Motion Picture Theater Management (1927)

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122 MOTION PICTURE THEATER MANAGEMENT Perhaps none of my patrons will ever meet me face to face. But in each step they take about my theater they will find a something that is I. Just as the plan and the ornament and the equipment have been my choice, so the smile of the usher is my cordiality; and in the voice of the orchestra my ambition is singing. When people observe an athlete, they do not think of the brain which is invisible to them. Yet they say : "What coordination! What response !" When people leave my lobby, they do not think of me as a man, but if I hear them say, "How perfectly managed!" or if the crowds come back again and again and again, they may not realize it, but it is I that they have come to know. The manager who can thus commune with himself, and can convey the contagion of his spirit to others, has the emotional driving power to make something better than a herd of helpers, or a human machine. He brings into existence a a super-personality, a social entity. His theater is as easily pointed out and recognized as the face or the name or the record of a person of prominence. For that reason, let me repeat : The real function of personnel exists only when many persons multiply by their number the effectiveness of a dominant and a guiding personality. So much for the ideal, and for the emotion that moves it. What are some of the practical steps whereby the aim is achieved every work day in the week? To begin with, it is a profitable measure to have a printed leaflet outlining the standard to be maintained, together with individual sets of rules and instructions for the various groups. If the manager does not feel equal to expressing himself on paper in a style he would wish others to respect, he can assign the task to one of his staff, or get some representative of the local press to draw the thing up for him. If it is worked out carefully, and enough copies are made, the service manual will save time and trouble for years, at a comparatively low initial cost. The engaging of employees should be governed by the policy of the house, since random employment makes for many misfits. Naturally, theater employees should be selected largely on the basis of appearance; and employees in any kind of business