The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

editorial I II E Vol. 21, No. 26 May 10, 1939 A Jay Emanuel Publication. Covering the film territories 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, Buffalo, 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 communications to 1225 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. JUST IN PASSING "CONFESSIONS” REACTIONS Critical reactions to "Confessions of a Nazi Spy” have been varied but the high spots, as usual, came from the "Am I not a clever writer?” school in New York City. Frank S. Nugent, on The New York Times, brought in a comparison with "The Beast of Berlin,” produced in 1914, the net result of which proved that he must be 25 years old, which is at least 13 years more than a lot of people thought he was. The antics of the New York reviewing fraternity are usually very hilarious, and to bring them to the attention of the readers of The Exhibitor might result in a barrage of "why can’t we have some funny critics, too’ requests from exhibitors in other cities, but we’ll take that chance. Frankly, we’d hate to have the New York World’s fair reviewed by some of the city slicker scriveners. Imagine entrusting the fate of that world’s biggest fair to them! Gosh. 1939 LAW ENFORCEMENT— Leaders in hypocrisy for 1939 thus far are the mayor and district attorney of a eastern city who admit that they consider "Bingo” gambling but that they "don’t want to stick their neck out.” Competition from out-of-town "Bingo” promoters is considered unfair, however, and punchboards are illegal. The d.a. was even more specific. He said "Bingo” was gambling and he would positively do nothing about it. Questioned as whether this didn’t make both the mayor and the d.a. hypocrites, the reply was "Yes.” Certainly a city with these kind of men as its distinguished citizens ought to arouse itself. LET’S HAVE A NATIONAL VOTE We are gratified to note that Allied plans a ballot on the acceptance or rejection of the trade practice proposals, but we doubt whether such a vote taken at the Allied national convention to be held in Minneapolis, June 13-15, would be conclusive. Not so very long ago, this department urged that balloting be held on the matter of the Neely bill, because the boys who were doing the battling in Washington were quoting a lot of figures which could not be checked. Allied claimed lots of proponents while the distributors and the MPTOA forces stated the opposition had a lot of votes. Proof was absent. Allied’s endeavor to find out, by the ballot route, what the industry thinks of the trade pact is fine, except in one point. A vote on an industry issue on which Allied has already declared its position at an Allied meeting would be much the same as having the Democrats vote on some Democratic-favored principle at a Democratic convention. The vote should not be confined to those attending the convention. Any real poll should be on the basis of all the exhibitors in the country, whether Allied, MPTOA or unaffiliated. For example, with everyone in the industry co-operating, Allied, MPTOA, unaffiliated units, the trade press and all the distributors, a day could be set aside to be called Trade Pact Voting Day, properly publicized. Ballots could be sent to every theatre in the country, through a central unit, and tabulated in each exchange zone by a neutral committee, including representatives of the various organizations and the exchanges. We would wager that the returns would be tremendous and would give the first real indication of how the industry feels about the pact. Steps could be taken also to make certain that the vote would be secret. Allied has invited all independent exhibitors to the convention but there will be thousands who will not be present, so that any vote taken there will not mean anything more than the statements made by the advocates or opponents of the trade pact. Allied, no doubt, is sincere in its endeavor to get a vote on the record, but it knows as well as we do it will amount to nothing unless every exhibitor is given the right to excerise his opinion via the ballot. QUAD