Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

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ttcMij CxpectA to Cxploit ISO JiltnA a tfeat CHARLIE JONES said it again, but he was talking about all the shortcomings in the pressbooks, when he remarked that you couldn’t sell all of the pictures he runs at the Dawn theatre, Elma, Iowa, on any proper exploitation basis. Of course, you can’t, and nobody expects the manager of the theatre that uses three changes a week to do so. Pressbooks are not perfect, but we’ve said it before, and we say it again — there’s not so much wrong with the pressbook makers as with the pressbook users. If any manager expects to find 150 different varieties of selling approach in a year’s pressbooks, he is doomed to failure. Nor should he expect any such thing, for his audience couldn’t take it, even if he batted his brains out, trying for the impossible. We’ve been in small towns enough to know that the loyal public who patronize their own local theatres, don't expect any such display of pure showmanship. It has to be maintained as salesmanship for the theatre itself, rather than for an oncoming horde of masterpieces, with strategy to match. Theatres that change three times a week have an opportunity to offer their preferred time on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays for top pictures ; they can provide the best possible adult entertainment on Wednesday and Thursday, and give the family action and excitement on Friday and Saturday. Most theatres in this class are without competition in their own areas. With such an opportunity — sell the theatre, first, last and always. Build — and hold — your place in community affairs. Keep that close personal touch with your patrons, and you’ll never run dry at the box office. Ideas for special handling are for films that deserve special treatment — and to any one who knows this business, small town theatres can’t afford to oversell any attraction. Their business consists of hills and valleys — if they drive too hard for one picture, they drop into a decline on the next. If that sounds like heresy to big-town operators, just remember that it’s the small towns that GOOD MANAGEMENT When RKO Theatres in New York recently sold two of their oldest houses, the RKO Orpheum, Brooklyn, and the RKO Proctor's 125th Street, they made it clear that these theatres were being abandoned — because they were "too old to be economically sound, and their neighborhoods had deteriorated." The buildings are to be converted to non-theatrical purposes, since each has been operated for more than forty years. Thus, the public is spared another false report of theatres closing, for it is cheerfully admitted that theatrical real estate does wear out, and neighborhoods do change, to make further theatre operation unprofitable. Leaving such a matter in midair as an unanswered question discredits film industry, raises the point that there must be something wrong with motion pictures — instead of proving, as in this instance, that there was something very correct in the management. All over the country, there are worn-out theatres, and outmoded management that continues to pile up the deficit accumulating in the record of theatre closings. Actually, the management is worn out; the theatres are decrepit. Just because such houses were good three or four decades ago is no sign that motion pictures as entertainment are deteriorating now. have the closest contact with the public, and deserve loyal support. Some small town operators make the mistake of increasing the number of changes to stimulate business. That is a mistake, for there is no theatre, anywhere in the world, that should offer more than three programs a week and those, preferably single feature bills with the proper short subjects. If they want more, let ’em spend 7y2 hours a day looking at television — but you keep your stability and your sanity. tj THE ROUND TABLE has always believed in the use of heralds, which some showmen neglect because they think they are old-fashioned. But the opposite is true, for real old-fashioned showmanship often depends on heralds, and small situations literally ‘‘key their campaigns” with the use of heralds, which contain all the best selling approach. Now, we’re glad to print a rumor that reaches this desk — that exhibitors showing the independent film, “Martin Luther” have ordered the tremendous total of 9,900,000 heralds ! The picture, produced by Louis de Rochemont and distributed by National Screen Service, has set an all-time record. The nearest approach to it was 8,000,000 heralds for “The Greatest Show on Earth” — then six million for “Samson and Delilah” and 4,500,000 for “Battleground.” In 1945, at Metro, we discovered that a previous high in distribution for heralds had been 1,500,000 but that the then-current print-order was only 150,000. Since that time, over and over again, -we have urged managers who would be showmen, to rediscover and use heralds. CJ WE ARE REMINDED of a unique theatre, which has been reported in The Herald that seems to be ideally situated for a test of the relative merits of different projection techniques, in these changing times. The Wyandotte theatre in Detroit has two auditoriums, and one box office. You pay your way in and pick your program by turning either left or right — or, if you wish, you may move from one to the other at your leisure. The house was originally designed to solve the problem of double-bills — but now it offers a great opportunity to see two versions of the same picture, either in 2-D or 3-D, when the productions are available both ways. They say that seven out of ten prefer to pay an additional dime for special viewers, to see the 3-D variety. — Walter Brooks MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE SECTION, JANUARY 2, 1954 37