUehman, M^r.

736 So. Wabash Ave., Bertram Willoughby, Mgr. Elmer C. Walker, Asst. Mgr.

Des Moines, 316 Locust St. Minneapolis, 306 Film Exchange Bldg.

E. F. Biddlc, Mgr. Francis D. White, Mgr.

Philadelphia, 918 Chestnut St.

Williams, Brown & Earle, Inc.

Branches at other points now being established.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

472

Among the Producers

The Educational Screen

Trans-Lux Daylight Screen on the Stage of thi Town Hall Theatre in New York City.

but \A ithout a moment's waste of time. All the
unimiortant action has been cut out. Models
have \ lew selected to give the greatest number
of ide..s in posing and lighting, and difficult
subjects as well as good ones — as photograph-
ers understand these terms — have been chosen
for the purpose. Interiors architecturally per-
fect and furnishings as correct and artistic as
any that come out of Hollywood suggest pos-
sibilities for photographic studios.

Lecturers accompany the pictures, explaining
in detail the whys and wherefores of each step
in the art of picture taking as demonstrated in
the picture themselves. The actual negatives
and prints from each demonstration are on
display as in the former school days, for the
photographer to study.

Some day, perhaps, the amateur will receive
his instruction in the same way — with motion
pictures to tell him how to select, pose, and
light his subjects to get best results. The first
step in this direction has been taken and along
with their entertainment, motion picture thea-
tres may soon combine real and joyous instruc-
tion in the world's favorite pastime.

Trans-Lux Daylight Picture Screen

THE Trans-Lux Daylight Picture Screen
enables pictures to be given in daylight or
in artificial light, and new fields for its useful-
ness are being discovered almost dailv. Motion

pictures on ships, which up to now have been
shown under great difficulty and very imper-
fectly, are being presented with as much accu-
racy and detail as in any good motion picture
theatre. On the world's largest ship, the Levia-
than, they almost gave up showing pictures oi
account of the difficulties they had, mainly hi
cause the height between the decks was noi
sufficient to enable the projector to be placec
so that the light could be thrown above the
heads of the audience. With the Trans-Lux
Daylight Screen the projector is placed behind
the screen, and thus obviates all this trouble.
Another interesting development is the use
made of a Trans-Lux Daylight Screen — 8 ft.
high by 4 ft. 8 in. wide — by a Boston Depart-
ment Store. They had a motion picture taken
of the fashion models walking downstairs.
These pictures were thrown on the screen, and
a footman was placed in front so that it looked
as if he were standing at the bottom of the
stairs. In this way it gave a very "alive" effect
to the whole picture and it created quite a mild
sensation, as it looked as if the models were
alive.

The National Health Council made ven
good use of the screen when they launched^
their nation-wide campaign for '^Better Health'
at the Town Hall Theatre on West 43rd St.,
New York City, on September 'Hst.

December, 1923 ^'^^

The Educational Screen

(Including MOVING PICTURE AGE)

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO
THE NEW INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION

Herbert E. Slaught, President Frederick J. Lane, Treasurer Nelsok L. Guxmb, Editor

Published every month except July and August Copyright, December, 1923, by The Educational Screen, Inc.

$1.50 a year Single Copies, 20 cents

Entered as Second Class Matter January 29, 1923, at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of March 8, 1879.

Vol. II NQ-^^

CONTENTS FOR DECEMBER

A Real Future for the Motion Picture ^'^'^

Bengt Berg

The Value of Pictures in the Teaching of History 478

Lillian W. Thompson

When Teachers Fail to Teach -^Sl

D. H. Mark ham

Official Department of the National Academy of Visual Instruction

Resolutions by Visual Education Association of Univ. of California 486

Official Department of The Visual Instruction Association of America

"Thumb Nail Sketches," (No. 7) An Excursion 488

Ernest L. Crandall

Approved List of Educational Films 491

By the V. I. A. Film Committee

The Theatrical Field. Conducted by Marguerite Orndorff

Discovering the Camera Man ^^^

Production Notes ^^^

Theatrical Film Reviews for December. 494

Reviewed Previously ^^^

Film Recommendations of the Parent-Teacher Associations 500

By Mrs. Charles E. Merriam, Chairman Better Films Committee

Pictures and the Church. Conducted by Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

Preaching with Motion Pictures ^^^

Film Reviews (^3; Dr. Marshall personally) ^^^

The School Department. Conducted by Marie Goodenough^

First of the "Chronicles of America"— Columbus ^^^

School Film Reviews

The Industrial Picture Field. Conducted by Homer V. Winn

"The Spirit of St. Louis" ^^^

Published by

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN, Inc.
5 SouthWabash Avenue 236 West 5Sth Street

^, . New York

Chicago

476

Advertisement

The Educational Screen

PROFESSIONAL PROJECTION FOR
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

MAZMLAMPS

NICHOLAS POWER COMPANY

EONA/ARO EARL, Rpjcsioeimt

N 1 N ETY Gold St. New Yor k . N . Y.

USED IN THOUSANDS OF THEATRES
SCHOOLS, COLLEGES and CHURCHES

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

December, 1923

477

A Real Future for the Motion Picture

Bengt
Kalmar,

EVERY large town in the world,
New York as Paris, Christiania as
Milan, should have its own cinema
theatre for all children between nine and
ninety years. This idea, in practical
form, came to me two years ago when I
was on an official mission on the Euro-
pean continent for the Swedish Govern-
ment. While in Monte Carlo, I discussed
it with the Duke of Monaco, whose in-
terest in science is well known all over
the world. To him I said :

"Through your metropolis stream
every year many educated, many rich
people from every corner of the globe;
people who have the power to do some-
thing for an ideal, to make tangible a
good idea. They come for pleasure, but
their interest cannot fail to be aroused by
your excellent work, the oceanographic
museum. Give those people this kind of
work in mobile form, through the most
fascinating medium of expression of our
time, the moving picture, the Cinema.

"Create in this metropohs of pleasure
one such theatre; give these hundreds
and thousands of people, who have in
them the desire for knowledge as well as
for pleasure, the very best that can be
produced today in films — oceanographi-
cal, ethnological, geographical, astronom-
ical, biological. Let them see every kind
of interesting nature film from every
quarter of the world. Then those whu
come to Monte Carlo will see and under-
stand your ideal and will take that ideal
with them, as a seed, to sow in the far-
away countries to which they return.
From this will then grow up, in every
large town in the world, — in New York
as in Yokohama, this kind of worth-while
theatre to which at the end of the day, or

Berg
Sweden

when there is time, fathers and mothers
can go with their small children, know-
ing that they will see something of both
interest and pleasure, without murder,
robbery or assault, but which shall at the
same time contain much information, and
shall not be boring."

The sudden death of the duke shortly-
after prevented the speedy realization of
his interest. HoAvever, I have since made
this suggestion to people with breadth of
vision in every country and metropolis
through which I have passed, and always
I have found keen interest and an appre-
ciation of the need for such a practical
measure.

This question of the better use of the
film is rapidly becoming one of interna-
tional interest, personal to every edu-
cated human being. Lord Walter Roths-
child is keen to have such a theatre
in London; in Sweden the matter is al-
ready under way. We must over the
world have many such, where thousands
of people who dislike sensational, emo-
tional films— false pictures of life— can
congregate.

New York is surely one of the places in
the world where this idea will first be
realized. Theatres for this purpose
should be the property of, be built and
supported by municipalities in exactly
the same way as are educational institu-
tions, schools, libraries, etc., and what is
of infinitely more import, they should be
subject to the same careful control as is
the health of the people.

Alcohol and drugs work havoc with the
health and morals of grown persons, but
this is as nothing when compared with
the havoc wrought in the mind of a child
whose first impressions during the for-

478

A Real Future for the Motion Picture The Educational Screen

mative years are false, exaggerated and
pernicious. Indeed, such impressions
may very well lead directly to those dis-
eases to which drugs and alcohol pander,
breaking, as is most assuredly the case,
the fine fibre of constructive, imaginative,
healthy thought, the first right of all chil-
dren. I should like to point out that con-
trol of such psychological matters per-
taining to the health of the youthful and
adolescent will go a long way toward
making unnecessary for them many of
the prohibitions with which we are sur-
rounded today.

The film is today such a potent factor,
has such an extraordinarily large share
in creating, for the growing generation,
their idea of life, that every efifort should
be made to develop its many-sided educa-
tional value. Merely placing good films
in the schools is not enough. It is a most
important question — one of the burning
questions of today — rapidly forcing its
own solution and development. The
question is not whether films shall be
placed in the schools, but how it shall be
done with t-lie least expense and, to the
children, the greatest possible harvest of

The Value of Pictures in

Lillian W.
Englezvood High

PICTURES are of value in teaching
history for several reasons. They in-
terest the pupils and so form a pleas-
ant introduction to each subject, giving that
atmosphere of enjoyment which is so valu-
able with High School pupils. They save
time. Many a subject can be presented efifec-
tively in a few minutes by means of pictures,
which would require, otherwise, hours of
reading. Pictures prevent misconceptions,
for if proper illustrations continually accom-

that fine thinking which is character- and
citizen-making.

The civilized countries of Europe are
ready, that is, their thought is ready for
this use of the film. Alas, that their finan-
cial burden is so great that it will be long
before this plan comes to fruition. It will
take some time also in America. Even
though the first important obstacle to the
free use of educational films is economic,
there is another equally, if not more,
serious — the fact that today we have so
small a fraction of films of fine quality in
comparison with what we need.

Without doubt we shall get this film,
more and better every day. Then we will
be able to cut away that which is bad,
meaning more than half of what we have
today. This is very necessary. Seriously,
we must think that every film which is
accepted for educational purposes is go-
ing to plant a definite point of view in
milHons of children's brains, that it is
most important to accept only the' best
and truest material with which to build
up our new generations. Children's
brains are beyond doubt the most price-
less thing that exists in the human world,
and for them nothing is too good.

the Teaching of History

Thompson
School, Chicago.

pany the lessons, pupils unconsciously get
correct notions which enable them to grasp
new material intelligently. Pictures are a
great aid to memory, for what is seen stays
with us, as a rule, better than what is merely
read.

But most important of all, pictures help
to reproduce the life of the past in the natu-
ral way. Life comes to us first as experi-
ence— then as reflection on that experience.
History must follow this method or serious

December, 1923

Value of Pictures in Teaching History

479

and unnecessary difficulties will be en-
countered. We should neither present an
experience without following it by due re-
flection, nor — least of all — should we at-
tempt to induce reflection when there is no
corresponding experience. You would find
difficulty in discussing traction problems
with a person who had never seen a street
car, a trolley, a conductor, or a motorman.
So, too, you will find needless difficulty in
discussing "feudalism" with a person who
has never seen a castle, a knight, or a feudal
ceremony; or "manors" with a person who
has never seen a villein, a serf village, or
fields divided into patchwork strips.

By pictures we can with ease turn back
the flight of time and live again in any pe-
riod or country we please. Take, for illus-
tration, the feudal period — though Rome or
early Germany or Cromwell's England, or
France at the Revolution would do quite as
well. Munro's A History of the Middle
Ages, or Webster's Early European His-
tory, 'or West's Modern History, or Tap-
pan's When Knights Were Bold, will give
you plans of manors, and interesting details
of the business and social life carried on in
them. Paul Lacroix' Manner^, Customs and
Dress during the Middle Ages, will furnish
you with manuscript pictures of manor life,
in which all the little intimate details of daily
experience are carefully shown by men to
whom they were commonplaces.

We can enter a big room in the manor
house and see a group of villeins getting
their orders for the days' work, tools in
hand, hats respectfully raised, eyes fixed on
the master who is seated in a handsome high
backed chair, on a dais, reading the day's
duties from a book which lies on a quaint
reading desk. The manor rolls, so hated
by the peasants, fill a book case and stuflf
a box under the master's seat. We can fol-
low these same serfs to their homes and to
their work. There, beside his rude, thatched
hut, stands a serf pounding grain in a heavy

earthen dish. Near him is the rude trough
in which his wife mixes the flour ; and there
she stands in front of the beehive oven into
which she has just thrust a loaf of bread
taken from the board at her side. The out-
door fireplace, the brook, the simple church,
the two-wheeled cart coming back from the
fields, complete this contemporary picture
of manor life. Another picture shows you
a serf beating acorns from a tree for his
razor-backed hogs, while another serf aims
a sling shot at a bird. Deer and rabbits look
longingly over the quaint medieval fence at
the crops within. You can see serfs digging,
ploughing, sharpening their scythes, spin-
ning, drinking, and grinding grain at the
mill.

When manor life has thus become an ex-
perience, you can take one of the Pennsyl-
vania Translations and Reprints (English
Memorial Documents) and study with ease
and intelligence the description of such a
manor as Alwalton, the duties of serfs as
set down in manor rolls, the quaint court
proceedings dealing with the Widow Mar-
garet and her troubles, or the prices of
medieval eggs, cheeses, and live stock. After
such a study, the effects of the Black Death
and the introduction of money on manor
life, the peasant rebellions, the enclosure
acts, the freeing of the serfs in Russia, or
modern agricultural problems in Roumania
will present few difficulties.

Town life is also easy to illustrate. Pic-
tures of Nuremberg, Rothenburg, Hilde-
sheim, Halberstadt, or Wismar will show
you the great gates, market places, town
halls, timber and plaster houses with over-
hanging stories, and narrow crooked streets
of old Hansa towns, not too much changed
since Columbus helped to ruin the Hanseatic
league. Lacroix will people these towns
with busy medieval workmen — masters,
journeymen and apprentices all hard at
work in tiny shops, or market women, sell-
ing and paying tolls in the market places.

I

480

Value of Pictures in Teaching History The Educational Screen

You can enter a fascinating barber shop
and see the master barber, comb on ear,
dagger in belt, trimming the locks of a cus-
tomer seated in a handsome chair, while the
towel warms on the charcoal brazier near
by. Across the room an apprentice is sham-
pooing another customer, who kneels on a
brick step and holds his soapy head under
a stream of water which pours through a
tap, from a bowl suspended above, into a
basin. You can see a master shoemaker sell-
ing his queer medieval shoes to a woman
who has set her basket on the counter, while
from the sidewalk he surveys doubtfully a
most unattractive pair of slippers. Back
of the master the journeyman and appren-
tice stitch away busily, their work table
between them. You can visit the dyer, the
armourer, the town tavern (with a gambling
brawl in full swing) , the tavern kitchen, and
the school. When a pupil has wandered
about the town and observed this busy
medieval life, you will have little trouble in
discussing with him the introduction of
machinery, the rise of trade unions, social-
ism, or Bolshevism and the factories in
Russia.

Many a subject that seems at first not
susceptible of illustration can really benefit
from pictures. Taxation in France under
the old regime becomes much clearer when
a class has looked at the little Trianon or
Fontainebleau, or Versailles, and has seen
Santerre's picture of the lovely duchess of
Burgoyne, or Nattier's charming portraits
of the daughters of Louis XV. Those lace
and jewel trimmed gowns, that exquisite
furniture, those huge buildings — whose
money paid for them? How did it get from
the hands that earned it to the hands that
spent it? Of what value was this money to
France? What did the taxed think of the
balls at Versailles?

Experience and reflection — there is the
secret of success in teaching history ; and
whatever helps to take our pupils out of

their own daily round into the life and
thought of other times broadens them and
makes them better able to cope with their
own problems as individuals and as citizens.

How can a teacher get these pictures?
If you can use lantern slides, such a large
collection as that of the Keystone View Co.,
Meadville, Pa., will give you endless mate-
rial, and there are many other firms dealing
in slides. The Earl Thompson Company,
Syracuse, N. Y., has a very comprehensive
collection of blue prints and slides, and will
send you a catalogue for fifteen cents. The
Photoglob Co., Zurich, Switzerland, has a
wonderful collection of colored photo-
graphs. Their General Photochrom Kata-
logue could, before the war, be obtained
from the Buch und Tractat — Gesellschaft,
Berlin W., Behrenstrasse 29, Germany, and
the price was then a quarter.

When they do not have what you want,
have slides made from pictures in books and
magazines. If you form the habit of watch-
ing such magazines as Century, Harper,
Scribner, Geographic or Travel, you will
find many valuable pictures. Foreign maga-
zines, at Koelling und Klappenbach's Chi-
cago, or at Stecherts', New York, give
many things not seen in American publica-
tions. Your friends will bring you illus-
trations, once they know you are collecting.
Any picture gallery you visit will furnish
you material.

But every slide, and every picture you
mount and admit to your collection should
pass three tests. First, it must be a "good"
picture technically. Second, it should illus-
trate some definite point in some definite
lesson you teach. Third, if it is not a photo-
graph, it should be most carefully studied
to see whether it passes the severest tests
for accuracy. Pictures are not expensive
to collect, or difficult to mount and cata-
logue. They pay many times for the trouble
they cost, in the trouble they save and the
pleasure they give. ^

December, 1923

481

When Teachers Fail to Teach

D. H. Markham,

Visaed Instruction Department,

University of Arkansas

TEACHING consists not in telling the
class something, but in having each
individual in the class do some think-
ing. The teaching may be said to be ef-
fective to the extent that the thinking leads
to doing. The teacher fails to teach unti^
there is some thinking and doing in the class.
The basis of all thinking is experience.
The greatest mistake that we make as teach-
ers is to expect expression from a child
who has had no experience with the mate-
rial we are discussing or whose experience
has been very shallow and unreal. The
cold storage idea of knowledge, that all vital
things a child needs to know are in the text
book, must pass if we are to develop think-
ers and doers. We know a thing, or fact,
if our experience with the thing or fact is
real and becomes a part of our living and
thinking.

