Variety (Dec 1946)

22 pictvuks W«4lne8<Iay, December 11, 1946 lm& Exhibs Thrive on 'Civic Institntion' PoGcy; See Adjustments No Go Under Govt. 'Absolutism' By HAYDEN TALBOT Fort Worth, Dec. 10. Texa.s show biz is in a clas.s by itself. Whereas otlier territories- New England, the middle -west, the northwest—present a more or less htmogeneous over-all picture; no- where this rovinji, reporter, has been has shown such a striHing sameness of ba.sic policies. The leap- er to contjusions might attribute this to the' inescapable fact of the area's domination by Interstate The- atres, and there is no queslior abotit that outfit showing the way to Texan eJthibs generally; bl.' the outstand- ing difference betv/een individual situations in Texas and eli-swhere in the country is the individual op- erator'? insistence his situatioh is as important a civic institution as the Chamber of Commerce. An instance of the Texas attitude is expressed in the greeting stran- gers inevitably get. "How do you •like our country?" Elsewhere, when this question is put to your scribe: —driving an Engli.sh car, and er- roneously taken to be a limey-rthe questioner means America. In Texas you quickly discover "our country" means Texas. And nothing else. So from El Paso to this northernmost point, exhibs approach, the matter, of lining 'em up at the boxoffice from a distinctive angle i of their own. To get the picture from (relative- ly) ah outstander's viewpoint listen to Sol Saxe, RKO exchange man- ager in Dallas: Good Relations "1 think I can speak for all dis- tributors in this area when I say relations are fine between not only the distributors and the circuits, but between the distributors and the little independents as well. Per- haps of even greater importance) re- lations between the circuits and the little independents are equally fine, "When disgruntled people say In- terstate has a stranglehold on busi- n«ss in this territory I am inclined to believe there's a little dirt around their operation. I've seen this cir- cuit grow from four houses to its present size. There are plenty of other circuits prospering in Texas today, some of them bigger than Hoblitzelle's was at the start. And there is nothing to prevent them from growing bigger; After all, Texas is a big state. It's absurd on the face of it to suggest Inter state's 164 theatres can provide all the entertainment Texans can ab- sorb. , "As for business generally, I'm prepared to make a prophecy- When 'Notorious' opens in Texas they'll forget the war isn't still going on. This goes for any good picture. It will gross today as much as the big- gest wartime grosses. Moreover, I see no signs ot a tapering oft in 1947. Texas is prosperous. Texas is going to continue to be prosperous. And Texans are show-minded to an exceptional degree. "As for bidding—and I see it is already being tentatively tried out in some situations—- exhibitors in this territory are unanimous in their opinion it isn't practical. Too many factors enter into th" acceptance or rejection any given bid. This is the more difficul*; to understand at a time when the Government is ofIe/-ing Army surplus stuff at auc- tion. In that case the highest bidder gets the lot. Washington doesn't care what the bidder's business reputa- tion may be, or how many bedrooms he's got in his home. But it looks now as if the Gowrnment would welcome an alternative to this auc- tion-bidding proposal. "Trouble with Governmental de- crees is their absolutism. In ordi- nary relations between distributor and exhibitor there;has always been a degree of give-and-take. Adjust- ments have come to be an accepted part of the business. Under an iron- clad ruling the Government adjust- ments would be impossible. As it is, anybody who comes to an exchange with clean hands and a reasonable gripe goes away with his troubles redressedi" Fort Worth and Dallas From this unbiased .source to a frankly self-interested one brings u.s to Frank Weatherford, city manager of Interstate Theatres in Fort Worth, who says: • "There is no question about Fort Worth and Dallas evontiially becom- ing one city. Already, the;: 50-mile highway between the two. towns is lined 'with; oveniight eonimilnit|es--> creations of,. wartime emergency ■cqnditioiis—which have continued to grow and wax prosperous in the year of reconversion. So, when you ask how busines.'! is, tlje answer has jQ be qualified with thi.s recent trend towar(Js an inevitable linlcing, of the two cities in what will be the big- gest—geographical—municipality in tho world: : ' :'■ "Tliis Is ttie-niore inTportant when: it is known Fort: Worth had a pop- ulation in 1940 of only 178,000—not the 244,000 which incorrect tabula- tion.