Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1947)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 11, 1947 I 7 Bureaucracy At Work j If you want to learn how not to build a theatre, contact Julius Gordon of the Jefferson Amusement I Company, Beaumont, Texas, and ask him for the case history of the new theatre his company wanted to build in Silsbee of that state to replace an old, rundown, house that was closed down because the company honestly felt it was a public hazard to continue its operation. It is hard to understand how the powers-that-be in Washington could find justification for denying the application to build the new theatre. ; Here is a community of sufficient population to support a good motion picture theatre; yet, Washington I refuses a building permit even though the materials and equipment are available and, according to the information in our hands, there are plenty of unemployed people f in that area who can use some work. The new TOA might try canvassing their membership to find out how many other applications are pending or have been denied for new theatres and then put their efforts behind a campaign to secure the necessary ap I provals where theatres are actually needed to service ' the public as in the case of Silsbee, Texas. Business Still Good The financial statements of some of the motion picture companies clearly indicate that despite all the crying going on around the home offices, picture business is still ' pretty good. For an industry that was built on a foundation of { progressive expansion and smart showmanship, ours is j rapidly deteriorating into something closely resembling a I panic-stricken, cry-baby business in which most of the companies are in competition to see which can institute the largest number of silly economy cuts. I It does not speak well for our company executives to sabotage their product through advertising cuts that have just about sold the whole exhibition branch of the , industry on the idea that all but a few of the pictures ! coming up are not worth talking about or advertising. One of the companies hasn't addressed an advertising message to exhibitors in months. Yet, that same company expects the exhibitors to break their necks to buy those pictures and at prices which make it necessary for the exhibitors to sell the public very enthusiastically. From where we are sitting it looks as though some company heads are far more concerned with feathering their own nests than selling their product to the theatres. How long this farce will continue, is anyone's guess. Who dictates such pohcies, is another mystery, because when you talk with some of the top-flight sales executives they themselves deplore such a shortsighted advertising policy. Yet, they appear helpless to do anything about it. We have said it before and we'll keep right on saying it: if any economies are to be realized, they must be invoked where expenditures are the greatest — in production and nowhere else. It isn't very encouraging to note the many fine pictures currently coming into release that start out without benefit of trade advertising showmanship to stimulate interest in the minds of the theatremen. Hollywood Jitters Every single visitor from the movie-making capital tells the same story — everybody in Hollywood has the jitters. According to views there, film business is so close to the rocks, you can hear the pounding of the waves. Which seems to add up to the oft-deplored statement of columnists and others that our movie-makers are artistic apes rather than level-headed business men. If Hollywood's executives cannot meet the present situation, then it is high time they were swept out by the janitor and a new and more aggressive regime installed. But equal responsibility rests with the top men back here in the home offices, because it is within their power to meet and act in a manner that will prove they attained their present status through genuine abiUty and not just pot luck. Where to Buy We publish in this issue the latest edition of "Where to Buy Theatre Equipment Directory." Leading equipment manufacturers in their advertising make it abundantly clear that they are alert to the industry's need for continuing improvement in tools for screen presentations and patron comforts to maintain theatre attendance at profitable levels. While we take pride in the result of painstaking efforts to make the Directory even better than previous editions, we acknowledge again with thanks the guidance of theatremen in the design of the unique format and contents of this essentially practical source of information about theatre equipment. —CHICK LEWIS