Motion Picture News (Jan-Feb 1922)

January J , 1922 427 NEW THEATRE Construction & Equipment PR OJECTION Department camera P. M. ABBOTT TECHNICAL EDITOR Marked Activity in Theatre Building in Western New York State Plans Are Out for a Great Number of New Motion Picture Temples The Film Prayer BY A. P. HOLLIS. Visual Instruction Service, North Dakota Agricultural College. I AM celluloid, not steel ; O god of the machine, have mercy. I front four dangers whenever I travel the whirring wheels of the mechanism. Over the sprocket wheels, held tight by the idlers, I am forced by the motor’s might. If a careless hand misthreads me, I have no alternative but to go to my death. If the springs at the aperture gate are too strong, all my splices pull apart. If the pull on the take-up reel is too violent, I am torn to shreds. If dirt collects in the aperture, my film of beauty is streaked and marred, and I must face my beholders — a thing ashamed and bespoiled. Please, if I break, fasten me with clips ; never with pins. Don’t rewind me — my owner wants that privilege, so that he may examine me, heal my wounds and send me rejuvenated upon a fresh mission. I travel many miles in iron cans. I am tossed on heavy trucks, sideways and upside down. Please see that my own paper band is wrapped snugly around me on the reel and fastened with a string, so that my first few coils do not slip loose in my shipping case, and be bruised and wounded beyond the power to heal. Put me in my own shipping case. Don’t make me a law-breaker. The law requires a certain type of can, two address labels, and a yellow caution label. Scrape off all old labels so I will not go astray. Speed me on my way. Others are waiting to see me. The next day is the last day I should be held. Have a heart for the other fellow who is waiting, and for my owner who will get the blame. Don’t humiliate me by sending me back without paying my passage and insuring me against loss or damage. I am a delicate ribbon of celluloid — misuse me and I disappoint thousands ; cherish me, and I delight and instruct the world. This year will find new theatres springing up all over the Western part of New York State. Exhibitors are planning [many changes and great activity is predicted in theatrical building circles. In Buffalo the Shea Amusement Company has completed plans for the mammoth Shea Metropolitan, which will be built during the coming year in Main street, above Chippewa. The Shea Company has been collecting ideas for this house for the past two years and Harold B. Franklin promises that it will bristle with novelties. In the same city the Monument Theatre Corporation, of which M. Slotkin is general manager, is about ready to open its $2,500,000 business and theatre building, the new Lafayette Square. The amusement part of the project alone cost $1,500,000. Both super-productions and vaudeville will be presented and has a seating capacity of approximately 4,000. The Lafayette Square replaces the old Lyric and Family theatres. Only recently the new Loew State Theatre was opened in Buffalo. This is a magnificent 3,800-seat theatre, having every feature known to modern theatre construction. Max Spiegel and I. H. Herk have leased the former Shea Criterion in Buffalo and intend to remodel the interior and install a large stage. It has not as yet been determined what the policy will be. In addition to all these fine houses in Buffalo, there is continual rumor that the Mark-Strand interest may build a beautiful new house in the Queen City in the not distant future, as the lease of the present Strand will soon expire. Going from Buffalo to Niagara Falls, we find the Cataract Theatre Corporation rushing to completion its mammoth new Strand on Falls street, next to the Cataract. A. C. Hayman, one of the best known exhibitors in the State, is head of the company. The Strand will open late in the spring of 1922. Also Frank Amendola is building the new Amendola Theatre at Pine avenue and Fifteenth street, which will be one of the most attractive neighborhood theatres in the Cataract city. The new Bellevue, opened this fall, is now becoming famous under the management of D. H. Finke. Batavia, N. Y., is another Western New York city that is determined to be recognized in the theatre world. Two big theatres are planned for that city this year, one by Batavia Theatres, Inc., and the other by the Community Theatre Company. The Batavia house will be located at 36-38 Main street and will cost $175,000. The theatre was designed by Leon H. Lempert. The new Community Theatre will be at 206 East Main street and will cost $200,000, with a seating of nearly 1,500. Not to be outdone by its sister cities, Lockport is building a handsome new theatre at Elm street and East avenue, under the guidance of the Lockport Theatres Corporation. The house will cost about $200,000, accommodating 1,600 seats. Jamestown, N. Y., down in the Chautauqua district, is witnessing the erection of the new Palace Theatre by Peterson & Woods, proprietors of the present Winter Garden and Mozart. The Palace will have a seating capacity of 2,000 and will open next fall. It is located on Spring street, opposite the City Hall. Samuel Carver, manager of the Empire, Buffalo, and secretary of the Western New York Unit of the M. P. T. O. A., has interested capital in Bath, N. Y., intending to build a new theatre in that town for exclusive picture presentation. The house will seat 1,500. In Niagara Falls, Ont., just across the border from our own Cataract City, excavations have been started for a theatre to be built by the Niagara Grand Theatre, Ltd. This house, which will cost $250,000, is to have a seating capacity of 1,800 and will be located at Queen street and Buckley avenue. M. P. Ryley has opened a new 700-seat picture theatre in Clarence, N. Y. The Corry Amusement Company has purchased two lots on North Center street, on which they are to erect a new motion picture theatre. Captain Hyland of Belleville, Ont., has leased the Crown Theatre at Bridgeburg, Ont., remodelling it as a motion picture house. — Taylor. Delft, Iron River, Mich., to Open G. E. Moyle will be the manager of the new Delft theatre in Iron River, Michigan, which will open soon, according to H. S. Gallup, general manager of the Delft Theatrical Enterprises, controlling a string of theatres in the upper peninsula, with headquarters in Marquette. The house will seat 725 people. The building is of brick, with a fully equipped stage by the Twin City Scenic Co. The booth will be equipped with Simplex machines and also a Simplex selling machine There will be a lightning coin changer in the box-office. The seats are HeywoodWakefield. Most of the equipment was purchased through the Teco Products Manufacturing Co., at Minneapolis.— Heffernan.