The Exhibitor (May-Oct 1945)

Sullivan Heads Extinguishers New York— Arthur G. Sullivan, vicepresident of the Buffalo Fire Appliance Corporation was recently re-elected as president of the • Chemical Fire Extin¬ guisher Association at its annual meeting here. Other officers re-elected were VicePres. J. O. Binford, general sales manager of the American LaFrance-Foamite Cor¬ poration; Treas. Herman W. Diener, secre¬ tary of the George W. Diener Manufactur¬ ing Company; and Comm. W. J. Parker, of W. J. Parker, Inc. Directors, also re¬ elected, were George H. Boucher, general sales manager of the Pyrene Manufactur¬ ing Company, and E. A. Warren, vicepresident of General Detroit Corporation. Firestone Savant Gets Meda! Columubus, Ohio — The American Insti¬ tute of Chemists’ 1944 Gold Medal Award will be presented here on May 11 to John W. Thomas, chairman and chief execu¬ tive of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, for his “executive ability in translating research results into large-scale production, which was a major aid in the development of America’s giant wartime synthetic rubber industry.” The Foamex seat cushion is one of the Firestone pro¬ ducts of interest to theatremen. Haber Is Promoted to Ad Post Camden — Appointment of Julius Haber, director of publicity, as assistant director of the advertising and sales promotion department, was announced last month by Charles. B. Brown, advertising director of the Radio Corporation of America’s RCA Victor Division. Brown also announced the appointment of Haber’s assistant, Har¬ old D. Desfor, to the post of director of publicity. Reiskind to RCA Camden Job Camden — Appointment of H. I. Reiskind as chief engineer of the record department of the Radio Corporation of America’s RCA Victor Division was announced by J. W. Murray, general manager of record activi¬ ties. Reiskind was formerly record research and advance development engineer at the Indianapolis plant. Now, his headquar¬ ters will be in Camden. Allis-Chalmers Man Bemedaled Milwaukee — Soren H. Mortensen, chief electrical engineer of the Allis-Chahners Manufacturing Company here, has been awarded the Lamme Medal for 1944 for “his pioneer work in the development of self-starting synchronous motors and for his contribution to the development of large hydraulic and steam turbine-driven generators.” Kieiman Opens Own Ad Agency Chicago — Fredric R. Kieiman, for more than fifteen years in diversified fields of advertising, and lately with Henry H. Teplitz as production manager and radio director, announced the establishment here of Fredric R. Kieiman, Advertising, with himself as president. Beal to RCA Communications Camden — Ralph R. Beal, for nine years research director of the Radio Corpora¬ tion of America, has been named vicepresident in charge of engineering of RCA Communications, Inc., it was announced. 15 for Aerovox's Golenpaul New Bedford, Mass. — Charles Golenpaul, one-time general sales manager for the Clarostat Manufacturing Company, this month rounds out fifteen years with the Aerovox Corporation here. BETTER MANAGEMENT Vol. VIJI. No. 5 May 9, 1945 For Tour Attention Air Sterilization with Ultra¬ violet Light Will Give Theatres True Aik Conditioning . 5 By Will A. Whitney ‘The Industrial Housekeeping Manual” (A Review) . \2 By T. Johnson Williams Editorial Comment 3 Equipment News . 3, 12 Exploitation News . 18 Better Management is issued every fourth Wednesday by Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc., 1221 Vine Street, Phila. 7, Pa., as a special department of The Exhibitor. A Plea to Projectionists It seems lo be a perverse quirk of human nature lo disregard many of the common decencies' and considerations when dealing with other people’s things — not treating ihose things given to our temporary custody with the same care we diligently give to our own belongings. Unfortunate is it, then, that the very thing that makes a theatre possible is the one thing that the theatre does not own: entertainment film! Theatre equipment, as a whole, has given amazingly good service throughout the war years — as if those delicate ma¬ chines knew there was a war oil and had resolved to do their part that the show might continue. But the machines could not do it all, and with the continuance of the war, new and less experienced men found their way into projection booths — men who, in many cases, probably had little interest in their work other than the generous salary arranged by a union to which they owed but little allegiance after the dues were paid. Knowing that motion-picture film takes an awful heating, even under the best of conditions, and that with equipment getting older and older and help gelling less and less experienced and thoughtful, some distributors took to inserting re¬ minder slips in each can of film. One such plea reads as follows: Mr. Exhibitor ( Operator), Today more than ever, with the shortage of raw stock , please help us preserve this film by checking your film equipment daily: replace worn parts, replace jagged gears, adjust intermittent mechanism, prevent sprocket ing and emulsion scratches which are caused by flirty and faulty mechanism. This is your patriotic duty. Thank (Signed) 20th Centiry-Fox Film Corporation. Could any one, even if it had not oc¬ curred to him before, ignore such a forthright plea? Not only they could, but did, as is evidenced by the following letter recently received from a projec¬ tionist who is trying, like all good mo¬ tion-picture machine operators in these critical times, to serve well bis theatre, and its equipment and l lie distributor and his pictures and to do his full part in the all-over conservation program. He writes of projectionists' doing damage to film, and not living up to the notices put in containers for its <ore. 1 he operators arc writing on these notices, so that others will not cooperate in taking care of them. When the operator receives a good print, he damages it and then others complain about it. If a had print is received, they complain to the 4nd in evidence, this projectionist submits the notice quoted earlier, and across t lie face scrawled is the top in¬ vective of lit I le minds — the simple word NUTS. In the control of projectionists, the exhibitor lias precious little power, but sucelv the union — the mighty IATSEMPMOUSC — has ways and means of dealing with such crass manifestations of incom¬ petence and lack of cooperation! If the individual projectionist will not, in his own self-interest or in the larger view of doing his fair, professional share in the conservation of what we now have, operate the equipment and film in Ids care in ways advantageous to all con¬ cerned, then it is high time that the union stepped in and did something about it! The union, individually or collectively, can ill afford longer to tolerate such acts of mental deficients when the industry and the nation so badly need the whole¬ hearted support of everyone in every de¬ tail. It Seems to Us ... That the SMPE’s William C. Kunzmann should get a medal or some¬ thing for so successfully acting as the first convention chairman that the Society has re-elected him to that post 56 times! times ! Sj! $ He . . . That air sterilization may he the long-sought answer to closings of theatres during periods of epidemics — and it is good institutional stuff, too. * ijs * . . . That commendable foresight has been shown by the American Seating Company in appropriating S600.000 for use in reconversion when the time comes. * * * . . . That the industry moves on! The Cover This Month AIK STERILIZATION, a* ii has achialh been in¬ stalled, is shown on this month's cover. The view that of an interior of a radiation chamber in an air duct through which air passes at the rate of 12,000 cubic feet a minute. The number of 30-inch lamps, used spacing with 10-inch separation, i calculated to result in the reduction of more than 00 per cent hi the amount of air-borne, disease-producing bacteria. BETTER MANAGEMENT -THE EXHIBITOR, MAY 9, 1945 3