Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1948)

EVERETT HAG LUND— General Manager, Gollos Theatre Circuit (9 theatres), Chicago, Illinois — writes: "RCA Service is 'Johnny on the spot.' It is a necessity just like insurance." To get the benefits of RCA Service —write: RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC., Radio Corporation of America, Camden, New Jersey. Invitation to your Patrons ENC®RE Theatre Chairs Theatre Seating Division 666 Lake Shore Drive Chicago JJ, ///. THEATRE SUPPLY DEALERS. Exclusively ASK YOUR DEALER GOLDBERG r REELS r BROS. Denver. Colo. tendant operating between ticket booth and incoming automobiles. The new one promised does the same thing. This is being developed by Taller & Cooper, Inc., a Brooklyn, N. Y., concern which has been manufacturing and installing highway toll and traffic-checking systems for many years. Ben Cooper, president of the company, advises that tests are now being made on the equipment for initial installations. • Gratitude from Germany Several copies of Motion Picture Herald-Better Theatres recently came into the hands of an exhibitor in the British Zone of Germany. He and his family are trying to restore themselves in motion picture exhibition. His letter in gratitude for the magazines is touching, to us at least, and it may be more significant. "I am very anxious to obtain information and instruction from America, after we in Germany were cut off from the whole world during the Hitler era since 1933," he writes. Upon receiving the magazines, "you can hardly imagine how great our joy actually was ! We sat down to study them immediately and never stopped until 2 o'clock in the morning. The Herald, especially the supplement Better Theatres, could not have arrived at a more favorable moment since I am just about to prepare plans for a new balcony theatre. "My daughter has now translated the article 'The Advantages of Balconies for Motion Picture Auditoriums' for me. Equipped with a magnifying lens, I have made a thorough study of the illustrations and gathered valuable information for my project. ... I had intended to use only part of the balcony for seats, but now I shall rearrange all this and have at least ten rows 40 inches apart. "Chair designing in America is wonderful, and the projectors are simply poetry. I do hope we may soon be permitted to place orders in the United States. I am firmly resolved to buy a good deal of my equipment there. "I should like to thank you, also in the name of my family, my two children and my son-in-law (all connected with motion picture theatres) for the great service of having made these American publications available to us." CARPETING IN 1948 The American carpet industry expects to turn out around 80 million yards in 1948. Last year it produced 58 million, which was 30% over the 1941 total. Nevertheless, according to a story in the New York Sun presenting figures of the Carpet Institute of America, the 1948 yardage, even if it reaches 80 million, may not satisfy the demand. One factor in the inability of the industry to push up production still further is the lack of skilled labor, another is the relative limitation of wool, which is imported from the Near East. More good carpeting for theatres is expected this year than was available in 1947, but the domestic demand is likely to remain a limiting factor for awhile. • AIR-CONDITIONING BACKLOG The Carrier Corporation reports a backlog of unfilled orders at the end of the year amounting to $21,668,140. That represents a decrease from that of the previous year, more than half of which was due to cancellations by the company itself in order to reorganize its production planning. The 1947 net profit was $2,272,774, compared with $309,439 in 1946. The January report stated that Dr. Willis H. Carrier w.-,s expected to be designated Chairman Emeritus of the board of directors. It was twenty-five years ago that Dr. Carrier's work in mechanical refrigeration was applied actually to the airconditioning of a theatre — substantially the birth of commercial comfort-cooling by mechanical means. SERVICE 20 YEARS Dating the beginning of its theatre service to 1928, RCA takes notice of this new year as its twentieth in the servicing of sound and projection equipment. According to a little story from the RCA Service Company in Camden, N. J., this activity started with a call from the Majestic theatre in Johnstown, Pa., asking for service on its Photophone installation. This function at RCA was later assumed by a separate corporate affiliate, which is now headed by E. C. Cahill. This company is now preparing to take over the servicing also of television equipment, having begun the training of its field personnel for this purpose. • TWO NEW TESMANS Roy Boomer's newsy — and inspirational — little Tesma Tattler reports, in its issue of January 16th, the admission of two new members to the manufacturers' organization— the Columbus Production Manufacturing Company, Columbus, Ohio, which recently took over the L. J. Gardiner Company and its projector, with Harry Mellman as president ; and the Hurley Screen Company of New York, which hardly needs any identification at this late date in its career. G. S. Better Theatres is published every four weeks as a section of Motion Picture Herald. . . . George Schutz, Editor. Ray Gallo, Advertising Manager. Midwest Advertising Representative: J. Urben Farley, 120 South LaSalle Street, Chicago. 64 BETTER THEATRES, FEBRUARY 14, 1948