Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

r CONDUCTED IN COLLABORATION WITH LEADING THEATRE ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS Another Modern Main Streeter" in the Metropolitan Manner The result of functional planning plus the application of modern materials in small-town situations. A project presentation from pictures and particulars supplied by F <& Y Building Service, of Columbus, Ohio. HE “can’t-afford-it” complex that has long been allowed to curb the style and efficiency of theatres in small-town situations is rapidly disappearing. Theatre men outside the metropolitan areas as well as many owners of small theatres uncomfortably contiguous to the big towns are finding that inherent house attraction has a way of levelling off the hazards of competition and class distinction that has too long kept the small capacity country-side cinema in a state of partial eclipse architecturally and in the manner of physical appointments. The shadow is now passing quickly with the growing realization among theatre men that quality can quite well be contrived in small packages and most economically when careful planning is allowed to con The Geauga’s front is an impressive combination of tangerine-colored face brick, buff terra cotta, glass bricks, black structural glass and aluminum trimming. ( Photos courtesy F & Y Building Service). trol the procedure from start to finish. Small-town theatres are no longer being just thrown together in amateurish disregard for the functions of moving picture exhibition. They are being planned — and in a highly proficient manner in a majority of cases. The case here under consideration is typical. It represents the maximum in accomplished results at a cost well within the restrictions of small-town theatre investment. A Typical Small Town Chardon, Ohio, is a town of slightly less than 2,000 inhabitants, the county seat of Geauga County in the northeast corner of Ohio, and about an hour’s ride by motor from the City of Cleveland. This is the locale of the new Geauga Theatre, owned by L. M. Smith, which was completed late last winter at a cost of approximately $35,000, not including land and detachable equipment. The new Geauga seats 600 patrons and supplants the old Chardon Theatre, a 400-seat house formerly operated by Mr. Smith and which A sectional view in close-up decorative details of the Geauga’s wall and ceiling treatment. was dismantled upon completion of the new and smartly modern Geauga — a truly modern small -town cinema set in the main business section of Chardon. The new house was designed and its erection and outfitting completely engineered by F & Y Building Service, of Columbus, Ohio. In general its layout provides an imposing facade, a spacious foyer and a well-proportioned auditorium, with smartly equipped rest-rooms and the manager’s office. All of which are more particularly described in the following paragraphs and by pictures submitted. The exterior facia of the Geauga is of tangerine-colored face brick with inset panels of buff terra cotta and glass brick. The entire front is functionally ornamented by a well-lighted V-shaped marquee which provides for two lines of changeable silhouette letters in attraction boards set at an angle on both sides. The ticket booth is constructed of black structural glass below and with black structural glass deal plates in striking contrast to the tangerine terra cotta walls. Alumilited aluminum hardware is used on the front. Decorated Most Effectively Four shades of pastel colors are effectively combined as wall decorations in the vestibule and the floor and base border are of terrazzo. Removable link rubber mats in bright colors serve both as a decorative effect and as a protection to both patrons and the floor coverings inside the house. The foyer features two large wine-colored decorative motives on either side of the entrance, with bone-white mouldings forming a panel in the center of which orange-colored velour has been applied to contrast with the deep-wine background. An elegant pattern of fine carpeting is used throughout the theatre and chrome furniture covered with leatherette lends charm and comfort for patrons who use the foyer. Similar chrome furniture is also used in the rest rooms. The ladies’ room, in addi The MODERN THEATRE SECTION