Motion picture handbook; a guide for managers and operators of motion picture theatres ([c1916])

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FOR MANAGERS AND OPERATORS 667 Is the Current A. C. or D. C.?— This point may be determined by (a) looking for a transformer outside the building — if there is one the current is alternating, though its absence does not offer conclusive proof that the current is D. C; (b) by looking at the meter plate, if there is a meter, or by looking at the motor plates, if there are any; (c) by slightly moistening the fingers and touching two wires of opposite polarity, thus taking a slight shock. If it is A. C. the current will feel "jerky." This latter test is not to be recommended to the novice, or anyone else, for that matter, for if you should try it and the wires happen to be crossed with high potential lines it might prove to be a very serious matter. The best plan is to call up the powerhouse, if it is practical to do so, and ask the voltage and kind of current; also, if alternating, what cycle. In this connection let me add that the traveling operator should always consult the powerhouse officials before connecting to lines in small towns, especially if the show is to be given in a church, hall or schoolhouse supplied by a small transformer. The transformer may be already loaded to capacity, as may also the street mains and even the dynamos. If you connect without permission, simply on the say-so of some church or school official or citizen and damage is done you can be compelled to pay for it. CHEAP EQUIPMENT As a general proposition it may be said that cheap equipment is very expensive equipment in the end. Except where the use is strictly temporary it seldom or never pays to buy cheap projection apparatus. The wise manager will keep constantly before him the fact that his energies should be directed first and foremost to the bringing in of every possible penny at the box office, and that if a three hundred dollar projector will, by the added excellence of projection, bring in an added box office revenue of even so much as three dollars per week, as against a projector costing two hundred dollars, then the high-priced machine is emphatically the best investment. He must bear in mind that if one of the lenses is producing poor results, those results will operate to send patronage to some rival house, hence it should be replaced immediately. He should not for one instant forget that his audience pays an admission to his house to see what is spread forth upon his screen, and that the more excellent the performance the greater