Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

236 STAGING THE BIG SHOW Advance planning and infinite attention to detail stand high among the secrets of success in any club's Gala. Here New York's MMPC reports on their recent Twentieth LEO J. HEFFERNAN, FACL, Metropolitan Motion Picture Club, ACL "£UPERBLY well done!" "A delight to the eye and ^j ear!" "Never thought an amateur show could be like that!" These and other superlatives poured in over the telephone, arrived by mail and were heard in conversations with members of the audience who attended the twentieth annual Gala Night of the Metropolitan Motion Picture Club in New York City last spring. In all, some 2000 persons attended the show, bringing with them their own magic of electric audience interest. For in the last analysis it is the audience response which determines the success of any entertainment. Nevertheless, the event was such a striking success that we have since asked ourselves: "What made this Gala Night such socko box office?" Was there a formula, secret or otherwise, upon which we had stumbled, which might help us and other clubs with future shows? Well, there are generally reasons for everything; and high among the reasons why this year's Gala outshone its predecessors are the following: PLANNING FOR THE YEAR First, farsightedness — a farsightedness which makes the club's officers and the committee members start each new season by planning toward the climax of Gala Night. This leads to decisions on membership campaigns, regular programming and special programming to make club members, the press and the public Gala-Show conscious, all of which will lead directly or indirectly to future ticket sales. We have found at MMPC that it is possible to plan all of our club efforts during a season so that they build eventually into the success of Gala Night. NEW BLOOD, NEW BROOMS Second, the majority of MMPC's activities during the past season were carried on under new leadership. It is vitalizing in any club to have a fairly constant turnover PART OF THE CROWD which packed a 2000-seat auditorium at twentieth annual Gala Night of Metropolitan Motion Picture Club, ACL. in the top brass. With MMPC it seems certain that rejuvenation of the club's spirit this year was the greatest single factor in the success of our Gala Night. This "new broom" program began right from the top down, with the election to the club's presidency of Ralph R. Eno. A staunch member of MMPC for more than 20 years, Mr. Eno had served often on the club's board of directors but he never in that time had been called to high office. His election, wholly unforeseen by him, seemed to stir Ralph to outstanding efforts throughout the club year. There were, for example, his appointments of chairmen for the club's eleven standing committees. Picked personally by the president, they were for the most part men new at their jobs and each was eager to achieve success in it. Their attitude, therefore, was "Now I'll show everybody what / can do!" rather than "Here I go again, in the same old job for another irksome year." SELLING THE TICKETS Among these eleven committee chairmen, that of the Gala Show committee is perhaps the most important to our present discussion. His job at MMPC begins in midDecember (for our April screening) , at which time tickets for the big show are already printed and ready for sale. The ticket sale opens officially with a pep talk by the Gala Show chairman at our regular December meeting — an occasion at which we often sell as many as 200 tickets on the spot. Five tickets are then mailed to each of the 200-some members of the club, who are told that these tickets are their responsibility to sell — or buy for their own use. Also showcards are printed and placed in the leading camera stores, together with supplies of tickets which may be purchased on the spot. And possibly our best help comes from the Amateur Cinema League, which permits us to address a strong appeal by mail directly to all ACL members residing in the New York metropolitan area. Annually, this outlet alone disposes of several hundred tickets. SELLING THE SHOW While all of this is going on, the public relations department plants as many stories and notices in the city's newspapers as possible — always with the name and address of the person to whom the readers may apply for tickets. All of these selling operations cost the club only its expenses for stationery, postage and the like (say, at most, $60 to $70) and the potential revenue from a block of complimentary tickets (say 40) which we distribute to the press and to VIPs in the amateur movie world. With the ticket sales launched, the Gala Show chairman then calls (also in December) the first of two meetings of the program committee. This is comprised for Gala Show purposes of the club's eleven directors and three or four of our key technical workers. Naturally, the work of our own members is given priority in making