Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

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Dece m her o . 1930 .1/ olio ii I' i c I it r e N c &) s 1%* 49 tfm?&z< THEATRE ARCHITECTS and builders are sharpening pencil points in readiness for the big remodeling drive which is due to hit the exhibition field shortly after New Year's. . . . Many in the architectural profession have in recent months been made to feel the pinch of the retrenchment policy forced upon industry leaders by big-money interests of Wall Street's golden canyon. . . . And, if something doesn't break in the theatre construction held shortly, we know of a dozen architects' offices where the familiar "To Sub-lease" sign will be hung to the breeze. * * * Lester Cowan, technical manager of the Academy of Arts & Sciences, still is secretly at work on a plan of standardization for wide film. . . . He expects to finish the job within two months when the toes of plenty with pet ideas on how wide film should stack up will be stepped on, and how! . . . S. K. Wolf, Erpi's consulting acoustical engineer, is en route to the Coast, to be away from New York until early January. . . . Walter Eberhardt, Western Electric p.a. postcards from Rome. * * * The miUenium will have arrived when the old-line equipment manufacturers and dealers shelve their deeply imbedded inferiority complex. . . . And that time is not far distant, with the old guard taking the cue from the new group of progresswes. . . . One of the least pretentious buildings occupied by RCA Victor in Camden is the old church on Fifth between Market and Cooper. . . . Few, if any, of the company's N, Y. staff are aware that Universal sound news reels are recorded in this former church. . . . Gene G. Gendel, of the old newspaper school, is now plugging for Typhoon ran. * # * From Shanghai comes word that William H. Jansen, picture and equipment man in that Oriental spot, is packing his grip for a trip to the States to enlist the aid of equipment manufacturers in an educational plan. . . . The height of something or other in an ultra moderne motif is reached in the decorative scheme and furnishings of the lavish suite where Joe Hornstein and Harold Rodner do things for Warners' Continental Theatre Accessories at the New York home office. . . . Ted Eltonhead. whom old-timers well remember, is doing public relations work for the operators' union in New York. * * * Who will get that nine million bucks which the industry will spend in the first three months of 1931 for new equipment and replacements? . . . Exhibs are beginning to realize that modernized theatres with new furnishings and equipment are as vital for complete b.o. success as quality pictures. . . . And they don't mean maybe! . . . Westinghouse Electric's catalogue of new equipment for 1931-32 season stacks uo as a keen competitor, for size, with New York's teleDhone directory, having 1,352 pages — count 'em. . . . Speaking of catalogues, Hub Electric has a pip. ... Its arrangement, in thumb-index style, and makeup beats most of the others to a frazzle. IF THE extensive research work being carried on by building material manufacturers in quest of substitutes is successful, the entire construction industry, including theatrical, will see the application to building methods of many "new-fangled" ideas. . . . Mostof the work is being done with a view to cutting construction costs. . . . And less labor is one of the influencing factors for the new ideas. . . . His former pals along Film Row are celebrating Bert Sanford's victory in copping top spot on Erpi's Eastern sales roster. . . . Bert formerly carried a portfolio for Pathe. * * * Too bad for Walter Green when National Theatre Supply transplanted its home office from the Windy City to New York. . . . Walter was a regular X. Y. to "Chi" commuter when headquarters were out West, and railriding made him cm accomplished reader of Western novels. . . . To the growing list of accomplished flyers add the name of Waller B. Armstrong, head of Armstrong Studios. Inc., Los Angeles, who completed a "flying" visit to New York when he arrived back on the Coast Sunday night by plane 4. C. Buensod. of Carrier's theatre division, is touring the country to establish service stations for theatre air conditioning, at Carrier's key city offices. * * * H. F. duPont, of duPont de Nemours has installed an RCA Photophone in his swanky residence, Badmington Court, at Winterthur, Del. . . . The Weiting Opera House, on the main stem at Syracuse, was