Exhibitors Herald (1927)

August 20, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD 17 Declares New Y ork Ownership of Theatres Is Vital Problem Writer Says Initiative in Managers Is Killed Contends Business Is Not So Bad, But Home Office Executives Continue to ^^HowV* (Special to the Herald) ATLANTA, GA., Aug. 16. — Alien, or centralized, ownership of theatres always has been, and perhaps always will be, a subject for diversified opinion. Many contend that it is impracticable, while just as many contend that it is the most logical and economical system. Who’s right and who’s wrong has never yet been decided. Takes Pessimistic Viewpoint of Situation In a discussion of the subject a writer on motion pictures in the Atlanta Georgian takes a rather pessimistic viewpoint of the situation, inferring that executives in New York cannot, or do not, properly judge the motion picture entertainment requirements of a locality. Entertainment not desired by certain localities are foisted upon the patrons, irrespective of their demands, he indicates. Next Week THE SMALL TOWN AND PRESENTATION Paramount, Ufa and M-G-M End Parley to Join in Productions ( Special to the Herald) NEW YORK, Aug. 16. — Negotiations between representatives of Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation and MetroGoldwyn-Mayer on the one hand and Ufa of Berlin on the other, which have been going on for several weeks, have been concluded by a new agreement whereby the three companies will cooperate in film operations in Germany. Final formalities regarding special agreements will be attended to upon the return of the Ufa representatives to Berlin. Exhibitor Is Arrested on Charge of Fraud (Special to the Herald) KANSAS CITY, Aug. 16. — James B. Nicholas, manager of the Bonaventure theatre, suburban house of Kansas City, was^ arrested this week on a charge of obtaining money under false pretense. The charge was preferred by the American State Bank at Atchison, Kas., where Nicholas is accused of obtaining a loan of $10,000 from the bank as a result of making a false statement concerning the financial condition of a candy manufacturing business with which he was connected. Nicholas contends the statement to the bank was made by the company’s board of directors. Patterson Is Named Film Correction Head ( Special to the Herald) NEW YORK, Aug. 16. — Mayor Walker has appointed Richard C. Patterson, Jr., as Commissioner of Corrections to succeed Frederick Wallis, who resigned. Patterson is president of the Peacock^ Motion Picture Company of Shanghai, which distributes First National pictures in China. Publix Class “B” House Closes as an “A” Opens (Special to the Herald) HOUSTON, TEX., Aug. 16.— With the opening of the Kirby theatre, a Publix class “a” theatre in Houston, the Capitol theatre, a class “b” house was closed by Publix. Charles Brown Dies (Special to the Herald) VINCENNES, IND., Aug. 16. — Charles D. Brown, 36 years old, of the Pantheon theatre at Vincennes, Ind., died recently in a hospital there following an operation for ulcer of the stomach. He was ill only a few days. In this article, published under the title, “Alien Ownership Is Biggest Problem of Theatres,” Fuzzy Woodruff writes: “I have never encountered a satisfied theatrical manager. They are, by nature, bears on the market. They acquire a pessimism that is as lasting as the greenery of the pine tree. It stays with them until death. “If showers fall, so do their countenances. If the weather is dry, they see blasted crops and blasted hopes. If it is cold, they say that all the folks will be hugging the fires. If it is hot, they maintain stoutly that it’s too warm for anybody possibly to seek amusement. If it’s fine, they curse the golf courses and baseball fields. Finds Seats Filled “I made the rounds of every theatre in Atlanta last week. In every single theatre, I found the seats comfortably filled, and in two or three cases I discovered a sellout business. In not one single house was there a business being done that wouldn’t return dividends. “And, in every case, I found the manager of the theatre ready to give up the ghost, ready to summon the undertaker, ready to order the crepe, and ready to bellow his tale of woe on my receptive shoulder. “In every case, I endeavored to cheer up the manager by pointing out to him his large and enthusiastic patronage. Where the “Rub” Enters “In every case, they told me the same sad story. The patronage looked all right ; as a matter of fact, the patronage was all right. It was about all the manager could expect during this season of the year. “But — “New York was howling — “New York was sending a daily letter that the business should gross about twice what was being reported. “And. unless New York is satisfied, there’s hell to go to the captain with. “It’s the same old story that Ireland suffered under for so long. It’s the problem of an alien proprietorship of property. “Practically every theatre in Atlanta is owned and operated, not only by New York capital, but under direct orders from New York. “Goodness knows the theatre manager’s duties are heavy enough, for he has to make out more reports per day than a company clerk in the army, who is the most uselessly overworked creature in the world. There are battalions and regiments of efficiency experts, drawing big money in New York, who do nothing on the face of the good green earth except to sit down and think up different ways and means that the poor local manager may be deviled and badgered. I don’t blame them. They have to do something for their money. “The local manager has to send in these reports faithfully two or three times a day and they are filed by some seventh assistant office boy and replies written that the business doesn’t gross enough. Manager Is “Rubber Stamp” "IrT the meantime, the local manager is used as a rubber stamp. He has to play the pictures that are sent him. He has to play the stage attractions that are sent him. Even his musical policy is dictated from New York. Even the boy of the usher is regulated by some master of elegance in the far east. “The manager may be a man of infinite ideas and infinite energy. He can’t employ either in motion picture exhibition today. All that’s supplied for him along with form No. 14, Series X. “That’s the manager’s real woe. If New York sends him cinema or stage attraction entirely out of keeping with the spirit of his locality he simply has to grin and bear it. “If he should raise protest, New York would simply answer that the locality didn’t know what it was talking about and was ignorant and ought to be educated, for to New York there is but one viewpoint, and that’s the viewpoint of New York. “The best example that I have in mind was the plight of an Atlanta theatre that had to play about 40 successive weeks of adagio dancers and was as helpless as a baby, despite the fact that the management knew that the people had been stirred to a point of desperation whereby they had become dangerous. Gives His “Real Answer” “The real answer to New York’s constantly writing down that the business isn’t grossing enough is simply this — New {Continued on page 21)