Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-06
BROADAYS SIGNS
CHALLENGE STARS
Gay White Way Uses Enough
Electric Power for City
of 10000.


NEW YORK, August 6.-Broad
ways Great White Way uses enough
electric power in it's signs to provide
| for all needs of a town OF 10, 900 popu.
iation.
These signs. flashing internationally
or standing in great banks of. light,
throw 100000 candle power into the
street, with nightly current con-
sumption Of 1890 kilowatt hours, it
has been determined by the New York
Edison Co.
This display. dedicated to advertis-
ing, has grown from little sign with
200 lamps placed where the Flatiron
Building now stands, which, in 1895,
heralded: Manhattan Beach Swept
by Ocean BreeZes."
Electricity Conserved.
However, economy is exercised even
in this prodigality Of light. The thea
ter signs are lit at dusk, but often
turned off before the performances are
over. Many of the large signs shine
only at specified hours when the large
crowds are on the street. Supper clubs
often do not light their signs until
late, when they wish to attract after
theater groups.
There are $4,000 signs now on
Broadway, with a present increase of
about 5000 annually, until space in
which to hang or set them is at a
premium.
Theaters, which originally made the
otherwise drab street what it is, have
dropped to seventh in the classical
ton of users of signs, with about 700
displays. Restaurants lead the process.
sion with 2,SS5. Tobacco companies
are near the top with 1,100.
In the most desirable spaces, the
roofs of the buildings often bring a
higher rental than offices. One four
story building. only s feet deep,
erected solely for sign displays, brings
an annual rental of 100000.
Largest Sign Demolished.
The largest sign in the world re-
Gently was demolished when the build
ing holding it was wrecked. 1t con-
tanned 81 miles of wiring, was 200 feet
long and was as high as f1ve-story
building.
Since its destruction, a sign atop
the United States Rubber Co. building,
advertising the company and its tires,
is numbered among the largest. Fac
| ing north and south, the double dis
play is SET III d ITdIlC 90 lCCI "loC e1liu
| So feet high. It's illumination is es-
timated at 100000 candle power.
A sign advertising 1.-THE Big Pa
rade" upholds the theater's visual
prestige with 100000 candle power of
| Illumination, while the Chevrolet auto
mobile sign, covered entirely with
| bulbs over an area so by ga feet, casts
IT'S, 900 candle power.
Challenges Stars.
Two othr signs, both of great size,
stand high in the sky, one of them be-
| ing that of the Fisk Tire Co., a double
display 354 feet above the street.
| Nearby is the Gotham Bank sign, an
| 80 ton structure resting on the steel
columns of the building BAT feet above
the street.
A. color animation" sign, consid-
cred a radical innovation in display,
made it's appearance in advertising
the motion picture Don Juan" This
new sign, employing the colors red
and blue, makes it possible to create
| the Illusion of Ia different motions by
| figures on 1t.
The Great White Way is not only
for the benefit of visitors to New
York, but has peculiar place in the
heart of the city. When the signs
were dimmed during the war in the
test was raised that they were turned
| interest Of conservation, such a pro-
on again within a few days.