Boxoffice-November.24.1951

I
PROJECTION AND SOUND
MEN IN BOOTH ii
CAN PROJECT
d
THEATRE TV
i
Regular Projectionists
Are Expected to
Replace Factory Men
This tube-to-film system mode by Paramount may be operated in a room close to the projection room if
space is limited. The units, from left, are the high definition television monitor which receives the incoming
camera signal; the 12,000-foot film magazine for two hours of recording (above) and (below) the single
system, shutterless motion picture camera focused on monitor screen; and the sound-on-film recorder.
Next, are the developing tank, fixing tank, washing tank and high-speed dryer from which the film is
put on a reel or fed directly to the standard theatre projector.
resistance coils backstage.
These coils have
to build the current up to 60,000 volts or',
more.
,
The regular projectionist can focus thej
projector from the booth. Theoretically no'
other attendants should be necessary, but
they are there. The stagehands watch the
rROJECTING TELEVISION pictuies
on theatre screens is so much like projecting
films that the regular theatre projectionists
probably will take it over completely,
as the TV installations increase.
Some 50 projectionists from scattered parts
of the country have already taken courses
in operating the RCA equipment, and these
are the nucleus of a teaching staff for further
installations.
The courses were given at the RCA plant
in Camden, N. J. These were confined, of
course, to the direct projection system.
The tube-to-film systems made by both
Paramount and General Pi-ecision Equipment
Corp. also are operated by the regular
theatre projectionists.
Where space is limited, the Paramount
apparatus can be operated from a room
close to the projection room. The film can
go through a hole in the wall after being
photographed from a TV receiver and developed
in less than a minute, or it can be
wound on a reel. This, so far, has required
the services of two or more men.
Nobody is ready to predict how many
men it will take to put on a combination
film and television program in a theatre.
The process is still in the trial and error
stage.
To date the companies that make the TV
apparatus have had factory experts at
every showing to make sure things run
smoothly. Only the factory experts know
the details of the apparatus and they are
the only ones who can end blackouts in a
hurry. There have been a number of these.
The engineers and their employers learn
something from every show. The Paramount
tube-to-film apparatus has been
reduced in size since it first went into use
in New York. Profiting by this, General
Precision turned out a 16mm tube-to-film
projector that is not much larger than a
standard film projector.
RCA apparatus usually is in three places
—control board in the projection booth;
projector, which looks like a small barrel,
fastened inconspicuously on a balcony, and
backstage apparatus and a factory elec-
•
trician watches the complicated apparatus,
in control cabinets.
Paramount began its experiments with
the tube-to-film apparatus at the Paramount
Theatre, New York, and had a large
crew working on it, including electronics
engineers. The apparatus has been simplified
and reduced in size so that the biggest
•
feature of it now is a magazine that holds
;
12,000 feet of film. It still takes several
men to handle it, including a film laboratory
technician who watches the film developing
apparatus as it works at high
j
speed.
;
General Precision made a 16mm version
(Continued on page 67B)
At left IS a view of RCA's audio-video amplifier
I
racks. The operator can watch the clarity of the
screen picture in the rectangular screen at chest '
level. Above is the RCA theatre television projector.
This tube points toward the back of the apparatus
and the picture is mainified on a carefully ground
mirror which reflects toward the screen 60 or more
feet
away.
j
67-A The MODERN THEATRE SECTION