The Exhibitor (Nov 1939-May 1940)

EDITORIAL T II [ Vol. 23, No. 1 November 15, 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 1221 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Just In Passing THE EFFICIENCY MAN IS HERE The efficiency expert is back with us again. One company, for the past month or so, has been scrutinized by an efficiency man who has been finding out exactly what the employees are doing, going into the matter quite thoroughly. They are blaming the war for this, too. The foreign revenues have been cut and something must be done to take care of the decrease. They tell us that it is difficult to prune on the Coast where union contracts, guilds, etc., bar the way to wholesome slashes. All of that may be true, but we don’t have to point out just what effect the activities of the efficiency expert is having. In times such as these, we still like to get back to our friend Nicholas M. Schenck’s observation: “There’s nothing in this business that good pictures will not cure.” Perhaps the efficiency expert can disprove this statement. “ON THE JOB” HARRY At any rate, one can’t accuse Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Association of New York City, of not being alert. While everyone was wondering what was the next step in connection with the code, our “on the job” Harry went to Washington and asked. This seemed to be the simplest thing to do, and it is to be wondered why someone didn’t think of it before. We don’t know, of course, whether his trip will result in anything constructive but there was no harm in asking. His action speaks for many. MAKE A SACRIFICE! NOT A CONTRIBUTION Someone, somewhere once estimated that the chemical value of the human body is less than $1. From looking at some of the individuals with whom we come in contact, we think he overestimated. There can be no value, for example, placed on a man who says that he can’t afford to give to a charitable enterprise because things aren’t as good as they should be and absents himself from meetings called for the purpose of raising funds, but turns in his 1939 car for a 1940 one and still takes his two weeks in Florida during the winter. There can be no value, either, placed on an exhibitor who refuses to pay dues to his organization or support it in any way, but still grabs all the benefits that appear when certain concessions are received after the same organization has worked hard on them. There can be no value, likewise, placed on a theatreman who cries “bloody murder” against a circuit which is competitive to him and still fails to realize that the house which follows him also has a right to live. These are but three of the types singled out. In our estimation these kind of gentlemen have no value. True, they exist, like you and I they have families —they live like normal beings— except that they have no heart as real humans do. The man who cannot make a sacrifice for a charity usually has never considered making such a sacrifice; the exhibitor who lets the other man do it is nothing more than a chiseller; while the theatreman who cries because he is being hurt and fails to be considerate of other exhibitors is in the lowest industry category. You may wonder why this has been written — but it must be evident. In one day we met these three men. We hope they are listening. QUAD.