Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

construction job ahead j::[DVISES AN ARCHITECT LONG A FIGURE IN THE hIOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY — AND EXPLAINS WHY 3 THE MOTION PICTURE thea. ,e business faces the largest construction job ^ its history. And it should plan that job now. It is important, I firmly believe, that the j,^eatre business be ready with blueprints, sites |,|,id financing for the new houses it will need, soon as the military situation — presumably, .' :ctor}' in Europe — allows the Government to lax its restrictions on civilian construction. ^ I Because the demand for materials and labor gill rise steadily after that time, as construc^on gets underway in residential housing and ..i many industries, theatre operators should ',*so plan now the work that will be necessary • modernize and rehabilitate their present ,/operties. Delay may be costly, it likely would force , Dstponement of many projects and thus ex nd over too many years a program that is . ready urgent. Without suitable physical icilities for entertaining its public, which now ^intains many new faces, the motion picture idustry would be hampered in its competition ith an expanding array of recreational in^rrests of the postwar world, i I have seen the motion picture claim a iirger and larger public the world over, not nly as the art of picture making improved, ut as the industry put finer and finer means ]f exhibiting that art within easy reach of le people. This, in my opinion, is a fundalental of motion picture merchandising. To laintain the large volume of sales that this idustry requires, you've got to wrap the Toduct in a fresh, attractive package — and ut it where it can be seen every day. Now what will the exhibition establishment f this industry be when we begin to return 1 normal peacetime life? Well, even before Te war a large part of it had seen its best ays. Today at least 30% of our theatres are bsolete — as curious as your grandmother's •'edding dress and about as well adapted in laterials and construction to remodeling. This bsolescence is of various kinds ; some theatres ave badly deteriorated structurally; to try .3 modernize many old houses within feasible lOst would be like putting a streamlined hood m a Model-T Ford ; a number of them could [lot be touched without running into prohibi By jOHN EBERSON tive building code requirements. The industry therefore is faced with the replacement of around 5,000 of its exhibition units as rapidly as it can. That is a huge program of building replacement in even a line of business requiring simple structures, with relatively few equipment provisions and little attention to physical comfort and psychological conditioning. Motion picture theatres, however, are not simple structurally, and they have, as buildings, both mechanical and environmental functions. To build them and render them ready for operation takes more time and skill, and a greater variety of materials, than are required by most types of buildings of comparable size. They also take more money. The theatre business itself will not finance all of its new construction, of course ; many new exhibition units will be components of buildings embracing stores, offices, etc., and of community centers, that will be constructed by nontheatrical interests. But as always, for the film industry to get the kind of theatres it wants where and when it wants them, it will rely upon its own resources and initiative. POST-WAR LOCATIONS There is another condition of the present exhibition establishment which operates much like obsolescence. When a section of a town deteriorates, or changes importantly in character, what was once a good location for a theatre may be one no longer. Thus locations can become obsolete. This process has probably been speeded up by the war, which has shifted population not only from one state and national region to another, but within cities. Factories have been built in residential districts, industries have sprung up in cornfields. The post-war housing program, which contemplates a million new homes a year, will create brand new communities, many of them constituting suburban areas desiring their own amusement and commodity services. While many theatres erected to serve developing communities will mean deterioration of existing theatre locations, much of such construction will represent necessary expansion of the industry's present exhibition facilities to accommodate a larger audience resulting from increasing population and wartime development of the theatre-going habit. Any estimate of the theatre construction program ahead must therefore anticipate, in addition to the replacement of almost a third of the theatres now existing because they are in some way definitely obsolete, expansion of exhibition facilities in proportion to the growth of the motion picture public. A construction program of such size cannot be started in a jifify or achieved overnight. Even if the Government were to withdraw all limitations on civilian building tomorrow, and all financial and physical provisions had been made to begin the work, completion of this program would require four or five years. But the Government may maintain some measure of control over labor and materials throughout a peripd of readjustment following a victory in Europe ; and in any case, the demands of other industries than ours are certain to make some of the materials and many of the skills that we shall need, very scarce for a long time. It is likely to be, under the best of conditions that can be reasonably expected, a case of first come, first served. The exhibitor who is ready with actual plan, site and financing to go ahead, will be the only one in a position to take advantage of the Government's go-sign. In view of the job to be done, it is important to the motion picture industry that the ability to go ahead be as widely distributed over the business as it is possible to have it. There is no reason for delay in planning. Some theatre operators may be waiting to see what new materials and advanced methods are going to come out of the war. I know of nothing to come so new and better that it is worth waiting for at the sacrifice of future {Continued on page 19) EHER THEATRES, DECEMBER 9. 1944 13