Ranking photographic authorities of the Army, Navy and Air Force confer with Peter Mole (second from left 4 President of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers* an luncheon program opening the Society's 72d Semiannual Convention at the Hotel Statler, Washington, D.C. The military experts, who were guest speakers at the luncheon, are (left to right) Major General George L Back, Chief Signal Officer of the Army; Brig. Gen. Brooke E. Allen, Chief of Staff of the Military Air Transport Service and, until recently, Commanding General of the Air Photographic and Charting Service of the Air Force; and Capt. A. D. Fraser Chief of Naval Photography in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
 
Get-Together Luncheon Remarks by President Mole

 
A short time ago I had occasion to review the history of engineering in the motion picture industry, and I was reminded repeatedly of the mature judgment and wisdom that our predecessors in this Society had contributed to the progress of motion picture technology. They played an important part in the development of sound and color motion pictures and standardization, all of which are commonplace today.
We are on the threshold of another era of progress. I am sure we will all agree that the movies and television can not only live together but can supplement and strengthen one another. The record of cooperative engineering within our Society, which extends across both fields, is already an impressive one, and through such efforts we have sounded a note of profound encouragement for both the economic and the technical future of the field in which most of us make our daily living.
This week here in Washington, some Of our most distinguished members will be discussing questions of serious importance to the future of theater television. 		Last week a significant event occurred when Cinerama, a development many years in the making, was first demonstrated to the public in New York. The week before, large screen theater television enabled thousands from coast to coast to witness the championship bout between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott More people saw the telecast in movie theaters than were actually in attendance at the fight. Now, none of us can predict in exactly what direction theater television win develop. Nor can we foretell the future of Cinerama, or that of the several new system of motion picture color.
But one thing is certain - these technical developments and the excitement they have created, within and outside our field of professional engineering, are together the most encouraging symptoms to appear in the past ten years, They are evidence of a new, widespread, and healthy interest in the technical future of both motion pictures and television. I sincerely hope they will spark a chain reaction that will eventually stimulate each one of us, working together in this Society, to accomplishments greater than any we have yet attained.
 
Journal of the SMPTE, vol. 59, November 1952, pp 435-436

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