The Washington times., 1914-10-26
THE BEST
Photoplay Department in
WASHINGTON
One Exhibitor Who
Is Operating His
Thedter on
Schedule

One of the most satisfactory things
in the world Is to find some person
sharpening your own point of view
for his personal use. bowling the
while in acknowledgment of your
original creation of the point. We
have advanced so many things with
our point of view toward the better
ment of the production and exhibit
ton of motion pictures. from the
vantage point of this column. that it
is q great satisfaction to have some
one take the trouble to call us up
and inform US that he believes in at
least one of our ideas, and will adopt
it. We have just had that pleasure
Harry Crandall, who has done a lot
of very big things in promoting the
general prosperity of motion picture
producers and the satisfaction Of mo-
ton picture patrons. has announced
that he intends, in the future. to op-
crate his theater on a regular sched
ule. so that his patrons can know
exactly when they may see their ia
vorite players. The Crandall Thea
ter opens at IL o'clock every morning
in the year. The exhibitions given
run continuously until II o'clock In
the evening. Such is the custom In
most of the theaters in the city.
1t has frequently happened. how
ever that exhibitors are not so keen
to run their programs out for every
crowd. 1t has happened many times
that exhibitors have cut out one pic
ture or sometimes two because the
crowd was thin. Or they have run
their pictures rapidly when the
crowd was thick. Schedules to such
exhibitors would be dangerous.
There is one man who exhibited pic
lures here some time ago who OPEN
ly boasted that he could run his
city, and that he had made record
of running off a thousand feet of film
in nine minutes. The best sort of
production calls for fifteen.
A schedule Of his program would
have shown up the dishonesty OF
that exhibitor better than the
wretched way in which his pictures
themselves showed it. Crandall de-
sires to let the public understand
that the only. record he Is after IN
the motion picture business Is ex-
hibiting them in the very best way
they can be exhibited. Hence he
has made a public announcement Of
his schedule. His program will run
exactly an hour and fifteen minutes.
This means that his first showing OF
it will conclude at 12:15 every day;
the second at 1 30: the third at 2:45,
and so on throughout the day. By
gaugipg their attendance his patrons
can know exactly when picture is
to be shown and can avoid coming In
at the middle of an exhibition. if
they do not desire to do so. The
schedule is being printed In the
and neat cards have been prepared
showing it. which will be given to
every patron of the house. The
value of this reform in the exhibi-
ton of pictures cannot be overesti-
mated. The operation Of the theater
under the schedule system by Mr..
Crandall will no doubt be watched
with interest by other exhibitors
throughout the city and in the
course of time there is every reason
to believe that all Of the better
houses will adopt it.
There has been a great deal said
in these columns about the rushing
of film, and several instances have
been cited of record speed attained
in the reeling off OF pictures that
were extremely disconcerting to
people trying to watch them. We
have stated repeatedly that q 900
foot reel ought not be shown ct a
faster speed than fifteen minutes to
the reel. A number Of persons have
informed US Of having witnessed pro-
ductions in less than fifteen minutes
to the reel. These productions took