Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1943)

32 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 9, 1943 Forceful Hints on Conservation Noise Nuisance Leads to Rowdyism; Here*s Way to Put Stop to It UffllDFiSWfHIHIIIBJIlfflS AnDRELAnDEquiniHn ITS TOW KTnmc nun n KEEP PICTURES ON CANADA'S SCREIMS.^ ciHcirnHi HOOFS ClEtmiMCSS to Minor Repairs ami Adjostments is VITAI.I Several months ago five posters were reproduced in STR dealing with the subject of theatre conservation in wartime and above we present three new additions to the series being prepared and distributed to the theatres of the Famous Players Canadian Corporation Limited by Jules S. Wolfe, Supervisor of Purchasing and Construction. These effective reminders accomplish pictorially more than many words of admonition from the theatres' executives. Appropriately placed in the proper department of each theatre they do a constant selling job on the various members of the staff involved with each phase of conservation. The posters are 9 x 12 in size and printed in red and black. The poster on checking roofs not only serves as a reminder but shows through a draftsman's sketch where to seek trouble spots. Mr. Wolfe, who has been sending out these posters as monthly bulletins can testify to the splendid results being achieved through this unique and forceful type of education for conservation. Any theatre interested in bringing these messages to the attention of its staff might profit by clipping this reproduction for display on the employes' bulletin board. P.S. If you don't have a bulletin board it is a swell means of posting helpful data much of which is to be found each week in the columns of STR. Your Post-War Equipment '^W/ Use NATIONAL'S MM/C8R/P6E • Here's an easy way to plan your post-war equipment now, without obligations, options or deposits of any kind. • Use National's "Magic Bridge" Equipment Survey, designed to assure you of speedy delivery of new equipment when the war is over. • If you haven't received your copy of the "Magic Bridge" Equipment Survey, ask for it today at your nearest National Branch. ATlONJlL THEATRE SUPPLY Division of N«it!onai,> Stmpiex • Bluciworth,lnc, Noise in the theatre can drive away more good, steady customers than you can draw to your shows in a month of Sundays — no matter how zealously you advertise. Kids are the root of the evil and it is no easy problem to break it up. Many theatres have "Quiet" signs in the rear of the auditorium as reminders. Some use "Quiet" trailers on the screen to good advantage because the direct message during the course of the show serves to put the kids on the spot in the eyes of their neighbors in the audience. Warnings to known offenders by doormen and ushers are of little effect as a rule, for the trouble starts all over again the second the employe turns his or her back. As a rule, where really bad conditions of rowdyism in the theatre exist, the only effective means of breaking up the noise-making menace is the public eviction of a group of the offenders from the theatre with instructions to the cashiers and doorman to refuse admittance for a specified period of time to the theatre. Word of the eviction travels fast among kids in the neighborhood and the other offenders will get smart. Kiddie clubs are an ideal means of cutting down this offensive noise by draining off child attendance in the mornings and you can talk confidentially with the kids at such a performance and enlist their aid in eliminating the noise at regular shows. Let the kids yell their heads off and tell them this is the time for all the noise. There is just so much of this exhuberance in each youth's system and it must find an outlet— so why not give them their chance when it won't offend the adult customers? Any kid has a sense of fair play if properly approached and your appeal if properly handled will not fall upon unsympathetic ears. The tiny tots who are too young and thoughtless to know their noisy excitement is annoying to the older folks must be taken outside and talked to. School teachers can help a lot if you consult them about your problem. Continue Restriction on New Construction A statement of policy, continuing the restriction of construction of new facilities and reducing facilities under construction to the minimum necessary to the war program and for essential civilian needs, has been adopted by the Production Executive Committee of the War Production Board, it was announced last week. Text of the statement follows : "It shall be the continued policy of the War Production Board to restrict construction of new facilities and to reduce facilities under construction to the minimum necessary for the war program and for essential civilian needs, in order to conserve to the utmost all resources for the production of war supplies and equipment. In accomplishing this result, the Board will in each case seek a minimum consumption of materials and manpower, together with maximum utilization of existing facilities and equipment. The Directive for Wartme Construction dated May 20, 1942, which established these principles is hereby affirmed." To carry out this policy, a Facilities Committee was established.