Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1930)

April 5, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 53 Theatres for Sale or Rent ( Continued from preceding page) FOR SALE — Fine Paying Neighborhood Theatre Indiana town 110,000 population. Fully equipped — Talking Pictures and Simplex projectors — open 7 days a week. Clearing about $600 per month. 10 year lease. $75.00 per month rent. For quick sale $6,000 takes it all. Am building big theatre in another town is the reason. Address, Box 473, Exhibitors Herald-World, 407 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. Insurance THE BIGGEST SAFEGUARD for your business is the sure protection afforded by insurance. BUT insurance improperly written is itself a loss of money to you. For ten years we have made a study of the theatres insurance needs. Call on us or write us. Address Jules Juillard & Co., Room 937, 175 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 111. Cameras for Sale AKELEY. brand new. Write for booklet. Address Wood, 204 Inland Bank, Indianapolis, Indiana. Projector Repairing SKILLED MECHANICS, specialized tools, and a shop equipped for but one purpose can offer you nothing but the best in repair work. That is what 1 have, and I can offer you the best in the overhauling of your motion picture machinery equipment. One of the oldest repair men in the territory, and serving 6ome of the largest houses. Relief equipment tur nished free. For results bring your work to Joseph Spratler, 12-14 E. Ninth St., Chicago, 111. BEST SHOP for repairing projection machines Prompt service, reasonable prices. Address Movie Supply Co.. 844 Wabash, Chicago. Chairs for Sale BIG BARGAIN in used Opera Chairs, 600 upholstered, 800 veneer. Address Movie Supply Co., 844 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. OPERA CHAIRS, seats and backs for all makes, five ply, at prices that save you money. Jobs in new and used chairs. Address Redington Company, Scranton, Pa. 1,000 used high-grade spring constructed theatre seats covered in imitation Spanish leather. The seats are all brand new with metal bottom boards. Very reasonable prices. 500 spring edge seats covered in imitation Spanish leather made by Heywood-Wakefield Company. 1,000 upholstered seats in imitation leather, veneer backs. 750 heavy 5-ply veneer theatre chairs Vz" backs. Also several smaller lots of upholstered chairs, panel backs, at very attractive prices. We can furnish you with your needs — everything for the theatre — in the used line — -at a great saving. For more information and prices, write Illinois Theatre Equipment Company, 12-14 E. Ninth Street, Chicago, Illinos. Slot Machine Owners, Notice JOB WANTED— HAVE HAD THREE YEARS’ experience operating Slot Machines. Can repair all types. I am 21 years old and willing to go anywhere. Make me a proposition. Address A1 Walker, care of Box 623, Cameron, Texas. w THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY LETTERS FROM READERS Fire Cant Stop Him AFTER READING J. C.’S COLUMN IN the March 15 issue I feel moved to express my regret for the fact that when in. British Columbia last year through being bit by a fish (big one) or eating too much huckleberry pie, he was unable to stay long enough to fix things for the poor exhibitors in this territory. I note his remarks to Bert Silver ond his promise to fix things for those Michigan boys who are up against 500 per cent conditions for sound. There appear to be others who need help. My theatre was destroyed by fire during the past year, we ran silent. At present I am contemplating starting in small locations using a portable sound outfit if I can get one that is practical. As a preliminary, I have quotations from two exchanges on sound stuff that would indicate an increase of 600 per cent plus. Help, J. C. ! Look this way where the huckleberries grow and the trout will bite you if you get too close ! While at it I must congratulate you on the series of articles by Mr. Hugh S. Knowles in the Better Theatres section. By all means keep his typewriter oiled up. We need him, believe me. — S. J. Hackney, Star theatre, Roseland, B. C., Canada. Small House Doomed? Listen! WE RECEIVED A FEW DAYS AGO THE Award of Merit for excellence of sound reproduction and are very proud indeed of it, especialy since it is the first one to be awarded in a small town in this entire section, so far as we know. Our patrons seem equally gratified that their theatre ranks in quality production with the more expensive and larger theatres in the cities surrounding us. Much has been said in recent articles in your magazine by writers from larger towns regarding the death of the small town theatre with the advent of sound. Many have prophesied that the small towns under 2,000 population could not reproduce sound pictures properly and could not hold the public. Our own house is a direct