Variety (January 1953)

54 PICTU1KGS Forty-seventh P&RIETt Anniversary Wednesday, January 7, 1955 > Vet Film Exploiteer Sees TV Harnessed to Benefit B.O. ° By TERRY TURNER When I was on the film distribu-, the distributing tor’s side, it was this simple. If someone stole my purse, to whom should I appeal for help? The cops, of course. Now, when I lose 40% of my audience, the cops don’t figure, I know it’s that old bugaboo Tele- vision, Yes, sir, old TV copped my folks. He didn’t kill ’em, but he is feeding ’em For Free, and I never found anything cheaper than Free. The question then is* “How are you gonna beat For Free?” The answer is, you just can’t beat For Free, but, you definitely can get a goodly portion of your lost boxoffice battalions back, and sometimes all of them, provided: (1) You utilize the vast power of TV and radio, combined with your other advertising facilities, to reach those lost boxoffice battalions. (2) You select the proper sub- jects and the right material from those subjects to entice them back. (3) Having chosen wisely from item number (2) then be sure you have sufficient penetration, TV and radio-wise, to impress your lost battalions, and edge them away from their TV sets several nights a week. (4) Timing is of utmost impor- tance, dependent almost entirely upon your subject matter, so that “mushy” messages, as my kid would term them, do not intrude on “Howdy Doody’s” rightful time. Maybe I was forced to probe into,* l ? res ; In . fejt, I think it will only the whys and wherefores of this a ^ ew in d°i n §> a great boxoffice company, only from the other side. In long con- fabs with Tom O’NeiJ, president of MBS, and his associates, I gave the history of radio and television pro- motion of pictures, the results, and plans for the future, which call for great flexibility, whereby a distrib- utor with a representative number of theatres could avail themselves of the media for X number of dol- lars, or percentage-wise if he still mistrusts the power of television to do the job. Feeling that I have gained some valuable knowledge from' past radio and television ex- perience, I want the responsibility of picking the pictures for the job and preparing the material that will; be shown on television. I asked also that it be our respon- sibility to determine the amount of penetration necessary to do the job and arrange the proper timing so that one picture would not be over- lapping or fighting another. It was Mr. O’Neil's thought that should this “package” deal be successful in any form we worked out, to offer it to other sections of the country, properly explained and worked out, under the distributor's guidance. Now, lest I seem to appear in the light of a sage, let me state clearly and definitely that there is much I have to learn. However, there are a few things I* have learned, to wit: (1) At this stage, television as an advertising medium is definitely not applicable to any and all pic- the whys problem, which presented itself forcefully enough in radio some years ago. My company was forcing a series of so called “B” pictures on me so strongly that sometimes I felt we were really insulting the second majestic letter of the alpha- bet. In fact, it grew so noticeable -j that my initials T.T. were at times misconstrued to mean “Turkey”. Turner. But, along came a “hot turkey” to be known later as “Hitler’s Children” and I had my chance. With the aid of Bob Dun- ville and his wonderful staff at WLW in Cincinnati, we instituted the first real area premiere, with WLW literally throwing the micro- phone in with the deal. We all know'how it clicked. That broke the dam, and everybody and his brother piled in with a picture, but as it will be in television, it just didn’t work for every picture. It enabled us to bring “Snow White” out of the mothballs the second time, and last February, with the added aid of television, trot it out for the third and $2,000,- 000 'go around. Then RKO prexy Ned Depinet “threw the book” at me with a real oldie, “King Kong,” Television as I had luckily analyzed it threw its Sunday punch and whammed the industry. But, just as 1 was about to say, “I told you so,” they told me, “A trick picture, with freak treatment and freak results.” How many knockdowns can a guy take? I still believed in it, and encouraged Joe Kaufman and Joan Crawford to let me try it on their brand new picture “Sudden Fear.” It worked like a charm. It not only worked, but now drew sharp divid- ing lines. In the case of “Kong” where you used it, up went the grosses. Where TV was not avail- able, down went the grosses, in some cases, out went the picture. The same was true of- “Sudden Fear” except the “out” part, be- cause it was an excellent picture, with a top.star, but even with that, sharp