Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-20
LITTLE JOURNEYS
TO THE HOMES OF
FAMOUS MOVIES
-. rrside of the Stanley Theatre
and Some Of Its
Wonders

,,s,ae Of a photopiay theatre-how
-, afona" really know it2 1t Isn't a
si ohtona box with a whitewashed wall az
~ ~. and. II isn't even the elaborate sort
~ playhouse that the patron OF the stan,
%, "a p,atyea es a comfortable matter-of-course
10y he drops his ticket in the box. The
-, InsIde of a modern photoplay theatre
Is i h,ndred other things, large and small,
.sat the average sperson can have no earth
=. inieIinR Of And yet every one OF those
details means comfort beauty anusernent @
and success 10 INC eu"''"S0 "N ~ ~
management
,-rbursday afternoon three newspaper men
..,dared into the Stanley to see what rum
,tng a city's premiere movie" really meant.
s,ssons they were through they decided that
~ Keystone State Construction Company
has in many ways very simple lob on its
shs insidet the real inside, even the inside
ef the grand organ
az course there are some angles any
.ssvroer may catch of the elaborate care
thai roes into modern photoplay house
There Is nothing to prevent your counting
the 81 exits of the Stanley. noting the lights
,,oder the arms of the aisle chairs In the
haicony which keep the stairs bright, lis
t.r,ng with considerable respect to the mu-
ia of the 1b-man orchestra and the great
: erran. or admiring the luxurious and taste
f,ij appointments of the ladies' parlor. with
rs engraved writing paper, its magazines,
~ handsome pictures, lamps and furniture.
Won may even catalogue the contents Of the
medical cabinet with its sign: Home
rsmedies free Of charge. Ask the Matron."
But you are more than likely to take all
tbls for what "a Pair of Silk Stockings'
calls ''swank," unless you hear Assistant
Manager silver say to the matron, as he
steers the newspapermen over to look at
sba ushers' room. How is she now?'
"shes awake" Then you may remember
the middle-aged woman sitting rather
Imply on a chair in the foyer. I'VE have
ave or six of those a day." says Mr.. Silver
Aromatic spirits of ammonia fixes them
M We keep chair in the check room
always ready" But according to one label
N the medicine case-"Rice Powder
some cases aren't 30 serious.
II the average patron has no notion Of
The comforts of the special room for the
ushers, with its chairs, table, sofa. wash
stand and lockers, what does he know of
the projection room perched UP at the top
Of the balcony. where Mr.. Cherry, chief
OPERATOR and his assistant. really make
the pictures7 Inside solid fireproof walls
IL looks like some electric laboratory, with
its big switchboard and its three strange
long-legged machines. But these very soon
resolve themselves into the projectors that
shoot the moving picture across the theatre
over the heads of the people to the screen
upon the stage.
There are hundred interesting details
here: the automatic adjusters. that slowly
twist the carbons into contact as the current
eats away their craters; the motor device
BY which the film is fed past the lens at any
desired speed from Is minutes to the reel
for drama to 13 Or IA for comedy; the
ventilators above ana below; the batteries
" holes through which the projecting ma
chimes fire and the operators watch the
screen; and the field glasses for focusing
Things happen here that no mere fan"
wots of. The moment when the reel of
Aim on one machine ends and that on the
next must be so started to take up the
story without a break, is fascinating. On
the first run of the week, Mr.. Cherry has
figured out the proper cues" so to speak
in the pictures; and when one of them
comes his assistant is ready to start his
machine by hand until the motor takes
up and then pull the levers of metal by
which the light gate on the first machine
Is closed and the picture cut off as the sec
ond opens. And while one man watches
the new reel run off, the other must take
the old reel into an adjoining room and
rewind IL electric machine for the
next showing.
That is the essential magic of the pic
ture theatre. But there is more, magic
back-stage, magic that makes UP half
the charm of a house like the Stanley.