The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

BM-5 WHILE THERE IS SCARCELY an exhibitor, whose theatre is equipped with air conditioning, who does not go in for advertising the fact, how many are there that really "sell” this equipment in the intelligent manner that it should be sold? Time was, within the mind of man, that exhibitors turned on the refrigeration, hung up a sign "10 degrees cooler inside.” When their opposition upped the thermal differential to 15 degrees, the progressive (?) manager went them yet five degrees better. Thus developed the age out of which grew the popular conception that air conditioning is synonymous with air cooling, indeed air chilling. However, and thanks not so much to managerial acumen as to the public’s sense of physical comfort, managers shied away from extreme temperatures in their ballyhoo (although the frigidity of theatre auditoriums was maintained, and still is in not a few U. S. theatres), using as a season-long gag a banner around the marquee on which was symbolized — yes, you guessed it, icicles! Three-sheet boards, the glass in the box office windows were decorated with — also! — imitation icicles and snow drifts. The third stage in the ballyhoo of air conditioned theatres came a few years ago when managers came to the belated realization that there was a proper relation between the outside and the inside temperatures and a proper degree of relative humidity which should be maintained for each temperature at which the house is maintained. Thus came to the operation of theatre air conditioning systems a degree of intelligence, still engendered, not by theatremen who still think in terms of the "biggest” rather than the "best,” but by humble patrons who did not come to the theatre. • THUS, INDIRECTLY, has the theatre man been forced to learn more about selling his air conditioning system to the public from the public itself than from textbooks, engineers or from his own sense of reason. That he was slow to learn is, of course, to be deplored; but that he did finally learn is, conversely, to be applauded. But, and it is too true to be humorous, what the foremost, keen-minded exhibitors have learned (by whatever reason) represents knowledge in the possession of too small a minority of the U. S. theatre men, both operators and managers. While a truly complete dissertation would take the entire issue of Better Management — and then some! — the Editors can point out a few ways in which the possession of air conditioning can be sold to the public, not only from the standpoint that it should want to participate in its refreshment, but also that it is good for it. * FIRST ITEM in selling seats with modern air conditioning is, of course, the cooling effect to be experienced. We speak here of air conditioning in the warm months of the year, since that is the time when the most concerted selling is done, although an efficient year-’round system presents its point of ballyhoo — even in sub-zero weather! Blanket generalizations, pro or con, are seldom puncture-proof, yet here is one that, for the most part, is without strenuous opposition: Never, never, never refer to air-conditioning in the terms of refrigeration and coldness. No one, either patron nor attache of a theatre, wants to be cold or exposed to the chilling blasts from a refrigeration plant. It is better, much better, to adopt the "healthfully cool” or "comfortably cool” type of slogan, rather than the "it’s 10 degrees colder inside” type of ballyhoo; to use representations of cool mountain resorts rather than igloos and icebergs. Nothing so shocks the human sensibility as to enter a theatre, on a particularly hot, humid day, and be greeted with a blast of air that would warm the cockles of an Eskimo’s heart; unless, of course, it be that descent-into-hell feeling on leaving a too cool theatre and encountering the direct and radiated heat of a city sidewalk. There should be moderation in all things, and in air conditioning it is paramount that the lower temperature extreme be never reached. It will be pointed out in a little more detail later, but mention should be made here that humidity plays almost as great a role in air conditioning as does temperature, and frequently a more congenial environment may be created through the manipulation of the humidity than by temperature alone. Light is a valuable asset1 to the theatre, especially the lobby and the front; yet, by the judicious use of special lights and special colors, this usual heat source can be utilized in selling air conditioning and comfortable coolness. The use of green and blue, the elimination of glare — both with little diminuation of actual candlepower utilized — would aid in creating the idea of coolness. • HUMIDITY is frequently considered that which makes heat unbearable. That is true: that high humidity and high temperature makes for extreme discomfort. Yet, and this is not fully appreciated, there is a point below which humidities should not drop — regardless of the temperature— lest the human carcass be called upon to function in an abnormal manner. March 15, 1959