Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

1130 ACCESSORY NEWS SECTION 14. No. 7 PETER MAGARO'S REGENT IS MADE CONSPICUOUS AT NIGHT BY A HUGE ELECTRIC SIGN ON THE ROOF A LARGE, brilliantly lighted electric sign on the roof makes the Regent, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a conspicuous landmark in that city. Three figures in the act of diving from a lofty eminence, two shooting through the air and the third poised for a swift descent, shine out in the night with startling effectiveness. The sign, a solid metal structure dotted with incandescent globes, is as high as the theatre and is an instance of what can be done to gain publicity by a profusion of light. The front makes an attractive appearance, with an ornamented cornice, decorated moulding at the entrance, topped with a heraldic device, and a piece of statuary gracing the ticket booth. The lobt)y has been made an advertising adjunct by a profuse display of posters in neat frames. The interior decorations command attention by the chaste design of panel effect, scroll mouldings and sweep of floral curves in the cciHng. The Screen from the Balcony, Regent, Harrisburg, Pa. The Regent is located at 410 Market street and is owned and managed by Peter Magaro, who has built up a select clientele by skilful! management and studying the taste of his patrons. The Regent measures thirty by two hundred feet and was built in 1914. A system of perfect ventilation makes the house one of the coolest in Pennsylvania. Exhaust fans in the ceiling and numerous electric fans keep the temperature several degrees below diat of the street. The heating is done by steam heat piped through the city streets from a central plant. The Regent has a seating capacity of seven hundred on the main floor and three hundred and fifty on the balcony. The length of the throw is 170 feet; a Power's 6-A machine is used for showing the pictures. The seats were furnished by the E. H. Stafford Manufacturing Company. A Gold Fibre screen has proved most satisfactory for exhibiting the pictures. Water colors and oil painting in panels gives the walls an air of richness lacking in many theatres, where the importance of the right kind of decorations is not apparent to the management. A Moller four manual organ is used for the music with the pictures. Photographs in brass frames Mr. Magaro finds very helpful for effective publicity. Bevel mirrors in the entrance doors give the lobby a certain magnificence of finish. The foyer is of colored glass and the theatre lias among oilier decorative C(iuipmcnl an atlracii\e drinking fountain. The box office is an ornate affair, pagoda in effect, with eight sides, all glass in the upper part. The performances are continuous, beginning at ten in tlie morning and ending at eleven at night. Ten cents is charged for adults and five cents for children, in the afternoon as well as in the evening. Eleven persons are in the employ of the Regent. The house is located in the business district. Mr. Magaro believes in bringing patronage to his house by advertising liberally in the newspapers, using billboards, slides announcing future attractions, and making the lobby a spot that the passerby cannot help see and notice, no matter how much of a hurry he might be in. The Regent has rest rooms for ladies and a smoking and retiring room for men. It employs two organists. Paramount pictures are shown. NEW RIALTO THEATRE BECOMES POPULAR INDIANAPOLIS HOUSE special to Motion I'ictuee News. Indianapolis, Aug. 5. ■"pHE Rialto theatre, Indianapolis, of which Fred B. Leonard •»■ is the manager, has become one of the most popular of the downtown photoplay houses in the city, since it opened. July 1. This is due to its location and the attractive way in which it has been decorated. Tlie Rialto is located in Kentucky avenue, neacW'ashington street, near the point where Illinois and Washington streets and Kentucky avenue meet, the very heart of the business district. A lobby has been built, extending from Kentucky avenue to Illinois street, decorated with large palms and baskets of green shrubbery, with mirrors on each side, which presents an attractive appearance. The theatre has proven a haven of refuge for Indianapolis theatregoers during the hot weather. The ventilating system which has been installed makes it one of the coolest and most comfortable theatres in the city. It is the largest photoplay house in that neighborhood. The interior of the Rialto is unusually striking. The color scheme is green and ivory. The walls are ivory tinted, with delicate frescoing, and along the sides are baskets of green glass filled with ferns and other greener}-, and so lighted that the plants seem to be in water. The ceilings of the theatre itself and the lobby are covered with a white trellis supporting large quantities of smilax. The lights are globes of a delicate green, set among the leaves. There are 600 of these globes, and tb.e effect of the whole theatre is cooling and pleasing to the eye. In the lower part of the theatre six large electric fans are kept going constantlj-, while in the gallery one large fan, which is said to be the largest in any theatre in the State, measuring sixty inches across, projects 50.000 feet of cool air a minute. The theatre has a seating capacity of 1.000. There are two stage boxes, also ornamented with vine-covered white trellises, and a row of boxes at the back of the theatre. In the ceiling of the gallery, and also in the ceiling of the lower floor, large green and gold lamps are set in. The lower parts of the boxes are draped with green curtains. One of the features is the SIO.OOO pipe organ installed by the Jamison Piano Company of Lafayette, which is operated from the centre of the regulation archestra pit. This pit also has its screen of white trellis and smilax. The screen of crystal gold fiber is set far back on the stage, and the out-of-doors effect is heightened bj vine-draped pillars and pots of palms and other plants. There are two rest rooms upstairs and one downstairs. An unusually artistic stage setting, made by an Indianapolis scenic artist, sets far back on the stage and shows pillars wreathed with vines and trellises. The entire fitting out of the theatre cost between $50,000 and $60,000, according to Manager Leonard.