Home Movies (1949)

BLOOMINGD ALE'S, N.Y., DISPLAYS A HOME THEATRE BY STEINHAUSER ^Mlow to jf^ic an a eater' at ome By HAL COOLIDGE IN the home movie era, the living room no longer is an ordinary place to sit in. A model room was unveiled recently in New York Citv bv Bloomingdale's, which is different from the ordinary living room or dining room which it would replace. The model room actually is a "Home Theatre." Designed by Kark Steinhauser, it consumes little space. He feels that the average family is small and therefore 6 chairs are enough. Each of the theatre-like chairs has an end table for drink, food and ash trays. When the home movie is over, the chairs can be pushed back against the wall and disguised as living room sofas. If the home movie program becomes boring, a curtain may be drawn to cover the screen, and a TV set may be switched on. If TV palls, the chairs mav be swung around to form a couch, one on each side, with a table between to make the room a cocktail bar. One of the most forceful influences on furniture design has occured with the development and growth of home movies followed by the entrance of television. The change is the greatest felt since farm living, early in the century, suddenly changed to city living for many people, resulting in a demand for pint-size furniture in pint-size citv apartments. Architects and designers have felt the need for a Home Theatre. But realizing that but few homes can devote a room exclusively to that purpose,they have come up with various dual-purpose rooms. The result is a living room or dining room, which can be converted at the flip of a wrist into a home theatre. Furniture designers have borne the brunt of the problem by designing adaptable, easilv movable furniture. This has brought a return of casters on seating pieces and tables. Chairs and sectional pieces can be wheeled into comfortable viewing position. Tables are easily brought into reach when needed, or folded out of the way. Hassocks and stools have been designed with "nested" hassocks within, so that one piece can become three or four pieces when additional seating capacity ^suddenly is required for a growing audience of guests dropping in. There is even a swivel chair designed to allow a viewer to face in any direction depending on whether he is viewing home movies, television, a good book or a dinner table — all from the same chair. How do these furniture and room design innovations affect the home with limited space and money? It is not necessarv to create a new room in its entiretv. Actually, many of the innovations can be utilized one by one to improve present facilities. Many home theatres are based on "big show" theatre thinking, but a home theatre usually entertains only half a dozen people at a time, so it can be planned accordingly. Other requirements are that the room should be comfortable, and easily converted to picture showing, without anv fuss. Electric outlets are available so that extension cords are not visible. The speaker is installed permanently near the screen, and an outlet brought to the projector. Then, when the projector is set up, it is not necessary to fuss with cords, just to insert plugs. Even these details may be dispensed with, however, if the projector is permanently set up in a separate room or closet which acts as projection booth. In many cases, it is desirable to have as much equipment as possible permanently placed. The screen can be one of the tvpe that operates in a picture frame — and pulls down like a window blind when needed. Or the screen can be permanently placed on a wall, and covered with a curtain which opens with draw strings. 630