New-York tribune., 1921-10-02

M CT WaShlngtuns lnnumerablc 9th
clal reports the other day ran on in
statistical way TO the effect that
more money was spent last year for
motion pictures and garages than upon mere
dwellings.
The findings III general will bear out the
observation of the average Individual, who
may nave been led to wonder, if he is Of
wondering turn of mind, just how it is that
there arc so many new roofs to shelter mo-
ton picture patrons and so few to offer refuge
to the individual who wants to find rcasona-
bly, priced living quarters.
Architects. whose talk is without animation
when it is upon the subject of home building
field which they claim has been distinctly
unremunerative to the profession for several
years-are afire with enthusiasm when they
talk about plans for moving picture palaces
High costs of building and labor seem to have
had no terrors for the builders who provide
nice, dry and ornate places for patrons of the
drama of misspelled captions
Perhaps sign blossoms on a vacant lot
and the passing householder pauses and ex-
claims as he adjusts his glasses: "Here is
where the landlord trust is going to find un-
pleasant reading!' But instead of the an
nouncement that a ten-story apartment will
be erected on the lot, he finds that the sign
is concerned with the largest handsomest
best ventilated motion picture theater in the
world which will soon bring delight to the
dwelcrs in the immediate vicinity and cause
them to forget such minor and universal dis
comforts as crowded and expensive living
quarters.
Or perhaps the passerby may see workmen
attacking the walls of group of old dwell
ing houses or apartments, from which rent
ers have been compelled to move He will
learn that, instead of new apartment build
ing, the inevitable motion picture theater is
to be bult-just trife larger more ornate
and better ventilated than the one Just COM
pleted. Such theater cuts both ways. for it
not only occupies space and consumes the time
of labor which might be devoted to buildings
for residential purposes, but it takes away
from the limited supply which the rent-payine
public had available. One motion picture
palace in Brooklyn occupies space which was
formerly taken up by a score of rather old
fashioned houses which had been converted
into tenements and from which the OCCUPANTS
were dispossessed.
lime was then the construction of new
theater in New York or any other big cjtv
was something worth extended and varied
comment. 1t had page pictures and descrp
tive stories in the newspapers, and the archi
tects and decorators were sure of much COM
mandatory comment-free Of all charge
People took Sunday afternoon off to show the
family the new theatre in process of construc
ton, and the star company that had the
privilege of opening the playhouse won fame
that was supposed to be deathless
But to-day nobody pays any attention to
the beginning, completion and dedication Of
motion picture piayhouses in which the lare
est of the old theaters could be lost. In these
great buildings organs which cost many
thousands of dollars. In the old davs such
organs would come in for detailed advance
description, and somebody like Guiluant
would be secured for the dedicatory playinp
But to-day the house organist slides into his
seat at the opening hour and begins the grim
business of pursuing the heroine and villain
through the changes of the flm-a pursuit
that leaves countless unfinished tunes gasp
ing out their lives and which makes the or
ganist wish that no composer would write any
thing that lasted longer than one minute ana
eight seconds in the playing.
Architects, as pointed out, have profited by
all this motion picture theatre building, vet
tkey seem to have overlooked their opportuni