The Film Daily (1947)

EQUIPMENT NEWS CF ■Vbary Friday, December 27, 1941 Wave of Fires Spots New Safety Measures Recent disasti'ous hotel fires have spotlighted the nations' attention on the safety of theaters and other public gathering places. The National Fire Protection Association stated this week that approximately 4,500 fires occui-red during 1946 in theaters and amusement halls, averag j OWNER'S DUTY After serving little more than three years of a 12-year sentence, Burnett Welansky, owner of the Cocoanul Groie night club where 490 perished in a holocaust in 1942, was recently freed from prison after doctors testified that Welansky had less than nine months to live. Recorded as one of the nation's worst fire disasters, the Boston night club fire ivas started by a match lighted by a bus boy who was attempting to replace a light bulb removed as a prank by a patron. Welansky was charged with criminal responsibility because he allegedly failed to provide adequate safety equipment and created actual fire hazards as in 'the case of cloth ceilings. ing 12 a day. Theaters alone checked up property damage of nearly $5,000,000. As a result of constant vigilance on the part of theater oviTiers and local fire departments, holocausts such as Boston's Coconut Grove in 1942 have become fewer through the years. But the danger of fire, panic and resulting loss of life remains a nightmare haunting most thoughtful exhibitors. Because such vigilance is maintained and the majority of fire hazards are removed or corrected when discovered, the number of fires starting within a theater have been steadily reduced year by year. Today, a large percentage of theater fires originate outside the building, according to the Construction Research Bureau of New York. These come from chimney sparks or embers from nearby burning structures, lightning and similar causes. Unless the theater has a fire-resistant roof and a non-imflammable barrier between the roof and the auditorium, a major disaster frequently results. Lack of adequate fire-stops within walls is also listed by the Bureau as a danger point which few theater owners recognize. Hollow walls not properly fire-stopped become natural flues through which flames sweep within a matter of minutes. The National Bureau of Standards has repeatedly recommended fire-resisting mineral wool thermal insulation as an effective fire stop in walls and ceilings. Bureau tests have jiown that a wood-lath wall com '^etely filled with mineral wool will >op the passage of fire for one our. Made of rock, ore-smelting slag or tnd, mineral wool is widely used Miltvauhee Patrons Enjoy Juke Box Jive While Waiting for Pic Breahs in Lobby To entertain patrons waiting for seats at the Wisconsin Theater in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Coin Machine Co. installed a Seeburg Music System. Placed in the theater lobby, the colorful juke-box also provides music for patrons in smoking and rest rooms, through specially designed wireless selectors. Set-up has proven popular with patrons, and the music distributed at conversational level doesn't intrude upon conversation or the screen presentation. Boom Building Seen For 1947 Huge Amount is Set For Theater Construction (Continued from Page 11 theater and other "amusement" construction, will be released next week, The Film Daily was told. Although complete details are not now available, officials said restrictions in force during this year will keep new theater building below boom rates until the last half of 1947. "There is little doubt, however," one official said, "that there will be considerable increase in theater construction in the early months of next year." John L. Haynes, chief of Commerce's construction division, predicted that all construction next year will be nearly 22 billion dollars. Included in the huge figure is an estimated six and one half billion dollars which will be spent on repairs and replacements. Theaters generally have suffered from lack of repairs during the war years and the post-war "restriction" era. Meanwhile, the Office of the Housing Expeditor and the Office of Temporary Controls were still busy on orders outlining new schedules for non-housing construction. The weekly approvals lor commercial and industrial construction are expected to be upped to at least $50,000,000. In addition, many other restrictions which have kept non-housing construction to a minimum are due to be either eased or lifted. Balabon Circuit Plans $500,000 Improvements (Continued from Page 1) and another large program for the Adams, also in the Detroit district. The Des Plaines Theater, Des Plaines, 111., will be reseated and renovated in all departments, while the Esquire Theater of the circuit will be recarpeted and painted. The