The Exhibitor (Nov 1939-May 1940)

EDITORIAL ExmeuoR Vol. 23, No. 12 January 31, 1940 A Ja j 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, 160C 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; $J for three years. Address all communications to 1 22 5 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Just In Passing ALLIED WANTS ARBITRATION After reading the Allied White Book, compiled and being distributed by Allied States Association, we still feel like the man who looked at a car in a salesroom and said: “It looks pretty good but I’ll never know how good it is until I run it for a long time.” We have read the arguments against the Neely Bill, too, and we think the man in the showroom has the right idea. When a bill is up for discussion, there are all sorts of interpretations which may be presented, but, frankly, we don’t think those who are for or against it know any more about its actual operation than the general public. True, they can point to this or that paragraph to drive home an argument, but that’s as far as they can go. They can quote similar situations but still these examples don’t cover the main question: Will the Neely Bill do the industry any good? Allied answers “yes,” while the opposite side says “no.” We feel that far more assistance can be brought to the business through the inauguration of an arbitration plan as suggested by Allied in its recent meeting. Allied says it wants to arbitrate, even though it will take more than a wish to start the ball arolling after what has happened in the past. But even the Allied attitude is worth something. It shows, at least, to some extent, that the organization is for industry self-regulation. WE’RE LIVING IN A HISTORYMAKING PERIOD Henry T. Murdock, writing in the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger recently, rates movie history something like this : 1. First, invention. 2. “The Great Train Robbery,” the first sustained narrative. 3. “Judith of Bethulia,” the first four-reeler. 4. “The Birth of a Nation,” the first real American epic. 5. “The Jazz Singer,” the first film with dialogue. 6. “Gone With the Wind,” the biggest, most luxurious and greatest potential box-office hit ever turned out by Hollywood. We agree heartily. In years to come when old-timers get together to talk of the good old days, the 1940 exhibitors will say : “I was operating a theatre when Metro did the unheard of thing of getting 70 percent for a picture. They called it revolutionary and at the time it created a sensation.” Mark this down in your history book. “GWTW” isn’t merely breaking a precedent as far as one company is concerned. It will be responsible for changes in distribution, production and exhibition methods. Already it has had its effect on one picture, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” which, at current writing, is testing its possibilities with a policy similar to that used with “GWTW.” At a press conference last week, Darryl Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox production, was not averse to revealing, after being asked what the effect of “GWTW” would be on his company, that his company was now making “Lillian Russell” at the cost of a couple of millions and that 20th Century-Fox would have to arrange a special policy of handling to get back its money, implying that the the percentage, also, would fall in line with that idea. Here is the season of 1939-1940 coming to its end, production conferences for 1940-1941 beginning and already “GWTW” has affected two companies. Is it too much to expect that others, too, will fall in line? Certainly, David O. Selznick, having launched “GWTW” successfully, will not rest on his laurels, and other production heads will likewise feel that their abilities must best be set forth with similar productions. What will be the result? The exhibitor will find that some of the big pictures which, hitherto, have come to him in the top bracket will be reserved for the ‘special type of roadshowing,’ which will mean that his profit will be restricted on the industry’s best pictures. It is not difficult to predict a situation where the trade’s productions will consist of two kinds of pictures, ‘the real big ones’ and the others. Mr. Murdock is right. “GWTW” will go down into history as one of the milestones, but, to our mind, it will also create a problem for the exhibitors. QUAD