Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1938)

9kdatettde*tt IXHIUIOM FILM BULLETIN A WARNING! CONTINUED FROM 1 RONT PAGE fewer pictures that do not require support to attract an adequate audience. And does that not lead us to the inescapable conclusion that fewer and fewer people are coming to America's movie houses for their entertainment! This is a black picture, indeed. What is to be done about it? The major film executives have had ample opportunity to understand what must be done, but they seem reluctant to take any steps to rectify the basic causes for this rotten condition. They fear to disturb the balance of power they have held all these years. Block booking is the vicious system that has lead to laxity, inefficiency, wastefulness and dissipation of talent in Hollywood. It has brought us the scourge of the "quickie." It has debased Hollywood's worthier ambitions by placing a premium upon mediocrity and removing the penalty for failure. It has substituted quantity for quality. Despite the frequent warnings of intervention in the industry by the Federal Government, the film leaders seem content to play their game out to the end. The initiative, then, must be taken by others. Our finger is pointing squarely at the independent theatre men of the country. These "retailers" of motion picture entertainment actually compose the trade's most powerful element, by virtue of numbers and by their relationship to the public. Theirs, finally, is the obligation to the theatre patron and they can ill afford to stand idly by while quickie after quickie flickers across their screens. The public will not accept Hollywood's substitute, quantity. There is no lack of independent leadership, for Allied is leading the way in a move which will restore the industry to a basis of sanity. This organization is aiming straight at the heart of the danger threatening the business in its battle to outlaw compulsory block booking. The Neely bill would reaffirm the exhibitors' intrinsic right to be the judge of what he wants on his screen. This would be as it should be. Nor would this system do the film producers any disservice. To the contrary, it would revivify film production. It would compel Hollywood to plan its work in advance and pour its abundant ability into each production. It would chase out those parasites who are content to drain off for themselves what immediate profit they can get, without a thought for the future of the industry. The independent exhibitors of America can rescue filmdom by getting into the front line trenches and fighting with Allied for passage of the Neely bill. The fate of the industry is at stake. The producers must be saved from their own folly! MO WAX. EXTRA! SENATE TO VOTE OX NEELY BILL THIS WEEK JUSTICE DEPT. PLANS ANTI-TRUST SUIT Washington, May 14. It was reliably reported here today that the proponents of the Neely bill to ban compulsory block booking won the consent of Senate Majority Leader Barkley for a vote on Tuesday or Wednesday. Barring any unforseen obstacle, this action would concur with the opening of the Allied States Association Convention in Pittsburgh. Approval of the vote by Senator Barkley eliminates the dangerous preliminary motion and vote to take up the bill. It greatly improves chances for quick passage by the upper body. Abram F. Myers, general counsel of Allied, was reported to have been in session with Barkley this week, although there was no confirmation of what they discussed. A well informed source also advised FILM BULLETIN that an anti-trust action against the Hays organization is being contemplated by the Department of Justice. This move, we were told, would be apart from the broad anti-monopoly program recently proposed by President Roosevelt in a speech. The members of the Justice Department are said to be investigating the most effective means and most favorable location for bringing the suit against the major film companies.