The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1939)

EDITORIAL T II [ Vol. 22, No. 25 November 1, 1939 A Jay Emanuel Publication. Covering the film territoriei in the Metropolitan East. Published weekly by Jay Emanuel Publications, Incorporated. Publishing office: 1225 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. New York City office, 1600 Broadway. West Coast office, 1119 Poinsettia Drive, Hollywood, California. Representatives in Washington, D. C.; Albany, Buf¬ falo, Boston, New Haven. Jay Emanuel, publisher; Paul J. Greenhalgh, business manager; Herbert M. Miller, managing editor. Subscription rates: $2 for one year; $5 for three years. Address all communi¬ cations to 1 225 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Just In Passing HIGHER ALLOCATION SUSPICION It may not be, as one observer points out, that the company that is currently filling its higher brackets with shows of questionable box-office value is not antici¬ pating a letdown in quality of product for the tail end of the year, but the suspicion is there, just the same. What other reason can be advanced, since some of the shows that have been allocated in the higher designations are admittedly not doing the business? We all know that it is the distributor’s desire to hold his higher brackets until the real money shows come along — but not in this case. Exhibitors are beginning to rumble. No one is being fooled. Perhaps the second half of the year, in the case of this company, will be affected by the current economies. We hope not. ENDORSEMENT FOR SHERMAN We heartily endorse the suggestion by Harry Sherman, producer of westerns, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences give a special award for the western pictures. However, we’d like a few more details on the standards by which the “best” could be judged. And as long as the Academy is at it, it might decide to give an “oscar” for the best serial. But make the judging com¬ mittee look at all the episodes. Our serial editors tell us that the real value of a serial becomes apparent when the chapter-play gets past the sixth epi¬ sode and the tendency is for the studio to start repeating the action. MR. HARRISON GOES TOO FAR Our good friend, Peter S. Harrison, is in an uproar. We quote part of an article in a recent issue of his Harrison’s Reports, referring to “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” under the heading of “Frank Capra’s Lack of Good Taste.” ... he | Frank Capra] has presented the United Sates Senate as a body the members of which are elected to their office by the support of crooked politicians, to whom they remain subservient during their term of office. As an American citizen, I resent Mr. Capra’s casting of a reflection upon the integrity of the United States Senate, and I am sure that there will be millions of other Americans who will feel likewise when they see the picture. I resent it particularly in these times, when the whole world is going through strenuous days, and the prestige of this nation may be needed to bring peace among the warring nations. How will the people of other countries feel towards this country when they are made to believe that the United States Senate, the entire Congress for that matter, is controlled by crooked politicians? . . .” Harrison winds up with: “Allied States Association must tell the members of the House of Representa¬ tives, who will be asked at the next session of Congress to pass the Neely Bill, that this is only a sample of the impotence of the exhibitors to reject a picture that has been sold on the block-booking system, and that Congress must, there¬ fore, make it possible for them to reject such a picture, and similar other pictures, which may offend the sensibilities of the American public. The Allied leaders must start doing so at once.” If “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” presents the members of the Senate as a body elected to their office by the support of crooked politicians, our good friend Pete must have seen a different version from the one viewed by this writer. We heard no hissing when many Senators and Congressman viewed the picture in Washington but we did hear plenty of applause from over 4000 people when the picture was over. By Harrison’s reasoning, we do think that if the Senate is elected through crookedness, then the newspapers and the radio of the country, as depicted in the film, must also be crooked. We definitely don’t think so. There, no doubt, have been crooked Congressmen and others, but they have been proved to be the exception. In addition, such august publications as the New York Daily Mirror, Time magazine, and the New York Herald Tribune, among others, gave the picture swell support. We think also that Harrison went too far in his final paragraph. Without ask¬ ing Columbia, we are willing to wager that the company will gladly allow any exhibitor to cancel his contract for “Mr. Smith”— and we don’t think there will be one account that will do so. The exhibitor who might reject “Mr. Smith” on the grounds advocated by Harrison will go down into history in a not-so-happy niche of his own. We have admired Pete Harrison’s vigilance and energy in the past. But when he launches such a tirade we feel that the incident ought to be titled: “Mr. Harrison Goes Too Far.” quad.