Page 23 - Microsoft Word - RDcover11_03.doc

Based in Chicago in 1915, with the slogan “So Simple a Child Can Operate It” the
DeVry Corporation launched the first portable film projector, known as Type E. They
sold 50,000. In 1925, DeVry introduced the 35A “automatic” news camera, in 1927
the Model G 16mm projector (silent, of course). The DeVry School of Summer
Instruction was set up to train teachers and industry people about Audio-Visual
methods.

Herman died at 64 in 1941, but the company went on to produce the JAN (Joint
Army-Navy), a 16mm projector designed to perform in any wartime conditions. In
the ‘Big Reel’ magazine of the 1970s (those were the days!), you would see the JAN
advertised at high prices with much praising. Post-war, the DeVry Technical Institute
offered vocational instruction as “A Place Where You Can Find Success”. Today, as
DeVry University, there are 90 campus locations, with the message, “Let Nothing
Stand in Your Way”. The immigrant boy had lived the American success story, a
success he spread around to others.

The booklet in just 100 pages simply describes about 1500 films available on free
loan from about 180 sources. Clearly, encouraging use of film would promote DeVry
sales, but the more general aim is to
spread the use of A-V by making film
resources more accessible. Internally, it
is clear that the publication year was no
later than 1943.To us now, the
directory gives a picture of the world
before “non-theatrical” took off.

Some distributors had a single access
point, like Aid Association for Lutherans
in Wisconsin. The Horse and Mule
Association was lending from Chicago.
General Motors lent from the PR Dept
at 1775 Broadway, Chrysler from
Detroit and both Goodyear and
Firestone from Akron, Ohio. Castle
Films Inc had offices in Chicago, San
Francisco and New York’s Rockefeller
Center, where also was Modern Talking
Picture Service. General Electric’s Visual Instruction Section had 13 film offices
around the US. Almost no films were lent from the heart of the film industry, Los
Angeles, although US Secret Service was there, as well as (of course) Washington DC.
The Coast Guard’s films were landlocked in Washington too.