Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

34 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 7, 1944 DEALERS' CHOICE . . . . TO DO A BIG JOB WELL Since I base my conclusions on observation of accomplishments by theatre equipment dealers all over the country (rather than on any narrow viewpoint of personal activities as the head of my own equipment dealer business in New York) I don't think it is overstepping the bounds of modesty for me to say that under one of the most severe tests any business organizations have been forced to operate, the theatre equipment dealers of America have done an outstanding job in behalf of continued operation of the motion picture theatres — which, in the last analysis, are the keystone in the arch of the great motion picture industry. One who has observed the scene from the dealer's viewpoint might go further and say that it is quite likely that the film industry, including a large proportion of the exhibitor branch thereof, has taken for granted a great deal which in actuality represented far more than just efiSciency on the part of the theatre equipment dealers. PRE-WAR BOTTLENECKS For a considerable period before Pearl Harbor there was a diminishing of the source of materials and merchandise the sale of which constitutes the equipment dealers' revenue — his reason for being in business. As the defensebuilding program, which restricted materials for the manufacture of civilian goods, grew in proportions this supply of merchandise narrowed down increasingly, and when the United States was forced into war, the supply, other than spare parts, came to a complete stop, practically speaking. Even so, the established equipment dealers continued to service their customers, the exhibitors and theatre owners. AT THEIR SERVICE Under conditions which were more trying than the vast majority of businesses had to operate, the equipment dealers, instead of being discouraged and diminishing their service facilities, actually stepped up that phase of their business. It was a mighty good thing for the theatre owners that the dealers did (and most rapidly) convert from merchandising as the chief and natural occupation to that of being service organizations almost entirely. It was good for the film industry, also, that the established equipment dealers had so mastered their line of business that they were and are resourceful in meeting the peculiar requirements of theatre operation. These things were good for the industry, I say, because I know of innumerable cases where service specialists of other fields fell down on jobs that the theatre equipment dealer tackled and performed, much to the relief — and ability to conduct business as usual — of theatre owners and managers. I shall cite an instance later on. I have said that perhaps the film industry does not realize the many services that the equipment iealer has been called upon to perform for all types of theatres. The list of articles that have By Joe Hornstein been so serviced, under conditions of the most trying sort (because manpower problems have been no less difficult for the dealer than for any other branch in the film industry) is of such variety that it perhaps has never occurred to others in the theatre field to run through it and take into account the multiplicity of skills required for the job. REPAIRS UNLIMITED The average equipment dealer has been called in to service carpets, stage and wall coverings, oil burners, refrigeration machines, fans, motors, vacuum cleaners and a long list of other items in \ addition to the highly specialized apparatus used for projection and sound reproduction. In taking care of the theatres, the equipment dealer has not been in the position of merely taking an order for some new merchandise to replace that which was giving trouble. Not at all. But every equipment dealer in the country will tell you that, faced with the situation of not being able to put in new equipment, the theatre owners, after a little struggle with the difficulty, found a solution for their problems by picking up a phone and calling their dealer to say: "Help me out — I'm in trouble." THE SHOW GOES ON The response of the equipment dealers to that call for help is written in the record of the almost incredibly few show hours lost (in the aggregate for the country's fifteen-thousand odd theatres) during all this period of wartime shortage of material and labor. But how did the dealer accomplish the job? Well, by resourcefulness, and the expenditure of a lot of money, in putting into serviceable shape every bit of equipment to be found. This equipment, though almost priceless, was not sold for any profit. The dealers continued to keep it as inventory to be loaned to the theatres as emergency replacement for apparatus that had broken down on the job and required time for its repair and rehabilitation. Dealers have put in loan equipment to replace broken down projector mechanisms, soundheads, amplifiers, rectifiers, motor generator sets — in order to do their part in living up to the honored tradition of the theatre that "The show must go on." I have said that I would cite an instance I know of in which an equipment dealer was called in to help a theatre whose oil burner had broken down after — after, mind you — service men had been sent to make the repair by a concern specializing in that particular apparatus. The difficulty was in the motor — a burned out armature. The oil burner men gave up when they couldn't find right handy a replacement motor of similar speed to that which had been in use with the burner unit. It was a personal call from the theatre owner to the equipment dealer which took the latter to the scene of the breakdown. The equipment dealer, bringing his own replacement motor along, soon had the machine working— but only after applying a little ingenuity in reducing the replacement motor's speed to that required by means of a reduction pulley rigged up with an automobile fan belt. SILVER LINING It has been a marvelous — if often pretty trying — experience, and I think my fellow equipment dealers all agree that they have been glad of the opportunity to serve the motion picture industry as they have during the war. There is also a silver lining — for the dealers, the theatres and the people who patronize picture shows and therefore will benefit by the improved presentations and greater comforts that will be theirs when this conflict is over. For when the manufacturers who have done a marvelous job in turning their plants over to war work are back in harness again, I am sure, what with all the new things that I have seen on the drafting boards at various plants, that the theatre owner, who has had his fill of old and antiquated equipment, will welcome the opportunity he will have to bring his theatre plant up to a standard of beauty and efficiency far beyond anything previously approached. One thing the equipment dealer is most happy and eager to acknowledge is that in his work during the war period great credit for the accomplishment must go to the manufacturers who have gone all out on spares and have kept their prices down to pre-war levels regardless of the rise in cost of manpower and materials. Without such action by the manufacturers the job done by the dealers would have come to naught. iiccuusi: i c a ptoncer in the theatre equipment' business; because he has been on til scene through alt the various changes and progressions that have taken place in tha field; because he talks from knowledge of his subject; because he is a colorful pe\ sonality — his severest competitor told us once that he believed Joe is "good for business because he is a personality — and also because Joe's office is nearby and theref fore handy for the office messenger to pick up copy — we have taken it upon ourself elect Joe Hornstein spokesman for the equipment dealer on the matter of wartir servicing of theatres — ^T.K. *