We have a powerful instrument in teach-
ing which will give our pupils real vital
experiences and stimulate thought as noth-
ing else can. I refer to the third dimen-
sional picture as revealed by the stereo-
scope. The nearest thing we have to the
actual experience is the stereograph. Just
as a child turns to the dictionary or ency-
clopedia for information, so now they can
turn to the stereographs for a real expe-
rience through the third dimensional pic-
ture. It cannot be said that the child with
the most experiences is the best thinker,
but it can be said that that child is poten-
tially the best thinker, who has had the
most real experiences. Thinking is too
often thought of as cut off from experience
and capable of being developed in isola-
tion.

The stereograph is making teaching ef-

fective because it is making what the pupil
reads in his text book real to him. The
pupil is asked continually to give knowl-
edge of other men, second hand knowledge.
This knowledge is merely verbal, seldom
anything back of it. But the stereograph
accompanying the reading in history, geog-
raphy, science, etc., brings the child into a
living experience with the material in his
text. He gets the real truth about what he
is reading through the third dimensional
picture. What finer thing can be done for
a child than to have him feel that his school
experiences are the experiences of life, of
personal contact. We are teaching just to
the extent that we break down the barriers
between^ what the child experiences in his
travels, in his contact with the outside
world and the school room. The stereo-
scope makes the schoolroom a part of the
living, working world.

Accompanying every real experience that
the child has is an innate desire to relate
that experience. This is where the stereo-
graphs help in oral and written expression.
The stereoscope giving a real vital visual
experience to the child develops a feeling
of confidence and a desire to have others
share this experience. Self expression is
the natural result of such experience: co-
ercion is subjective, not objective. One of
the best methods of judging the effective-
ness of our teaching is by the type and
spontaneity of questions that come from our
pupils. If we fail to get any questions from
the class our teaching has failed. The lack
of questions means the lack of concrete
experiences and visualizations. The stereo-
scope will stimulate the pupil to ask ques-
{Concluded on page 499)

482

The Educational Screen

Use of Illustrations in Textbooks of History for

Secondary Schools

Mabel Williamson
Graduate School, University of Illinois

THE development of interest in visual
education has been well shown in the
amount, subject matter and placing
of illustrations in our secondary text-books.
A close examination of twenty-five History
text-books has given fruitful results which
go to prove this. All books listed are used
or have been used as class text books, not
for reference only. To make these results

most graphic and easily grasped they have!
been tabulated in five tables.

Table I was made to give an idea of the
amount of illustration used and to deter-
mine whether old or new texts have the
greater amount. The books are listed in
chronological order in order that one may
read down the list and see the development
made.

TABLE I

Date
Name of Text Published

1. History of England (Macaulay) 1S70

2. England (Hume) 1872

3. Beacon Lights of History (Lord) 1888

4. Ancient History (Rollin) 1890

5. Medieval Europe (Emerton) 1894

6. English History (Higginson & Channing) 1902

7. History of England (Andrews) 1903

8. Medieval & Modern History (Robinson) 1903

9. Essentials in Medieval & Modern History

(Harding) 1905

10. American History (Muzzey) 1911

11. Essentials in Early History (Howe) 1912

12. Ancient History (Mason) 1913

13. History of Europe (Robinson & Breasted) 1914

14. Outhnes of European History (Robinson &

Breasted) 1914

15. Modern World (West) 1915

16. American History (Woodbury & Moran) 1916

17. Essentials of Modern European History

(Knowlton & Howe) 1917

18. Modern European CiviHzation (Ashley) 1918

19. History of American People (Beard

& Bagley) 1918

20. History of American Nation (McLaughlin) 1919

21. United States History (Fite) 1919

22. Modern Europe (Hazen) 1920

23. Modern Progress (West) 1920

24. Early Progress (West) 1920

25. American Government (Magruder) 1921

Averages (all)
Averages (before 1915)
Averages (since 1915)

Number
of pages
in text

247

527

598

297

592

358

547

763

615
537
414
636

885

730
747
294

405
714

686
586
579
822
701
694
427

Number of

Illustrations

0

0

0

1

15

80

91

279

204
174
216
235
215

301
245
150

200
191

207
184
168
241
188
315
106

Percent of
illustrated
pages
0
0
0
.3
2
22
16
36

33
32
51
36
24

41
32
51

49
26

30
31
32
29
26
45
24

576
553
605

160
129
200

27
23
34

December, 1923

Use of Illustrations in Textbooks

483

The three books pubHshed before 1890
have no illustrations whatever. The fourth
book, published in 1890, has one. In 1894
book five shows 15 and must have been
quite an innovation to the writers of that
time, but as we look along down the list
we find a growing number of illustrated
pages. By 1916 we have a book with the
number of illustrations 51% the number
of text pages; or an illustration for every
two pages if they were so arranged. This
is in striking contrast to the early histories
and very definitely shows an awakened in-
terest in teaching through appeal to the
eye of the student. Today the writer of
our secondary histories considers very
carefully what material is at hand to visual-
ize the content of his book and in the intro-
duction acknowledges as gratefully the use
of illustrations from various sources, as he
gives credit to the writers from whom he
may have gained assistance.

Table II is made to give an idea of how
much of this illustrated material is mechani-
cally made (maps, plans, diagrams, etc.)
and used to show the mere location of an
event without reference to anything else.

While this table shows that the first illus-
tration used was a map, almost at once the
other illustrations are introduced. No his-
tory room is complete .without its maps and
charts and yet obviously these should not
be the only means of teaching through
visual means. This is plainly seen when
we note from our table how the "other
illustrations" at first equalled and then far
outnumbered the mechanical illustrations,
changing from a per cent of three-tenths
to ninety-four per cent of the total amount.

Table III is devoted to the classifying of
these "other illustrations" under four head-
ings, i. e.. Pictures of famous men . . .
which is heading "A"; those of buildings,
monuments, bridges, etc., which is "B";
. . . facsimiles of documents, seals, in-
scriptions and the like, which is "C"; all

TABLE II

Percent of

total devoted

All other

to "other

Text

Maps

Illustrations

Illustrations"

*(1)

0

0

0

(2)

0

0

0

(3)

0

0

0

(4)

1

0

0

(5)

9

6

40

(6)

6

72

90

(7).

18

73

80

(8)

71

208

74

(9)

67

127

62

(10)

50

124

71

(11)

57

159

73

(12)

54

181

70

(13)

26

189

87

(14)

45

256

85

(15)

86

159

64

(16)

26

124

82

(17)

42

158

79

(18)

43

148

77

(19)

65

142

68

(20)

76

108

58

(21)

54

114

67

(22)

52

189

78

(23)

67

121

64

(24)

77

238

75

(25)

6

100

94

Averages —

(All)

40

120

62

(Before 1915)29

100

52

(Since

1915)

54

146

73

*Books have the same number as in table I
where the title and author and published date
may be found.

those portraying motion and various ac-
tivities, which is "D".

That these divisions are not arbitrary and
rest on the discretion of the tabulator can
be readily seen from the fact that many of
the pictures at the same time would come
under two headings. In such cases I have
tried to group them according to the ele-
ment I thought was the most important in
the picture. For example, famous folk
were shown in action, street scenes con-
tained both views of well known buildings
and people employed in various activities.
My decision in such cases varied, being
sometimes for the one and sometimes for

484

Use of Illustrations in Textbooks The Educational Screen

the other. It seemed to me for the most
part that, if it had been only the features
of the great men that the author wished to
picture, portraits would have been best. On
the other hand there must have been more
significance for the reader in his employ-
ment else such picture would not have been
chosen, and similarly with illustrations con

tention is particularly called to the last list,
the activities under ''D".

Table IV takes this into account, making
a comparison of the number of ''activity"
illustrations ; first with the illustrations other
than maps, then with the whole number of
illustrations contained in the text.

taining buildings and industrial life.

TABLE IV

% of illustrations

% of total illus-

(exclusive of

tration devoted

to

TABLE III

maps) devoted to

activity por-

(1)

"A"
0

0

0

0

(1)

activity
0

portrayal

trayal
0

(2)

(3)

0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

(2)
(3)

0
0

0
0

(4)

0

0

0

0

(4)

0

0

(5)

0

3

3

0

(5)

0

0

(6)

38

17

8

9

(6)

12

2

(7)

45

21

6

1

(7)

1

4

(8)

52

101

19

36

(8)

17

4

0)

39

49

9

30

(9)

20

4

(10)

37

16

26

45

(10)

36

8

(11)

21

84

11

43

(11)

27

10

(12)

25

110

17

29

(12)

16

4

(13)

34

121

13

21

(13)

11

2

(14)

35

196

15

29

(14)
(15)

11
26

3

5

(15)

50

47

20

42

(16)

65

27

(16)

24

19

0

81

(17)

34

13

(17)

31

19

4

54

(18)

22

4

(18).

63

46

5

34

(19)

66

13

(19)

24

18

5

95

(20)

22

4

(20)

37

19

28

24

(21)

23

4

(21)

28

47

12

27

(22)

19

4

(22)

106

37

10

36

(23)

40

6

(23)

27

34

11

49

(24)

20

7

(24)

25

137

27

49

(25)

41

9

(25)

10

49

0

41

Averages —

Averages —

(All)

21

K

1.5

(All)

30

48

10

31

(Before 1915)

11

3

(Before 1915)

23

51

9

17

(Since 1915)

34

9

(Since 1915)

39

43

11

48

P>om the above it is clear that there is
no definite standard as to which classifica-
tion is the most important. It seems to be
as we might expect, a matter of individual
preference with the author. Nevertheless
with the changing viewpoint from which
our modern day histories are being written,
that is from the social viewpoint, our at-

The above table shows that sfnce 1915
the texts have contained illustrations of
activity to an average extent of over 2>A%
of the illustrations exclusive of maps and
an average of 9% of the total. This is a
very large percentage and shows conclu-
sively the large field there is for the use of
the film in connection with our secondary
school history instruction. No one will i

December, 1923

Use of Illustrations in Textbooks

485

question the fact that the best way to vis-
ualize activities of all nature is with the
use of the film. Over a third of all the
illustrations now put in to visualize history
could be more clearly given and greatly
expanded and enriched by the use of the
right film. That nearly ten per-cent of
all illustration is of such material that
only such a medium can properly handle
it, is an overwhelming argument for the
using of films with the class-work.

Table V shows the position which these
secondary texts give to the illustration, that
is, it was made. with the view to showing
whether pictured material should precede
the discussion, should come after or along
with the discussion, in order to be made
most effective.

TABLE

: V

Illustration Illustration

Illustration

Text

before

with

after

(1)

0

0

0

(2)

0

0

0

(3)

0

0

0

(4)

1

0

0

(5)

13

3

0

(6)

9

45

26

(7)

18

51

22

(8)

6

59

14

(9)

1

197

6

(10)

14

149

11

(11)

8

196

12

(12)

10

211

14

(13)

3

207

5

(14)

13

380

9

(15)

9

224

12

(16)

9

123

18

(17)

14

140

46

(18)

4

182

5

(19)

30

177

10

(20)

7

173

4

(21)

11

152

5

(22)

8

195

38

(23)

5

183

0

(24)

6

305

4

(25)

1

104

1

Averages —

(All)

7.5

134

10.5

(Before

; 1915) 7

100

8.5

(Since

1915) 8.5

178

13

The time for using films and other means

of visual education has been a matter for
discussion and it is in accordance with the
accepted general belief that this last table
shows such a large number of illustrations
given along with, rather than before or
after, the regular discussion of the subject.
When the illustrations are not put "with"
there seems to be slightly more favor for
putting them after. In general it was map
material which preceded, probably with the
idea of letting the student refer to it at
once when an event was given; and where
the illustration came after, it was usually
in case of a portrait of a famous person-
age, a mere picture of some man meaning
nothing to the student until he had learned
the importance of the individual historically.

SUMMARY

It is dangerous to attempt to draw any
very definite conclusions from these tables
and yet some general tendencies may well
be noted. The books published between
1903 and 1921 seemed to be very stationery
in regard to the amount of illustration put
in the text book. That is, there was no
steady and constantly increasing or decreas-
ing of the number of illustrations, but
rather there was a varying amount, show-
ing in a way that the need of illustration
being placed in the book was clearly recog-
nized. The proportion of this, however,
was dependent upon such factors as the
will of the author, the availability of ma-
terial, etc.

The motion picture field for history in-
struction has been recognized almost from
the beginning of the use of educational
films and in the realm of the theater are
listed innumerable historical films. That
nearly ten percent of the 4,(XX) illustrations
tabulated was of such material that only
films could most effectively portray, demon-
strates the important place which the film
may occupy in teaching this subject.

486

The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The National Academy of Visual Instruction

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President: Dudley Grant Hays, Director of Visual Education, Chicago
Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois.

Vice-President: A. Loretta Clark, Director of Visual Education, Los An-
geles, California.

Secretary: J. V. Ankeney, Associate Professor in Charge of Visual Edu-
cation, Columbia, Missouri.

Treasurer: C. R. Toothaker, Curator, Philadelphia Commercial Museum,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A. W. Abrams, Chief of Visual Instruction Division, University of the State
of New York.

Rupert Peters, Director of Visual Education, Kansas City Public Schools
Kansas City, Missouri. '

A. G. Balcom, Ass't Supt. of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.

J. W. Shepherd, Department of Visual Education, University of Oklahoma.
Norman, Oklahoma.

Carlos E. Cummings, Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N. Y.

W. H. Dudley, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

A department conducted by the Secretary of the Academy for the dissemination of
Academy news and thought. AH matter appearing here is wholly on the authority
and responsibility of the Academy. ^

RESOLUTIONS adopted by the Visual
Education Association of the 1923 sum-
mer session, University of California,
Southern Branch, August 10, 1923:
Visual Education
Resolved, that we hereby recognize the in-
creasing world-wide interest in Visual Educa-
tion as an aid to better and more effective
teaching. We also recognize that Visual Edu-
cation is more than a method of teaching. It
is concerned with acquainting the learner with
objective reality in so far as the appeal is
through the eye. It is concerned with the
selection of proper media of visual presenta-
tion, their values and uses, the technique and
art of presentation, and representation on the
several media, their organization for teaching
purposes, and the method of their use in the
class room. In short, Visual Education is a
science and an art. We further recognize that
Visual Education and visual aids are not a
panacea for all educational ills. We do, how-
ever, believe that visual aids are destined to
take an important place in public education of
the future.

Scientific Investigation

Resolved, that Visual Education is in a pos
tion to profit materially by the study of its
advantages and disadvantages, and the kind of
materials to which it is particularly adapted.

On experimentation, under proper control,
depends the solution of the problems of visual
education. Analysis of the field and measure-
ments of the results will yield valuable infor-
mation to school administrators, educators and
teachers interested in the development of this
movement.

Teacher Training

Resolved, that one of the problems the visual
educator has to meet is that of method. The
plan and purpose of the lesson have not always
been definitely worked out by pupil and teacher
previously. A school may be elaborately
equipped with every possible type of visual
aid, but if the teacher does not know how to
use this material it is an unwise expenditure of
public funds. Therefore, be it resolved that
every effort be made toward the establishment
of teacher training in visual education in tli-
universities and state teachers* colleges of thi^

i

December, 1923

National Academy of Visual Instruction

487

country, particularly in the state of California.
That ways and means of furthering this work
be undertaken by a committee appointed by
the president of the National Academy of Vis-
ual Instruction.

National Slide Negative Library

Resolved, that because the stereopticon holds
the highest place in the visual education pro-
gram of today, that steps be taken for the
forming of a national slide negative library,
so that lantern sHdes of a high standard of
quality may be made available at a reasonable
price to all schools desiring to use slide ma-
terial. That the problems relative to the for-
mation of a national slide negative library be
considered, stated and, if possible, solved by
a committee appointed by the president of the
National Academy of Visual Instruction.

Production of Educational Films

Resolved, that film material must be organ-
ized upon a pedagogical basis, and adjusted to
the grade, pupil and subject. The film must be
clear in its purpose and accurate in detail.
That the time to determine the purpose of a
film is before it is produced, not afterwards.
That educators interested in the development
of visual education encourage the right kind
of educational film production, first, by in-
forming the producer just what films are
needed; second, by making use of the material
when it is satisfactorily produced.

Film Reviews

Resolved, that the problem of film reviews
is too large a proposition for a single school
system to handle. That a co-operative
scheme for the judging of films, the recording
of these judgments, and the preparation of
helpful leaflets concerning the film be under-
taken by visual educators throughout the
United States, and made available at cost to
institutions of learning.

That statements regarding films be accurate,
neither understated nor overstated, and that
the film source be definitely listed.

That the plan for such co-operation be defi-
nitely worked out by a committee of three, one
from each section of the United States.

Said committee to be appointed by the presi-
dent of the National Academy of Visual In-
struction.

State Organizations

Resolved, that for the furtherance of the
interests of visual education, an organization

be formed that will be a section of the Cali-
fornia State Teachers' Association. Also, that
a committee of three people be appointed by
this group of students to draw up a plan for
the formation of such an organization.

Finally

Resolved, that a vote of thanks be extended
Mr. Charles Ray for the opportunity afforded
us to become acquainted with his new his-
torical production, "The Courtship of Miles
Standish." Furthermore, that a word of com-
mendation and appreciation be expressed in
behalf of Mr. Ray's interest in and effort to-
ward accurate and artistic historical film pro-
duction.

