Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

n e c e in h e r 6, 1 9 3 0 M a I i o n I' i ( / ii r e A' e w s 39 Rough Cast Concrete with Glazed Tile and Rustless Metal for Standard Theatres MODERN AMERICAN DECORATIONS ARE SUGGESTED FOR NEW STRUCTURES AND REMODELING JOBS IN MINIMIZED COST PLAN ADVANCED BY EBERSON By JOHN EBERSON Theatre Architect w ARE passing through an economic evolution, and since the peoples of the world have been drawn so close to each other with the development of transportation and communication, world wide observations and experiences quickly come to us in most illustrating and educating fashion. This holds true in the theatre, with the showman, the artist, the projectionist and sound expert; and, last but not least, the theatre architect. They all play a greater part and occupy a more conspicuous position in the eye of the public at large than ever before. Very plainly can we see the trend of private life and business affecting complete readjustment, brought about by natural causes and world wide actions, and reaching every human being. every household, every line of business endeavor. Personally, I welcome this tendency towards the reduced standard of living, which eventually will lead to a more sane and sound order of business. In the service of the motion picture industry, a theatre architect, like all others, must take this change of affairs into deep consideration, and I for one am willing to throw away the garish toga of gold, glitter and extravagancy, and take the mallet and steel chisel and carve available rock into sturdy form eternal dependability. Riding on the crest of intense action, and flushed with the excitement of keen competition, great men push forward, breathless and heedless, carrying the banner of progress and success, without time to reflect and calculate. Here and there and everywhere, in an orgy of extravagancy and fired by personal ambition, costly and elaborate giant theatre structures have arisen, all prompted by the courage of the men who caused them to be built, in turn aided by the thought of the artful architect and by the skill of the artisan and builder. Large and larger theatres spring up everywhere — all monumental structures, palatial interiors, lavishly bedecked in elaborate gold and crystals. Comparatively, 20 years of progress and development has been cramped into three years, and the JOHN EBERSON >f simple beauty and resultant effect forces one to believe that a saturation point has been reached in practically all of America's key cities. It has been the most rapid development in any industry. But, at last, we have reached a point of hesitancy and a turn towards tin level and sanity becomes the order of the day. With the same burst of speed and intensity, scientists, artists and shooters have developed product of unheard of value and interest. They have cared for, and well, our larger cities. Now we shall stop to gather strength to build up, in this era of progressiveness, the multitude of other cities and smaller communities which must be served with comparatively equal facilities for the presentation of motion pictures. This small town nation-wide building expansion comes to the producer in a different garb, and must be treated in a skillful manner in order to properly serve this patronage and bring equitable returns to the boxoffice. It takes' a good deal more skill than art to build small theatres which serve small communities successfully. Less skill is needed to build super de luxe theatres in the larger towns where one finds himself backed with practically limitless capital and building facilities. It is with this new small town development, therefore, that the practical theatre architect will find unusual opportunities to render real service. Setting all dreams, fantasy (genuine or affected), knowledge and feeling of art aside, the theatre architect must be fully conscious of the relativity between the lavish architectural offering and the actual results and influence on business obtained by his architectural efforts. We have, more or less, spoiled our public in this mad rush of competition ; we have over-amused, over-serviced and overfed the patron until he has become blase, critical, spoiled and very hard to please. Natural action, color and sound have replaced the silent film completely, as we all realize. And with this replacement comes a new era in theatre construction, gradually deviating from the beaten track of "supers." The success (Continued on page 43)