Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

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.

Page 40 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW June 3, 1939 Dealing realistically with the booking, advertising and exploitation of the newsreel, serial and short, and emphasizing their importance. Try a Change of Program With Quality Short Reels A Meritorious Feature Enlivened by Featurets Should Be Given Tryout A MAJORITY of exhibitors have, through the winter, run double features week in and week out. Few have played single features exclusively or divided their playing time with singles and doubles. Yet, if you'd hke to get some public reaction to single bills, or if you'd like to see what can be done to wean the folk away from dual programs, why not try an experiment this summer? You'll probably shy away from the idea. You'll say, "Why should I try it? I know my patrons won't go for anything other than two features. It's quantity they want, not quality. No. sir, I'll stick to doubles. Well, you evidently know your business, and if you're in that frame of mind, it's going to be tough for us to make any suggestions. If, on the other hand, you believe doing something different once in a while or trying out new experiments is the only way a wise showman can determine his public's ever-changing tastes, then perhaps you'll lend us an ear. Biggest Films First of Week We are not advocating complete abolition of dual bills. You're probably too well sold on them to comply wholeheartedly to such a suggestion. But let's say you have three changes a week — Sunday through Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Therefore you begin a new show on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. In most situations, the first part of the week is when the biggest films are booked, while action films, westerns, etc., make up the bookings for the balance of the Vyfeek. It seems to us, then, that your Sunday booking should consist of an "A" picture and a diversified selection of short subjects. Playing the picture alone adds to its pre:, tige; makes it seem even more outstanding and meritorious than it might really be. By giving it more space in your advertising, and by carefully selecting your short subjects and advertising them, it stands to reason that you'll be raising the entertainment standard of your program. For the rest of the week, where you have "B" films, pair them together, if you wish. A Typical Situation The writer knows of a typical situation. In this town, there were two first-run houses. Both ran single features. Suddenly, one switched to doubles. Meanwkile, the other went serenely on its way with singles. For a while, the dual-bill house attracted extra patronage, while the other house saw a decline in business. After holding cut for a long-time, the single-bill house reluctantly decided to go double. Under the new policy, business picked up a little, and then, seemingly, for no apparent reason, it fell down even more than when the house was running singles. Patrons began complaining. They didn't want to sit through two features; they'd rather see one good picture and shorts. So the house returned to singles. And to this day, while the other house drifts along with "two big hits" programs, this one runs singles exclusively, and is the town's leading theatre. Here, evidently, the patrons wanted to see only one feature to a program in their favorite theatre. The manager could easily have refrained from experimenting with doubles, but he wanted to be certain he was giving the public what it wanted. He found later that the decline in business that followed the inauguration of doubles in the opposition was nothing more than a temporary reaction. He was glad, however, that he had tried doubles. Before, he wasn't sure; now he knew. Giving the Public a Change This story might apply to you. AI! houses may be playing doubles. If you deviate from this policy, even for only a couple of days a week, you'll be giving the public a change in film fare. As we said before, however, you must run only a first class feature alone; a secondary film will not do. And your short subjects must be of the highest quality. Choose them just as carefully and with an eye to box office values as you would your feature. To help you, we are listing herewith some examples of wise booking of short subjects, with the type of feature to be considered: With a heavy, dramatic feature, book a cartoon, a musical subject or comedy, perhaps a travelogue, and the newsreel. So long Headin' For Hollywood Boarding a California-bound American Airlines plane at Dallas, Texas, and apparently a bit enthusiastic about the whole thing,' is Tommy Howell, manager of Interstate's Bison Theatre. As first prise winner in the short subjects exploitation contest conducted by MGM's shorts department, Manager Howell will spend seven days in the film capital as the guest of MGM. as it tends to be light and humorous, almost any combination of short reels is possible. With a feature-length comedy, go in for shorts of topical interest, such as the March of Time (RKO), the Crime Doesn't Pay series (MGM), True Adventures (Vita.) etc. A good sports subject, or one of the reels revealing strange oddities, could round out the bill. Cartoons, of course, can fit in well on practically any kind of progr,%iti, regardless of the type feature being exhibited. If you're playing a musical, our best advice to you is to avoid orchestra reels or any other subject which has a maximum of music featured. Otherwise, travelogues, cartoons, dramatic subjects, topical reels and perhaps comedies will suffice to give you a wellbalanced program. Chance to Play Up Shorts Trying singles will give you a chance to play up those shorts that are now up on the shelf. In addition, you'll be able to see for yourself just how much the one and tworeelers have improved in quality within the past couple of years. There may be a few bad ones here and there, but take it from us, the good far outrank the poor. Look in the "First Run Short Product" box in STR every week to see what subjects are considered important by the operators of first-run theatres in key centers like New York and Chicago. Look through the short subject guide in the back of the book and study the different classifications. Take the guide with you when you go to the exchange to do your booking. Nothing attempted is nothing gained. You may make the experiment, and fail. Then again, you rnay try it and be surprised at the increase in box office receipts. In either case, you could never have been reasonably sure if you hadn't tried. n Prophet Without Honor Has Good Sales Angles When you play "Prophet Without Honor", an MGM short subject directed by Felix Feist, you should seek the cooperation of local units of the Navy or Naval Reserve, inasmuch as the film is a tribute to Matthew Fontaine Maury, once an officer of the United States Navy. Perhaps you can persuade them to supply a guard of honor to deliver your film from the local airport or railway express depot. Get a detachment to officially open your engagement with a rifle or bugle salute in front of your theatre. As an official tribute to the memory of Matthew Fontaine Maury, have the Mayor and other city officials attend the first showing of "Prophet Without Honor". Maury was a Virginian, which means that a local representative of his native state can be included in the group. If there are local alumni of the Virginia Military Institute, where Maury, in his later years was a member of the faculty, invite them also. On the campus of New York University, Maury occupies a place in the Hall of Fame. With the cooperation of the newspapers, you could conduct a contest in which readers are to select the ten men who they believe should have places in the Hall of Fame. Theatre tickets could be awarded for the list considered best in the opinion of the judges. Seek tieups with your public schools and with local libraries, for tliere is definite educational value in the screen study of the life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.