Cinema of “Cool”

You may be wondering what the heck I’m doing, talking about air conditioning of all things on a movie blog, but the advent of that glorious technology so casually known as “A/C” has a significant connection to the movies. The movie theater business was one of the first industries to grab hold of this technology, seeing its potential for increasing profits through and increase in ticket sales.

With Summer coming to a close and we enter into Autumn, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on this lesser-appreciated marriage of movies and technology. I consider myself lucky, as I was born well into the age of electronically controlled atmospheres, not having to “suffer” through a visit to the movies. I am spoiled, I suppose. Perhaps I’d have an even stronger admiration for the cinema if I’d had to “tough it out” while seeing the greats of the silver screen. It’s like my grandfather says, “you can’t truly appreciate something you didn’t have to work for.”

Back in the day, before my time (yes, I know), movie theaters were not climate controlled. Can you imagine? A theater crowded with people, and keep in mind people dressed in more clothing than is typical these days, in the middle of summer, tightly packed in like sardines enjoying a first-run feature while fanning themselves to stay cool. I dare not imagine how this may result in an unintentional appearance by the Smell-O-Rama gimmick. I wonder when the air freshener was invented?

What I can do, however, is appreciate those early Movie Geek mavericks for venturing out to movie houses without the modern movie-watching luxuries we have today. When you think about it, if these ancestral Movie Geeks hadn’t had the curious nature and interest in something profoundly new, the entire motion picture business may have died out decades ago as just another fad. If we take the time to recall (I get it! Can we move past my age, please?), another fascinating piece of technology known as the television set came very close to putting the movies out to pasture. Guess what? Air conditioning was the 50-caliber anti-aircraft ammunition that Hollywood needed to survive.

While some families in the 50’s were drooling over their new black and white TV sets with all of, what… 5-6 channels, most families could not afford this new fangled electronic picture box. So, when theaters fully embraced the A/C, combined with a much larger and soon-after full-color image, people of all ages flocked back to theaters for what was clearly a better deal. Of course, like in any lucrative  industry that finds a new cash cow, theaters wanted to ensure this new era of profitability was maintained as long as possible. We started seeing double-features promoted on the marque and theaters started offering earlier daytime screenings as a way of taking advantage of the cooling allure of A/C, offering people a relaxing and entertaining way to escape the summer heat and stay cool.

Today, we take the miracle of air conditioning for granted. Its a common staple of most our lives during the scorching summer months. We don’t take the time to fully appreciate how much more enjoyable our lives have become as a result of the cool embrace of this mechanical breeze. We’ve all likely had at least one scenario where the A/C went out during an event or while at work. Wasn’t much fun, was it? Next time you get a chance, sit down with your parents, or grandparents, and ask them for yourselves… you may find you just don’t know how good you have it.