Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1930)

NOTE-/' on WRITERS and XUBJECT/ in thi/ U^UE I *1 The exterior of no building has so much sheer economic significance as that of the motion picture theatre. Here beauty functions as much as a sales medium as it does aesthetically. Generally recognized though this function be, still there are theatres of consummate interiors with exteriors of unequal merit. One reason for this, is that it is sometimes supposed that the exterior holds but a momentary interest, the public turning immediately to the attraction advertised, then spending its time inside. This is more or less true, superficially, but question arises as to what extent the exterior, as a whole, effects a subconscious interest in a theatre which later leads to inquiry concerning the attraction — and also, to what extent the exterior exerts a ; permanent appeal to the public, without specific reference to the program. It is not due, however, to any special need for calling attention to exterior design, that the article by Mr. Boiler (“Designing the Theatre Exterior”) is to be welcomed. The subject is always timely, so long as leaders in architecture have fresh thoughts concerning it. The motion picture theatre being perhaps the most specialized of all types of buildings, its exterior is no less special. Added to these class considerations in its design, are the universal aesthetic factors involved. This combination calls for shrewd selection of structural and decorative elements, and a precise adaptation of them to the specific purposes of the theatre. . . . And now just a word about the author. Robert Boiler is a noted theatre architect, a member of the firm of Boiler Brothers of Kansas City, Mo. His article thus represents an experience gained over many years in designing scores of motion picture theatres, located in large cities and in small towns. <1 People are speaking of television. It’s coming, they say. In this age, people are always sure of new wonders. We of today are perhaps as gullible as our forefathers were skeptical. Still the signs are that television, as a public instrument, is not to be long postponed. The other day a theatre devoted to this kind of entertainment opened in New Jersey. In a recent issue of Better Theatres, Harold B. Franklin, president of Fox-West Coast Theatres, told why he cautioned his managers to pre pare for television “as though it were just around the comer.” Then what, specifically, is holding it back? What must yet be done? And when may we expect it? It was these inevitable questions that led to the investigations reported in “Television Today.” Douglas Fox, who did the necessary noseying-around among “tongue-tied” laboratory wizards, is a member of the editorial staff of the HeraldWorld, attached to the New York office. <1 Frankly, when the letter was written to Eddie Fitch ’way off in Australia, asking him to write the article which now appears under the title, “My Own Idea of an Organist in Australia,” the stern editorial mind had in view a treatise on organ solo ar.d picture-cueing processes on Britain’s island continent. Australia has many fine theatres, most of them quite new, and organ playing in the American fashion being somewhat of a novelty over there, it was confidently expected that Fitch, who had been an American theatre organist of wide experience in deluxe houses, would give a technical discussion of his art for the edification of the organist. Several months later came the article. It wasn’t the expected thing at all. Fitch had just gone about writing up his experiences in his own way with thought for his brother console artists, yes, but for every other class of show people, too. And thus it was proved that for once, at least, editorial instructions had been wrong. <| Difficult as it is to discuss equipment costs based on an imaginary theatre, “How Much for Equipment” does answer those many inquiries concerning this item in the new theatre’s budget, as definitely and as comprehensively as possible. And, of course, with eminent authority, since Walter E. Green is president of the far-flung National Theatre Supply Company. <1 Al P. Nelson, who describes the new Fox theatre in Green Bay, Wis. (“A Design Combining Modern Motifs With the Medieval" ) , is a writer for trade and other publications, living in Milwaukee. <1 Arthur Frederick Adams (“Expressing the Modem Spirit of Design in a Small Theatre") is a member of the staff of Rapp & Rapp, Chicago and New York architects, who designed the theatre he discusses. <J W. H. Mooring (“A Deluxe Theatre in Cockney London ”) is an English journalist occupying an editorial chair on the staff of The Bioscoper leading British film trade journal. <1 Leo T. Parker, who contributes another article to his series on the Theatre and the Law (“Contracts, Liens and Licenses”), is a Cincinnati attorney. <J Much has already been said about the difference between acoustical concepts of the past and those of the talking-picture present. In the re-evaluation of sound behavior, Electrical Research Products, Inc., has carried on wide-spread investigations within the motion picture theatre itself, and it is with this authority that S. K. Wolf writes in “New Considerations in the Treatment of Acoustic Problems." Mr. Wolf is head of the theatre acoustics department of Electrical Research Products. He contributed valuable material to the recent survey in the field of sound pictures conducted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. <| Hugh S. Knowles, who contributes the fourth article irt his series entitled “Locating the Causes of Faulty Reproduction,” is a Chicago radio and sound engineer. Also this may be recorded, as the closing remarks of an exhibitor in a letter to the HeraldWorld: “While at it, I must congratulate you on the series of articles by Mr. Hugh S. Knowles in the Better Theatres section. By all means, keep his typewriter oiled up. We need him, believe me.” To which it may be truthfully replied, a consignment of “oil” has been duly delivered. <| A. E. Meyer (“Omanizing to Meet the Foreign Equipment Market”) is exceptionally well qualified to discuss the problems presented to the American motion picture theatre equipment manufacturer just entering the foreign market, or wishing to increase his sales abroad. Mr. Meyer has had over 15 years of experience in export merchandising and shipping. After the war, he was export manager for the Nicolas Power Company, later joining the International Projector Corporation, manufacturers of Simplex projection machines, for which company he is now export manager. He was born and educated in New York City. [21]