The Exhibitor (1966)

The Plainfield-Edison Theatre, N.J., with outdoor drive-in screen on the upper left and the indoor theatre building in the center. Projection booth at left end of the theatre building serves both the indoor and out¬ door screens. Drive-In-Indoor Theatre Revisited Three years ago, the editors visited the new drive-in-indoor entertainment com¬ plex that is the Plainfield-Edison Theatre in New Jersey. Intrigued by the potential of this modern indoor-drive-in combination, we subse¬ quently featured it ( MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR— Feb. 12, 1964) in the Physical Theatre section. To evaluate fully the efficiency and value of the Edison-Plainfeld combination theatres after three years of operation, the editors recently called on United Artists' Theatres division manager Richard Kane for a most interesting case history of the theatres. The accompanying article gives some of the side-lights on' this two theatre opera¬ tion, its problems, its relative efficiency, and its success. By RICHARD A. KANE Southern NJ. Division Manager, United Artists Theatres “When you buy your ticket at our box office, you have a choice of either watching the show on our large outdoor screen or sitting in our indoor theatre.” These are the words heard by tens of thousands of moviegoers when they call at the Turnpike or Plainfield-Edison indoor-outdoor the¬ atres located in the south New Jersey com¬ munities of East Brunswick and Edison. Since their opening four years ago, the rapid rise of attendance has put the pub¬ lic’s stamp of approval on these two unique modern structures operated by United Ar¬ tists Theatre Circuit. These two theatres are located within 13 miles of each other and afford the surrounding communities two entertainment centers with seating capacity of one thousand people. However, it is centainly true that han¬ dling six thousand people at one time can pose problems. In the past four years, we have learned to cope with situations of all sorts. Traffic control is a must. People driving up to the boxoffice must be asked by the car hops if they are going to sit indoors or outside. If the patron wants to go into the indoor theatre, he is directed to drive to a designated ramp and then proceed into the large parking area directly behind the in¬ door theatre. This must be done so that the customer is not taking up a space by a speaker post that can be used by an out¬ door patron. Needless to say, we have pro¬ vided parking attendants that are sta¬ tioned strictly in the parking lot to provide instructions and to help the people park. I PHYSICAL I 1 THEATRE 1 EXTRA PROFITS It also provides a sense of security to the people leaving their cars. One of the major problems we have to deal with is during the bad weather. The patrons entering that night will fill the in¬ door theatre in short order. A constant check is made by the manager in the front office with the assistant manager of the indoor theatre to make sure seats are still available. When the indoor theatre is filled, cars then coming to the boxoffice are advised they may only watch the show on the outdoor screen, or may return for the next showing indoors. For those who wish to turn around and leave, the exit path must be opened, so as not to hold back any cars in line for the boxoffices. At no time is the patron left on his own so that he may become confused and park in the wrong areas. The ramp men are well trained and the entire theatre opera¬ tion knows the time schedules of all the shows. They are dressed in smart looking uniforms and hats, and can be identified at hrst glance. They are situated at stra¬ tegic positions on the held where they may be of help to the customer. Strict attention must be paid to the screen times. The same print is used in both the indoor and the outdoor theatres. A minimum of 30 minutes must be allowed between reels so that they can be rewound and put on one of four projectors in ample time for the change-over. During the week nights, the indoor showings start at 7:30 pm. There is no problem with the outdoor showing because they usually start a half hour sooner. It is in the summer months when you cannot screen outdoors until after dusk which sometimes may run well into the February 15, 1967 PHYSICAL THEATRE • EXTRA PROFITS DEPARTMENT of MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR PE-5