The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1939)

BM-15 By Lewis Sanford Mentlik August Rust-Oppenheim, president of the Anemostat Corporation of Amer¬ ica, admits he is a "darn good salesman” and the Anemostat Corporation is as much a part of his life as are his flesh and bones. Mr. R-O, it seems, is rather averse to talking about himself, but he can talk on endlessly and interestingly on the sub¬ ject of the Anemostat angle in the air conditioning industry. His only personal orchid tossing came when he said he is a "darn good salesman.” After hearing Its story of his company, we are convinced. A rather tall man, his gray hair thin¬ ning noticeably at the temples, Mr. R-O was born in Germany, arriving in Amer¬ ica in 1906. He became associated with August Rust-Oppenheim He’s cpiite a salesman the American Steel and Wire Corpora¬ tion, a subsidiary of United States Steel. He entered the air conditioning in¬ dustry in 1930 upon the formation of the Anemostat Corporation. Although the company has been in existence for nine years, it began its active commer¬ cial career only two and a half years ago. The time prior to that had been devoted to developing and building the patents for a new type of air conditioning. R-O co-ordinated the business angles while engineer F. J. Kurth took care of the technical and inventing processes. Dur¬ ing the two and a half years of its com¬ mercial existence, Anemostat cooling and heating systems have been installed in about 300 theatres and auditoriums besides countless other installations. Explaining the reason for this start¬ ling success, Mr. R-O stated: ( Continued on page 20, column 3) Metro Announces First Group In $10,000 Exploitation Contest ffOz” Eligible Along With Many Others As 1,000 Showmen Already Enroll For Prize Money With more than 1,000 entry blanks already received, Metro last week announced the first group of pictures in its $10,000 exploitation contest for independent .ex¬ hibitors in the United States and Canada. Contest embraces all Metro films to be released between September 1 and January 1, 1940. Exhibitors may submit cam¬ paigns on one or more of these pictures. "The Wizard of Oz” will be eligible. It is estimated that the company will release about 18 pictures during the contest period, among them "The Women,” "Marx Bros, at the Circus,” "Babes in Arms,” "Ninotschka,” "Broadway Melody of 1940,” "Henry Goes Arizona,” "Dancing Co-ed,” "Thunder Afloat,” "Remember,” "Another Thin Man” and "Bala¬ laika.” There will be identical prizes for firstrun and subsequent-run exhibitors, with first place in each category winning $2,500; second, $750, and third, $500. There will also be 100 additional prizes of $2 5 each for runners-up in both sec¬ tions. Closing date of the contest is March 1, 1940, giving subsequent-run exhibitors equal opportunity with firstrun showmen. Entry blanks are available at all of the company’s exchanges. M-G-M has prepared a special campaign book which is being distributed gratis and which is the only scrap book acceptable in the contest, a departure from previous in¬ dustry contests. The book contains all contest details as well as sufficient blank pages for complete itemization and in¬ clusion of promotion data, thus eliminat¬ ing the likelihood of entries being judged on presentation rather than contest. "What you did counts — not merely the way you present it,” is the basis. Underwriters Announce New Film Regulations Dated July 1, the National Board of Fire Underwriters issued Pamphlet No. 40, "Regulations . . . for Nitrocellu¬ lose Motion Picture Film as Recom¬ mended by the National Fire Protective Association,” as valuable a work as has been issued for a long time for exchangemen and all others handling motion pic¬ ture film. Pocket-size of some 30 pages, the booklet should be in the hands of all those contemplating building structures where film will be kept and those who have charge of any such present build¬ ing "These regulations are intended to ap¬ ply to the storage and handling of ni¬ trocellulose motion picture film, in all places except establishments manufactur¬ ing such film and storage incident there¬ to,” the introduction explains. "They are not intended to apply to the stor¬ age and handling of film having a cel¬ lulose acetate or other approved slowburning base not to photographic and X-ray film.” To provide reasonable provisions for the proper storage and handling, the NBFU has "strongly recommended that film exchanges, laboratories, and stu¬ dios be permitted only in sprinklered buildings of fireproof construction. In buildings of non-fireproof construction which have been adapted to such occu¬ pancies, automatic sprinklers should be installed . . . and suitable fire cut-offs provided between each room in which film is handled or stored and other sec¬ tions of the building, and adequate exit facilities provided.” The regulations are divided into two parts: (1) general provisions for the storage and hand¬ ling of film, and (2) special provisions for such special occupancies as motion picture theatres, exchanges, laboratories, and studios, which apply in addition to any and all of the general pro¬ visions of Part One. A summary breakdown of the regulations follows: PART ONE — Partitions, exits, vents, spacing of workers, tables and racks; electrical equip¬ ment; heating equipment; sprinklers and other fire protection appliances; storage of film; film cabinets; film vaults; handling of film; motion picture projection and special processes. ( Continued on page 21, column 1) August 16, 1939 THE EXHIBITOR QUAD.