TALKIES FOR FOXTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4477, 12 July 1930, Page 3

TALKIES FOR FOXTON.

COMPRELIEN'BIVE REPORT BY MAYOR AND IOLER-K. FULL DISCUSSION BY COUNCILLORS. CASTING VOTE IN FAVOUR OF LEASING HALL. “Talkies,” the advisability of their installation in the Town Ilail or otherwise, has been a matter of some moment with local residents of late. In order to obtain firsthand information on the. question the Mayor (Mr. M. E. Perreau) and Town Clerk (Mr. Win. Trueman) paid a visit to Auckland recently and the general public has been patiently waiting tlm report since their return. With the object of providing Councillors with details of their investigations and to bring the matter to some finality a special meeting of the ’Council was held on Thursday evening, presided over by the Mayor. There were also present: Councillors R. J. Thompson, John Ross, F. Robinson, S. E. Cowley, C. Rand, D. R, Barron, F. Lucinsky and the Town Clerk (Mr. Win. Trueman). Apologies for absence were received from C-i’S. A. R. Crowe and R. Eangiheuea. REPORT ON VISIT TO AUCKLAND..

- The -Mayor called on the Town (Clerk to read their joint report on the visit to Auckland which was as follows: —

WfEIAT THEY SAW

. “As instructed, we. proceeded to Auckland for the purpose of making a first-hand investigation of the “talkie” .business, and submit herewith as concisely as possible the various conclusions we have come to, for your information. “On the morning’ of our arrival in Auckland we visited the Boxy theatre in Queen Street, where a Western Electric plant was installed. This k a. continuous show and reproduction was excellent, the theatre heavily draped and the programme being- shown was a. good one. Leaving this theatre we proceeded in the afternoon to the Regent theatre at Epsom under the control of Amalgamated Theatres Ltd., which theatre was partially draped. At this theatre a Parent bad recently been installed. We inspected the plant and were informed by the manager that it had so fan given entire satisfaction, this being the most recent installation. This theatre showed at. night only so we did not see or hear the plant working on this occasion. We then returned to the city and went to the Strand theatre in Queen Street where a show was in progress, Western Electric being installed. 'Che reproduction here", however, was nothing ' compared with the ltoxv theatre, due, we were told, to two reasons, one being a poor pic tlive', the other to insufficient or incorrect draping. We were permitted to inspect- the plant both while , running and after the show, and we were told bv the manager that the plant was equally as efficient as the plant at the Roxy theatre even though the reproduction was so much .inferior. ■•We next visited the Prince Edward theatre at .Karanguhapo road, an old vaudeville theatre turned inti.- a picture theatre, where a Cut.oii plant was installed. "The picture being shown was “The Argvle -Case” featuring Thos. Meighan. The programme itself was a good one, the plant was quite satisfactory, and the theatre having been built for vaudeville shows, required but little draping. All the necessary factors contributing to* a good show were present at this theatre on the occasion of our visit. “We then, returned to the Regent ' theatre at Epsom, where a picture called “Broadway” was being screened, one of the poorest pictures imaginable. Needless to say that with the insufficient draping and poor picture, the results were not at all satisfactory to our critical ears, although the theatre was well filled 'with patrons. We went on then, to the Alexandra theatre at Greenlane where another Parent plant was installed.. Here we found the saipe picture “Broadway” was being screened simultaneously with that at Epsom, but we have to confess -that the reproduction was a distinct improvement on that .at Epsom, although the picture was so trashy. The theatre bad, however, been well draped. - “We next visited the Majestie theatre m Queen Street, where a R.C.A. plant was installed. The picture being shown was Ruth Chatterton in “Sarah & .Son,” after the style of “’Sorrell & Son.” Here the reproduction was quite good, the picture good and the. acoustics. good. A. large amount of draping had been done. At this theatre we were lucky enough to meet the New Zealand representative of R.'C.A. (Radio Corporation ■of America) as this organisation has no office in this country. Mr. . Draikeley showed us the plant and explained in detail each of the various parts. The plant installed in this theatre is the largest one this company makes. this theatre we were privileged to inspect- the National theatre, also in Queen Street which is in (process of being renovated and adapted for a new Western Electric plant. Extensive structural alterations are being made to .the theatre and it is not. duel,to open for a little while yet. “Through the courtesy of the Pox -Films representative in Auckland'wc, visited the new Civicrtheafre about’ which so much has been written and said. It is indeed magnificently appointed throughout and j • no expense whatever;seems to. have been spared to make the theatre

