Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (Sep 1934 - Aug 1935)

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FILM BULLETIN VOL I No. 1 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1934 PRICE 10 CENTS Revolt in the Industry! Much is heard these days about the Tories of the business world — those gentlemen of wealth who oppose all progress and change for fear it might cut into their hoard. For them the plight of the many means nothing. Theirs is the gospel of "Privileges for the Few". Destitution to them is the problem of charity not social justice. Just as in Colonial times the Tories were the big boys who stuck by the King and opposed the American Revolution, so to-day the Tories of the trade are those exhibitors who are sticking with the producers and their chain theatres and opposing the attempts of the independent exhibitors to organize. But to-day, when we think of the Revolution, we remember, not the Tories who played safe and stuck by the King, but the "Independents" of that time, who left their bloody footprints on the snows of Valley Forge. Similarly, in the years to come, when the independent movement throughout the industry is firmly established, the exhibitors will honor, not the Tories of the M. P. T. O. who, subsidized by the producers, tried to destroy the independent movement for selfish reasons of their own or because they were too timid to fight. Rather will they remember that hardy little band of pioneers who, in the face of the most discouraging obstacles, carried on to success. The independent exhibitor, to-day, is the doormat of the industry. The spectacle of 1 3,000 exhibitors waiting fearfully each season to learn what new impossible demands the eight major film companies will impose upon them is not a pretty one to behold. If these 13,000 theatre men ever learned their true strength they would sweep the eight mcjor monopolists with their $10,000 weekly star salaries and their fancy bonuses for executives into the Pacific. And the industry would carry on and be a lot healthier. The blame for the disorganized state of the independents can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the M. P. T. O. Tories. Playing the game of the producers, these M. P. T. O. Tories maintain a pseudo-exhibitor organization in each territory with a skeleton membership in which predominate producer owned theatres. And the most discouraging feature of all is to see a number of really estimable independent exhibitors in the M. P. T. O. permitting themselves to be used as a respectable front for the producers and their chain theatres in the plan to keep the independent strength scattered. BUT THE HEIGHT OF SOMETHING OR OTHER IS THE FACT THAT CERTAIN OF THESE EXHIBITORS ACTUALLY PAY DUES INTO AN ORGANIZATION OF THEIR BUSINESS ENEMIES — THE PRODUCER-OWNED THEATRES WHOSE CLEAR PURPOSE IS TO ELIMINATE ALL INDEPENDENT COMPETITION BY ONE MEANS OR ANOTHER! Every independent theatre owner in this zone must make his choice. Will he join the I. E. P. A. — a group of grimly determined Vigilantes organized to battle for the independent's rights? Or will he support an organization of producers and chain theatres? OJ in m a CD Q_ CD OJ -t CD ° I =2 > CD No Q_ CD CD n" q_ ?> CD CD 2. O CD o x 6" o m O CD n m =r oj O' ^ CD zr ~o zr oj CD ^ CD CD CO CD CD on CD