Screen Mirror (Jun 1930 - Mar 1931)

Screen Mirror For June 13 • Over a year ago, Harold B. Frank' President of the Fox West Coast Theatres, wrote, “It is really not to be expected, after all, that the American family will be content to sit at home by the fireside and be entirely satisfied with the entertainment that may be sent through the air by means of television. Without arguing the point further, let me say merely that this fact is recognised by even so an important organization as the Radio Corporation of America, which is conducting experiments with television. Only recently, the corporation has be' come interested in a theatrical enterprise involving many millions. It is only fair to deduce that those who are closest to television apparently feel that the motion picture theatre is here to stay.” To explain those factors of which Harold B. Franklin wrote at more length elsewhere in his book, “Sound with many machines, each projecting a different program, will control a circular area, the twelve stations being scattered over the entire continent. The theatre will ask for whatever picture it wishes to show . . and will be plugged in on that circuit. It is as simple as that. The only movies available to the home fans will be “second run” subjects, or unimportant pictures . . a condition which prevails now. To attack the effect of television from another phase of theatrical life, let me show what is coming to the legitimate stage. Everyone knows of the unhappy state in which the legitimate stage has been since the invasion of the talking pictures. The first result was that with painfully rare exceptions, stage plays were designed in hope that the movies would pick them up. Consequently, the patrons of legitimate houses were treated to the sorry spectacle of movie themes behind footlights. The two mediums call for treatment as different as the opera and the revue. The attempt to squeeze a little profit from the plays by using movie themes produced such junk that patronage declined still further. • At the present time, the traditions of the theatre rest entirely in the keeping of amateur players and little playhouses. Even these institutions are suffering from the sour odor clinging around the professional stage. The amateur houses, from which has emanated much of our best movement in the theatrical world, will never recover full strength until their sickened Siamese twin, the legitimate stage, is cured — or amputated. Television is the knife that will effect the amputation. When the demand begins, as it will shortly, for players in flesh and blood — the only type available for television-by-air to the home — the legitimate stage will move over, bag and baggage, producer and designer, player and musician, to the stronghold of television. The Screen Mirror realizes that this exposition of television strikes a lone, clear note— for no one seems to have caught the mysterious significance of monster fortunes manoeuvering in the dark background. We step forward boldly for we are dealing with facts. Television, the greatest force that will come into your life . . is here — and to stay! session inviolate ... a little more difficult to sell television into the hands of falseness. What the talking picture did to the world theatrical, 'is nothing to what television is going to do. Whereas the talking pictures came slowly, television is certain to hit with a crash, over all America. The first violent effects, if television went onto the air, with no limitations, would be that theatres would fall by the wayside. No matter what the plan of procedure turns out to be, there is going to be a painful re-organization. Business in America faces the possibility of a huge loss in buildings and equipments . . . losses which business is perfectly justified in evading, if possible. Fortunately, a perfectly logical plan was foreseen by business men for serving much of the wreckage. Motion Pictures,” the present plan is to have but twelve projection rooms in all America. Each projection room,