Harrison's Reports (1962)

4 HARRISON'S REPORTS January 13, 1962 Lay 1* r etttt and #<' it nt * . . . (Continued from Front Page) $1.39 billion. The estimate for 1961 is $1.5 billion, an increase of about 7.6 percent. (We carried the story, in full, two issues ago.) This Commerce Dept. news release dealing with film industry progress at the box office was also sent to the morning newspapers. But, morning or evening, in the papers we read hardly anything broke. We felt let down. Maybe we're prejudiced, being part of the film industry. But, we've been long enough on a big metropolitan newspaper to know that this kind of news had reader value. The rise in admissions, the return of 7.6 percent of the movies' lost audience to the theatres of their choice, was big entertainment news. To be sure, it may not have merited space up front of the newspaper. But, it surely should have been given substantial lineage on the entertainment page. i | ' Film*'' iiainn Hot Xotvd in l.au-i*rvnH When Detroit builds a few more cars in one year than it did the year gone by, much is made about the production gain in the public prints. If department stores score a gain in sales, the item is not lost or buried in the dailies. Other nature of industry gets its due space when gains are made saleswise, revenuewise. What is so unimportant when the film industry makes a box office gain (in '61) of $110,000,000? This, to repeat, is big news! Mr. and Mrs. America, young America, have abandoned their television sets and have answered the call, the romantic lure, the magnetic appeal of their former great love, - the movies. - and here is where we may find ourselves stepping on the tender toes of our very good friends in charge of public relations at the home offices, producer-distributor associations, etc. The Department of Commerce story should have been followed through from the moment it was released to the newspapers and the press associations. Here was a legitimate reason to ask for space. This kind of story not only meant a great deal to the motion picture industry, it also had news interest and other values for the newspaper reader. With inspired, imaginative writing, this can be made to sound, almost, as if the gold rush era, once again, was upon the theatres of the nation, where gushing forth from their screens was the golden entertainment of a Hollywood, re-blooming in the flower of its power as the dominant force in massappealing entertainment. But, unfortunately, our usually brilliant public relations emirs missed the laypress lineage boat. Coming during the holiday week, the Commerce Department story found the industry feeding fat on the big week at the box offices. Besides, the vacation interlude was upon tired man. and so with everything else against us, the timing of the release was also against us. But, it was the kind of story that should have yielded a mess of space in the lay-press. Going to Movies Can Be Contagious Any mass-appealing art grows by mass-spreading contagion. Going to the movies is contagious. If nearly 200,000,000 admissions, more than in '60, were laid on the box office ledges of the theatres, this movie Tv Executives... (Continued from Front Page) give-away and there's very little discernment used in choosing the fare. No matter what the nature of show, the biggest worry in planning a Tv program, is how best to come in with the middle commercial. Television has made no important contribution to Hollywood production. Weitman may find it necessary to unlearn a lot of things Tv taught him as he faces a truly mammoth job as studio administrator of M-U-M. It was a wise decision Vogel made by setting aside most of the next few months to be spent at the Culver City studios, instead of New York, his home office. In any event, those of us who have known Weitman long and well, wish him the very best! New Binders for New Year Nothing like starting the new year with a fresh, clean, new binder. If you've been using them in which to keep back copies of Harrisons Reports, then you know how they look and to what good uses you can put them. However, there are some subscribers who may not know that, as a favor to you, we have had made up for us these blue, cloth-bound binders. So, order yours now. Write us, letting us know how many you need. The cost is little, $2.25 per binder. You should have them for safe-keeping of the issues of your favorite trade paper. Issue Number Runs Consecutively Issue No. 1, Vol. XLIV, is dated January 13, 1962. This one follows Vol. XLIII, No. 52. With the first issue of '62, we've lost a dateline. We say this, in case you may be wondering what happened to January 7, 1962. We merely by-passed the dateline, but not the issue. They (the issues) continue to run consecutively. going habit can become quite contagious. But, another 200,000,000 must be infected with the "back to the movies" desire. The public prints is a powerful spreader of such contagion. The film industry should have the editors on its side. We must re-evaluate our position and strengthen our approach to the men who ladle out the valuable white space on the newspapers. Our younger brothers on television, with so much less to offer, fare much better in the dailies. Following Newton N. Minow's accusation that the medium (Tv) was nothing but a "vast wasteland" the riders of the network megacycles announced that there would be plenty of children's shows. The newspapers went overboard in highlighting this great phenomena. Reams of space were devoted to television reshaping its programming setup. But, as of today, nothing much has happened. Nothing, at least to warrant all that precious space. Television is the darling of the keepers of newspaper space. Motion pictures is the neglected stepchild. It is a pity that it is so. and, it's about time we did something about reasserting our legitimacy.