Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

EXHIBITORS FORUm Opinions Culled from Organization Bulletins DOWN-BEAT TALK ITO of Ohio It is a tenet of our industry that people like to go to the popular entertainment. Crowds follow crowds. If the public gets the impression that a particular theatre or a particular picture is attracting crowds, they'll try even harder to get in. I'm only a little cog in a big wheel myself, but I make it a point when talking to the public to try to impress them with the fact that movie-going is still a popular pasttime and that millions of people are going every week, that there is a trend back to the movies, etc. Now comes Eric Johnston, who is regarded by many people outside of our industry as the spokesman for it, at a press conference. According to Film BULLETIN, Mr. Johnston summarily stated: "(a) a box office recession is in progress; (b) he cannot pinpoint the causes; (c) it is unlikely that business will ever return to the level of 19461948; (d) the industry, like Great Britain, would somehow muddle through. Needless to say, the lay press, much of it hip-deep in TV investments, wasted little time dispatching Mr. Johnston's grayish impressions to the world." CONDITIONS IN NEW ENGLAND By Samuel Goldstein President, Western Mass. Theatres, Inc. Can the big producers see the writing on the wall, or do they expect to go out of business or stay in business? The big producers are making fewer pictures— some good and some not so good. Take into consideration what has happened the last two years. The smaller producers have gone ahead and have kept their picture releases intact. Some are releasing more pictures, and the foreign pictures are getting more playing time. The big producers have cut their productions and are not giving the exhibitors the pictures they need. I remember a few years back when a producer would sell you 50 pictures and tie up your playing time, and certain other producers would be left out on a limb. They talk about television. Television last year spent approximately $300,000,000 in producing pictures. Don't the big producers realize if they put the exhibitors out of business and release their pictures through television, and if every producer offers their pictures to television, then it will be a buyers' market and the product will have only one outlet. The producers ought to wake up and keep the theatres going if they want to stay in business. You may make a a.uick dollar now and then, but eventually you will suffer. I predict this as I have been in the business since movies were run in a basket and I know. No one producer can produce 12 or 18 pictures and have every one of them a success. A certain producer released three pictures in three months and one was the biggest flop we have ever put in a theatre. Every producer makes an outstanding picture now and then, but no one producer can make outstanding pictures 100%. I see the writing on the wall right now, unless you the producer, wakes up. I predicted Pearl Harbor in 1939-1940, and I am predicting the above will happen to the producers with their big overhead, if they don't deliver more pictures. Think it over! It isn't that the 10% tax that the various organizations are working on to be eliminated— it is just that the theatres need more pictures in order to keep operating. We can always pay the 10% tax if we have good shows. BLIND CHECKERS ITO of Ohio Checking is being done again on flat rental pictures, too. In one fairly small town last week, a suspicious character was picked up by the police for hanging around in front of the theatre and waving bills at teenagers. The police found no identification on the man and just a little money and some tickets to the theatre. Hence, the police called the theatre. The manager very properly told the police he knew nothing about the man. If you see a suspicious character, tell your local police. Such actions would be regarded with suspicion by anyone. If they want to check, they have the right to do so openly and by inspection of your books. If they don't choose to use either of these methods, they must take the risks entailed. INSTITUTIONAL ADVERTISING ITO of Ohio Allied of Iowa-Nebraska sends us the following hand bill, distributed in his community by the exhibitor at Story City, Iowa. How long has it been since you last saw a good movie? Are you familiar with VistaVision and CinemaScope? Did the Audience Participation Awards agree with your choice? Have you recognized the better movies TV programs are recommending? Have you made it a point to take your family to see these recommended movies? Has television completed its adjustment in your home yet? Only you, the public, can possibly know the answers to the above questions. We, here at the Story Theatre, are striving diligently to supply the community with the very best in recommended motion pictures as soon as they are released and become available for booking in our theatres. It has not been easy to combat our keenest competitor, television; but after careful and prolonged observation of this new and wonderful medium of communication, we can come to only one conclusion: those who have sacrificed movies for a steady diet of television entertainment are really missing something they don't realize. Take your family to a movie soon at the Story Theatre. We know you will be thoroughly entertained and will enjoy your evening out. Not only will it help the Story Theatre management in keeping the high calibre of good pictures coming, such as we have had in the past, but you will be awakened to the fact that new, modern movies are really not dead at all, but very good and very much a part of your life, as much as your cup of coffee in the morning. Please accept this message as a warm and heartfelt invitation to come on back to the movies! We do not intend to infer that you give up television, as that would as ridiculous as to ask our public to quit eating. But don't forget your local Story Theatre and what it means to the community and what it means to you! Movies are good, your family is entitled to see them with you, and we at the Story Theatre recommend you pay us a visit and we will try our utmost to please you. Refer to our calendars, newspaper ads and window cards distributed throughout the area, for a program of your choice. Get out and go — to a movie! We know you won't be sorry. IS FOX DELIVERING? North Central Allied Those who were at the Chicago convention will recall that Spyros Skouras told the delegates again that Fox would sell flat to any account grossing $1,000 a week or less. Despite the previous statements, there were many cries of "no" from the floor when Skouras asked if that was not in effect, so he turned to William C. Gehring, general sales manager of the company, and asked if it weren't being done. Then he added that if anyone in this category were not being sold flat, to contact him personally. So, if you are grossing $1,000 a week or less and Fox refuses to sell you flat rentals on a fair and equitable basis, either get in touch with Spyros Skouras or advise this office. We really believe that Skouras and Gehring are sincere in this. They have proved themselves to be so in other matters, so if you are not getting the deal they say you should be getting, let us know. BRITISH PICTURES ITO of Ohio The J. Arthur Rank Organization took a full page ad in the New York Times recently to complain to the general public about American motion picture exhibitors. Headlined, "Four famous British movies millions of Americans will never see," the ad concluded, "We are seeking only the opportunity to entertain you and to let you be the judge of whether or not we succeed . . . You, the movie-goer, must decide if we are tc have that chance by telling your local exhibitor that you want to see the best in British movies at your local cinema". On behalf of Ohio exhibitors, we take this opportunity to advise the Rank organization that they will play any picture that makes money. Page 28 Film BULLETIN February 4, 195*