Exhibitors Herald (1927)

October 22, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD 17 Says 6 Points Are Useful As Wedge By WILL WHITMORE JACKSON, MICH., Oct. 18.— Although the Trade Practice conference “accomplished very little,” it did afford exhibitors an excellent opportunity to present their side of the case and their grievances against block booking, H. M. Richey, business manager, said today just before the opening of the annual meeting of the M. P. T. O. of Michigan, at the Hayes hotel. “The six points, although exhibitors did not present them as a resolution, because the exhibitors were afraid it would jeopardize their position, have the one advantage of being a wedge with which to force more advantages in the future,” Richey declared. “This is the only advantage gained by the six points for exhibitors. “I am quite satisfied with the committee of six, composed of three producer members and three exhibitor members who were appointed to draw up a new uniform contract. / was unanimously elected secretary of this committee. In case the committee fails to agree on a new contract, a seventh member will be appointed by the supreme court. This arrangement is perfectly satisfactory to me.” James C. Ritter of Detroit declared : “To me the conference was very disappointing. The antagonism of each side thwarted all chances for solutions of block booking being made. Both the exhibitors and producers were animated with the one desire to air their grievances rather than offer solutions to the problems of block booking. The Federal Trade Commission as represented by A'bram Myers showed definitely that block booking is out. Myers would let neither side present their grievances. He told them that the conference had been called for the one purpose of arriving at a solution of unfair trade practices. Praises Myers’ Work “I want to express my admiration for the way Myers conducted the conference. He has a thorough knowledge of the industry and conducted the conference with remarkable competence. The producers showed they have a great fear of federal regulation of trade practices. In regard to federal censorship of pictures as suggested by an editorial by William Randolph Hearst, I am afraid it would prove unsatisfactory. However, I believe a federal censorship would 'be preferable to state censor boards.” No action on the conference is expected to be taken by the convention. A great golf tournament marked the opening day. Sixty members participated with Alex Shrei'ber, Detroit ; C. E. Kendrick, Port Huron and T. D. Williams, Detroit, among the winners. 350 Theatres Represented Three hundred fifty theatres are represented at the convention with 192 delegates present. Representatives are here from the Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania Associations. The Michigan Association added $13,000 to its surplus fund this year which indicates the strength of the organization. H. T. Hall of Detroit is being mentioned prominently for next year’s president. The Trade Practice Conference THE Trade Practice Conference, called by the Federal Trade Commission and presided over by an official of that body, ended in New York last Saturday with little or nothing in the way of accomplishment to record. It is true, that as far as Washington is concerned the matter is not closed. In fact, the conference may lead eventually to far greater interference from government trade authorities than anyone contemplated at the outset of the meeting. The main issue before the conference was thought to be the question of Block Booking. But it developed that this question was really not before the conference at all; and that the Federal Trade Commission, as represented by one of the members of that body, considers Block Booking a closed issue. The chief practical development of the meeting was the agreement arrived at under which distributors are to offer a new form of the film rental contract. A second development came in a statement of Mr. J. Robert Rubin, who acted as chairman of the distributors’ conference committee, in which are recited “six points” which were offered as an “expression of future policy.” Point One recites that Block Booking will not be used for an illegal purpose. Point Two is quite extraordinary. It is as follows: “No distributor will require as a condition of permitting an exhibitor to lease its pictures that such exhibitor shall also lease pictures of another distributor.” This clause will be peered at very intently when it reaches official Washington. It will undoubtedly excite considerable wonderment on the point of what kind of a business the film business must be in which there arrived an occasion for the making of such a statement of policy. Point Three is intended to relieve an exhibitor from the necessity of running any particular picture which affords grounds for racial or religious objection, provided he can get the local board of arbitration to sustain him in his position. Point Four would enable an exhibitor to reject not in excess of 10 per cent of the pictures purchased in a block through the payment of one-half of the allocated price of the pictures. An added feature of this point would be that in event of a resale of the pictures the original purchaser would be credited with one-half of the resale prices. Point Five simply excludes the grouping of reissues in blocks with new pictures. Point Six is definite and has a practical application. It provides against the inclusion of short subject and news reels in blocks with features. The conference revealed a distinctly divided industry, with producers, distributors and theatre circuit organizations meeting on but very little common ground with independent theatre owners. No conclusive agreements were reached on any of the important moot questions facing the industry. The question of the public’s interests in the trade practices of the industry came in for a certain amount of cursory attention at various times throughout the meeting. If the trade conference, just ended, is to have any practical effect or lasting influence upon conditions in the industry it will only be through subsequent action by the government, and not as the result of what actually took place during the discussions. In fact, the primary purpose of the conference was to provide the Federal Trade Commission with sufficient current information to enable it to draft a code of ethics which shaU be the guiding rule of the industry. Because of the sharp differences of opinion among spokesmen for the various branches of the business the commissioners are facing a difficult task and it will not be surprising if various of their findings are sensational in their possible effect upon the future and the fortunes of the industry. — MARTIN J. QUIGLEY.