The Film Daily (1948)

R Thursday, March 4, 1948 13W&: you can capture it .The Market's Really There — . i Continued from Page 1) r. 'a i ry Year Book of Motion Pictures. It was provided by an estimated up to 35,000,000 "en, women and children who then stepped up to the motion picture theater box office le, two or more times in each seven-day period. You do not have to be a Sherlock Holmes to deduce that the 85,000,000 admissions, ere made possible, by and large, by those Americans who were gainfully employed. The .. an without an income does not go to the movies, nor does he send the Missus and/or 4 e k ."Ti :'; Cc .ring the 1941 population and the 1941 state of employment, the 85.000,000 ;: tendance was not to be sneezed at, as the saying is. ;:'UT how about today when the weekly attendance is estimated at 90,000,000, the "' population has moved above the 140,000. COO mark (the Bureau of Census estimated ;.rJJe Continental U. S. population, including the armed forces overseas at 142 672,762 Jan. 1, 1947, by the way), there are 15,000,000 more employed, and the vice-president :r charge of sales for one of the major companies tells you off the record that only „>me 25,000 000 admissions accrue to a top quality picture? Were we saying, just the other day, something about the vast untapped audience in . -; is country? mi Hell's bells, isn't it about time that something was done about the situation? "-::': Something more than talk, that is, son. '"HE distribution chief, to whom reference is made, places the present day audience i J potential in the Continental United States at 75 000.000, or little more than half of | .■■■e estimated 1947 population. If the births for 1947 and 1948 were added, the :\ ''referential of course would be smaller. It is the sales executive's belief — and he should know, believe us — that a quality :ture in the American market today grosses between $4,000 000 and 55,000,000. And ; ••" ' s his conviction that if the untapped audience was brought to the box office the gross ; ; mid climb to $10,000,000 and, on some pictures, to $15,000,000. Nice business if you can get it. \v And you can. '.— "HERE'S this thought worth mulling over, too. Back in 1939. when film attendance was also estimated at 85,000,000, the population t(Jjks roughly 130,000.000, and there were 9,000,000 without jobs (what's more the • H usewife's place was still in the kitchen and not in a war plant) the average factory ' :l:jrker was taking home an average week's pay of $23.86. Today, the same average factory worker receives more than double the 1939 figure — 2.27. Sure, everything costs more than it did in 1939, movie tickets, included, but 3t63!th 15,000,000 (and probably more) now employed ... you get the idea? «i Incidentally, the jobless aggregate today is placed at only 1,600,000. For a last word, this, and you can write it dov The market's there, and someone, sooner or later It could be YOU— honest. the book for future reference: is going to capture it. I^Ioss Forms Producing Co.; irst Pic to Eagle Lion rlL -■fairest Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY ;.:: Hollywood — William Moss, Texas little and oil man, and husband of "Jjjjfne Withers, has incorporated Wil'-^i'lm Most Pictures, Inc., to make tse features annually. First will "Judgment in the Wilderness," eduled for May shooting' in Cinelor for Eagle Lion release. f[ ites for W. L. Sacks .Baltimore — William L. Sacks, ac ?(I" untant for many years with the ,=.. -mis Rome circuit, was buried in 8 (nar Israel Cemetery yesterday. New York May Extend Right to Tax Tickets Albany — Power to impose special taxes, including up to five per cent on amusements, would be granted counties and cities over 25,000 population, under a bill introduced in both houses of the Legislature. Measure is part of Gov. Thomas E. Dewey's program for financial aid to small counties and cities. Rosenberg's Colony to Make 'Night Cry' First West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Frank P. Rosenberg has purchased the new suspense novel, "Night Cry," by William L. Stuart, and will film it on an $800,000 budget as the first production for the newly formed Colony Pictures, Inc., which Rosenberg heads. Price tag on book, which has a New York City background, was reported to be $40,000. Rosenberg, former Columbia publicity chief is currently' co-producing "Man-Eater of Kumaon," which U-I will release next Summer. Colony Pictures is set to make two major films per year, with "Night Cry" starting to shoot next September. Harrisburg Okays "Fast" Time Harrisburg, Pa. — Daylight saving time was authorized by the City Council to become effective April 25, and continuing until Sept. 26. Change "Victor" Screening Date National tradescreening date for j "To the Victor" has been changed from March 15 to March 29. Na J tional release date of the Warner pic is April 10. Paramount's new hit)