Boxoffice-January.07.1950
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PROTECTING THE<br />
FROM HIMSELF<br />
by GEORGE J. BEVANS<br />
Architectural Engineer<br />
PATRON<br />
OMAN EMERGENCY<br />
ELECTRIC PLANT<br />
You are protected against power interruption or<br />
restrictions on your use of electricity with an<br />
Onan Standby Plant. In case of power failure the<br />
Onan Plant takes over the entire power load<br />
within seconds automatically, and the show goes<br />
on. When power use is curtailed, just switch to<br />
your Onan Plant for all the current you need.<br />
Low in cost, simple to install. Ruggedly built<br />
and dependable. 1,000 to 35,000 watts A.C.<br />
D. W. ONAN & SONS INC.<br />
AT ROTECTION OF THEATRE patrOnS<br />
against fire and panic is requii-ed by law,<br />
but protecting them from themselves is a<br />
daily hazard of theatre operation that only<br />
the owners themselves can minimize.<br />
This hazard of falls and other types of<br />
bodily injui-y keeps public liability insurance<br />
rates at high levels and adds to the<br />
cost of theatre overhead.<br />
No figures exist, but it is doubtful if<br />
there are very many theatre owners in the<br />
countiT who at some time or other have<br />
not had claims presented for torn clothing,<br />
pinched fingers, sprained ankles or<br />
more serious mishaps.<br />
Although it is not generally recognized,<br />
about one person in 11 is what medical experts<br />
call "accident-prone," meaning that<br />
this one pei-son is more likely to suffer injury<br />
than the other ten.<br />
"If there isn't an accident around, these<br />
accident-susceptible people will go out<br />
looking for one," it was recently stated by<br />
Dr. A. L. Chapman, medical director of<br />
the division of chronic disease of the<br />
United States public health service.<br />
"Ten normal people will walk up a flight<br />
of steps," he said. "The eleventh, an accident-prone<br />
individual, will trip and perhaps<br />
break his arm. Why? We dont<br />
know. We ought to find out."<br />
This of course does not mean that one<br />
out of evei-y 11 persons entering a theatre<br />
is going to suffer an accident, but many<br />
do every year, and it emphasizes that a<br />
theatre should be made as safe as possible.<br />
Next to motor vehicles, falls account for<br />
more accidental deaths in America each<br />
year than any other cause.<br />
Taking cognizance of this fact, the National<br />
Bureau of Standards has conducted<br />
exhaustive tests with various types of<br />
floors. "In making these tests they were<br />
forced to balance the fact that the slipperiness<br />
of any surface is important to the<br />
physical well-being of those who walk on<br />
it, that rough surfaces are difficult to maintain<br />
and are thus not desirable from the<br />
standpoint of theatre owners."<br />
Following the tests, the Bureau came<br />
up with the finding that asphalt tile is<br />
generally the safest material underfoot of<br />
the more commonly-used smooth-surfaced<br />
flooring materials, provided it is not given<br />
a high-gloss coating of wax.<br />
A loibber heel is the safest on any type<br />
of floor, the Bureau said, but with either<br />
rubber or leather heels a person is less<br />
prone to slip on asphalt tile than on any<br />
other smooth flooring. These conditions<br />
exist in most cases whether the floor is<br />
wet or dry, clean or dirty.<br />
The safety factor is one of the reasons<br />
that architects today are specifying asphalt<br />
tile for new theatres and for houses undergoing<br />
modernization. Other factors cited<br />
by architects are the low installation and<br />
maintenance costs of asphalt tile, its imlimited<br />
range in color and design, and such<br />
wear-resistance that asphalt tile has withstood<br />
the foot traffic of more than 20,000,-<br />
000 persons without showing any discernible<br />
loss in thickness.<br />
STAIRWAY<br />
PROTECTION<br />
Flooring that is safe underfoot is only<br />
part of the protection that should be pro-<br />
itzer Brothers, leaders in technical<br />
and engineering research in the<br />
black light and luminous display fields,<br />
offer a complete line of fluorescent<br />
paints, lighting units and other products<br />
to enhance the beauty of your theater.<br />
34<br />
Write today for a GLO-CRAFT port-<br />
^tt^' folio of suggestions on dramatic black<br />
light<br />
effects<br />
theater decoration.<br />
;i3ffiyiii!M{i5.iii.<br />
Wl St Clair Aviniii • Clevelanil 3, Ohio<br />
T/ie First ^ame in Fluorescence"<br />
Be Sure to See Before You Buy Ar^y Screen<br />
WILLIAMS SCREEN CO.<br />
1679 Summit Lake Blvd. Akron 7, Ohio<br />
postage-paid card oi page 39 to respond to this ad, key number 34-C.<br />
The MODERN THEATRE SECTION