Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

October 4 , 1 930 Motion Pictu; 117 MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE CLUB Charles E.Lewis Qhaitman. and /]ditai Cs% cNcrfionat ofifociation. orcfhotVmen. c\[eetina~ , MOTION PICTURE NEWS C£>e*jj OVeek -~fot. c\(u/ua/ &ene/i£ and IP^oirte^^ irt -» Conducted ByAnExiubitor For Exhibitors Part of Your Job ! W E often wonder just how seriously the average house manager takes the maintenance of equipment and cleanliness of his house. Whether he is satisfied that this angle is being watched properly or whether he is content to let it take its own course. Proper maintenance of the theatre had always constituted a most important feature of a manager's job, yet, in visiting many houses one can detect, or sense a feeling, that things are in a rundown condition. Carpets worn to shreds, screen unsteady, seats badly in need of repair, leather torn, frames scaled or broken, projection way below par, and so on right down the line from top to bottom. And then there are those invisible items, as far as the patron is concerned directly, but of major importance just the same, such as the roofs, the hanging ceiling, the many store rooms, the cellar and the heating or ventilating equipment. We recently spent a most interesting evening with the head of a large chain's maintenance department, and we lent added interest when we found that he had been a house manager himself only a short time before. But, as he explained, it all came about quite suddenly. His superiors noted his ability to keep his theatre's equipment in tip-top Table of Contents \ Powers Keeps Carpets Spotless *, Erk Discusses the Gum Problem if Gabriel Now Handling Two in Painesville "i Gilmore Landed Float in Parade If "The Showman's Calendar" c "Avoiding Breakdowns' If Gelabert's Economy Is Important "I Fred Glass Is Clicking r Blaire Opens House Again 11 "Economy" T Greenberg Received Flower Break f Smeltzer Now in Oakland, Calif. If "Stage Weddings" *[ Groos Hangs Up Three Winners If "Watch For Roof Leaks" If "Equipment and Maintenance" If Lourie Labored With Tennis Club f "More Art Displays" ^ Thompson Scored a Bulls-Eye If Tucker Capitalizes on Theatre Equipment f "Be Safe— Not Sorry" If Borlad Had a Peppy Gag f "Your Ushers' Appearance" If Hyde's Stage Wedding Went Over f Banniza Gives Views on Chewing Gum Menace v "Personalities" 1 "Crashing Hard-Boiled Schools" If Felker Turned Out a Complete Campaign « Brown's House Couldn't Hold 'Em All " Barry Banged Over a Couple U Newman's Front Was Aces f "Masking the Screen" r Kane Grabs More Free Space f McKoys Utilized Darkened House If Re-Covering the Seats 1 Hendrick's Pulled Ambulance Stunt 1 "What Is Exploitation?" If A Page of Landy's Ads 1 Meet Milton Wight! r "Projection Equipment If Delis' Parade Was Wow! 1 Hof Had Airplane Drop Tickets If Holden a New Regional Chairman * Watson LJsed Limerick Contest f Meet Johnson and Polacek! f Hands' Ushers Plugged Film 1 Reaver Put Over Real Campaign *" Exton Passed Out Free Tickets w "Gilman's Valuable Angle" *" Brown Received Plenty of Publicity 1 Dick Wright Still Delivering shape all the time, so they selected him for division maintenance man and a little later he headed that bureau in the circuit's home office. He, like many other smart managers, found the time, despite the hundred and one other important details of his job, to organize the supervision of the expensive equipment in his theatre. He worked out his cleaners system so that the house was immaculate and clean looking at all times. He injected his own ideas into the many phases of maintenance and cleaning (yes, he had polished brass too in his time). What most showmen, especially the newer ones, must learn and learn quickly, is to become acquainted and study the many details connected with their theatre's operating equipment. They must divorce themselves from the dangerous notion that such equipment is ''just machinery." It's more than that. It's the very essence of the theatre's operation and while the manager need not be an expert on any one phase of his house's operation, he should have more than a passing knowledge of every part of it. Whether your house is independently operated or part of a nation-wide chain, the maintenance of its equipment is not a home office problem. It is YOUP. personal responsibility and if yot cannot assume that responsibility you are not the man for the job. "Chick"