Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1917 - Jun 1918)

Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at Chicago, III., Under the Act of March 3, tSfo. Volume VI APRIL 13. 1918 Number 16 Amusement Parks Handicap Film Business A REVIEW of the tax situation as 'affecting amusement parks and motion picture theatres reveals those responsible for the welfare of the film business in the light of being either lax in their duty or incapable— or both : The amusement parks of the country represented by a very capable operator, Frank L. Albert, has succeeded .in offering the amusement parks as "Poor Folks' Amusement" to the committee of Congress which had under consideration this feature of the revenue tax. bill, and thereby escaped the imposition of an admission tax on ten-cent admissions and ten-cent attractions. Within .a ( few weeks we will he facing the opening of the amusement parks for the season and the tencent gate and inside attractions will be tax-free, while the motion picture theatres of the country, where the nearly-standard admission charge is ten cents, will continue to be compelled to exact from their patrons a ten per cent tax thereby driving from its doors a great deal of patronage. The boast of the amusement parks to be the ''Poor Folks Amusement" should be dismissed as merely ridiculous if it were not for the great handicap the usurpation of thie title is placing upon the motion picture business. The motion picture theatre is now and has been for many years the "Poor Folks' Amusement" — not merely for two or three days a year but for practically every day throughout the year. The neighborhood theatre is the mecca; for every member of the family, winter and summer. The motion picture theatre fills a place in human life that never previously has been attained by any amusement institution. The motion picture theatre is universally acclaimed by all who are capable to judge and who are willing to judge impartially as the amusement of the masses — a type of entertaining, educational and inspiring diversion that approaches the maximum in what it offers at a minimum in cost. Yet, despite all this, the amusement parks with their cheap, hollow, tawdry attractions and petty grafting concessions go by tax-free, while the film theatre must impose a ten per cent tax on its patrons: — a fact which has caused in many quarters a tremendous falling-off in business. Considering the cost of what the amusement parks have to offer, the deceitful boast of "Poor Folks' Amusement''" is almost the last word in the gentle art of buncoing the public, because an amusement park for a man who has a few cents to spend for an evenings entertainment is about as satisfying for that man as it would be for him to stand in front of the Metropolitan Opera House and watch the crowds go in for a gala performance., If, then, the facts in the matter are so over-poweringly in favor of the motion picture theatre receiving whatever consideration that was to be allowed by Congress to the amusement of the masses how is it that the amusement parks have been so fortunate and the picture theatres have been subjected to so many tax burdens? To obtain a logical answer to this question it is necessary to consider what was done by both interests to present the facts as they saw them to the committees of Congress. We find the affairs of the amusement parks handled by the very capable Mr. Albert who spent weeks and months in Washington, his expenses met by the solid backing of the amusement park interests of the country, very busy in convincing members of Congress of the inability of his parks to meet even equitable taxation requirements. On the other hand, there were present in Wash 11