GREETINGS: It's been a long time since we first talked of renewing the NEWS~ LETTER. After mcny false starts and trials and tribulations beyond number it finally is being published. All has not been idleness during those months, as evidenced by the news on page 4 ,..5 about the National Members. It gives me a sense of deep pride to see the good work that all the fellows are doing and softens the an­ guish a little to know that they have been busy in the right direc­ tion. Now that we have started again let's not get too busy to keep up our contact with each other. DKA was founded in a spirit of fra­ t~rnity and interest in each other. To keep it going, however, will take a little effort. The National will have to hear from each of you occasionally so that it can keep its information up to date. We 1ve grow~ to three chapters now and a National membership of 2.17. At present we are long overdue for an 'election. Our present officers have been wearily plodding along for several years in most cases and t he time is clearly ripe for a new election to bring a wider representation into the affairs of the National. I would tlere­ fore like to r ·equest that nominations for the office of President, Vice =President, Secretary and Treasur·er be sent to the National offic e during December. Ballots will be sent out in January, and the new officers can assume office in February. ur s been a grand experience being associated with all of you these last few years and being able to serve as a Natio-nal Officer. I w a n t o extend the Season's Greetings to you all and wish the· great­ est success to the new National officers. Fraternally. Herbert L. Strock National President November 2.8, 1950 Imppro Incorporated Ha l Roach Studios Culver City , California -1 - SNARKS AND BOOJUMS ' ByDr. LesterF. Beck Head, Department of Cinema Uni versity of Southern California When looking at new films . I am s ometimes reminded of the poem "The Hunting of the Snark" by Lewis Carroll. Anyone who has never read that masterpiece of whimsy must now be informed that the hunting party in­ cludes a Bellman1 a Banker. a Beaver. a Baker and several other equally improbable characters. While they are sailing toward the habitat of their prey, the Bellman tells his companions how they can recognize the quarry. The outstanding charact.ers of the genus Snark are said to be its taste which is described as "meager but hollow", its habit .of getting up late, its very poor sense of humor and its overweening ambition. There are several s pecies of Snarks. Some relatively harmless varieties have feathers and bite, and others have whiskers and scratch. But, the Bell­ man adds, there are a few Snarks that are Boojums. When t he Baker hears the word. Boojum9 he faints dead away" and after his compa nions have revived him he explains his weakness by recalling for thei r benefit the parting wor ds of h?.s Uncle. "If your Sna rk be a Snark. t hat is right: Fetch it home by a ll means = You m a y s erve it with gr eens And it's handy for striking a light. B ut oh, beam !sh nephew. bew:.1re of the day, If your Snark be a Boojumt For then, You will softly and suddenly vanish away, And never be met with a gain!" Mu ch l ate r in t he. st ory the B .aker sights a Boojum .• and so of course the effects are pronounced =- the Baker sudde nly vani shes away. I feel t hat t he film world needs mox·e Boojums a nd fewer Snarks. The educational field in particula r has had a superabundance of S"Parks - films t hat are quite harmless w ith hollow t astes and a poor sense of · humor . The difficulty is an. unwillingness on t he part. of most film · m a.~e r s to come to gl'ips w ith social problems. A plausible reason for this is not h a rd t o find. So long a s the produ cer confines himself to mountain s or s oybeans or butterflies or bananas. he need have no fear of enc ount e r ing a .Boojum. Yet it is the Boojwns in the world that are important. We must dis rover the powerful qualit ies of the Boojum that caus ed t he Baker to faint' dead aw a y . Thes e c hara cteristics must be captur ed on film and held u p for the wol"ld t o ~e e . and to understand -if the world. like the Bakero is not t o disappea r s uddenly. 7 We are making progress in tracking down Boojums. It is encouraging t o see sensitive and .scientifically accurate films depicting the e~otions of children, the roots of prejudice, the tensions accompanying prolonged poverty and hunger, the dynamics of group conflict, the meaning of depto­ cratic leadership9 and t he nature of unconscious motivation. These are subjects of paramount importanc·e to all men, wherever they live in the world. And these are subjects that can best be described in the language of the film. Words, by comparison, are mere puffs of air. It is only when we seriously begin the task of educating others to understand and t9 want t o satisfy basic human needs and rmtives of all people. that .- w~ can ex­ pect peace and tranquillity to reign on earth. 11111111111 . Dr . Beck, the new Head of the Department of Cinema at U.S. C., joined the fac u ~ ty this fall. He fmrmerly was with the University of Oregon where he built a national reputation as a psychologist and producer of educational films. Two of t hemg 'Human Growth" and 'Human Beginnings", have been widely distributed and have caused a gr eat deal of educational intere:st. During the w ar he w as first a civilian a dvisor t o the Army P ictorial Servic e_ in its film pr ogram and later w allf> commissioned by the Na vy t o do a ~i milar job. In the :short time he has .been at S.C., he has bu ilt u p a w arm following and h as developed pla ns foJr the more extensive prcxiuction a nd dis*ributi on of educational films . He holds appointment as a full p r ofessor of p ~ ychology and of cinema in a ddition to his admin i ~­ trat.".ve duties as department head. A PROMINENT CRITIC ONCE WROTE " It is ent ertainment of m u11 h r oom growth w ith a tr~d iti on extending only over 9. few decades . , freely e xploiting the sem;ational , t he trivial, and the viciou ... an evil influen ce on youth ... ent eJrh.l .mFnt t hat stems from purely c ommercial motives .. , it parasit1cally :S n atches plot material fr om a ny s ource ... it traversties histo rical a ccuracy by making a brave s oldier into a poltr oon, a wise monarc h into a timor ous fool. .. it aims for a n aud ience that is not ~ubUy critical a nd t hat welcomes a clownish om e di a r~ in the most ~eri o us scene for c om ~ dy relief. .. " The eminent critic - w r iter wa !l Sir Philip Sidney, aud the above tirade w as ag ain~t he new wor k of a young up :.tart who w r ote play s under the na m e of William Sha ke: p e .az- e . :tWfclill~ · 3- WITH THE NATIONAL Since the last NEWSLETTER9 our National Members have been busying thems·elves in the film world. Following is a quick resumt( of those DKA men we have tracked down·: Lookout Mountain Laborataryo USAF, here in Los Angeles has claimed a number of alums from S.C. Hal Albert has become Civilian Head of Pro­ duction. John Norwood and Luke· Wolfram joined their ranks last spring as cameraman and edjtor .respectively. On "the Hill", as Lookout Moun­ tain is commo-nly referred too are Bernie Kantor (50) as sound technician and George Pratt (47) as production designer. Bill Morrison (47), c a meraman. and Anton Schmaltz (48), a writer·, have been with the air fo:n::e on "the Hill" for the past year. Capt. B. A. Mangum (49) is Milita-ry . Chief of P r oduction. Me 1 Sloan took over Hal's position as editing instructor and production manager at U.S.C.; while Luke continues to teach one night ·class inedit­ ing. Hal Albert and B ill Blume· (46) 9 S.C. · Production head. have be:en working t ogether on a couple: of educationai film~. in what little spare titri~ they have . Herb F armer (39) can still be found headiug the Audio Visual Services at U.S. C. D an Wiegand (39) is plant engineer for the Cinema Department~ In a dditicn t o his job as 16 mm. Representative for Ansco. Gene Moriarty (41) teaches a still photogra phy class at S.C. A new addition to the 5. C. h!.culty i s William Mehring (47) 9 who is teaching the Motion Picture Tech­ nology a nd Introduction and Survey courses. Al ·Wa.lker, Lennie Blondheim, and Craig Curtis (50) are working on the KTTV newsreel s~aff in L .