^ have named. The program of annexation Which is now a set pblicy will add in the near future 20,000 people to the metropolitan area.. But this still ;leaves Fort Worth with less than 200,000. The total is rela- tively unimportant. '•What matterii is the continuance now of wartime-created plants. These include the big Consolidated Aircraft Works whose postwar ac- tivities require almo.st as many men a.s: during the war years. There is also the permanent base for heavy, bombardment crews, including the crews who have to do with the atom bomb. Their presence here means not only the influx of wives and relatives, but a steady increase of population in the forwT of infants. "Under -these conditions it is not strange Interstate has five locations in Fort Worth for new construction. So far CPA has refused consent for us to start building operations, but if we were given the green light three of these new bouses would be begun tomorrow. They're that hot locations. "Adjoining territory can reason- ably be extended to take in the com- munity centering around Arlington Downs, the racecourse roughly mid- way between here and Dallas. When Texas outlawed racing it looked like the end of the racecourse, but last year P^ul Wagner put on a little rodeo there, and it clicked.' Flexible 40-60c Scale Doesn't Hurt Boxoffice "Incidentally, Fort Worth, is prob- ably unique in the matter of our holdover house. So far as I know it is the only such theatre in the coun- try with a flexible price policy—one week 40c, the next 60c. Patrons of this.house, the Palace, have become accustomed to this boosting and lowering—dependent, entirely on the merit of the picture--^and by their steady patronage prove they have no fault to find with the exceptional policy. Curiously enough 'names' do not enter in to the factors justifying top prices. "There was a time when Fort Worth was a most star-conscious town. This is being slowly broken down, giving pictures a better chance irrespective of 'names/ Grosses rolled up by 'Smoky' and 'Courage of Lassil' are the be£t answer to those who insist they ft) ust have the pulling power of topflight human stars. ''As for the newcomers who look likely to "mount highest as surefire draws at the boxoffice, local reac- tion seems to give Robert' MitchUm the brightest future. 'Of the new women stars Lauren Bacall is the most promising in this situation, having done well with both her pic- tures, but it is difficult to say how much she personally .had: to do with this. New stars or old—what Fort Worth audiences want first and fore- most is a good picture, and rolling up to see .Tohn X or Sally Y is grad- wally ceasing to be the fashion here- abouts. Reissues' Good B.O. "As a matter of fact we are doing very good on reissues. If we had no other way of gauging public taste the business done with these reLssues would. be strong evidence of our patrons . wanting good pictures, rather than blindly following this or that star regardless of the vehicle. "Here In Fort Worth we are all for kids. Prom the .showman's stand- point I've always been a strong be- liever in kids. Along these lines we have radio quiz shows in two of our .suburban houses every Saturday. Only yesterday we had our most successful kid .siiow - wilh Eric Hou- ston's kid .subjects, Once a year we do a 'Back to School' show, and it always does big. There was more than a capacity audience for 'Little Miss Marker'—put on as a special feature in conjunction with 'Make Mine Music' "Exhibitors elsewhere may place the same nnportance on catering to kids, 1 don't claim Fort Worth Is alone in this poUby. But in my own experience I see every night grown- up.s; whom I recognize as being the very same people who a few years ago were getting the show-going habit through lining tip for bur kid shows." Civic Pride Pitch In San Antonio it was Clarence N. Moss, Interstnle's ubiquitous, press agent, who gave this fact-seeker an^ other angle of Texas :exhibitors' apr proach to the business of providing the customers with their screen fare. "Although San Antonio was credited in a census only two weeks ago with having a population of 400,000, there are only three first- rim houses in the city—the Majestic, Aztec and the Empire, a 'B' houses But these as well as all the subse- quent-run theatres have a well de- veloped feeling of responsibility as being civic institutions. The well being of San Antonio is a first con- sideration of exhibitors in this, city. Anything we can do to promote the best interests, of the city is of as great importance to us as our own individual operations, "People who want me to dislike them call Interstate Theatres.a chain outfit. I'm willing to settle' for the word 'circuit,' but even this does not fit the way each one of our houses does its business. Here in San An- tonio, every exhibitor—whether his house is one of a circuit or is a lonely independent—realizes it's good business to put San Antonio first, and his own operation second. Nothing very clever about it. With- out prosperous,, satisfied citizens where would boxoffice lines 55? "It would be interesting to find out if the rule applicable to cities throughout Texas is in force in other parts of the country. In our case, for instance, every, possible penny of