Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Oct-Dec 1928)

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38 EXHIBITORS HERALD and MOVING PICTURE WORLD October 27, 1928 Advertising and Exploiting Sound (Continued from preceding page) . . . because you HEAR and SEE . . . golden voices . . . and the marvelous music of America's greatest artists. You must not miss "STREET ANGEL" or "FOUR SONS" at this theatre. (date). Herewith, you will find types of trailer copy adaptable for your usage in introducing FOX MOVIETONE TALKING NEWSWEEKLY or MOVIETONE or VITAPHONE (that is, talking or singing) SHORTS: IT WON'T BE LONG NOW! before this theatre will proudly offer its patrons Current Events to SEE and HEAR! (or, "the World's Greatest Artists to SEE and HEAR) coming as a distinct innovation in modern theatricals ... a "step ahead" ... from the silent drama ... which isn't silent any more. . . . FOX TALKING NEWS WEEKLY. It will bring the world of current events to your doorstep ... you SEE the characters in action and what's more ■ ■ . you HEAR them! (or, "It will bring the best from Broadway, the cream of vaudeville's brilliancies, the best beauties from beyond, the most marvelous of musical comedy favorites . . . all to you ... and what's more ... for you to HEAR!) This amazing miracle prophesied thirty years ago is no longer a dream. . . . IT'S A REALITY! THE FOX MOVIETONE TALKING NEWS (or Movietone or Vitaphone) gives immortality ... to the magnetic personalities of Lindbergh ... Coolidge . . . Mussolini . . . Hoover . . . Prince of Wales . . . Al Smith (or, "to the golden voices of Al Jolson, Marion Talley, Van & Schenck, Raquel Meller). It's a magical step forward in entertainment progress . . . and is yours to enjoy as a regular feature •t the Theatre starting „ (date). Exhibitors Ask Inquiry On Interchanging Films (Continued from page 35) who's going to benefit most by sound. Who ten years ago would have believed that a -<<Ben Hur" would go into the small town m a picture? Now the minister, the educator must admit that our industry is most important. Main Street will wait for sound. It will have to. Main Street is patient. But for how long will it be patient? The real menace to Main Street is within the industry. We know a man cannot serve two masters. The more the producer works on sound the more attention he should give to the silent picture. There is the menace — that the silent picture will be neglected. Another menace is this: We can't expect the producers to help us get competitive sound equipment on the market. Yet in that competition lies the salvation of sound on Main Street. Main Street is benefiting from the thrusting of sound into pictures. I hope to see the day when there will be as few titles as possible and these will be spoken. (A rising vote of thanks was given Lightman for his constructive address.) "Sound Pictures as They Pertain to Chain Theatres" By Fred Desberg I'm quite willing to grant that Lightman had first-run, but his protection didn't last long. I don't believe there's a chance of a monopoly on sound. The producers cannot attempt to keep sound from Main Street because they cannot effect it. It's solely a matter of priority of contracts. I believe that the very first sound picture with the bass voice coming from the basement produced the first thought that the public did not want sound pictures. I think it is a wonderful tribute that the producer now can take almost any subject except propaganda and make a good picture. The industry has the ability to make of Here is a view of Sound Street at the Metropolitan Studios in Hollywood, where the Christie Brothers are building two large units for talking pictures. Each stage is 76x106 and there are two monitor rooms, two projecting rooms and a recording building of eleven rooms. the sound production more than a novelty. As to mechanical problems, the telephone industry, for example, had the same problem of scratching effects, and solved it. By slow and painstaking effort, you'll get sound pictures as they should be. With only 600 theatres equipped, the producers must be taking a terrific loss. Be patient. Don't grab just a few dimes when there are thousands to be had. Don't misrepresent. Tell the public just what the picture is. Watch your equipment. Don't let your pictures whisper or shout. Let's have the right kind of propaganda. Tell your public the sound picture is good and will be better. None of this disparages the silent picture. Never in our history have we done the business we're doing now, and most of it has been done with the silent picture. Then effective light decorations were wed by the Strand at Syracuse, N. Y., in playing First National's "The Whip." Otterson States Company's Stand (Continued from page 25) facturing talent and the producing genius of its licensees, it will zealously protect from impairment by any source the public goodwill which has been built up. "From time to time there have been a number of competitive equipments announced and advertised and claims have been made for simpler, cheaper, and better systems than that of the Western Electric. Some companies making such claims have passed out of existence before the echo of their advertising had died down. Says Operation Will Decide "The fact remains that there is not a single competitive apparatus in successful commercial operation today. One or two have been installed recently, as in the past, and are giving public demonstrations with claims of interchangeability with the Western Electric system. The public and theatre owners are told that such apparatus will reproduce the productions made with Western Electric recording equipment by our licensees. It is upon the strength of these claims and assurances that these competitive equipments are offered for sale. "This is a situation unique in business and is in itself convincing evidence of the success of the Western Electric's systems. We have not denied and do not deny these various claims but we do point out that making a public demonstration with a single instrument is quite a different matter than carrying on the business of supplying and servicing the equipment necessary for the commercial operation of talking movies in hundreds of theatres. We cannot be expected to make a public statement of approval and acceptance every time a new device is offered for sale. When such devices in significant numbers have been installed and maintained in successful commercial operation over a reasonable time, the facts will determine themselves without any statement on our part. This is a matter that will be settled by the facts and not by the claims of interested parties. That I believe is the essence of this question of interchangeability. 250 a Month Next Year "We recognize that the immediate problem of theatre owners is to secure equipment fast enough. I need hardly point out that the apparatus is of an extremely delicate nature and only because we have vast manufacturing and engineering resources upon which we have been able to draw, has it been possible to speed up production to the present rate. We believe we can expand our facilities as rapidly as others can create theirs, and we are now proposing to increase 1929 production from 150 to over 250 per month, or practically 12 theatre installations per working day. "We have definitely in mind the problem of the small theatre. For such our company has available music and sound amplifying equipments which will satisfactorily fill present needs, and which later on may be adapted to pictures synchronized with sound. When small theatre owners want to investigate this problem, we are ready to discuss it with them. "Our company's relations with the motion picture industry are important because its leaders have adopted our systems of sound pictures. For us this is not only an opportunity, but an obligation to render a larger service, and I want the industry to know that we shall make every endeavor to measure up to this responsibility."