The fundamental principles of Balaban & Katz theatre management (1926)

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF life. We desire managers who have had the benefit of a college education, not just because they are the possessors of a diploma, but we feel that their years spent at schools and colleges make them much better prospects for future development in our kind of business. Their past experience may have been gained in lines of endeavor other than the theatre business. We recognise the fact that business ability, business principles and organisation are of basic importance to any kind of business. With that in view we do not demand that our managers come to us with years of experience in the theatre business, but we do desire men of sufficient adaptability to come into our business and apply the lessons which they have learned to our particular problems. In this day of highly competitive business an executive never completes his education. The man in the business world who feels that it is not necessary for him to continue to study and read carefully trade papers and articles on business problems, is a man who very soon becomes out of date. Many men who hold high positions in this industry have been self-educated through careful reading and studying along lines which will help them in this business. A student of business today is generally a man of keen and alert mentality. This type of man is very essential in our business. Many managers seem to feel that they have been elevated above the detail of operation, and in their contact with others they conduct themselves with an aloofness which is not only objectionable, but many times deters persons from making very valuable suggestions to them. In any managerial position it is highly essential for the manager to have the detailed knowledge of how each of the departments under him functions, at least he should have sufficient detail in order to supervise carefully and direct those departments. [4] BALABAN 6? KATZ THEATRE MANAGEMENT