The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1939)

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12 THE EXHIBITOR HOLLYWOOD NEWSREEL WARREN STOKES • HELLO, FOLKS! This is WARREN STOKES speaking to you from Hollywood over the JEP network. Movietown moguls are still trying to place the blame for bad pictures on anyone but the producers themselves. Hollywood is now blaming the fans for the steady flow of poor products. Jack Holmes, chief of Warners’ "Amer'canization” films, addressing the Motion Picture Research panel, said, ‘ The American film industry is ready to give the public caviar but the public wants only corned beef and cab¬ bage.” He further informed the panel that "Producers are competing with a new kind of night life — bars, cocktail lounges, slot machines, roads de parking and jitterbugs and must give the same entertainment to theatre patrons that these other forms of night life can give. Only when this level of entertainment demand is raised can producers be free to put out fine pic¬ tures.” Buck Passing • THESE EUCK PASSING STATEMENTS are getting funnier than the dialogue in some of the industry’s so-called comedies. Most of them are poor excuses for existing conditions within the industry. If the bars, cocktail lounges, slot machines and roadside parking offer competition to the picture makers, it might pay the movie moguls to look into this form of compet.tion and see what makes it click. Off¬ hand, we can say that the night spots get away from formula by changing the type of floor show, that roadside parking offers a change of scenery and that even slot machines are pulled Hut when they fail to draw any more customers, lyith new machines of different pattern and de¬ sign installed to stimulate new interest on the part of the patrons. Truth of the matter is, Hollywood is in a rut, it does nothing to stimu¬ late new interest in motion pictures. It sticks to formula, the producers ape each other with the same type of product, and they compete with each other instead of competing with rival forms of entertainment or trying to create some¬ thing new for their own medium. Re-issues and re-makes of former pictures have taken the place of originality in thought and presenta¬ tion and though these thoughts are openly ex¬ pressed by the movie goers who are now going to night clubs and cocktail lounges, Hollywood fails to recognize it and continues to pass the buck instead of buckling down to business to mend its own ways and mend the backbone of the business before it is broken beyond repair. Better Pictures , Cry • BETTER PICTURES has been the cry of the public for a long time, yet Holmes says, "Thea¬ tres will not choose good pictures because the consumers don’t want them.” In this instance, he cited his own experience with production of shorts on American subjects which failed finan¬ cially. That experience should teach him that even too much flag waving becomes boresome. Too much of any one subject will have the same effect. We wonder if it has ever occurred to Holmes and the other producers in Hollywood that even a dyed in the wool Paddy can only stomach a certain amount of Corn Beef and Cabbage. As to giving the public caviar, that would have the same effect, because Hollywood only does things one way. If one studio dishes out a story about tripe and onions, then you get tripe and onions from the rest of the boys. They all get the urge to make better tripe and onions. In the end it turns out to be all tripe. The public gets cinematic indigest.on and the movie moguls blame it on the beer joints, cock¬ tail lounges and slot machines — and the exhibi¬ tor whom Holmes tells the public through the nations press "has the right to choose pictures and pressure by educators on theatre owners to show good pictures will control production out¬ put of films.” Radio Competition • COMPETITION OF RADIO has come in for its share of lambasting from the motion picture industry and we cannot deny that the ether giant has kept thousands of ticket buyers away from the movie theatres. That again should prove an asset to the picture industry if it will awaken to the realization that radio has edu¬ cated millions of people to some of the finer things in life. I think all will agree with me that radio did not keep its entertainment level down to patrons of beer parlors and cocktail lounges but elevated itself by educating the listeners to receive and expect better entertain¬ ment in accordance with their own advancement through that very medium of entertainment. Pressure by educators on theatre owners will not improve the quality of Hollywood product and any Hollywoodite who thinks the public will swallow that statement should mix with the public and learn that the moviegoers are no longer in the dark. Radio has wised them up to many things even to the inside workings of Hollywood. MOVIE LOTS’ NEWSY SHOTS Ermond Likes Hollywood Car! Esmond, last seen as the German air Ace in "Dawn Patrol, his first American film ap¬ pearance, has just completed the part of the submarine commander in Metro’s "Thunder Afloat” and rejected a featured part in "Se¬ bastopol,” which w ll be filmed at the Paramount studios in Joinville, France, in order to re¬ main in Hollywood. While Esmond is tops in these character roles we still believe the pro¬ ducers will eventually recognize his worth as a romantic lead ng man. Another look at his Prince Albert to Pamela Stanley in the European picture, "Victoria Regina,” might encourage some smart producer to sign this talented actor on the dotted line. Bette Goes "West” Bette Davis’ next starring vehicle, following her Queen Elizabeth role in "The Lady and the Knight,” will be "West of Frisco.” This is a love story with entire action taking place aboard ship on the Pacific Ocean. George Brent will be seen opposite Miss Davis and Edmund Golding will direct. Picture is slated to start in Sep¬ tember. Miss Davis wdl follow this one with "All This, and Heaven Too,” Rachel Field’s best selling novel. Lamour-Preston Teamed Forming a new co-starring team under the Paramount banner, Dorothy Lamour and Robert The Future • THE FUTURE OF HOLLYWOOD and the continued recognition of the motion picture in¬ dustry is not up to the movie patron or the exhibitor but entirely dependent upon the pro¬ ducer and his willingness to accept the facts. He must foster more creative talent, encourage originality, quit copying from his brother pro¬ ducer and deliver better quality pictures. Speak¬ ing for the Educators. Prof. Daniel Mendelwitz, Stanford University, summed up the situ¬ ation in a few words when he said "Only financial ruin leading to complete abandonment of the current Hollywood assembly line methods of production would enable movies to proceed on artistic and socially important levels of lit¬ erature, music and art.” Some will argue that the movies are a commercial art. In the final analysis, all art is commercial. The main re¬ quisite for success is to know your market and keep step with its improved mentality. Holly¬ wood is falling behind. It does not recognize blnded by its own exaggerated importance, the intelligence of today’s movie audience compared with that of a few years ago. The future of this industry depends not upon the movie fan or the exhibitor, but the producers themselves who must acknowledge these facts, quit passing the buck, and start making pictures on their own initiative, quit making carbon copies of the other fellows pictures and quit insulting the intelligence of the movie goers who are not going any longer because of these existing con¬ ditions. You don’t have to take my word for it. Ask the ticket buyers. This is WAR¬ REN STOKES saying So, Long Folks! Preston will have the top spots in "Typhoon,” dramatic adventure story laid against the ro¬ mantic background of the South Seas. Picture will be made in Technicolor under the direction of Louis King. "Big House” Biggie Monogram’s "Murder In the Big House,” heralded as this company’s biggest on the 193 940 program, will have Charles Bickford and Barton MacLane in the featured spots. Film will be produced under the personal supervision of Scott R. Dunlap and directed by William Nigh. "Thin Man” Working "The Thin Man Returns,” re-titled "An¬ other Thin Man,” is finally before the cameras with William Powell and Myrna Loy co-starred. This is a Hunt Stromberg production for Metro with W. S. Van Dyke directing. Supporting cast includes Virginia Grey, C. Aubrey Smith, Tom Neal, Patric Knowles and Asta. Retitle "Fury” Republic’s "Mob Fury,” just completed, will carry the release title of "Smuggled Cargo.” Picture was produced and directed by John Auer with Rochelle Hudson in the top femme spot. "Missing Evidence” Now Universal announces title change on the Pres¬ ton Foster vehicle from "Million Dollar Racket,” to "Missing Evidence.” Phil Rosen directs. July 26, 19)9