Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

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.'l/«v 27, 1939 SHOWMEN'S T R A D I-. \< I'". V I I VV f'<'[/e 21 Air Conditioning Vital Throughout Entire Year For several \ears now the old theatre has rccei\ed its cooling henefits, however good or bad they might be, from a large exhaust fan or two, or from electric fans placed at points along the auditorium walls. Perhaps you have kept the doors open with a large heav\ curtain being utilized to prevent the light from streaming in during the daytime. This year, you declare, you are going to have air-conditioning equipment installed. It may be your mistaken conception that such equipment is used primarily for cooling the air in summer. Little thought is ever given to the fact that air conditioning is just as vital in other seasons of the year. For this reason, without the services and advice of an expert, you might install it for the summer and cease to operate it during the winter, feeling that winter operation was unnecessary. Of course, this assumption is going to the extreme, but it is nevertheless possible unless }'ou are well informed on the subject of air conditioning. Air Must Be Well Circulated Rather thari attempt to analyze the equipment itself, it would be well for us to tackle the subject from another standpoint— the air your patrons breathe. First of all, it should always be fresh and well circulated. Next, it must be regulated and controlled according to the temperature outside ; thus, in w-inter, it should be heated, while in summer it should be cooled. Then there must be an adjustment and control of the humidity, which means the regulation of the water and moisture content. This wnll become important knowledge to you in considering the phases of air conditioning when you remember the body has its own complete temperature-regulating system. How that system functions is strongly influenced by the humidity or moisture content. Therefore, humidity control is one of the outstanding phases of air conditioning. Finally, dust, pollen, etc., can readily be removed from the air. When you buy your air-conditioning equipment, keep the foregoing points in mind. You'll want to know if it provides and circulates fresh air ; whether it cools the air in summer and heats it in winter ; whether it removes the moisture from the air in summer and adds it to the air in W'inter, and whether or not the equipment cleans the air. A comfortable theatre the year 'round generally means that profits W'ill be greater throughout the year, rather than rise and fall with the advent of each season. You Can Take a Vacation This Summer — Or Can You? When you leave for your vacation this summer, we hope you can do so with a light heart, fully assured that the operation of your theatre will be in capable hands during your absence. If you've trained your assistant carefully, and if he has had the initiative to learn the whys and w^herefores about this and that, you have little cause to worry. On the other hand, if you have assumed all responsibilities, if you made it difficult for your assistant to learn, if you have felt that you and only you can take care of the hundred and one details of managing a theatre, then you'll probably forego a vacation this year. Personally, we'd rather take the vacation. Flames Test Film Cabinets Under the supervision of an inspector of the Nexv York Fire Dept., film cabinets manufactured by Nenmade Products Corp., were subjected to a fire test in New York recently. Photos above show blazing gasoline-soaked wood heaped about the film cabinet, and, right, the film in perfect condition being removed from the cabinet by Oscar F. Neu, head of Neiimade, after the fire had burned itself out. MENACE OF FIRE — Means of Reducing Hazards No jNtEED to marshal facts, quote statistics or resort to dramatization ol that terror to life and property — fire. In the theatre a fire is more than a mere destroyer of property. It is a potential panic, with such irrevocable losses and tragedy as a possible result that the theatre must be alert and provided with fire-fighting equipment against all emergencies. In the first place precaution against the possibility of an outbreak must include steps to constantly check the most common sources of fire. In the second place, equipment should be provided to cope with the fire that breaks out in spite of the most conscientious efforts toward prevention. Outside of the projection room, the sources of fire in a theatre are little different than those existing in any publicbuilding. But the projection room is the theatre's own essential and uniaue pronert^'. It is therefore the business of the theatre management to be precise!}' informed on the main sources of fire in the projection room. Some of the hazards are due to causes outside the projection room — prints that are not in good condition (imperfect sprocket holes, badly made patches, etc.). Of course to this latter condition the theatre may be a contributor, and it certainly is if projection equipment is worn and below par — undercut sprocket teeth, worn parts, improper adjustments on tension. The imperfec*. projection machine is a fire breeder, and only frequent check-UDS and proper adjustments can insure that the machine that was perfect when it was installed has not become imperfect because of the "man-handling" that every machine, no matter how ingeniously designed and efficiently constructed, must undergo when it is turned over by the manufacturer to the user for operation. It is, of course, up to the projectionist to keep the machine in shape. It is up to the management to see that the machine is kept in shape — and, also, that the projectionist's recommendations with regard to needed replacements or major repairs are heeded and acted upon. It is also up to the projectionist to check new film coming in to his booth — and to the management to see to it that the projectionist is diligent in this matter. As to the method of being prepared to cope with the fire that breaks out — here is something the management must assume as its own responsibility. First, of course, there must be the proper equipment in the way of fire extinguishers in the right places. Not all fires are alike. Any fire chief or insurance specialist will tell you this. There is a vast difference between the electrical blaze, an inflammable liquid fire, and an ordinary fire. The "first aid" or emergency methods used to control and extinguish a so-called ordinary fire will not be effective in extinguishing an electrical fire. Basically, of course, there are but two ways of extinguishing a fire. These are by cooling the burning material to a temperature below its burning point; and by smothering the flames, excluding oxygen from the material. The former process is accomplished by discharging a liquid chemical over the blaze ; the latter by means of a substance which forms a coating, as it were, that effectively excludes air from the fire. The important thing is to diflferentiate between the different types of fire and have in those places where a particular type of blaze may occur the proper fire-fighting equipment to cope with the emergency. In order to have the proper equipment and a staff trained to make use of it in the anticipated emergencies, it is best to consult one of the many organizations which can supply accurate information based on research and the latest developments in fire control by first-aid methods which prevent small blazes from becoming conflagrations. The majority of theatres do this. But having done it and having installed the proper equipment, it is essential that constant care be exercised in making sure the equipment is familiar to every member of the staff, and thus is brought into use , promptly and efficiently in case of fire.