Boxoffice-July.01/1950

)
Martin Circuit Forms
Construction Plan
( Continued from page 39
the speaker posts should be put down at
this time.
"Personally, I think the wires for the
speakers should be coiled underground and
the base set up. Any surfacing which is
planned ihould be applied before the
speaker stands are set."
In planning the drive-in layout, Brady
warned against slighting the concession
stand. "This is one area which will be in
bright light when visited by the patrons.
By all means it should open to the front
and have adequate room to display as
much merchandise as possible.
"It must be built for systematic selling
since you will have very little time at the
break to care for the crowd. You will find
your sales at drive-ins will far exceed those
of a conventional theatre," Brady added,
listing as products offered by the Martin
refreshment service operations: hot dogs,
hamburgers, french fries, sno-cones. coffee,
popcorn and candy.
In commenting on restrooms, which he
stated should be ample to handle intermission
crowds and near to refreshment
service counters, Brady said their experience
had indicated customers are taking
better care of drive-in restrooms than conventional
houses.
"In our first drive-in we spaced speaker
posts on 18-foot centers," Brady explained,
"but we have since gone to 19-foot spacing,
and in some cases as high as 20 feet. It is
surprising to see the amount of difference
a foot will make.
"We are locating the manager's office in
the boxoffice to put him close to the most
important part of the operation, the
money," Brady explained, adding, "I believe
most of you will agree that he should
be at the front to greet his patrons."
Arriving at a discussion of the screen
tower, Brady recommended, for the small,
economical operation, a screen tower of
laminated 2x6-foot timbers, braced with
2x6 and 2x4-foot stock, to be covered by
tempered masonite or transite. Brady
pointed out that this was for towers that
did not exceed 40 feet in height. For larger
towers he recommended laminated 2x8-
foot stock, concrete block or steel.
"We have found in some instances where
the theatre location is in a thickly populated
area that a barbed wire fence around
the entire area was necessary. By all
means, make arrangements to Lock up at
night with gates, or at least with a chain
across entrance and exit," he suggested.
Brady added that from their experience
they had found drive-ins to require more
storage space than the conventional theatre,
and suggested that builders make provision
for such facilities. As an added item,
he recommended the construction of an
incinerator, outside the theatre area, for
disposal of trash.
"In north Georgia," Brady pointed out,
"most of you will have crushed stone or
granite within a reasonable distance. Where
the base is set up with enough clay, we
have had very good success, with a single
application of small stone. After this has
been watered and rolled you have a surface
that will hold up very well and can
be maintained very easily.
"The best surfacing," he added, "is
naturally the most expensive. What is
known as single surfacing treatment or
plant-mixed asphalt is by far the most
permanent and successful.
"When we built our first drive-in, the
675-car Rexview in Columbus, Ga., we
used individual lights on each speaker post.
This was not only very costly but proved
very inefficient." Brady admitted that there
has been a vast improvement in individual
lighting and that he had had no experience
with the new type of junction post lights,
which, he thought, should be good.
"Since then," he went on to say. "we
started by using three or four 60-foot poles
with six 200-watt lights on each pole. We
are now using one pole located on the
center line back of the last ramp and have
reduced the lighting to six lOO-watt bulbs.
"This has proved most successful from
an initial as well as an operating cost
standpoint."
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• INDEPENDENT THEATRE SUPPLY DEALERS
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MANUFACTURING
COMPANY
-32 Thirty-Eighth Street Long Island City 1, N. Y.
BOXOFFICE :: July 1, 1950 49