Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

May 2 3, 1 9 3 1 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 59 ROUND TABLE PACES A TEXTBOOK! Says Dick Moss, Orange, California F. O. NANCE OF THE HALL INDUSTRIES CHAIN FINDS CLUB VALUABLE . '/^ONCERNING the value to showmen of I ^ the 'Round Table Club' " : I This would be very hard to cover in a few j words, as there are so many different uses and i helps covered by its contents that I could write [ pages and pages telling you why I find it a I valuable aid. First of all, the information contained in its pages is alive, and being written by showmen, for showmen, is practical for localities ranging from the smallest city to the largest. It contains only successful stunts and exploitation helps, and the department pages are not filled with the impractical, or ideas whose cost would make them prohibitive for the average town. There is an exceptional amount of interest being shown in its club pages each week, a glowing tribute in itself to the actual management of the department, and I am sure that other showmen will agree with me that this organization, conducted as it is being done, contains information and ideas that money can not buy, and affords each member an opportunity to pass along to a brother showman his own opinions and exploitation ideas, those that have been profitable to him. And so on the eve of the third anniversary edition of the Managers' Round Table CLub, ^^T ELLING why the Managers' Round Table * Club is an aid to theatre managers, is like trying to explain why a baby needs its mother. It's necessary — that's all. In this rapidly changing business, with the horizon attaining a different aspect almost daily, with showmanship constantly assuming new proportions — there must be somethink to keep the theatre man posted, to tell him what is changing and how he best can meet approaching conditions. Every theatre situation requires different handling — what is good showmanship in Tucson, Arizona, would be rediculous in Lx)s Angeles. A stunt that would go over like a million dollars at the Chinese in Hollywood, would die a natural death in Paterson, New Jersey. How is a managers going to keep posted on these things ? Today he is up in the wilds of Oregon, tomorrow his organization decides to send him to the balmy south. A manager must have some information ; he must have a text book may I be among the first to extend to you as chairman my heartiest congratulations, and to pledge you my cooperation in the future toward the betterment and increasing interest in this, the livest organization in the show business." that can be referred to, that can be studied, that can be observed and used to advantage in whatever predicament he may find himself. No matter what the business is, there is nothing that will take the place of concentrated study. You can't go to college to learn to be a theatre manager — how is a man going to study this business. While he is spending years managing a 600 seater in a tank town, how is he going to know of the methods necessary in running a de-luxer in a key spot. The Manager's Round Table Club has anticipated these needs of the theatre manager, and in forming an exchange for showmanship, has evolved a beneficial adjunct for theatre management. Not satisfied with the few pages it started with, the Club grew weekly, until it is now considered the outstanding section of the Herald. Congratulations to the Manager's Round Table Club for its splendid growth ; congratulations to the many managers who avail themselves of this service ; congratulations to the Motion Picture Herald for recognizing an idea and giving it the proper treatment and encouragement without which it would have been difficult to achieve its present high standing in the industry." Some of Nat Hoirs Newspaper Advti (READ ABOUT HOLT ON THE PRECEDING PAGE)