20th Century-Fox Dynamo (February 3, 1940)

12 NEW DYNAMO Published In The United States Every Week In The Interest Of Sales Promotion By The Department Of Distribution Of 20TH CENTURY — FOX FILM CORPORATION SIDNEY R. KENT, President HERMAN WOBBER, General Manager of Distribution Roger Perri Editor % " WtS0/?\A/S THE first half of the K-7 season is behind us! Nothing A is to be gained through a summary of what was, or was not, done. You know the record. You know the status of your office. It’s the second and more important half of the K-7 season that concerns us. Surely, we launch it with all the tools needed to do a thorough job. The field was never in better shape. Our product is the best. The eyes of exhibitordom are focussed on us. The product to come assures constant weekly increase in revenue—if the right volume and quality of playtime is obtained on EVERY release. View today and tomorrow from any perspective and the resultant picture is truly inspiring. There are no domestic problems concerning the handling and the capitalization of product that we can not solve. We are master of the situation. What we need to hit that quota we’ve got. Mr. Wobber looks forward to the biggest 26-weeks’ revenue in company history. He so stated at a conference with Messrs. Kent, Schenck and Zanuck on Saturday. WE’VE GOT TO TURN THAT PREDICTION INTO ACTUAL DELIVERY IN EVERY SINGLE TERRITORY. • Tj^OR the third straight week, this company submitted to ticket- A buyers and exhibitors an entertainment gem that cheered both, and no little! This week it is “Little Old New York” that takes possession of the first page and all box office headlines. The Zanuck- King combination has provided us with a box office knockout that will be a major factor in stimu- lating rentals for weeks to come. There is no doubt as to the warm reception it will get from thea- tregoers. The world premiere audience at Miami made that an established fact. “Little Old New York” is what the doctor ordered. D 1 HERMAN WOBBER |IVISION Managers’ Testimon- ial Delivery Jubilee is vir- tually with us! It starts off with a celebration of Bill Kupper Month. And a banner month it should be, too. The Western divi- sion will show the way. It should. It’s their popular divisional head’s month. And they will not let him down. The entire industry is watching the results of this 12-week effort. The Drive has been enthusiastically received by the rank and file. Its designation by Mr. Wobber, at the request of many employees in the field, struck a popular note everywhere. It is now up to us to make the most of this opportunity. To be the success anticipated by our chief executives the 12-week receipts must be in excess of the last Kent Drive. That shouldn’t be difficult. • T HE entire nation is waiting for Zanuck’s picturization of “The Grapes of Wrath.” Millions had awaited the verdict of metro- politan critics who were to first see it in New York. That verdict is in. Briefly, it is, as Walter Winchell put it, “better than the novel.” And you know what a sensational success the book is. There is a Chinese saying that “one picture is worth a thousand words.” The truth of that has been proved time and again. And that being so, there is no chance-taking, provided the picture is given the intelligent, but aggressive presentation in every situa- tion, that the screen version of “The Grapes of Wrath” will be the sensational box office success that the novel has been and still is at the book-stores. • T OO quickly do most of us in this business rush for the “crying towel” when things do not go as we had expected they would. Adversity is nothing new to mankind. Adversity that is not con- structively and quickly coped with is a breeder of every type of ailment. Being sorry for one’s self is not the way. The “do- nothings” usually end, where they should, behind the “8-ball.” The “do-somethings” dig in and work their way out of any adverse situation. This paragraph is prompted by self-pity we heard some exhibitors, who are referred to among our “leading theatre opera- tors” and who should know better. We chatted with them down here in Miami over the week-end. They are Dixie operators. They felt sorry for themselves because the recent chill that gripped Dixie cut into their receipts. Said one: “If it isn’t one thing, it’s an- other.” Whft he should have said was: “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another that I kick about. But, there is always something about which I can complain.” • nOW closely are you checking up on the K-6 accounts that were on the books last season at this time, but that have not yet acquired the K-7 lineup? Recently you were asked to make a summary of the number of K-7 pictures sold to every account. This summary should help you substantially increase revenue. .THE LATEST^ i SHOP] TALK COMMENT — T HIS column, like most of this issue, is being typed in Miami, where it has been as cozy as a week’s stay in Juneau, Alaska (and no kidding). The “Little Old New York” premiere brought together more industry notables than any similar affair it has been our pleasure to at- tend or “cover” anywhere out- side of Hollywood. • O UR stars apparently are particularly popular with college men. One of the “big” frats the other day elected Brenda Joyce their No. 1 star. Alice Faye, Sonja Henie and Nancy Kel- ly all have been given top popu- larity by any- where from three to 11 frats. Alice Faye still leads as the col- lege boys’ fav- orite. Leo Sanshie T>ED - HOT is I* the contest up in Boston for the salesmen’s No. 1 berth on K-7 sales. Sales Manager Harry Alexander, Matt Simon, Feloney, Gold and Con- nelly, being certain of a new circulation high in their respec- tive zones, are now trying to make their presence emphasic- ally felt in the Division Man- agers’ Delivery Jubilee. Go to it, boys! B OOKER SANSHIE of Detroit is doing an amazing job. His staff has broken every record any Detroit exchange has known for volume of bookings — fea- tures and one-reelers — for any prior period corresponding with the first 25 weeks of this season. Keep it up, Sanshie! • T IME MAGAZINE carried an exciting and illuminating story on “The Grapes of Wrath” which has become the talk of the country. Opposition dis- tributors, who are vacationing in Miami, were