National Box Office Digest (Dec 1938-Dec 1939)

THE BOX OFFICE DIGEST 6 FIELD MEN FIND SELLING SEASON SLOW IN MOST OF MIDWESTERN SECTIONS J. Maurice Ridge Field Investigator Cincinnati, Ohio. — Notwithstanding statements to the contrary by the distributors, there has been very little film sold so far, outside of those accounts handled by the Branch and District Managers. The small and independent theatres are just not going for the new contracts. One company and a big one, has sold but 5 contracts outside of the chains. And they have several salesmen working. Their deal is too tough. They are standing firm. So are the independents. The newly organized Co-operative with nearly 100 theatres has only signed for members that are up against it for early releases. Daily conferences are on, and daily turn downs. The big argument seems to be over the unusual number of pictures all majors are allocating in the highest two brackets. An independent using four major products would have to have 72 Sundays in a year to meet their demands for preferred playing time. All except Metro are demanding both preferred playing time and a guarantee equal to last year’s top, together with more pictures in these groups. With all except Metro, it’s to hell with the Code. We have to get in contracts, quoth the Forgotten Men, or we will lose our jobs. Film salesmen frankly admit the deals are pretty rough, but claim that they are carrying out direct instructions from their home offices. This your correspondent is sure is correct, as we have seen some of the letters and are they cruel toward the proposition! Looks like most of the majors looked for one more year, and then curtains. They want it all now. If increases in Fords and Chevrolet prices had kept apace with film rentals in the past five years, we would be paying a couple of thousand dollars for them at the factory. Lancaster, Ohio. — This city of Lancaster has been the promised land for the film distributors for many years, and this year is no exception, except that Mr. Shay finally got his hands on one house. Film rentals frequently mount to 50%, in order for one house to stay open. But how this can go on, is the question Harry Abrams asks. Harry is a fine showman. He operates a 1000 seater. It is ten years old and has just about made the grade. He had a lot of good product for years, but the smaller houses bid it up beyond prices he could live under. Today he lias Fox and United Artists as the base of his program. "My house is ten years old, and needs a lot of remodeling,” he stated, "but how on earth can one do it without borrowing money. The film companies will not allow one to make enough to put away one penny for repairs. Nothing will even be discussed about depreciation, in figuring film rentals. We need new booth equipment. It needs an entire remodeling. The chains can do it. They just tell the distributor what the overhead and other proper charges are, and the film companies acquiesce. Something must be done to correct this situation. I hope it will not be necessary for that kindly old man with the long grey beard, Uncle Samuel, to take a hand in this business. Seems that the big boys in production and distribution have grown so rich and fat that they cannot see the tide of Government intervention, that is about to sweep over us. Every year it is 'more pictures at the top rental.’ We all know and have known a long time that it is not possible to make ever-increasing numbers of top box office attractions. It is these hoped-for pictures, that never materialize that are sinking us. It may take the Neely Bill to stop this Hitlerism march against us. There is plenty and more for all of us, if the distributors would but listen to reason.” Mr. Abrams is a good showman. He gets all there is out of a picture. He is conservative in administration, and as energetic and versatile as a Harry Brand in exploitation. However, he feels mighty sad over the prospects, of his little city being subdued by the chains. Shay is after them and they know it. "THE CODE IS DEAD” Indianapolis, Ind. — "The CODE is dead,” and all the money and time spent on trying to put over this problem child on the industry is just so much water over the dam. The following wire was received by the Associated Theatre Owners of Indiana from their headquarters in Washington: "Dept, of Justice today disapproved proposed code saying, 'It’s adoption can only lead to combined and possibly additional prosecution.’ One wonders why the distributors with their master legal minds could not have let the Dept, of Justice see their plans before they went to all this trouble. We want to correct some of the wild statements of some of the so-called exhibitor polls that are appearing in some of our trade papers. Here is a partial result from a questionnaire sent out by Don Rossiter, executive secretary of the local Indiana exhibitors association: BALLOT Are you in favor of the proposed Fair Trade Practice Code? YES 11 NO 24 Are you in accord with Allied’s rejection of the Code? YES 28 NO 65 Do you agree with the ATOI Board in approving Allied’s rejection of the Code? YES 26 NO 5 Are you in favor of the passage of the Neely Bill? YES 23 NO 12 Additional Comments: PLEASE DO NOT SIGN THIS CARD. The above was the result of only two days replies. And we saw them with our own eyes and can vouch for their authenticity. Believe it or not — one of the major distributor-managers in Chicago was compelled to join the janitors’ union. That’s one way to take care of your union troubles in the back room. While in Detroit we noticed on contract after contract that the local exchanges were taking care of their customers on percentage bookings, that were also playing a double feature flat rental, other than their own, by allowing the rental price on the extra feature to be charged off as a house expense and deducted from the net. This was by no means an excep tional case but a general practice. Now in Indiana, MGM has a plan that is purely local and fair and equitable on all their percentage bookings. They allow a five percent reduction in their take where the customer plays double features on their percentage dates. This practice is not so prevalent as the Detroit situations, but never the less is written in the contracts of a great many independent theatre owners. Charleston, W. Va. — Hells a poppin down here in the land of Senator Neely and the Hatfield Clan. This section of the United States always gives the rest of the country headlines, and it looks now like the West Virginia exhibitors, who will assemble at White Sulphur Springs the 30th and 31st of August will keep up the State’s reputation. They have all the problems confronting the theatres of America up for discussion. Things left undone by the Allied convention in Minneapolis will be up for further action. New problems that the distributors claim the Code would eliminate, will find a place Harry Nichols Field Representative on the program. The Neely Bill will get a new birth of enthusiastic support. In fact it is hoped that the fiery Senator from Charleston will be among them. We will hold our fire for next week’s issue. We will be there, and assure you in advance that there will be some of the most interesting reading yet emanating from any exhibitor’s convention, come out of this one. Men like "Date” Meadows, "Tim” Kearse, Claud Robinson, George Zeppos, "Gene” Custer, the Hyman brothers and a score more, who (Continued on Page 12)