and emphatic refutation of this supposition. The advent of sound has been a veritable life saver for us, just as it has been in the larger cities. Our public has “gone stale” to a great extent on silent pictures and sound brought them back and gave them a new interest in the show business. Whether the small town holds its business and continues to cash in at a profit is up to the small town theatre owner. It will cost him money, a great amount of time, and possibly a few grey hairs — just as it has us — but his public will stay with him if he outfits his house properly and gives them shows that are being offered to the patrons of the larger houses. % sjs % We are speaking from experience, not from theory. We put in sound last September and have been unusually successful with it. We draped our house to remedy all acoustical defects, investigated sound equipments thoroughly, then put in the one which we knew was good. Our crowds have been steadily increasing since then. At first many people were skeptical, thinking that a theatre in a town of 1,400 people could not give the same quality show that the theatre in larger towns could. These people have by this time been thoroughly convinced that it is possible, for it has been done in our house. Instead of losing business to larger towns we are getting business from them. He jK H* Before we installed sound many from here were going out of town for their entertainment. We are in the center of several of the best installations in the state, 26 miles from a town of 4,500, 28 from a town of 12,000 and 45 from a town of 18,000. All have either R C A or Western Electric equipment. Today, practically none of the theatregoers leave town for their entertainment, even though several of the larger theatres circularize the territory and use advertising in local papers. On the other hand, we get business from all the towns mentioned. At times over 50 per cent of our night business comes from towns larger and with finer theatres in a radius of 30 miles. They come not only once but they continue to come. The only explanation of this is that our small town theatre in a village of only 1,400 people is giving them as good entertainment as they get in the larger places. We are confident that we can continue to do so and do not have any fear that our business will be damaged by larger theatres with finer furnishings and more expensive equipment so long as we equal or surpass them in reproduction. The small town theatre has one advantage which the larger theatres can never rob it of and it is one which the American public, the average American home loving and friendly public, wants. The personal contact that the small theatre owner has with his patrons, the friendly reception which the patron gets from the manager, is something which the larger theatre owner can never duplicate. Even with sound in the saddle, the small theatre owner who uses judgment in equipping his house, buying and projecting his shows, and who becomes a showman instead of merely a show owner, will lose nothing to larger towns. Instead of detracting from the attractiveness and pulling power of the small town theatre, sound has put it on a level with the larger theatres. It has solved the music problem, always a knotty one in the smaller houses, and makes it possible for the small town to bring to its patrons identically the same shows they get in larger towns. Formerly, stage shows and vaudeville acts were not practical in small towns and the theatres there were at a disadvantage when compared with towns where such entertainment could be afforded. That is history, and today the small town stands on an equal footing with the large one. The final outcome of any small town theatre’s venture will depend entirely upon the business sagacity and enterprise of the owners and managers because the many differences that once existed have been eliminated with the advent of sound. Again expressing our appreciation of the Award of Merit, I am. — L. Paul Nipps, Opera House, Paris, Mo. Victor Animatograph Lists 16 Mm, Film Sources (Special to the Herald-World) DAVENPORT, April 1. — A comprehensive listing of all sources of 16 mm. films is being published by the Victor Animatograph Company, with distribution free to owners and prospective owners of 16 mm. equipment. It is a directory of sources but not of subject titles. Films are listed for school use, for churches, for professional purposes and for entertainment use. The list also shows whether the films are sold, rented or loaned free. Requests are honored by addressing Film Directory Editor, Victor Animatograph Company, Davenport, Iowa. Charles Ruggles Donates N. Y. A. C. Trophy NEW YORK — Charles Ruggles, stage and screen star, who appeared in the recent picture “Queen High,” has donated a perpetual handball to the New York Athletic Club, of which he is a member.