Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 22, 1949 Theatre ManByement Guide to Modem Methods in the Adtnimstrative and Executive Phases of Theatre Operation 21 Problems of Vaudeville Presentation Well, here comes vaudeville! Just around the corner the drums are rumblin', bass blaring, trombones tootin' and trumpets blastin'. If you listen close you can hear the patter of the dancing feet of the girls and the laughter provoked 'by the funny men. They tell me the customers have demanded that vaudeville be added to film fare. I ain't heard 'em but maybe it's so. In any event, they're going to get vaudeville in all the larger cities. But how are they going to get it? I didn't go extra deep into the matter but I did go far enough to be pretty thoroughly convinced that, even if the patrons are demanding a return to "flesh" shows, there are mighty few theatres in position to properly present such an adjunct to their celluloid entertainment. And, there are still fewer managers or executives p )fsessing the "know how" and "what it takes" to ripple the risables of a live talent entertainment fan or even supply the performers with the essential accessories to "give with their best." For almost twenty years vaudeville has been reported as dead, and during the passing of two decades most of the theatremen familiar with the needs of the actors, the routining of shows, the essentials of stage equipment and so on through a maze of "musts," took the vaudeville obituaries at face value and, after rendering proper condolences to disconsolate members of the tribe, entered other fields of endeavor. As this is written there remain, among the ranks of theatre executives and managers, mighty few of men with knowledge as to the timing, placement, lighting, accompaniment, accessories, equipment, etc. necessary to properly present a vaudeville show. The experience of most of the men who are handling the houses where the revived corpse of vaudeville is scheduled to start kicking up its heels has been confined to handling the personal appearance of visiting screen celebrities, etc. A few have conducted "tab" shows and still fewer have been in charge of the business end — but not the presentation — of visiting roadshow stage attractions. There's a gap as wide as the Pacific existing between the knowledge required to adequately handle any or all of the above limited duties and the myriad details connected with the overall presentation of a vaudeville show. A Dearth of 'Know How' About Handling of Vaudeyille Not only among the managers but among the various stage hand locals of the I.A.T.S.E. there exists a dearth of "know how" about the handling of vaudeville. Many locals are digging up currently inactive members — those who actually handled the ropes, cues, lights, scenery, etc. during the old two and three-a-day periods — to give the current membership of curtain pullers and lightswitch handlers a condensation of knowledge about what will be expected of them. The stages, at least most of them that I've looked at, are ill-equipped — or not equipped at all — for the presentation of vaudeville. Let me give you an idea : Street drops, the standby for emergency in vaudeville presentations, are only dim and vague memories. They just don't exist any more. The emergency front screen — used to present early reels of the film program while sets were being broke on closing nights and to eliminate delay while clearing the stage and resetting horns on other nights — are no longer on the list of house equipment. Dressing rooms, locked these many years — and where not locked used as storage for rubbish heaps — have fallen to disgraceful decay. There are no mirrors, no make-up lights, no call buzzers no chairs. The plumbing has been so long neglected that a major job is faced if it is to be put in order. Even the windows fall into the "project" category if they are ever again to serve their intended purpose. Once Popular Tower-on-T rack Equipment Difficult to Locate In many houses fixed screens and sound equipment present quite an obstacle. The once popular tower-on-track equipment is as difficult to locate as a salt grain in a sugar barrel. Some of the today's horns are either hung from battings — which will interfere with the hanging of needed scenery in the location occupied — or are housed in heavy wooden towers, some with casters and others without, whose movement will require four good husky Union stagehands. The screens can, in many cases, be flown to stage loft position but there are many houses where construction does not permit this practice. Resetting these screens at back wall positions is a job demanding adjustments in projection, etc. The old-time Green Room— that gathering place provided by most theatres playing vaudeville * This series copyrighted and must not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission from Showmen's Trade Review, Inc. where the performers got together for card games and chinning bees — which made the actor's life more pleasant, is crammed to the ceiling, in most houses, with discarded drapes, broken popcorn machines, wrecked seats, etc. In many places the asbestos curtain — and most cities have ordinances requiring that it be raised and lowered at the start and close of every performance—has not been touched for so many years that movement will be difficult and fraught with danger of cable breakage, if not totally impossible. To this must be added the condition of stage lighting — foots, overheads, olivettes, etc. — switch boards, wiring, etc. These have also been neglected for years and will be badly needed if acts and actors are to be seen to best advantage. Most stages today have a minimum of scenic equipment consisting principally of a front curtain, a traveler in front of the picture screen and a couple of legs and borders. This is barely sufficient for personal appearance work and not at all adequate for the presentation of even the tiniest kind of a vaudeville show. There seem to be entirely too many of the uninitiated who feel that vaudeville ranks in the same category as the adding of another short reel to the program and view its addition as requiring no special skill of any kind and still less in the way of special equipment. Most of them evidence an attitude of total disregard for the advice of old-timers who have actually worked and handled vaudeville. And many openly declare all suggestions regarding stage and scenery improvements or additions as being "old fashioned." They say: "This is a new kind of vaudeville and the actors don't need all those things." How, will someone please tell me, do they know anything about the new, and especially how it compares to the old when they never had experience with either? These uninitiated know-it-alls are in for a sudden and severe awakening. But whether it happens in time to be of any service to the highly desired ends of giving vaudeville and the performers that make up the show a fair break, and the expectedly enlarged audiences the best possible show, will depend entirely on how quickly the executives booking the acts and buying the shows become aware of the inefficiency of the men charged with its presentation. Vaudeville is, and must be viewed, as a special department of show business demanding the {Continued on Page 22) Public Relations for Free on Holloween All kids under 12, accompanied by a parent or an adult relative, will be admitted free of charge in St. Louis and St. Louis county on Halloween — Oct. 31 — Louis K. Ansell declared this week on behalf of exhibitors operating some 110 theatres in the city and county. Ansell said that exhibitors of St. Louis had agreed to make children the "guests of the house" as the most effective wav of cooperating with Mayor Joseph M. Darst's city-wide program to keep teenagers off the streets and out of the usual Halloween mischief making and property destruction. The movement not only embraces all neighborhood houses but the large first-run operations downtown.