Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

the Movies Is Taking People And From The Theaters !arrie Nation — a sort of weakness that occupied space in \t papers and rather embarrassed us, a weakness that usiness men were supposed to shun as they would the lague. In the last ten years, there has been grave doubt 9 to whether American business could be earned on withUt golf. But golf never bothered the motion picture business, 'ou see, it had to be played in daylight. So the magnates miled and joined golf clubs — which were, and are, by no leans inexpensive — and were blissfully happy. And all lis time the shadow of that fellow down in Tennessee was anging Damocles-WVt over the movie neck! Why People Play 'tT'OU know, folks are queer. 1 he thing just beyond iX their reach is very apt to be jeered at. Golf was like at. Because a set of odd-looking clubs and a strange bag nd a foppish suit of clothes and a golf membership and II the appurtenances cost money, and because valuable iaylight working time must be sacrificed to play the game, off was out of the reach of ninety-eight per cent, of us. Consequently, we affected to scorn it. Then Tennessee put it very suddenly within our reach. Moss Above, a golf-course and a Los Angeles movie theater working not against each other, but for each other. You play golf, then rest in the movie. At left, a bird's-eye view of an elaborate course, equipped with rustic bridges, swings, et cetera And it appealed for a dozen perfectly good human reasons: (i) it was very accessible; (2) it was cheap — about the price of a movie theater admission; (3) It used regulation golf equipment; (4) it was easy to play; (5) it could be mdulged in at night just around the corner; (6) a lot of other folks could see us as we played; (7) it lent itself to mild gambling; (8) one could laugh and shout and kid one's fellow players, whether known or not; (9) girls could play as well as boys; (10) it was the "millionaires' game" that had been increasingly advertised as such; (11) it could be enjoyed out-of-doors; and (12) it gave us a chance to dress up. "Why wouldn't it make a hit?" asks Sid Grauman, the eminent Los Angeles impresario, who shares with Roxy of New York the honor of making the most spectacular motion picture forays upon the public interest. "It ap E eared just at the right time, as talking picture enthusiasm egan to subside a little; it gave people a chance to be participants, instead of mere spectators, and it was keyed at the right price." The Possibilities Are Endless ~V TOBODY knows exactly how many of these pigmy I ^ golf-courses there are in the United States, for the figure made up yesterday is valueless to-day, since a thousand or more may have sprung into being overnight. However, on July 15 last it was estimated that more than thirty-seven thousand were in operation in the fortyeight states, and that probably twenty-thousand more were projected. In Los Angeles County alone, rhere are sixteen hundred miniature golf-courses, with fifteen hundred more permits applied for. 25