recently cleaned. .. . Ordinarily, an outside face-washing doesn't mean much, but the cleansing operation at the Weiting astounded the townsfolk. . . . Under the weather-and-dirt colored surface was found a beautiful light colored brick. * * * R. Fawn Mitchell, of Bell & Howell, now is at work on a paper on color to be read Jan. 8 before the S.M.P.E. at "Chi." . . . Boston chapter of the American Institute of Architects is lobbying in the Bay States legislative halls for passage of a law, governing licensing of architects. . . . The Texas chapters of the Institute will again introduce a registration law in the State legislature when it convenes early in January. . . . The Kentucky governor _ signed the registration lazv . recently passed in that state, where a license now is required to practice. . . . Next move is for uniformity of alt state laivs. * * * Hats off to Sam Kaplan, big chief in proiectionists' union circles in New York, who has launched a drive to pile up heavy dough for old and disabled operators. . . . Sam has 1.200 members in his outfit. . . . Charles J. Ross, exec, vice-prexy of RCA Photophone, tips off the appointments of. . . . E. J. Schneider as comptroller. . . . J. M. Knaut as general auditor. . . . And H. D. Colvil as assistant to Schneider. . . . The latter hails from the parent company, while Knaut and Colvil are old Photophoners. . . . From Pretoria, South Africa, T. J. Connolly sends a photo showing how he has taught natives to use the Filmo. . . . What pretty eyes those natives have! THEATRE EQUIPMENT dealers and manufacturers are missing a big bet when they fail to date catalogues. . . . Architects, in writing specifications, naturally avail themselves of the latest equipment info and the uncertainty of dope in undated catalogues usually influences them to treat them lightly. . . . The Chicago section of the S.M.P.E. now holds regular monthly confabs, on the first Thursday. President (Eastman Kodak) Crabtree of the Society of M. P. Engineers, this week named the following committee chairmen to serve under him for 1931: . . . Color, W. V. D. Kelley. of DuChrome Film Systems, Hollywood. . . . Publicity, Will Whitmore, Erpi, N. Y. . . . Convention, "Bill" Kunzman, National Carbon, Cleveland. . . . Membership, H. T. Cowling, Eastman Kodak, Rochester. . . . Papers, O. M. Glunt, Bell Lab, N. Y. . . . Progress, G. E. Matthews, Eastman Kodak, Rochester. . . . Historical, Carl L. Gregory, N. Y. . . . Sound, H. B. Santee, Erpi, N. Y. . . . Standards, A. C. Hardy, Mass. Ins. of Technology, Cambridge. . . . Studio Lighting, M. W. Palmer, Paramount Studio, Long Island City. After all these years (and yeahs) , the big guns are beginning to turn toivard the little guys for business prospects. . . . And, if you don't think these little fellows are going to play a mighty important part in the scheme of things just ask John Eberson, architect and author of a plan for modernized small theatres to be erected economically. . . . And Carrier Engineer, which this week announces a refrigerating system for the little feliozvs. . . . A)id Sidney Kent. Paramount's sales chief, who nc-.er cases to extol the merits of small houses. . . . And countless others, too numerous to mention. . . . Present trend in cooling equipment, incidentally, is for higher speed apparatus and smaller, more compact devices. Echoes of Norman Bel Geddes' conception of future theatres, reproduced two months ago in The Showman, can still be heard in theatre architectural circles. . . . Lester Soman, after months of secretive operations with a new group, has completed his new Visionola device. . . . Much speculation exists in West Coast theatre building camps over the new string which Joe Schenck of United Artists promises to use in a defensive battle with Harley Clark's Fox West Coast chain. . . . The insiders are wondering where the money-bag is to be filled. . . . Schenck said he will spend $150,000 on each, to be built along ultra modern lines, each with straight film policy and no stage for fleshand-blood. . . . The lowdown on why the Loudon branch of the S. M. P. E. pulled away from the parent body involves an attempt by the Londoners, headed by Simon Rowson, to collect from the U. S. organization a deficit of some $400 or $500 which resulted from the big dinner given by the British unit to Sir Oliver Lodge many months ago. . . . Directors over here refused to pay the bill and the British got plenty sore. . . . It capped the climax of a long siege of tilts between both organizations.