as lavish as possible. The theatre is wired for ’Western Electi'ic, and and a very- fine Fox programme “High Society,” was being screened. Having been built after the “talkie” invasion had taken place, reproduction naturally is excellent. On (lie other hand the audience was nowhere as largo as one would have thought the show and theatre merited, and we put this down to the fact that the theatre is so palatial inside that one feels quite iusignifionnt and shabby when inside it, and it is just possible that patrons seek a more homely theatre for their entertainment. This is only our impression and most probably is not I lie real cause or the small pa-tron-age.

By this time, however, a change of programme had taken place at Epsom and wo again went out there to hear the Parent plant once more. This time ■ the programme was “Blackmail” and it was hut little better than '‘Broadway” although it had been 'better recorded on the film, and naturally the reproduction was that much better. From there We went on 'to Greenlane where the picture “The Hollywood Revue” was being shown. This picture consisted almost entirely of short scenes l ;and soloists, with choruses, just a typical revue, and as the picture had been fairly well made the reproduction was quite satisfactory and pleasing to the car. “Wje also inspected .the two theatres in Palmerston North where “Talkies” are shown and here again reproduction was quite good, De Forrest plants 'being' installed in both the Palace and De Luxe. In l lie latter theatre owing to a wooden ceiling it had been necessary to drape completely the -whole of the ceiling’ the full length of the building. But the desired resulthad been attained and very fine performances were -given.

TRIPLE ESSENTIALS. “We have discussed the whole business with the various theatre managers and opera,tors, and also with film men and others interested in the business, and apart from prices or anything else we lia.ve come to one- very definite conclusion and that is: Thait the success err otherwise of a “talkie” install;! - lion depends only one third on the ■plant installed. W|C must, confess that we left Foxton under the impression that everything depended on the. “talkie” plant itself, but actual investigation on the spot now reveals what we said above that one third only depends on the plant ; another third depends on successfully draping the theatre to overcome echo/distortion and reverberation; while the other third depends entirely on the picture programme, that is on the manner in

which the sound ba3 been recorded during the process of making the picture. We have been, however, reassured on this latter point by several people who stated that the film companies hail achieved wonderful results in more recent pictures and that future programmes should give good results without exception. Of course we know there will be and always were “dud” pictures -but thgt cannot lie helped so far as the exhibitor is concerned. In one theatre in Auckland 12 pictures had been pre-viewed by the management with the object of selecting four] fort screening. The other eight pictures had been rejected as unsuitable or not good enough, although the. whole twelve lmd to be paid for. “This sort of thing is, however, rapidly being overcome by the film companies who are continually improving the technical side of “talkie” picture making. We were told that there were only about 20 thea--1 res in the whole of the Auckland province not wired and most of these would be wired during the present winter. H(> UND -ON - FILM PIC T Ult-ES FAVOURED.

“VV'le carefully enquired into the merits and demerits of sound-«ri-liltn ami sound-on-dise. We ascertained that 80 per cent, of the pictures coming into the-, country now are all sound-on-film and as there are about 10 exchanges importing films,_representing about 400 pictures in a year, il seems that there will be in 'the vicinity of 320 souud-■oii-lilm pictures and 80 soiuul-on-disc pictures Lo select from. If we were to instal a sound-on-iilm plant only there would be no difficulty whatever in getting supplies of film. The following are all sound-on-Jilm pictures: All Paramount, MetroGold wyn, Fox, Universal and R.K.O. while First-National-Warner seem to be entirely sound-on-dise. “it should perhaps be explained that when first the “talkie” plants came on the market owing to the few sound-on-iilm pictures then made, the “talkie” plants were made to take sound-on-dise only, or else souud-oh-dise and sound-on-iilm in combination, but not for sound-on-film only. Now, howevei - , with the multitude of sound-un-lilm pictures coming forward the “talkie” plant manufacturers are now making sound-on-film only (plants in addition to their former plants, thus showing the general trend towards souud-ou-film. There lire several reasons for this, one being the longer life of the film as compared with the short life of the discs, another being the impossibility of losing synchronisation of the. actor and his or her voice, while yet another is the comparative ease of operating the plant. As discs have to be sent from town to town accompanying each picture additional freight is incurred and should -a dise be broken in transit considerable inconvenience occurs. In our neighbouring town, Levin, wc find that the former sound-on-disc only plant is now being adapted to accommodate sound-on-film as well; They could not manage with sound-on-dise only. In Shan-

