Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1940)

August 17, 1940 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 27 The Avalon at Santa Catalina Island, Calif. This Novel Amusement Center Offers Public Pictures, Dancing and Cafe Under One Roof which makes the show season for this theatre enterprise a full twelve months per year — a most desirable condition and one which, no doubt, will make many theatre owners and many theatre managers who read this not a little bit jealous. Such jealousy can well be understood, and most heartily condoned. Theatre Makes Population Grow For a project its size, the Avalon's location, when considered from a standpoint of resident population, would seem to have been chosen by one of those colossal mistakes which become classic. The resident population is around eighteen hundred people. But — and here's something to take into account before worrying about whether the theatre and its other amusement units shouldn't have been built somewhere else — the daily population increases sometimes to as much as twelve thousand people. Since the city of Avalon is less than one mile square, you can see very readily that on busy days ^lanager Thomas and his many aides in the operation of the Avalon are called upon to take care of a great many more people than you'll find in any other town of similar area. Santa Catalina is situated twenty-two miles from the Los Angeles Harbor. Boat and plane service operating on a busy daily schedule carry throngs from the city of Los Angeles to Santa Catalina for outings which form an important recreation adventure for resident Californians as well as the large numbers of visitors to the West Coast. One of the unique features about a trip to Santa Catalina is the fact that such a trip affords great numbers of Americans their first real ocean voyage. OfFers Six Programs per Week The theatre operating policy is six changes a week, with single bills (what, another innovation?), and two shows per day, with matinee Saturdays and Sundays. L. M. Thomas, who is in direct charge of the Avalon, is well known to readers of STR. His programs and his activities in connection with this journal's widely-read Program Exchange have been recorded and discussed in that department. Thomas, like so many of the competent showmen who manage theatres, started as an usher. He is now 34 years of age. The usher job. incidentally, came at an age when Thomas and others are of that pliable age at which very important impressions are gained, and ver}' useful information about work to be done later in life is obtained. He was 13 years old, and the theatre where he learned to meet the public and gained a "feel" for the theatre, was the Royal, in Hutchinson, Kansas. Since that modest beginning, the only phase of theatre operation Thomas has not essayed is playing the organ. That once-important feature of picture theatre presentations may one day again assume prominence, but in the present state of affairs. Thomas is not seriously handicapped in the matter of skill and knowledge in all theatre activities by this one lack. The Avalon's auditorium, above, is one of the most colorful to be found in a motion picture theatre. Especially notable from the standpoint of screen enjoyment, is the reputation this theatre has earned for its excellent acoustics. At right, the projection room, one of the finest on the West Coast. It is equipped with Simplex Projectors, The lighting system, both stage and house illumination, is completely controlled from the booth's large switchboard. Stage curtain control also is manipulated from this booth. Short Story of Janitor Who Neglected Replacing Bulbs We once knew a janitor who never replaced burned-out light bulbs until at least two or three dozen had gone bad. When asked why, his alibi was that he was afraid to ask "the boss" for a light bulb so he put it off until he just had to ask or else. That janitor had the wrong slant. In the first place, he made the mistake of asking for too many bulbs at one time, thus depleting the stock in one fell swoop and making it difficult to maintain a reasonable supply on hand. In the second place, he should have realized that "the boss's" wrath was aroused not because he (the janitor) simply asked for a bulb but because he asked for so many at one time. And in the third place he put the theatre "on the spot" by causing patrons to notice many "dark spots." How much better it would be if he kept a close watch on the light situation and replaced each burned-out bulb as soon as possible. In that waj the manager would retain his equilibrium, the stock of bulbs could be gradually increased without having to do the job in an emergency, and the theatre itself would always appear bright. Accidents in the Balcony r\Iany theatre accidents occur in balconies, where patrons miss their footing. Sometimes the maximum disaster is simplj a severed heel from a woman's shoe, but then again a broken arm or leg could easilj' be the result. You owe it to yourself to make certain that there is adequate lighting in your theatre, especially in those parts where accidents are likely to happen.