The notched title mechanism or how to watch porn in the 1930s

I would like to tell you about a collection of 9.5mm films that were handed over to the Austrian Film Museum in the 1970s. It’s a compilation of pornographic films, 13 reels in total, set in France in the 1930s. Some of the films have titles, often handwritten, and some are tinted, covering the film image in a yellow-orange color. The inexpensive third or fourth generation contact prints foreshadow their unknown origins. We don’t know who owned these porns, who compiled them or where one could acquire them in the 1930s.

However, the film material itself offers clues about the screening practice: On the inspection table I discovered notches, which are found on the side of the film. The notched title system is a unique feature of the 9,5mm format, which allows the film to pause during the projection. It was used for titles and intertitles in order to save costly film material. When the mechanism in the projector detects the notch, the film stops for a few seconds, allowing the audience to read the text. But in this case, the notches were not placed on title cards, as intended. The owner of the porn film collection added the notches manually, so they could linger on their preferred images.

I found a logo of a distribution company on some of the films. I would like to ask for your help identifying it. Half of the writing is cut off, it reads: “PULC [illegible] FILM présente”. Does anyone know this company, who distributed semi-amateur porn in the 1930s?

Could it be, that the company is named after “Pulcheria”, the Eastern Roman empress, who took a vow of chastity? Or is it “Pulcinella”, a character of the commedia dell’arte, who can not keep a secret?