Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1956)

lucent plastic letters in some color, red being usually preferable because of legibility at greater distance than other shades. For the main part of the advertising copy (attraction titles particularly), letters should not be less than 24 inches high. Other letter sizes available are 30, 17 and 10 inches (smaller ones would rarely be applicable to a drive-in). In order to be sure of ample copy space (particularly when showing double features), do not get attraction panels much less than 28 feet wide. This will usually allow a title to be kept on one line, which aids reading at a glance. With such a width, a depth sufficient for three lines of 24-inch letters (frame height of 8 feet) is practicable. Anotlier line or two would give you that much more freedom to get good display on certain occasions. Whatever kind of signs one wants at the highway, one needs, as a rule, the express consent of highway officials or police. A formal application for the right to install the sign will have to be made, giving the structural character of the sign, the square footage of ground it will occupy, and whether lettering is to face in one or more directions. Another point of information that is critical in many localities is the distance of the sign from the highway. Even if the local government has no requirements regarding this, the state may have; and vice versa. TESTING SOIL STRENGTH Whether one intends to buy a prefabricated screen tower, such as one entirely of steel, or to build one on the job, say, of concrete or even wood frame, one should know at the outset the nature and depth of the subsoil with respect to its ability to support weight. The nature of the subsoil is also important with respect to drainage, and is pertinent as well to grading. Before taking any steps to get the screen tower underway, have an engineer (a merely “practical engineer” in charge of local road building or other construction may well prove dependable) test the soil and give complete data on its structure. With that information, a construction contractor will be able to advise as to whether the subsoil will support a screen tower, or whether piers should be sunk to support the base. A steel tower about 100 x 70 feet may weigh around 50 tons and such a tower is anchored to a concrete base, which will amount to one ton per square yard of set material. For a steel tower, you can figure that the concrete, with reinforcing rods, will have a weight of two tons for each ton of steel structure resting on it. Wind pressure is another consideration of the screen tower. An all-steel structure fabricated specifically for drive-ins by a reliable manufacturer will be designed with the wind factor in mind. The rating should be 30 pounds per square foot, minimum. In hurricane areas, the rating should of course be higher — propably not less than 40 pounds per square foot. The screen tower may come under a building code. Some states have regulations applying to such construction. These are likely to apply as well as to any buildings erected on the drive-in property. Obtain a copy of such code and study it. Your construction contractor, if you have engaged one at this point, may be intimately acquainted with it, and again he may have missed up on a point or two. Water and Sewerage FOR A DRIVE-IN of medium capacity (600-1,000 cars) located where city water is not available, an artesian well is the best source. It should yield not less than 50 gallons per minute if a reserve tank is not used; or, not less than 25 gallons a minute with a reserve tank of 500-gallon capacity. The process of boring for this supply of pure water is, in most cases, a gamble. It may be quite apparent that the ground will yield water, but one does not know at what level sufficient water will flow freely under its own pressure, whether less or more than 100 feet. Whatever the type or depth of the well, one must go deep enough to be absolutely positive that there will -< — TO NEAREST TOWN O < 0 O' directional sign "TURN LEFT FOR — s DRIVE-IN THEATRE / 1000 FEET AHEAD'^ AAAITM MIG-HWAV NAAAE AND ATTRACTION ' SIGN y ENTRANCE DRIVE y (V < Q Z o u LU UT Practical entrance drive and sign schemes for three relationships of drive-in property to highway. In the lefthand situations, property at intersection must place entrance beyond it; the sign, however, is at intersection. With insufficient depth for a straight run, the entrance drive is looped to absorb cars from highway. The center condition admits of a simple solution. Where the property abuts on a secondary road at or near a main highway, it may be advantageous to have the drive-in entered from the side road, placing the sign, however, at highway. Better Theatres 1956 Market Guide 37