The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

CrAUAINT, and all too prevalent, is the idea that, to become a successVvy ful theatre tycoon, all one needs to have is a theatre and a reel or two of film. Possessing those things, it would seem, is equivalent to having the public clamoring to shove its shekels beneath the wicket of your cinema palace. But how wrong that idea is! While this department recognizes the fact that a theatre must have pictures, it leaves to the front-of-the-book editors to espouse that cause, prefering here to consider the theatre and its equipment as a problem of management no less important than the pictures themselves. During the better part of 1 93 8, Better Management endeavored to point out to its readers recent developments in th ■ fields of air conditioning (April); summer remodeling and alterations (May) ; 'face lifting” of fronts and signs (June) ; acoustics as a management problem (July) ; decorating with light (August) ; seating comfort (September) ; showmen’s fabrics and floor coverings (October) ; patron comfort and hygiene (November) ; and sound, projection, and mechanical equipment (December). During 1939, the Editors of Better Management will continue to point out each month, in words and pictures, the advances made in various fields and will continue to offer its readers all the information necessary for them to determine whether new equipment is of such a character as to benefit their theatres. In addition to continuing that which was started last year, Better Management will consider in its monthly discussions the seat-selling possibilities of theatrical equipment, things about the theatre which can be institutionally exploited but which frequently are not. In this first of the new series, the Editors of Better Management respectfully direct your attention to the possibilities of Selling Seats by Proper Maintenance of the Theatre and Its Equipment. FILM FARE is, of course, the principal item in the stock-in-trade of a motion picture theatre — but it is by far not the only item on which capital may be made by the thoughtful, progressive theatre operator. Indeed, there is hardly a thing in or about a theatre which does not have a story in it, a story which, when properly told, cannot help but to make the reading public more interested. Although many items, like air conditioning, sound, projection, and acoustics, have their definite values for advertising, other elements of theatre operation, such as carpets, chairs, sanitation, and decorative lighting, have less tangible possi BM-7 AS EDITED BY WILL A. WHITNEY bilities, but, nevertheless, react upon a patron’s desires to revisit a particular theatre. A combination of both aspects of management must be considered in the proper maintenance of the theatre and its mechanical equipment: in the maintenance of those adjuncts of the theatre that have a real advertising value, that value is maintained, and in the maintenance of other aspects of the theatre, there is kept up the patron’s desire to return. SOUND AND PROJECTION is probably the first thing that comes to mind as any discussion of proper maintenance of theatrical equipment is started, for without the best in both lines, a theatre can "without trying” ruin for any patron the enjoyment of that which Hollywood producers have spent perhaps millions pictorially and auricularly to record. Because of the delicacy and intricacy of precision equipment, sound and projection apparatus are the theatre’s most important equipment. While a skilled projectionist can handle, through training and experience, most of the minor difficulties that inevitably cause harassment in a projection booth, he can not always, either through lack of knowledge or time, prevent or "cure” some possible interruptions to a show. Because of the high degree of technical knowledge required to keep sound and projection equipment operating at the peak of its efficiency, an especially trained sound engineer is to be desired. Many of the large theatre chains maintain a sound department, many others and most independents depend on one of several efficient sound-service companies for such technical training. On the value of sound servicing, we give you some remarks by L. W. Conrow, president of the Altec Service Corporation: "What the service engineer does is divided into three phases, all of them predicated on the most modern developments of research and applied electrical and acoustical technique. "The first of these is the proper installation of sound equipment. . . . Having once placed the sound equipment in operation, the engineer then appraises the quality of the sound in all parts of the theatre. "The third phase of the service engineer’s function to the motion picture theatre, while seemingly the least dramatic, is immeasurably the most important. This is the matter of guarding the sound quality against subtle, gradual degeneration— a degeneration which comes by imperceptibly easy stages. January 18, 19)9