Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

By Helen Kent With two stupendous expositions at opposite ends of the country giving added impetus to the all-embracing subject of modernity, theatre people would do well to look about sharply with an eye to what the public is going to expect of the little old home-town and its provisions for entertainment. There’s a multitude of people who will see these “worlds of tomorrow,” only to return home with opened eyes, and naturally expecting a bit more evidence of progress in their own bailiwicks. Many theatre men, too, will visit these magnificent expositions and if they’re wise, they’ll absorb a bit of the progress represented. Let them gape and gawk and gasp over the splendor and beauty of either world’s fair, but permit that they also try to visualize what these fairs mean to them in a business way. And by business way, we mean boxoffice! It is hoped most naturally by the product exhibitors at these International Expositions that all who visit them will realize and adapt the world’s fair idea to their own peculiar circumstances. And what is more natural than that theatre operators should gain inspiration from great expositions, whether they attend or merely are informed of them by description and pictures? The basic principles of a world’s fair are: Education, Entertainment and Progress. That’s show business at its best. On a smaller scale, these principles apply just as forcefully to theatres; yes, even to the smallest houses in out-of-the-way places, whose patrons probably will never be able to go to a world’s fair at all. Center of Public Interest The moving picture theatre, to its own community, is a fountain of entertainment and education and progress. It is a place where, if it is modern and inviting, patrons may satisfy their craving for the world’s fairs they are unable to attend. If it is not modern and inviting, indicating the progress to be found in the expositions, these same patrons no doubt will look elsewhere for entertainment. And who can blame them? People nowadays are educated to expect the best and they deserve it. Of particular interest to theatre men who wish to glean some personal glory from the architectural beauty and the applied showmanship represented by our present world’s fairs, is the use and dependence upon lighting. In no other element is to be found more magic for great expositions, and in lighting also, theatre business will find one of its greatest allies. If you theatre people will study the The marquee of the Central Theatre, on Times Square in New York City, shown before and after recent modernization. Through “face-lifting” and elimination of a “ginger bread” head piece, copy space was increased from three to four lines using modern multiple size silhouette letters. Old canopies can now be brought up to date at surprisingly low cost. (Photos courtesy Wagner Sign Service, Inc.) The Meralta, an 800-seat theatre in Los Angeles, follows the “exposition” idea ivith a “punchy” display of its attractions. Plenty of light and legible letters are the media. (Photo courtesy Wagner Sign Service, Inc.) uses of latest scientific lighting to be found in both San Francisco and New York this season, you’ll find cues to what all of you may expect in theatre lighting during the next few years. None of us can forget the impetus given spectacular and display lighting by the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition and its immediate successors at various other points of the country. Applications which were entirely new in 1933 are finding widespread use in theatres today. To name only a few, it was about 1933 when brilliantly lighted structural glass and glass blocks were first exhibited and their increasing use in theatres today indicates the far-reaching ef W LAP 1 "hymer" UHTER AND THE henRT A.*DTHE [W Bi il P ! H 0 MOB ,»Mem_M0B CO-STARRED FRANCHOT TONE Ais° SUICIDE SQUAD iUIUDfc SQUAD micvm MCKLfl \mm povI iarntm^ &K