PRINTING, A FUTURE UNLIMITED

[Music] since the invention of printing no knight has been totally black [Music] these are everyday things things we're completely familiar with [Music] we see them every day use them every day depend upon them every day they have one thing in common they were printed [Music] someone touched a button on a press large or small and the thoughts and actions of a million men turn into printed words and pictures that we look at read and use this then is the story of the printer the men in the back shops and front offices of technicians and executives the men with the minds and hands who produce these things which make communication between persons easier wow [Music] oh [Music] hmm [Music] getting the idea across they call it communication is tough you say something to her she answers you what's so difficult about that well there are billions of people instead of two and there are trillions of facts instead of one and untold decisions to be made to make these decisions the facts must be communicated there are many ways this information is sent and received we write and we read we listen to radios and watch television we write letters send telegrams but of all organized forms of communication the printed word forms the very foundation of what we know and of what we do people don't stop to think much about printing it's like a drink of water or the gas in your car you turn on the water tap or drive into a service station you buy a newspaper or a magazine read it and use it you read a book think it over lend it to a friend or just put it in your bookcase you fill in a tax form play cards open a cereal box and ever so rarely you think about printing and when you do what do you think of probably a small printing press [Music] or type handset or maybe you think of the marvelous monsters that turn out your favorite magazine plants employing hundreds of men and women neither of these pictures is exactly true the printer today is not just a printer he's a specialist a man who knows what he's doing whether he's a pressman or a topographer he's a cutter an estimator a designer a photo engraver a binder a salesman an executive a compositor electrotyper stereotyper a technician and silk screen photogelatin or collar type processes a book binder a foreman he's a well-paid technician and craftsman in a way he's a scientist exploring new fields developing better methods these are the men the communicators the printers each has his own job each must make his own decisions these are the words written by a great author possibly or an advertising man a poet or a pamphleteer this is a story someone wants to tell and the topographer must make decisions he knows a certain type in a certain size will take up so much space he knows the meaning of what is written will get across better in one style of type than another so he makes his choices how to make it easier to read how to get the message across [Applause] the machine is fast and accurate but it is only as fast and accurate as the man who operates it [Applause] the machine costs over 25 000 but it is completely useless without the skilled sensitive hands of the pipes that are on its keyboard [Applause] there is beauty in type metal with ink and paper becomes a message the machines do wonders but no machine can match the impeccable beauty of pipe set by hand men down through the ages have dedicated themselves to type as an art the unnamed but inventive chinese the immortal gutenberg bodoni garamond sdn gill gowdy these men knew type and printing as a science and an art and even more important as a way of producing more printing for more people easier and faster but it's a long way from apprentice to master this is his first experience with type if the a is here the b must be here no oh then here no no the b is here why tradition is part of it but remember you use more a's than b's so the a case is nearer to hand and larger simple still it's the tradition of centuries of printing that makes a journeyman out of an apprentice and when that journeyman puts that thin space in right there he's a master a traditional master but what happens to type when it's been set proofed and corrected that depends on the printing process to be used and naturally on the man who's going to do it it can be photographed and made into lithographic plates or the type can be locked directly onto the bed of a press as is or reproduction proofs can be pulled engravings can be made of it but once the type is set engraved or made in the plates as soon as the press is made ready the press begins to roll small presses can produce ten thousand business cards an hour big ones can turn out up to twenty thousand forty eight page metropolitan newspapers in the same amount of time but again small or large the machine is nothing without the man it doesn't make any difference if you're dealing with an ounce of metal in the form of type or ten thousand pounds of complicated machinery the problem is the same you know your craft respected you treat five tons of driven metal like a child you know your watchful eyes as important as a quick hand you're a pressman translating the type into reading matter you're a master printer what makes a man a master printer it's know-how because printing is not just a job it's a profession that depends more on what you know than who you know this particular pressman is milt leeds 28. his plant is in cleveland ohio he took a print shop class at high school about 10 years ago and was snapped up as an apprentice as soon as he graduated today not only is he a craftsman but he's in the top one third of our country's income groups the other fellow is the foreman in milt's plant walt dunlap he's 29. about nine years ago he graduated from the school of printing management at the carnegie institute of technology in pittsburgh where he received his degree in printing management this one is stu colton 26 he took the print shop course in junior high liked it and went to a technical high school for three years after he got out of the army where he worked in the mobile printing plan by the way walt hired him and four years later here he is these are the men that make the machines work and the machines without these men are nothing of course not everybody in the printing industry runs a machine some of the most important jobs are front office this calm efficient young man is what is known as an estimator he has to know uh almost everything [Music] how much time is it going to take to set the type how much time for make ready or making plates the price of a highlight halftone should the job run two up on the one color press or four up on the two color how many hours press time folding collating and binding charges delivery this is the man who figures it out [Music] the boss gets it examines it and takes the price to the client meanwhile back at the shop the estimator is figuring another job [Music] now we'd like to make a rather personal introduction this is the man we've been referring to as the boss he's up from the ranks started as a pressman then became a production manager three years ago he bought a little shop and grew [Music] and now his troubles are just beginning [Music] but everybody loves to dream about what the future might be [Music] so [Music] [Music] and some do the billing with one hand while they're running the press with the other one thing however is certain these men the boss the pressman the binder all of them are doing two things that are all too rare having fun and making money what it boils down to is printing is an industry made of real men men with their feet on the ground and their heads screwed on straight artists auditors binders bookkeepers cameramen color correctors book binders compositors copywriters cutters electrotypers estimators folding machine operators foreman gatherers hand and machine typesetters layout men letterers lithographic pressmen make up men monotype casters and keyboard operators opaquers photo compositors photo engravers plate makers press men production control men proofreaders salesmen stereotypers stockmen stonemen strippers stitchers superintendents owners and printing is an industry that is growing an industry with an ever expanding future even with the tremendous demand for printing and the steady growth of the industry there is still only a little over three-quarter of a million men in the printing crates today so there's plenty of room left on the ground floor the pay is good and there's no industry with more security after all it doesn't seem quite possible that the world is going to stop using books newspapers advertising forms letters invitations tickets signs the list would take hours to go through [Music] so [Music] that's a big door there are thousands of years of history behind it and a lifetime of success when you go through it good luck not that you'll need it [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] so [Music] you