Year book of motion pictures (1940)

land generally and happily recognize that the oral and optical nerves of the human being must be catered to, and that the day of the garish, ornate and non-functional elements, which have marked, — yes, and marred, — theaters of the past, is gone forever in the interest of patrons for whom must be provided essentially such tangible advantages as bodily comfort, and an atmosphere and surroundings which will place the patron immediately in the right frame of mind to receive Shadow Performances. Community Architecture There will and must be a mandatory relationship of design to community architecture and community taste. Hence the modern theater TRADITION Highly successful merging of past and present is apparent in the red brick and stone facade of Warners' new KennedyTheater, Washington, D. C, neighborhood house, which is Colonial in all respects. architect will choose for a design for his theater the style of architecture predominating in the locality where the theater is to be built. He must be experienced enough to command taste and judgment which will allow him to transpose this type of architecture into the scale of the theater, and must adopt details prevailing in such local architecture so as to make for serviceability and the practical in the house's auditorium, lounges and reception rooms, so as to carry the underlying principles which govern the home surroundings of the locality into the theater structure itself. Such a suggestion, I am sure, can be sold convincingly to the local exhibitor, — and it is not necessary to "ape" or try to overdo the design, furnishings or colorings of any old theater seen in this or that town. A careful study and knowledge of such building and furnishing quali 1019