Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

SERVING THROUGH SCIENCE MAJOR reason why designers and decorators and their clients are so completely "sold" on "U. S." Plastic Naugahyde is its perfect combination of sheer beauty and durability. Naugahyde takes ordeals in its stride that would ruin most upholstery materials. Spilled alcohoJ leaves no permanent injurious effects., neither do hair oil and perspiration. For years on end, Naugahyde stands up under scuffing and edgewear. It's safe, too . . . even a 'live" match can't ignite it. No wonder then that Naugahyde is your highscorer on low upkeep! Method in MANAGEMENT ...in its relations to the theatre property, to the public, and to personnel By MAUREY L. ASHMANN Zone Manager of fhe Inferboro Circuit in Long Island, N. Y., communities COATED FABRICS DIVISION MISHAWAKA, INDIANA UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY The Manager's Best Friend: Common Sense MANAGEMENT of a business takes in quite a lot of territory, and theatres are no exception. Management, says Webster, is: "Conduct, administration, control, manner of treating, direction, conduct by skill, conduct by method." That makes a manager a pretty important guy, it seems to us — provided he fits the bill. Now, with the war over and competition, in the normal sense, increasingly asserting itself again, it is well for one in a managerial position to take stock of his personal resources. How does our dictionary definition fit you? The writer has had the good fortune to participate in many phases of theatre business— and as a theatre executive (not a teacher or writer) here offers a few thoughts, some old, some new, that might add some credits in your computation. Theatre business today is full of opportunities for those who study methods and practices. It is indeed your privilege to profit by the experience of others. Our business, during the past few years, has gone through a marked evolution of operating practice and organization, with changes that have brought a clearer understanding of the necessity of planning and control, of the full use of all resources, not only by the district boss or the home office, but at the theatre level, where Mr. Manager and his assistant should realize that method, coupled with vision, produces results that bring achievement and recognition for all. METHOD— MEANING WHAT? Method implies knowledge of one's business, but always that knowledge becomes just common sense in its application to that business. For example: When a marquee ladder fell over and hit a passerby, an usher asked, "Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a chain attached to the ladder and hooked into screw eyes placed around the marquee?" Just common sense. Applying the same formula to all operational considerations of the theatre we find the angle to comprehensive management. In every phase of the theatre the responsible, ambitious and observant manager will find the opportunity to establish his value— to himself, to his theatre, and to his profession. In theatres I have observed, I have found that specific work charts produce a positive result with respect to scheduling and systematizing the physical needs of the theatre, but frequently important things are overlooked. For example, the location of a main house switch, or water main cutoff valve, is not known to anyone because the manager is out! Costly damage may be avoided when such information is posted and known to staff membersManagement is no escape from details. The only way to control a staff is by watch ing the details, and letting your people know that you do. Climbing up the ladder, when the marquee display is being changed, may discover that the frames need tightening— even that the ladder itself is unstable. Method in management means precisely such things, from the front of the house to backstage, from basement to roof, from opening to closing. We read in our trade papers about a theatre being penalized by the authorities for latched exit doors during performance hours. Doubtless the staff was instructed against latching the doors. Why weren't they latched, then? The porter may have had the doors open to air out the auditorium. But nobody checked those doors before showtime. Such methodical checkup produces incidental benefits. The usher trained to check all doors is likely to report a loose doorcheck or faulty panic bolt. Regular checking of lights may show the need of dusting or fixture cleaning. It is just such things that, added together, make up method, without which there simply is no management. "He who has a business and does not watch it will soon have no business to watch." Someone said that, and someone was so right. 26 BEHER THEATRES. MAY 4, 1946