Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-12-05
HASKIN LETTER
CHECK YOUR BABY
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN

/ games, swings and books for the older
! children. AS each mother came in with
! her offspring, she was asked to regis
] ter and was given a check for each
youngster, while similar check was
attached to the child.
But" said the exhibitor, in discuss
ing his plan, I'VE had to give the thing
up
He paused significantly. do you
want to know why?' he asked, dubious
! ly. Then, as the visitor nodded, Be
cause it was too popular. The women
were too eager to take advantage of If.
They would bring their babies about one
O'Clock in the afternoon. pay the fifteen
cents admission, and then go away and
leave them in the creche all after
noon. Sometimes they would be gone
five hours at d stretch, so that the
kids would get cranky and the trained
nurse would have more on her hands
than she could attend to.
"As long as they stayed in the theater,
| it was all right. We could always flash
/ q notice ON the screen for mother to
go to the nursery-that her baby was
raising fuss, but when she went off
to a card party, or TO a down town
theater and left all the responsibility
to us, we decided we'd have to quit.
Nevertheless, this mans experience
| has not served to discourage other movie
exhibitors from trying the same thing,
nor has it made much impression on the
| department store owners, who have no
| ticed a tremendous increase in sales since
| the baby checking system was installed.
! The creche, with all it's juvenile luxuries,
| may be too attractive to be practical,
but baby-carriage guard is undoubtedly
| greatly appreciated and is a remunera
! tive investment.
This is the only place I ever do any
| shopping" declared d woman to her
! friend the other day, as she deposited
| her baby in the care of the stores kindly
| faced baby checker. They are too heavy
| to carry and if you leave them out on
! the sidewalk alone you are constantly
! worrying for fear they will be kidnapped.
| Until these people started this checking
| system | simply couldn't buy anything.
| always had TO stay" Her voice was
| lost in the general buzz of other femi-
/ nine voices rs she reached q popular
! bargain counter.
/ Even thongh abused by occasional
mothers imbued with the wanderlust
4 says a prominent movie authority, the
/ baby checking service is now recognized
/ as the next essential for moving picture
1 theaters The movies are now invading
the most residential districts establishing
! their screens in the heart of the flat
/ dwelling and tenement sections where
4 their afternoon audiences-if they have
| afternoon audiences almost en-
i tirely of women with heavy home re-
/ sponsibiiities. There is only one way
I for the movie house i'll such n section
/ to maintain its matinee and that is to
rescue the woman from her home duties.
One moving picture theater in tene-
ment district near the Bowery has mas
tered this problem in an extremely novel
way. 1t runs a sort Of home reporting
| business in connection with its films,
which guarantees to keep the patrons
advised of what is going on in their
homes. In the middle of romantic pic
ture, for instance, an entirely irrelevant
piece of news may be flashed on the
screen. Perhaps it is message for
Mrs Smith stating that the ice man is
at her house. or perhaps Mrs. Levitsky