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MOTION PICTURE HERALD
December 22, 1956
Manpower Problem
To the Ebitor:
Our first consideration toward reclaiming the lost audience and rebuilding the movie-going habit should be the manpower situation. It is anomalous that instead of keeping pace with the manpower training and development programs of other industries, we cling to such archaic patterns. Retention of a hit or miss policy can only react to our disadvantage in the long run.
The periodic dearth of reserve manpower can best be overcome by offering greater incentive to younger men coming into the business; concomitant with that should be the adoption of a formalized training program for new assistants, chiefs of service and student assistants, schooling which could be held in various metropolitan areas like New York City, under the aegis of an organization such as COMPO, or the joint auspices of the participating circuits in any particular given area.
There was a time when it took months, even years, before an embryo assistant worked his way up from a circuit’s smaller houses to the larger ones, but during that interim he became thoroughly versed in all phases of theatre operation. Now, due to the exigency of the situation, a neophyte will often bridge the gap between the smaller and larger theatres in a few months, even less.
The evident result is a lack of assimilation of the necessary fundamentals. Basic house operation can be taught in the theatre under the manager’s tutelage. Yet we must balance that lack of experience on the part of the new assistant in fairness to himself and to increase his potential for the benefit of the circuit operation as a whole.
This can best be done by an intensified training course such as other industries evolve in grooming their manpower. Sessions could be conducted at designated times throughout the year, a few times each week. The curriculum would not only encompass subjects pertaining to the direct operation of the theatre, but lectures by representatives of distribution and production, tending to convey a better understanding of the problems of related branches of the industry, promoting greater unity between all.
The dissemina ion of ideas of various
operating procedures of the different circuits would bring to the trainees a greater cognizance of contemporary industry trends, a broader outlook on the business as a whole rather than the parochial view exercised by so many. The supplemental knowledge gleaned in the course would effect a balance for the lack of actual experience, thus promoting the productivity so vital to any growing industry.
The various circuits involved in implementing this course, and providing the instructors culled from their own executive ranks, would be more than compensated for the expenditure for this project by the assurance of a ready, trained pool of manpower. — MELVIN ARONSON, New York, N. Y.
Out of Hungary
To the Editor:
I have just come back from Budapest. I was trapped there and for a while it looked as if some of us would never come back. I did not mind the shooting so much. The greatest evil of all in Hungary is the secret police force called AVO. I won some friends who told me about their experiences, shyly and with reticence. It is unpleasant and mostly unprintable. As also Cardinal Mindszenty’s experiences are in part about which, as he said, he spoke for the first time openly when Prince Loewenstein and myself were in private audience with him on the eve of the Soviet invasion which started November 4.
What a magnificent people, shot to defenselessness but not into submission by thousands of tanks, totally unbroken in their spirit of freedom. The Soviet myth has crumbled there. The Russians are no doubt still a formidable military power, but they have lost their grip of fascination and terror over peoples’ minds. Communism as a pseudo-religious power has crumbled. With that, they have also lost power to inspire terror. It is a turning point in modern history. — WOLKMAR VON ZUEHLSDORFF, Bad Godesberg, Germany.
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Editor’s Note; Mr. von Zuehlsdorff, The HERALD representative in Germany and Austria, was in Budapest when the revolt against the puppet government and the Soviet occupying forces broke out.
HEARINGS on corporate tax revisions set for January 24 12
TOA, ALLIED mapping new drive for industry arbitration 12
ACADEMY "sweepstakes" plan studied by industry groups 13
SAG APPROVES Matthew Fox pact on RKO films for TV 14
SEE NEW censorship attempts being made in two states 14
20TH-FOX sets plans on 55 films for release in 1957 16
BRITISH exhibitors say film bill is partial to producers 18
ARNALL urges greater film industry
ownership of TV stations 20
SERVICE DEPARTMENTS Film Buyers' Rating 3rd Cover
Hollywood Scene 19
Managers' Round Table 29
The Winners' Circle 22
What The Picture Did for Me 23
National Spotlight 25
IN PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION Showmen's Reviews 193
Short Subjects 195
The Release Chart 196
MOTION PICTURE HERALD, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Martin Quigley, Jr., Editor; Charles S. Aaronson, Managing Editor; Floyd E. Stone, Photo Editor; Vincent Canby, News Editor; Ray Gallagher, Advertising Manager; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager. Bureaus: Hollywood, Samuel D. Berns, Manager; William R. Weaver, Editor, Yucca-Vine Building, Telephone HOMywood 7-2145; Washington, J. A. Otten, National Press Club; London, Hope Williams Burnup, Manager; Peter Burnup, Editor; William Pay, News Editor, 4 Bear St., Leicester Sq. Correspondents in principal capitals of the world. Member Audit Bureau of Circulation. Motion Picture Herald is published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., Rockefeller Center, New York City 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable address: “Quigpubco, New York", Martin Quigley, President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary. Other Quigley Publications: Better Theatres and Better Refreshment Merchandising, each published thirteen times a year as a section of Motion Picture Herald; Motion Picture Daily, Television Today, Motion Picture Almanac, Television Almanac, Fame.
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MOTION PICTURE HERALD. DECEMBER 22. 1956