Publix Opinion (Jan 24, 1930)

2 FAULTY SOUNDIPATIENCE BEST MENACE TO BUSINESS (Continued from Page One) once more functioning smoothly. Where necessary, they will consult with the service in the analysis of defects. In every case of complaint, a report of the difficulty and correction will be sent to Dr. N. M. La Porte, by the technical export. Further reports will be made to the division maintenance super-visor.. All. matters of policy beTyond: the scope of the ‘technical squad’ will be taken up with the ;Home Office. The task of organizing this de partment is not yet completed but the lineup at present is as follows: New England Division operating from Boston North West Division operating from Minneapolis Mid-West Division operating from Chicago New York City South Eastern Division operating from Atlanta Saenger Circuit operating New Orleans In addition men will be assigned to operate from Dallas, Texas, and others will be sent to cover the Pacific coast. As the need for more men arises, added to the crew. Supplies From Warehouse Nor does this represent the extent of the efforts being made to facilitate all improvements in servicing. Tubes and parts that need frequent replacement will be stored in the district warehouses and managers will obtain their supplies from these, instead of directly from ERPI as soon as methods of clearing have been devised. In addition, specially built cae hogar Oras hoe mye 2 ae: from equipment to test all tubes that have been discarded, will be installed in each ‘warehouse. Experience with one or two such testing sets has demonstrated that their tube salvaging value is from 30 to 40 per cent. One such outfit manned with the proper personnel will be placed in each division. In accordance with instructions already issued to managers, all discarded tubes are to be returned to the warehouse, from which originally received, with notations giving the length of life of the tube and the cause of removal. To supplement all this, PUBLIX OPINION will make an even greater effort than it has done up to now to bring information of an educational nature on sound to individual theatre managers. In this issue for instance will be found much worthwhile material in a brief article by Dr. La Porte. ‘CHAUVE SOURIS’ TO TOUR CIRCUIT (Continued from Page One) will become a Publix unit-show. Niketa Balieff, famous master-ofceremonies, and pet of the nobility of a dozen nations, will appear in “person with his entire 1930 production. It will be presented only in its essentials, in 40 minutes, instead of its customary ninety minutes, but all of the stars, musical events, and lavish humor will be intact. This sensational event, will be followed by others of equal importance, in regular succession. ‘Navy Blues’ Breaks Records Everywhere “Navy Blues,” starring William Haines, is breaking records wherever it is being played: M. L. Elewitz, publicity director of the Publix Paramount, Des Moines, Ya., helped to uphold that record by effecting stunts and tie-ups in conjunction with the showing of that picture at his theatre. He obtained permission from the Navy Department to post a one~gheet on a downtown Naval Re: eruiting stand and to continue do: leads so for other a they will be. PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JANUARY 24rx, 1930 DEVELOPER OF MAN-POWER (Continued from Page One) that. The best way of making a man lose his confidence in himself, his initiative and independence, is to make him feel that everything is mapped out for him —all he has to do is to follow instructions. You Will Profit ' “Your managers have _ intelli. gence— why not let them use it? You will be the one to profit by it. For if a manager does a good job in his theatre, invariably, it reflects favorably upon you, and justly so. What is more important, it is the surest way of building up the,men under you. That —and I cannot stress it too strongly—is the major requirement of your job. “The work you have done so far is practically stripped of all its benefits, both to yourself and to the company, if you haven’t de-. veloped one or two understudies who, able to take your place, will permit you to move higher up. The company. develops, becomes stronger and more closely knit in accordance with the _ universal principle of all growth—where there was one before, two or three have taken its place. There is no other way for you to move up. The district manager who cannot recommend a man in his district to take his place is indeed in a sorry plight. Great Thrill “Aside from the purely material aspect, I should say that building up men is the greatest thrill in life. One experiences the satisfying glow which comes with all creation. The artist, poet, musician and sculptor create with paints, words, sounds and clay; you are dealing with human beings, with the brains, talents and characters of men. “A successful theatre manager is your product, and you should be justly proud of him. For he is successful because he has assimilated your ideas, because his latent individual talents have been drawn out and developed under your tutelage, his originality spurred and his ambition fired by your encouragement. He is veritably your brain child in the industrial world. “T feel certain that if there were more of this parental attitude be tween district managers and their men, a great impetus will have been given to Publix manpower policy.” re) OPINION, as follows: will there’s a way’.”’ Publix theatres. arrangements? ness on Publix forms? any of the above. dollars. by that trespasser. TPIT nT TTT int ana nT TIT Tene MT Tere ee ee ne 20 The manager of a theatre in a mid-western town, playing pposition to Publix theatres, writes to the editor of PUBLIX “From time to time I have been able to secure a copy of your publication, and believe me, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading every line of it, to say nothing of the profitable suggestions and ideas that are contained in it, which have proved very valuable to me in many instances. “While I am not associated with the Publix chain, it occurred to me that there might be a possibility of obtaining a copy weekly—you know, they say ‘where there’s a PUBLIX OPINION audibly wonders who the Publix employee is who has been so solicitous of the business welfare of his opposition that he furnishes them with a copy of this paper, so that his box-office may flourish at the expense of Does the orchestra in this opposition theatre play Publix Are shorts from Publix programs bicycled over to his theatre for his midnight show? borrow and wear Publix uniforms? by an ample supply of Publix cleaning fluids and compounds, made from Publix formulas developed as the result of years of expensive scientific research in Publix laboratories? his treasurer make out box-office reports of tremendous busi PUBLIX OPINION is Publix property, just as much as PUBLIX OPINION is paid for with the money of the Publix Theatres Corporation, just as the above mentioned aids to better operation are paid for with Publix And not without reason is each copy of PUBLIX OPINION marked “Contents Strictly Confidenti Your editor refuses to accept the pee proffered Of course Mr. Opposition likes PUBLIX OPINION. He ought to. he’s getting) free of charge, the money value of all of the ex. perience and ingenuity that all the showmen in 1200 of the world’s finest theatres can give. Ene AVOID ‘FREE TICKETS’ W. H. Hall, manager of the Saenger Theatre in Pine Bluff, Ark., knows how to phrase newspaper stories and advertisements on contests in which theatre tickets are the awards, so that the “free ticket” angle is entirely avoided. Reproduced herewith is part of the newspaper story in which he announces a Fairbanks-Pickford identification con ' test in connection with “Taming of the Shrew.” Notice how it is dis tincitly specified that the passes were purchased. Treatment in this manner actually enhances the value of passes and tickets as awards. sic Po aE oat daca caer SK yeaa 3 sodeni eh lif You Know the Fairbanks | Family Here Is Chance to _ Win Pass to Saenger Theatre —& How well do you know the Douglass wFairbanks Sr., family? How. many of withe pictures made by the members mof-this famous partnership of Doug mand Mary have you seen? How many do you remember and how close can Byou come to picking out the pictures Sin which each of these two famous mstars took the leading role? Also, ewhat is a shrew? 8 If/ you can select from the list swhich appears following this the picstures which were made by Doug and mthose made by Mary, mark ‘em just sright inside the initials (D) and (M) : as the case may be, and show a lit: tle speed, ‘you will receive a full i;month’s pass to the Saenger théatre. mAnd if you don’t happen to be first sand are second, third or even 10th aN ‘Old ee be well repaid for the time. ae OW orte the Commer. Aly ial has pee. from W. H. Hall,® Bas abe Jil seee sas one each, one mony b nina ay TH iss ae ine ee Bieta: a ‘VAGABOND KING’ DUE FEBRUARY 19 (Continued from Page One) same time at the Criterion in New York and at Palm Beach, Florida. In New York there will be a preview for the press on February 18th, followed by a public two-aday run starting the next day. Two weeks: later, the picture will be released at thirty key cities with an increased admission of $1.00 top. In two weeks more, there will be a general release at popular prices. It is expected that the activity going on in the Home Office in pehalf of this production will be duplicated in every house in which it plays. Rialto Theatre, West Palm Beach, opened December 25. C. H. Bliss is manager. lis v7? Do his ushers Do his cleaners benefit Does It costs him nothing—and El MUHA three-week, two-week, one-week and/¥ 10 singles passes which will be award|} ed to its readers in a Doug and Mary} contest. : : These celebrated stars, Mary, and '% her husband Doug, next Tuesday,:4 Wednesday and Thursday, will be seen '@ in Pine Bluff for the first time in @ a picture in which they co-starred. |} It is an unusual event. Several years | § of appearing separately as individual |? stars and now co-strred should be}; interesting. 