flabbergasted by the “raves” of the New York re- viewers. These notices “will do the entire industry a lot of good,” commented one of the major magnates. • I N FLORIDA, Cleveland’s I. J. Schmertz said: “We’re not worried about being the first branch to sell our every terri- torial possibility of K-7 fea- tures; we’ll beat Pittsburgh to that. What we are concerned is in reaching that weekly quota and maintain- ing it. And rest assured that when the Divi- sion Managers’ Drive is o v e r, our 12-week count will be representative of quota for that period.” H. Alexander A TOTAL of 17,000 lines made up the advance campaign in seven New York newspapers to herald “The Grapes of Wrath.” It was about 1,000 lines less than were used in the newspaper dis- play campaign that ushered in “The Blue Bird,” which is now in the third week of its road- show engagement in the me- tropolis. • fTVHE San Francisco road-show A engagement of “The Blue Bird,” which opened Thursday, was heralded by an 8,000-line four-newspaper display ad cam- paign. OBSERVATIONS fTVHERE’S no escaping the censors in Europe. Movietone Pro- ducer Truman Talley phoned his office in New York. The boys back in New York had a long string of questions to ask their chief. They asked the questions, but Talley did not answer. Fin- ely. Movietone General Manager Ed Reek asked: “What about lt.’’^ The answer was: “There’s a censor standing by me and he wont permit me to answer.” And that was that! • TN LESS than one week after the unprecedentedly enthusiastic A reviews on “The Grapes of Wrath” were published, hundreds of 6 j w ^° reac * them, wired, phoned or wrote branch, district and division managers and Mr. Wobber asking that the picture be made immediately available. The demand for this picture is terrific. Associated Press’ award further heightened interest. This week the nationally circulated magazines were carrying re- views and from crats we had with their writers, we can tell you, in advance, that these notices will be every bit as sensation- ally enthusiastic as those of the metropolitan critics. • T HE advertising trade papers took cognizance of that great newspaper display cam- paign that heralded “The Grapes of Wrath” in New York. The ads will be available to regular K-7 accounts that have the picture under contract. We got a look at the press-book being compiled on this special and it is, without a doubt, the most helpful created for ex- hibitors’ use. The history of the New York treatment is detailed for the guidance of showmen. Truman Talley Edmund Reek IfN THE past month, this company’s wares consumed a total of A 63 radio hours. iNo other firm's pictures were given anywhere near tne airing ours got on the major networKs. the Peoruary- iVlarch-Apm schedule will definitely he even greater. Next weeh we shall lurmsn you with a schedule of broadcasts already ar- ranged lor that period. • TT USED to take from six to 10 days for company mail to get A from this country to Europe. Today the minimum time con- sumed for delivery of mail to England and France is three weeks, lo Continental countries the time is even greater. All mail, it seems, is being inspected by warring countries and ships carrying it nave been held up anywhere from a week to three and four weeks. • nDOTAL possibilities for United States and Canada this week A are given as 12,477. U. S. is credited with 11,621 and Canada with 856. Branches with more than 400 territorial possibilities are: New York 801, Dallas 613, Atlanta 590, Boston 571, Chicago 566, .Philadelphia 554, Minneapolis 531, Cincinnati 512 Kansas City 443 Eos Angeles 435, Detroit 404 and Washington 400. • 1YEEP your eyes on those Great Lakes in the Division Managers’ AA Jubilee. Les Sturm’s Detroiters have whipped up considerable interest among exhibitors in their effort to win the season’s delivery championship. The Wolverines never gave out greater enthusiasm than they incorporated in a wire received at the H. O. the other day. And don’t overlook the growing strength of Clyde Eckhardt’s Chicago, Landis’ Indianapolis and Lorentz’s Milwaukee. Just a tip, based on information we have received in the past several weeks from those offices. M ARY PICKFORD has given the company permission to use her footprints and her name in “Stardust,” which was for- merly titled “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Script Writers Robert Ellis and Helen Logan built several important scenes about the imprint of Miss Pickford’s feet in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood. Linda Darnell and John Payne have the romantic leads. « • VI^ITHIN the next week Richard Greene will visit New York. This will be his first real glimpse of the metropolis. Ever since his arrival here from Europe in December, 1938, Greene has been eager to see more of New York. All he saw when he landed here was a glimpse he caught through the windows of a taxi that whizzed him from the dock to the airport in Newark, N. J., and the plane that flew him to the Coast. He was promised the vacation as soon as he finishes “I Was An Ad- venturess,” in which he is co- starred with Zorina. B 1 Lester Sturm UFFALO Showman - Man- ager Syd Samson is at it again. Every other day he circulates a postal card among his key exhibitors. On the card j_ Lincer he types the latest informa- tion concerning “The Grapes of Wrath” and “The Blue Bird.” Keep them posted! It makes easier the task of getting the right playtime. # PIJRANSPORTATION agents for the leading railroads of the A country the other day lunched I. Lincer, the popular transporta- tion manager for this company. If Lincer can’t get you accom- motions on a train, plane, ship, for a theatre or any other affair much in demand—well, it just can’t be got. Among transporta- tion managers he ranks No. 1 and wields an influence that has worked wonders in the some 20 years he has been doing business with the ticket men. T OOKS as if we’ll be able to publish the final and audited stand- Ai ings for the 1939 Drive in next week’s issue. Prepare your- selves for real surprises. We regret we can’t even give you a hint. The audit will be completed this week and, until all the re- turns are in, it would not be fair to speculate on what it will finally show. It won’t be long now! But will you BE surprised!