Dartmouth Movies
As a result of the annual meeting of the Dartmouth Secretaries' Association held at Hanover in May, the College is now undertaking an ambitious movie schedule by which news reels will be sent to the various alumni associations and clubs throughout the country at regular intervals during the college year. In a bulletin issued to the class secretaries by Sidney C. Hayward '26, who is directing the new movie work at Dartmouth, an invitation is extended to each association to subscribe to the movie service. There will be a charge of $15 for not less than four news reels during the year. The first film will be shown at the Pow Wow in Chicago, November twenty-third. This reel will include shots of the major events of last year, together with the latest pictures of football and of all the recent developments in the college plant as well as persons and events of significance in Hanover.
The next release will come soon after Christmas vacation and will contain all the mid-winter activities up to Carnival. Early in March the Carnival reel will be routed through the alumni associations and late in the spring will come the final reel of the year.
The Dartmouth College news reels are being sponsored by the Secretaries' Association. In the bulletin informing the associations of the proposed service is contained the following:
"President Hopkins, forseeing the practical and effective use to which a Filmo movie camera might be put at Dartmouth, arranged for the purchase of a camera, a projector for showing the films, and full equipment, about a year ago. Throughout the past year the experimental work of taking films of athletic events, exteriors and interiors of the new buildings, personalities at Dartmouth, including both faculty and undergraduate members of the College, and events of interest and significance, have shown that the use of the small 16 mm. film brings thoroughly good results and is a practical means of distributing live news direct from the college to I>axtmouth alumni. For some years past there has been an increasing number of opportunities among the alumni associations for the presentation of films showing the latest activities in Hanover. The necessary expense involved in procuring the professional service essential to producing films of standard size prohibited such a course. In addition, such movies, and for that matter all movies, become very quickly antedated and when there is small expense involved, the withdrawal of the films from circulation means that they have served their usefulness at a small cost and they may then be preserved in an ever-enlarging library of films for historical interest.
"Consequently, the use of the Filmo camera seems to promise the solution of a problem—that of up-to-the-minute movies at a small cost and it goes farther than the mere solution of the problem. It means that it will be possible for the Dartmouth Secretaries' Association to sponsor a service to the alumni which marks a new era in keeping Dartmouth graduates closely informed of all that is going on at their Alma Mater. It will be possible to show before their eyes, within a short time after events have taken place, the whole panorama of student and town life in Hanover.
"Amateur movies are just coming into their own. Dartmouth will be one of the first colleges to produce 16 mm. movies for wide distribution. As the production of these becomes more widespread arid as improvements to the camera come along, our movies will increase in technical perfection. Dartmouth films, as they are released to the associations, will include a well-rounded picture of the preceding two or three months and as facilities for doing the job more professionally increase, it may be possible to widen the scope of our field and give the alumni even more complete pictures of Dartmouth life."
O. H. Hicks '21 has given invaluable assistance and advice in making preliminary plans for the movie service.