differences in grosses with and without TV were all too notice- able. job. (2) That quite a few distributors with whom I have talked are, cor- dial to the plan and curious in one Way or another, with 'old and new Other Side of the Fence ■v But, and this is a big but, the expense of television was high and is high. Where we tried it with 10, 20, 50 or 268 day-and-dat'es, as in the cases of “Kong” and “Sud den Fear,” the cost was not notice able, but where there was a single theatre .engagement it y^as,. to say the least, pretty stiff. While there is no argument against the latter point, there are ways of gettin; around anything if a reasonable profit is around the corner. Now I’m on the otner side of the fence. I’m with Mutual Broad casting System,, their radio and television affiliates, but*. doing precisely the same job for ;dis tributors and theatres as I did with pictures, and seem definitely in- clined to. give it a whirl. (3) That operators of television stations with whom I have talked, and they are many, are enthusiastic and willing to try any reasonable plan, to materially assist the mo- tion picture industry, while helping themselves. They believe, as I believe, that motion pictures distributors, ex- hibitors, television and radio, as well as newspapers, magazines, billposting and all other forms of advertising are part and parcel of the amusement family. I have al- ways thought if you can get a message to the people, whether on horseback or through a 20-inch screen on-television, that you’ll get results, provided you have enough meat in your message for the peo- ple to like and time enough for them to digest it. Television is the newest form of “Paul Revere” and, properly used, has the Marciano punch. Television is growing up and progressing and no amount of static or wishful thinking can stop it. AS one of the coming powerful members of the amusement family, why not let it join in with all its force for the common good! It might mean an adjustment in national budgets, a slight change in the buying and selling scheme. It could well mean an alliance' with your, newspaper lineage on the local scene and proper timing to aid and abet a -national campaign. All these things should be given sober considera- tion, because no matter what we may think, wishful or otherwise, television is here to,stay, to grow with a powerful force to carry our message to millions. From the gambler’s point of view the odds are great that it will do the job. Right now, you can make book that in Boston it’s 2-to-l a million will hear your message, because there are only two channels. A million people listen every night and your odds have to be 2-to-l. In New York, perhaps Chicago and Los Angeles, the odds are highest, but in ;mariy spots (right novvl it’s 100-to-l shot,' because of a single channel. Yes, it is as simple as that. Every Biz Pitches Pix to Sell Itself Except the Pix Biz By MAURICE BERGMAN Thanks to COMPO,. the Inde- pendent Theatre Owners of Ohio, and my own. .beloved Universal Film Co. (no heckling; please), I went on a speaking and singing tour during the month of May, 1952. The singing was accomplished at Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions Clubs, and the speaking was accomplished before the same auspices. Within a period of 14 days I gave 32 speeches. The conclusions after doing these forensic chores are: that all communities like to hear about * the movies; this in- cludes bankers, bakers, undertak- ers, lawyers, and sundry others. Strange to's&y, they enjoy hear- ing accurate information as well as they do distorted news that comes not only from our enemies but from our own business. Inured as I am- to calumny. I was a bit shocked to learn that they still harbor the egregious idea that Hollywood is a profligate Sodom where few people work, and if they do work they are grossly overpaid. J learned that this idea is still being harbored when I got to the question and answer periods. I a.so learned that most people that I had contact with are under the im- pression. that the motion picture industry is doomed and th&t the debacle is not just around the cor- ner, but already here. And, of course, I learned that we are in- fested with Communists and that Stalin agents are everywhere oh the sound stages emitting alcana. - I generally answered this kind of rhetorical questioning by saying the worst thing that could be said about all of us Iii the motion pic- ture business is that we are justj like other people. . . I tried to indicate the scope of our industry by giving facts about' our economic structure. I tried to prove how hard everyone works in order to keep working in Holly- wood, and I also tried to demon- strate that a $4,000,000,000 busi- ness does not grow 'on a Beverly Hills palm