Moving Picture World (Oct-Dec 1911)

28o THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD be arranged to sell the tickets to the tradesmen at a slight reduction and let them give them out themselves. In some sections mixed slips will be received, a forty-cent purchase at the drug store and sixty-three cents at the grocers being the same as a dollar slip from the butcher. Most cash registers have printing attachments, which simplifies printing and bof>kkeeping. It is best, as a rule, to stipulate that these redeemed slips must be presented before a certain hour, perhaps one hour after the house opens. Be Careful of the Lottery. Remember tiiat the lottery law is strict and cannot long be evaded. You cannot announce that you will give every fifth or tenth ticket free, but you can sell five tickets for the price of four or ten for the price of nine, the odd ticket going to whoever gets up the party. You cannot give a brand new dollar bill to the holder of a lucky number, but you can give a prize in a contest dependent upon skill instead of chance. Suppose that a daily prize is given to the person offering th° best solution to some simple puzzle thrown on the screen. That is not a lottery, though it amounts to the same thing if the problem is so simple that a child can get it, and the first slip drawn from the box is regarded as the winner. There are scores of schemes along these lines that will bring business. If you've got a particularly good one, send it along. J. H. James, of the Dreamland Theater, Salem, Ind., sends in a suggestion for a neat and inexpensive program board. On heavy white card, such as may be had at large stationers' or from some dealers in building material, have twenty-five or thirty sets of alphabets printed by the local printer. Wood type should be used not less than two and a half or three inches high. If desired, varnish these cards with some colorless varnish and then cut them apart, leaving half an inch margin top and bottom and a proper white space on each side of the letters. If you ask the printer to space them for you, cut as he suggests, using a sharp knife that the edges may be clean cut. Build a back of heavy matched boards the desired size; box in with 2x4s and to this fit a glass door. Paint the back or, better still, cover with cloth of appropriate color and against this nail strips of tin or zinc, grooved by your plumber to take the cardboard alphabet squares. Paint the metal to match the backing or with aluminum and into the grooves slip the letters to form the words you need. Paint the outside and attach to the lobby wall. It's the same thing as many of the patent frames, and you have saved freight costs and builders' profits. The glazed doors protect the letters from damage and you have a sign that is, as Mr. James explains, satisfactory and cheap, yet presenting the finished appearance that does not suggest economy. If you use a 2x4 for framing you can set electric lights in side, small 2 to 8 candlepower lamps hidden by the woodwork of the door, or you can raise the door just high enough to expose the grooves, using thinner material. Try the scheme and send in a photograph of the result. With the Western Produces. Lewis Stone, Nat Goodwin's partner in the Co-Operative Co., took his cameraman and went into the wilds of Arizona, after an Indian Snake Dance. Their guide was a young buck who couldn't even say "How" or grunt. Whenever they wanted to convey any information to him they had to draw a picture in the sand. One day something died inside of the camera and, after fussing around a while, the operator pulled out about eight feet of film, tore it off and threw it away. The Indian made a grab for it and adorned his head band with eight feet of celluloid. Lew has a tender heart and said, "Be careful how you handle that, Joe." Joe pricks uphis donkey ears and says, "What's the matter? Will it explode?" After twelve days of drawing pictures in the sand! What's the use? Chas. Insley, formerly of the Bison Co., has accepted a more lucrative job with Pathe. While half seas over, Mr. Oliver, of the Pathe Co., was persuaded to have his hair cut. Said hair is about two feet long and is very picturesque in Pathe's Westerns. On getting an evil keel under him, he discovered his loss and sat for one hour under the manager's window cussing steadily. Miss Quin, of Pathe's dramatic stock, has been featured in a big marine taken of? Portuguese Bend. Manager Young Deer promises something unusual. To all queries the answer is, "Wait and see." Pathe's "Weekly" cameraman was in the neighborhood for over a week. What he covered is also a mystery. James L. McGee, the business manager of the Selig Co., left last night for Santa Cruz, where he will perfect the arrangements for some startling logging pictures to be taken in the great redwood forests just back of Santa Cruz. Mr. McGee has promised something good and novel. After the business details are settled at Santa Cruz, he goes to Sai> Francisco, where some big marines will be taken. Betty Harte has succumbed to a slight nervous collapse due to overwork and will not be featured in any of Selig's reels for about six weeks. Betty is the darling of the studio and her temporary loss from the merry-making crowd has left a trail of gloom a yard wide in her wake. Iva Shepard has been forced to take a rest on account of her injured ankle. This is awful news because Iva and Betty were the life of the studio. NEW ORPHEUM AT GRAND RAPIDS. Gilligham & Smith Building Attractive Photo Playhouse in Michigan City. Out of a mass of scaffolding and debris and heaps of building material on Canal Street, near Michigan Avenue, Grand Rapids, Michigan., is rising the attractive facade of the New Orpheum Theater, being built by Messrs. Gilligham & Smith. The new house has a frontage of fifty feet on Canal Street and extends back one hundred feet to Kent Alley. In height it corresponds with the three-story buildings in the neighborhood. With the Maxine Elliott Theater in New York City as a pattern, the interior decorations will be lavish. It will have a seating capacity of 1,200 persons and the chairs will be upholstered in green leather. As it is the intention of the owners to offer vaudeville with their picture program, an ample stage has been provided for. The picture program will consist of two first-run licensed productions of the feature class. In the vaudeville line it is intended to run six acts which will be supplied by the Western Vaudeville Managers Association. There will be three shows daily at ten and twenty cent prices. The most minute details in the projection and proper presentation of the pictures will be carried out and the sound effects and following of the picture in its flight across the sheet with the proper music is a point in Mr. Smith's orders to his proposed orchestra and effect man. Special attention has been paid in the construction of the new house as to proper and efficient ventilation. The Helios system of washed air has been installed and the Richmond Vacuum cleaning apparatus will clean the theater daily. The new house is said to represent an investment of $7S,ooo.