Exhibitor's Trade Review (Nov 1925 - Feb 1926)

Page 88 "We'll Make Them Bigger" Jesse Lasky Sounds a Significant Keynote for the 1926 Paramount By JESSE L. LASKY The year 1926 can mean only one thing to the motion picture business — that is, bigger and better productions than this business has ever seen before. Every year has seen an improvement in the quality of the pictures shown to the public. This year now closing has been no exception. A number of truly wonderful productions have been released and the acclaim which has greeted them JESSE LASKY Vice-President Famous Players-Lasky Corp. proves better than anything else that the public will support the very best we can offer. However, pictures must contain showmanship and must be made by showmen if the exhibitors are. to get the greatest possible return out of them. With that thought in mind we have formed this policy for the coming year: The pictures which Paramount will release in the Spring and Summer of 1926 will equal, if not surpass, in box-office value any group of pictures ever released for any season in the history of the business. By that I mean, that we have thrown overboard the old idea that revenue at the box-office is controlled by the season of the year. We have wiped out all seasonal lines. We believe that business in the Spring and Summer can be — should be — just as good as in the Fall and Winter. However, we realize that Spring and Summer business cannot be brought up to the level of Fall and Winter unless the exhibitor has attractions in the Spring and Summer that are just as good as those for colder weather. Therefore, we have gone to unusual expense and effort to insure that our Spring product will be up to the highest standards of Fall and Winter entertainment. The second part of our policv involves our productions for next year. It is a little early to discuss our plans in detail, but for next season our production schedule calls for a series of the biggest pictures than this company has ever made. Several of these pictures will be of roadshow caliber; all of them will be of outstanding quality, because the day of the program picture has gone forever. SIGNS OF PROSPERITY By SAMUEL ZIERLER President, Commonwealth Film Corp. The most important sign of prosperity is evidenced by the unprecedented amount of theatre-building which has, been going on all over the country. This is a reflection of the public's appetite for motion picture entertainment. The fruits of this building will be realized in increased business during 1926. The many new outlets will bring more equable conditions than have existed during 1925; producers and distributors will get their deserved share of the prosperity which has existed this year and which will be even better next year. There has been a great deal of discussion on the subject of Independence; too much, in my opinion, for the good of the industry. In one regard, however, it has served a good purpose, because it has awakened Exhibitors generally to give thought to the source as well as the quaiity of their supply and they have learned that the socalled Independent product is as worthy of their patronage as that of the so-called old-line companies; that they can exercise their individual preference at all limes without fear of being caught short for good pictures. Too Many Weak Sisters in 1925 THE PROMISE OF 1926 By W. RAY JOHNSTON President Rayart Pictures Ninf teen-Twenty-Six should promise much, inasmuch as 1925 gave us so little. In my humble opinion, arid the opinion of the greater number of persons with whom I have discussed the situation, 1925 gave to the industry more "weak sisters" than in many years past. The programs of all the bigger companies by whose product the standard is more or less judged showed a material decrease in quality standing over the previous years. This, to me, means that 1926 should be at least a bit brighter and better year from the fan's viewpoint at least, as it seems a certainty that the lesson learned by the producers this year should result in a material improvement the coming year. As regards the independent pictures, speaking for my own company, we surpassed all our expectations for the year by 20 per cent, which in itself speaks well for the future of the independent market. The foreign market looks good. Exhibitors Trade Review Dr. W. E. SHALLENBERGER Pres. Arrow Pictures Corp. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 1925 By W. E. SHALLENBERGER Pres., Arrow Pictures Corp. 1925 was particularly significant in that it saw the carefully laid plans of certain organizations which strove to obtain complete control of the motion picture industry spiked, once and — it's to be hoped — for all time. It was demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that this business of ours is too tremendous a thing — too great a force for good — too vast in its potential possibilities for education and uplift — too close to the great heart of the American people — to be controlled by one man or one group of men. It was significant, too, that the tremendous changes which were brought about — and which were indicative of still greater changes to come — were occasioned by the pictures themselves. The product of the so-called Independent market was of such a superlatively — and consistently — excellent quality as to result in the establishment of new standards. It is these standards which will determine the outcome in the months which lie ahead. 1926 will see the picture come into its own, definitely and decisively. It will see those organizations which are sincerely striving to bring quality to the screen, reaping the rewards which quality merits, while the others — those who surround themselves with an atmosphere of mediocrity — may expect proportionate returns. I look for the "Open Road" to come definitely into existence — a road along which worthy productions, regardless of their source, will travel to a deserved success. I look for a more perfect understanding between the exchangeman and the exhibitor. And last, but not least, what with our brilliant aggregation of players and amazingly strong group of pictures — plus the redoubtable "Red" Grange, than whom there is no more discussed personality in the world today — I look for the most triumphant year in the history of Arrow Pictures Corporation.