Resolved, that we, the students in Visual
Education in Vocational Agriculture, express
our deep appreciation to our instructor, Mr.
J. V. Ankeney, for the personal interest he
has shown us and the effort he has made to
make vital and effective the teaching of this
subject for our benefit.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS,

A. LoRETTA Clark, Chairman.

F. Knorr

L. M. Bloss

THE following program was arranged for
an afternoon meeting of the Department
of Visual Education of the Missouri
State Teachers' Association, which met in St.
Louis December 6-9:

Department of Visual Education
Chairman, Rupert Peters, Director of Visual
Education, Kansas City Library Building.

Vice Chairman, R. A. Rockfort, Webster
School, St. Louis.
Secretary, Alma Wilhite, Columbia.
Introductory remarks by chairman.
Demonstration lesson using exhibit material,
Miss Marion L. Higgins, Wyman School, St.

Louis.

Demonstration lesson using lantern slides,
Miss Irene Armstrong, Hyde Park School,
Kansas City.

Demonstration lesson using a motion picture
film, Mr. M. D. Thomas, teacher of vocational
agriculture, Paris, Mo.

Round table discussion of Visual Instruction
methods, led by Professor J. V. Ankeney,
State University, Columbia.

Business session: Reports of committees;
election of officers.

*°° The Educational Screen

Official Department of

The Visual Instruction Association of Americ;

OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
President— 'Ernest L. Crandall, Director of Lectures and Visual Instruction in the New

York City Schools.
Vice-President— A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey.
Recording Secretary— Don Carlos Ellis, formerly Director of Motion Picture Division of

United States Department of Agriculture.
Treasurer— George P. Foute, 71 West 23rd St., New York City.
Corresponding Secretary— Rov^land Rogers, Instructor in Motion Picture Production at

Columbia University.
John H. Finley, of the Editorial Staff of the New York Times, formerly President of

the College of the City of New York, and Commissioner of Education of the State

of New York.
George D. Strayer, Professor of Education and Director of the Division of Field Study,

Institute of Research, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Susan B. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California
Olive Jones, of the N. E. A. Board of Trustees, Principal of Public School 120 and

Annexes, New York City.

This department is conducted by the Association to present items of
interest on visual education to members of the Association and the public.

The Educational Screen assumes no responsibility for the views
herein expressed.

THE Visual Instruction Association of America is an educational organiza-
tion to promote visual instruction in the elementary and high schools of
the nation. It provides continuous opportunity to makers and users of
visual aids to interchange ideas on the nature and problems of visual instruction.
The Constitution provides for the selection by the members of the Executive
Committee which controls the policies of the organization. A majority of this
committee must be exclusively school people.

All persons interested in visual instruction are welcomed as active members
No mquiry is made as to the applicant's means of livelihood. Persons paid from
public funds who are teachers, educators and users of visual material as well as
makers or distributors of such material are welcome to help solve the problems
and promote the common cause of visual instruction.

' Thumb Nail Sketches ' ' in Visual Instruction

By Ernest L. Crandall

No. 7. An Excursion

WE shall now proceed to check up on it must have a profound effect upon our atti-

the assumpt,ons laid down m our last tude toward training the mn,d through the

article, by taking up successively each senses

of the phases or stages of "the learning process" Our' essential formula or hypothesis repre-

rtide" We' ml Z '' "^ "''' °' "'' ''"'''' ""' ''""^ ^°- ' '" «he outline, may'be

article We may need to explore numerous stated simply thus :-That the successive stages

mTnT timer hr'f^^' '" "'"" ''^ ^="'r^ "' "^^ ''™"- "^ -"-'• 'he mitid erects "
iTthe Z%,T ""h ''" T"""" T''^^'' ''""""' '° knowledge upon its sense experi-
in the end of the soundness of our conclusions, ences (or, if you prefer, the essential stages of

December, 1923

Visual Instruction Association of America

489

the process by which knowledge is secreted by
the brain) are sensation, perception, memory,
imagination and conception, — that is, that sen-
sation (as a fact of consciousness) precedes
perception, that sensation must be translated
into perception before it can become the basis
of knowledge, that many percepts must be
stored in memory, and combined in various
ways by imagination, to eventuate in a concept.
Let us consider this complex process in its
several stages, with each of the elements in-
volved. First of all, sensation itself,— or rather
sensations, for it is safe to state that no single
item of knowledge is based upon a single sen-
sation. Moreover, from this point on we shall
deal with the concrete. It will be necessary to
define as we go along. A sensation is distin-
guished, first of all, by its kind. Some writers
use quality, but I think this is misleading and
suggests rather the inherent agreeableness or
unpleasantness of a given sensation, for which
the term "tone" is generally accepted. By kind,
therefore, I mean sight, as distinguished from
hearing, etc. To the popularly accredited five
senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch,
must be added at least two, the muscular
senses, commonly called kinaesthetic, which
may or may not embrace all those sensations
of weight, resistance, pressure and effort; and
also such purely functional and physiological
internal sensations as hunger, thirst, pain, heat,
cold, drowsiness, which may or may not be
traceable to one common type. Such refine-
ments as these are of little moment for our
purpose, but serve to illustrate how complex
and interdependent our sense experiences are.
Now, in the first stage, that of pure sensa-
tion, I think it is quite obvious that the kind
of sensation operative at the time is practically
all that counts. In like manner the only innate
capability of the mind involved is mere sensi-
bility, the ability to recognize and respond to
an appeal to the outside world borne in by the
senses. Also the only emotional effect is that
of arresting attention and the only quasi-voli-
tional reaction is the impulse to motion of
some sort. For example, I am awakened from
slumber, or aroused from reverie by a sound.
At first it is a mere dinning in my ear, but it
arrests my attention. The mind, that was dor-
mant before, is now alert. Instinctively I spring
up or raise my head. Or, perhaps it is a light
which arouses me. Again my mind stands at
attention, even at the first vague consciousness

that darkness has given way to light, and I
turn my head to see whence it comes.

Right here once more we must emphasize
that not even this much will or can happen,
until sensation has emerged in consciousness.
To realize this we have only to reflect upon
our waking or our dozing states. In this twi-
light zone, between consciousness and uncon-
sciousness, we have an opportunity to observe
how sensation dins upon the soul until it re-
sponds; or, as in the case of dozing, ebbs im-
perceptibly away into mere unconscious and
vain titilation of the sense organ affected.

Now, with attention thoroughly aroused, I
look, where before I only saw, or listen, where
before I only heard. I am interested now in
the cause of the sensation. As a perfectly
sophisticated person, I discover almost instantly
that it is the bell of my alarm clock, or of my
telephone, or my eldest daughter practicing on
the piano, — or, in the case of the Hght, perhaps
it is my son who is rummaging about with his
flashlight, and not a burglar in the house.

But my mind has called in myriad sense
experiences, to reach this almost instantaneous
conclusion. This may be true percept, but it is
one so readily and quickly linked up with the
apperceptive mass (which might better be
called the perceptive mass), that is, it is a per-
cept so readily linked up with my stored up
and retained percepts of bell tones or lights that
the chasm from sensation to concept is bridged
almost instantaneously and without the inter-
vening percept. That is, I arrive instantly at
the conclusion that it is a bell or a lamp, which
is a true concept. I may even take another
leap into the realm of reason and formulate the
judgment that it is my telephone bell or my
son's pocket lamp, before I have actually per-
ceived either fact. This point is important, for
we shall see how habitually, with an enriched
sense experience, we substitute concepts for
percepts, and what significance this has for
our teaching. Indeed it is difficult from our
sophisticated experience to pick out the thread
of the process from sensation to concept; for
it is difficult for us to conceive of an utterly
new percept, that is, a percept based solely on
sensation and uncolored by the mass of retained
similar percepts. Clearly such a virgin percept
must rest upon an utterly new sense experi-
ence, certainly one with utterly new and un-
familiar features.

In order to come a little closer to the situa-
tion, let us suppose that I am an urban dweller.

490

Visual Instruction Association of America The Educational Screen

further, that I am unfamiliar, even through
realistic pictorial representation or through the
mimicry of the modern cinema orchestra with
the sights and the sounds of the barnyard.
Suppose further that I am transported to the
countryside by night and am awakened in the
morning by the bleating of the sheep, or the
loAving of the cattle, or the grunting of the
swine. Attention gives way to interest (in the
realm of emotion) and, thus reinforced, the
power of selection begins to pick from the con-
fused auditory impressions of a morning in the
country the salient elements of the particular
sound that had so sharply impinged upon my
sensibility and roused my attention. Thus I
shall get a genuine percept of the sound.

Immediately this new sound will be stored
in the mind for future use, for retention. Curi-
osity is working now and immediately impels
comparison with other sounds. Consciously or
unconsciously, audibly or inaudibly, I shall
probably imitate it.

If I were a child I should unquestionably
mimic the sound quite audibly. As a sophisti-
cated adult, I shall probably confine myself to
mental imitation each time it recurs and dies
away. The imitative impulse, like the drama-
tizing impulse which succeeds it, rapidly be-
comes so inhibited by the conventions of social
existence, that it is softened down to a half
conscious mental act, with little or no external
manifestation.

By the innate power of the imagination 1
shall now begin playing with the sound, jug-
gling with it, dramatizing it. I shall fancy it as
being emitted by this, that, or the other sound-
producing thing or creature with which I am
familiar. If it is the low of a cow, I may
dramatize (mentally) a duet between it and the
familiar honk of the auto, the fog-horn of a
New York ferry boat, or the siren of the fac-
tory that awakens me every morning at home.
Only so shall I be satisfied of the differences
between these and the sound I am listening to.
Now, though a city dweller, my retained
sense experiences may embrace a considerable
number of animal cries or seunds, — the yowling
of cats, the whinneying of the occasional horse,
or the baying of dogs. If this is the case and if
I possess a good ear, capable of registering
extensive auditory impressions, then I may
detect certain peculiar overtones or modulations
which will enable me, through the power of
association, to classify it as an animal sound.
If that be true, I have at once arrived at a

concept, because in the last analysis, a concept
is a classification or, as some one has styled it,
"a common noun." I have now labeled the
sound "animal," but as yet can come no closer
to a true classification.

Interest has succeeded to attention and in
turn has given way to curiosity. I must know
the exact source of this impression. Even a
certain sense of wonder has crept in at the
mystery of this strange sound, its familiar un-
familiarity, enhanced by the haunting recollec-
tion of the billows and floods of sound with
which I have had to grow familiar. I have
experienced a sHght sense of elation at my con-
ception that this is an animal sound — a sense
of achievement, a sense of satisfaction that it
has not entirely baffled me. Imagination is
working overtime now, making combination
after combination, summoning and rejecting
one possibility after another. I am already
guessing that it is the lowing of cattle, of
which I have read.

The impulse to expression thrusts itself in
at this point, as my concept assumes greater
precision. I look about for someone to whom
to impart my discovery. If there is someone
there, I shall not say: "Is that a cow?" I shall
say: "That is a cow, is it not? I knew, though
I never heard one before." But there is no
one present, so I rush to the window and gaze
across the barnyard into a pair of large friendly
eyes, surmounted by a pair of horns that do
not look so friendly to my untrained imagina-
tion. Instantly my preconceived idea of a
cow, based chiefly on the charming little litho-
graph on certain baking soda packages, is
partly justified and partly rectified. My ela-
tion is now complete. The impulse to expres-
sion can no longer be suppressed and I say to
myself with justifiable pride: "Henceforth
I'll tell the world I know a cow when I see one
and when I hear one."

Escorted into the barnyard, and the inhibi-
tions of fear having been released by the reas-
suring farmer, the impulse of manipulation
reasserts itself and I further familiarize myself
with Madame Cow by patting, fondling and
feeling of the horns. Now both percept and
concept are growing stronger and richer to-
gether through the extensiveness of my sense
experience.

As a matter of fact my knowledge of the
species may yet be so imperfect that I shall
mistake Mr. Cow for Mrs. Cow, when first
he and I meet, and get neatly tossed over the \

December, 192S

Visual Instruction Association of America

491

fence for my ignorance. In case I escape un-
injured, I shall certainly treat myself to a long
look and a real look, and, believe me, my con-
cept of both Mr. and Mrs. Cow thereafter will
be infinitely more precise. They will have been
rendered more precise by the increased ex-
tensiveness of sense impressions entering into
my percepts; also by the intensiveness of cer-
tain sense impressions which will have indel-
ibly stamped themselves in my retentive mind;
further by the assimilability of all the various
sense impressions involved (their assimilability
with one another and with past sense experi-
ences of a similar or a dissimilar nature); and
finally by the contrast in "tone" between the
sensations awakened by Mrs. Cow's gentle
voice and bland expression of countenance and

Mr. Cow's furious snort and fiery eye, to say
nothing of the kinaesthetic and functional sen-
sations aroused in my battered anatomy.

The foregoing is not an altogether fanciful
example. Many readers, by prying into the
recesses of memory, will be able to recall
experiences that will tally with this recital in
more aspects than one. By piecing together
a number of these novel experiences, it should
be possible to reproduce in kind virtually
every phase of the narrative. However, as we
intimated at the beginning of the chapter, we
shall not hesitate to travel this pathway as
many times as may be needed to assure our-
selves that we are on a firm footing. This is
of first importance and those who do not enjoy
these excursions had best skip a few chapters.

Approved List of Educational Films

Reviewed by the Film Committee of the Visual Instruction Association of America
Chairman, Rita Hocheimer, Assistant Director of Visual Education, New York City.

A. G. Balcom, Assistant Superintendent of
Schools, Newark, N. J.

Ina Clement, Librarian, Bureau of Municipal Re-
search, New York City.

Alice B. Evans, Naational Committee for Better
Films, New York City.

G. Clyde Fisher, American Museum of Natural
History, New York City.

Kathryn Greywacz, New Jersey State Museum,
Trenton, N. J.

Service. (1 reel.) Producer, F. S. Wythe.
Distributor, The Screen Companion, 71 W.
23d St., New York.

Lesson in film series, "Citizens in the Mak-
ing." Film shows typical American home —
mother, father, girl, boy, little cousin. Father ex-
plains in answer to son's question that good
citizenship is based on service. Service in
home, in community, in industry exemplified,
Washington and Lincoln great heroes animated
by ideal of service. Boy in home cutting
kindling, girl setting table, washing dishes,
shown as examples of service. Also humane-
ness to hurt dog.

Home virtues well presented. Material well
suited to child's experience, teaches thorough
story without preaching.

Teacher's Manual javailable. Suitable for
civics, oral and written English. 6th-9th school
years.

Inside Out. (1 reel.) Producer, Standard

Ruth Overton Grimwood, Executive Secretary,
V. I. A. A., New York City.

Dr. Clarence E. Meleney, Associate Superintend-
ent of Schools, New York City.

Mrs. Dudley Van Holland, General Federation
of Women's Clubs, New York City.

Mrs. Adele F. Woodard, National Motion Pic-
ture League, New York City.

George J. Zehrung, International Committee of
the Y. M. C. A., New York City.

Oil Company of New Jersey. Distributor, Pic-
ture Service Corp., 71 West 23d Street, New
York.

This is a good example of an industrial reel
which has genuine teaching value. The whole
digestion process is shown — work of teeth,
saliva, aesophagus, stomach, intestines. Causes
of constipation, results of clogging digestive
tract well explained, delicately handled. Va-
rious remedies suggested, need for exercise
and balanced diet stressed, as well as desir-
ability of use of lubricant rather than laxative,
which causes too violent action of intestinal
muscles. The only direct advertising on this
reel is the name of the producer in the title
and Nuyol on the bottle shown once. Excel-
lent animated drawings. Teaches necessary
health lesson. Prepared in cooperation with
doctors and hygiene and domestic science
teachers.

Suitable for hygiene and physiology— upper

(Concluded on page 511)

492

The Educational Screen

The Theatrical Field

Conducted by
Marguerite Orndorff

Discovering the Camera Man

"S

HOOT!" says the great director, after
he has spent hours — or days — on the
perfection of every least detail of his
scene.

"Clickety-clickety" begins the camera, "Click-
ety-clickety," as the film rolls past its winking
eye.

You marvel at the genius of the great di-
rector, who can thus transform thought into
action; you catch your breath with the beauty
of the setting and the costumes; you weep
surreptitiously at the moving performance of
the famous actress; and all the time you are
missing something.

When you watch a scene, your eyes are all
for the star or the director. The man behind
the camera you are conscious of only in the
same way that you are conscious of a neces-
sary piece of furniture. True, he appears to
be doing something, though very little in com-
parison with the others. He may move his
camera backward or forward, he may squint
through his lens, he may wiggle something
here or jiggle something there, but beyond
that — and grinding when, he's told to grind —
he is hardly busy enough to be noticeable.

But "clickety-clickety," continues the camera
in its unemotional way, "clickety-clickety," as
the scene progresses. And it gradually dawns
upon you that, besides the directors, and the
artists and the stars, here is somebody else
who's important, too, the camera man!

When you have reached this conclusion, it
is time for you to talk to a camera man. Then
you learn things.

It was Guy Wilky of Lasky's who gave me
an idea of what it means to be a camera man.
He has been one for eleven years — the last
four with William C. DeMille— and he ought
to know.

Possibly the most interesting statement he
made in the course of our conversation, was
this: Perfect photography is that which at-
tracts no attention to itself. It sounds peculiar,
but when you analyze it, it is sound.

