Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

April, 1911. MOTOGRAPHY 37 Picture Theater Illumination in D enver By JosepL A. McMeel Courtesy of Electrical Review and Western Electrician. TWO illustrations that prove the drawing power of light and which are in keeping with the "moth and flame" axiom are the lighting effects on two of Denver's five-cent moving picture theaters. These amusement houses are the largest of their kind in the city, their display lighting features are the largest and the daily average attendance is by far the greatest, it being in the neighborhood of 14,000 daily. The managers of each are emphatic in their belief that the lavish use of electricity for display purposes — exterior and lobby — is directly responsible for the capacity houses they show to at every performance. Their declarations might be substantiated by mentioning that about 12,000 of these people attend the shows in the evening hours. It is therefore obvious that the lighting facilities play an important part in attracting the people. At any rate the managers of the Isis and Iris Theaters appreciate the value of their displays and have expressed their belief in the worth of this method of advertising by large additions of lamps at different intervals. A significant fact that speaks volumes for the magnetism of this illumination is that each of the welllighted houses is surrounded by competitive houses that use electricity for display purposes only in a very moderate form. In every case the attendance at the Isis and Iris surpasses that of the competitive and dimly lighted houses by about three to one. When it is seen that the brilliantly lighted houses gather the bulk of the theatergoers after dark it must be acknowledged that profuse exterior illumination does something other than illuminate the streets in front of the theater — it attracts the crowds. Another influence that stimulates the attendance at these two play houses is their location. They are situated on Curtis street, the best lighted thoroughfare in the city. Almost all the illumination on this street is supplied from individual sources. The electric signs, window. Exterior Illumination of the Isis Theater. Illumination of the Isis Lobby. lighting and outlining effects on the establishments of the different merchants contribute almost the entire volume of light. It might be well to give some idea of the combined magnitude of the lighting power in this territory and its general effect on attracting the crowds to this thoroughfare in the evening hours. From Fourteenth street as the western end of this " White Way " and Eighteenth street as its eastern terminus there are a total of forty electric signs. Each is of separate and distinct type. The outlining effects are not so_ numerous, but are frequent enough to add to the brilliance. The window-lighting effects, however, are of a corresponding magnitude with that of the signs. These effects together with the municipal lighting combine in making Curtis street one of the best lighted thoroughfares in the country. It is literally the "White Way" of Denver. In regard to the lights being responsible for the enormous night traffic in this vicinity, an idea of its extensiveness might be gleaned from the count taken by the Denver Gas and Electric Company in October, 1909, which shows the pedestrian travel on this street to be the heaviest in the city. The count indicated the number of people on foot, the number of street-car passengers, the number of vehicle passengers, including those on bicycles, and the number of street cars and vehicles, and is substantially correct. The first mentioned count — that of the pedestrians on foot — is the only one that has any real bearing on the attendance at these two theaters, assuming that only a small percentage of the vehicle and street-car passengers stop along this thoroughfare, and for that reason we will consider it only. The total number of people passing Sixteenth and Curtis streets the night of the count was 96,643. East of Sixteenth street in the immediate vicinity of the two theaters in question the exact number of people was 16,900. Here it mieht be cited, how