Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1947)

RCA TRYING TO STIR FILM MEN INTO ACTION UPON TELEVISION In Chicago , Television Is a Reality, At Least in 915 of Towns Taverns Sarnoff Predicts Circuit Of Television Newsreel Theatres Will Come By J. M. JERAULD NEW YORK — Some time next year this industry probably will be in the midst of a behind-the-scenes discussion of television that may have historic results. David Sarnoff’s second criticism of film leaders for what he describes as lack of interest indicates the radio interests are trying to apply pressure for action. New York will be connected with Los Angeles via a coaxial cable running down the Atlantic Coast and across the southern states late in 1948. Sarnoff says some film men are so interested that there may be a chain of television newsreel theatres in the future. INQUIRIES BY JOHNSTON He is the only man definitely vocal on the subject at the moment. Within the past week or two Eric Johnston has inquired about the attitude of heads of companies which are members of the MPA. Some have definitely opposed introduction of television into theatres and others have indicated varying degrees of interest. These latter, it is believed, are playing their cards close to their chests. This is the same situation that prevailed before the introduction of sound. Even after Jolson’s first sound picture had been a tremendous success many in the industry contended it would be economically impossible to wire large numbers of theatres. Sarnoff says this is due to the fact that film men who have viewed current television programs rate their entertainment value so low that they cannot consider them competition. This is a mistake, he says. The RCA president is looking forward to the day when great quantities of films will be needed to produce television programs. In his Chicago speech he said: “The blacksmith who remained at the anvil, found that his forge went out, but the blacksmith who turned his shop into a garage prospered. In television, as in other fields of American industry, the dynamic forces of competition will definitely assert themselves.” After reviewing the general attitude of film men, he pointed out that in his opinion the “immediate impact of television on theatre attendance will come from the timeliness and dramatic interest of the event that television will bring to the home.” OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDEPENDENTS He apparently was referring to news pictures, but later he pointed out that film men — independent producers — would make pictures for television use. In this connection he said: “There are interesting indications that as television transmitters begin to spot the country, progressive independent producers will see their opportunities not alone in terms of the present twenty thousand theatres, but of the many millions of homes that may be eventually equipped with television. It may even be that such independent television production, financed by the same methods that currently exist in the movies, may flow to the theatres in full CHICAGO — Television is just around the corner — literally at the neighborhood bar. A ball game or fight now flickers before happy beer drinkers in 915 taverns in the Chicago area. The same doings are on view in exactly 1,593 private homes in which the master of the house has shelled out from $250 to $2,200 for a set of his own. And the man on the street can catch the show free from any one of 463 sets now in use as demonstrators. Boxing and baseball, according to an informal poll of bartenders, are the most popular programs thus far. However, the customers are likely to find themselves staring at anything from animated cartoons or a “How to Train Your Dog” exhibition to a “commercial” showing a man of distinction downing beer. WBKB, the Balaban & Katz station, remains the only one in the field in Chicago, though licenses for four others have been issued by the FCC and some expect to be operating shortly. WBKB, one of the ten stations now making length form, after exhibition on the air, instead of vice versa.” Then he said: “The newsreel theatre of today could readily become the television theatre of tomorrow.” He pointedly dragged in reference to British films at this juncture. Only a few days before Sarnoff made his speech J. Arthur Rank closed a deal with Rauland Corp. in Chicago covering use of television patents. And on the same day that Sarnoff spoke John Davis managing director for Rank, announced to the British press that British television was abreast of American developments and that television screens would be installed in London theatres. NEED A GREAT QUANTITY The RCA president is looking forward to the day when great quantities of films will be needed to produce television programs. Sarnoff closed his discussion of theatre television by saying: “It was radio and electronics that gave the film its voice. It will be radio that will equip the theatre with a television eye. I believe that television can be as great a boon to the theatre as sound was to the silent picture.” It may have been merely a coincidence, but it was early in the same week that the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (the Bell system) presented a schedule of tentative rates for television use of its rapidly expanding coaxial cable system. This system has been growing so fast recently that the telephone company is now issuing new maps every three months. A study of these shows that the first transcontinental link will be completed in 1948 and that about six months later it will be in operation. The gap now is between Charlotte, S. C., and Augusta, Ga„ and from Augusta to Atlanta. From Atlanta to Los Angeles the cable is already in the ground. A branch from Augusta to Miami will be regular commercial telecasts in the U.S., is on the air mostly at night. Baseball is the only afternoon offering, with rare exceptions. There are no morning programs because housewives presumably are too busy to look and the bar flies are in bed. At least ten manufacturers will be offering television sets by the end of the month. Six are already on the market. The industry expects to be booming by fall. One of the paradoxes of television, WBKB programmers have found, is that the smoothacting and pretentiousness of a motion picture falls flat on the small television screen, whereas a spontaneous informal show in Which anything is likely to go wrong appeals to viewers. Meanwhile, the television sets in the bars are cutting the jukebox “take,” a situation which will be remedied shortly when coinoperated television machines make their debut. The tavern keepers aren’t worried anyway. “You watch a ball game or a fight,” explained one tavern owner, “and you just naturally get thirsty and order another beer.” completed in January or February of 1949. A radio relay system between New York and Boston is nearing completion. This means that a television network will be possible late next year all the way from Boston down the Atlantic coast and across the south to Los Angeles — where there is a reservoir of film and radio talent. From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh a cable Will be completed in the late fall of 1948 at about the same time as the coast-to-coast hookup. From Pittsburgh to Cleveland a cable will be completed in 1948 and this will be extended to Chicago later. In the meantime radio relay system from New York to Chicago is to be started. This will go via Cleveland. A PittsburghSt. Louis cable via Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis will be started in 1949. This will be extended to Salt Lake City by 1951 or 1952. It is thus apparent that within the next 18 months most of the important population centers will be connected. Getting programs for them without going bankrupt is their principal preoccupation. This may account for Sarnoff’s anxiety to get the film industry interested. In the meantime, he says, local stations and regional networks will have to rely on local talent. SEE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS A number of technical problems in putting television pictures on theatre screens remain to be solved. Scophony, Baird, RCA and a Swiss firm all have engineering ideas on this, and some say a patent pooling agreement will have to be worked out. In the meantime Paramount, with the help of Du Mont, is working on its system for taking television pictures off a television receiver and transferring them to film. This is aimed primarily at swift newsreel coverage. BOXOFFICE :: June 21, 1947 13