Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1942)

Oclobcr 3, 1942 SHOWMEN'S T I'J A D E R 10 V I E W 3 Swan Song UA Comes To Lif( UMPI, that noble experiment of the motion picture industry, takes its final curtain call this week. Predicated on a splendid theory, it was never able to recover from the shellacking Thurman Arnold administered when he turned thumbs down on the UMPI selling plan. Although there were other worthy activities in which it may have participated, the step-child of unity lost too many guardians after the Arnold blow and finally had to fold its tent and silently steal away. The present set-up of this industry makes anything resembling unity a rose-colored dream far removed from the stern, stark realities of life in the movie business. There are too many elements apparently dedicated to more stife and less unity. Some of them may even fear that with the coming of unity their mission in the industry ceases. UMPI did, however, bring, for a too brief period, a feeling that some semblance of unity might be possible if only a more sincere and determined effort were made to achieve it. Whether such a condition would have ultimately arrived via approval of the selling plan by the Department of Justice, is something we can't say. But the possibilities were there, even if lying dormant while awaiting the results of their first efforts. T T T War Changes A nation at war has the very decided effect of changing the aspect of all industries and ours is no exception. Running wild with sky-rocketing terms and extraordinary playing demands may have been all right in the pre-war days so long as the battle was being waged between the various elements in our business. But what may have been strictly an inter-industry matter before Pearl Harbor is too apt to become one of government interest after. Thus, it should behoove all branches of this industry to watch their steps and never to forget, for one fleeting moment, that our industry has been singularly fortunate in having less restraints and government entanglements than the vast majority of other industries. To continue to be thus favored means extra caution and careful thought before taking any action from the competitive angle that may be grasped upon by the politicians, the blue-noses or the habitual buttinskies. Aided and abetted, of course, by some of our own sweet trouble-makers, such pests require only the most flimsy excuse for the launching of vituperous charges, allegations and loud outcries, their harmful ways to pursue. In your reckoning of the various companies and product for the coming season you must now add another name to your list. United Artists, formerly the company that delivered just a few, now becomes one of the companies that will deliver a substantial number of pictures. After months of careful planning and negotiations, Raftery and Sears have finally completed their plans and the net result seems to add up to a mighty impressive program for the immediate future. In the past the arrival of a UA salesman at a theatre merely meant that this distributor had "another" picture to sell. From now on his arrival will mean that another "batch" of pictures are available for a deal. Not the least important in their array of producers is Harry Sherman. While the average exhibitor never looked for Academy Award Winners from Sherman they always knew his pictures, either the Hopalongs or his specials, were honest-to-goodness, bread and butter pictures, the kind that gave the exhibitor a chance to make a few bucks profit for himself. His affiliation with UA is a good sign that this company is out to enter the race with the other major distributors. So, change your old views about UA. The company has decidedly changed its policy insofar as product for the future is concerned. We have a faint notion that a lot of exhibitors will welcome them in their new dress. T T T No Time For Changes Much of our mail this past month touched on the possibility of the rumored change to three-sprocket film coming to pass. This is the Sponable method recently covered in many trade stories. Far be it from us to speak disparagingly of any advancement in the science or technique of picture making, but it does seem rather startling to bring up something that would require so radical a change from the present equipment now in use. The thoughtful caution placed before the industry by the Society of Motion Picture Engineers in the exhaustive report issued this week expresses, in a technicians' scientific way, the feelings reflected by the exhibitor viewpoint as reflected in the messages we have received on the subject of projected "equipment changes." By all means possible, the industry must consider well every phase and facet of the complex matter which a new technical set-up for the studios, laboratories, and especially the theatres would involve, before acting. —"CHICK" LEWIS