Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

Page 38 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW June 24, 1939 MAINTENANCE COSTS ■—How to Regulate Them WHETHER }-our house is one of a chain of theatres, or whether you own it outright, you should try to maintain it at the most economical cost. In the latter case, where your own investment is represented, we feel sure you would follow our advice; in the former, where you are responsible for a house owned by someone else, there may be a tendency to be extravagant. If this is so, you will want to correct the error. For it is important that you save wherever you can in the operation of your theatre. Even though it may not be your own, it is under your charge, and any inability on j^our part to make it show a profit will reflect on i'ou. Often j'ou attempt to increase box office receipts by using more advertising and exploitation so that more people will attend. That is all well and good. But much the same results can be produced if you save on supplied and maintenance work in the theatre, which of course, will show up in the profits. ISeglect Is Costly Before show time every morning, the theatre siiould be thoroughly inspected for cleanliness, condition of the seats and carpets. To neglect this duty will prove costly. The necessity of calling in outside contractors and spending considerable money to put the theatre back in shape again will be the sum total if the theatre is not properly cleaned, if the equipment is not cleaned, oiled and properly taken care of, and if the seats are not repaired. Carpets will deteriorate if they are not frequently and properly cleaned. This, naturally, applies to all other pieces of equipment, too. Because of the size of tlie theatre, and in many cases where water is used in the cooling plant, the water bill often luns very high. General consumption has a lot to do with this, but be sure there are no leaks in the toilet tanks, urinals, faucets or any other places. Whenever a painting job gets a little dirty, don't repaint that spot. Too often, so many of these spots are evident and so much repainting is done that within a short time there are various coatings ranging from one to perhaps a dozen. You'll find that when ever a section of the wall, marquee or anjr other surface is dirty, it can be cleaned with a good paint cleaner or with water. Too many coats will eventually make it difficult to burn off the paint when a new job is to take place, and the burning-of? process is expensive. You should watch the lighting of both the inside and outside of the theatre to be sure you have just the right wattage of lamps. Special cleaning lights, often a portable apparatus which the cleaner can take with him as his cleaning progresses, should be used when the watchman or janitor is on duty. No other switch should be thrown unless it is necessary. Too many lights burning without rhyme or reason when the theatre is closed will increase the figures on your power bill. Card Index Supplies Every time you make out a requisition list for new supplies, look it over to see if anything can be eliminated without affecting the operation of your theatre. By keeping a card index for all your supplies, you can check the requests made by various employes for supplies. Using this system will enable you to tell just how far your carbons should go, how long your brooms should last, how far your soap powder, flashlights, flashlight bulbs and any other cleaning supplies should go. When any employe wants, for example, a new lamp, he should bring to you the worn-out article. Visit your projection booth frequcnth' and check with the operator on carbons and other booth equipment. See that your motor equipment is oiled regularly, since the cost for oil is much less than the cost of repairs. Each day check the roof and the drains to see that they're clean. Allhougii this is summer, we might remind you to clean of¥ the roof and marquee after a snow storm so that no damage is done. Too much snow on the roof may cause it to collapse. Impossible? Well it happened a few years ago at a theatre in Washington, D. C. Watch the burning of coal during the winter months and see that the boiler is free of ashes at all times to prev(^nt burning out of the grates. "The XYZ has ancient sound, that's why it's r "Its owner sits awake all night with worry in the head." "In the theatre down the street the business is terrific." For Better Box Office, Install Better Sound '"'^RCA PHOTOPHONE MAGIC VOICE of the SCREEN 1 reO^°'' , ^o toe *P with Rotary Stabilizerplus SHOCK-PROOF DRIVE Better sound means better box office— and RCA tubes mean better sound RCA Manufacturing Co., Inc. Camden, New Jersey • A Service of the Radio Corporation of America Spare Projector May Make Encores Possible Universal is experimenting with a plan which will make motion picture actors respond to audience applause by giving encores to songs or repeating an especially well received comedj' or love scene, according to an announcement by Louis Pollock, the company's Eastern advertising and publicitjf head. The mechanics of the experiment are simple — merely a few extra reels of film on a spare projector in the theater's projector booth — but several other prol)lems loom which might doom the practicability of screen encores. One is that their uncertain frequency would disrupt the carefully limed daily schedule in a motion picture house, and another is that some small houses probably would not have the extra projector to spare. The encore plan, conceived b}' Mr. Pollock during the Canadian run of "The Alikado," which found audiences often applauding in vain for encores of the favorite Gilbert and Sullivan airs, would work like this, using "The Alikado" as an example: Earljf in the score Nanki-Poo sings "A Wandering Minstrel, I," always a sure-fire encore number in stage productions of the show. When audiences applauded the motion picture sequence of the song, the operator in the projection booth would throw a switch to stop the main reel and start an extra reel on the spare projector which would carry simply a repeat version of the song. When Nanki-Poo's encore was over, the switch would be thrown back' to the main reel and the action would continue. Adapting this plan to any film, musical or straight drama or comed}', the distributors would select in advance say three to eight high spots which they thought might be applauded. Along with the regular print of the film supplied to the theatre would go these short repeat strips which the projection booth operator would thread on extra reels and be prepared to run when and if the audience applause warranted. Brenkert-RCA Cooperating On Sale of Equipment for Booth Arrangements have been completed whereby the Brenkert Light Projection Company and RCA Photophone will cooperate in the sale of complete booth equipment for motion picture theatres, the two companies have jointlj' announced. The new sales policy just worked out permits independent supply dealers selling Brenkert products and the RCA Photophone sales representatives to sell boo'th equipment made by either of the two companies. The ground work with Brenkert distributors and RCA Photophone sales representatives in various parts of the new country for the new selling plan has been prepared by Ilomer B. Snook, reproducer sales manager of Photophone, and Wayne D. Brenkert, sales manager of Brenkert. Present setup of either the sales or the service personnel of the two companies will not be affected by the new sales agreement. GE Increases Production Production of fluorescent lamps is being stepped up by General Electric at the rate of 1,000,000 units annually as compared with 200,000 units during the past year. Added to the line is a new 40 watt fluorescent.