tree. I think I accomplished what I set, out to do and that was simply to bring - some facts to these, good people. In •view', of the-failure of one public .speaker recently who tried to talk setose to the American, public, T am of course a bit. cynical, as to how longue effect of my "lee- : tures prevailed, v ' But I am confidently committed to one proposition. And that is that we could overcome a lot of .these bad impressions if' there were a systematic speakers bureau'devel- oped in this industry so that the entire country could be covered with emissaries who know what they are talking about in relation to our business. It seems to me (and I learned this on my trip) that we are the only major industry that does not sen'd speakers consistently around the countrv. r .Every place I spoke had received 'speakers from many other indus- tries in weeks previous to my ap- pearance. . Ironically enough, most of these speakers brought films along to prove what they were talking about. I think it’s about time that we started using our own medium to let the American public know something about us. I would sug- gest that we make some special films so that a speaker may embel- lish his remarks with some graphic evidence.' I covered situations which in- cluded towns of 2,000 population to cities of 600,000 population. We talk a lot about public rela- tions. I think something like speak- ing tours are about the ■ most economical and sensible thing we could accomplish. Schine Adds 2 Vauders, In Kentucky, Upstate N.Y. , The Schine circuit has extended vaiide operations to two houses. The Avon Theatre, Watertown, N.Y., starts stageshows, Jan. 15 for three days, weekly. The Ben Ali Theatre, Lexington, Ky., has been running since Christmas Day on a three-day-weekly basis. Jack Kalcheim is booking the vauders for Schine. In previous years, the A1 & Belle Dow office set the talent. DOWN MEMORY LANE -By LOUIS SOBOL- Twenty years to us who are ag- ing is a puff and a breath and too often’the memory fades like cheap paint on a clapboard. At any rate have a trip back with me to the dying month of December, 1932. and the vigorous birth of ’33, the start of what was to be known (at first with affection) as the New Deal. From all over the nation, nota- bles came to town to crowd into Radio City Music Hall bn the oc- casion of its impressive opening. Among those present was Amelia Earhart. Everything was on such a mammo.th scale, someone ob- served during the “Birth of the Star Spangled Banner” number, “Roxy’s slipping. He should have had 480 stars in that flag!”.. .Bea Lillie opened at El Patio and for- got most of the lines of her songs the opening night, to the visible and audible glee of Fannie Brice ...News had come of Jack Pick- ford’s death !.. The successful partnership of A1 Lewis and Max Gordon had been severed. Sample of stories we liked in those days... A Coolidge yarn. The President was the guest of honor and was presented with a Cane. “This mahogany cane,” said the donor pompously, “is as solid as the rock-bound coast of Maine—as beautiful as the sunkist. shores of Calif ornia”... Coolidge gazed at the cane critically The assembly was hushed. Solemnly the Presi- dent studied the cane and then, lifting his eyes to the audience, said, “Birch,” and sat down. Another one, selected at random. During the filming of “Rasputin,” in which the Barrymores were starred, Ethel barged in on the set in her royal Czarina garb and said to the director: “Does the script insist the Czarina must wash Ras- 'putin’s feet?” The director as- sured her the script insisted upon just that. “Well,’.’ said Ethel icily, “it may have beemall right for the Czarina to have washed Rasputin’s feet, but I can assure you that Ethel Barrymore will not wash Lionel Barrymore’s feet,” and she flounced off. J $2 and $3 Top [ . Broadway was discussing the probability that due to the depres- sion, prices at the theatres were to be slashed—$2 top for dramatic shows—$3 for musicals... It was a fact that night clubs were deserted, •the theatres only half-filled... Only the movies seemed to draw. A peculiar play, “Two Strange Women,” opened at Little Theatre. ■ Irvin Cobb flopped down in the seat next to me and was asked by O. O, McIntyre whether the Ken- tucky dialect in the play was au- thentic. Cobb said something to the effect that the only thing in the play authentic as far as he could discern was a loaf of bread on the kitchen table... Everybody was hoping things would improve when the new President, F. D. i Roosevelt, took over. On 6th Ave. and 8th St., we were stopped by a mendicant wearing a greenish-black derby on his large head and a long black coat that reached almost to his ankles—fas- tened around his lean torso by two large safety pins...