Variety (January 1952)

f«Awib^ 8,~ 1952 Forly*bth PGSUBFf Annivemay Exhibition and. Production Harnesping Big-Screen Color TV One Answer Jo Home Video’s Inroads By SPYROS P. SKOURAS (President, 20th'Century:Fox Films ) In mv opinion, the interests of the exhibition and production branches of our business are totally inter-dependent. Prosperous exhibition mearis prosperous production and, conversely, declining exhibition will mean declining production. If we lose our theatres, we lose everything aiid we will merely become a branch of a communications system that will dictate the cost of pictures and stifle creativeness, artistry and the other ingredients of showmanship that re the lifeblood of our business. Production costs still have to be reduced substantially. The industry has made, substantial progress in reducing costs, but considering the decline in attendance, particularly in TV areas* our production costs —in spite of this substantial reduction—are still very high in comparison to the boxoffice levels. Reduction of costs is our only salvation and the . industry must face this task with the greatest earnestness, if we are to stay in business. The salaries of industry personnel, particularly in the brackets exceeding $500 weekly; should be reduced. Salaries of our executives and creative talent, and this includes stars, producers, directors, writers, cameramen and mothers, must come down to the levels of other businesses. These salaries are admittedly high; though it must be borne in mind that pur artistic personnel are all specialists in their respective fields and are in great demand and can easily get what they ask. : 1 In my opinion, a good plan for the industry to adopt in this respect, especially in view of the high taxes, would be to lower the salaries of these people but to give them a profit-sharing plan so that they will, .be amply compensated in a manner that will, be commensurate with their contribution. Profit-Sharing As a matter Of fact, 20th CenturyFox did offer a plan whereby a voluntary reduction in salaries was asked for in all branches, which would be recouped by participation in profits, but unfortunately only pur executives, accepted it and I was happy to announce that after first six months that this plan was in operation, they received full recovery through participation in profits. While we were able to . halt the; decline of attendance somewhat in the. television areas, and business is. as good as last year, in the nontelevision., areas, .nevertheless, in the heavily , saturated areas such as Los. Angeles, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, business . is. lower, than it was last year; Over a long period of time it has been my personal conviction that the exhibition business could be saved from the devastating affects of free and convenient home entertainment by the development of large screen color television for theatre use. We have put' our hopes and efforts in Eidophor, Eidophor, with its color refinements and projection, will assure the presentation of the type . of entertainment that will attract large new; discriminating audiences. .1 think that theatre television will eventually be the key to the preservation of theatres. Free home, television caters to audiences >vho for tfie sake of convenience accept, it with its shortcomings in scope and quality. Theatre television will be so .far superior to home television and the entertainment will be so much richer and more imposing that the comparision in the different appeals of home television and theatre television will be the same as the quality of ; sand lot baseball com^d .to professional baseball. Exhibition still has" a difficult road to follow in meeting the devcompetition of TV. In addition to this, exhibition faces the necessity of keeping up With modern trends . in the physical appearance of their -theatres, to make them more attractive than the home. Above all, bookings must be arranged to meet public tastes. To day, theatre bookings is a serious problem because there are 50,000, 000 people who can see entertainment. in their homes and even though it may be mediocre ' and eyeri . poor, it is still free and convenient. Therefore,, it is the most formidable competition the motion picture theatres of America ever had. 1 , • Free B’s on TV. ~f Double-billing today also presents a serious problem, because the second picture is the type of picture that people can see on their television sets at home, free , This makes double-billing injurious to our business rather than an inducement, and . even though the double program is still necessary in certain areas, great care must be taken by the exhibitors to book them in such a manner that they Will be attractive enough to successfully meet the competition of television, which I repeat is free and convenient. Aggressive activity to create interest in the motion picture theatre is today more important than ever before. All our ingenuity and every showmanship technique that has been established i the past must be put to use, and applied to present-day audience tastes in order to help find a solution to the difficulties facing us. Exhibitors can no longer take theatre patronage for granted. As far as the future of production is concerned, I. see the necessity of further reductions in product tion costs, in keeping with present boxoffice levels. At the same time, the quality of the pictures must be improved and mote pictures must be produced by all the studios to meet the ever-changing tastes of the public. In particular, all our stars today, no matter who they are, must be cast in good, strong pictures in order to maintain their boxoffice value, We must also create new stars and glamorize them; Solid and unusual stories, • with ideas behind them, are necessary to attract the people into the theatres.. ' I do not agree that only the big pictures are capable of outstanding business. . A picture with good sub1 ject-matter, well made, regard Jest of size, can do very well. It Is the industry’s responsibility today to provide pictures for all types of theatres and not only for the few metropolitan first-runs, even though they contribute a major part of the film rentals. Conditions as a result of the anti-trust suit have become worse. There is more litigation; there is no backlog of pictures fpr the theatres; zoning and clearances are .chaotic; and the orderly.liquidation T>f product has disappeared. The expenses of the film companies have increased tremendously. To illustrate one item alone — 275 prints were all the prints required to serve, the United States before the anti-trust suit; how we need over 400 as, after the picture plays first run, practically all the exhibitors play it at the same time, and we cannot service all our customers properly. This has affected business and the attendance at the theatres, because at