The Moving picture world (May 1926-June 1926)

QJour Equipment H Service for you^-Jheatre Owner^Bailxkr^Studb^ IJ Caboratorij ~ Sxchanqe Sxecutiue ~-Jront IjoarJnxfz Sdited btf cA. Van. Jburen PoueU Spring Into Summer Without a Fall! s HUT UP ABOUT SHUTTING DOWN! I'm your theatre. I guess I've got a right to talk up at you — Lord knows there's been plenty of times you've spoken your kind thoughts about me — mostly when business was bad ! And first thing you know you'll be standing out here by my old-fashioned ticket window and saying, "Lookit them cars scooting by! Lookit the picture I got today and everybody's ridin' off to a picnick or to the beach — or to the next big town." Then you'll use language on me — the theatre that you used to swear BY instead of AT. , Just because I don't loosen a few bricks and knock down some passersby and use a couple of my girders to scoop them inside with ! Ever stop to think maybe you could do something to help me be as full as a Volstead addict — all summer? That hit you under the balcony, didn't it? It's the Gospel truth, too ! Do you suppose I like to stand here with the hot sun blazing down on me and with nothing to do to make me forget it? Well, I don't ! And neither do you ! Now I've been a good little theatre to you in the past. I can be a good little theatre in the present and the future. I'm ready to do my part. I'll hold all you'll be able to sit and stand in my innards. You can get them in— THIS SUMMER! Now's the time to start ! And THIS IS WHAT TO START WITH. Better projection pays! Get that painted on a card and take it up into your projection room. Stick it onto my wall with glue ! Then tell your projectionist— "That means that if you give my patrons better projection it will bring more patrons and that will eventually push more dough into your pay envelope." Then, when he says, "Boss, I need—" DON'T FLY OFF THE HANDLE! If he can show you wear in projector parts — get new ones that fit — get them from the manufacturer of the projector so you'll be sure they fit! Then see that your screen is in good shape to take the picture, and call the attention of your audience to the improvement in projection. It will stick in their minds till summer ! Make your music harmonious, and as the hot weather comes along, cool down your music ! Cut out the jazz and hot stuff, and make the musician at the organ, or your orchestra leader, understand that music can keep people cool as much as anything else. Take part of your lobby to start telling the people who are coming NOW — it's going to be cool here this summer ! Get yourself a trailer that has some icy mountain peaks, and so on — and a strong message about the cooling devices you have, how you have planned everything to make my interior as cool as an ice-box, but by no means as damp. Rib up a fake fat man in your lobby as the hot spells begin to loom along. Fix him with one arm on an eccentric that will make the arm swing to iand fro, and put a fan in the hand on that arm, to swing past his face. Then rib up a way to make beads of water for perspiration on his face and running down, and slap a sign over him — "Yes, it's hot — out here !" Then get yourself a big thermometer and replace the mercury column with some colored liquid that will stand at whatever is the inside temperature of my innards — don't forget it's your theatre speaking — and put that under the proper sign, in by the ticket sales salon. Make your interior lighting soft and cool in tone. Get your draperies in harmony with the psychology of the season — make the place LOOK cool. Then see that you have a real cooling system to back up the trailer, the promise, the lobby display, the tone of the interior you give me for the hot spell. I don't have to tell you what kind of pictures to pick for the summer. The way you show good judgment in that makes me wonder why you ever forget to pull the same line of gray matter in the matter of summer equipment. Make sure your ventilating arrangements will take the fetid air out of my innards so the air will be fresh and not stuffy. Then ballyhoo the equipment that will enable a patron — a slue of patrons ! — to sit in cool comfort and enjoy well chosen motion picture entertainment under soft lights and with soothing, nerve-quieting music. Better projection pays — yes, sirree ! And better summer conditions in your fheatre's interior — you hear me shout ! I know one fellow who thinks a lot of his theatre — expects it to support him the year 'round. Well, right now he's distributing little cards — "DON'T PUT YOUR FURS IN STORAGE!" There's some smaller type under that. It says, "You think you can get along without your furs in the hot weather — but you won't be able to get along without your Rialto — and it will be so cool in here this summer you may want those furs !" I'm the same sort of theatre that fellow has — ready and eager to keep going all summer! Give me a chance to spring into summer without a fall ! Want to know how to make your theatre cooler — better ventilated — for the summer? Send YOUR EQUIPMENT full interior measurements, present cooling system, seating capacity, and sketch of auditorium plan, side elevation and cross section — and let's see if we can't get an expert to help you chill the summer slump into a seat-selling season.