The whole purpose of a motion picture, says
Mr. Wilky, is to present drama. The photog-
raphy is merely the means of presenting it.

If the means is allowed to dominate, and the
end is subordinated, the purpose of the picture
is lost— you get, not a drama, but a picture.

The camera man must read the story he is
to photograph, and must visualize it from the
dramatic standpoint and the psychological
standpoint as well. Then he must adapt his
photography to match the moods of the story.
If the spirit of a scene is gloomy, cold, dismal,
his photography must catch that mood. If he
does not possess that dramatic understanding,
he can not co-operate in the fullest sense with
his director— and a close understanding and co-
operation between camera man and director is
the greatest essential in the actual making of
a picture.

No two people of all those concerned in the
picture are closer than these two. To produce
the best results, therefore, it is not enough that
the camera man obey the director's orders; he
must understand the director's viewpoint, and
be able to translate in terms of photography
the latter's dramatic idea.

However, as Mr. Wilky pointed out, there
are other factors besides the dramatic instinct
that are necessities in a good camera man. A
thorough technical knowledge of the medium
and its possibilities and limitations is assumed
in the case of any expert, and in the camera
man, this includes many, many requirements
that we may never have thought of.

There is, for example, the matter of spacing.
He must know, when the director calls for a
long shot, where to place his camera so as to
take in the biggest portion of the set, and what
sort of lens to use — for spacing varies with
lenses. He must know, when a close-up is re-
quired, whether conditions demand that he
move his camera up to a few feet of the actors,
or use a long-focus lens.

Then there is lighting, one of the most fas-
cinating phases of motion picture work. Here
again, character and mood play an important
part: cold hard lights for drab, dismal scenes:
soft, diffused lights for gentler humors. And
when it comes to lighting the actors themselves,
the variety is almost unending. DiflFerent sub
jects require different methods, and the expert

December, igss

The Theatrical Field

493

camera man plays with his lights as a painter
plays with color, or a poet with words. There
are, of course, certain fundamental principles
of lighting that must be observed — lighting
from the back ("back-lighting" it's called) to
avoid emphasizing wrinkles, and the use of a
spotlight to make the figure of the actor stand
out from his background — but beyond that
lighting is a matter of the individual camera
man's feeling for it, and — again — his dramatic
sense.

I saw an interesting demonstration of this
in one of the studios. A certain scene had been
shot, and one was to follow in which the prin-
cipal actor was different from the first, and a
totally different type. There was no change
in the set, not even in the position of the cam-
era.

"Come here a minute," said the director to
the actor. "Blank — " naming the director
" — wants to light you up."

So the actor stood for perhaps ten or fifteen
minutes while the lights were arranged and re-
arranged to bring out his particular personality,
and to reflect the mood of the scene, which was
a highly dramatic one.

At this point in the discussion, I wanted to
know how much the electrician has to do with
the arrangement of lights. Not much, I was
told, after he has set up the lights he knows
will be needed. The electrician who is valuable
to his organization, of course, is the electrician
who knows what the camera man wants, and
can anticipate his requests, just as the latter
knows what the director wants. But the elec-
trician rarely does more than "light up the set"
in a purely mechanical way, after which the
camera man makes what changes and modi-
fications he thinks necessary.

Then there is color. Does the camera man,
I asked, have any voice in the selection of color
schemes for sets? Again the answer was no.
Monotones — that is, certain shades of gray
ranging between black and white — are best
photographically, and the camera man would
like to have the technical director keep his color
tones within that scale. It would save trouble
and mistakes, for there is no question about

how a certain shade of gray is going to photo-
graph: it will be that particular shade of gray
and no other. With colors outside that range,
there is always some uncertainty, and the pos-
sibility of disappointments and "retakes." Al-
though the camera man knows the photo-
graphic value of colors to a large extent, there
is often a surprise in store for him when an odd
or unusual shade is used. So he makes a plea
for the monotones.

But in this department he bumps up against
one of the shibboleths of the movies — realism.
The technical director plans the coloring of his
sets from that standpoint. His argument is,
"We want it to look like the real thing. We
want the actors to behave as they would under
actual conditions and surroundings. Therefore
we must make their surroundings as nearly
like the actual ones as we can." And he does it.

Being a camera man, then, is more than
knowing how to thread film into a camera, how
fast or how slow to grind, or any other of the
hundred bits of mechanical knowledge he must
possess. It means, primarily, to be able to vis-
ualize a story from a dramatic standpoint, and
then to photograph it in such a way that the
spirit of the story and the emotions of its char-
acters are passed on to the spectator without
his consciousness of the mechanical means em-
ployed. In other words, the effect of photog-
raphy at its best must be a subconscious effect.

Now that is a difficult thing to do — so diffi-
cult, indeed, that as yet the motion picture in
general has not attained it. It has not yet
reached the stage where we can carry away
from a theater only the dramatic idea the pic-
ture conveyed, without having been directly
conscious of lighting, photography, composi-
tion, titles, acting, and the many other essential
factors.

The drama is the chief thing, and all else
must be subordinated to it. When a photog-
rapher strives for a beautiful effect so that you
are impelled to exclaim, "What a beautiful
picture!" he has forgotten the thing he was
after in the first place.

"Clickety-clickety-clickety" concludes the cam-
era, and the scene is shot.

Production Notes for December

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE GOLD-
WYN STUDIO include the selection of
George Walsh to play the coveted role of Ben
Hur.

The fact that Goldwyn is seriously produc-

ing, Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model, with such
players as Claire Windsor, Lew Cody, Hobart
Bosworth, and Mae Busch, suggests the rather
horrifying possibility of our having to view all
the rest of those stories in the near future.
So much for "bigger and better" pictures.

494

The Theatrical Field

The Educational Screen

JESSE L. LASKY, first vice-president in
charge of the production of Paramount
ir'ictures, has been in New York on his annual
trip to eastern headquarters of the Famous
Players-Lasky Corporation, conferring with
Adolph Zukor, president of the organization,
on the next group of productions which will
reopen the organization following the shut-
down period recently announced.

FIVE PARAMOUNT PICTURES are now
in production at the Hollywood studio,
ihey are Shadows of Paris, starring Pola
Negri; The Next Corner, a Sam Wood pro-
duction; The Heritage of the Desert, a Zane
Grey story; The Stranger, adapted from John
Galsworthy's The First and the Last, and Singer
Jim McKee, a William S. Hart production.
Two pictures are in the making at the Long
Island studio, The Humming Bird, starring
Gloria Swanson, and Pied Piper Malone, with
Thomas Meighan.

A new contract has been entered into by
Famous Players-Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille,
which provides that all future productions by
Mr. DeMille will go to this organization, and
that Mr. DeMille will resume the executive
duties of director-general.

LILLIAN GISH, who is engaged on the
production of George Eliot's Romola, has
announced her intention of making Jeanne
d'Arc.

PRISCILLA DEAN, having left Universal,
is to make her own pictures. No subjects
have been announced as yet.

MAUDE ADAMS, who has for several
years been experimenting with various
technical processes in the manufacture of mo-
tion pictures, is to produce Kipling's "Kim."

MAURICE TOURNEUR will make Tor-
ment, a story by William Dudley Pelley,
for First National release.

VITAGRAPH is producing Let No Man
Put Asunder, with a distinguished cast,
including Pauline Frederick and Lou Tellegen.

UNIVERSAL may film Ivanhoe abroad, al-
though it would seem that the Ivanhoe
material has been pretty well used up in such
productions as Robin Hood and Richard the
Lion Hearted.

THE PHOTOPLAY MEDAL, by the way,
has been awarded to Robin Hood as the
finest production of 1922.

Theatrical Film Reviews for December

IF WINTER COMES (Fox)

Ordinarily it isn't wise to read a book and
then go to see the film version of it, but in this
case, I say, by all means read the book first.
If you don't like it, stay away from the picture,
because you won't appreciate it; but if you do —
then there's something fine in store for you.

The film version of this popular novel, under
the direction of Harry Millarde, follows the
story faithfully, so faithfully as to quote ver-
batim whole paragraphs — ^almost pages — of con-
versation or explanation. This slows up the
action, necessarily, but taken in conjunction
with the fine performance of its principal actor,
it produces the effect that its author produced
in his novel. Certain episodes at the beginning
are slightly disconnected and ambiguous, nota-
bly that of the Perch family, and the death of
the mother, but as the story progresses it be-
comes more firmly knit.

Mark Sabre, as played by Percy Marmont,
is one of the finest performances of this or any
other year. There is no really poor work by
any member of the cast, but Mr. Marmont's

steps so far ahead of all the rest that the pic-
ture is really his.

Added to its other points of excellence are
the settings. The picture was made in Eng-
land, in locations selected under the direction
of the author, and their authenticity is reflected
in the unmistakable English atmosphere which
pervades the picture.

THE SPANISH DANCER (Paramount)

A very beautiful and brilliant version of "Don
Cesar de Bazan," the story of a penniless
young noble, and a beautiful gypsy, a pleasure-
mad king, and a designing councillor. Pola
Negri as the passionate gypsy, Maritana, re-
turns in some measure to her own. Antonio
Moreno plays the irrepressible Don Cesar with
charm and spirit. Wallace Beery as the king
gives a far cleverer impersonation than he will
generally be credited with, and Kathlyn Wil-
liams, Adolphe Menjou, and Gareth Hughes
add splendid performances.

To the director, Herbert Brennon, and his
technical staflF should go much credit for a

The Educational Screen

The Theatrical Field

495

faithful picture of 17th century Spain. I have
the word of a student of Spanish history for it.
The period, that of PhilHp IV, has been amply
pictured for us in the paintings of Valasquez;
and costumes and settings have been repro-
duced for the story with the utmost fidelity.

STRANGERS OF THE NIGHT (Metro)

Here is an example of a good picture handi-
capped by a poor title. It is impossible to im-
agine the motive that could have caused the
producer to discard the piquant "Captain Ap-
plejack" for such a banality as "Strangers of
the Night!" If the title has suffered, however,
the story has not. It presents the adventures
of one Ambrose Applejohn, who was, up to
this night, perhaps the most respectable Eng-
lishman who ever lived. His house was cor-
rect, his habits, his clothes, his thoughts — he
was the very acme of correctness. Judge,
therefore, of the shock to his respectability
when he learned that the founder of his family
was none other than the notorious pirate, Cap-
tain Applejack!

The troubled dreams of Ambrose, in which
he imagines himself the profane and blood-
thirsty Captain, and the subsequent discovery
of the old pirate's loot, are merely incidents in
a very busy night, after which the Applejohn
conservatism crumbles to its very foundations
when Ambrose discovers himself to be in love
with his young and beautiful ward!

Matt Moore as Applejohn fits into his part
as if it had been written for him. Enid Ben-
nett as his ward, Poppy, and Barbara LaMarr
and Robert McKim as the plotters give good
performances. Fred Niblo directed.

ENEMIES OF WOMEN (Cosmopolitan)

Heavy with unbelievable luxury and the de-
cadent atmosphere of Old World cities before
the war, this story of Blasco Ibanez' comes
to the screen in moderately interesting form.
It is, perhaps, the least effective of his three
contributions. His Russian Prince, if not hu-
man, is at least distinct. Lionel Barrymore Is
impressive in the part. The settings by Urban
are magnificent.

PONJOLA (First National)

Cynthia Stockley's popular tale of South
Africa, the land of "kaffirs and gold," effectively
presented by a competent cast. James Kirk-
wood as Lundi Druro, the derelict who regains
his manhood through the influence of a woman,

is convincing. Anna Q. Nilsson, as "Desmond,"
the woman who masquerades as a man, has an
unusually difficult role, one that she manages
intelligently and smoothly. Melodramatic the
story decidedly is, but novel and entertaining.
Unfortunately for an otherwise well made pic-
ture, the titling was put into the hands of some-
one who had only the most casual acquaintance
with sentence structure and punctuation.

THE THREE AGES (Metro)

Proceeding, we suppose, on the theory that
if a little is good, more is better, Buster Keaton
has made his first full-length feature. We think
the theory was wrong. His unemotional sort
of comedy — comedy in the abstract — will not
bear either stretching out or repeating, and it
gets both in this instance. The situation is the
same old one: the poor young lover who even-
tually outwits his physically and financially
superior rival. Mr. Keaton first takes us to the
Stone Age and tells his story with the aid of
mallet and chisel. Then he flits to the Roman
era, after which he brings it up to date and
repeats it in modern style. There are a few
rarely funny things in the picture — purely me-
chanical "gags" — but there are also some ex-
ceedingly dull stretches. Wallace Beery is
utterly wasted as a comic "heavy."

THE PRINTER'S DEVIL (Warner Brothers)

This is rural drama of the most virulent type.
It has the banker and the banker's daughter,
and the rich young man from the city. It has
the town villain whose practice is to sell a
moribund newspaper to unsuspecting strangers
and buy it back at a profit after they have been
disillusioned. It has also Wesley Barry, who
has now reached the "between" age, as the
printer's devil and general-assistant-to-the-plot.

THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE (Metro)

The great Northwest again,— or maybe it's
Northeast this time. Anyhow, there are lots
of fur coats and mittens, and dog teams, and
snow, with Wallace Beery villaining, Barbara
La Marr pouting, Pat O'Malley and Earl Wil-
liams outdoing each other in heroic efforts,
and Renee Adoree romping through a sort of
"Tiger Rose" part. Passable entertainment.

THE BAD MAN (First National)

A somewhat ineflfective screen translation of
a delightful stage play. The Bad Man loses
(Concluded on page 520)

496

Advertisement

The Educational Screen

•ROTERT PETERS

DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL INSTRUCTION
KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

201 Public Library Banding
Kansas City. Missouri

March. 21, 1023

DeVry Corporation.
Chicago, Illinois

Gentlemen:

Yours of the 14th, relative to the use
being made of the DeVry projeotors in the ^nsas City
Schools at haixd. We have three machines at present,
keeping two in constant use and holding one for
emergencies or irregular calls. We show films on
circuit using three-reel programs — the subjects
being chosen to fit the course of study in Geogra-
phy, Nature Study, History, etc. The operator
takes a machine and his can of films, boards a
street car, shows his program at one school at
9:00, at another at 10:45, another at 1:15, and
another at 2:45, returning to headquarters then
to inspect films and machine. His circuit requires
two weeks to cover.

niiiiiimiHii

Please Write to AdvertUera and Mention The Educational Scbkkw

I

December, ig2S

Advertisement

497

tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiMiiiiMiiiMiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihiiiTTniiiiiiMiiiiiiiiuMniwiimimiiiiimiiiimiumi

iiiiminiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiimmiiiiiiniiin'

feci projection with^A^DeViry

here are certain duties a projector in the non-theatrical field must
m. It should, first of all, give a perfect picture, steady, clear, flicker-
Besides this it should be easy to operate, require little attention and
Lve years of service. A non-theatrical projector must also be fire-
light and attractive. All of these essentials are combined in the two
of DeVry projectors.

he DeVry was the first portable projector made. As it then domi-
the field of projectors, so today the modern improved DeVry domi-
the field crowded with many inferior projectors, which so closely
t the DeVry in appearance that they have no time to imitate the
id qualities and workmanship that have made the DeVry famous.

is a known fact that wherever big successes have been made in
I pictures they have been made with DeVry projectors.

DeVry

Please Write to AdvcrtiMrs and Mantion The Educational Scauv

49a

The Theatrical Field

Reviewed Previously

The Educational Screen

JUNE

Bella Donna (Paramount) — Pola Negri with
the advantages of American methods of light-
ing and make-up does not live up to her repu-
tation as an emotional actress.

Missing Millions (Paramount) — Fairly enter-
taining crook drama. Thrills missing along
with the millions.

Driven (Universal) — One of the best. A
somber tale, but keen character portrayal.

The Ne'er-Do- Well (Paramount) — Thomas
Meighan brightens up the old Rex Beach
story.

The Christian (Goldwyn) — A fine picture.
Richard Dix and Mae Busch do good work.

Where the Pavement Ends (Metro) — Rex
Ingram made two endings for this picture. Ask
your exhibitor for the sad one!

Within the Lfaw (First National) — Norma
Talmadge as Mary Turner. Not a great pic-
ture, but a satisfactory one of its kind.

Souls for Sale (Goldwyn) — -Hysterical story
of a girl's adventures in the movies, with a
jumbled impression of Hfe in Hollywood as it
is not.

What a Wife Learned (First National) — Also
what a husband learned. You will be enter-
tained as well as informed.

The Abysmal Brute (Universal) — Reginald
Denny rather a striking figure as a prize-fighter
from the back woods.

SEPTEMBER

Main Street (Warner Brothers) — A compe-
tent cast wasted on an uninspired production.

Trifling With Honor (Universal) — Good
baseball story with a moral. Well done.

The Covered Wagon (Paramount) — A real
American epic. Not to be missed under any
circumstances.

The Girl of the Golden West (First National)
— Slightly diluted to meet the demands of cen-
sorship, but on the whole, satisfactory.

Only Thirty-eight (Paramount) — Charming
story of a belated romance, delicately handled
by William De Mille and a good cast.

Tea With a Kick (Victor Halperin)— Foolish
farce, with an all-star cast.

The Exciters (Paramount) — Bebe Daniels as
an exponent of Jazz. Not the best of its kind,
but fair enough.

I

Human Wreckage (Film Booking Offices)
Mrs, Wallace Reid presents a vivid, if gloomy
indictment of the drug evil. Instructive but
hardly an entertainment feature.