one .time tfip scale of admissions went as low as 15c as a picture was played off in a territory, run by run. Today a majority of subsequent-run theatres charge practically the same admissions because they want the pictures simultaneously. In New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles and other large cities, before the antitrust suit, a picture .was played off in an Orderly pattern over a period of at least five months, arid it gave an opportunity to customers to attend the theatres according to the size of their pocketbooks. Also, the stagger system Of exhibition gave ail opportunity to those who had heard about a certain picture to see it. Now a picture is played off within a few weeks and it is practically forgotten; This isi a detriment to both the exhibitor and the distributor. In the midst of this chaotic condition created by the anti-trust suit, we were also hit hy television, arid it found us totally unprepared to meet this formidable competitor. The defendant companies lost the profits from their theatres (two companies have already lost, theiq, and three companies Will lose them in the very near future). 1 Only superior entertainment can arrest the downward trend, of grosses in television areas. In nontelevision areas we are generating greater interest in motion pictures through such projects as COMPO’s “Movie.time U.S.A.” and similar programs in which the industry as a whole is cooperating. While these projects have contributed to the general improvement, a great deal more work remains to .be done to rekindle interest in pictures. We must continue to go directly to tfie great family of millions of moviegoers and tell them of the quality and appeal at this time of their, favorite form of entertainment. ‘How DM Bi Stopt to Ask a Mgr. Did This film Cost?’ Blockbusters Are OK But the Main Thing Is Ts It a Good Show?’ By HAL WALLIS ELEANOR PARKER “A MILLIONAIRE FOB CHRISTY" “SC A R AM OUCH E" elty which is television. I think the two entertainment forms can exist profitably side by side. Just as the medical profession never relaxes in its fight against virulent diseases, the motion picture industry must be prepared to carry on the battle against rising costs. The struggle must go on every minute of every working day. Results can be accomplished best by the elimination of waste, brought about by a determination on the part of every member of every crew to be thoroughly prepared— in. advance-r-for the day’s work plus the sensible application of economies in sets and the principle of cutting in script rather than in film; Costs have been cut in recent years and dramatic effects frequently enhanced by shooting large portions of pictures in. their natural settings away from the studio. Consider another aspect, if you will. Tremendous savings can be effected by discarding projects that on. paper, in advance of. production, are doomed to failure. A courageous and definite stand must be taken to rule out such drains on the economy q£ the industry. The competition between the theatre and television to me, is not a mutter of cost but one of quality. If we can find intriguing subjects that are off the beaten path and fresh personalities to present thei we can more than hold our o\v against television or any other tertairiment medium, TV Is Now a Real Big Kid With Muscles But By No Means a Deadly Assassin By DORE SCHARY ( Production VtP. of Metro ) Culver City. The last year, to some of us, affirmed the confidence that we felt concerning the good health of the industry. There were a number of high grossing-, films, a greater number than the prev i o u s year, and the 12 months of 1952 will have even a larger nun) be r of high grossing pictures; The quality of films Dore Schary fi*d get better and is continuing to improve and the pool of creative talent is bubbling with inspiration and hope. The bogey man, television, has taken on substance and shape, but he no longer is a bogey mart. While he is a competitor with muscle,' it develops that he is not nearly as deadly ah assassin as some thought he would be. At the moment, he's a nice, simple fellow who has set up a business of his own bn another corner, but the customers will still patronize our store because we happen to. be in a different business. It’s very likely that this new competitor and ourselves will develop allied interests that may be good for everyone concerned. In the last year we’ve survived a number of scandals and. embarrassments, and undoubtedly will have to survive others in the next 12 months. We've also reached that time of. year when awards of all kinds are being handed out. We’re delighted if we get them, arid we say they are unimportant if we don’t win them, and we look forward eagerly to next year, when we hope we are considered for them again. Joe Breen’s Operation Hollywood. . Production code administrator Joseph I. Breen is “doing quite satisfactorily” at Hollywood Presbyterian hospital following a lung , operation. He had: been In Spain recently “DETECTIVE STORY” when stricken. Hollywood. . Undoubtedly, the called “blockbusters,’’ colossi like “Quo Vadis,” “Samson and Delilah, “ "“David and Bathsheba” and “Greatest Show on Earth” are great for the business. They attract customers w h o haven’t been around for yea r s and their Very exploitation is a stiumulant for our industry, Hal Wallis Which thrives on excitement. However; I do not subscribe to a full program of multi-million-dollar negative costs. For one, too frequent repetition of this type picure would very quickly sate the public. Then consider the type of grosses rolled up by any Martin & Lewis picture (see Variety, July, 1951) and you see why there is still profit possible in films that are brought in for a million or less. Personally, I have never included so-called secondary or “B” pictures on my program; However, it is my feeling that, there will always be a market for this type, if they are soundly and economically produced and preferably if they introduce new talent. Whether these are to be turned out by the riiajors, or made independently remains to be seen, " It is becoming increasingly difr. ficult for major distributing companies to profitably handle “B’s,” but so long as there are double-bill situations, they are definitely re-, quired. I think the need in this field is for improvement, not elimination. In more than 20 years in this business I have never heard a paying patron at a theatfe ask, “How much did this picture cost to make?” It is my feeling that TV can be used as an ally to. exploit our product and as a training ground for new actors, writers and directors. I think it is incumbent upon all of Us in the motion picture' industry to devise new and different stories, dig out fresh personalities; and work out methods of presentation that are sufficiently unique to attract attention away from the nov-.