Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

December 6, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 25 "CHIC" CHATS NEW YORK. THIS is not meant to be a complaint, but we honestly think the matter should be brought to the attention of the management, and perhaps it might serve to be a word to the wise to other exhibitors, wherever they may be located. At one of the Broadway theatres last Wednesday evening, a preview of the following week's picture was being shown at approximately 10 p. m. During the final performance of the picture for the previous week, the theatre was crowded to the doors. Shortly after 10, the new film went on and, naturally enough, no one left the house. Meanwhile, tickets were being sold at the box office, and more people were pushing their way into the theatre. A long line was standing on the mezzanine floor waiting for balcony seats and the lobby was jammed. Ushers, extremely courteous in handling the crowd, informed them that the next performance would be at midnight, necessitating a probable wait of something like two hours. Numbers of people became annoyed and finally left the theatre, receiving a refund of the admission price as they left. It seems to us that the continued sale of tickets after it was apparent there would be no seats until midnight was very poor judgment on the part of the management, principally because it created a definite antagonism on the part of the patrons, both those who were forced to leave and the others who had to stand. The management should have posted notices to the effect that there would be no seats for such and such a length of time, and then permitted the sale of tickets to those who cared to wait as long as necessary. AAA A magistrate in one of the New York courts the other day suspended sentence on a man charged with disorderly conduct for having attempted persistently to "crash" the offices of various motion picture executives in search of a director's job. The defendant was a waiter from Berlin and he had ideas about how pictures should be made, but that's nothing new! When he was arrested in the Paramount building, he said he was trying to see either Adolph Zukor or Jesse Lasky, because he wanted to become "a movie director like Lubitsch or DeMille." The magistrate told him there was a much more pressing need for good waiters today than for motion picture directors. Well, that's the judge's opinion ! Alfred W. McCann, well known pure food expert whose daily radio talks have made him the prophet of more than a few housewives, received a letter the other day recounting an argument between a certain husband and wife relative to the number of calories they were consuming each day. He said it put him in mind of the picture "Min and Bill" in which Marie Dressier, who can do more with facial expression than most anyone on the screen today, pursues Wallace Beery through the rooms of her boarding house on a wrecking rampage. She finally goes after him with a fire ax, and heaves it through a window to complete Beery's subjugation. She calls herself an "old sea cow," and looks the way such a thing should look in human form. McCann termed the scene as "illustrating a profound point in psychology," which is just a high hat way of saying "Jealousy." —"CHIC" AARONSON. MPTO Acts to Meet Costs of Code Demands Cooperatively Seventy-Five Per Cent of Wisconsin Theatres Hit by New State Regulations Requiring Special Ventilation Equipment for Projection Rooms — Trial System Approved (Special to the Herald-World) MILWAUKEE, Dec. 4.— The MPTO of Wisconsin has taken action to provide ventilation of motion picture projection rooms in Wisconsin in accordance with the code recently adopted by the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin and the theatre owners and projectionists. The association is installing the new equipment on a cooperative basis to save the individual exhibitors a? much of the expense of readjustment as possible. One tinner has been engaged to do all the work in the local houses, while the other equipment, including the motors, etc., is being purchased from one firm by the association. Estimates 75% of Theatres Involved Approximately 75 per cent of the theatres will be affected by the new code, it is estimated by Steve Bauer, secretary of the MPTO. Insofar as the code affects all theatres in Wisconsin, he asks that the state exhibitors get in touch with the Milwaukee office concerning the matter and he will be glad to give them complete information. The method of ventilating being used substitutes for the squirrel cage blower fan, another motor equipped with a door for oiling. A blade fan, made especially for duct work, is employed. This also can be placed on either side of the booth. Requirements of Code The code reads as follows : 1. Exhaust ventilation. — Every booth or room housing projection, sound or any other equipment which vitiates good air conditions or requires the attention of an attendant, shall be ventilated as required under the provisions of order 5841, of the Heating and Ventilation Code, issued by the Industrial Commission. Fumes, gases and other harmful contamination shall be effectively removed by mechanical exhaust ventilation direct from the source to the outside air, or an approved disposal system. Mechanical exhaust ventilation shall be provided direct from the lamp housing and be independent of all other ventilation. 2. Air Supply. — In every booth or room which is required to have mechanical exhaust ventilation, provision shall be made for a supply of fresh tempered air to replace the vitiated air exhausted. The fresh tempered air shall be delivered under gravity conditions, unless the volume of air exhausted from the booth or room by mechanical means is greater than the supply. Booth Ventilation Separate The ventilation system for the building shall not be arranged to supply air for the booth or room unless the inlet opening is protected with an approved shutter having quick-acting fusible links, or other approved heat release devices, which will automatically and quickly close the opening simul taneously with the openings in the front of the booth. A system of ventilation was first installed by Bauer in his Elite theatre in Milwaukee, in accordance with the new code requirements, after which he invited inspection of it by the building inspection department. This was done in order that the system would meet with the approval of the department before installations were made in other houses. The Elite system has been approved by the building inspector as well as by the ventilating committee of thf association. Students Get Police Edict After Forcing Entrance to Show (Special to the Herald-World) COLUMBUS, OHIO., Dec. 4.— Following a gate crashing episode staged by Ohio State University students at Loew's Ohio theatre after a football game, Chief of Police Harry E. French has announced further violations will be prosecuted. His official bulletin reads: "Due to the conduct of certain students in forcing entrance into theatres last night, it is hereby ordered that extra police protection be afforded to theatres in congested business districts Saturday nights, especially so if Ohio State wins a football game. "Any and all persons attempting to make forced entrance into theatres on charge of disorderly conduct will be promptly arrested. We will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. No further leniency will be extended to men who deport them selves as hoodlums. "Thirty days in the workhouse will tend to cool the ardor of men who forget to ad as gentlemen and law-abiding citizens." On Hunt for Ideal Studio (Special from Department of Commerce) WASHINGTON, D. C, Dec. 4— Gaumont of Paris has commissioned a special delegation of technicians to visit principal film centers of the world for the stated purpose of studying the equipment of the ideal sound-film studio. Proposed 10 Per Cent Amusement Tax In St. Louis Meets Union Opposition (Special to the Herald-World) ST. LOUIS, Dec. 4. — The Central Trades and Labor Union has gone on record as opposed to the proposed 10 per cent tax on amusement admissions and restaurant checks. The legislative committee of the group has been vigorously urged to oppose any trend in that direction. It is understood that several speakers expressed the belief that if the Board of Aldermen would take fewer "junketing" trips, at public expense, there would be no need for the suggested tax.