Exhibitors Herald (Jul-Sep 1922)

CHICAGO TRADE EVENTS Popular Exhibitor to Erect Dance Pavilion Huge Hall Will Accommodate 3,000 Dancers— Rapp Is Architect Andrew Karzas, president of Woodlawn Theatre Company of Chicago, and a pioneer in the better showing of motion pictures, will embark this fall on a new amusement venture with a $1,000,000 ballroom. He aims to give the public the same class of dancing entertainment that he has given his theatre patrons in motion pictures. The new ballroom will be located at Cottage Grove avenue and Sixty-second street. Ten stores designed for smart shops are located on the first floor, and the second and third floors are given over to the ballroom, which is 100 by 170 feet and will easily accommodate 3,000 dancers. Visit Dancing Palaces C. W. and George L. Rapp, well known Chicago architects, designed the building after an inspection tour with Mr. Karzas of the most noted dancing palaces in the United States. The space for entrance and exit, cloakrooms and rest-rooms on the first floor is almost as great as that devoted to the ten stores. There are four ticket offices, so that four lines of persons may move forward at once. The check-rooms just beyond the ticket offices are so located that those who have deposited their wraps may pass on to the stairs without interfering with those coming forward. A spacious lobby, which will accommodate 1,000 persons, is located at the head of the stairs just before the ballroom is reached, so that groups stopping to chat before will not impede the progress of others. Plan Spring Floor A promenade twelve feet wide surrounds the dance floor, and is raised above it eight inches by two broad steps. Above the promenade are mezzanine boxes, twelve feet wide and twelve feet deep. The entire dancing floor is visible from any seat in any of the boxes. The dance floor is specially designed to lessen fatigue. It is a spring floor, with a concrete base, on which are laid wooden sleepers running both ways. On these sleepers is a layer of resilient felt, on which is laid the maple strips that give the smooth dancing surface. A truss construction roof permits of a three-domed ceiling, forty feet high in the center, which is expected to prevent any echo and carry the music evenly to all parts of the room. Lighting is both direct and indirect. Will Open in Fall The air cooling plant will be equivalent to the melting of 125 tons of ice every twenty-four hours, and will make it possible to keep the temperature of the room twenty degrees below that of the outside air. A motor-driven washer will remove all dust from the air, and dry it, ANDREW KARZAS who is adding a mammoth dance pavilion to his amusement enterprises. and will furnish 40,000 cubic feet to the ballroom and 15,000 cubic feet to the corridors and lobbies every minute. The air will enter through grills at the ceiling and be drawn out through thirty vents at the floor. Exterior work on the building is completed. Rouda Back With Ascher Circuit H. M. Rouda, manager of Ascher's Lane Court theatre, on Chicago's North Side, has completed an interesting cycle of service for the firm. Rouda started to work for Ascher Brothers on July 29, 1918, at Lane Court. In May of the following year he was transferred to the Midway at Rockford, 111., but was recalled to Chicago seven months later to take charge of the Adelphi. In May, 1920, Rouda' was sent to Milwaukee as manager of Ascher's Merrill, and went to Dayton ten months later to take charge of the Auditorium. When Ascher Brothers sold that house, Rouda remained as manager until last month, when he heard the call of Chicago and returned to the Lane Court to start all over again. Rouda has two sons whom he hopes to break in as theatre managers under the Ascher banner. Baseball Season in Full Swing on Row Only Three Exchanges Thus Far Have Organized Teams A battle royal is being waged along film row for supremacy on the diamond. In the clash between the embryo Babe Ruths from Paramount and the budding Ty Cobbs from Universal, the former walked away with the honors, 18 to 8 at a West side park last Saturday afternoon. The outstanding features of the first game were Given's home run with the bases full and Ondracek's daring attempt to steal home. "League" games are played at Washington Park. Thus far only three exchanges— Universal, Paramount and First National — have organized teams. Following are the lineups of the respective teams: Universal Paramount IB Smith Bolle C Collins Wopley P Astrachan Given 2B Alberts Watts SS Hopp Rowe 3B Eisenberg Busch CF Weiss Ondracek LF Phillips Lindberg First National WoodenWashburn Hopp-Mike-Al Schwartz-Bond-Igel Lazarus-Katz Brichetto Schaeffer Dunas Sears RF Denton Fannon-Hayman Brumberg The three teams have issued a challenge to all exchanges on the row. Let's go. Gets "IPs" Goat For purposes of exploiting "Foolish Wives" the Chicago Universal exchange recently needed a goat. Tommy Guinan, brother of the famous Texas Guinan, film star, was, therefore, dispatched to find one of appropriate color and size, and being quite a linguist Tommy soon persuaded an Italian, owning seven children, four dogs, two goats and three kids, to part with one of the kids for a consideration, upon the distinct understanding that it was to be returned in good condition, save for the usual wear and tear. The goat answered every purpose, and he soon became quite adept at exploiting the big Universal feature. He had as an assistant a pretty girl, half of a sister team who lately appeared in vaudeville. At the conclusion of the engagement in Champaign, 111., where the woman and the goat put up at the best hotels and were entertained royally by the college students, • the two returned to Chicago. Then Tommy tried to get the goat, but the lady said no. She had become attached to it. Had her picture taken with it and was going to keep it. And would you believe it, it took two strong-arm men from city hall to wrest the kid from the arms of Mary. Now she says she's going to collect $25 from Universal for shampooing and manicuring the goat one week.