Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

POPCORN and candy unit is placed directly behind the box office where patrons will pass it while many of them still have change in their hands. The curved birch moulding behind it is finished in coral, silver and green. Wall paper over the front wall is gold, white and green. The overhead lighting grills (part of one of them shows in the illustration) are also painted green. The mirror behind the popcorn stand reflects the "next attraction" changeable letter sign, which is mounted over the main doors where patrons cannot help but see it as they leave. ANIMATED sign combines incandescent, neon and fluorescent lighting. At the side, as incandescents go on, starting from the top and progressing downward, the RKO first and then the PAN are thrown into silhouette: — as incandescents switch off, starting from the bottom, PAN and then RKO light up. At the front, when the traveling incandescents go on, the name goes into silhouette against a background of indirect lighting. The whole was constructed by Macey Sign Company. . . . The theatre front is finished with a facing of granite; while doors and displays frames are massive bleached oak. Efll candy stand, — all extremely modern: the people who drop their half-dollars at the box office don't care if the beams in the walls are old. As a matter of fact the old air conditioning, fortunately inexpensive because of an ample supply of 52-degree well water, has been retained. It re-circulates 25 per cent of fresh air at each cycle; but all the patrons know or care about it is that it's comfortable. A new and automatic heating system was installed to take care of audience comfort in Minneapolis winter weather. Exploitation was one of the details decidedly not forgotten in the remodeling. In addition to the strikingly animated marquee, changeable letter sign on the marquee, second changeable letter sign under the marquee, third changeable letter sign (for "next attractions") over the inside of the lobby doors — all of which are shown in these illustrations — there is a large display unit on the side wall of the lobby opposite the popcorn and candy stand. This unit matches the appearance of the mirror frame behind the popcorn stand in materials, color, decoration and size; but it contains a mirror in its upper portion only, the lower and greater part holding three intensely illuminated 40 x 80's, or one large display. Additionally, the new granite facing outside the theatre is set with two glass-enclosed 40 x 80 display units conspicuously framed in massive bleached oak. The box office has been rebuilt, made part of the building, with matching granite base and bleached-oakand-glass upper frame. Lighting intensity in the theatre is graduated down from the brilliance under the marquee through a well-lit lobby and then through a foyer lighted only by indirect domes lamped in amber; which, further, are so placed that a minimum of their light bleeds into the auditorium. On the upper floor, similarly, the mezzanine lounge, located on a balcony overlooking the lobby, receives its principal illumination from the lobby fixtures rather than from its own more scanty sources. This decrease in mezzanine illumination is made less perceptible to patrons by the use of gaily covered chairs and the light, gay colors of the walls. The extensive and thorough-going renovation was designed by Sebco, Inc., contractors and theatre specialists. Equipment and supplies are by makers named in association with the accompanying pictures; lounge furniture was bought from a local department store. MEZZANINE lounge overlooks the lobby shown above, left, on this page; its wall paper is the same as that above the entrance doors; it is similarly lighted by indirect fixtures bui't into green-painted curved grills. The carpet is brown and tan.