Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

a Pktu/be P^ieientatlcm f\!eeaA By Helen Kent ET’S have a look at show business from the public point of view. Here we have millions of persons, no two of whom think exactly alike. Never was a moving picture made which pleased everyone who saw it; likewise never one which did not find acceptance by some of the people. That’s the peculiar advantage of this form of entertainment. It is public property, because of its availability to rich and poor alike. Knowing this fact, moving picture producers vary the forms of entertainment to be placed on the screens throughout the land. True, they run into cycles when one type of picture product proves vastly successful. This is all well and good, because the public is still able to regulate the length of these cycles by their acceptance of such follow-up pictures at the boxoffice. And picture producers would be the last in the world to expect a bored public to support them. Exhibitors, also, feel the public pulse in the matter of the screened entertainment they offer. More Individuality Needed Unfortunately, however, in a great many instances they seem to have neglected to feel the public pulse in the matter of how moving pictures are presented. And this is the theatre man’s sole responsibility in his own locality and to his own small portion of the great public. If he finds his share of the theatre-going public disinterested and diminishing, it may possibly be Hollywood’s fault, but more probably the reason lies with him as the man “on the spot,” who should be in touch and in harmony with his own public. Boredom is a dreadful thing. It grows rapidly and embraces more persons with every moment it is allowed to exist. It, too, is habit-forming. The public can just as easily become imbued with the movieboredom habit as it can with the moviegoing habit. And the only weapon with which to combat such ennui on the part of a large and growing group is change. A change of pace means progress. Such changes have been used before in moving picture presentation, hence there should be little mystery about the workings of a bit of diversion from what is expected. Double-feature presentations were a change which was accepted so heartily by a certain class of theatre-goers at first that most theatre owners were reluctant to lay them aside. The public is now obviously and outspokenly bored with double-features, but because the change worked once, many exhibitors have forgotten that time moves around to indicate necessity for another change. Money raffles and merchandise 46 give-aways were other changes, which were welcomed by the public mostly because they offered novelty. The real movie fans, however, regretted these interruptions to their entertainment and dissatisfaction has been met on all sides. These changes were fleeting and impractical. They served to undermine the moving picture theatre industry by substituting patronage-bribery for patron-entertainment. The Building-Up Quality What is needed is practical change of pace. Things which have a building-up quality and which are entertainment to the mass of patronage. When people are seeking amusement and diversion, they needn’t be paid for it by free gifts nor gorged on it by doubling or tripling the length of the program. Give them some thing new and different and be open to changes whenever a need for them is indicated. Such a course will certainly satisfy patronage in any locale. For this reason we have persistently stressed change in the physical structure and furnishings of the theatre itself. In every case where theatres have been remodeled or even redecorated, an immediate awakening of interest on the part of the public has been noted. With this thought in mind, we feel that it is time to advance a bit farther and indicate the remarkable impetus a change of presentation style or manner might make in the modern theatre. The cinema idea is basically sound. Remember, that this is the only kind of entertainment readily available to untold thousands of people. Give them a wellbalanced diet of moving picture entertainment plus a change of pace in presentation at intervals and they will re( Continued on page 50) Ferde Grofe, celebrated composer and creative interpreter of American music, seated at the keyboard of a new instrument, the Novachord.