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—<br />
THEATRE LIGHTING:<br />
THERE'S<br />
ENDIIRIE<br />
AN EXPERT GIVES<br />
SOME ADVICE<br />
A sound basic approach in any lighting<br />
installation is using standard equipment<br />
The Informal Lounge Chandelier<br />
Holiday Theatre Forest PaA<br />
by T. P.<br />
BROWN*^<br />
I HE IMPORTANT problem of lighting in<br />
a theatre is likely to be considered as secondary<br />
or taken for granted in the original<br />
planning, but the theatre owner soon becomes<br />
very conscious of it once the house<br />
is in operation. There are some basic considerations<br />
and new developments in lighting<br />
and application which may be of value<br />
In not only planning for new construction,<br />
but in thinking about modernization of<br />
existing structures, as well as in practical<br />
maintenance procedure.<br />
A sound, basic approach in any lighting<br />
Installation is to use standard equipment<br />
because it is easily replaceable. Nonstandard<br />
types may sooner or later result<br />
in disappointment and perhaps expensive<br />
replacement operations.<br />
It really makes little difference whether<br />
the standard equipment selected is incandescent<br />
or fluorescent—each has some advantages<br />
for the theatre.<br />
Incandescent lighting has long been a<br />
standard for theatre auditorium lighting,<br />
and is especially adapted to such use in<br />
many ways. It has the advantage of being<br />
easily available in a wide range of sizes<br />
from 10 to 1,000 watts. Morevover, it can<br />
be readily dimmed down at will, by either<br />
resistance or reactance dimmers, and create<br />
lighting effects especially desirable for theatre<br />
use.<br />
Fluorescent lamps, on the other hand,<br />
are much more efficient than incandescent,<br />
from the standpoint of producing either<br />
white or colored light. The disadvantage<br />
that this type of lamp had, in that it could<br />
not be dimmed, has now been eliminated.<br />
The lamp department of General Electric<br />
within the last few weeks announced that<br />
a practical system for dimming fluorescent<br />
lamps smoothly and efficiently has been<br />
developed.<br />
By means of a new light control system,<br />
the brightnes.s of the lamps can now be<br />
controlled merely with the turn of a knob,<br />
just as smoothly and easily as incandescent<br />
lamps have been dimmed or brightened in<br />
the past.<br />
Until now, theatremen generally arranged<br />
their auditorium lighting so that lamps<br />
were extinguished progressively from front<br />
to rear to give the eye a chance to adapt<br />
itself to progressively lower levels of illumination.<br />
It is neither necessary nor desirable that<br />
the auditorium should be completely dark<br />
while the picture is being shown—and this<br />
applies to both black-and-white and color<br />
films. Experience in connection with research<br />
upon the functioning of the human<br />
eye leads us to believe that an auditorium<br />
would be more properly handled during the<br />
showing of a picture if there were a low<br />
order of general illumination throughout<br />
the entire room.<br />
This same experience further leads us to<br />
believe that, with a low order of general<br />
illumination of this type, the seated customers<br />
are able to view the picture upon the<br />
screen just as well as if they were in a<br />
completely darkened room, if not better;<br />
and the incoming patrons are able to find<br />
empty seats and take their places more<br />
quickly, and with less disturbance to those<br />
already seated, than in a completely darkened<br />
room.<br />
All of this new thinking in lighting should<br />
be of interest to the theatre owner. We<br />
are inclined to believe today that the illusion<br />
created in a motion picture theatre is<br />
not destroyed by such low level general<br />
*7". P. Brown, author of<br />
this article on theatre<br />
lighting, is district engineer<br />
for the lamp deportment<br />
for General<br />
Electric Co. in Detroit.<br />
lighting.<br />
A Simple, Indirect Lighting Fixturt<br />
fox Bay Theatre Milwaukee,<br />
The proper level for each theatre<br />
is probably quite flexible, and can be.<br />
worked out in each case by proper planning<br />
i<br />
and experiment.<br />
Exit lights are, of course, a must.<br />
Probably<br />
floor lights are not a necessity for<br />
safety if there is adequate general illumination,<br />
but are required by some codes.<br />
Exit lights must be located and designed<<br />
to conform with the Underwriters code, and'<br />
with whatever local codes may be in force.<br />
It is not necessary to use the old type<br />
round globe with the word "Fire" etched in<br />
the glass. There are many attractive designs<br />
of simple, inexpensive and adequate<br />
type which will meet code requirements,<br />
and harmonize more effectively with the<br />
general architectural character of the wholes<br />
building.<br />
In areas of the theatre, other than thei<br />
auditorium, which the public may either<br />
pass through or lounge in, it is my first<br />
basic concept that there should be sufficient<br />
lighting for safety reasons—to prevent<br />
people from stumbling over stairs or<br />
changes of grade in the floor, and to allow<br />
^^j""<br />
The MODERN THEATRE SECTION
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