Boxoffice barometer (1944)

KEmXim HUKTEKiECE SECTION et BOXOFPICE (Title reglBtered U. S. Patent Office) Issue of NOVEMBER, 1944 J. HARRY TOLER, Managing Editor LUCERNE TOLER PATERSON, Associate Editor Vol. XL — No. 12 Topics: Great for Morale! ... so Now for a Morality Build-Up 8 by Helen Kent -K Plan Perspectives of ’44 and Our Predictions for 1945 10 by Ansel M. Moore M Preliminary Steps to Postwar Theatre Planning 10 by Mason G. Rapp -K Planning: Pictorial Review of Our Theatres of Tomorrow 12 A Multiple-Purpose Project in the Architectural Stage 27 designed by Michael J. DeAngelis ¥ Lighting: Triple Function is Foreseen in Theatre Lighting 30 ¥ Decorating: Current Traits and Trends in Theatre Decoration 32 by Hanns R. Teichert ¥ Floor Coverings: Carpet Supply Situation Now Static but Most Promising 34 ¥ Air Conditioning : Theatres Exploit the Advantages of Temperature Control....36 ¥ Cine' Clinic: Present Outlook on Projection and Sound Reproduction. ...^Q ¥ Public Seating: No Startling Changes Foreseen for Theatre Seating. ¥ Sanitation: Wartime Maintenance Has Encouraged Good Housekeeping 46 ¥ “The Key to Better Buying" 49 ¥ Theatre Equipment and Supply Dealers 66 Published 13 times yearly by Associated Publications every fourth Saturday as a section of BOXOFFICE and included in all Sectional Editions of the AP group, including the annual BOXOFFICE BAROMETER. Contents copyrighted, 1944; reproduction rights reserved. All editorial or general business correspondence relating to The MODERN THEATRE section should be addressed to Publisher’s Representative, Harrison Toler Company, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago (4), 111., or Eastern Pepresentative: A. J. Stocker, 9 Rockefeller Plaza, New York (20), N. Y. Our Lesson on Maintenance Learned During the War If this global war will have left us with anything to be thankful for at all, that one thing must be experience. Because it has been gained the hard way, the experience should help all of us to more correctly evaluate and appreciate property values when peace is with us again. The entire motion picture industry is known as a reckless appraiser of its physical properties. In past normal times, it has flaunted the good business rule of looking for quality beneath the surface of the commodities it buys. Far too often it "pays through the nose" for the folly of buying either too cheaply or too extravagantly. Between the two extremes is the happier medium of getting better value for money spent. Under rigid wartime restrictions for nearly three years and faced with many problems of property maintenance, most of them acute, the exhibitor must surely have observed that good things last longer and give better service during their lifetime. And now that we may review a noteworthy record on wartime conservation and maintenance of properties carried on throughout the theatre field, we may also contemplate hopefully the salient effect our experiences surely must have on future management policies; provided they are not too soon forgotten. Perhaps the most important gain is the fact that exhibitors, long totally concerned with picture values, have been forced to become conscious of values more directly under their control. Thereby they have learned that pictures are one of the least of their major buying problems. The near future would seem to promise the advent of another building and buying spree for theatre owners. We have had them before and the results have not been good. Rash buying — rush buying, whether too cheaply or too extravagantly, and without full regard for intrinsic values involved, certainly is to be avoided if we are to show a profit from our experiences of the past few years. The Modern Theatre section has long and consistently advocated PLANNING as the best preventive measure against poor buying. For well over a decade we have argued the point that no theatre improvement project should be attempted without a plan. Even an ordinary equipment purchase is safer when all installation details have been worked out and studied in advance. Therefore, planning is not confined merely to the postwar consideration of new theatre builders. It is something every present theatre owner should do in advance of any purchase. And now that all are faced with a heavy responsibility of buying for postwar needs (and with much confusion when the selling starts), the planning of what to purchase and how to apply it for greatest value should be well under way. The following perspectives may be helpful, we hope.