Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

BDXDFFCE THE NATIONAL FitM W I E E t Y 'F tJ 1 L IS HE D Iff SEVEN SECTIONAL EDITIONS 3M?HED WEEKLY BY SSOCIATED B L I C A T I ON S IBEN SHLYEN Editor -in-Chief and Publisher WM. G. FORMBY Editor A. L. FINESTONE ! Associate Editor lESSE SHLYEN Managing Editor \ J. HARRY TOLER ' . odern Theatre Editor ; I. H. GALLAGHER Erector of Advertising I 'Publication Office: 4704 1 1st 9th St., Kansas City, l!'. Phone, Chestnut 7777. 1|: n S h I y e n, Publisher, jlw YORK: 551 Fifth I^|b., Joseph H. Gallagher, ,I{r. Phone. Vanderbilt |3,13g. CHICAGO: 908 So. .^Iibash Ave., Calvin Herjiir, Mgr. Phone, Webster j2 3. HOLLYWOOD: 6404 1 1 y w o o d Blvd., Ivan par, Mgr. Phone. Gladsine 1186. SECTIONAL t'FICES; BOSTON, 14 I dmont St.; PITTS^'RGH, 1701 Blvd. of the Ales; CLEVELAND: 128CB Kjlar Road; DETROIT. Ml Cass Ave.; MINNEWOLIS, 801 Wesley Tempi Bldg.; DALLAS, 218 S. prwood; ATLANTA, 162 ^.Iton St.; SAN FRANfliCO, Golden Gate Bldg. Per Copy. Per Tear $2, Foreign $5 ■tered as Second Class ! 'tter at the Postoffice at insas City, Mo., .under ty. of March 3, 1879. Trends D URING the days of depression business fell off to an appreciable extent at the first run houses. Money was scarce and the public tightened up. Subsequent run houses benefited, not only because of lower admission prices but also because of easier parking facilities at no cost to the patrons, plus the saving of gasoline expense. Today, with employment up and pay checks going higher, the downtown house again is in its hey-day. The public feels like spending again and car expense and the higher admission price mean little or nothing to those who want to see pictures first run. Neighborhood houses, too, benefited by the improved general business conditions and the easier spending of the general public — that is, at the outset of this new era of better times. But, when the bigger and better picture attractions started rolling up phenomenal grosses, even breaking the peak records of the 1929 boom days, a new trend was begun. Extended runs of two and three weeks were to be expected, but the new development — the "move-over" run — was not. This all may have started innocently enough, but it now has become so widespread that there is wholesale objection to it by exhibitors throughout the country, particularly in the larger cities where neighborhood exhibitors claim such policies are draining all the business possibilities from even the biggest pictures before they get to their houses. Their complaints having fallen on deaf ears, several subsequent run exhibitors decided to test a policy to counteract the runs that were extended beyond "reasonable" limit and to their business detriment. Thus some second-run houses became first-run, playing pictures for the first time in their cities. In keeping with this move, the houses went through a renovation process in order that they might compare favorably with the established first-run "palaces" and raised their admission prices slightly above established second-run scales, yet 10 to 20 cents under downtown first-run admissions. The results in the first tryouts have proved satisfactory. But here enters the question of product supply. Does the market afford enough product — enough with ”what-it-takes" in story, name and other values — to allow uninterrupted continuation of these new first run situations? Perhaps the answer is in independent production which, for this coming season, is being increased to a new high. Meanwhile the new trend will bear watching. Censor Ramfiage The Kansas State Censor Board's action in ordering deletion of dialogue by Senator Burton K. Wheeler from the current issue of "The March of Time" is an infringement upon the Constitutional rights of free speech. It is a deliberate act of partisanship by a politically-appointed and politically-controlled censorship. Or shall we say that it is mere coincidence that the Kansas governor is a Democrat, and Senator Wheeler's speech was anti-New Deal? Newsreels are exempt from censorship on the ground that they are privileged to the same rights of freedom of speech as newspapers. "The March of Time" is a film presentation of current events — a review of the news. Senator Wheeler's speech, charged by the Kansas board chairman with being "partisan and biased," was similar to the talks he has been delivering around the country and reported in newspapers. The press of the screen is entitled to the same rights as the news press — the Constitutional rights of free speech. Such action as taken by the Kansas Censor Board is not in the public interest but, rather, inspired by partisan political interests. It is a reprehensible action that warns of the narrow-mindedness that can guide some censoring bodies and of the lengths to which such political-mindedness can be stretched. It is but a short step from action that restricts freedom of speech in presentation of screen news events to similar actions against motion pictures of fictional character. i