Fog Bound (Paramount) — Mystery smoth-
ered by fog. Dorothy Dalton and David
Powell.

The Love Trap (Grand-Asher)— "Program
stuff" with Mabel Forrest, Bryant Washburn,
and Wheeler Oakman.

Legally Dead (Universal) — A rambling story
with Milton Sills as the chief sufferer.

Where the North Begins (Warner Brothers)
— Rin-tin-tin, the dog actor, gives a fine per-
formance.

The Common Law (Selznick) — Lots of real
stars who are given no opportunity.

OCTOBER

Merry- Go- Round (Universal) — Vienna and
the war, and unusual performance by Mary
Philbin, George Hackathorne, and Norman
Kerry.

Penrod and Sam (First National) — A real
exposition of the way a real boy's mind works.
You should see it.

Homeward Bound (Paramount) — Thomas
Meighan — the rest doesn't matter.

Circus Days (First National) — Jackie Coogan
joins a circus, with resultant tears and laughter.

Suzanna (Mack Sennett) — Mabel Normand
moves in the romantic atmosphere of Old Cali-
fornia, but has little or nothing to do.

Hollywood (Paramunt) — Proving that some-
body in the movie industry has a sense of
humor.

Dulcy (First National) — A good adaptation of
the stage success, starring Constance Tal-
madge.

Salome (Allied Producers and Distributers)
— The appeal of Nazimova's version of the
Oscar Wilde drama is almost wholly pictorial.
Unusual settings are the distinctive feature.

The Shriek of Araby (Mack Sennett)— Hor-
rible!

The Famous Mrs. Fair (Metro) — An excel-
lent picture directed with Fred Niblo's sane
judgment and even tempo.

Soft Boiled (Fox) — Tom Mix tries on horn-
rimmed specs with indifferent results. '

December, 1923

The Theatrical Field

499

Garrison's Finish (Allied Producers and Ex-
hibitors)— Familiar stuff, but fairly interesting.
Jack Pickford as Garrison.

The Spoilers (First National) — They filmed
the fight first and then built the rest around it.
But it's good.

Her Reputation (First National) — A rap at
newspaper sensationalism. Fires, floods and
wrecks fail to impede the rapid action.

NOVEMBER
Ashes of Vengeance (First National) —
Highly romantic love story with medieval
France as a background. Norma Talmadge
and Conway Tearle. Well worth seeing.

The Silent Partner (Paramount) — Domestic
drama, with Leatrice Joy making the most of
slim opportunities.

Three Wise Fools (Goldwyn)— A stage hit
fairly well retold.

Rupert of Hentzau (Selznick)— An enter-
taining, but artificial production of a romantic
story, with an all-star cast.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (Paramount)— A
flippant little tale serves as an excuse for a lot
of new clothes for Gloria Swanson.

Why Worry (Pathe)— Harold Lloyd quells
a revolution in his own inimitable way.

Red Lights (Goldwyn)— An absurd mystery
hodge-podge which will amuse you if you are
looking for something different.

Rouged Lips (Metro)— Viola Dana in a
harmless concoction.

The Last Hour (Mastodon)— Exaggerated
melodrama which, unfortunately, takes itself
seriously.

To tlie .Last Man (Paramount)— "Five little,
four little, three little, two little, one little In-
dian boy!" Richard Dix is the hero of this
demonstration of the survival of the fittest.

The Fighting Blade (First National)— The
personality of Richard Barthelmess is largely
responsible for the success of this romantic
drama of Cromwell's time.

The Rustle of Silk (Paramount)— Slight ma-
terial, carefully handled, serve Betty Compson
and Conway Tearle.

Potash and Perlmutter (First National-
Barney Bernard and Alexander Carr carry
their splendid characterizations to the screen
successfully.

Drifting (Universal)— Priscilla Dean labors
to put life into a lifeless story— and doesn't
succeed. ^ ,

Does It Pay? (Fox)— Undoubtedly the worst

picture ever filmed.

When Teachers Fail to Teach

{Concluded from page 481)
tions and helps him answer his own ques-
tions by the written descriptions on the
back of each picture. The lantern slides
used in teaching are a means of reviewing
and having the class discuss their experi-
ences as a social group.

Ideas are not isolated, segregated ; knowl-
edge is unity. Facts do not form isolated
islands. Teaching with material afforded
by the stereoscope and lantern slide intro-
duces unity into the curriculum. A natural
correlation of all subjects in the curriculum
ensues. The ideal school was best defined
by Garfield: ''A college is Mark Hopkins
on one end of a log and a student on the
other." The personal contact of pupil with
teacher and teacher with pupil is essential
if education — thinking — is to result from
school experiences. In other words, what
Garfield meant was that the ideal educa-
tion was to result by the contact with many
teachers through one teacher, many sub-
jects through one subject.

History, geography, mathematics, Eng-
lish, astronomy, civics, and all the sciences
are not separate, cold, and isolated bits of
knowledge, but all a great truth of man and
his civiHzation. Visual education through
the stereoscope and lantern slide will do for
teaching what the philosophers of all ages
have been attempting to do, find the golden
thread that runs through all knowledge;
that is, synthesize knowledge. With visual
material our curriculum is not made up of
wholly independent subjects, but it brings
into the life of the child an appreciation of
the unity of mankind and of all things. It
cannot then be said we have failed to teach.

S^eel Booth, bolted joints, Portable or sta-
tionary, fair condition. $40.00. Much below
cost to sell quickly. Also, portable asbestos
booth, good as new, $60.00.

Thomas Radcliffe, Larimore, N. Dak.

500

The Educational Screen

Film Recommendations by

The National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher

Associations

Mrs. Charles E. Merriam

Chairman, Better Films Committee

THE National Congress of Mothers and
Parent Teacher Associations recommends
these films for various family groups:

FOR THE FAMILY
(From Ten Years Up)

Why Elephants Leave Home— Pathe. An in-
teresting and educational picture of the life
and habits of the Ceylon elephant.

Monks a la Mode — Fox. With the exception of
one cut this is a very good comedy, featur-
ing some rather clever monkeys.

The Dippy Doo Dads in "Go West" and "A
Monkey Mixup," both Fox comedies, will
aflford many wholesome laughs for the en-
tire family.

Adventures in the North — A Capt. Klein-
schmidt Production. A splendid account of
the wonders in northern Alaska.

The Rich Pup — Featuring the famous dog, Pal.
A Century. Suggest one cut.

Johnny Swordfish — Fox Educational.

Our Dog Friends — Bray Nature Studies No. 5.

Long Live the King — Jackie Coogan (Metro).
Good costume picture.

The Dippy-Doo-Dads in "Lovey-Dovey," a
Pathe comedy, is a delightfully entertaining
picture for the whole family.

The Courtship of Miles Standish — Pathe. In
spite of the fact that Charles Ray is rather
"different" in the role of John Alden, the
picture is well done.

David Copperfield (Pathe) — Quite a good ver-
sion of Dickens' novel.

The Cricket on the Hearth (Gerson) — Very
good.

Columbus (Pathe) — The first release in the
Chronicles of America Series of films, vis-
ualizing the content of the Yale University
Press set of historical books entitled "Chron-
icles of America." This film is a remarkably
competent portrayal of Columbus' accom-
plishment, and is both instructional and en-
tertaining.

. FOR THE FAMILY
(From High School Age Up)

Broadway Broke — Selznick. The story of a
successful actress of a former generation
who, although she is now a grandmother, is
forced because of economic difificulties to re-
turn to the footlights. She enters upon a
second career which means fame and for-
tune, but this time it is as a motion picture
star. A very sweet story neatly pictured.

Blow Your Own Horn — Film Booking Offices.
An exaggerated comedy but entertaining.

Gentle Julia — Fox. More interesting than Tar-
kington's book.

The Extra Girl — Pathe. Mable Normand goes
to Hollywood to seek her tortune as a movie
actress. She is engaged as an extra girl in
the Costume Department until her childhood
lover takes her back to the little home-town.

Stephen Steps Out — Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
(Paramount) (High School Age). Comedy-
drama of school days.

The Country Kid — Wesley Barry (Warner
Bros.). High School Age. Comedy-drama.
Story of country life. Hesitate to recom-
mend for younger children because of brutal
treatment of children.

The Chronicles of America — Vincennes (Yale
Univ. Press Series). Pathe — Fairly good his-
torical picture but not equal to the Colum-
bus picture.

Richard the .Lion-Hearted — Wallace Beery
(Associated). Fairly good costume picture
with parts evidently taken from Robin Hood
film. The king is a parody of what a king
ought to be. Could be made much more in-
teresting if parts were left out.

Rouged Lips — Viola Dana — From a Saturday
Evening Post story.

His Mystery Girl — Universal. A good comedy
but exaggerated as usual. A man lays a plot
to cure his brother of woman-hating. Sug-
gest one cut.

December, 1923 Film Reccommendations of Parent-Teacher Ass^ns

Hook and Ladder — Universal, A harmless com-
edy featuring Hoot Gibson. Suggest a few
cuts.

To the Ladies — Paramount. Follows the play
rather closely. A good comedy.

Kidding Kate — Educational. (Christie Com-
Comedy.) The fat sister and the slender sis-
ter compete for the affections of the slender
man. All ends happily when the slender
man's fat brother comes to the rescue.

Big Brother — Paramount. A story of a New
York east-side gang. When the real big
brother is killed in a brawl, his pal adopts
the Httle brother for his own and in trying
to "bring him up in the way he should go,"
the Big Brother begins to go straight him-
self. Suggest a few cuts of shooting scenes.

Why Worry? with Harold Lloyd— Pathe. This
is purely for laughing purposes, and not, at
that, as clever as some of Mr. Lloyd's ve-
hicles for fun making.

The Light That Failed (Paramount)— Percy
Marmont in a masterly version of Kipling's
story; a remarkably worthy picture from
every angle.

A Lady of Quality (Universal)— A beautifully
produced costume picture of the time when
Judge Jeffries was executing or imprisoning
the enemies of England's king; features
Constance Talmadge. Recommended only if
sub-titles concerning girl in compromising
situation are cut.

Rosita, with Mary Pickford— This is the same
story which Pola Negri used for "The Span-
ish Dancer." Miss Pickford, however, has
given us a refined version.

Woman Proof, with Thomas Meighan — This is
a well done typical Thomas Meighan love
story.

Ashes of Vengeance, with Norma Talmadge —
This was unintentionally omitted two months
ago. There is quite a difference of opinion
as to its merits. Many remark that it is
too long, and Miss Talmadge looks much
older. From our standpoint, it shows a
gruesome scene where they bind the hero
and threaten to burn out his eyes. Many
adults shuddered at the scene and surely
children should not see it.

The White Sister, with Lillian Gish— An excel-
lent production, worthy of all praise.

FOR ^ADULTS

The Mailman — Film Booking Offices. Suggest
cuts. Rather sentimental but perhaps enter-
taining to some.

Hoodman Blind — Fox. A sea shore story.
Strong theme, melodramatic.

The Wanters — First National. The son of a
wealthy widow marries his mother's maid.

Twenty-One — First National. A young son is
reared by his wealthy society mother as a
"sissy." He falls in love with the daughter
of one of his father's employees. Because the
car breaks down quite late one night, the girl
and boy axe forced to spend the night at a
road house which later brings down upon
their innocent heads much severe criticism.
Because of the insinuations so emphasized in
this picture, I would not recommend it for
high school age.
Unseeing Eyes — Goldwyn. Lionel Barrymore
starring. This is a Hearst picture. Suggest
many cuts. An interesting story of the far
north where the scenery is beautiful.
The Himchback of Notre Dame, with Lon
Chaney.— Universal. This is a worthwhile
film which one hesitates even to recommend
to grown-ups because it is so horribly grue-
some. No one would ever care to see it the
second time, and it is difficult to suggest it
for an evening's enjoyment.
The Fighting Blade (First National)— Richard
Barthelmess in an exciting drama of the
days of Cromwell. Sub-titles hinting of
girl's waywardness should be cut.
Potash and Perlmutter (First National)— Film
version of the stage play, and featuring Alex-
ander Carr, Barney Bernard, and Vera Gor-
don; comedy-drama of cloak and suit busi-
ness. Extremely bad dancing scenes in
restaurant incident should be cut.
The Green Goddess (Goldwyn)— George Arliss
in the film version of stage play in which he
appeared. A well-directed and thrilling drama
of three English people captured by an In-
dian ruler.
Lights Out (Film Booking Office)— One of
the most entertaining comedy-dramas pro-
duced this season; too good to miss. Story
of an international crook captured by means
of his double in a moving picture.
The Acquittal (Universal)— A mystery drama
worthy of the name. Cut reference to letter

m

Film RECCOMMENDAtlONS OF pARENT-TfiACHER Ass'nS The Educational Screen

The shadow on Calvary, to all asres
the symbol of brotherhood and freedom.

Like a Dream the Past
Rises Before One In This
Idealized History of the World

The Light of the World

Re-edited Version of
the Birth of a Race

(7 REELS)

Freedom and equality (God's thought in
Creation) followed through the time of
Moses and the Christ period, to our mod-
ern day, when the principle of equality
has become the foundation of enlight-
ened governments, and peace and free-
dom the hope of the modern world.

A stirring drama of historic episodes

Superior in Conception and Theme
to any other Biblical or Educa-
tional Photoplay Ever Produced

Also Owners and Distributors of "Young Mother Hubbard" (5 reels) with Mary Macalester.

SUPER PHOTOPLAY SERVICE

159 North State Street

Chicago, Illinois

discussing furnished apartment, and com-
ments upon this part of letter. Ask for the
film as shown in Chicago.

Not Recommended

THE following list of "Not Recommended"
films is by way of experiment. Would it help

you any to have such a list so as to know that

we have reviewed them and found them not

worthy of endorsement?

His Children's Children — Paramount. Immoral
situations.

White Tiger — Universal. Too much crookery.

Stolen Gold — Universal. Cheap western pic-
ture with holdup.

King's Creek .Law — Universal. Too much gun
play.

What Love Will Do — Sunset. Mining story.
Too much cruelty.

Dancer of the Nile — Earl. Too much nudity.

Mile a Minute Romeo — Fox. Too much gun
play.

Evil — Exceptional production. Sensuous.

Wild Bill Hickok— Paramount. A Wm. Hart
picture. Too much gun play. Bill Hart in
this picture as "Wild Bill" is a fighter, a
gambler, a drunkard and is made a hero
because of these qualities.

Anna Christie — First National. As cut by the
First National Producers Distributing office
of Chicago, this picture is not particularly
objectionable. However, in the states where
it was not cut, we understand there were
serious objections to the picture. The theme
cannot be changed and the picture remains
decidedly an adult picture.

You Can't Get Away With It— Fox. One of
those dangerous pictures in which the de-
cidedly immoral theme is clothed in beau-
tiful settings and splendid acting. Percy
Marmont takes the role of the neglected
husband who finds understanding and sym-
pathy in a young girl who is tired of strug-
gling alone and who longs for the pretty
things of life. Young people should not be
allowed to see this type of picture.

December, 1923

603

Pictures and the Church

Conducted by
Chester C. Marshall, D. D.

Preaching With Motion Pictures

THE title of this article may come with
something of a shock to some of our
readers. To such we would recall that
our Lord in the days of the flesh preached
with pictures. To be sure he did not use the
stereopticon or motion picture. Such things
would have been astounding miracles in His
day. Nevertheless, He used the picture
method. When He wanted to bring to men
a full realization of the love and mercy of
God, when He wanted to present God in His
truest form, He took His brush and in such
vivid colors as were never mixed by artist,
painted the picture known as the Prodigal Son.
There is the picture of God at His best, and
of man in his greatest need. The picture
method was the way to make it remembered.
True, this was a word picture — the only kind
He could well employ. Only once, so far as
our record goes, did He ever write — but
when He did write He stooped down and wrote
in the sand. The very picturesqueness of His
method made an indelible impression upon
His spectators.

When the church of today considers the pos-
sibility of visual teaching and appeal, it is
well for those whose sensibilities are offended
to remember the picture and parable methods
of our Lord.

The objection may be made that there are
not suitable films for religious work, even
though this may be a permissible method. It
is granted that there is a great lack of pictures
for this express purpose. It would be strange
if there were many such pictures so long as
there has been no realization on the part of
the church that here was a great instrument
awaiting the utilization, and so long as there
was a hostility to their use in connection with
church activity.

If the churches are to stand aloof until there
is a great library of films expressly made for
them, they will wait in vain while a golden
opportunity passes by. Films are exceedingly
expensive, and the demand in the entertainment
field is so tremendous and profitable that no
worth-while attempt will be made to exploit a
new field until it is reasonably certain that a

♦Reprinted from the Chrisrtian Herald, May 15, 1920,
by permission.

fair revenue may be derived from rentals. As
the number of churches with projection equip-
ment increases, the number of films for church
use will increase, and this in turn will encour-
age many more churches to prepare for the use
of this new method of work. But if churches
are really anxious to see the existence of a
large library of religious and educational films,
let them help along their coming by the imme-
diate installation of equipment.

One is not to infer that there are no pictures
now available for church use. There are
enough already to keep any church going until
such time as new and better ones are forth-
coming.

There is one picture which perhaps more
than any other demonstrates the power of
motion pictures in evangelistic use — a seven-
reel film entitled "The Stream of Life." The
scenario was written by a clergyman, Dr.
James K. Shields, and the picture was pro-
duced under his personal supervision.