4 They will be seen here in “Taming |% the Shrew.” Geel: Here’s the contest: Below you will|# find listed 86 pictures, one in which |% Doug and Mary co-starred (Taming|§ the Shrew”) the others only having ¢ been graced by one of the members|& of the partnership. Mark a (D) after the pictures which | § starred Doug and an (M) after Mary’s|@ ee 08 ree Se SG’ POLLS ON WIRE MESSAGES T00 HICH (Continued from Page One) sent as a night letter, the cheapest telegraphic service available. But I have checked twelve superfluous adverbs alone. They were included for emphasis, but had this wire been written in one hundred words it would have covered the subject quite as fully, and would have been twice as emphatic. Much Redundancy “In addition to these two specific instances of carelessness,’’ continued Mr. Metzler, ‘‘we are constantly encountering examples of redundancy. The phrase ‘rush immediately’ occurs many times. ‘Rush’ conveys exactly the same meaning, at one-half the cost. In several wires, sent to persons on the road at advance points on their itineraries, we have noted instructions to ‘telephone me as soon as you arrive.’ Why not ‘telephone me’? “These derelictions are petty in themselves, in the main, yet the total sum they cost Publix is alarming.”’ “Tt is within the power of the Cost Control Committee to regulate wires originating in the home office, but in the case of wires from the field or from point to point in the field, the only means of control is a sense of distinct personal responsibility on the part of every Publix employee. All Must Help “Only through the individual effort of each employee can telegraphic costs be cut to a minimum. Persons receiving wires collect and chargeable to the receiving operation should immediately protest if needless expense has been incurred. Persons sending wires, prepaid or collect, should subject them to strict per'sonal censorship. “Mr. Dembow wishes it distinetly understood that no one is immune from criticism for sending wires of the type we are striving to avoid, and equally understood that no rancor toward the critic will be tolerated. Frank censorship of wires on the part of those whose departments or operations are to pay for them is the sole solution of this problem. “This move on the part of the Cost Control Committee’ is not a temporary gesture. Unceasing vigilance on the part of every one is Se ee and expected.” Constant Call Geeried feo | from Page One . able, because while all of the | dialogue can be heard, it can-7 not be understood because of the distortion introduced by echo and reverberation from | walls, ceiling, or, in fact, anyg enclosing surfaces. Remember that sound is. electrical energy from your amplifier, converted into me-_ chanical energy by your loud speakers and projected into. your auditorium by your horns. Read the above statement over slowly until you are sure you understand it so that you can grasp the following important facts: 1st: ALL SOUND projected by your horns into your auditorium | must be either absorbed by your audience or your walls,” ceiling, drapes, carpets, etc., and any excess over the capacity to” absorb sound will be deflected by the walls and ceiling back into the auditorium, thus preg ducing echos. 2nd: Every time you move youl fader one point up, you very ma-— _terially increase THE SOUND XNERGY in your house but domot increase the sound absorbing capacity of your walls, etc. Therefore the deflections of ‘sound or echoes are MORE THAN DOUBLED. srd: Running the FADER 100. LOW means that the sound is absorbed by the walls, drapes, and audience before it has time to reach the rear of the house. 4th: CORRECT VOLUME is that” level which will reach the back of the house when listened to— in LINE WITH THE HORNS, and ‘dead’ or weak spots in be-— tween indicate either incorrect position of horns or an insuf ficient number of horns for the” area to be covered. 5th: DO NOT try to cover weal spots by raising volumes. It ruins good areas by producing reverberations. Have the horn positions checked by a sou service engineer. 6th: DO NOT select the worst spotl in the house as the place from — which to judge your sound, because if you attempt to get a correct volume in an unfavor— able spot you can rest assured — that the otherwise normal spots — will be too loud. Select a spot — representing the average condi4 tion. 7th: The necessity for 15 MINUTE. CHECKS, particularly on volume, can be best explain by referring to your ordinary incandescent bulb which, as you — have no doubt observed, changes its brightness very | considerably for each _ very slight change of voltage. Your — movietone exciting lamp is of the same type, and changes its” brightness and therefore its ef-— fect on the photo electric cell with every slight change i voltage, affecting volume im proportion. Your electric serv— ice voltage varies with the — switching on and off of both lights and motors, affecting the | sound at each variation. 8th: THE OPERATOR in the | booth cannot hear the sound — from the auditorium, and has— no way to judge accurately the — volume in the house. The — manager must keep him in-— formed. — a 9th; When the manager or assistant manager is not on the floor, : an usher should be deélegated as — SOUND OBSERVER to check vol: ume, rather than let it be uncontrolled between managerial obser=vations. 10th: The matter of VOLUME CON— TROL is so vitally important that _ if you don’t understand every word of this article, write to the ‘Editor of. Publix Opinion asking about the point you ne under