The Film Daily (1935)

DAILY UILDERS ISON or this paper by John Eberson, one of America s leading archibeing BUSINESS BUILDERS for exhibitors. Articles by other requesting information will be answered by this department. INS J J I saw seas and seas of seals, square miles of screens, it seems to me. Horribly neglected theaters, but ten or twelve years old, on their "last leg" as far as serviceability and "business builders" are concerned. Cheap metal cornices rotted away (originally bargains), display frames leaning and falling apart (originally bargains), doors — and hardware patched and polished to death. Paint peeling (originally a cheap decorating bargain) — carpets threadbare and smelly, lighting fixtures crooked and minus shades, art glass panels dirty, sagging and cracked, retiring rooms and toilets!! Opera chairs, once the pride of the owner land bargains), now torture chairs; broken springs, sagging hinges, ripped covering, dirty screens, shutters out of step, sound volume un-adjusted, sidewall fabrics (very cheap and bargains at one .time), and proscenium valances in rags, robbed of their former brilliancy and lustre. Side exit doors warped and rotted, fire escapes rusty and failing, overloaded circuit wiring with dead and hardened insulation, control switches, spark-burned out of line. leaking roofs, unpainted, and rusting roof trusses. Fan housings and ducts full of leaks, — dust and friction noise. Steam and plumbing (originally bought under a bargain plan), pipes rusted down to a thin shell, rain leaders stopped up, backing up. Abandoned dressing rooms, now storage spaces for trash. Old furniture, discarded bootleg sound equipment, advertising matter, old mirrors. Trash! Trash! Trash! Old age, helpless and neglected. I am bewildered. I heard about the "Depression." I knew about the "Depression," — I felt, — (and how?) the "Depression." Everywhere did I see the faint and useless effort of — "Do the best we can." Amateurish and foolish efforts to stem the tide of deterioration under the "bargain" plan. A "bargain" is something we buy, or do because it is cheap, but we really have no use for it, and we know it is a makeshift, only a cheap substitute. To put coat after coat of paint over old paint and dirt is useless. To try and re-upholster a seat here and a back there, letting your night watchman do it, might appear as a "bargain" to you, but it is not a "business builder." (Continued on Page 6) EQUIPMENT FIELD NOTES All Set to Serve You i National Service never relaxes. It is ready to help your renovation, re-equipment and repair problems. Only equipment of KNOWN QUALITY. Carpets, seating, screens, projectors. Send for catalog. National is PREPARED to SERVE your theatre. NATIONAL TH EATRE 92 Gold St. or Office Nearest You SUPPLY CO. New York, N. Y. Chicago — The Hild Method of washing rugs and carpets is interestingly described in a booklet which has been issued by the Hild Floor Machine Co. entitled "How to Save Money Washing Carpets the Hild Way." The method consists of shampooing carpets without a specially-designed rotary scrubbing machine and Hild Rug Shampoo. The shampoo is compounded with volatile chemicals which eliminate the necessity of rinsing or wiping and prevents any soap residue from remaining in the carpet, it is pointed out. A specially-designed "shower feed" refillable brush is used with the machine. It distributes a light, even film of the shampoo solution over the entire surface of the carpet and as a result the carpet is never soaked through and the danger of shrinkage is entirely eliminated. Preston, Idaho — The Isis, operated by George Paul and Lawrence Jones, recently installed a pair of Suprex High-Intensity Arc-Lamps, as well S. 0. S. Cinemaphone The Mark of Perfect Sound in the Theatre Complete Equipment or Parts You Save on Every Buy with Us S. 0. S. CORPORATION 1600 Broadway, New York as a new large screen and rectifiers, according to 0. C. Hazen of the Salt Lake Service Supply company here. Ontario, Ore. — Howard Mathews' Roxy has just had an air conditioning system installed here by the Service Theater Supply of Salt Lake (.Continued on Page 6) THE G-MAN OF YOUR BOX-OFFICE Prevent losses that cannot be measured. Install a Genister machine NOW! GENERAL REGISTER CORPORATION 1S40 Broadway, New York, N. Y. m«* ft:..,,. "Wanderer of the Wasteland" Zane Grey and Alexander Smith both possess the happy faculty of being able to produce best-sellers year after year because they know what the public wants. Which is one reason why the majority of the country's most successful theatres book pictures by Grey and install carpets by Smith. ALEXANDER SMITH CARPET