Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1939)

The foyer-lounge, done in farmhouse style. Top: General view of the auditorium. in and around Los Angeles. They, too, were successful. Then, in 1939, he leased the long-dark Mission theatre in Montery Park, California. Came crowds — and he began to sell his parking lots and taking over unsuccessful theatres. In the short space of three years he owned and was operating seven theatres, all money-makers. Now thirty-three years old, "Jimmy" Edwards owns and operates fifteen theatres. But the Tumbleweed is different. To return to its creation — The building was set back from the street and a patio barnyard was created in front. In this yard were arranged cast plaster ducks and ducklings, an old oaken bucket and a wishing well. A windmill was obtained, built on a pump tower, operated .by an electrical motor. At night this windmill is ablaze with neon and can be seen for miles. A luminous marquee, with Adler silhouette attraction boards, was built around the base of the mill tower and a box office built below. This forms the main entrance motive to the theatre. Ordinarily a building of this kind would have high side walls in order to get proper distance below the trusses for picture size. This obstacle was overcome by building the roof on the underside of the trusses and building false buttresses on the exterior, which enhanced the elevation and solved the interior problem. Construction and Design The exterior color scheme is white, yellow and blue. The general building is white. The trim around the box office is canary yellow. The roof is blue. The fence along the outside was built of a combination of wagon wheels and poster cases. The wagon wheel spokes were painted red, the rims of the wheels vellow and the balance of the fence in white trimmed with yellow. The foyer presented a major problem. What kind of a scheme could be used that would be up-to-date, but still have a farmhouse character. This was solved by finishing the walls in a soft blue and white wall paper having a farmer and farmerette pattern, by providing a dado painted white, and making the furniture typical farmhouse type. Rocking chairs, living room couches and butter-churn floor lamps were adopted. The type of lighting fixture used is designed as a weathervane. A men's room sign is built in an inverted horseshoe ; the women's room sign is built around an oil lamp. The auditorium was quite a problem, too. It needed as much acoustical absorption as possible in the side walls ; therefore, these walls were made of Acoustipulp, tinted magenta. Rural cutout ornaments, depicting burros pulling carts, Indians on horseback, cactus and tumbleweed plants, were made of white Masonite and applied to the wall. The ceiling of the auditorium was formed of the roof trusses and was painted white and yellow. Lighting fixtures are in the shape of wagon wheels, the rims of which are glass, with work lights in the center. During the performance three colors of lights are used in the glass rims of the wheels. Ventilation is accomplished by introducing fresh air in the front of the auditorium and removing it from the rear. The chimney on the front of the building is actually used as an exhaust port for the ventilating system. It is Mr. Edwards' policy to heat his California theatres with radiators. This is done with a gas-fired Warmolator with a Bunsen burner type of flame which is built in a metal casing in the wall. The Tumbleweed has a capacity of 850, and the general contract involved less than $20,000, it is reported. 12 A Section of Motion Picture Herald