Publix Opinion (Jan 10, 1930)

ibe. nakeabiatnsiunrien le | EIGHT PAGE SECTION FOR GALA OPENING ae West Palm Beach, Florida. | PLANT THIS FEATURE IN YOUR NEWSPAPER! 2 This feature article on the evolution of the theatre in its relation to architecture was one of a series which appeared in the Chicago Herald and ie Examiner. The subject is a timely one and you can plant a similar feature in your local newspaper. the New York Paramount, if you need them, and use photographs of your own theatre, also, to illustrate the article. Get the facts about how architectual beauty popularizes the movies from this reproduction and write your story. Any Sunday editor will grab it for his magazine section. The Uptown Theater, Lawrence av and Broadway, one of the popular large neighborhood theaters of Chicago, embraces all the modern features of cinema architecture, Palaces Rise to House Films Here is.a view of the Paramount Theater, New York, one of the newest and best equipped moving picture theaters in the country, in which are embodied all the most recent developments of such architecture. PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JANUARY 10TH, 1930 KEEPS PACE WITH FILMS || Swift Evolutien of Nickelodeon Depicted by Noted Architect: Edison Pioneer of Movies eee (This 1s the sizth of a serves by notable experts, sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the. American Institute of Architects, to be puilished in The Sunday Herald ané | Bzaminer on timely and interesting ubjects connected with archites ~ | ture.) | BY GEORGE L. RAPP, A. L A. It is a far cry from the nickeiodeon of yesterday to the palatiut motion picture theater of today, yet the period of transition covers a relatively short span of years. The hstory of the cinema itself ig a fascinating story After the ins vention and development of photoge raphy, many investigators worked’ over the problem of picturing mue | Uon, Edward Muybridge, who {s often called the father of moving picturex, in 1872 studied the movements of » trotting horse by méans of a row of twenty-four cameras, exposed i order as the horse passed before them Muybridge dev«loped a met!:od of projecting his photographs se as to simulate movement, but his apparatus was necessarily clumsy as he had only glass plates. A light, flexible, continuous film was needed as @ substitute for the glass ang this was invented by Goodwin and | produced by Eastmen Edison's Kinetoscope Forerunner of Movies, In 1893 Thomas A Edison ay vented his kinetoscope, which gue cessfully depicted snotion by mea: y photographs printed op an en less strip of celluloid film. But ths pictures In this machine could he Mares by only one person &f & me. In 1894 C. Francis Jenkins was the first to produce moving pleturon by modern methods, -Jenkins an! his partner, Armat, improved the original machine. and, the right w Manufacture it having been obe tained by representatives of Mr, Edie | son, it was marketed in 1896 as the Edison Vitascope. Projectots ant pictures made by Robert Panl ot London, and Lumiere of Paris, alsv were exhibited the same year. which may be considered as the beginning of the modern motion picture Indus try. Historical Seciety Honors Nickelodeon. The history of motion picture theater architecture may: pe divided into two periods. The first period covers the time when the-motion pice ‘ture was shown in very small hourey for that purpose only and as second. .ary to vaudeville fn the larger thu: j aters. On August 23, 1999. the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society un velied a bronze tablet in Pittsburri on the site of the first nickelodeon founded Sune, 1905, by the late John P. Harris The second period was entered ‘imes Square, Turn to Page 2, Part &. IN FLORIDA An eight page co-operative newspaper section plus two pages in the regular section featured the campaign on the gala winter opening of the eight Publix theatres in Credit for the undertaking goes to Wallace Allen, District Advertising Mani of that section. ha An attractive full page ad an nouncing the theatre’s part in the gala winter season fills the first page of the section. -Program announcements of each house also appear on this page, selling the opening shows in a most effective way. This is followed by a page devoted to institutional copy and to merchants ads. Page three i! contains a story on the picture “Broadway”, playing at the Kettler Theatre, and a seven column Petes full page ad for all the theatres. On page four there is excellent copy on “The Cock-Eyed World’”’ and ‘‘Tanned Legs’’, and three onequarter page merchant ads all congratulating Publix on the gala seasonal opening. Institutional copy, cuts, and readers on the attractions share the other four pages with the ads of local merchants. Response to the co-operative efforts were so exceptional that at the last minute, space was oversold and two extra pages were arranged for. One of these contain nce ‘ed pictures of all the theatres, Vie while the other contained a six Be column full page combination ad for the eight Publix Theatres. BO B+ Oe-D+Gs-S OS -O:-S 20-0 +0++ 0:-©+0+-2-0:-8 80+ YOU SHOULD HAVE ONE OF THESE!! The Home Office warehouse has several hundred copies of the ParamountPublix Annual Edition of “Variety,” which are available for Publix theatres that need them to complete their reference files. If you haven’t one of these editions, you should write to L. L. Edwards, Home Office, and he’ll send you one. It’s packed with information of permanent value which should be accessible to all of the employees of your theatre. . D$Be D2 Oe-S-0 Oe O° Oe-D 9 Os-D9 Oe D+ Oe-S-+H9-S-Oe-H 0B -H-1Oe-D 0B 1-O + Oe-H 9° Oe-H+ Oe-HOr-H Oe @e-B-2 @-D-2OeGO e-S-2Oe-S G2 -B-Os-O-O°-S 2 OsO° Oo-O +O*-SO:-B G*-G°O*-S OS OO OS O ° $B 9 Os-S-9 © -GS-+Be-DG0-D-+Ge-S-0 He-D °O--S 2 Os-D-Os-S 1 Os-S + O-H ‘LOVE PARADE’ RADIO TIE-UP A very excellent tie-up can be effected with your local radio dealers, on ‘‘The Love Parade.”’ Inasmuch as the story revolves around the country of Sylvania, Herbert Chatkin, manager of the Publix Paramount, Springfield, suggests that managers can very easily get whole-hearted co-operation from local radio merchants on Sylvania radio tubes. Leon Bamberger of the Paramount exploitation department is now working on a national Sylvania tube tie-up. In the meanwhile, start contacting with merchants so as to be all set when “The Love Parade’’ is booked for your theatre. when the motion picture became the| more stable specially constructed principal attraction of the larger type of theaters with the stage show as secondary ularity of sound pictures and the prospect of wide dimension film, in the opinion of many, will result in a new third period in cinema architecture. without a barometer. True, the cu}riosity of the genera! public was aroused, but there was that element of uncertainty as to the fuHture of the new form of entertainment that caused him to proceed cautlously and with a minimum of ex: penditure, of the strictly motion picture thejaters were the converted store type. seums, assembly rooms and cheap gconcert halls in eastern cities. Architectural design and previsions for the safety or comfort of patrons fwere given little or no thought, 4 |Exhibitors Prosper rangements made to accommodate} gether unsuited to the presentation the product of the new industry, thelof this modern form of entertain CHRISTMAS TOY GAG Pioneer motion -picture exhibitor prospered. As the business becante Continued from Preceding Page. buildings began to replace the store type. Competition between neighboring theaters soon convinced rival showmen that the theater that gave {ts patrons a little more comfort and presented a better appearance slowly crowded out its competitors. The result was that small type theaters began to be built that were fireproof, well ventilated and arcitecturally pleasing. The seating capacity of these new small type motion picture houses was also increased to from 5600 to The universal pop Shown in Stores FirstFilms Also Screened in Dime Museums 1,000. The majority of these houses. had smail platform stages in front of the screen so that the motion picture program could be suppleménted with singing or dancing acts. Pipe organs and ventilating systems were added and the architectural design generally improved, but no radical advances took place until the introduction of the de luxe type of cinema | theater. Abolish Columns Cantilever Balconies Give All Clear View The early exhibitor was wholly Consequently the first The first pictures also found their fay into such places as dime mu Logically, the tremendous deVvelopment in@the production end of the motion picture industry was reflected in demands for a similar development in the exhibition of the pic tures. To successfully exhibit the rapidly improving ffm productions, ideas and problems were presented which rendered the earlier picture Public Responds Quickly to New Entertainment Notwithstanding the makeshift ar-| inefficient and obsolete and alto !& Katz were the progenitors of this theaters and even legitimate houses| ously attempted in a motion picture ment. }t being no longer necessary to have the so-called mtimacy of for mer times, it was a natural step to increase the capacities of theaters, in some cases many times their former size, Due also to the fact that enter: tainment was continuous, additional | ho problems were encountered which | Worked up along its general lines. were entirely different from the ree} The longer shows and waiting quirements of the existing theaters, | Necessitated larger und more comboth motion picture and legitimate, | fortabte retiring rooms Once jn the large additorium the patron must have comtert with easy sight linc« and as « stage show was to be this type of house made it an overnlght success, Immediately plans began to be formptated for a much larger and more Juxurious aeighborhood motion picture theater to o2 ‘obstructed by columns and the intimate contact that is always felt in New Type Enters Balaban & Katz First to Stress Beauty $ics would have t oe as near per | fect as possible. Ty, larger seating capacity of the balcolaes demanded broad and gradually asctgding stair ways leading from impragkive lob bies and foyers that