Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

20 Jackson . . . (Continued from Page 18) theatres do business. That petty jealousies, between factional heads of single departments, is responsible for the withholding of customerattracting, money-making ideas, germinated in the minds of capable underlings, has been related to me times over by chaps who experience had taught to fear retaliation from "tin" authority for the slightest infraction of authoritative boundaries. Let me tell you of a few instances that give reason to dispute whether theatres of today are being blessed with supervision or cursed with "stuporvision" : In one circuit there have been three managers transferred to outlying theatres and one discharged because they had the temerity to discipline janitors who were not performing their work satisfactorily. The janitors were members of a Union and complained to the business agent who, inturn, took the matter up with some labor relations officer of the company. Instead of standing his ground and backing the authority of the manager, the Isibor department officer chose the easiest way — so far as his job was concerned — and arranged for punitive measures to be taken against the offended managers instead of the offending workers. The effect of the decisions on every one of the circuit's managers is obvious and certainly not conducive to the building of the self-confidence necessary to administrate the affairs of a well-operated theatre. Another chap with a swell promotional idea had his ears banged down because he discussed it with a publiicty head before bringing it to the attention of the promotional executive. No, the idea was never put into effect, despite the fact that the company was, at the time, negotiating for a more expensive national deal that held far less promise of effective box-office results. Departmental Rights In another city two minor department heads encountered a situation that lent iself admirably to plans already under consideration for expansion. A phone call to a higher executive resulted in a bluntly administered rebuke for invading the departmental rights of still another executive. Eventually, the executive with the precisely correct title got around to caring for the matter but at a cost 150 per cent above that offered the first negotiators. When the scheduling of three conflicting attractions— set to play concurrently — came to the attention of a city manager of a fairly large circuit, he considered it wiser to let the booking department discover its own error because a previous complaint had resulted in some unpleasant correspondence and unwarranted reprimand. He went ahead and spent company funds for necessary advance advertising, front, etc., and just waited for the correction that came a few days later. Before me are many other similar instances garnered from the managers of theatres. But these come closest to leading the "stuporvision" league. The field of managerial incumbents today is replete with fellows who never had the opportunity to school themselves — or to be schooled — in the fundamentals of precisely efficient theatre operation. They need the time and attention of some supervi.sor capable of intelligently explaining away some of their erroneous conceptions about the "right and wrong" of their jobs. Their entire vista of the theatre, and its social and economic functions is distorted and confused. They mean well and can do well if the powers that be will only see to it that they are given the right kind of basic instruction in the principals underlying a good job of theatre management. It'll take time and patience and there'll be Httle time for gin rummy or golf for the fellows who undertake the task. They'll have to spend more time in those hot under-stairs offices than they do in the rug-covered, air-conditioned Intruder in the Dust ( Coiitumcd jroni Page 17) are difficult to predict. But it is so unusual in n.ost respects that a great deal of controversial word-of-mouth is certain to be generated, and this should reflect itself at the box-office. It clearly deserves to be a notable success. Whatever the outcome, one fact is irrevocable: It is a superb motion picture of which Producer-Director Clarence IBrown and, incidentally, Hollywood — can well be proud. Germany Year Zero (German Dialog — English Titles) Superfilm Documentary Drama 75 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) A thorough, stark and dramatic documentation of postwar Germany, with the degradation of a boy of 12 as the plot focus. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: The Rossellini name and its own quality make this a good bet for art houses and satisfactory for serious audiences elsewhere. Cast: Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraude Hinze, Franz Gruber, Edmund Meschke, Ericli Guhne. Credits: Produced, written and directed by Roberto Rossellini. Music, Renzo Rossellini. Photography, Robert Juillard. English titles, Charles Clement. Introduction by Quentin Reynolds. Plot: Contributing heavily to the support of himself and his impoverished family by the legal and illegal devices of the street, a 12-year-old boy finally follows its cold dictates to the extent of poisoning his burdensome, bed-ridden father. Rebuffed by 'his adviser, he commits suicide by jumping SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 15, 1949 ones. They can't be had at a dime-a-dozen and they're not as plentiful as cherries at a cocktail bar. But one of them can do — and do better — what three or four are doing now and they're worth their weight in gold to the present success and future growrth of theatres anxious to hold leadership in the race for the vanishing dollars of America's amusement seekers. from a high building. Comment: Roberto Rossellini, producerwriter-director of the critically widely acclaimed Italian films, "Open City" and "Paisan" and of the much heralded forthcoming "Stromboli," took his cameras to Bferlin two years ago for a picture about postwar Germany. That picture has been brought here now, not without a European festival prize of its own (Locarno), and is, due to its own quality as well as to such advance selling points, a very good bet for the art houses and satisfactory for serious audiences elsewhere. Using as a plot focus the degradation of a boy of 12, Rossellini documents thoroughly, starkly and dramatically Germany back at the beginning, civilization destroyed — at the year zero. Against a tremendous backdrop of devastated buildings he manipulates his characters through starvation, boredom, blackmarket, stealing, prostitution, perversion, juvenile delinquency. This documentation is somewhat at the expense of the immediate plot, which does not always progress clearly. Some strands seem to be forgotten — evidence, perhaps, of censorship— and some developments come unexpectedly. Robert Juillard's photography is excellent, aided at every turn by Renzo Rossellini's forceful musical score. The cast has been assembled by Roberto as usual from non-professionals of the locale, and they speak entirely in German. The boy, played with great poise by Edmund Meschke, is, according to Rossellini "the prototype of the German child who has survived the catastrophe of his native land. Whether he excites pity or horror I do not know. I simply reproduced the truth as I saw it." TRI-STATES WINNERS IN HOLLYWOOD. Managers of Tri-States Theatres who wen top honors in the A. H. Blank 70th Anniversary contest were entertained in Hollywood for a week, including a luncheon at Paramount. Among their hosts were Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, composers of Buttons and Bows, To Each His Own, Golden Earrings and other song hits, and William Demarest, comedian of "Riding High" and "Red, Hot and Blue." Left to right, above, are: Robert Leonard Paramount Theatre, Des Moines; Ira Crain, Bonham, Fairbury, Neb.; Betty Hensler, Uptown, Des Moines; Evans; Livingston; Demarest; WilHam Miskell, Tri-States district manager, Omaha, and Mrs. Miskell. BOX-OFFICE SLANTS