It is a simple analogy between a human life
and a stream, starting as a mere rill up in the
hills, broadening out and deepening into the
brook and then the great, strong river current
that is borne out into the sea. The story is
of a boy, Philip Maynard, reared in a country
home, surrounded by the best and most whole-
some simplicity and religious influences. Anon,
he is a young man, hearing the call of the
city. To the city he goes, with the little Bible
incribed by his mother. He finds success and
social prominence, but, like a multitude of
others, in so doing he loses his religion.

We are introduced into a home of rare re-
finement and culture, where all the hopes of
life are centered in the beautiful daughter,
Marjorie. A visit from the delightful old
mother brings embarrassing reminders of the
omission of grace at meals, family prayers,
and neglect of the dust-covered Bible, which
mother had given him when he left for the
city. At length a dark shadow falls upon the
home in the death of the little daughter. To
grief is added rebellion and unbelief. Business
grows by leaps and bounds but money cannot
buy happiness. Riches avail naught when one
has lost his own soul. He plunges deeper into
business to drown his sorrow and the grieving

504

Pictures and the Church

The Educational Screen

wife is finally prevailed upon to seek surcease
of sorrow in her former club life. At last,
in passing the open door of a vine-covered
chapel the yearning of her mother heart im-
pels her to enter. She kneels at the altar to
pray, and while kneeling the choir is heard
in the distance singing:

"Come ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish;
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell
your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot
heal."

Peace, faith and hope steal over her soul
and she arises with the glad cry, "Now I know
that what I thought was death is only transi-
tion." She hastens home and eagerly relates
her experience to PhiHp. But he, while glad
she has found comfort, is convinced that re-
ligion is only for women, and that it can have
no place in the life of a strong man.

The wife feeds her religious life at the little
prayer meeting, while Philip becomes more
inconsolable. One night he goes to the chapel
with umbrella and raincoat to bring her home,
but dropping down in a back seat he hears her
wonderful testimony. The arrow of convic-
tion has entered his heart, but he stubbornly
resists. In vain he seeks relief at his club one
night, and returning home, opens the old Bible
and reads from Revelation, "Behold, I stand
at the door and knock." And suddenly the
Christ stands before him, and falling to his
knees he cries, "Lord, I believe."

Life is utterly transformed. Peace and hope
becoming abiding guests. Their money is
given lavishly to orphan homes and other
philanthropies, yet he prospers more and more.
He has become president of a great bank
and the son of his old partner, also a director
of the bank, applies for a loan without proper
security. Philip advises strongly against the
loan, but is outvoted. The money is embez-
zled and the bank closes its doors. Philip
looks out the window of the directors' room at
the vast crowds whose savings have been wiped
out and he is face to face with his duty of
Christian stewardship.

After a struggle the battle is won. He de-
votes his vast fortune to paying the depositors.
His beautiful mansion goes, with the rest of
his possessions, and they move to a humble
cottage. His visits to the embezzler in his
prison cell awaken remorse and penitence, and
Philip secures his pardon from the governor.
And so life flows on, now quiet and peaceful

and again turbulent, until old age finds him
alone, but full of good works and an unwaver-
ing faith in his living Redeemer. Thus, at last,
we see his life ebbing out with the tide to be
lost in the great ocean of the God-life whence
it came.

This picture represents the best of Amer-
icanism and the best of religion. The atmos-
phere produced by the picture is electric.
Laughter and tears are intermingled and every
emotion of good is stirred and deepened into a
resolution to make life count for God and
humanity.

A unique experiment was tried by the Meth-
odist Centenary with this picture. Mr. Lee
Shubert donated the Casino Theatre on Broad-
way, New York City, for a free noon-time
showing of the picture every day during Easter
week. Men were invited in during the lunch
hour, and they came — Jews, Catholics, Pro-
testants, and the unchurched. After each show-
ing a two-minute talk was given and an oppor-
tunity given for those who wanted to renew
their loyalty to God and to be remembered in
the prayer to follow, to indicate their desire
and intention by the uplifted hand. Fully nine-
tenth of those present daily held up their hands.
Many hundreds of the spectators had not been
in a church for years, but by the picture method
a vital, throbbing Christian message was
brought to them. There was scarcely a dry
eye in the house. As the men left, a copy of
the Gospels was placed in their hands, and
many who got out in the crush without a copy
raoie back and asked for one. Lists of New
York churches and their addresses accompanied
an invitation to each man to attend church on
Easter. It is safe to say that a score of noted
preachers in as many churches would not pro-
duce a total effect commensurate with that se-
cured by the showing of this picture. If a
similar method were to be adopted next Easter
week in cities all over the land it would afford
a tremendous contribution to humanity.

Anyone who has seen this picture properly
projected, with a proper rendition of the mag-
nificent musical score, will have no doubt as
to the effectiveness of the picture method of
preaching. As soon as a sufficient number of
churches are equipped for projection so that
producers can hope to get their investment
back in a reasonable time, there will be other
pictures of the right kind forthcoming. ^

C. C M.

December, 1923

Pictures and the Church

505

Film Reviews

(By Dr. Marshall personally)

Miles Standish (9 reels) (Pathe Exchange,
Inc.). Charles Ray as John Alden and Enid
Bennett as Priscilla. Several reels are occu-
pied with the trip on the Mayflower, and with
the first months of life at Plymouth, all based
upon historical records, but featuring the char-
acters of Longfellow's poem. The latter half
of the picture glides into the story as the poet
gives it to us, without a pause. Deserves a
place high in the list of the very best pictures.
Will afiford an evening of delight and inspira-
tion to people of all ages.

The Country Kid (7 reels) (Warner Bros.).
Wesley Barry as the "kid." Three little boys
left orphans. The oldest boy acts as mother
to the two little fellows. A cruel, greedy
uncle, who has been appointed guardian, tears
the two lads away from the older brother and
puts them in the county orphanage in order
that he may compel the latter to work for him
for almost nothing. The orphanage waifs, in
their loneliness and wretchedness, send a letter
to their brother, pleading with him to come
and release them. He effects a thrilling "res-
cue" and by the help of the judge the uncle's
plans are foiled. A clean and fairly interesting
picture of boy life.

Woman Proof (8 reels) (Famous Players-
Lasky Corp.). Thomas Meighan and Lila Lee
in the leading roles. A rich father dies, leav-
ing a vast fortune to his two sons and two
daughters, provided they are all married by a
certain date. One brother and both sisters
are ready and quite willing. The other brother,
an engineer, is altogether impervious to all
feminine charms, and too busy in his work to
give the matter any thought. All the princi-
pals are frantic as the last day arrives and
there is no possibility of claiming their for-
tunes, but a sudden turn of events and a triple
wedding aboard an ocean liner save the day.
A most entertaining and clean picture. Inspect
for one possible cut of serving drinks outside
the three-mile limit.

A Pauper Millionaire (5 reels) (Pathe Ex-
change, Inc.). Pye Smith is a multimillionaire.
His son tours England and falls in love with a
beautiful nurse. Father and mother suspect
designs on her part to win the family fortune.
The son is called home, and being determined
to marry with or without his parents' consent,

father Smith decides secretly to make a trip
to England to see the girl. His valet misses
the steamer and he cannot identify his bag-
gage. While waiting for his train he has his
beard shaved off, so the porter will not give
him his grip. He has left his pocketbook in
the grip and arrives in London penniless. He
pawns his clothes for food and lodging, and
then his hotel, his London banker and even the
American Consul take him to be a fraud. He
almost starves before he lands a job as a
window cleaner. Falling from a ladder he is
badly hurt, and of course lands in the hospital
and in the care of this pretty nurse, and before
he has recovered he has willingly given his
consent to the marriage. A clean, wholesome
picture with plenty of fun and interest through-
out.

Foolish Parents (6 reels) (Pathe Exchange.
Inc.). An English picture, well made and
very much worth-while. A young London
couple are given $50,000 a year allowance by a
South African uncle. An appeal for a more
generous allowance in order that they may be
relieved of their "poverty" brings him unan-
nounced to England. He finds their little
boy all but ignored by these parents — so busy
doing nothing. Their allowance is suddenly
cut oflf. They sell the boy to a friend for a
consideration of $25,000 a year, but finally de-
cide the boy is worth more than money. They
both go to work, and discover they had to lose
all they had to find out they had all left that
mattered.

David Copperfield (7 reels) (Pathe Exchange,
Inc.). A very superior picture made in
Sweden. Examine reel five for one possible cut of
a drinking scene, not in the book and alto-
gether unnecessary. With very few exceptions
the film follows the book with great fidelity,
and is deserving of highest praise for having
caught in such large measure the spirit and
atmosphere of the novel.

Stephen Steps Out (7 reels) (Famous Play-
ers-Lasky Corp.). From Richard Harding
Davis' story, "The Grand Cross of the Cres-
cent." Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Theodore
Roberts, supported by an excellent cast, fur-
nish an hour of entertainment that is indeed
refreshing and wholesome, as well as amusing.
Appropriate for all ages. No cuts.

506

The EdiLcational Screen

School Department

Conducted by
Marie Goodenough

The First of the ''Chronicles of America
Columbus

IT is safe to say that never before in the
history of the educational motion picture
has so elaborate a project as the Yale
Chronicle Series been undertaken, nor has there
been behind any previous effort the careful
planning, the painstaking research, the fine
scholarly insight and the scrupulous attention

Columbus before the Spanish Council at
Santa Fe

to detail that have been put into the making
of this complete picture record of American
history.

Much has been said and written within the
last year or more of the plan and progress of
the work undertaken by the Yale University
group, and the educational world has been
waiting eagerly for the outcome which should
become apparent with the release of the first
unit in the series.

It becomes an especially happy privilege to
record a result fully justifying the great expec-
tations entertained, a notable achievement and
a success complete and satisfying.

The familiar story of Columbus is set forth
with a wealth of historical detail, in careful
continuity, against backgrounds charming in
their old-world atmosphere and notable for
their beauty— all recorded with the perfect
artistry in lighting, scene composition, costum-

ing and direction such as we have come to
associate with the best in the theatrical screen.

The problem of characterization, always a
difficult question with an historical subject,
has been most adequately solved. The fig-
ures in the story impress one as perfect types
of fifteenth century life, from the royal person-
ages portrayed to the figures in the convent
at which Columbus fortunately tarried on his
way from Spain to the court of France,

And the subject is an hour's worth of de-
lightful entertainment, in the truest sense of
the word. There is drama in it, with fine
values of situation, action and suspense. At
first the picture of the court of Portugal, where
in a deserted antechamber sits the discouraged
Italian mariner who had pleaded vainly for
royal aid, and after four years of waiting begs
to have back his maps, while from a small boat
sent out from the caravel anchored in Lisbon
harbor, men land under the protecting walls
of the castle, bringing to the king tidings of a
secret voyage undertaken with the stolen maps,
but ending in failure.

Rejected by Spain, Columbus shows his
letter from the King of France

Five years of delay; and Columbus present-
ing his case at the court of Spain — laughed at
by the council and disdained by the King — \
returning to his home with the bitter memory

December, 1923

School Department

507

of his defeat, believing his cause lost, but at a
considerable distance from the court overtaken
by a courier from the Queen. Finally, after
months of preparation, the thrilling moment

Columbus makes his plea before Isabella
of Castile

when the sails were spread on the Santa Maria
and the little ships pointed toward the west.

Then after the eventful voyage, the cry of
land and the anxious waiting for dawn, with
Columbus straining for a sight of what was
there, expecting much in wealth, but little
dreaming he had come upon a new continent.
The morning of October 12, 1492, and the
handful of eager men rowing to a sandy beach
fringed with palm trees. There is something
about it that is intense and gripping.

Excellent use has been made of the animated
map — at first to indicate the course of early
voyages of discovery undertaken by Asiatics
and by the Norse mariners who sailed to Ice-
land and Greenland — and later to show the
course followed by Columbus.

If any hint of adverse criticism is to be voiced
it lies in such a minor detail as the suspicion
that the action of film is a bit too slow in
bringing the boat load from the ship to the
shore — but it is only an individual reaction,
and may not be borne out by the consensus of
opinion.

For the present the films of the series are
of course to be seen only in the theatres. They
are currently reviewed in these pages, however,
as a means of urging their early use, in connec-
tion with the theatre if possible, by the school
population of the country. It would be a
splendid thing for American education if, in
addition to the pleasure and satisfaction they
will give adult audiences, they could be seen

and appreciated by every child in every com-
munity from Maine to California. (4 reels)
{Released by Pathe).

Book Review

Motion Pictures in Education— Don Carlos El-
lis and Laura Thornborough: Thomas Y.
Crowell Co. (284 pp.) $2.50.
The authors have prepared a veritable com-
pendium of information for those who are in-
terested in the educational possibilities of mo-
tion pictures. It covers all phases of the subject
and should prove an invaluable aid in working
out plans for the installation and use of film
equipment in the school. The chapters devoted
to the arguments for and against using films
for instructional purposes seem almost a waste
of valuable space, inasmuch as the subject is
virtually non-debatable when actual facts and
current practices are considered.

Dr. Claxton, in his excellent introduction,
covers the high spots of the book when he
says: "It is good to have brought together in
one book a discussion of the history and prin-
ciples of visual education, the story of the origin
and growth of motion pictures and their use

*I claim dominion over this new empire in
the name of the Holy Church and their
joint Majesties"

508

School Department

The Educational Screen

in education, a critical discussion of their values
and of different methods of using them, direc-
tions for installing apparatus, the kinds of films
now available and where and how they can be
had."

The philosophy of the subject is well cov-
ered. The technique is clearly presented, the
pedagogy is sound, and the information up to
date and accurate. This book should be on the
desk of every educational administrator in the
country. C. B. C.

Program of the Visual Instruction

Section of the Ohio State

Teachers Association

(Convention at Columbus, Ohio, on December
2yth and 28th)
Albert C. Eckert, care High School,
Springfield, Ohio, Chairman.

F. S. MoflPett, care High School,
Piqua, Ohio, Secretary.

Thursday Morning, December 27th

1. Address: "Practical Visual Instruction in
the School Room," Professor J. V. An-
keney. University of Missouri; Secretary
of Academy of Visual Instruction.

2. Address: "Visual Aids in the Teaching of

Agriculture," Professor Charles Roach,
College of Agricultural Engineering,
Ames, Iowa.

3. Round Table Discussion.

4. Symposium on Methods of Visual Educa-

tion, consisting of three minute talks from
the experience of those who have used
Visual Methods.

5. Business Session.

All who are interested in Visual Education
are urged to attend a banquet Thursday eve-
ning at 5:30. Hon. Vernon M. Reigel, State
Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio,
and Prof. H. C. Ramsower, Head of Extension
Division of Ohio State University, will speak.
At this banquet we shall discuss the question, "Is
it possible to secure a Central Bureau of Visual
Education in Ohio, for the distribution of slides
and films ?" We also expect to show several of the
latest educational films designed for use in
school room, and discuss the best methods of
presentation. In order to secure places at this
banquet your reservation must be in hands of
the president or secretary by December 26th.
The price will be $1 per plate. Do not fail to
send in your reservation.

i

Film Reviews

TRAVEL AND SCENIC

Capt. Kleinschmidt's Adventures in the Far
North (2 reels) (Educational Films)— There
is a picturesqueness about the subject which
antedates the scenes of the Far North, and
goes back to the story of the Sub-Chaser 301,
rechristened The Silver Screen, launched in
April, 1922, and dedicated "to place before
motion picture lovers a record of the splendors
of the Far North." Travel films are seldom
so engagingly frank.

The route of the proposed voyage is traced
on an animated map (excellent, but a bit too
hurried for the best educational use, it must be
admitted) through the Inside Passage from
Seattle, on to the Pribiloff Islands, Bering Sea
and Wrangell Island.

The record of the trip, as far as the captions
are concerned, is given in part at least, by
excerpts from the diary of Mrs. Kleinschmid —
which accounts for their chatty, informal style.
One is "taken along," so to speak, and allowed
to look from the ship to beautiful scenery
along the shores and narrows of the Inside

Passage, and to enjoy some of the thrills of
speeding through Alaskan waters.

By far the most notable feature of the reels,
however, is the remarkable picturing of the
animal and bird life of the Arctic. A whole
rocky ledge dark with bird forms — some sitting
on eggs shaped like pears so they will not
roll ofif a slope — is startling, if one has been
taught to believe the Far North a lifeless
waste. The birds are frightened, and fly in
great clouds, "a miniature cyclone," leaving the
eggs an easy prey for the masses of sea gulls
which swoop down for an immediate raid.

Salmon streams are visited and nets lift the
fish by thousands into the fishing schooners.
Far more interesting, however, are the pictures
of spawning salmon — the mate jealously guard-
ing the female fish, which digs a sandy bed
for the eggs — and a most unusual view of the
salmon which have died soon after spawning,
their bodies seen on the bed of the stream or
lake when the waters recede.

No picture of the Alaskan Peninsula would
be complete without its views of floating berg

December, 1923

School Department

5()9

Do You Want Good Pictures Suited To
Your Requirements?

Do you want pictures that entertain while they instruct? Pictures
that throw light on history, science, geography, etc.? Do you want
romance, drama, comedy, suited to church, school, or any particular use,
specially edited with that use in view?

Pathe has a very large supply of such pictures and the quality is of
the very best.

Write us and tell us your needs. We can help you.

PATHE EXCHANGE, INC.

