20th Century-Fox Dynamo (July 22, 1939)

NEW DYNAMO 11 FIRST SERIES OF DRIVE MEETINGS ENDS IN NEW YORK NEXT FRIDAY NOTES GATHERED IN THE FIELD Continued from Page 10 T HE Drive meetings at Sam Gross’ Philadelphia and Ira Cohn’s Pittsburgh branches were in the nature of a birthday cele- bration insofar as District Man- ager Edgar Moss was concerned. There may be some question as to just exactly what birthday Edgar is celebrating this year, but there could be no question as to his determination to win that President’s Drive for 1939. And, by the way, Edgar is be- coming an oratorical wizard these days, judging from his talks at Washington, Philadel- phia and Pittsburgh. • S AM GROSS was in New York Monday and attended the now historic screening of “Stanley and Livingstone.” At the Phil- adelphia meeting he reported his reactions and it is his opin- ion that this latest Zanuck spe- cial will be one of the company’s biggest grosses. Frankly, we have never heard any branch manager rave over a motion picture as Sam did over “Stan- ley and Livingstone.” • I F the reaction to the Drive goal as observed in Washing- ton, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, Bill Sussman’s East is going to be particularly difficult for either Bill Kupper’s West or Bill Gehring’s Central to stop. The Easterners are re- flecting extraordinary enthusi- asm. This we gather not only from what we saw and heard at meetings held so far, but from the correspondence we have been getting from Eastern man- agers. • B ILL CLARK’S wire that the Educational prize checks would be in the hands of the winners next week brought ap- plause in Philadelphia and Wash- ington which won first and sec- ond award, respectively. • S ALESMEN McCleaster, Han- cock and Black in Indianapolis gave out a lot of enthusiasm at th? stop there. George Landis’ Hoosiers are still smarting un- der the smacking they got in the last two Drives’ total deliv- ery races — effected notwith- standing the fact that Indian- apolis beat quota in each and every week of the 1938 Big Push. • T HE sudden death of Dick Gledhill, New York salesman, came as a distinct shock to his friends. One of the finest sales- men in the land, Dick had made many personal and intimate friends among employees from other branches whom he met at conventions. For years Dick had been pacing the go-getters at Harry Buxbaum’s New York ex- change. He was among the most popular salesmen in the metropolitan area. His passing is a tremendous loss and we who were numbered among his many friends will miss him greatly. The company joins in expressing sympathy to the loved ones whom he left behind. • W ASHINGTON Booker Sarah Young cut short her vacation to be on hand at the meeting there. And having heard that Washington won second prize for Educational Month returns, a prize worth $300, she re- marked: “Well, looks like I can go back and rest a little more.” And so she can, for the advance bookings in Washington are all the most ambitious manager or booker could hope they would be. 9 P HILADELPHIA’S Drive Lead- er A1 Davis, in the course of a splendid talk, paid tribute to Clyde Eckhardt, who Monday will be honored at a testimonial dinner. As Milwaukee branch manager, A1 had served under Clyde who was then district manager. Said Davis: “I think Clyde Eckhardt deserves some credit. He played a part in the career of every man to be made a Drive Leader since Mr. Wob- ber. Bill Gehring was his sales manager in Chicago. He hired Jim O’Loghlin and Levy was his branch manager in Chicago when he was district manager.” • W E have just received a most significant and interesting letter from New Haven Drive Leader Earl Wright. Earl re- ports a meeting held at Ben Si- mon’s office. He wrote: “We have conceived a certain type of campaign that with the fine product we know Zanuck is mak- ing, nothing can keep New Haven out of prize money.” Go to it. New Haven! • J IM O’LOGHLIN is definitely on what is more or less known as “the spot.” In the two years he was Drive leader Can- ada won district honors and his Dominion offices, more or less, were in the majority of prize winners. If you ask Jim for the answer as to what will happen, he will respond: “Just what happened in 1937 and 1938.” But from what we have gathered around the country, Canada’s lot is not going to be a bed of roses, judging from plans made to “stop Canada.” • T HE adsales forces could never ask for the opportunity they have had in the coming Drive to | Here's a Record to Be Proud of: Every Print j of "Jesse James," "Kentucky" Booked Solid j | Never have branches been so richly supplied with the volume j ( of repeat bookings as have been reported on “Jesse James” j j and “Kentucky.” So far as we have been able to observe, not ! ! an available print of either subject will be idle starting with j | the first week of the Drive. And if any exchange has a single j j day open on either subject we know a flock of offices that can ! J use extra prints on either Technicolor specials. j | The amount of extra revenue that will be earned through j j repeat runs on these productions should pile up a new record = I for such business. | Six Technicolor One-Reel Subjects Will Be Released During the Coming Drive The K-7 short subjects release schedule for the first quarter | of the 1939-40 season was announced this week by Short Sub- j jects Manager W. J. Clark. I In the 18-week period of the 1939 Drive, the schedule S reveals, there will be a total of six Technicolor subjects. This ( is minimum, which means that, if at all possible, there may I be more. There will be at least two all-color Fashion = Forecasts. ”1 ! i i s \ i i i s j SECOND SWING STARTS IN MID-AUG. ago. Negotiations are pending now for a new structure and next year the Hoosiers will be in the up-to-the-minute type of branch buildings th" company has erected in other territories. roll up new records. There will be no other decision that can be reached than that our system is all wrong, if every single adsales department does not exceed ter- ritorial quota each and every week during the Drive. No three companies ever had so many ex- ploitation naturals available in 18 weeks as we will have during the Drive. And their unlimited posisbilities will only be