The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

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Here, as in almost every other situation, captivating beauty is not a desideratum of the ideal cashier. But she should be attractive, with a pleasing personality and an ingratiating smile, for the mere male — and the less mere female — is more willing to purchase tickets than were the antithetical type on duty. She should be friendly without being personal, capable without being officious. • THE DOORMAN, as the second actor in our drama of personnel, should be no less a decoration — in a male sort of way — than the cashier. He should be friendly, yet reserved, and so conduct himself so as not to suggest any air of patronizing when he takes the tickets. ® USHERS can be — or, rather, may be, if they lack the proper training and temperament— most irksome to patrons. Few things rile the patron as to be told that the best seats are so-and-so and told in a voice that is more an irrevocable command than a polite suggestion, further softened by a demeanor which bespeaks an earnest desire that the patron himself have the very best that can be had at the moment. Ushers should not attempt to serve unless the patron signifie by look or act that he deires such attention. It is frequently necessary for ushers to traverse the main aisles for checking the location of vacant seats, but there is no excuse for so doing (especially along off-center aisles, where he is constantly intruding on someone’s sight lines) after the manner of a sentry by pacing liesurely up and down the aisle ostensibly for exercise. This department has frequently called attention to the necessity of using flashlights in such a way as to help patrons to find seats but not to annoy others already enjoying the show. Ushers should not, of course, use the standee area as a club room. Although this is verboten by all rule books, the Editors have ever seen, such practices are indulged in from time to time, and in view of patrons. In short, ushers can make or break a theatre — and do it much quicker and more efficiently than the higher — much higher — paid executives. (The Editors would even here plead the cause of higher pay for ushers — a salary scale sufficient to make the recipient feel a personal interest in the theatre and in his job.) • ALTHOUGH CLEANERS seldom come in contact with the public, porters do, and they should be instructed so to conduct themselves as not to annoy the patrons. It is not an easy task to keep a theatre free from litter that an audience, unthinking, strews about. But it can be done, with a minimum of interference to customers by a porter who truly knows his job. ® WE HAVE TRIED in the foregoing paragraphs to indicate some of the places where courtesy and personal contact between various members of the theatre staff and the body politic can, and may, be most efficient in building up that intangible, but very vital, quality of good will. No business, dealing intimately with the public and catering to its varied — and variable — flights of fancy, can long endure without the support of that public. Thus it is — and particularly so — with the theatre, and any management which attempts to do other than pamper the public must expect something less than spontaneous acclaim. The Editors are not unmindful that there is a segment of the public — every theatre’s public — which seems to derive a satanic satisfaction through being as disagreeable as possible. It is indeed exasperating for a manager and his staff when such an individual comes into the theatre, but the good manager and the good staff takes it as part of the day’s work, handling the situation with the least discomforture to those others who may be engrossed in the entertainment on view. The same thing applies at those times when a manager is called upon to deal with a person who makes himself obnoxious, not by exhibitionistic displays for whatever audience as may be available, but by unwanted, not always above board attentions to a particular member of the audience. Under these circumstances, more tact and diplomacy is required because of the personal relation of the annoyed party. In the former case, the annoyance is not, as a rule, personal. However, the final reaction is one through which the theatre cannot benefit if it continues. Paying strict attention to those things that, in a manner of speaking, originate in or of the theatre itself and showing finesse in handling those situations that arise, shall we say, because of the theatre, the management and its staff can, and will, create good will for the theatre. • THE IMPORTANCE of mechanical equipment and furnishing — indeed, every phase of theatre operation — cannot be overlooked in this matter of courtesy and personal service between patron and staff. • ETERNAL VIGILANCE, said a patriot in the early days of the country, is the price of liberty. So, too, with modern theatres, eternal vigilance is the price of successful operation. And the everwatchful vigilance of and by the house’s personnel is as powerful a part of the story as the quality of the films that are exhibited or the physical conditions under which they are viewed. April 19, 19)9