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

February 20, 192b Page 17 Parlez-vous Francais? The Continental Countries Are Full of Golden Opportunities For Americans Who Speak Their Language By ABRAHAM BERNSTEIN PUBLICITY and exploitation men in the motion picture industry of the United States rate the highest in the world. An American exploiter .goes abroad and is literally swept off his feet with the eager welcome and cooperation extended him by foreign •exhibitors. "What, an American motion picture man has arrived ! What good fortune ! Now, he will show us how to create larger attendance at our theatres. He knows how, for, are not American movies the best in the world, and do not more people in America go to the cinema than in any part of the world ? Voila — ! ! ! and Donner Blitzen ! ! ! We must have his help at once. He will show us the way." Until now, that has been the experience of American publicists and exploiteers abroad, and rightly so. Two things have developed in recent years which promise to widen the usefulness of, and resultant profit to exploiteers, publicists and specialists, abroad, and will the same exploiteers take advantage of these opportunities ? They will, if they brush up on their foreign languages and customs of Europe, Asia and South America. One of these developments which statistics from every quarter confirm has been the practical swamping of foreign markets with American productions. Mention any country you choose, and with few exceptions you will find local sympathy and support preponderantly for American motion pictures and American stars. Self-protective measures may be and are being taken by foreign governments to prevent, first, the inadequacy of homeland production and exhibition, and second, the inevitable internationalization which follows in the wake of motion pictures. But, they cannot stifle the taste of their citizenry for the most entertaining, the most instructive, and finest motion pictures, the proud development •of America. The second development and one of recent origin is the entrance of American producers and distributors into the foreign theatre field. Ask any one of these men, Marcus Loew, Elek J. Ludvigh, J. J. McCarthy, Voila, and Donner Blitzen! Do you know a foreign language? Can you talk French? German? Itaian? Do you want a good job? The Industry abroad is calling. Will you answer? Nathan Mannheimer, Eugene Zukor, Arthur Loew, Harold B. Franklin, Roxy, or anyone else who has studied foreign theatres, and they will tell you that those theatres are 50 years behind the plane, found reflected today in the American theatre. STILL IIS THE DARK MOTION picture houses in France, Germany, Italy, India, China, South America, are still in the dark ages of the marionette show, as far as lighting, musical and stage presentation, advertising, exploitation, and house management are concerned. What has all this to do with the advertising man, the exploiteer, the house manager, and the American stage director? It has this to do. American motion pictures have developed a liking and a taste in the hearts and souls of foreign peoples. They have brought to them, a vision of a golden land ; they have inculcated a newer taste for American clothes, customs, and fashions, which are enticing and desirable to the submerged, stifled and strike-weary fellow human beings, and once having started, we are expected to, and we must go on and on, satisfying this urge for entertainment and light-hearted surcease from a troubled world. It is up to the American skilled craftsman to impart the benefit of his specialized knowledge to the day of newer and better theatres, and motion pictures abroad. With their help and guidance, American producers and distributors can keep pace with the demand for American methods. The field is there; the opportunity is there; and the world is calling to him, but he must be well equipped, more than ever before, to make himself understood and to make others understand. Otherwise, his task will be a hard one. A publicity friend of the writer has been thinking constantly of brushing up on his German, his French or his Spanish, or even the Russian languages. And he will begin the first of the year. There are several good things he is considering, which, when his proficiency to cope with the intricacies of Parlez-vous, Habla Usted Espanol and Sprechen Sie Deutsch will have been perfected, which will place him in a position of the utmost usefulness. Then such proposals may become effective. As a matter of fact, almost every one of the host of really worthwhile American publicists and specialists, like Horace Judge, James V. Bryson, Erno Rappe, Frank Tours, Ben Blumenthal, Paul Perez, and others have tested the possibilities of pioneer work abroad, and have found them lucrative as well as fascinating. With the increase in advertising and exploitation plans, and appropriations which such companies as Universal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Famous Players-L a s k y, Prod. Dist. Corp., C. B. C, and others are planning for activities abroad there is bound to be a hurry-up call for the man who can step into some mighty fine jobs in England, France, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. Many of us already possess the knowledge and experience which will be in demand. It might not prove to be untimely advice to exploiteers, if I say, now is the time to study a foreign language.