Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

70 EXHIBITORS HERALD February 4, 1922 LETTERS From Readers A forum at which the exhibitor is invited to express his opinion on matters of current interest. Brevity adds forcefulness to any statement. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Answers Harry M. Warner HOBOKEN, N. J.— To the Editor : You were kind enough to publish my comment on "Prologues" recently "because the whole industry was vitally interested." 1 don't wish to take advantage of good nature nor appear as an oracle of the "movie" business and rush into piint every time I disagree with some article you publish. The evils in the industry arc many. Everyone knows of one or several that should and could be erad;cated. iiut action along this line is trying and dimcult. Publicity, however, will serve in a great measure to clarify some of the more flagrant abuses and eventually bring about their elimination. When this is accomplished, the results to the industry as a whole will be more amicable relations in every branch. Now the particular article I am hitting at is that of Harry M. Warner in the Herald on January 7, wherein he states : "Competition is one of the vital needs of the industry." , Off hand, we must say "yes" to that statement but getting the exact tenor of his article, the answer is "no." Competition, when it serves a legitimate purpose, is always to be desired. It is the force which keeps us free from the evil result of monopolistic development, no less from the evils of unfair tactics ard price cutting. When used legitimately, it is the weapon of the weak as svell as the strong. Passing the point where its work is that of an equalizing force, it becomes a weapon of coercian, oppression, if not actually destruction. It was competition such as this that brought about the condemnation of Famous Players. It is competition of this k;nd that indicates First National Exchanges have learned nothing from past history. Their attempted imitation of F. P. methods in coercing exhibitors to buy their product by threatening them with destructive competition has already been brought to the attention of the M. P. T. O. A. Of course Warner did not have this sort of competition in mind. He speaks only of exhibitor competition, the lack of which threatens the producer of good pictures. If inferior pictures are the result of the situation he describes, then he might just as well close up shop. If a market cannot be found for good productions, what earthly chance does he stand to market those of less merit? There seems to be, at least this year, an impression on the part of the pro-, ducers that when a picture is backed by an advertising campaign or is even susceptible to a campaign of large size, that picture is a "super special." Placed in that category, the exchange has no privilege of displaying it to your patrons, for dots not that label put it in the money making class (for the exhibitor)? When a producer is unable to place such a picture in towns that boast of several picture theatres, there arc only two reasons for it: The price asked is too high, or despite its advance notices, it will not meet competition, that is the competition of other pictures. If it is conceded, as it must be, that the principles of success in this business are the same as any other — absolute knowledge of that business in all its stages — then who better tha'n the exhibitor knows what he should play and what he should pay? So long as exchanges arbitrarily fix the prices to be paid, the evil of which Mr. Warner speaks, the monopolistic control of towns, will continue. It is not an evil. Every exhibitor has an inherent right to buy such pictures as he wants at a price both fair and just. If he cannot do this, then he should reject them. When he pays more for pictures than he can afford to pay, his quickly mounting deficit will sooner or later convey its lessons. Filling the coffers of exchanges with little or no reward for himself is not part of success. It is not in exhibitor competition that the safety of the industry lies. Nor is it with producers and distributors but it can only come about by wholehearted co-operation from every branch of the business, producers and distributors alike. From my side of the fence, the fault lies with the producing end. As long as they continue asking exaggerated film rentals in the face of falling receipts, they are out of touch with the trend of the times and theatres will be closed to their product.— W. F. Jordan, Liberty theatre, Hoboken, N. J. Too Many Short Subjects DeQUEEN, ARK.— To the Editor: That letter of mine looked very reasonable, I imagine, to exhibitors over the country but I wish tc advise them that my change from 30 cents to a dime for four days a week was too sudden and too radical. It won't stick. In spite of the greatest advertising effort I ever put behind any proposition, it has failed. It started off like a house on fire just as I said, but these four days have fallen down about half and I am compelled to double up the programs into two days r.nd raise my admission price and put features back on the other two days. If I had not gone wild over the success of one or two days a week with this kind of program and low price and put on too many of them, I would have been in right. As it is, I am in wrong, so for fear others may be influenced by my letter to make an error in trying to put on too much of this stuff, I think in fairness to them I should make this statement. For about two days a week in a town of the size of mine, 2,500, I think it perfectly good but four days won't do. — A. L. Middleton, manager, Grand theatre, De Queen, Ark. EDITOR'S NOTE.— Mr. Middleton's previous letter appeared on page 34 of the January 14 issue. In it, he advocated small town exhibitors devvoting four nights a week to programs of short subjects at low admission prices. Advises Price Reduction CULLOM, ILL.— To the Editor: If the exchange men want to help the small exhibitors make both ends meet, they should reduce the prices on advertising and supplies. These prices were advanced three years ago when money was plentiful and business good. Now with business at almost a stand still, they should do their best to get prices back to normalcy. No use to expect any improvement in the "movie" business this year unless they do their part. — J. E. Higcins, Majestic theatre, Cullom, 111. Lyons in New Comedy Arrow Film corporation announces that "Keep Moving" is the title of the sixth Eddie Lyons comedy, in two reels, shortly to be published. Four Christie Comedy Stars in Productions To Be Published Soon Four leading Christie comedy stars are featuring in productions in the process of making for early publication through Educational Exchanges. They are Dorothy Dcvore, Bobby Vernon, Viora Daniel and Neal Burns. "One Stormy Knight," in which Dorothy Devorc is the star, has been virtually finished and is being assembled by Director Beaudine. The picture in which Neal Burns is featuring, "A Rambling Romeo," is progressing rapidly. The Bobby Vernon picture is entitled "Hokus Pokus" from a story by Frank R. Conklin, in which Vernon is assistant to a traveling magician. The fourth picture under way, " 'Twas Ever Thus," with Viora Daniel, was written by Robert Hall and is being directed by Al Christie. An optimist is the man who combs a few stray hairs across a bald head. — Miford Chronicle. * Optimist: A man who can make a mole hill out of a mountain of trouble. — Oklahoma News. * Optimists are expecting to soon get two full bites out of every two-bits. — Washington Times. * An optimist must be a man who puts entire confidence in the suspender buttons on his trousers. — "Topics of the Day" Films. An optimist is one who lets his wife buy his ties and tells her they are just what he wanted. — Vaudeville News. * An optimist is a man going up the river with a canoe, a bashful girl, a basket, a blanket and a couple of pillows. — Cranford Spark. * The optimist remarks, "The girls must have their little fun," as he drags those broken cigars out of his breast pocket. — "Topics of the Day" Films. * The champ optimist is a man who goes to the average banquet to get something to eat. — Winnipeg Free Press. * An optimist is a man who puts his hat in the alleged rack under the theatre-seat and expects it to stay there. — Nashville Tennessean. * Here's a definition of an optimist: A stranger who goes broke in Scotland, expecting to borrow his fare home. — Boston (Mass.) Record. * An optimist is that husband who believes his wife as good a cook as the dinner guests assert. — Westfield (N. J.) Leader. * It takes an optimist to rejoice in the fact that after a woman has tired of his kisses he can eat as many onions as he likes. — Duluth (Minn.) Herald.