Bryn Mawr will get a new air-conditioning system and the Pickiwick will receive Push Back seats as soon as they are available. Circuit has also changed the heating systems of the following theaters from coal to oil: Des Plaines, Surf, Windsor, EAR, and Milford. Other improvements will be made as soon as materials are available. RKO-Reade Hamilton Has Gala Xmas Day Opening The RKO-Reade Hamilton Theater, in Hamilton Township, Trenton, N. J., was opened Christmas Day, with special dedication ceremonies marking the occasion. Situated on the corner of Broad iSt. and Murdock Ave., new house is a suburban communitytype theater. Featuring Colonial architecture throughout, theater embodies the latest safety and comfort features. for insulation purposes. Surveys among theater owners who have installed the material show that savings in cost of heating and air-conditioning paid for the insulation within two to three years. Savings in human life are, of course incalculable. Sickles Defers Plans To Open Maine Branch (Continued from Page 1 ) owned subsidiary of General Instrument Corp., has deferred, for the present, plans to open a branch factory in Portland, Me. The decision to withhold action on the Portland plant, which would employ 800 persons and solve a longstanding problem of increasing ltd working force, was reached, officials said, because it did not know whether the concern was justified in attempting to expand in the face of another round of wage increase demands. Fire Prevention Abuses Close Michigan House Robert L. Arnold, assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan, has ordered the newlyconstructed Legion Theater, opened last May, closed, because it does not conform to the safety laws. He called attention to a number of the outstanding violations: Inside ramps too steep for safety, panic doors in a wrong location, improper location of a 500-gallon fuel oil tank under the stage, and structurally unsafe construction with cracks showing through the cement blocks. Announce New Carbon Air F^ter A new purifier for air-conditioning systems that makes use of a filtering unit containing a special grade of activated carbon is announced by Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corp. RCA Announces 1-KVi Projection Arc Lamp (Continued from Page 1) Brenkert Radarc Lamp, is not a moc ification of a low intensity type ar lamp, but was especially designe for high-intensity operatio *i th one-kilowatt power range .'id i adaptable for installation in a standard types of 35 mm. motion pic ture projectors. The Brenkert Ra dare Lamp will operate equally we with motor generators, copper-oxid rectifiers, single or three-phase tub type rectifiers, and with either doubl shutter or single shutter projectors without any alterations of the pro jector. Only one control is necessary fo adjusting the speed of the automati carbon feed which is controlled by non-slipping ratchet and pawl to in; sure smooth and accurate operation The position of the carbons ca easily be adjusted by means of fee control knobs located on both th( positive and negative carbon jaw as semblies. The negative carbon cai be adjusted both laterally and ver tically to insure perfect alignmen with the positive crater. The jaw: which hold the carbons are made o; a new type of metal which is highlj resistant to heat, and operate easilj to facilitate installation and remova of carbons. Servicing Made Easy A wide door on each side of tht housing makes it easy to reach al parts for servicing and replacements A combined ventilation control an€ chimney provide the correct draft of air through the lamp house to carry off gases and carbon dust and insure stable operation. A lens system is provided to produce a large, bright image of the arc on an arc vision screen which can easily be seen by the projectionist. The large mirror provided to reflect the maximum amount of light to the projector aperture can be easily and quickly removed. Though of comparatively small size and low power consumption, the new lamp is comparable in quality and dependability to RCA's widely known Brenkert Enarc lamp, which is used in many large theaters throughout the country. The snowwhite light produced by the Radarc is brilliant enough for projection on screens, up to 18 feet in width. The overall dimensions of the Radarc lamp are: 34% inches long; 17% inches deep and 20 inches high. The chimney takes a pipe six-inches in diameter. Smith Plans Drive-in For Indianapolis in '47 Indianapolis, Ind. — G. Everett Smith is planning a drive-in theaters Southeast of Indianapolis at the in. tersection of 96th St. and State Route 431, to be completed in time for the 1947 season. An application for a change in zoning restrictions to permit construction is pending.