Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1950)

EDITOfilfl Vol. 18, No. 1 January 2, 1950 Page Five THINK IT OVER Conscience gets a lot of credit that belongs to cold feet. — Anon. BULLETIN flLM BULLETIN — An Independent Motion Picture Trade Paper published every other Monday by Film Bulletin Company. Mo Wax, Editor and Publisher. BUSINESS OFFICE: 75 West 45th St., New York, 19; Circle 6-9159. David A. Bader, Business Manager. PUBLICATION EDITUKKL OFFICES: 1239 Vine St., Philadelphia 7, Pa., Rlttenhouse 6-7424; Barney Stein, Managing Editor; Jack Taylor, Publication Manager; Robert Heath, Circulation Manager. HOLLYWOOD OFFICE: 659 Haver'ord Ave., Pacific Palisades, Calif., Hillside 8183; lay Allen, Hollywood Editor. Subscription Rate: INE YEAR, $3.00 In the United States; Canada, J4.00; Europe, $5.00. TWO YEARS, $5.00 In the Initcd States; Canada, $7.50; Europe, $9.00. THE CRYSTAL BALL The noiseless foot of Time skips along so fast. Here we are, turned into the second half of this most eventful 20th century, anno Domini, and it is time to pause for a look into the crystal hall to see what are the portents for the world's greatest entertainment industry in the year ahead. We see an industry, cleansed in the crucible of the courts, enjoying an era of greater harmony and unity than ever before. With some of the basic irritants removed, exhibitor and distributor will start learning to live together in peace and in happier prosperity. The fruits of divorcement will ripen and flourish in 1950. The studios of the Big Five, rid of the enervating influence of their own circuits* automatic bookings, will steady themselves to the task of turning out product that will stand on its merits. Look, too, for a revival of showmanship. Under the leadership of alert, aggressive film merchandisers like M-G-M's Howard Dietz, 20th Century's Charles Einfeld, and Paramount's Max Youngstein. the spirit of the industry will again become electric with the kind of ballyhoo that enkindles the enthusiasm of the ticket-buying public. Big campaigns like those on "Samson and Delilah." "Prince of Foxes" and "Battleground** will set the tempo in the year ahead. Other companies, sparked by the inspiration of these advertising leaders and by the necessity of coping with a more reluctant market, will be prodded to greater effort in showmanship, to the profit of themselves and their customers. With an independent exhibitor leader, A. F. Myers, finally and properly — at the helm of the industry campaign to abolish the unjust "wartime'* Federal excise tax on theatre admissions, there is promise of this happy event being realized. Mr. Myers' wide experience in legislative matters, backed by a unified industry, makes the prospect of favorable legislative action in 1950 bright indeed. There will be further executive upheavals in Universal-International as this company strives to shake off the doldrums inflicted by two years of product mediocrity. U-I's plan to sell new stars will fail, if they seek to rely on the exhibitors alone to create these new stellar personalities without ample exploitation aid from the company itself. Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures, who knows a thing or two about creating new stars, will brighten the movie heavens with at least one, possibly two, new headliners in the westerns field this year. The 1950 film production derby will be a three-studio race between M-G-M, 20th Century-Fox and Paramount. They will produce more pictures than at any time in the past ten years, and more good ones. Television will grow by leaps and hounds as production of T\ receivers soars to around half-million per month and coaxial cables link all sections ol the country. There are already signs that the novelty of video wears thin alter a few months in the home and the people resume going out in quest of their entertainment. But television will continue to he a threat to the box office and. to combat it, the movie people will wed it to exploit their own product bj extensive use of trailers. Theatre television is clouded b\ too main imponderables to make it a factor of importance in 1950. Bailing some unexpected downward sweep of the economic trend, this should he a year of Steady, il Unspectacular, business lor the motion picture theatres. To a greater degree than in the past decade, the success of the film companies and ol the individual exhibitors will depend upon the talent ami the zest with which they perform their jobs of attracting the public. MO \\ \\