MANCALL'S 1931 THEATRE BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT CATALOG -- ABRIDGED

The 1931 edition of  "Mancall's Theatre Building and Equipment Catalog" was the first (and last) book to consolidate catalog pages for everything needed to equip a Movie Palace. A 1932 edition was planned, but the crash put the stop to that. 

Boone Mancall was the publisher of the monthlies "Motion Picture Projectionist" and "Theatre Engineering," the latter folding in mid-1931 after only a year.

"Motion Picture Projectionist" was a scholarly journal aimed at the nation's many IATSE projectionists.  Mancall's tantalizing cover art reflected the uncertainty that was Talking Pictures.

In the last months before his magazine folded , Mancall could not even afford new cover art, instead pasting optimistic notes over the old. 

The 1931 Mancall's catalog contains a hundred pages of ads, ranging from Peter Clark stage rigging to amplifiers to push-brooms.

The book also includes the New York City Building Code for Theatres (1931) and General Electrical Specifications for Movie Palaces, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Here are the wonderful ad pages, followed by a very amusing Glossary of Terms, relating mainly to talking picture sound recording.

Stage Equipment

Stage and Theatre Lighting

Motion Picture Projectors, Devices, Lamp houses and Talking Equipment

Other Vendors

Motion Picture Production Glossary

From the Joe Patten collection.

To view Mancall's "Motion Picture Projectionist" magazine issues, 
November, 1929 to October, 1930 click here.
November, 1930 to October, 1931 click here.
November, 1931 to January, 1933 click here.

To view Mancall's "Servicing Projection Equipment," click here.


For a master index of all photo-essays, click here.

July, 2017