Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1929)

Motion Picture IN Ws Vol. XL NEW YORK CITY, OCTOBER 5, 1929 No. 14 A New Parade — Get In Step! By William A. Johnston 4 4T'M going to forget about mergers and X go to work," said a film man to me yesterday. "Whatever they do at the top, the box-office is going right on — and up! And this is the most sensible statement I have heard to date. There is but one great, inevitable force in this business — and that is public demand. Public demand moulds and swerves our trade structure this way and that; knocks down old edifices and builds new one; throws old machinery out in the scrap heap and okays new outfits. We, within the trade, may not like it; but we cannot help it. As a matter of fact, we hate it; and we fight it. We have built our business house one way and quite naturally we want to live in it, in peace of mind and prosperity. We object strenuously to the boss that comes along with blunt orders to get out and build all over again. Just the same, we have that boss — the public. The smart thing to do is to obey orders. The still smarter thing is to sense them in advance. But the hopeless thing is to continue to be deaf to them. I dislike to use the General Film Company — one of the best organizations this business will ever see — as a horrible example. But it illustrates so well the all-powerful and remorseless sweep of public demand. Here was a great house built, apparently, on a rock foundation and ironclad with extraordinary bands of protection. Yet the moment the public got its taste of multiple — reel dramas the excellent edifice was rocked to final disintegration by the tide of public favor. And so it has been with every other insti tution in the business, large and small. The entire history of the trade makes it clear that the trade structure is at the utter mercy of the box-office. Distribution once ruled the business; today it is theatres. When sound picture dramas came, the business groaned from stem to stern, and cried out: "Give us time to put our house in order"! And the smaller houses cried out that they would perish. But no time or quarter was given and, remorselessly as ever, the reordering went straight ahead to its goal : a satisfied public. The advent of radio and its immediate hold upon the public put fear and consternation into the trade-minded. Most people wanted to fight the interloper. Today we find radio a force not outside of and against but within and a potent ally in motion picture progress. However we may, each of us and from our particular doorstep, view the changes within the trade, one thing is certain and that is that the picture box-office is soaring. Records of picture grosses will be smashed to pieces this year. What we considered, in times past, to be peaks will look like pretty small hills by comparison. So our friend is right. The thing to do is to go to work, and fit into the present parade. We have a much larger and at the same time a much more discriminating public. Theatres are going to need better and better men to run them. Theatre chains are frantically demanding better man power and finer organization. Advertising will be a factor as never before. So will be technical knowledge and ability. And finally, the best investment in theatres will demand for its black figures a variety and quality of entertainment that only many and the best creators and technicians can turn out.