Exhibitors Herald (Mar-Apr 1924)

XVI BETTER THEATRES SECTION OF March 29, 1924 The Problem of Roll Music for Mechanical Instruments SO many inquiries have come in recently asking about the kind of music available for mechanical instruments in moving picture theatres, such as orchestran organs, electric pianos, etc., that it seems advisable to devote another article to the subject of music rolls for theatre organs and pianos. For some reason or other it seems difficult for the average theatre owner to get a correct and clear idea of the music roll situation. Perhaps the following facts will be of some help along that line: * * * It is well to remember that there are two distinct types of mechanical instruments now upon the market. They are known as the 65-note and the 88-note instrument. All mechanical instruments at first were 65-note but when improvements were made and the player piano for the home became a large factor in the music industry it was decided generally to increase the mechanism to include all the notes, which is eighty-eight. This change threw the 65-note mechanism on the scrap heap so far as the home instrument was concerned. The large and expensive organs, however, that were already constructed for the 65-note mechanism made it impossible for the commercial interets to make such a sudden change, and for that reason the 65-note theatre organ has continued. The 88note instrument is of course preferable wherever it can be obtained. That is if such an instrument can be obtained that meets all the requirements of the theatre, because an 88-note instrument of whatever kind will play all 88-note music rolls including the large library of music rolls that are cut for the ordinary home player piano. The 65-note instrument, of course, has a large library of special rolls which are on the market and can be purchased at a very reasonable cost, and the music available in this library is very extensive and is being kept up-to-date and constantly added to. * * * Another difficulty in the situation as it affects the theatre owner is that owing to certain circumstances the large music roll manufacturers have paid no special attention to the development of the music roll for the large orchestran and theatre instrument. The music roll manufacturer finds that it is more profitable to devote his efforts to the production of the regular standard music roll that is made for the home player piano. The market in this field is so much larger and the method of manufacture so much simpler, that the manufacturer has given it the preference. On the other hand, the special theatre instrument field is naturally limited and a manufacturer in cutting rolls for this market is conscious (By the Observer) of the fact that the run must be small in comparison to the run of the same piece for the ordinary home player piano. Because of this the number of manufacturers devoting themselves exclusively to the orchestran and special roll is very limited and the firms themselves small. There are two or three very reliable firms manufacturing this class of music roll exclusively. Among them are the Clark Orchestra Roll Company, the Columbia Music Roll Company and the Automatic Music Roll Company. * * * There is no doubt that there is a growing interest in this class of music among the motion picture theatres and before long the manufacturers will be able to give more serious attention to it. In order that it might be improved and enlarged, it is necessary to realize that its success from a manufacturing standpoint is based upon a different principle than the success of the marketing of the ordinary music roll. The ordinary music roll is a straight sales proposition just the same as the marketing of sheet music is a straight sales propositoin. Theatre music, however, is different, — it is a salesservice proposition largely. In other words, a manufacturer to successfully exploit this field must advertise his music and classify it, not in the ordinary musical classification but in a classification named in terms of pictures. That is, he must be able to show to the theatre owner quickly that certain rolls are de sirable, not because of their special musical arrangement but because of their adaptability, with certain other pieces of music, to certain classifications of pictures, such as comedy, drama, travelogue, etc. It seems to the writer that the first step along this line will come from the moving picture theatre owners thenv selves, as the problem is essentially not a musical problem but a picture problem. We have already mentioned in a previous article that a firm had been established in the West that is operating along this line. It has not yet, however, been able to cover the entire field in any sense of the word, and its policy is evidently not yet generally known to the theatre owner. * * * The trouble with the theatre owner who has a mechanical instrument at present is that he is at a loss to know how to go about making the selection of music rolls that will give him the service which he desires. He is flooded with catalogs of roll cuttings of all kinds of musical parts exploited and advertised because of their quality purely as pieces of music, but this is no guide to him because naturally he has no way of telling just how that music would fit into a particular set of pictures that he may be running. If an association or firm were established that had a knowledge of (Continued on page XVIII) INCREASED illumination up to twenty five per cent, without added expense for current, or the same illumination with less current, — with a remarkable improvement in brilliancy and contrast of pictures — can easily be secured. Just ask your dealer, or write to us about the BAUSCH & LOMB Cinephor Projection System — Cinephor Projection Lens Cinephor Condenser Bausch & Lomb Optical Go. Desk C-102 635 St. Paul St., Rochester, N. Y. New York Washington Chicago San Francisco London