non, our oilier neighbour a Pneent somid-on-film plant only is being installed. "\\le were also informed by a film company representative and saw at one of the Auckland 'theatres that sound-on-film programmes were sent out in 2,000 feet spools, so that by adapting a soiiiul-on-fiim only plant to our present biograph we could pot on a show with just the same number of changes of spool as at present. The change with the somul-oii-'lilm lakes only a few seconds longer than at present, so that there would be practically no delay fo speak of.

Now as lo cost. Wc have been inundated with quotations, and we are in a somewhat similar position to anyone selecting a motor car or a house. There are many makes, each with distinctive features of its own, so that it is indeed difficult- to make a selection or a choice. However, attached to this report are various .quotations which are submilted for your information. In conclusion we desire to express our appreciation of the. courtesy of the various theatre managers who did everything in their power to make our visit to A nekland educational and instructive, and wc trust the information now before you will be of some vise in vi-lir deliberations.”

INSTALLATION COSTS. Mr Trueman also tabled a, sheaf of correspondence from various "Talkie” firms relative to the installation of their respective machines.

The quotations received were for De Forest, Western Electric, Zeiss Ikon, Parent, Cat on and E.C.A. machines, hut the best two offers were for the Western Electric and Parent plants. They were as follows :

Western Electric: One machine plant complete, sound on film with pick-up for overture, etc., £3599. Service fee, £2 per week extra, l ease, 3.0 years. Parent : One-machine plant, complete, £ 11)2(1 Ills (Id. All service ex I ra.

The Clerk pointed out that with the Western Electric plant the service was definitely £2 per week. The total cost to the Council extending over the ten years would be £5 per week. With the Parent plant service charges were an indefinite ’ amount. There were no Parent plants operating in this part of the district. "Lu both cases tbe plant had to lie paid oil' within i lircr years.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. C'v. Robinson asked if there were any British machines on the market. The Clerk: There are none on the market in New Zealand at present. Cr. Barron asked how much Talkie films cost.

Mr Trueman intimated tlnil- there was no fixed charge for the film, 25 per cent, of the.-takings being charged. Touching on the cost of installation, lie'said that for the. first three years the Council could not hope to make lnueh as it would hr paying oil' the plant, hut after that there only remained the service fee ■tii meet.

COMPLIM ENT A RY. Cr. liosw said that lie considered the visit to Auckland by the Mayor it ml Town Clerk) the wisest move the Council could have made. The question of service was one that largely figured in the proposal. It would not lie wise to instal a machine unless they could be sure of good service. With this end in view it might nay the Council to insiol a macihine similar to those in neighbouring towns in order to ensure good service.

PREVIOUS OFFER RE-OPENED. Cr. Lucinsky said he was absent I rom the lust Council meeting, but lie understood that the Council had received a good offer for the lease of the Halt. He thought- that offer should have been accepted.

The Mayor said there were certain features about the offer which prevented, them from accepting it. There was also the argument that, if a tenant could make the hall pay then the Council eould, and if a tenant could not make it pay, then they couldn’t keep the tenant.

LEASE THE HALL. Or. Lucinsky: We can easily call tenders for the lease of the hall. Things are not the brightest at pre - sent, and no matter wluit entertainment von have in the town the young people will always go elsewhere for their amusement. I will move that we call tenders for the lease of the hall. (Clr. Robinson: A wise move. Let tile mailer of installation stand over until wc see if we can obtain :i good offer for the hall. Cr Ross said that the time was rapidly approaching when it would lie impossible to obtain silent films. Talkies would have lo lie installed sooner or later. PROPOHAL SECONDED. Cr. Robinson said that several theatre people in Wellington had told him that it would be suicidal (Concluded on page 4).