Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

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Suggestions Invited, Questions Cheerfully Answered Address: Exhibitors' Department, The Motion Picture News SOME time ago I visited a new theatre. Not a five-cent house, but a supposed refined photoplay theatre. The theatre must represent a large investment, as everything is first-class and nothing has been spared to insure the comfort of the patrons. Yet there was something queer in the atmosphere of the place, something that did not seem to harmonize with the rest. The best illustration to my mind is the country boy dressed in an evening dress and making his first appearance in society. His clothes may be of the finest material and workmanship, but he does not know how to wear them, he does not feel at his ease and he is the target of everyone. The doorman and the ushers had new uniforms, very neat in pattern and well-made, but somehow they did not seem to fit, because the men did not know how to wear them, and, like the country boy, they did not feel at ease. To tell the truth, the men were not the clean-cut fellows to make efficient and courteous attendants, they were of a low type, most likely engaged because they were willing to work at low wages. As I said in a previous issue of this magazine, good manners are born with the man and, while they can be taught to a certain degree, the vulgar man will always show his true nature at one moment or another. You cannot expect good manners from the attendants if the manager has no manners himself. The manager of this new theatre is a man who was lucky to make some money, but in gaining wealth he did not change the manners of his former days. When the manager saw me seated and enjoying the show, he came to shake hands and to thank me for having called on him. Keeping his hat on and still holding a smoking cigarette between his fingers, he took a seat next to me and started to give me some details on his new theatre. His voice was not muffled, and, as he could not see that he was annoying the patrons, who had paid an admission to enjoy the pictures and not hear someone talk, 1 had to excuse myself so as to put a stop to the conversation. When in the lobby in the full light, I was surprised that the manager, after spending so much money on the building and even on uniforms for his attendants, had not bought a new suit of clothes for himself. He was looking very shabby in his personal appearance, and he did not look like the manager, at least not a man to be approached by the patrons. The result will be a poor business, and the manager will wonder why his patrons go somewhere else and shun his beautiful theatre. He will say: "I have done everything, I have spared neither money nor pains to build a most refined theatre." I know a number of successful managers, who, while they do not wear the regulation uniform, have a special dress to wear while on duty. They keep in the office a fresh suit of clothes, and they don same before the opening of the show, so as to look neat and inspire confidence. The question of personal appearance does not seem to enter in the mind of the motion picture exhibitors and managers. They do not seem to realize the importance of good manners and neat appearance, even in places where the admission is five cents only. Appearance and manners have made great progress in the United States during the i last twenty years. I remember when waiters, sales-people, etc., were allowed to go to work in any sort of clothes, as long as their forms would be covered. To-day it is a different question. Hotels, restaurants, lunch-rooms, cafes, soda-fountains, etc., compel their employees to wear either black SCENE FROM "THE LURE OF NEW YORK" Four-reel Feature Film, New York Film Co.