expenditure which can be spent lo- cally goes into the pockets of San Antonio's people. This goes not only for the theatre staff, it goes for the carpet-repairer's spool of thread, electric light bulbs, brushes and pails—every conceivable item. Even when the price of a given ar- ticle is higher than it could be bought for in, say, Dallas, we take into account the cost of transport of the article—and if it comes within a reasonable nearness we buy the lo- cal product." Audience Surveys Will Determine Century Circuit s Pix Bookings He Cain't Say No Claude Lee, Paramount's pub- relations chief, has been listen- ing \o theatre operators' squawks for years. But last week, he said, he ran. into.'an exhib with the most imusual reason for high film rentals—he blamed it on the number of fires in his town re- cently. Guy, according to Lcet is a volunteer fireman. He says every , time he comes back from a blaze, he finds a branch manager and a salesman in his office and he's so exhausted he^ can't beat them down to a depent price. 'Blue Skies' Sets Record For N.Y. Par in 9 Weeks With only one more week to run, starting today (Wed.), "Blue Skies", (Par) seems certain of registering the biggest coin total ever registered at the N. Y. Paramount, with close to $860,000 the final figure for nine weeks. The Irving Berlin-Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire picture thus will show more returns . in nine weeks than either "Lady in Dark", or "Going My Way" did in IQ weeks. The total for the first eight weeks, ending last (Tues.) night, was near $795,000, which already is better than "Lady in Dark" total of $790,000 for 10 weeks and near the $806,000 done by "Way" also in 10, "Skies" made a new Paramount house record opening; week, non- holiday, M-G Budgets Continued frotm page 9 ; Good Biz Depends On Good Will: Bob O'Donnell Last, because most important, Robert J. (Bob) O'Donnell, v.p. and general manager of Interstate Thea- tres, takes the floor. It should be said, to obviate any possibility of mistake, the following is only an infinitesimal part of what Hoblit- zelle's right hand man had to say to your scribe. Its bearing on the out- standing characteristic of Texas op- erations—sense of civic responsibil- ity—makes its inclusion here a must. Listen to O'Donnell:— "Nobody could agree mpre . with the proposition show business is a business; showmen are business men. But doesn't this go equally for the bankers, department store magnates, newspaper proprietors? The only difference of opinion would seem to be, what constitutes good business? "Banks and department stores and newspapers prosper or go broke largely as a result of their winning or losing the good will of the Com- munity in which they operate. Will anybody suggest this is not equally true of a theatre operation? Again, the only possibility of a difference of opinion is as to what constitutes the showman's responsibility to the community. "A single instance of the sort of thing I have in mind Jias only re- .cently cropped up in Texa.s—as, I suppose, it is cropping up all over the country. I refer to the cut major producers and distributors have de- cided to make this year in their contributions to Community Chests in cities throughout the country. "I know the sound logic dictating this cut. Production costs have soared. Selling ■ campaigns have grown in volume and expense be- yond any thing heretofore known. Producer and distributor have a good case, for' saving everywhere they can. Interstate Objects "Interstate not only has an ob- jec;tion to this proposition; it will do everything in its power to per- decided to try for increased inconde, boosting their film rentals in many situations and making an all-out ef- fort to obtain the longest runs pos- sible for their pix in even the last run houses. Decision was reached for the over- all curtailment at Metro following conferences here recently between prexy Nicholas M. Schenck and Mayer and his executive aides. De- cision was made, due to excessive costs of labor and general produc- tioni to-cut out making of inter- mediate films and produce a limited number of seven-figure budgeters. With the studio policy of having plentiful supply of talent in all de- partments, from executives, direc- tors and producers on the payroll, and not enough pictures for them all to work on, the pruning took gradual proportions with about half a dozen of the producers, a few directors, and some talent gradually being written off the roster. Last week around 60 players on the studio contract stock list went their ways out of the Culver City gates, with their short term deals settled, as these people had con- tracts running from three months to a year. Most of this talent was in the $100-$150 a week category. It is figured that with these people not being essential the letout should save the studio far better than $750,000 a year alone. Producers and .