“Don’t refuse a’ man who might have been' your President a few pennies,” was 1 his plea .. “President?”... “I am Jor- dan Finchon. If you consult /our record you will see that in the Democratic convention of 1904 I received three votes frdrp my col- leagues of the State of’Idaho for the Presidential nomination and ..'. ” We gave him a few coins and wandered on. . A play, “The Hangman’s Whip,” had opened at the St. James. A melodramatic piece about the Afri- can jungle terrain. .. Sophie Tuck- er in a long white ermine coat fringed with sable was among the audience. She took off the coat to reveal herself snugly packed in a vividly green dress. “In mourning,” she solemnly assured me—for the end of her third marital romance. She and AI Lackey had decided to part, but they remained together —and parted—and came, together again through the years that fol- lowed—and parted then for good. | Gershwin Conquers Cuba | Yip Harburg, the songwriter, carpe back from Cuba to report that George Gershwin was the sen- sation at the Jockey Club and that Dictator Machado was paying no- body except the militia which guarded him.. .Dr. Julius Lempert was „ occupying the amazing pent- house which had been tenanted by Ivar Kreuger, the fantastic mil- lionaire who had committed sui- cide. Hal Skelly was a hit in a George White show, “Melody.” ... N o e 1 Coward was in town escorting his vivacious mother around... “Din- ner at Eight” was playing to capa- city houses ... Jimmy Durante, without Clayton or Jackson, was in town rehearsing in “Strike Me Pink.” At a night club known as the Monte Carlo, Dorothy Dell was the singing attraction... This was be- fore she headed for Hollywood, the pictures — and death ... Daddy Browning was making the rounds again, after an absence of weeks wearing his purple dinner jacket with the inevitable orchid in the lapel! The gossip columnists were in- sisting Jeanette MacDonald and Robert Ritchie were secretly wed —and refused to believe their de- nials. But they were telling the truth—and they never did wed... Charlie Chaplin and Paulette God- dard were keeping the lads and gels in an uproar, too^-although one or two were certain they had been wed at sea. Belle Livingstone had returned from Frisco to get back into the night. club swing here.. . Nils T. Granlund had imported a dozen beauties from Hollywood.. Noel Coward was in town, and Broad- way and Park Ave. were fussing over him ..Jack Curley was Czar of the Wrestlers and his beaming countenance lighted up the pop- ular restaurants of town . A group of film notables had come in from the Coast and were the centers of attraction at opening nights Among them were Clara Bow, Kay Francis, Gjeprge Raft, Jimmy Cagney, Mervyn LeRoy and Al Jolson. The big moneymakers of Broad- * way were lamenting that the in- come taxes were eating away their huge salaries and recalled happier days when there were no asses- ments... Ella Logan had been let out by Paul Ash and the little Scotch singing comedienne la- mented that her career was over before it had been even started... She was talking darkly of going to work in a department store. Beatrice Lillie was drawing $3,- 000 weekly during the previously mentioned engagement at El Patio —a top figure for night club en- tertainment. The American Spec- tator, which was to be short-lived, was paying $15 an article to con- tributors like Ring Lardner and Branch Cabell, i * Greek Pic Exhibitors Face Rugged Going; U.S. Filins to Rescue By IRENE VEIISSARIOU •Athens. The most important show biz phasj in Greece is the motion pic- ture. It’s the most popular enter- tainment here, with admission price being considerably low. Cinema trade had suffered a de- cline the past three months of. 12%. 'This was due chiefly-to the recent elections, which absorbed the^public. Film distributors, how- ever, hope for good prospects in the coming months. American pix garner about 60% of the local grosses, while a few years ago they did much more. This *decr&ase is' due to the keen competition of man/ films im- ported from the.Continent' (mostly French and Italian), as well as of local production. Greek, distributors, handling American .pictures also, have to contend with heavy taxes. The recently imposed extra import duty is considered very harsh, though it has been revised lately. All first-run theatres in Athens exhibit films from October till the end of May. During the summer months many ozoners operate throughout the country, showing films released during the winter season, except some B films that remain ’unreleased till that dale. Foreign films are released here with Greek subtitles. The idea of dubbing them in the Greek lan- guage proved too difficult and ex- been abandoned for the time be- pensive (around $7,000) and has ing by distributors.