Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

CORKANSTELE RECOMMENDED Read this letter from a more-than-satisfied manager — Gentlemen: The Middleburg Hollywood theatre, which you built in 1928, is in first-class condition and the upkeep expense has been neglible. The heavy corkboard which is a major structural element with semi-fabricated steel, serves as a non-conductor and has sound-absorbing qualities which lend themselves to an acoustical condition seldom equaled and never excelled. I am therefore pleased to recommend, without reservation, your Corkanstele Theatre Construction to anyone interested in building houses of this kind. — (signed) Mabel E. Waddell, manager, Hollywood Theatre, Middleburg, Va. Corkanstele Theatre Construction can do as much for you. Let us prove itl CORKANSTELE 270 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK CITY SILHOUETTELETTERS ONE LOW-COST INSTALLATION BRINGS QUICK BOX OFFICE RESPONSE! Now you can go modern with changeable aluminum silhouette letters at one modest cost. 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Cable "SOSOUND" is separated from the auditorium only by a wall about 4 feet, 6 inches high made of matched ceiling lumber. Over this wall a cloth about 18 inches wide is hung on a wire. The auditorium is 62 feet by 38 feet, 6 inches. The stage is 19 feet, 6 inches wide, and 8 feet, 3 inches to screen, as now placed. Ceiling is 14 feet at back, and 18 feet at stage. Walls are plastered and ceiling is of art metal. Ceiling is flat. I would like to have foyer covered. How can it best be done without too much expense ? How many seats can I put in ? As now arranged there is a center bank of 10 seats and two wall banks. One aisle is 4 feet wide, and the other is 3 feet 6 inches. Woodwork of entrance, lobby and doors i.-; now painted. Would like to remove paint on woodwork and varnish. Is this feasible? What acoustic work should be done? Is jute matting, such as is used under rugs, all right to hang on walls? What size screen should I use? — P. J. M. THE ANSWER: the least expensive way of covering the foyer walls would be to use a 16 x 32 inch beveled edge sound-absorbing tile, cemented to the present plaster surface; or to use a wood-grained wallboard held in place with chromium snapon strips. If I understand your inquiry correctly, the space 38 feet, 6 inches by 62 feet is available for seats. In that case, I suggest that you place the seats as follows: Plan a center bank of twelve seats across with an aisle on each side, and two wall banks of three seats each across. This will give you 18 seats across the width of the auditorium. A depth of 62 feet will accommodate 24 rows of seats, so the total seating capacity will be 432 seats. I cannot find any reason why you should remove the paint from present woodwork. One obtains better decorative effects with paint than with natural wood varnished. To remove the paint it would be necessary to burn it off with a torch and sand the woodwork until its natural grain was obtained. This, of course, is an expensive method. Why not use a good paint? To obtain better acoustic conditions it will be necessary to treat the metal ceiling with "soundproof" paint, and you might place a few draped wall panels along the side walls. This would be a great deal better than the matting which you suggest. According to the size given for stage, the largest possible projection screen which you could install would be 10 feet, 4 inches by 14 feet 4 inches. The standee railing may be improved by covering it the same as the walls in the foyer. Build on top of it a few posts with a cornice forming open spaces, which can be provided with draw curtains. THE QUESTION: I have watched and read with great interest your columns in past issues of Better Theatres. Now here is my problem. I have a building that is a large wooden frame affair that I want to change into a summer affair. Would want a stage where I could put on regular shows if necessary. The building is 90 feet long and 40 feet wide, with overhead beams 20 feet off the flat floor. On each side there are wings 10 feet high extending 16 feet wider on each side, making the total width of the main floor 72 feet. There is a low ceiling "el" on the rear of the building of approximately 14 feet, to add to the total depth. I was planning on pulling out the rear "el" and building a stage with proper height there. As there are posts every 10 feet separating the side wings of the building from the main center space, I didn't want to use these wings for seating, unless necessary. I would like to get close to a thousand seats in if possible. How high should my stage be off the present floor? What pitch should the new floor be? — L. R. B. THE ANSWER: as far as your problem is concerned, I figure that the space 40 feet by 90 feet is only space available for seats, as the 16-foot wings are not very well adapted to spectators on account of the interference of the posts. It will be impossible to obtain 1000 seats in the section between the columns, even if you were allowed to run a continuous row of seats between columns and use the side wings for aisles. The maximum seating capacity you could obtain would be 864. However, I doubt if even this number would be permissible. If you have to have a center aisle, the seating capacity would be about 800. (Of course, some additional seats may be placed in the front part of the wings near stage.) I suggest that you place the stage floor 3 feet 6 inches above the low part of auditorium floor. Leave the first 20 feet of the auditorium floor, (near stage) level. The minimum slope of the balance of the floor should be 4 foot 6 inches. THE QUESTION: I have a garage building 200 by 45 feet. I am thinking of turning the building into a theatre. My problem is this: The height of the building inside to the iron beams is 12 feet, 4 inches, and to the ceiling it is 14 feet. I am figuring on putting in about 800 seats. The front of the building is two stories; it runs 40 feet. My intention is to place the booth at the end of the lobby, 7 feet from the floor and dig the floor for elevation for a 100-foot auditorium. After I leave 15 feet for foyer, and 30 feet for stage, how much elevation will I need ? Do you think 8 feet too much for 100 feet? Also, I intend to make two exits in the back — one on each side of the stage. But these exits have to be elevated to the street on a 35-foot run, which is too steep. How can I do this? 40 Better Theatres