The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

BM-24 BETTER MANAGEMENT Stage Settings, Screen Curtains, Front Curtains, Cycloramas, Draperies, Wall Coverings, Exit Drapes, Decorations, Tracks and Rigging. Estimates ami layouts furnished without obligation PREMIER SCENERY STUDIOS 340 West 41st Street New York, N. Y. A large stock of new curtains on hand for RENT or SALE. JEP — Your BEST Services I our UNIFORMS! Make them reflect the type theatre you are operating . . . for over 40 years the makers of distinctive Uniforms to the leading Circuits and theatres throughout the nation. . . . Spruce up for the hot weather to come with cool and clean uniforms. Send for our New No. 46 Catalogue TROPICAL. SANVALE & WOOLEN. WASHABLE UNIFORMS WITH ACCESSORIES Let us submit the newest in design and materials. RUSSELL UNIFORM COMPANY 1600 BROADWAY. COR. 48th ST., NEW YORK WAGNER Multiple-Size Silhouette Letters and 3-in-l Mounting Units (Glass-inIrame Construction.) Send for literature. WAGNER SIGN SERVICE, Inc. CHICAGO NEW YORK DETROIT TORONTO and distribution and giving "the boss” more values for h is dollar. To this end, he has set up an organization of research, testing and inspection which is outstanding in American industry. These specialists are held strictly accountable for taking the guesswork out of buying, manufacturing and distributing. Astonished visitors at the plant often comment that the Research Laboratory is more extensive than many manufacturing plants in similar lines and the testing and inspection employee group larger than the whole labor force in some. They wonder at the obviously large expense involved, but there is a cold-blooded Accounting Department with figures to prove that research, testing and inspection more than pay their way in the avoidance of wastes and mistakes, and show handsome profits in building business through insuring use values in the products and hence customer satisfaction. Of course, large volume is necessary for the maintenance of such an organization and this in turn necessitates a very large and efficient sales and service organization. Taliaferro has an uncommonly wide personal acquaintance and interest among them all, from the newest broom-pusher in the factory to the most remote salesman in the field. Taliaferro tells of an experience shortly after his first coming to the Grand Rapids plant. He was showing a small group of salesmen how the seating they were selling was made. He overheard one worker ask another, "Who’s them guys?” and the reply, "Them’s the fellers that loaf around big hotels and smoke fine cigars while we sweat here to support ’em!” From that day, there has been an active program for the development of mutual understanding and appreciation among all departments of the organization. Every worker in the factory, office and field realizes that every other is essential to his own job and pay check and is his partner in satisfying "the boss” — the customer. While President Taliaferro and every member of his organization take pride in the fact that they have much the largest and most modern plant of its kind in existence, they are more particularly proud of the spirit which makes a smile or friendly "Hello” the almost invariable greeting wherever a sales representative, an official or a visitor goes in the plant. Is This YOUR THEATRE? Case No. 5 THE THEATRE: In a section predominantly populated by a single racial type, the subject of this Case No. 5 is located in a large eastern city. The nominal-size house is a late run, where admissions are in terms of nickels, rather than dimes. The product is the usual run of major and independent pictures, with, perhaps, now and then, an importation with dialogue appreciated most by the clientele. As far as can be determtned, the theatre takes no newspaper space, seeming, as its primary means of ballyhoo, to use window cards, with which the area is generously supplied. REPORT: In the box office was a clock, announcing that the next feature was at 2 o’clock. The ticket purchased, the doorman vouchsafed fhe information that the door near which he was standing, and which was obvious one through which to gain entrance, was not the one, but rather it was "this one,” indicating with an almost imperceptible nod, a point over here in a corner. Once inside the theatre, we were overtaken by a severe case of "night blindness.” Anyhow, we managed to find elbow space on the rail, not daring to venture farther into the depths of a great unknown. The standee space was at a vicious slant, so that, if you ever started to slip, you would probably be able to pick yourself up from the sidewalk. No, the area was not carpeted, nor did the aisles (from our not normally poor vision) seem to possess any adornment for the concrete. At 2 o’clock, we chanced to consult our chronometer, at the precise time when Our Hero was about to go into the climactic brawl out of which righteousness would come and order prevail in the Wide Open Spaces. Projection was good, but the sound was poor. When the show was over, our eyes by that time being only partly accustomed to the almost Stygian blackness of the establishment, there was still no indication as what the place must look like, so the obvious conclusion is that it could not have been so much. The non-vocal (in our vicinity) vender of ice cream cones did not seem to be doing much business, but the candy stand (an adjoining store garnered a few shekels, by becoming concessionnaire for the cinema) did a brisk, if not land-office business. The program encountered was one of those combination shows for the younger generation’s enjoyment and obviously the pictures were such as to draw forth oral manifestations of favor and disfavor. The audience reacted frequently and loud not only to the action but to musical selections included in the piece, yelling and applauding the former, clapping and stomping in the tempo of the latter. And every time the audience naturally burst forth (as probably would have warmed the cockles of the producers’ hearts) from the nether regions, Ike the shriek of a soul in hell, bellowed a would-be dictatorial "Quiet.” This is not the only house in which this has been heard, but it is, indeed, the prize example. The blasts of the attache were infinitely more obnoxious, exasperating and reprehensible than the spontaneous outburst of the audience. (Perhaps, we wanted to yell encouragement to Our Hero’s mighty right, too, and felt thwarted in our desires.) SUMMARY. A fine example of quite the wrong way to operate a theatre. Not even the low budgetary conditions of the area can justify such management. Even for this type of house there is a decent standard of operation. (Editor’s Note: — This is the fifth in a series devoted to actual examination of theatre operation. The reader of The Exhibitor first identifying this theatre will be presented with a check for $5. Number six of the series will appear in the May Better Management department.) Results of Case No. 4 The March 15 issue of The Exhibitor, with the Better Management section carrying Case No. 4 in the "Is This Your Theatre” series, reached most subscribers March 16. At 4 o’clock that Surf’s Gilbert Rosenthal JEP’s Joe Joel, Rivoli’s Ben Schreiber It Paid Brooklynites to Observe afternoon a letter was ma.led by Gilbert Rosenthal, manager, Rugoff and Becker’s Surf, Brooklyn, New York City. Thirty minutes later a April 19, 19)9