BIG GUNS FOR GALLERY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 14, 15 January 1913, Page 7

BIG GUNS FOR GALLERY.

|io ; a r JACK ItiAßS’ OWN-.PICTURE

Motion picture shows are now given in every place imaginable, but perhaps the most unique setting in which they are held regularly is formed by the fighting turrets of the battleships of the United vStates Navy. The enlisted men arc mostly mere boys, ranging ip age from 18 to 25 years. They are! lusty ancfUfunMoving, and sports and amusements are arranged accordingly. Among the amusements the moving picture show takes ifirgt place. The profits from the canteen, where trinkets, sweets, tobacco, and small articles are sold, are expended in providing the materials for,sport and amusement. The moving picture show eats up a good deal of this profit. Each battleship subscribes for'a regular service of this kind, just as does a moving picture theatre. The result is a new show each night, that compares favourably with anything seen on shore.

The setting is unusual for this performance. The screen is put up on the main deck aft. There is only the night sky above and the groat reaches of the ocean beyond the deck. The deck is the parquet of the theatre. At one side are arranged chairs from the wardroom, and . these are boxes for the officers. The ordinary men sprawl at T'afie in the parquet. Back of them are the turrets of the big guns rising some ten feet above the decks.

This is the gallery, and the reservations here are popular. Even the barrels of the great 12-inch are utilised as points of vantage from which to view the show, and dozens of men may perch there. There is no restraint on the men, and they voice their like or dislike for the features of the show. There is no chance to avoid condemnation when any “junk” is shown. The problem dramas are not over popular, and tin 1 fast work gets applause. Funny films are sometime's run through the projector a second time. Of officers and men there are few absent from the show, which takes place at dark every night.