(Educational Department)

No. 35 West 45th St., New York
Exchanges in 35 centrally located cities

and great overhanging ledges of the ice walls
— 700 feet high in one case — some of which are
seen to tremble, crack and fall. Such scenes
I believe are among the finest of the kind ever
recorded.

A glimpse is given of an Indian settlement,
the totem poles and the ceremonial costumes
of the people, and a bit of Eskimo life is
included as well.

The film manages, also, to give quite a com-
prehensive exposition of whaling as it is car-
ried on in these northern waters, from the
time the gunman of the whaler sights a "blow"
until the huge flipper is hauled aboard, and
four whales are towed by the vessel on its
return to the whaling station. There the great
bulk is hauled up the inclined plank, the blubber
removed, and "the tragic side of the incident''
revealed — the unborn whale which perished
with its mother.

At the Pribiloff Islands, where the seals of
the Arctic migrate during the mating season,
there were recorded in June, 1922, some remark-
able views of great seal herds and rocks worn
smooth by the bodies of thousands. Most
unusual scenes also show the ungainly sea
lions, photographed at surprisingly close range

with both normal speed and slow motion cam-
eras, as the animals slid off the cliff rocks into
the water. Past Bering Strait in the real
Arctic are walruses in great numbers on the
ice floes, and fine views show also the swim-
ming herd.

"The Silver Screen" at Anchor in a Chilly
Harbor.

The final scenes of the reel are devoted to
the polar bear and her cub swimming close to
the ship, in an incident which ends happily for
the frantic mother.

A uniformly splendid subject.

510

School Department

The Educational Screei

Oases of the Sahara (1 reel) (Prizma) — A
singularly beautiful scenic gem of the desert
and its people. There is a caravan of camels
and donkeys halting at noon to rest near the
palm-sheltered waterholes, the typical Arab
camel driver — with a close view of his head
covering which keeps out heat and blowing
sand — and the travelers who carry their own
wood for fuel and make their meal from tea
and dates.

A wide panoramic view takes in the large
artificial oasis in Algeria built by the French
with irrigation from the Atlas Mountains. In
this considerable Mohammedan city, Friday
(their Sunday) is the market day. Houses are
built of mud and plaster to resist noon-day
temperatures and the heat of the tropical
"winter." In a courtyard of the city is the
typical boys' school, conducted after the Arab
fashion.

Perhaps the most picturesque scenes in the
reel are those showing the desert wells, found
only in large pits, from which water is drawn
up in goat skins by methods as primitive as
those of ancient Palestine and Babylonia.

To guard these precious wells in the desert,
palm leaves are planted on the ridges to pre-
vent sand from blowing into the pits — and
after a severe storm natives are seen carrying
out loads of sand in small baskets.

A touch of the beauty and poetry of Arab
life is symbolized in the final picture of the
evening in the desert and the Mohammedan
worshiper at prayer.

The Sacred City of the Desert (1 reel)
(Prizma) — Various views in and around several
of the sacred villages, said to have been built
centuries ago by a tribe who found refuge in
the desert. Especially satisfactory are the
vip^ of oasis vegetation, not only in panorama,
but in vistas through its luxuriant growth.

The life of the desert oasis centers about
the well, where donkeys draw water, and the
primitive methods of laundry work still pre-
vail. Most unusual is a view of the Arab ceme-
tery where loose stones in a shallow layer are
the only covering over the dead.

For the rest, there is a miscellaneous collec-
tion of glimpses of the horse market, the na-
tives at work, a closeup of the mayor of a vil-
lage, and a celebration by the natives as an
expression of their gratitude for rain — reported
the first to have fallen in that place in 9 years.

New England Shrines (1 reel) (Pathe)-
Places renowned for their association with sig-
nificant events in the history and literature d:
New England are gathered together in an in
teresting succession of views.

An animated map shows the Massachusett;
of 1620, in extent comparable to the presen
New England, and the various states into whicl
the original area was later divided.

Beginning with a view of the ship in whicl
the first Pilgrims came (a repHca of the May
flower), the tablet is shown marking the spo
where they landed, and a close view given o
Plymouth Rock. Then follows views of Salen
streets, famous landmarks of Boston — the oh
State House, built in 1713, King's Chapel, ii
which Royalists worshipped; Faneuil Hall, th(
"Cradle of American Liberty;" Bunker Hil
Monument, a view of Old North Church Towei
— the village square at Lexington, and othe;
spots intimately connected with Revolutionar]
times.

From the standpoint of the history of Amer
ican literature, the reel serves to bring togethei
views of the birthplace of Nathaniel Haw
thorne, the real "House of Seven Gables,'
and the homes of Emerson, Louisa M. Alcott
Hawthorne, Longfellow and Lowell.

Quite fittingly, at the end there is a view o
the famous Washington Elm — all the mon
notable since it is never more to be photo
graphed.

Charleston, Past and Present (1 reel
(Pathe) — A brief review is first given, in cap
tions, of the Charleston colony, and its geo
graphic environment most ably presented ir
views of the country around Charleston — th<
wide tidewater rivers, the chief roads, and the
low swampy fields permitting only a certair
sort of agriculture, to which negro labor was
best suited.

Present-day descendants of those firsi
negroes are pictured in the reel. The lattei
portion is largely given over to various viewj
of Charleston of today, with its Southerr
charm. Old landmarks of the region — such aj
the Old Powder Magazine, the Church of St
Michaels whose bells rang out to proclaim the
Stamp Act, and Fort Sumter, which saw the
first shot of the Civil War, vie in interest with
some of the modern beauty spots of the city-
its artistic doorways and porticoes and its
lovely gardens.

December, 1923

School Department

511

Class Room with Lantern and Slide. Copyright K. V. Co,

"Pictures
Speak a
Universal
Language''

i Visual Education material is
" now considered a part of the

equipment of the up-to-date

school.

^ Keystone Stereographs
and Lantern Slides

stimulate Pupil Activity.
They are the teacher's great-
est help in presenting clearly
new and difficult subjects.
Keystone stereographs and
lantern slides are arranged in
sets to fit daily class room
needs and are conveniently
indexed.

There is a Keystone Repre-
sentative near you who is a
trained and experienced edu-
cator. We shall be glad to
have him call on you.

Write Today

KEYSTONE VIEW COMPANY, Inc., Meadville, Penna.

Keysione has purchased the Stereoscopic and Lantern Slide Department of Underwood and Underwood

Approved Educational Films

{Concluded from page 491)
grades, elementary school, high school, col-
leges, medical schools.

Washington Irving. (1 reel.) Producer,
Urban Motion Pictures, Inc. Distributor, Ur-
ban Motion Pictures, Inc.

One reel in the series on "Great American

Authors." Gives something of the author's life

and bits of "The Headless Horseman" and

The Sketch Book.'" Helpful to stimulafe

pupils reading.

Suitable for upper grades and high school
English.

The Bottom of the World. (3 reels.) Pro-
ducer, Hodkinson. Distributor, Film Booking
Offices, 723 Seventh Avenue.

The Shackleton expedition to the South Pole.
Although originally released for theatrical dis-
tribution, this is a film of great educational
value. After seeing such a picture no child
could continue to think of the South Pole as
a dot on the map. Arctic ice conditions well
shown, heroism of explorers, Eskimo types,
Eskimo dogs. A wonderful picture of pelican
life. Captions occasionally facetious, though

Please Write to Advertisers and

not objectionable. The material is excellent
but negative is old, and care should be taken to
have a good print.

Excellent for geography or assembly from
6th year up.

Obedience. (1 reel.) Producer, F. S. Wythe.
Distributor, The Screen Companion, 71 West
23d St., New York.

Lesson in film series, "Citizens in the Mak-
ing." Excellent film for parents and children.
Need of cooperation in home demonstrated by
showing what would happen if we each did as
we pleased. Mother would not prepare meals,
but might prefer knitting, while father reads
and the boy is robbed by a passing tramp of
the meat he has helped himself to. He pursues
the thief, but is no match for him, until rescued
oy a policeman — the symbol of law and the
authority we all obey. Sufficient human in-
terest to carry the moralizing.

There is much valuable teaching material in
this film, not all on the surface. It can be
correlated with civic teaching, general study
of government, the child's relation to parents
and the home, study of police department, need
of government, etc. 6th-9th years. (V. I. A.)
Mention The Educational Screen

512

School Department

The Educational Screen

"I consider the
Trans-Lux Daylight
Picture Screen a
most important and
far-reaching inven-
tion aa affe<,*ting ed-
ucation. It supplies
a very real need.
Every educational in-
stitution in the coun-
try ought to b£
equipped with these
screens."

The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN can be used in
daylight without darkening the room, thus avoiding poor
ventilation and the expense of satisfactory window coverings.
It can equally well be used with artificial lighting conditions
when desired. The TRANS-LUX DAYLIGHT SCREEN
is non-inflammable, can be cleaned and rolled up without
damage. It is made in any size for any purpose.
For the sake of finer and more economical projection, ask
further details of

TRANS- LUX PAYLIGHT PICTURE SCREEN* INC.
, 36 WEST 442; ST, MIW YORK CITY

Carl E. Akeley,
big game hunter and
Curator of the Amer-
lean Museum of Nat-
ural History, writes:

••The Trans-Lux
Daylight Screen is a
wonder. . . I am get-
ting infinitely finer
projection than I
hfive ever had with
any other screen.
Because of its bril-
liancy, much smaller
pictures may be used
and this feature
alone makes a great
appeal to me."

SCIENCE

Our Common Enemy (1) (Pictorial Clubs).
This is one of the finest reels yet produced on
the fly, both as a biological study of the insect
and as a portrayal of his unsavory personality
and habits. The film starts with the gruesome
facts of eggs laid in refuse, the development of
the maggots, and ends with the finished speci-
men.

The matured fly then proceeds to display
under the microscope his surprising strength,
his filthy tastes in eating, and his genius for
spreading disease. An exceedingly interesting
as well as instructive film.

Science in the Home— The Story of the
Lucifer Match (1 reel) (Vitagraph)— A de-
tailed account of the evolution of this mosc
necessary device, and a record of the careful
scientific work which has produced it in its
present form.

From the days of the old-style sulphur-
tipped match which had to be struck with flint
and steel, and (1805) that which was made to
ignite upon asbestos moistened with sulphuric
acid, the story with all its interesting back-
ground of chemical research is carried to 183*),
when the first modern match was produced,
with yellow phosphorus as the basis of its
composition.

The difficulty in the use of this particular
.type is demonstrated with the aid of a piece
of paper, showing the property possessed by
yellow phosphorus of rendering objects on
which it burns more or less fireproof. For
that reason the phosphorus mixture failed to
light the wood in satisfactory fashion.

Further experimentation led to the dipping
of such matches in sulphur, thus insuring a

4

quick ignition. Due to the added brittlenes .
however, the heads were apt to fly off.

In 1852 was perfected the safety match— the
ingredients of which are shown in their proper
proportions. Paraffin wax was melted into the
wood, taking the place of the sulphur pre-
viously used.

The danger of fire caused by heads of
matches falling off is eliminated by soaking
the wood in soda phosphate, which causes the
burnt stem to be firm and capable of being
handled.

Excellent use is made of the animated dia-
gram to explain the composition of match tip^,
and the film as a whole is most admirably
adapted to use in connection with a study o
the chemistry of the subject.

The Power of the Clouds (1 reel) (Vita
graph)— A picture story of the endless cycle
of a drop of water which (in this case) in its
course from cloud to sea helps to turn the
wheels of a great power house.

The reel is perhaps more valuable as a study
of the life history of a river than it is in the
exposition of the methods by which water
power is converted into other forms of energy.
Most adequately does the reel trace the water
from clouds "restoring their hoarded treasures
to the earth," and the rain which is gathered
-nto tiny streams starting here and there and
carving their way down the mountain side<,
huirying over a cliff in beautiful falls and join-
ing X main stream which" rushes along toward
the lowlands.

"And then with the dawn." says the title,
with a poetic touch which does not altogctht
obscure the strictly utilitarian point of view, "tli
turbulent waters . .. . are ready to fulfill
their mission." A great dam is pictured whicli

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

December, 1923

School Department

513

Perfect Slide Projection— for
Class Room or Auditorium

The Model BB Balopticon gives the most pleasing dissolving effects, one
picture blending with the next — the best way to show slides.

It is virtually two lanterns in
one, yet is very compact and has
no complicated adjustments.
E-quipped with two powerful
Mazda lamps, it is entirely silent
and automatic in operation, and
works on any regular lighting socket.

Ask your dealer or write us for complete description

Bausch ^]pmb Optical (p.

NEW YORK WASHINGTON SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO ROCHESTER, N. Y. London

serves to divert the water into the turbines of
the power plants.

In this portion of the reel it was to be hoped
that enough footage could be spared to show
the action of the great turbines, and the method
by which water power is converted into elec-
tricity—but the sequence is entirely too rapid,
•and this portion of the subject is dismissed
with several views of the powerhouse interior
and the high tension wires which carry the
current. The night lighting of cities is inter-
estingly shown.

After the brief digression, the story of the
cycle is completed, with scenes of peaceful
valleys where the quiet streams finish their
course.

Feathered Aviators and The Lion and the
Fly (1 reel) (Vitagraph)— A split reel, the first
section designed to be entertaining and de-
voted to a number of birds, among which are
such unfamiliar examples as the spur-winged
geese of South America and the butcher bird,
the Australian sea-eagle and the ungainly horn-
bill of the East Indies, as well as some espe-
cially good views of birds as common as the
familiar ostrich. All are photographed In parks

and zoological gardens. Titling contains good
informational material.

The second portion of the reel is made up
of some good individual views of the lion and
the fly, put together with such title sequence
as to bring out the truth of the old fable and
drive home a modern lesson. (Certainly the
most convincing scene is that showing the
boasting fly heading straight into the web of
the spider.)

HISTORY

Thomas Jefferson (1 reel) (Vitagraph)—Bio-
graphical facts are summarized in the intro-
ductory titles, after which is shown the col-
lege of Williamsburg, Virginia, where the fu-
ture statesman's schooling was completed.

Perhaps Jefferson's greatest claim to the at-
tention of posterity was the part he played in
drafting the Declaration of Independence. He
is showm in the costume of the period, seated
at a table, and considerable footage is devoted
to the preamble of the document. Later, in a
more convincing scene, he presents the docu-
ment to the Continental Congress. The reel
pictures the spread of the tidings that a new
nation had declared itself free. Independence

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The EDUCATiONAt Screen

514

School Department

The Educational Screen

Hall and the room where the Declaration was
signed, are shown as they appear today.

Jefferson's career as President is covered in
the titles, after which there is pictured his
estate at Monticello, Virginia, to which he
retired to spend the remainder of his life.

INDUSTRIAL

On the Skeena River (De Vry Circulations.)
— One of a series of films produced by the
Canadian Government and devoted to the sal-
mon industry on this river of British Columbia
where fishing is done under government super-
vision.

Of all the films dealing with some phase or
other of the salmon, this reel is distinguished
by its presentation of the manner in which the
fish are caught — in gill nets — and how they are
handled at the cannery. Details of the actual
fishing operations are entertainingly shown —
in such unusual scenes as that of the laying
of the nets, actual hauHng in of the catch and
emptying the fish on board the little river
boats, the delivery at the canner and later the
work of mending the net preparatory for the
next catch. The process of canning is followed
through until the fish is ready for market in
its several forms.

The Orange Industry (De Vry Circulations)
— Unusually complete and comprehensive is
this story of the orange. Some general views
of the California orange country, and the pick-
ing of the fruit, preface the chronological sum-
mary of the life story of the tree and its golden
fruit. Planting the seeds, transplanting the
young trees and budding, are only the first
steps, after which tops must be cut off, and
the young seedlings tied up for shipment. Ar-
rived at the groves, 100 trees are planted to the
acre, the irrigation and cultivation of which
are interestingly shown.

Quite unusual in a subject of this kind are
such details as the placing of "paper collars"
on the trees to prevent sunburn, fumigating
the trees under huge canvas covers, and smudg-
ing the orchards.

Fruit and flowers are shown in close view,
after which comes scenes of picking with clip-
pers and gloved hands, so careful must be the
handling of the perishable fruit. In the pack-
ing house, grading, washing, wrapping and
packing are expertly done, after which marking
and shipping finish the story. A subject splen-
didly adapted for school use.

MISCELLANEOUS

As We Forgive (2) (Pictorial Clubs),
charming film based on Paul's Epistle to Phile
mon. The story opens with a modern situa
tion exactly parallel to that in the Epistle.

A young man who has committed theft is
advised by a friend to go back to the man he
wronged and seek forgiveness. The friend goes
with him and tells the episode of Philemon as
the gospel of "another chance." Then comes
the picturization of the Bible story itself
played by the same actors in ancient costumes
and in settings historically accurate. Finally
the return to the modern situation and its solu-
tion through the power of the old story.

The acting is notably good, of fine sincerity
and understanding. There is delightful sim
plicity and truth in it all. The direction is able
and the photography extremely fine. The qual-
ity of the whole is unusual in non-theatrical
productions. A splendid reel for the church
service any time and anywhere.

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (Kinema
Film Service) — Two children coax their uncle
to relate a story "about wild animals or sump-
in'." He pictures for them Dream Valley, which
lies against Slumber Mountain, and through
which flows the River of Peace. Two men and
a dog set out on a search for adventure, they
camp on Slumber Mountain where in a secluded
spot are the covered grave and the haunted
cabin of a mysterious character — who according
to popular suspicion left his cabin one night to
go to the top of the mountain and look through
a queer instrument, and was never heard of
afterward.

