Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1962)

MAINTENANCE BEGINS WITH CONSTRUCTION Typical of Wometco's approach to easier maintenance is the lobby-lounge of the 163rd Street Theatre, Miami. Gold and white vinyl walls on one side, teakwood on the other, and terrazzo flooring in rose, gold and white are colorful and easily kept clean and shining. Materials and Design Can Help Cut Costs T HE ANSWER TO MANY maintenance woes lies in construction design and materials. Because of this, a report in the 1962 Convention Handbook of the Theatre Owners of America concerning the construction of shopping center theatres by Wometco should prove interesting and valuable to exhibitors planning new construction or remodeling. Wometco is planning to build several new theatres at a cost of $230 a seat. For $220,000 it will have a complete shell, all flooring, all wall covering, all restrooms, the giant attraction sign as well as all other show cases and the air conditioning. Above that, cost will be only for booth, sound and screen equipment, curtains, vending equipment, seats, boxoffice equipment and office furniture. PROTOTYPE BUILT IN 1959 Prototype of the planned new theatres was the 163rd Street Theatre in Miami, erected in 1959. The first of the new theatres to be built will be located in the Palm Springs Shopping Center in the Hialeah section of Miami. The 163rd Street Theatre demonstrated Wometco’s theory that “the picture, the sound, and all the seats must be the best,’’ but it “eliminates all frills, false walls, decorations, etc., which are not necessary to comfort or operational efficiency.” Wometco will spend more for certain materials if the results will reduce maintenance or replacement expenditures. The new Palm Springs Theati’e will incorporate further construction and efficiency features which will make possible the $220,000 cost. With these thoughts in mind, an examination of the 163rd Street Theatre is in order, and the TOA report follows. BUILDING IS CONCRETE The building shell is of concrete block, on a concrete slab — the theatre has no basement or cellar. The only steel is for roof and lobby support. All other exterior metal, including the tremendous attraction sign at the entrance of the shopping center, is of anodized aluminum, which requires no maintenance. There is no carpet in the theatre. The lobby-foyer area is floored with terrazzo. All auditorium aisles utilize Tuflex, a rubber-type tile, which is slightly more expensive than carpet, but is far longer wearing, and again requires no maintenance other than an occasional mopping. Both men’s and ladies’ rooms are tiled from floor to ceiling, again in the interest of reducing maintenance; the tiles need merely to be washed down. All lobby and foyer walls, plus a strip framing make-up mirrors in the ladies’ room, are covered with vinyl plastic, applied directly to the concrete block wall. The vinyl can be washed down, and looks today as fresh as when it was installed. The vinyl comes with decorative panels, so the lobby-foyer walls are decorated and durable. The woodwork in the lobby-foyer — the concessions stand, doors, the front for the bank of vending machines — is all of rich teakwood-finish Formica. In the Palm Springs, Wometco will use a new plastic laminate called Lamidall; it is similar to Formica but is more easily attached to wall surfaces since it comes already fastened to a hard-board backing which can be attached directly to the concrete block walls. NO PLASTER IN AUDITORIUM The interior walls of the auditorium are the concrete block, painted, thus eliminating furring and plastering. Acoustics are handled by a new product called Geocoustic by Pittsburgh-Coming. It is a highly sound-absorbent tile which is mechanically attached to the wall in those areas predetermined by Pittsburgh-Coming as requiring treatment. Geocoustic may be new to theatres: it is widely used in school auditoria. The auditorium ceiling is a hard-finish plaster, which in itself is less expensive than any of the acoustic plasters or ceiling treatment. With Geocoustic, such acoustical plasters are not needed. The booth in this theatre is large, to accommodate other projection systems which may come in the future. The 35/70mm Norelco projectors are standard-type machines, but in this case Wometco hooked their water cooling system, as well as the lamps, right into the water circulation system of the theatre air conditioning. This not only assures that the super-heated water from the projection lamphoa^es would be really cooled, but also saves the theatre more than $100 a month in water bills when the machines were cooled by their own separate water system. They feel this is more satisfactoi-y than a recirculating system. The 163rd Street is conventionally air conditioned. In the Palm Springs, Wometco will borrow an idea from super markets. Four, separate air-conditioning units, each with 50 per cent unloading, will be located on the roof of the auditorium at separate points and will blow straight down through individual anemostats to the auditorium. All conventional duct work is thus eliminated. Any of these four units can be cut out at will, manually, and even the fourth unit, if wished, could operate at 50 per cent of capacity. One small 15 -ton unit with 50 per cent unloading will be used to cool the lobby-foyer and the manager’s office, each working independently of the other. RECESSED VENDING MACHINES Wometco recessed vending machines into the wall of the lobby-foyer opposite the concessions stand. In slow periods, the concessions stand can be closed, and the vending machines will take care of patrons. In busy periods, the concessions stand is, of course, manned; but the machines take off a lot of the pressure during, as an example, kiddie shows. The combination has enabled the theatre to cut down on conces 6 The MODERN THEATRE SECTION