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Current Gossip

Accession number: 
1922.0002
Production Years: 
1922

Languages:

Film Properties: 
Length (feet): 
1350 (28mm)
Holding Institutions: 

Library and Archives Canada: 28mm, 35mm, VHS.
"Part 1: shows a film about the testing of lamps, meters and other electrical equipment in the laboratory of the hydro plant at Niagara Falls, Ontario. Intertitles introduce the subject of the film in the form of a dialogue between two characters called Miss Electra and John Citizen. Shows: various shots of switch testing devices; samples of each type of switch; medium shot of a bank of lamps that indicate which switches are functioning; man operating a photometer to test lamps for candle power; lamp turning on and door being closed; man peering through small tube and measuring with left hand adjusting knob; long-shot of two men operating a larger photometer for determining the reflective powers of fixtures and shades; medium shot of man adjusting photometer with small wheel; medium shot of man testing lamps for durability, working at what looks like a switchboard with levers and wires; medium shot of wall of lamps lighting up, light bulbs on either side of the screen; a man in the middle checking the lamps; close-up of man checking the lamps, intertitles of converstation between Miss Electra and John Citizen about the accuracy of meters and electrical bills; close-up of man conducting tests; the man tightening connections to apparatus on a wall, then using machine to test or measure; close-up of him attaching a plate to an apparatus on wall and covering it with a transparent cover; man then starts timing with a stop watch. Part 2 shows: medium shot of a man testing a meter (such as the ones used on switchboards) against laboratory standards, in a box and making notations; medium shot of a man checking the readings of a machine; medium shot of man testing concrete with hydraulic pressure by placing a small slab of concrete on a machine and pulling a lever; close-up of the concrete slab being crushed; medium shot of a series of crushed concrete slabs; intertitles commenting on need for good-quality gloves; close-up of a hand going into a work gloves; close-up of material used for the gloves; close-up of shaped strips material; medium shot of strip being tested for strength, machine pulling strip as man supervises; close-up of machine measuring flexibility of material; medium shot of same procedure; medium shot of a man working on an oscillograph recording the fluctuations of the current of electricity; close-up of the same shot as he gets the machine going; close-up of electric graphs produced by the oscillograph; medium shot of man wearing dark glasses while operating a high voltage machine for the testing of insulators and insulating material; close-up of a cylinder drum; and close-up of an electric current."