capital- ized fully if the adsales returns reflect quota-plus delivery. So, Mr. Adsales Manager, let’s go! T HERE is still considerable revenue to be available from backlog, but it is positively the smallest to mark the inception of any new season or a Drive. This we have ascertained from a study of statistics furnished by managers at most branches where Drive meetings have been held to date. • H OW we would like to be in Chicago for Clyde Eckhardt’s testimonial dinner Monday night! And who wouldn’t want to be there? Imagine, a guaranteed turnout of 940 people. And sev- eral hundred others had to be turned down, because of lack of space to accommodate them. No man in the field ever was the re- cipient of such a tremendous tribute! And it will be a gala night not only for Clyde, but for everyone present. We say that because we were told what will happen there. And Clyde, re- member the first 25 years are the hardest in show business! • W E have discovered that in our employ in the field there are 97 ladies who have been functioning for this company for anywhere from 15 to 18 years. And that’s a great record. • D ECEMBER will mark one of the most important events in the life of Harry Ballance. Don’t ask us what it is, for we won’t breathe a word about it until December! • E VERY piece of mail and every wire we have received in the last four days has carried some heartening news of the box of- fice success- of “Second Fiddle.” That is tops and deserves to do SRO business is not news to you, so the reports we have been re- ceiving have not surprised us one bit. But, keep sending them on. Good news is always wel- come. • C INCINNATI Drive Leader Eddie Burkart has the situa- tion very well under control and if that office does not share in the prize distribution it will not be because he will not have conducted what we must de- scribe as “a spectacular, but practical campaign.” • A ND, by the way, this local Drive leadership idea has “caught on like wildfire.” In the development of future national Drive leaders it produces the opportunity the boys have been hoping for. Good luck and more power to you, Mr. Local Drive Leader. Your responsibility ter- ritorially is as great and impor- tant as is that of M. A. Levy nationally. • S OMETHING of a record was set the other day when the Drive crew penetrated all three divisions within 16 hours. That happened Thursday. The morn- ing was devoted to a meeting at Jim Grady’s Cincinnati branch, which is a member of the East- ern division. The afternoon and early evening found a session in full swing at George Landis’ Indianapolis exchange an affili- ate of the Central division. And that night we arrived and spent the night in St. Louis, prepara- tory to a session the following morning in Ben Reingold’s St. Louis office which is in the West- ern division’s lineup. • T OM McCLEASTER, Indianap- olis salesman, went poetic on us. When we entered the meet- ing room, lo and behold staring at us was a Drive verse—that was to the point and left no doubt as to the Hoosiers’ Drive intentions. • H APPIEST day for George Landis’ Indianapolis ex- change will be that on which they move into sadly needed larger and more comfortable quarters. For years the Hoo- siers have needed a much, much better exchange building—and here’s hoping that it won’t be long before these deserving, hard-working ladies and gentle- men get that new building. Pag- ing Construction Engineer Mc- Farland. In seven years the Indianapolis business has in- creased 250 per cent, but the force is still using the old quar- ters. The fact, however, that no new building has been con- structed is due to a long-term lease negotiated many years J IM GRADY is developing a flock of truly able and con- vincing talkers at his exchange. Among those who spoke for their respective departments were Booker Jim Neff, Salesman Jack Needham (younger than ever), Adsales Manageress Annabella Kelly, Shipper Jules Brown and Cashier J. C. Salidin. And, by the way, get Jack Needham to tell you the story about Jerry Murphy, now in Washington, when the latter visited a strike- infested Kentucky town some years ago. • J OE NEGER, Indianapolis Drive leader, pointed out that twice St. John upset the prize- winning plans of the office. “But,” he said, “there’s one thing we do not have to worry about in this next Drive and that is that Canadian group. It is not in the group of which Indianapolis is a member.” And that gives you an idea of the great respect the U. S. branches, particularly the larger ones, have for the Dominions! • (jUVURING the Philadelphia meeting, one of the salesmen, his eye falling on the brief- case Minneapolis exhibitors pre- sented to Levy at the testimon- ial they gave him recently, ex- pressed this wish: “I wish I had a case like that.” Whereupon, Philadelphia Drive Leader A1 Davis came back with this: “All right, I will present exactly the same bag to the salesman who finishes first on total delivery in this office during the 18-week period of the Drive. • I N St. Louis we heard plenty regarding the sensational ad- vance campaign put on to her- ald “Second Fiddle.” It was by far the greatest and most novel exploitation campaign given the picture. The other local efforts were insignificant in compari- son—and nowhere in the nation has “Second Fiddle” done better than it has been doing in St. Louis. All of which shows that it pays bigger dividend than ever — to advertise and adver- tise right. St. Louis, indeed, shamed the other key cities in the presentation of this swell picture. j Field Forces Interpret Drive Quota As Reflecting Greater K-7 Earning Power j j The Drive quota has been accepted by the field force as j ! reflecting the greater earning power of the K-7 output. That J I was emphatically brought at all branch meetings held since J j managerial receipt of the quotas. In not a single branch was c ? there any fear of the quota. That it represents the most ambi- I 1 tious goal fixed for any Drive is something that is being gen- j | erally accepted as logical, in view of the great product sched- = • uled for the Drive. Not a single manager is worried about it; j | on the contrary, every one of them viewed the quota as prac- j 2 tical and to be attained without difficulty.