Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1950)

( Itivuifit Sit o trnt it a s it tp Conference PDth-FDX CALLS SHOWMEN TD ARMS ! Skouras Urges 300 Theatremen Revive Old Showmanship Spirit SPEARHEADING WHAT MAY well develop into an industrywide drive to stimulate a revival of aggressive showmanship, 20th Century-Fox played host to some 300 of the nation's leading theatremen at a two-day Showmanship Conference in Chicago last Wednesday and Thursday. The impressive and successful conclave was keynoted at the outset by 20th-Fox president Spyros P. Skouras in a clarion call for a "renaissance of the showmanship spirit" that made the motion picture the world's greatest popular entertainment. He pointed to new competition for films and urged exhibitors to meet the challenge with "dynamic showmanship." Following addresses by company officials, the opening day's sessions were devoted to the presentation of a full-range program of film merchandising and theatre institutional advertising ideas by the 20th Century advertising-publicity-exploitation staff under the direction of their chief, vice-president Charles Einfeld. This was followed on Thursday by a provocative four-hour open forum conducted by the attending theatremen, with Mitchell Wolfson, Wometco Theatres, acting as moderator. A veritable tidal wave of constructive suggestions for improving business poured from the rostrum as veteran showmen stepped forward to express their views on what is ailing movie theatres and what might be done to revitalize public interest in movie-going. All speakers were •unanimous in their praise of the 20th Century-Fox organization for arranging the precedent-shattering Showmanship Conference. Vice-president Al Lichtman announced that his company would broaden and carry forward the program laid down in Chicago through similar regional meetings in every exchange center on March 21 or 23, the date in each territory to be at the discretion of the individual branch managers, who will conduct the meetings. The plan calls for invitations to such local meetings to be extended to theatre owners and their managers. CTANDING UNDER banners heralding the twin slogans: "1950 BUSINESS WILL BE GOOD FOR THOSE WHO MAKE IT GOOD!" (for the industry) and "MOVIES ARE BETTER THAN EVE:R!" (for the public) Spyros Skouras delivered an impassioned plea for "the highest courage, the boldest imagination and hard work" to cope with the problems the industry faces. He declared that during the war years when boxoffice returns were abnormal, "those methods of showmanship and those techniques which the exhibitors of the nation used to build up this great industry were put aside." Now, business has returned to normal, he said, but thai normalcy is faced with competition by olher forms of recreation. "As men who have generated a vogue that has spread around the world by building great palaces for the amusement of the millions — monuments to showmanship — you demonstrate by your presence here that you recognize the momentous purposes of this rally. T appeal to you today — to you exhibitors who have changed the ways of life, styles and habits of populations throughout the world, to begin here and now to create a renaissance of the showmanship spirit that has produced such miracles in the past." TN A SPEECH crammed with vital statistics, Lichtman stated that despite a 13 per cent increase in the national population in the last decade, a shift of millions from rural areas to cities, and a huge increase in the purchasing poten SKOURAS ON LARGE-SCREEN TV In closing the showmanship conference, Spyros Skouras made a strong plea for exhibitor support for his plans to develop large-screen television for theatres. The 20thFox president asserted that exhibition is in "a fight for survival" and that maximum showmanship must be exerted to preserve the movie medium in its present form, while, at the same time, exhibitors must consider the advantages of opening the broad vista of great "live shows" brought to their screens via TV. Skouras made the prediction that if large screen television becomes a reality, theatre grosses within five years will be greater by comparison to today's grosses, as 1950's receipts are to those of 30 years ago. SPYROS P. SKOURAS Showmanship Regenerated tial of the population, "boxoffice returns for the first two months of 1950 are about on a 1940 level, which brings ^us to the real question of 'how come?' " His answer: "This great industry of ours that produces and serves the best form of mass entertainment yet devised, is not keeping pace with the increase in population and the increase in the purchasing power of the people. "In too many cases we have lost the will to sell to the hilt, and thus the public has lost the will to buy our picture entertainment. "It is our considered opinion that the problem for the motion picture exhibitor today is to go to work with the same kind of vigor and ingenuity that he practiced in the early days of this business when he enjoyed the highest force of the will to sell the benefits of his theatre to the community, and thus create on the part of the public the will to buy motion picture entertainment." POINTING TO THE FACT that the average "A" picture draws a total audience of only 13 million people, Andy W. Smith, Jr., 20th Century-Fox vicepresident and general sales manager, declared that the industry's job is to sell (Continued on Next Page) MARCH 13, 1950