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52
Motion P icture News
December 7, 1929
Harold B. Franklin
Writes Article Analyzing
the New
Theatre
for the
Sound Era
THE new type of theatre — an expression of the showmanship and technical requirements which are products of the era of sound — is discussed in detail by Harold B. Franklin, general manager and executive head of Fox Western Theatres, in an article he has prepared for the Motion Picture News Theatre Building and Equipment Buyers Guide, to be published December 28.
The many changes brought about through new technical developments affect every department of the theatre, and the adoption of the new ideas to the established principles of sound showmanship are many — a fact realized more forcibly when an authority like Franklin discusses the highlights of the motion picture theatre of today.
The picture business, due to the new dispensation of sound, has broadened to an amazing extent, and this very fact will have an important bearing on the type of theatre that will prove successful in the near future. Every form of theatre entertainment, from burlesque to opera are now within the range of the motion picture medium, and the varied audiences that must be appealed to, bring a new problem for the showman to cope with.
The type of architecture that appears best adapted to the new requirements, the equipment
necessities, all must harmonize with the specific requirements of sound. Even lobby display undergoes change as a result of the popular establishment of talking pictures.
The element of "theatre personality" more than ever is of vital importance, directly associated with the success or failure of the enterprise according as it is properly applied to please the showman s particular clientele.
Provisions for the future trend in the matter of screen sizes are another feature which further complicate the problem facing the builder and operator of a motion picture theatre that is equipped to compete successfully in the present and the near future.
All these are matters which receive consideration from the theatre executive today. They are discussed with characteristic clarity and force in the article which Mr. Franklin has written on a subject of which his acquaintance is large and on which he is recognized throughout the industry as a leading authority.