The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

BM-3 BETTfH mow • THE FRONT COVER Through the courtesy of the several manufacturers, here is presented in photo-montage some of the latest developments in projectors (International Projector Corporation) , sound ( RCA Manufacturing Company, Inc.), lamps (Strong Electric Corporation) , rectifiers, current changers ( Carver Electric Company) . HEAR YE, HEAR YE . . OR DON'T YOU? 0 IN DAYS OF OLD, but after the time when knights were bold, the shrill voice of the town crier rang through many a Colonial village. The shriller and the more penetrating the crier’s voice, the better suited he was for the job. What with newspapers, radio, and newsreels, the need for the town crier has long since passed into the limbo of the happily out-moded; but his voice, like Tennyson’s brook, goes on and on. ® NO LONGER in the public thoroughfares, but in the theaters of the U. S. — some of them, at least — shriek voices. Not the voice of the crier of old, but those most certainly of which he would have indeed been envious. As the means for dissemination of knowledge developed, the need for the crier was negated; so, in modern theater operation, as technical advances in sound recording and sound reproduction equipment came into general use, shrieking loudspeakers and sound systems became the badge of sloppy, backward management. • ARE YOU EMULATING, Mr. Exhibitor, the town crier? Does your loud speaker shriek and boom with mighty assaults on your patrons’ ears? If they do, you are practically inviting your customers to go elsewhere for their motion picture entertainment, to patronize other theaters where they may relax in comfort and hear in its fullrounded richness that which the Hollywood pro ducers have so painstakingly recorded on the sound track. Do not forget, also, your moral obligation to the deafened folk who would be your patrons if you provided hearing aids. # SINCE THE CINEMA became articulate, sound has become increasingly important. In July, Defter Management discussed acoustics and admonished you to "Remember always that seeing is only the half of it — it is the hearing that makes for complete enjoyment in motion pictures today. Let your sound — in every respect, from the exciter lamp to the human ear — be the best you can provide, for it is the cheapest you can afford.” # IN THE FIELD of sound, the fly-by-night GYPsters have flown, leaving the business to legitimate manufacturers. Backed by huge research establishments, these nationally-known concerns offer you the finest possible equipment at the lowest reasonable cost, equipment which will insure your patrons the most faithful reproductions of Jeanette MacDonald’s most coloratura flights, or Paul Robeson’s plumbings of the lower registers — or anything in between! Can you, Mr. Exhibitor, afford to give your patrons less than the best, less than that which will give them full enjoyment of the picture you have so glowingly advertised? THE EDITORS. December 14, 193 8