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

84 Better Theatres Section April 12, 1930 the States. But in general, it’s only the colossal hits of America that get really popular here, the “Ramona’s” and the “Honey’s,” etc., though sometimes the rule is reversed and the most unexpected song is popular. ThESE were my impressions on first landing, but now the only way I know a song is popular in the States is by reading Exhibitors Herald World. There are not the mediums of popularizing a song here. I might say that the records were the chief means before the advent of the talkers. The Australian “song-plugger” is practically non-existant. I say this even though I did use one (supplied by the publisher) in a stunt in Melbourne. All this goes to show why community stunts are not so good. You might get four or five songs for one week, and possibly (but not probably) four for the next, and then you’re all caught up for the next six months. So I argued thus with myself : “The organs are new here. Why not try the same stuff you did years ago when conditions were the same in America?” So I waded through some of the ancient material that luckily I had saved and brought with me and picking two or three stunts that seemed likely, had slides made (and that’s a little story in itself), put them on, and to my intense relief and satisfaction, they “clicked.” From then on I knew what to do. To go back to the problem of slides: They still use advertising slides here, running them in the “interval'’ (I’ll explain that later). So I had no difficulty getting the slides themselves made — ah, yes! But advertising slides and cartoon slides are two different things! To simplify the matter of explanation, I took several good old Ransley slides with me, walked boldly forth and said, “Can you make a slide that will look like that?” Invariably the reply was something like this, “Oh, yes, Mr. Fitch. Let’s see, I think we can do the white lettering on the black background. I don’t know how they get this fancy background, but you see we have no call to do cartoon work, so we don’t employ artists. Of course we can call in an artist to do the cartoons. Yes, I think we can fix you up.” Then came the disheartening part of it — when I asked the price. Again the reply was invariably this, “Well, the slide itself will only be about six or eight shillings, but these artists get anywhere from two to five guineas per drawing.” Now, not taking the rate of exchange too literally, eight shillings is about $2 and a “guinea” is about $5, which meant anywhere from $12 to $27 PER SLIDE! Imagine my embarrassment if I’d ask the firm to pay that sum per slide for a set of 30 or 40 slides! Naturally, my thoughts wandered back home to about two months previous, when I had five or six publishers in the dressing-room, each al most begging me to put on darn good sets of slides on their songs. I FINALLY solved the problem when I discovered the artist that did the lobby display. He was on the theatre payroll and was an excellent cartoonist. I explained the cartoons for each slide to him, then took the drawings to the slide-maker, and the result was a pretty decent looking slide, costing “only” about $50 for a set of 35. These are conditions as I found them in Melbourne and Adelaide, though now there is a slide firm in Melbourne which employs an artist-cartoonist and turns out a slide that would be a credit to any American firm. Sydney is a little more up-to-date in this matter and quite a few publisher’s sets are used. I personally have found that Australian audiences tire of any given thing a little more quickly than the American, so I mix my solos up, one week doing a straight spotlight number of a classical or standard nature; the next, an organ novelty; the next, perhaps a scrim organ presentation, and then, perhaps, just one song, with a few parody choruses. The parody choruses on topical and political subjects are always sure to clean up. In this way they never “know what’s coming next” and it helps preserve the novelty. T HE picture theatres are run quite a bit differently from the theatres in the States. I will give the schedule of the Regent in Melbourne, which, to a certain extent, is typical of them all. The house opens for the “morning session” at 11 a. m., the afternoon session at 2:15 p. m., closes about six and opens again about seven, with the “evening session” starting about 8 p. m. and lasting to about 11 p. m. Some houses don’t close down but run continuously. However, the “evening session” always starts at about 8 o’clock. Long ago (in the days of the “Big Five-Reel Productions,” I imagine) someone started the idea of running two feature pictures for the evening’s entertainment and the idea’s stuck, so the program usually runs something like this : Overture, newsreel, shorts (one or two), “B” (secondary) feature picture, organ solo, stage presentation — then “lights up” for the “interval,” or intermission. This interval usually lasts about ten minutes, during which period advertising slides are shown, while “lollies” (candy) and soft drinks are sold by boys walking up and down the aisles. After the interval the “A” (main) feature picture is presented. Then, usually, comes “the King,” for it is a law that “God Save the King” be played at each evening session. Sometimes, however, it is played before the overture. There are no presentations or over( Continued on page 147) A USTRALIA’S largest theatre circuits — Union Theatres, Ltd., and Hoyt’s Theatres, Ltd. — have had a phenomenal growth, one probably accelerated by their intense rivalry. The deluxe theatres they have built compare with the finest in the United States. Mr. Fitch tours the Hoyt circuit as featured organist. Prior to his present engagement, he was similarly featured at the Sheridan in Chicago and other leading American theatres.