The Moving picture world (January 1920-February 1920)

9AS THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD February 7, 1920 Better Equipment CONDUCTED BY E.T. KEYSER Well Ventilated Picture Theatres Have the Advantage and Retain It IT is fairly easy to "fill the house" comfortably today, but the farsighted exhibitor is aiming at more than this. He is constantly striving to educate his audience to come to his show instead of going to some other; and he is consistently striving also to improve the class of his patronage and gradually to draw his trade more and more from the class which can appreciate a good show and will come steadily and sit quietly and will buy the best seats in the house. They constitute his most dependable busness and he wants to get it. Saw the Point. It was not long since this class had a decided prejudice against motion picture shows. Many of the theatres were dark, draughty and often ill-smelhng. That the motion picture manager "saw the point" was the chief reason for the rapid development of the picture house, and its still larger development waits on the fuller realization of just these same points— the importance of good fresh air and plenty of i; the absence of draughts; the avoidance of too much heat or cold; special attention to balcony ventilation where the proportion of impure air is much higher than on the main floor. Proper ventilation is one of the greatest factors in the success of a picture theatre and affords a popular and effective appeal to the public taste. Suppose you inserted an effective ventilating system and then inserted in your ads this slogan : "This is the Ventilated Theatre continuously supplied with fresh, pure tempered air." It is safe to say that your picture show would become the best-liked house in town. You might not run the best pictures — perhaps you can' tget as good features as you would like — but as for comfort, for healthfulness, for a contented and rested audience, you would have a tremendous advantage over the unventilated or poorly ventilated show. Worthy of Coniideration. Not all exhibitors realize that one adult coming into their theatre at half past seven and leaving after a two-hour show has consumed all the air which would be contained in a room ten feet high and eighteen feet square. This is worthy of serious consideration. In other words, the seat which is sold a man or woman is comparatively a small part of the "contract." There is a space eighteen feet in both directions from that seat and ten feet high which must be filled with good air if that per son is to enjoy the show and wants to come again. Air that is breathed in contains 4 parts carbon dioxide to every 10,000 of volume. Air that is breathed out contains 400 parts carbon dioxide to 10,000 or an increase of one hundred times. Imagine the^ tremendous production of "breath gas" in an ordinary audience, when each individual is increasing the carbon diox FOR the benefit of those exhibitors who are figuring on cooling their houses in preparation for the coming sun.mer's hot weathr-r, we illustrate in the accompanj'ing diagram a layout of the Monsoon Cooling System for the Jones Theatre, Canon City, Colorado. Before we go into details covering the specifications of the apparatus used, it might be well to explain the principle of cooling used. Everyone knows the positive cooling effect o' a ride in an open trolley car or automobile with its attendant breezes. And yet at no time is there the slightest drop in the temperature of the air. It is the breeze that does the work by ev^iporating the moisture in its passage over the body. Evaporation Lowers the Temperature. In hot dry climates — such as in Arizona— water is kept at a very low temperature in porous, earthen jugs. The porosity of the jug permits the water ide content of the air one hundred times every breath he takes; and he takes sixteen respirations a minute. Ventilation is fresh air insurance and an added attraction that lines them up at the box office. We are indebted for the above to the B. F. Sturtevant Company of Boston, to whose knowledge of ventilation requirements and ability to put such knowledge into operation, many of our foremost picture theatres constitute practical testimonials. The Sturtevant branches in all the principal cities are at our readers' convenience (without obligation) for consultation on ventilating needs. — Ed. to seep through to the outside very slowly, keeping the outside always covered slightly v'ith moisture. The air evsporates this rapidly and in doing so cools to a very low temperature the contents of the jug. And the more air circulation there is, the more rapid the evaporation and the lower the temperature This, then, is Nature's way of cooling — and it is the method used by the Monsoon Cooling System, Inc. 100,000 Cubic Feet Capacity. The Jones Theatre is a house of nearly one thousand seats — 100 feet long, 44 feet wide and with an average height of 24 feet. This figures a little over 100,000 cubic feet of air capacity — and it is on the basis of the cubical contents that the Monsoon Engineers estimate the apparatus necessary to maintain the movement of air essential to cooling In this case, a Number 7 Monsoon The Jones Theatre Blows Itself to A New Monsoon Ventilating System