Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

November 15, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 27 Tax Peril Demands United Front: Petti John Says Zoning Will Rid Exhibitors of 14 Months Waiting Ridicules Horwitz s Claim That Myers Backed Him in State Censorship Plea By CHARLES S. AARONSON PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 13.— If 5 per cent of the taxation legislation due to come up before 44 state legislatures, after the first of January, is passed, the motion picture industry "might as well kiss itself goodby," C. C. Pettijohn, general counsel of the M. P. P. D. A., told the opening session of the eleventh annual convention of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America. vital need of taxation necessary institutional the motion picture in C. C. Pollijohn With most states in revenue by reason of appropriations, he said, dustry has been brought to the attention of legislators by the "foolishly paraded dollar sign" and the flaunting of large figures for salaries and productions in press and advertising. The conversion from silent to sound and talking pictures has cost the industry in the neighborhood of $500,000,000, _ according to Pettijohn, and the amortization of that tremendous sum will require from 10 years to 30 years in the case of some companies. The change, however, was a vitally important stimulus to the industry at a time when it needed it most, serving to save it from a worse situation than that in which it finds itself at present. "In January, February and March of 1931," stated Pettijohn, "the industry will face a situation unprecedented in its history, and optimism must be put out of mind until the spring." The industry will not live, in his opinion, if it is forced to pay in taxation a sum which in all likelihood would amount to $360,000,000 a year throughout the country. There has never been a time in the history of the industry when it was more necessary for producer, distributor and theatre owner to stand shoulder to shoulder in a united front in an effort to cope with the serious situation now facing the motion picture business. "The time has come," Pettijohn declared, "when the fellows who want to tear down have got to be put on the spot where they belong. This business is not a racket!" The answer is to make good pictures which can be played at a reasonable profit to the producer and exhibitor, and, in the opinion of the speaker, it can be done. On the subject of zoning, he expressed the belief that there are only three important points which cover the situation thoroughly : first, pictures ; second, theatres ; and third, On Credentials and Resolutions Groups (Special to the Herald-World) PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 13.— The credentials committee consisted of R. X. Williams, Jr., Jay Emanuel, Charles Williams, Edward Fay and William Benton. On the resolutions committee were Bill Dillon, Mike O'Toole, Joe Hewitt, Willard Patterson and Lewen Pizor. play dates. The average exhibitor is interested in knowing what pictures he can get, how much he must pay for them, and when he can expect to show them. Points to Varying Condition As for the first of these problems, he held that it is merely a matter of the number of companies producing and the number of pictures they make following closely the economic law of supply and demand. Price always will be a case of bargain and sale in purchase in much the same manner as in the sale of any commodity, he said. Much can be done on the subject of play dates and both the sincerity and motives behind many of the numerous attempts to attack this serious problem have been questioned, stated Pettijohn. There are in the United States 32 zones in which different conditions exist, he said, with a number of examples of unfair protection and unfair advantage by those in whose hands lies the greatest buying power. He himself, he said, found several places in the United States where small exhibitors were forced to wait 14, 15 and 16 months for pictures after they had closed their first runs. "It is possible in this business," said Pettijohn, "for films to get to the most modest theatre in the country within a period not to exceed seven months." There is a big advantage to both the public and the exhibitor in early showing of features, he continued, and there is no reason for any exhibitor waiting one year or more for his pictures. He stressed the point in this connection that the industry cannot stand still, and expressed the belief that every territory in the country will be zoned with the eventual result that there will be no spot in the United States where an exhibitor will have to wait 14 to 16 months. Pettijohn reviewed the situation in Houston, Tex., in which William Horwitz insists, according to the speaker, in playing pictures 40 days ahead of any other exhibitor in Houston at a 5 and 15 cent admission. The exhibitors of the city were justified in the objection they raised, he said, but Horwitz became president of the allied exhibitors organization of Texas and immediately released a newspaper advertising campaign in which he accused producers of putting out obscene pictures and called for state censorship. (These advertisements are reproduced on page 37.) This, according tc the speaker, was a move on the part of Horwitz countering his rebuff in an attempt to gain unfair protection. • Horwitz had claimed that Abram F. Myers, president of Allied, had backed his statement on the necessity of censorship. Pettijohn said, in this connection, "I cannot conceive that Myers ever made such a statement." Censorship, he continued, is ten times more serious since the advent of the talking picture, by reason of the sound-onfilm method, than it ever was in the case of the old silent. Censorship, in Pettijohn's opinion, must be avoided at all costs, and the necessity has arisen for censorship from within the industry rather than from without. Film Trade United In Prosperity Drive Hays Tells M P T O A Responsible Members Working Together for Solution of Common Problems, He Says (Special to the Herald-World) PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 13.— An industry better able than ever to aid business toward a restoration of public conference and prosperity, was the way Will H. Hays characterized the motion picture industry in a letter to the M P T O A convention. Unable to attend the convention, Hays sent the following message to President M. A. Ligbtman : "Dear Mr. Lightman : It is with sincere regret I must inform you that I now find it impossible to accept your kind invitation to attend the annual convention in Philadelphia of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America, November 10-12. Try as I would, I could find no way of deferring a business trip to the Coast during that period. However, I would like to deliver, through you, a brief message of greeting to the members of your organization. In Best Position to Help "The motion picture industry of the United States, I believe, has. never been in better position to contribute by its own soundness to the restoration of public confidence and of national prosperity. Today, perhaps more than ever before, the responsible members of the industry, and all the branches of its service to the public, are working shoulder to shoulder in the solution of common problems. Product, distribution, and service are marching in close step. "By the progress made in developing the entertainment, artistic, and informative values of the screen, the industry is creating the basis of a new prosperity. It is a tribute — a great tribute — both to those who show pictures and those who make them, that we are continuing a step ahead in the character of our screen productions. Only in that direction lies the largest measure of self-service ; it is only by this means that motion pictures can contribute most to the life of this age. An art that lives for the day spreads the seeds of its own decadence. An art that ceases to move forward is as good as dead. Growth Based on Social Aims "Every time that the industry produces a better picture it is laying the foundation for a broader public appeal. Every time that an exhibitor shows a better picture, he is ensuring the permanence of his success. For the true measure of success is not necessarily your gross this week or next week, but where are you going to be two years, or three years, or five years from now? "To me the future growth of the industry is inseparably joined to the constructive recognition of its social responsibilities. Few organizations have shown more increasing evidence of this spirit than the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America. I congratulate your organization on its achievements and I extend to you and your membership my cordial best wishes. Sincerely yours. Will H. Hays."