Boxoffice barometer (1947)

APT COUNSEL ON FIRE AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION IN THEATRE MAINTENANCE Reduction of Fire and Accident Losses in Picture Thentres HE SO-CALLED FIREPROOF Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, which burned in 1903 took 602 lives. Since that fire, t h e a t re managers, with the help of intelligent and alert employes, have accomplished a splendid and almost unbelievable record. With a competence developed by unceasing drills in emergency evacuations, lives lost in theatre fires over the last 27 years have been limited to 51 people, most of whom were firemen and projectionists. But remember this: Prior to 1946, the managers of modern fireproof hotels had become very complacent over a similar, though not quite as good, record — could see no reason for undue caution or alarm in their fire hazards. And wham! 61 people burned to death in the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago in June, 1946; 119 people perished in the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta in December, 1946. Both were typical of the so-called “fireproof” hotel. Complacence? It has been reported that the fire hose in the Winecoff Hotel was originally installed in 1913. The public never worried about night clubs until one fire in 1942 claimed 407 lives; or about circuses until the Hartford disaster in 1944 cost 163 lives. Complacence! I have no figures, but estimate from my inspections that at least 50% of the total seating capacity of all southeastern movie theatres is in wooden-roofed, wooden-floored buildings with wooden balconies which are potential death traps! The statistics of the National Fire Protection Association show that an average of five theatres in the United States are gutted by fire every day that passes, with known losses in the last 10 years of well over $25 million. This frequency of fire is a horrible opportunity for a disaster which may cause the Cocoanut Grove fire to be regarded as a minor affair. As for accident losses in theatres, statistics have not been by W. D. HUGHS. Jr.* closely maintained, but the annual cost is estimated at well above $5 million. Roads To Reduction There are only three roads leading to the reduction of the number of fires and accidents and the reduction of the amount of the loss involved in each. One road is by “improved construction,” a road along which you seem to be traveling at an admirable speed, building generally incombustible houses or, at worst, houses with concrete grade floors, standard fireproof projection rooms and fireproof boiler rooms. Another road is the correction of outstanding deficiencies in existing houses, such as remodelling to provide standard projection rooms, adequately protected electrical layouts, adequate exit facilities, protecting old wooden-roofed and woodenfloored buildings with automatic sprinklers. Those of you not now travelling this road may well be forced to do so by new ordinances and laws and by penalizing increases in insurance costs. The third road offers the greatest opportunity of all, the surest route to reduction of losses. You can build absolutely fireproof structures and correct every deficiency called for by ordinances or insurance companies, but if you do not maintain your houses in good condition, you are not going to go very far along the road of loss prevention. With a few outside aids, maintenance is your own problem. The outside aids are the periodic inspections and recommendations by municipal anl insurance company engineers. To obtain full benefits you must cooperate with such inspections. The best and greatest aid to satisfactory maintenance is frequent, periodic and complete inspections by the theatre managers, themselves. During my recent military service with the United States Navy, I discovered that the navy required the captain of every ship, from tiny PT boats to the mighty floating fortresses of the Iowa class to hold weekly material inspections of the * Engineer, Adams, Holmes & Thorpe, Insurance Brokers, Atlanta, Ga. entire ship, from stem to stern, from open bridge to the lowest spaces in the ship. The navy required this inspection whether the ship was moored in the Philadelphia Navy Yard or was under battle off the shores of Japan. The theatres are your ships. The managers are the captains of those ships, frequently responsible for far greater values and for many more lives. They should be required to make weekly fire and safety inspections from the attics of booth and stage to the basement of the theatre, and from the ticket office in the front to the rear exits. Where Trouble Lurks I would suggest that every manager be provided with a check-off list; that he list each deficiency found and report what steps he has taken to correct these deficiencies. Moreover, I will be glad to furnish a sample list on written request, from which you may have pads of self-inspection reports printed. At the moment I should like to enumerate a few of the important things to check and to mention some of the defects I have found in six years of fire insurance inspecting. Primarily this inspection must be taken seriously by the manager and his report must reflect the exact conditions which he found, or it will not be worth the cost of the paper it is written on. First, check the blind spaces in the theatre which are accessible usually through This interesting article inaugurates a new department of The MODERN THEATRE, in which "PUBLIC SAFETY" will be a subject of varied and frequent discussion henceforth. In theatre planning, as well as for routine maintenance and operation, the safety of patrons as well as protection pf property investments, will be emphasized regularly in this department. — Editor. trap doors: the attic, the space under the balcony floor and any shallow spaces under the auditorium or stage. I have found such blind spaces to be catch-alls for the most amazing collection of junk. In one space behind a storage room under a balcony floor, I found a knee-deep accumulation of empty electric bulb cartons, waste paper and excelsior. If the wiring in this space had become overheated, this theatre would have been turned into a raging inferno in five minutes. In another attic over a booth, I found old sound machinery, empty cartons and boxes, a pile of excelsior and, worst of all, several open spools of old trailer films. If these conditions had resulted in a fire costing lives, the managers would justly have been prosecuted for criminal negligence even as the responsible parties in the Cocoanut Grove fire and the Hartford circus fire were successfully convicted of criminal negligence. Point Inspection Then check the projection room. The doors to the booth should open outward, should be self-closing, and, if necessary to keep open for ventilation during summer months, should be held open by a fusible link arrangement which would permit doors to close automatically in case of fire. I have found doors wedged open. 42 The MODERN THEATRE Section