That night one of the party is roused from
slumber by a voice which leads him to the de-
serted cabin. He finds the instrument box, and
the old man's ghost appears before him, com-
manding him to look through the instrument to
the foot of a cliff, where he beholds scenes of
prehistoric animals — a giant bird, reptiles, dino-
saurs— which are exceedingly well portrayed. It
is a land of make-believe, and wholesomely
stimulating to the imagination.

What matters that the adventure is only a
dream, and that we must come back to the
land of realities in the end.

The County Fair (Vitagraph)— "M'aw Plunk-
kett's" observations and impressions of a great

I

December, 1923 ADVERTISEMENT 515

Pictorial Clubs, Inc.

The organization the Non-Theatrical World has been
waiting to see.

Clean :: Wholesome

Motion Pictures

of Dramatic Character and Strength, especially produced for the

Non-Theatrical Field.

BIBLE STORIES

5-REEL FEATURES

COMEDY- DRAM AS

MICROSCOPICS

SCENICS

on non-inflammable stock.

Read the opinion of The Educational Screen on some of our pictures

in this issue.

Branches now in operation :
NEW YORK ----- 350 Madison Avenue

DETROIT - - - - - - 338 John R. Street

CHICAGO ------ 808 S. Wabash Avenue

PicTORAL Clubs, Inc.

NEW YORK DETROIT CHICAGO

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

516

School Department

The Educational Screen

day at a county fair. The reel is a collection of
typical sights to be seen on such an occasion —
the humor supplied by the customary ungram-
matical brand of rural language. All interesting
enough, no doubt, if one has never seen a county
fair, and really wants to know what one is like.
There are prize pigs, horses, exhibits of farm
machinery, rabbits, goats, cattle being judged

(including fine close views of some prize-win-
ning specimens, which might hold interest for
a farm audience) a milking contest, a baby dis-
play in which infants are measured and weighed
before the camera — and at the finish some good
views of a horse race.

Mildly informative and still more mildly en-
tertaining. One of the Urban Popular Classics.

The Industrial Picture Field

Conducted by

Homer V. Winn

With the cooperation of

THE SCREEN ADVERTISERS ASSOCIATION

A Departmental of The Associated Advertising Clubs of the World

D. D. Rothacker, President

George J. Zehrung, Vice-President
Homer V. Winn, Secretary

This association is composed of leading producers of industrial-educational, advertising
and technical films and slides, sales managers, advertising men, welfare workers and others
interested in non-theatrical screen presentation.

"The Spirit of St. Louis"

A feature picture of a city, by a city and for a city

BOSTON has been getting all the best of
it in the history books. As a result of
the prominent play historians give this
city the little boys and little girls in The Hub's
schools learn of what a wonderful part their
city played in the Drama of America, and as
long as they live they are proud of their Boston.

Inhabitants of other cities have much to be
proud of, too — only in too many cases ' they
don't know it. This is too bad, for every
town and every township in these United States
has a story that would grip its readers if the
story were only told.

In having its history narrated in a seven-reel
photoplay St. Louis has started something that
has tremendous possibilities in the way of
selling America to Americans — of giving our
citizens a newer appreciation of their own land.

Now St. Louis does not say that the his-
torians make a mistake in giving "front page
space" to Boston, New York or Philadelphia.
This nation was cradled in the East and in his-
tory's perspective these places shine forth.

What St. Louis does contend is that, as a
historical adventure story, the expedition of the
little band that came by cordelle boat up the
Mississippi from New Orleans to found St.

Louis is quite as interesting as the voyage of
the Mayflower; that the explorers who faced
the dangers of an Indian-infested wilderness
in the unknown West were equally brave as
those who founded settlements in the East;
that the dauntless empire builders who landed
at the foot of Walnut street contributed as
definitely to the development of America as
those who landed at Plymouth Rock.

St. Louisans believe that they may well be
as proud of their historical heritage as their
Boston cousins. Yet with the growing per-
centage of "new" population, the brief treat-
ment St. Louis receives in the history books
and all, the prideful citizens of St. Louis were
faced by the fact that to a large per cent of
their fellow townsmen the words "Laclede"
and "Chouteau" meant only the names of
streets.

St. Louis went about correcting this situation
in somewhat the same manner that the nation's
first civic opera was put over. The mayor
appointed a movie committee. A group of
citizens underwrote the picture production,
advancing the cost of the film on the basis
that from the theatrical rentals each should
receive back just what he put in and not a

December, 1923

The Industrial Picture Field

17

Portable Screens

INSURE HEALTHY EYES

Samples and literature upon request
MINUSA CINE SCREEN CO.

ST. LOUIS. MO.

You Must Have the
New Bass Catalog!

This new 52 page book is your
guide to correct buying in Motion
Picture Cameras, Projectors, and
Supplies. Price lowest. Quality
and Service as only Bass knows
how to give. Write or wire for your copy today.

BASS CAMERA COMPANY

Dept 210-109 No. Dearborn St Chicago, 111.

penny more — the profits to be devoted to put-
ting print copies of the film into schools and
free movie libraries.

The committee selected the Rothacker Film
Company of Chicago to produce the picture.
It was a big job. It was over a year from
the time the scenario writer went to work in
the archives of the Missouri Historical Society
until the last scene was ground through the
camera.

With the exception of the producing crew
from Chicago, the motion picture was essen-
tially a St. Louis affair. Every actor in the
cast was a St. Louis citizen. When it came to
casting the more important roles the pro-
ducers were surprised at the number of volun-
teers who had had real Hollywood or New
York studio experience. Society leaders and
show girls mingled in the mob scenes; bankers
and merchants submitted their flesh to the
brush that dobbed them Indians.

The finished production was given a private
showing before committee members and the-
atre owners and exchange men. The bids re-
ceived from the exchange people insured that
the underwriters would get their money back
Please Write to Advertisers and

The New
STILL-
PICTURE
Shutter

On the

ZENITH

Motion Picture
Projector

Makes it possible to stop for
a still picture any time, without
danger of injuring the film.

The Zenith is especially adapted for schools, churches and similar
institutions, industrial concerns, railway and steamship com > 1 1^ ,
and all others with whom clear, steady, flickerless projection is im-
portant, and portability is an advantage.

Equipped with Mazda lamp and with motor, both adaptable to
any standard lighting current. May be had with or without stere-
opticoa for showing slides or views. Stereopticon quickly and easily
attached or detached.

The Zenith produces sharp and clear pictures up to 1 00 feet and
over. Uses standard films only. The selection of standard films is
almost unlimited.

Simple and easy to operate. Light in weight, less than 60 lb«.
Dependable, adaptable, sturdy and established. Endorsed by users;
guaranteed. The moderate price appeals to those who desire dura-
ble and standard equipment at reasonable cost. Send for il-
lustrative and descriptive booklet. No obligation.

SAFETY PROJECTOR COMPANY

310-A West Second Street Duluth, Minn.

within a short time after the picture's first
run. In another two weeks St. Louis theatres
will begin showing it.

This film, which is the first of its peculiar
nature in motion picture history, was planned
with a view to making it acceptable for exhi-
bition in all states. There is a definite theme
plot running through it and the historical epi-
sodes are blended into the continuity in a way
intended to make the film interesting reading
to a New Yorker as well as to a Missourian.

Synopsis

The opening scene of "The Spirit of St.
Louis" shows the departure of the Frenchman
Laclede from New Orleans in 1762. With him
are two score or so men and a few women and
children. They are on their way to found a
trading post far up the river. The women and
children and trading trinkets are on the
cordelle boat. One end of a long and strong
rope is tied to the boat. The other end is over
the shoulders of the men tugging along the
bank. Pulling this boat against the Missis-
sippi's current is a man-sized job. Eight miles
a day is a big day's work.
Mention The Educational Screen

518

The Industrial Picture Field

The Educational Screen

ACME H, $75.00

Priced for quick sale — complete with lamp cord
and pilot light. Satisfaction guaranteed. A
real bargain. Make it pay for itself. Will ship
C. O. D. Box 22, Educational Screen

Summer and fall pass and winter has a good
start when the party arrives at Fort Chartres.
The supplies are stored within the fort. The
place looks good to Laclede as a center for his
trading activities.

But after Laclede is nicely settled, along
comes the news that France has ceded the
territory on the east side of the Mississippi to
England — and Fort Chartres is no place for a
French trader. The fort commandant pre-
pares to lead his soldiers back to New Orleans
and advises all civilians to go with him. How-
ever, Laclede has come up the river to do
some fur trading with the redskins and he is
determined to do it.

He crosses the river to look for a trading
post site on the west side. On this trip he is
accompanied by Auguste Chouteau, who,
though only a lad of about fourteen, is his
trusted lieutenant. People now ride snug in
between Pullman blankets along the route
where these two went to bed at night on the
snow. At a spot that is now the foot of
Walnut street in St. Louis Laclede notches a
tree to mark the place where the settlement
was to be built as soon as the ice on the river
broke up so the cordelle boat could be pulled
up stream.

Laclede receives another blow shortly after
the log cabins, constituting the village of St.
Louis, were completed. News comes that
France has ceded the west side of the river to
Spain. The Spanish governor arrives with
troops, hauls down the French flag and raises
the emblem of Spain. Laclede prevails upon
the discouraged ones to remain even though
they have to live under foreign rule — and the
work of empire building goes on.

For the benefit of the movie camera the In-
dian attack of 1780 was staged. The settlers
escape massacre by a narrow margin, driving
the redskins back only after they had broken
through the stockade.

Another spectacular scene is occasioned
when, under the terms of the Louisiana Pur-
chase, the territory is taken over by the United
States in 1803.

The settlement is threatened by Indian at-

tack again during the war of 1813. However,
a St. Louis fur trader named Manuel Lisa
outwits the British agents and succeeds in
keeping the Indians off the warpath. Lisa and
John Jacob Astor were at one time rivals for
the fur trade supremacy. Lisa's wife made one
trading trip with her husband — just one. In
order to do them honor an Indian chief puts
on a big dog feast. Mrs. Lisa is faced by the
alternative of partaking of the canine roast or
offending the Indians. She manages to make
a show at least of eating dog.

For the episode of the big fire of 1849 relics
of the volunteer fire department days were
taken out of the Missouri Historical Society.
Members of the present fire department got the
old apparatus in working order, donned the
quaint costumes of the volunteer days, and
fought fire as did their grandads. In those
days the water supply came from cisterns and
the fire engines were pumped by hand. Great
rivalry existed between volunteer companies as
to whose engines could send a stream of water
highest. The present fire chief played the role
of Capt. Targee, who lost his life in the great
fire. In the film, after the cisterns are pumped
dry. Targee sends to the arsenal for powder
with which to blow up buildings in the path of
the flames and thus stop the conflagration. He
saves the city but loses his life in a premature
explosion.

The city of St. Louis was about to wreck an
old building which fitted perfectly as to period
of architecture into the fire episode scene. The
motion picture production crew offered to bring
this building down in a hurry with powder if
it would be used in the Capt. Targee scene.
City officials consented, and while the cameras
cranked the building went up in the air and
then came down again. It made a great scene.

General Grant, who was closely identified
with St. Louis history, is featured in the Civil
War episode. Officers and enlisted men from
Jefferson Barracks donned the blue and the
gray for these scenes. The picture is ended
with a few scenes of modern St. Louis.

American Industrial Films
All Over the World

THE old proverb of "seeing is believing"
is being brought more and more to the
point of realization through the medium
of the film, and to this end the government is
co-operating with various American manufac-

December, 1923

<4

Advertisement

519

nnouncin

The Premier ofPortabk Projectors
Ready for immediate delivery <^

A projector that is portable, practical, convenient and gives projec-
tion to compare with a permanent installation — these are some of the
reasons for the tremendous popularity of the new American Ace.
No need to put up with poor projection— unhandy cases— unsatisfac-
tory lighting — or flimsy construction.

The Ace is not only easily portable, but is practical in the strictest
sense of the word.

It gives a steadier, more brilliant picture at all distances from ten
to one hundred twenty feet than is possible with any other portable
projector.

For churches, schools, industrial sales, advertising, production, wel-
fare and all educational and entertainment purposes, it is ideal— for
use in a small room or a large auditorium.

Write at once for full information about this really remarkable
machine. Our facilities are ample, but not unlimited and orders are
coming in fast.

Get acquainted Now with the Ace. Don't wait for literature. Send
in your order, the American Ace is guaranteed.

American Projecting Company

Samuel Si Hutchinson, Pres.

6231 Broadway Chicago, 111.

Makers of the American Projectoscope
the projecting machine without an apology.

Why the Ace Wins!

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Requires no experience to op-
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No permanent case to obstruct
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Straight through film feed-
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Throws a beautiful picture up
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Equally suitable for use in offi-
ces, living room or large the-
atres.

The price is wonderfully at-
tractive.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

520

The Industrial Picture Field

The Educational Screen

ADVENTURING

WITH THE COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

A six-reel story of Life, Travel and Adventure which takes the student from
the United States to the Tropics of Central America.
Fishing Hunting Sports

Harpooning Sea Monsters Indian Life

Scenic Wonders Wild Bird Life

Terrapin Farming Mountain Climbing

Native Industries Historical Places

Not a dull moment in the six reels.
Highly instructive.
Single reel films of our own make now ready for distribution.
Sugar Industry of Central America Banana Industry

Coffee Industry The Maya of Today

Life as Others Lead It Still Waters

When the Earth Rocks No H. C. L. Here

And many other subjects of from one to five
reels. Complete synopsis of any film on request.

Bookings anywhere in the U. S.

COSMOPOLITAN EXPEDITION

Headquarters P. O. Box 1662

306-7-8 Townley Bldg. Miami, Fla.

turers in the production of authentic industrial
films that will show, in a most graphic and edu-
cational manner, the methods used in the man-
ufacture of various commodities, from the raw
material to the finished product. These films
are produced under expert direction, and after
having received the approval of the officials
in Washington, the seal and name of the gov-
ernment is placed upon them; this vouching
for their authenticity and educational value.
These are used at the present time by the ma-
jority of the leading colleges and universities
throughout the country. Chambers of Com-
merce, Boards of Trade and all other types of
civic and educational institutions.

These same films are sent by the govern-
ment to foreign countries with the object of
acquainting the peoples of other lands as to
the efficient methods used in the manufacture
of American products, and the point is brought
out very clearly that quantity production of the
product does not jeopardize its quality. This
is a potent factor in selling American products
abroad.

The entire cost in connection with the pro-
duction of these films is paid for by the co-

operating company, as well as all expenses
in connection with furnishing the government
with a sufficient number of prints for circu-
lation. The distribution of these films is taken
care of by the government and complete rec- J
ords kept in this respect. 1

THEATRICAL FILMS FOR DECEMBER

(^Concluded from page 495) m

much of his subtlety through being deprived '
of his speech. The general effect is that of a
series of illustrated subtitles. This is not to
say that you will not enjoy the picture to some
extent, but the "punch" is in the spoken titles,
not in the action. Holbrook Blinn as the "bad
man" is the outstanding figure.

SLAVE OF DESIRE (Goldwyn)

Balzac's tale of the magic skin which granted
its owner's every wish, but grew smaller and
brought him nearer to death with each selfish
desire. Fairly interesting, as pictured by J
George Walsh, Bessie Love, Carmel Myers, ^
and others. It possesses at least the virtue of
a sound moral.

Please Write to Advertisers and Mention The Educational Screen

December, 1^2$

Advertisement

"VISUAL INSTRUCTION"

Being Number Seven of the Course of Study Monographs

For the Elementary Schools of Berkeley, California,

including the Kindergarten and First Six Grades.

PREPARED BY

A Committee from the Berkeley Public Schools

under the chairmanship of Anna V. Dorris.

The appearance of this Monograph is a notable event in the history of
the development of visual education. It is the first thing of the kind. It is
a manual of procedure prepared by experts, based on concrete practice instead
of theory, and hence calculated to be of great value to every progressive
teacher who has already started the use of visual aids or who is planning
to do so.

Superintendent H. B. Wilson, of the Berkeley Public Schools, writes, in
his Introduction to the Monograph, as follows :

"This is the first effort which has been made in Berkeley, or elsewhere so
far as I can find, to issue a hand book and guide in the use of visual instruction
materials "

"The committee, which was appointed about two years ago, went about its
pioneering in this field with the idea of gathering from all possible sources in-
formation in reference to (1) the various sorts of materials which might be used
in visual instruction and (2) any results which had been secured from the use of
such materials. The amount of information available of a scientific sort in the
field of the committee's effort was, and is still, very limited. Such information
as could be gathered from other sources has been supplemented by the experi-
ences of the teachers and principals in the Berkeley schools."

TABLE OF CONTENTS

9.

10.

Introduction

The Purpose of the Monograph.
The Place of Visual Instruction in
Modern Life.

The Place and Value of Visual In-
struction in Schools.
Types of Visual Aids.
Methods of Procedure in Using Vis-
ual Aids.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
Geography.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
History.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
Nature Study.

The Use of Visual Aids in Training
for Good Citizenship.

11.
12.
13.

14.

15.

16.
17.

18.
19.

20.
21.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

P^rx Appreciation.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Home Economics.

The Use of VisUal Aids in Teaching

Music.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Physical Education.

The Use of Visual Aids in Teaching

Literature.

After School Entertainment.

The Use of Visual Aids in Primary

Work.

Care and Use of Equipment.

Standard Equipment for Elementary

Schools.

Bibliography.

General Sources of Material.

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