Society of Motion Picture Engineers : incorporation and by-laws (1926)

The Puhlix Theatre Managers School — Barry 35 One of the most highly developed branches of the motion picture industry is the operation of about fifteen thousand motion picture theatres in America and thousands of others throughout the world. ]Many of these theatres, to whose beauty all the arts have contributed, are ranked among the most imposing structures of the community. They operate with the precision of great railroad terminals and with the courtesy known in the best hotels. They serve a clienu.'le among which are numbered the best people of every community. The development of motion picture theatre operation must continue to keep pace with that of the industr3\ Although motion picture theatre management is a highh^ technical work which requires especially trained experts, until the estabhshment of the Pubhx Theatre ^Managers Training School (formerl}^ the Paramount Theatre ^Managers Training School) there was no training center for those preparing to carry on this important work. Men developed at different points throughout the country by the sheer force of individual efforts and experience. The evitable result was much wiste, much blundering, and a general failure to capitahze on the individual advances of this highly technical profession. Aloreover, there was no reliable source from which to supply the trained men needed to fill the vacancies. The problem of entertaining the pubhc, week in and week out, in different parts of the nation is a big one. Because entertainment depends so much upon individuahty and personal initiative, the operation of theatres cannot be mechanically standardized. However, for successful theatre operation there are certain basic principles. Trained in these principles, theatre managers of the future will have a big advantage, and in this training, intensive study of what the leading managers of the country have done and are doing -^dll give a fund of useful information. The Pubhx Theatre Managers Training School will not only prove a benefit to the industry but offers a chosen vocation in which ambitious young Americans can enter a career of service with excellent opportunity for good financial returns. The purpose of the School is essentially practical, and its scope most comprehensive. It gives intensive training in every detail of theatre management, explaining not only the "How" but the "Why." It wiU lay a soUd foundation for the future by sending out ambitious graduates equipped to carry on an important work. This School should help to establish a high standard for the profession, for students are trained not onh^ in practical details but also in the responsibihties of ci^dc duties and in the high obhgations to the ideals of the industry. All this should be an influence affecting the dignity of the motion picture theatre. Because these theatres are everywhere contributing to the weKare of their communities, it cannot be denied that there is a certain dignity and importance in the profession of theatre management. It makes a just claim on the professional spirit and is governed by the ideals of American business. Graduates of this School go forth -^dth a reahzatioh of the significance of the work they undertake and of its possibilities for service. The first session of the Managers School commenced in September 1925 and closed in February 1926. The second class, which