Exhibitors Herald World (Jul-Sep 1929)

124 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD July 6, 1929 THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY LETTERS FROM READERS "Hit the Nail on the Head" I HAVE JUST READ YOUR ARTICLE on "Sound Cost" and I will say that you have hit the nail directly on the head and told us something that all small exhibitors already know. However, albout the only solution and consolation you have given us is "that the cost of sound pictures must be recouped from the public," which is all very well as long as our public will stand for it. However, we do not have the public under any contract for their continued patronage such as binds us to film companies'. The exhibitors are solely in need of sdme salvation, some immediate solution. , That immediate solution should be given in the contracts about to be written for the 1929-30 product, at the same time an adjustment on the remaining product of the old contracts'. If the big boys would realize that this new venture has cost life savings to many small exhibitors, while many within my own territory have closed their doors. This is not a lecture — this is merely an appeal on the part of my fellow exhibitors who are all undergoing the same experience as I am myself. The big fault lies in the contract. Don't blame it all on to the machines; that is a problem that must be worked out by the exhibitor. I will say in closing that closed houses do not use many films. Your HeraldWorld is the life of the industry. I am sure that all exhibitors enjoy it and benefit by it. — E. E. Seff, State theatre, Holstein, Iowa. Talking — But No Sound ON THE EVENING OF JUNE 26TH AT the Englewood theatre, Chicago, it seems that the patrons were made to feel the shortage of silent prints. The feature picture being shown was "Love in The Desert" and the print was recorded by RCA Photophone with talking sequences at the beginning and finish of the picture. The best part of this was that this theatre is not wired for "talkies" and as soon as the picture started, no one was able to understand what it was all about because the screen characters were talking with no sound coming from their lips! The audience soon caught on to this and plainly showed their resentment to being made lip-readers, and many walked out. After about eleven minutes of this the picture started in its silent form. Reminded us of the early days, when titles were not used. Are they trying to force "talkies" on the unwired houses, or was the manager to blame? — J. V. Scholefield, jr., Chicago. P. S. Many thanks for the HeraldWorld plate. On the Booking System I NOTICED WHERE AN EXHIBITOR comments like this — as to "What The Picture Did For Me." He says : "I consider it my duty to report on every picture I play." Well, it does not cost him anything to report through the columns of the HeraldWorld, and this big publishing company also sends us postage-paid envelopes for our messages to come to them for publication. I have been pretty punctual along this line, sending mine in, and I do not know just how much it has helped my fellow exhibitors. But I do know that with all of us writing and saying good things about good pictures and bad things about bad pictures, it has not helped us to get any better booking system from the big producers. He has not changed his group bookings or his combination bookings— yet, as he will say, "Here is my lineup," which really means this: So many good ones and so many bad ones, but you must book them and all of them if you buy his pictures. So I may write through the Herald-World about how bad this picture was for me but that does not hinder from or help you in showing this picture. You have got it to play. I believe Exhibitors Herald-World is growing bigger and bigger each edition, and wiser and wiser from the information they get each week from almost every nook and corner of the globe, and they will soon be in a position to help straighten all the wrongs and fight for the right, both for the exhibitor and producer. I and my three sons have been in the theatre business for over ten years. It is a sideline for my sons, as they are employed by the I. C. railroad in the daytime, and we are at the theatre each night around 6:30 p. m. We love our showhouse and have added to it each year better and better things to make it a place of comfort and beauty. Also have the best talking system and the best cooling system, best heating system, lighting fixtures and the very best projection machines. Now in closing I am asking for only one thing and it is this, that the producers of talking pictures and music producers come to our response and give us a chance to make a few dollars for ourselves, as we small town exhibitors must have better prices on our programs, also on our music score. I do not believe there is an exhibitor throughout this whole world who would ever kick or grumble