Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

€XHIBITORS fORUm Opinions Culled from Organization Bulletins ADVERTISING RIDDLE Allied Caravan of la., Neb. & Mid-Central In these gloomy clays when every fanner in the mid-west is working before sun-up until the lights run dim on the tractor, we wonder if we are kidding ourselves on this showmanship, advertising and "hot idea" stuff. When business is good we think we're cuter than hell with "original" advertising ideas and exploitation stunts. Then the cvcle changes — like it has in the mid-west in the past three weeks and you might as well pour your advertising money in a rat hole. Even the people with free passes quit coming. Might as well make up our minds that certain seasons are going to be stinko. It avoids disappointments. Factually, it's product first, last and always anyway. We all know about the big natural that the exhibitor didn't spend a dime in advertising that set house records. However, that is the exception and we can't stop advertising. It's just these seasonal slumps that it seems next to impossible to do anything about. (And I've only pot 1 TV set in my town — so don't say it's TV). (He can't get anything: on it.) Yowls have come in from every direction. It isn't local. We're all in the same boat and THIS TOO WILL PASS. Just don't get to thinking your people have it in for you, that product is no good, that it's the fault of any one thing. It's a combination and the cycle will turn up just like it turned down — I hope. We need a yardstick to measure the value of advertising. If it really does what it's supposed to do it would solve these seasonal slumps, but it doesn't exactly do it. How do you know WHEN it pays off? TV COMPETITION Allied of Indiana If your business was affected by the MacArthur celebrations or by the Kefauver Crime Hearings on TV it would be well for you to make a note in your Date Book now that the Republican National Convention opens in Chicago on Thursday, July 3. The Democratic Convention opens on July 21. Both of these proceedings will be televised and are likely to have a tremendous amount I of public interest. If you have any pictures available that you think might make a little money we suggest you avoid setting them in on these dates. NEWSPAPER FORUM North Central Allied North Central Allied's great convention and newspaper forum held here in Minne1 apolis was a huge success from every standpoint. In true showman style, we had to | put up the SRO sign for the Newspaper Forum luncheon and, at this time, I want to apologize to the seventy or so who were forced to eat luncheon elsewhere. A packed : house listened to Ted Mann's presidential t address, George Murphy's enlightening comI ments on Hollywood, Margaret Sheridan's charming remarks, Leon Bamberger's JUNE 16, 1952 masterly appeal for theatre-newspaper cooperation, and Claude Swanson's humorous remarks. The Newspaper Forum idea really caught on. To give you an idea of the success that it was and how you may make use of it in your town, we quote from a letter received from a woman ehxibitor in North Dakota: "I would like to express my appreciation of the editor's forum held in connection with our last meeting. I brought our editor's wife, who also assists with the newspaper, and she was very much impressed and also said she had not realized how important it was for newspapers and theatres to cooperate. They have offered to run weekly reviews on forthcoming features free and also to print mats of special features free, so, in our case, it really paid off. They also printed an editorial about the meeting." ADVANCED ADMISSIONS Allied of Eastern, Pa. At the annual meeting of stockholders of United Paramount Theatres, the president of the company, Leonard H. Goldenson, reported that advanced admission price pictures has increased the circuit's gross revenue during the first quarter of 1952, but that the higher film rental paid for these pictures reduced the net profit. According to Goldenson, that resulted in the road show bookings yielding less profit than average "A" pictures. Here is confirmation, from a dollars and cents standpoint, of the independent exhibitors' opposition to advanced admission price Pictures. Not only do these pictures yield the exhibitor less profit but they also result in resentment which keeps motion picture patrons away from theatres. The patron feels that prices are raised on the good pictures. Therefore, regular prices mean that an ordinary picture is being shown. Advanced admission price pictures are absolute poison for independent theatres. MONKEY BUSINESS Allied of Indiana The business doesn't change — let no exhibitor forget that. Recently RKO reissued "SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS" and demanded and got in many instances high percentage terms for the picture. Here was a picture the cost of which RKO had amortized a long time ago and upon which it had realized a terrific profit. Even though RKO knew full well that the boxofnce has been depressed greatly during the last year, they chose to hog the lion share and either insist on high percentage term.-, for SNOW WHITE or pass up the booking. Many smart exhibitors knew that if they let RKO get away with this one there would be others. Now you guess what we are getting at. Yes, RKO has another one they are demanding high percentage for. "KING KONG". This picture is definitely dated. The old timers will remember the shot in the picture of the ape on the Empire State Building with army planes whizzing amund it trying to shoot it down. Well, the plane! arc old 1920 bi planes in the shot. Of course. Fay Wray. the heroine of the picture, appears in the latest 1931 Paris creations. If you give RKO top terms for this one, then reconcile yourself to paying outrageous terms for reissues from not only RKO but also all other companies. Remember, we have more apes and aping in thi< business than at the /"•>. MALADY LINGERS ON ITO of Ohio Competitive bidding has brought about some greater evils that its inception was supposed to eliminate. This is largely due to the refusal of the distributors to reveal the bids after the awards. The Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio call upon the distributors to reveal all of the bids made on any picture on the demand of any bidder after the award of the picture in question. The motivation behind refusal of the distributors so to reveal the bids ran only be construed as for the purpose of concealing irregularities and discriminations in making awards. The Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio would also welcome cooperation by the distributors in an open award of bids; i.e., having all bidders present when bids are beinti opened and awarded. The practice of "telephone bidding" in which the exhibitor is asked to commit himself to a bid on the telephone without due reflection, is also condemned as an abuse of the entire bidding system. 'DE-LUXISM' DILEMMA Allied Caravan of la.. Neb. & Mid-Central Every time we go to a convention we hear some guy who probably never owned a theatre in his life, at least a small town, narrow margin operation, get up and tell us about fixing up our houses, put in new decorations, put in these new lamps, machines, lenses, chairs or carpet. Out here we're made up mostly of No. 1 and 1A towns. — That means towns grossing $500 per week or less — and a lot of them are in that less class. Sure we've got to keep clean, courteous, neat, painted up, and create the atmosphere. We've got to have concessions, good product and film rentals that will allow us to raise our families too. The point to where you can go in bringing Broadway DeLuxe houses to Main Street is a decision for every operator to make for himself. If it really takes all the things some of the expounders of de-luxism say it takes to improve business in small towns then this industry is rapidly approaching the point of the big animal that had to eat itself up to keep from starving to death. A lot of small theatres could do a lot more fixing up if they could buy film for 20% instead of getting the gouge. And we don't mean percentage buying. We mean film rentals over the years period bought on flat rental and not over 20% of gross. 17