The Moving picture world (July 1924-August 1924)

August 2, 1924 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 393 Australian Showman Does Pretty Lobbies Because we liked the If Winter Comes lobby which Hal H. Carleton made for the Crystal Palace, Sydney, Australia, Hal H. Carleton sends in photographs of other recent lobbies for the same house ; the only long-run picture theatre in Australia. Mr. Carleton is general advertising man for the Union Theatres, Ltd., and has supervision over the Sydney advertising for all of their theatres, but he gives most of his personal attention to the Crystal Palace, because of its greater importance. He has the very able assistance of Fred Finlay, the house staff artist. It was Mr. Finlay, for example, who did the two large paintings which are the backbone of the lobby on Nero. Only one of these can be seen in the reproduction as the other faces away from the camera. The ceiling is cloth painted in hieroglyphs, which is more Egyptian than Roman, but it gave a better effect than straight cloth and no one was hypercritical. It will be noticed that there is an ornamental chandelier done to match the dome of the box office. The entire structure is massive, to suggest the solidity of the production, with rich dark tones predominating in the drapes and a generous use of gold to brighten the colors. On the other hand, the lobby on The White Rose is light and delicate, to suggest the nature of the Griffith play. The openings on the sides are frames for paintings. These are set back of the openings and lighted with colored globes in back of the falsework. The box office is masked in, with white roses piled on top, and we infer that the cutout on the oval above the ticket booth masks the chandelier. Apart from the arch, which cannot well be disguised, the lobbies are utterly unlike. A third lobby, for The Covered Wagon, also carries paintings, but this time they are backed by heavy draperies, and a large Indian head shows above the entrance doors. The tone of the photograph is a little too rtists Release HOW THE WHITE ROSE BLOOMED IN AUSTRALIA A graceful decoration helped to emphasize the charm of this Griffith production when it took its initial run at the Crystal Palace, Sydney, Australia. This lobby was planned by Hal Carleton. dark to permit reproduction, but the design differs from both of the others. Here, as in the case of The White Rose, the canopy is of crepe paper streamers set closely together, but where they are focused on the cutout in the lobby shown a billow effect is used in ered Wagon. Mr. Carleton's lobbies will stand comparison with the best work anywhere. He also sends a colored throwaway for Mae Murray in Fascination, which advertises that a local stage favorite will use the costume worn by Miss Murray in the Bull Dance in a new act at a local music hall. This is a new angle on the "original" costume stunt. A Fox Release HAL H. CARLETON'S DISPLAY ON NERO IN SYDNEY. Compare this lobby with the other picture on this page and note how completely Mr. Carleton transforms the Crystal Palace for a change in the program. Painted by Fred Finlay, staff artist. Taka-Chance Week Is a Chambers Idea Stanley N. Chambers, of the Miller Theatre, Wichita, Kans., has evolved a new one for the Miller. He calls it Taka-Chance week, and the essence of the idea is contained in this extract from his preliminary announcement : "Think of the many things Mr. Flath has done in the past — his big musical presentations— and imagine something finer and greater than anything heretofore produced in Wichita — something that has never been attempted on any stage — something so large and difficult that few people would attempt it. "Think of the most thrilling, dramatic and humorous film you have ever seen, and you have an idea how entertaining the features will be. For six months Mr. Chambers has been screening pictures every day in order to find two that are good enough to ask Miller patrons to 'Taka-Chance' on. We're not going to tell you the titles of either picture, or the players, but you have our word for it — they're bang-up entertainment for every member of the family. "Then the extras — every single supplementary feature, has been hand picked — many have been held for months especially for this show. Novel little bits of films, surprising 'shots'— and one amazing screen marvel that will make you gasp with astonishment." Not even the house employees have any hint as to what is coming and are as much interested as the general public. The idea of the mystery is merely to bring everyone out on the start of the superheated season and to provide an additional exploitation stunt. If you can get up a whale of a program, try it out. This week should help make business all through the summer.