Village Squire, 1974-01, Page 9KITCHEN
much larger. So, the distributor keeps the
film in the city as long as possible.
Why not both in the city and in the
smaller centres? Because, Mr. Lyndon
explains, there are only a small number of
prints (copies) made of each film because
of the cost involved. A single print may
cost thousands of dollars and so the
distributor tries to limit the number of
prints and passes' them from one house to
another. Thus, the cities get first crack.
Lyndon points to American Graffiti as a
film now playing in the cities that will stay
there a while longer because the local
theatres can't compete w;th the city
theatres in terms of dollars offered.
_
There is a chain of hands through which
a movie passes on its way from the motion
picture studio to the theatre. The film is
handled through a distributor, sometimes a
branch of one of the big motion- picture
producing companies, and then is booked
into your local theatre through a "booker".
Nearly all, as stated earlier, came with a 60
per cent price tag although some older
films and matinee featuies are not so
costly. But, Lyndon points out, they also
don't draw people into the theatre.
"I Have people come to me and tell me
how good they think the old Laurel and
Hardy movies they see on television are"
he says, "but if I had them here at the
theatre, they wouldn't pay to get in to see
them." •
Economics is very critical in the theatre
business. The Park Theatre. for instance,
r
1.1 5 -PIECE DINING ROOM SET
runs with a staff of three or four persons
including the manager, the projectionist,
the ticket seller, the ticket taker and usher
and the staff at the popcorn stand. But
behind the scenes there are more workers
like the cleaning staff members who have
to come in every day to clean up after the
night before's show. Costs of running the
theatre then mount into the hundreds of
dollars weekly and it takes a lot of 80
cents to pay the bills. It is this economic
factor that has made the small move
theatre so rare. Where once every town of
25.00 persons or so could support a theatre
Lyndon says, now his population base is
about 15,000 in Goderich and the greater
part of Huron county. It's the same story
for the other theatres in the area.
Still, there must be money in theatres.
The Park, for instance, belongs to a chain
of theatresd that go under the' name
Mustang. All except the Park, and
including the Goderich drive-in, are
drive-in theatres. There is for the most
part, Lyndon says, a difference in the
clientelle between the drive-in and the
regular movie theatre, although not so
much locally as in some areas. Many of the
sam, people who come to the Park also go
to the Mustang, he says, although elderly
persons who don't like to drive, patronize
the downtown theatre more.
Upstairs we go to look at the projection
room and one notices that the walls are all
concrete The floors are too, and there is a
steel door on the projection room. All
theatres must be completely fire -proof.
Inspectors arrive regularly to check all
safety regulations.
In the projection room, Lyndon, no small
man himself, looks small beside the two
huge projectors that bear about as much
relationship to your Super 8 as a model
plane does to a jetliner He shows you the
sound system and the stereo music system
that pumps music throughout the
auditorium and when asked how much it
would cost to set up an operation like this
from scratch just throws up his hands and
say "Lord I don't know"'
Downstairs he talks about the rating
s\stent for movies, something that draws a
good deal of criticism front patrons
"I don't know who they are"' he says of
the people who give the tilnt its rating of
general admission, adult entertainment or
restricted, "hut I sometimes think they're
idiots • He e\plains that the provincial
classitie ation board e lassities the film and
if it doesn't think that the film fits one of
the classifications they give it back to the
distributor and ask for changes
In this subtle way, censorship still lives
in Ontario
He often gets calls, he says, from
. parents wondering if a show is a good one
for their children to see but so much
depends on personal tastes that it's hard to
say. Often a film will be classified adult
entertainment more for the language used
than for the sexual content, he notes.
Forlhe
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DINING
AREA
Our annual "Early Bird Sale" has become
one of the most outstanding furniture sales
events in the country - And why not? - We
offer a huge selection of high quality
merchandise at all times, and it is selections
from this stock that is now being offered at
sale prices.
We do not "create" sales with merchan-
dise that does not measure up to our regular
high quality standards. So come on in and
look us over - you'll be glad you did.
Sale lasts until the merchandise that we
have selected to reduce has been sold so be
an early bird and come in while the selection
is at its best. Here is a sample of some of the
items featured in this sale.
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Jiome lu'tniAkiny3
PHONE 482-9505
CLINTON, ONTARIO
VILLAGE SQUIRE/JANUARY 1974, 9