when he knows he is getting a fair and honest deal. Something is wrong and I am going to ask the HeraldWorld to give us a writeup that will bring the producers and the exhibitors of pictures on handshaking terms and work together so that both of us can have a little money left after the show is over. — Walter Odom & Sons, Dixie theatre, Durant, Miss. — General patronage. On Sound Costs GET IN, BOYS, AND GO BROKE WITH us wise guys. I have had my $10,000 sound equipment in for fourteen weeks and have only shown a loss of a little over $3,000. Last week was a good week ; I only lost $300. Have you seen the new prices on sound pictures for next year? They only want all you take in plus 10 per cent for coming after the money. — Steve Farrar, Orpheum theatre, Harrisburg, 111. Correcting Nick on Disc WE EXPERIENCED SOME TROUBLE with the discs on "Voice of the City" and since we were able to correct it, want to pass the information along. On three new discs, never had been used before, there was a small nick near the beginning which threw the needle out of the groove. This happened at our show at Malvern, Ark., and our operator, J. S. McReynolds, secured a magnifying glass, took a razor blade, set it in the groove ahead of the nick, dragged it along and forced the thread into place. Then he placed the record on disc, using an old needle, pressed the pickup arm down and dragged it through several times and had no trouble afterward. Just want to add that unless prices on talking pictures come down materially, we will have to return to silent pictures. There is very little difference in attendance between sound and silent. We have four houses wired. — D. E. Fitton, Ozark Theatres Corporation, Harrison, Ark. Future of Exhibitors CONCENTRATION BY ALL OF THE leading producers of motion pictures on the talkies— the detriment, I believe, of the silent productions, because less time and money are being expended on the latter— makes it a matter of guesswork largely as to what the future course of exhibitors not equipped for sound will be. Installation of worthwhile equipment costs all the way from about $1,500 for the cheaper (and perhaps dearer in the long run, because I have heard that a number of these machines have had to be discarded entirely) to close to $3,000, and if the operating booth has to be rebuilt or remodeled as is many times the case, maybe several hundred dollars more. When a fellow takes into account the extra cost of operating "with sound," it indeed becomes a problem, while for some of the smaller wired houses it has seemingly so far been a tragedy! The writer has no prejudice against sound pictures as such, and has enjoyed a number, such as "The Singing Fool," "The Jazz Singer," etc., but how many of this class are available, and on a let-live basis? In talking with a small town exhibitor the other day as to how he did on "The Broadway Melody," he admitted ruefully that he lost money, although he paid plenty for it and used it four nights. If pictures of this type — supposed to be the cream of the audiens — flop at the box office, just where can an exhibitor look to for the type of picture that will make not only a good profit with which to pay for that sound equipment installation (money for which does not grow on trees), but also leave him a little cash with which to buy beefsteak and perhaps liquidate numerous other obligations? Nebraska small town exhibitors in large numbers made frantic leaps for the sound band wagon early this spring, yet I am prone to inquire how many can hold onto it ? With the idea of trying to find out what it's all about, the writer attended the convention of exhibitors for Nebraska and Western Iowa at Omaha early in June. The principal talk was sound and the public's reaction to it, but I failed to hear a voice that was really satisfied with and optimistic toward the future of sound pictures. Some who have been playing sound pictures for months admitted they didn't do enough extra business to justify the terrific increase in cost of operations, particularly the sky-high cost of sound rentals and the oppressive score charges that are being exacted by a bunch of Shylock distributors ! How long can the average small town exhibitor continue to operate sound pictures at a loss, and like it? I just heard a report that a small theatre in central Nebraska has had to close — couldn't "make the grade" feeding 'em sound. On the other hand, I have heard of one or two who claimed to be making money — one especially in a railroad shop town, where there is a steady payroll, some of which reaches the theatre man's till — but none that I recall from a farming community, ranging in towns from 1,000 to 10,000 population. Just talked to the manager of a theatre in a town of the latter size who said he had been making a little money Saturdays and Sundays with the talkies, but "starved to death" the (Continued on page 130)