would rake theft way up attractive and inv'tiny, An intensive study of these piyh lems over severul years resulted tn the next great forward ater In the development of .he motion picture! theater, the Tivol in Chicage | opened in Fepruary 19¢1 Thia ther ter, of a seating capacity of 4,000 | was the largest ev-r attempted in an outlying district and was a tre mendous advance 4, all way ovate any motion picturé theater that hal been built before. A secon¢ period tn the history of the motion picture theater began with the advent in the field of a different type of showman—one who believed that people go to the theater to live an hour or two in a different world, that the atmosphere of « Palace should prevail in a theater and that this could he arrived at by gorgeous stage seitings, luxurious. drapes and enchanting music, It Is generally agreed that Balaban new type of showman. They became xperta in the study of the psychology of the theatergoer and are responsible for many innovations in theater management. The erection of the Central Park Theater in Chicago in 1914-1915 by Balaban & Katz was the forerunner of a genera! type in which the motion picture became the principal attraction. The Central Park was furnished and decorated in a menner not prevti Beauty an Asset So. Side Theater Model for Exhibitors Upon entering this theater the patrons ‘Ind themselves in a lofty, imposing and hindsumely decorated lobby running the ‘ull width of the theater and the effect on theater-| building and the squivalent of alx goers was very pronounced. The| stories in height. At the far end is clear direct view of the stage, un-la decorative stairway leading the BOOSTS GROSSES IN CHICAGO “Toys for the kiddies!’’ was a welcome slogan to the hundreds of children receiving the toys on display during Christmas in the lobbies of the Chicago, Oriental, Uptown, Tivoli, and Paradise Theatres in Chicago but to the theatres it meant ticket sales dur ing the worst season of the year. Tie-up, which was effected with the Chicago American and Mandel Brothers’ Department store brought the theatres lots of publicity, attractive displays, and increased attendance at no _ cost whatsoever. Details are as follows. Newspaper started a campaign for dolls and toys to be given to the poor children at Christmas. The department store arranged the displays in the lobbies, and donated the toys. The newspaper printed stories and pictures about the displays and urged the public to attend the theatres. Write to Sam Palmer at the Home Office for stills of || CHICAGO HERALD AND EXAMINER..--A_ PAPER FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK mezzaninha aLd balcony anu the entire area fs available for the holding 01 the patfons waiting for the next show. The plan Stself Is so well conceived that even with as many as 2,000 persons walting the audience of the theater “ujon leaving doés not come in contact in any way with those waiting smoothly The stdirways are so invitingly arranged that the mezzanine and balcony are very easily reached with a result that the balcony and mezzanine are patronized as well as added to the siJegt drama the acoua-| the orchestra floor. ; The part which architecture has Fe — played in the planning and building of motion picture theaters brings out j the point so frequently advocated by i architects that good architecture is a genuine business asset. NOTHER article on this interesting series. on architecture will be published in next Sunday’s issue of The Herald and Examiner. and consequently exits Bi AON RR a PS Metropolitan in Boston Has Byrd Exhibit The impressive achievements of the Byrd Expedition in the past few weeks makes the Antarctic and Aviation Exhibit in the lounge of the Metropolitan Theatre in Boston of extraordinary public interest. The exhibit, which had been on display in the lounge of the New York Paramount, has been placed in the Metropolitan by the Boston Globe in collaboration with the New York Times. The exhibit features the maps, drawings, portraits, and action stills that pertain to the Byrd undertaking. In addition, there is a section devoted to historic flights and flyers, and another to airports and aircraft. The newspaper has been running daily stories prior to the opening of the exhibit and throughout its duration. TRY THIS ON YOUR M. C:! C. B. Taylor, Director of Advertising and Publicity of Publix-Shea “Buffalo,’ promoted a song tie-up in ay connection with the “Who Will Marry Marian’ feature conducted by the Buffalo Times, which netted him a big splash in the Saturday and Sunday Times. Papers in other cities are running this feature or similar ones and this offers a great chance to plug your “front” boy. “T WILL MARRY MARIAN’ = (4, 72 a THE BUFFALO TIMES, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1828—— Page 7 BY “HAPPY” PHIL LAMPKIN Melodious Song Dedicated to Sunday Times Beauty by Shea’s Buffalo Stage Band Leader, in “Who Will Marry Marian” Contest Try « on Your Piano! T War Marry Marian wWores ann Myne Sarees: ———— S¥7Pun Lampkin jp —— = ua “= ANDT bl ra a Ss PROMISE TUAL WAYS BEL rauE= ro lyou DEAR BE-CavtE-D New York, U 8 &