^directors, who it was found would be among the "idlers" if kept on the payroll,, can be figured as a saving of another $1,000,000 a year: at least. Survey is being made of the gen- eral structure of the plant and it is most likely that shortly after Jan. 1, virtually all those who do not par- ticipate in current production will have been stricken off the pay- master's sheet and that a likelihood of around $5,000,000 savings Will have been eflected. + Time-honored u.sage of booking films on a hunch is going to give way to scientific culling, based on mer-' curial shifts in patron tastes, if Ceh* tury Circuit's; new survey dept. works out as: the chain's execs are hoping. New 'X'ork outfit, operating 37 metropolitan house.s, is shooting for perfection of rapid three-to-four day canvasses of patrons in its set- up, fir.st to be organized by a the- atre circuit. Idea in mind, circuit exec said, is to gauge audience re- action with such accuracy and speed : that the company can book its films with the full knowledge of what is at peak popularity and vice versa at any given time^ Century has taken on the expen- sive operation, it is -said, because the ordinary national research bmeau, depended upon by niajor distribs and producers, require a minimum of three months to check on any par- ticular facet of the film biz.- Time- lag makes it impossible for a chain ' to depend on the results for imme- diate booking problems, company , spokesman said. Moreover, it is pointed out. Century has localized problems which the company felt could be best checked by its own dept.:-.-,-- .-:--. Theatre chain is currently using the technique of quizzing, patrons in lobbies. To determine whether this checkup accurately sizes up nshe opinion, Century's first few stirveys are slated to be on questions to which the chain already has an answer. Lobby check, to date, has stood up in tests made in several of -, the circuit's theatres. Besides booking problems, survey- system is aimed to give answers on proper playing time for different films; whether films which include longhair music arc popular in indi- vidual neighborhoods; and whether specialized films .such as foreign or British would play plofitably in Century houses. Century also plans to find «ut their patrons feelings on adniission price scales; whether the theatre is catching the overflow from compet- ing houses; and why customer^ patronize competinjj theatres^ Usual posers such as what pictures are wanted by the fans; what advertising or exploitation med,ia brings them in; and why the customer likes or doesn't any film currently playing, will also be put to the patron.s. Dept. Ls under direction of Har- riet Lubin and Century is planning a dozen or so assistants and checkers. suade producers and distributors to think again about making this cut. "The point is, it is not only the oft-named "key cities" where offices of producers and distributors are located which they must regard as communities towards which they must exhibit a community spirit. Wherever their product is shown, the locals look upon them as being a part of the business life of the community. Precisely as the desper- ate need of one of those locals is as impoi;tant to that especial com- munity as the greater number of such'cases is to a larger city." (Next weeki more Texas ana Mississippi'Valley.) Distribs Pool Continued from page 5 ss might lay the companies open to some form of anti-trust action, it's also been revealed that the'chief ■ stumbling block in the Par-20th ne- gotiations is legal red tape. Attorneys of the two companies have been unable to discover a means of combining without setting up a separate corporation, for '-which the cost is reportedly prohibitive. Only other alternative, it's said, would be to declare under the Webb-Clayton Act. Such a move would mean the' duo would be forced to a 1 low anyone else in as a partner that wanted to join and it's believed unlikely that the two companies would put them- selves out on a limb that way. If the legal entanglements are pre.sent to such an: extent for two companies, it's argued, then it would be almost impossible for the entire industry to get together. ■ Necessity tor releasing more product on l&m stock overseas was implied by Seymour Mayer, sales chief of Metro International's 16m division, upon his return recently from a survey of the company's narrow-gauge operations in Europe. Mayer pointed out that Metrp was preparea to distribute 20-25 pictures yearly in most territories but added that in several of thoie areas, Metro was the only company currently in operation. He indicated, conse- quently, that the company would welcome competition from other / U. S. companies, since it Would inci- sure the foreign 16m exhibs of enough product. It's also been learned that Irving Maas, exec veepce of the Motion Picture Export Assn., is studying the 16m situation during his current survey of countries that MPEA handles. He's expected to make recommendations on opening up 16m operations in those countries upon his return to the &