Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 24, 1958)

Christmas Number = “3 womens | ; re ie alta ea a ak te « <— ae GS ry CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY £ CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY COUNCIL DELEGATES AND CENSORS Censors of Motion Pictures. In the centre of those standing, flanked by F. This shows the luncheon in the King Edward Hotel at which the National Carbon Company played ‘host to the delegates in Toronto for the annual meetings of the National Committee of Motion Picture Exhibitors Associations of Canada, the Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada and the Provincial TN HIS annua! report to the i] Motion Picture Industry ~™ Council of Canada President R. W. Bolstad made some general observations and offered his opinions on the particular problems besetting the Canadian motion picture industry today. As for the MPICC itself, he said that it was difficult <o measure its contribution to the material welfare of the industry directly but “I think we have on the whole built a better motion picture industry in this country than we might otherwise have had. Certainly ‘we are not plagued with the bickerings and recriminations ‘that continue to plague our in dustry in other countries. That’ “un itself I think is an accomplishment.” The industry’s greatest failure. Bolstad insisted, has been in the field of promotion, since the motion picture theatre today “is supplying a type of entertainment for which there is an almost unlimited demand” and “‘we have not in any single instance, so far as I know, reached out and sold to our potential market as many tickets as we might have sold.” He praised the selling jobs on Eighty Days and The Ten Commandments, then hit out hard: “NY7AS it worthwhile? The re sults seem to say that it was. This is still a business of Showmanship, and Showmanship, by whatever name you call it—Exploitation, Hard Sell, Promotion or any other number of names—is still what makes the mare go round. This was never a business for what some advertising men today term ‘the Soft Sell.’ It was always a business where those who won were those who went out with guts, brass and imagi nation and created a desire to see where no desire existed before. But instead of that kind of Showmanship we too often find today theatre owners who are so involved with expense figures, admitted expenses, control figures, split figures, holdover figures and figures of so many kinds that they are so busy trying to figure out how they are going to get a fair return on their investment that they haven’t the time nor the inclination to figure out how to get more dollars in the boxoffice because again, if they did, instead of getting an advantage they would be outfigured with higher terms on the additional gross that had been created. Distributors too Gordon Spencer, O. J. Silverthorne, R. W. Bolstad, E. G. Forsyth, J. J. Fitzgibbons, Sr. and F, H. Fisher is Ray Tilley, National Carbon vice-president, who welcomed the guests. Many pressing problems were discussed at the national meetings. our industry that instead of trying to out-figure each other let’s get together and see if we can’t figure out some new ways and means—or resurrect some old ones—to get more dollars out of the public into the motion picture theatres for the mutual benefit of all of us.” QTHER industry matters were surveyed by Bolstad, who provided a positive position about each: Sunday movies: “Based on the experience in Quebec and in most other countries this could be the greatest ‘shot in the arm’ which our industry could hope for.” Amusement taxes: “Our progress in getting these unfair ‘The Industry’s Greatest Failure age 9 A perceptive review of the past year and its problems made before the annual meeting of the Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada by its retiring chairman, R. W. Bolstad. have become so concerned with figures and trying to out-figure the exhibitor that they are no longer willing to absorb even very minor losses on accessories and trailers, instead they now try to figure out how they can make a profit out of even those items which in any other industry would be considered to be part of the service which is normally rendered to their customers. “T suggest to all branches of and discriminatory taxes removed has been painfully slow.” Aid to small-town exhibitors: “Many words have been spoken in sympathy for the small-town independent exhibitor but very little has been done to help him stay in business. I think that long-term the health of our business is not only dependent on the success of a few theatres in the larger centres but also on the total number of theatres, large and small, that are providing motion picture entertainment to the general public. The rate at which the motion picture theatre is disappearing in towns with a population of even up to 6,000 persons is appalling. Something can and should be done to keep that segment of our business alive.” Censorship: “I don’t believe that any fair-minded man or woman in our industry objects to censorship as such but when censor boards come to be looked upon as a means of producing revenue for Provincial Governments then it is time that we became concerned. Like any other regulating agency, they are probably entitled to make a fair charge for services rendered. They are not entitled to make a profit.” Licence fees: ‘‘Here again the fee exacted should be commensurate with the service performed — but no more.” Theatre regulations: ‘With the changes that have taken place in theatre construction over the years and the almost universal use of acetate film many of the regulations under which theatres must be built and operated have become outmoded.” Production in Canada: “As an industry I believe we should do everything possible to encourage these efforts.” FUNDING the answer to sell ing more tickets and better management, Bolstad concluded, will mean that ‘this business will not only be a good one for each of us and our families but at the same time it will open up new opportunities which will once again attract young men with vision, ability and ambition.”