The Exhibitor (Nov 1948-Feb 1949)

Systematic Piping And Seating Check Whittles Cost Seating And Water Lines Need Frequent And Careful Inspections Along with my wishes for a Happy and Successful New Year, I am sin¬ cerely hopeful that I can, through this column, help you make the coming year a more profitable one by cutting your main¬ tenance costs. You certainly don’t need to be told that equipment and furnishings will last longer with intelligent care. Then, and this is the jackpot question, why do theatre operators allow their property to be so carelessly maintained? Most anybody can find trouble after it happens, but it takes a smart man to prevent it before it occurs. For some reason, most exhibitors do not practice preventive maintenance, which always brings to mind the old gag about the showman who would not fix his roof when the weather was clear because it wasn’t leaking, and who couldn’t fix it when it was raining, so he went merrily on his way complaining about how lousy business was, as his theatre fell apart. My records show that the theatres with the lowest maintenance and repair ex¬ penditures are the houses in which the managerial staff has made out clear cut schedules of inspections and duties for all employes. Then the manager checks to find out and to insist upon a complete follow-through by all. , our insurance department. Furthermore, our seats were all in good usable condi¬ tion because any work that this man could not handle was reported to our seat repairman. But on the other side of the ledger, there is the opposite story — the house that never gets an inspection — so far this heating season we have lost one boiler due to the fact that the maintenance man made two mistakes — first, he trusted his gauge glass, which gave him a false water level, and secondly, he neglected to keep his combination low water cut-off and feeder clean. The maintenance man was fired — however, from where I sit, the man¬ ager was equally responsible, because a rigid house inspection would have brought those defects to light. The new boiler cost almost $2,700, and the house was without heat for three weeks while we waited for delivery and installation. That is paying a top price for carelessness. I had an unusual job the other week, which I was able to complete in a satis¬ factory manner at a moderate cost and without disturbing the normal operation of the theatre. The manager of this par¬ ticular house called and complained that he noticed moisture on the inside wall of his boiler room, under a point where the return line entered the boiler room from the unexcavated portion beneath the auditorium floor. He deduced that the water was coming from a leak in his return line. An examination showed that the boiler was losing wat^r. Because the water feeder was functioning properly, however, enough water was fed to make up for the loss. The question was, where to start to dig? As near as I could determine, the re¬ turns dropped from the heating coils, which were located over the stage section to a condensation pump under the stage, thence through 2" piping 160 feet up the center of the auditorium under the floor to a point under the lobby, then turned at right angles 12 feet to the boiler room, located under the standee and lobby sec¬ tion of the house. In order to discover whether the leak was in the line coming from the front of the house or was in the short section ex¬ tending from the center of the house to the boiler room, we decided to dig through the wall of a storage room rather than disturb the auditorium floor. The piping at this point was seven feet below the floor. We were lucky enough to pick the right spot, as we hit the pipe right at the elbow and found that it was encased in a 4-inch terra cotta duct — however, the leak was somewhere toward the stage section of the theatre. At this point I called a halt to the pro¬ ceedings because two methods of correc¬ tion presented themselves: — we could dig till we foimd the leak, or we could re¬ design the return system by installing traps, relocating the condensation pump and rerouting all the .returns through the attic space above the auditorium. I was very much in favor of the second method, as it would eliminate any future digging jobs. I reasoned that, if one section had deteriorated, the rest was in bad condi¬ tion. However, the cost of the redesign¬ ing shocked Mr. Moneybags, so he told me to gamble with locating the leak and re¬ pairing it. The next hole I dug in the middle of the auditorium, where I discovered that the leak was in the pipe between the two holes. At this point, we cut the pipe, then went to the basement to the first hole, and with the aid of a torch, were able to pull the defective pipe out in ten foot lengths. An examination of the pipe showed that a seam had opened, but the rest was in good shape. We inserted new piping back in the duct in ten foot lengths and welded them together — luckily, we were able to put back the total pipe necessary without trouble and made the last weld, all of which took three mornings. During the whole period we were never without heat and did not endanger the boiler, thanks to the good working condition of the combination water feeder and low water cut off. I have noticed in some theatres charts showing seats, drapes, etc., on which the house cleaning staff records all torn drapes, torn seats, worn carpet and seams. These reports are collected daily, and the defects are corrected immediately. Just as an example, I like to tell the story of a porter in a large nabe house who was delegated to spend an hour each night after the final performance to check the seats for loose bolts, splinters, screws with sharp burrs and other miscellaneous troubles. Being a conscientious sort of fellow, he would clear up these small troubles just to keep himself busy for that hour. After the second month of this service, our complaint department’s records showed that the torn stocking and dress complaints had been reduced 40 per cent — and we did not have to report one personal injury from this source to Shown here is a recent installation of smooth surfaced Ideal chairs in the Lane, Williamsburg, Kentucky. These "Chief Line" seats are upholstered in a cohyde leatherette while the backs are in a patterned Spanish orange fabric. The metal parts are finished with an orange base trimmed with ivory. PT-10 PHYSICAL THEATRE DEPARTMENT of THE EXHIBITOR January 12, 1949