The Film Spectator (Mar-Dec 1928)

Page Twenty-two you are on the pay-roll of any concern the Labor Commission is apt to take an interest in your affairs. In order to avoid any embarrassing investigations the "Petty Cash Basis" of payment was invented by some fertile mind. By working for Universal on this basis you are paid now and then— every three or four weeks, or months, as the mood happens to strike them — by certain private individuals, in petty cash. This means getting five, ten or fifteen dollars every so often. But always in front of your eyes hangs the dazzling promise of a job on the pay-roll — sometime, if, of course, your work done under the petty cash system proves satisfactory. But it almost never does prove satisfactory! Pretty soon you find yourself sidetracked with some stenographic job that lies far from the scenario department. And sometimes when you find yourself out of the petty-cashand-promises position there is not even a stenographic job awaiting you. But the Universal scenario department keeps all the ideas, the treatments, the suggestions that you have made. Try to find out by blunt or adroit questioning just who invented this sys THE FILM SPECTATOR tern. They "pass the buck" with skilled hands — you can't find out! But Frank Beresford does the hiring, I understand, under this new system and it is he who generally hands out the petty cash. I am sure that he does not pay these people out of his own pocket — he couldn't afford to. He is merely a go-between. Where then does this "petty cash" come from? Mr. Montaigne is the official head of the scenario department at Universal and it seems most peculiar to me that a man of his standing, ability and power should permit such a coniition to exist in his department. If the ideas submitted by the petty cash victims do not reach his desk surely they reach the desks of his right and left hand men, Mr. Logue and Mr. Poland. If Mr. Logue and Mr. Poland are attending to their business they must read these synopses and suggestions, see the new names and ask questions. Is it possible that the staff writers at Universal are "written out" and must use the ideas of under-paid and rarely-paid individuals to further their own careers ? Or is it possible that the new ideas submitted are not credited at all — if so, why not? Educating the Film Salesman By ROBERT N. LEE FEW pictures and better ones, is the cry of the public to-day. That oft repeated statement that the public wants inferior pictures and is to blame for a poor product, should promptly be exploded. On the contrary, the public wants new things and is aware of new things. Consequently it has progressed beyond the film salesman and the exhibitor. In the history of picture-making the public never has turned down one good picture. One can cite numerous instances of the public acclaiming a film considered "doubtful". There was the case of The Miracle Man, by that gifted man, George Loane Tucker. This picture knocked around Broadway and no one could see it. It looked as if it would never get a release. The religious theme was something new and that immediately damned it, according to the salesman's angle. After it had been hawked here and there, finally, through much imploring, Paramount was won over and bought it. From the minute it was flashed on the screen, it was a success and netted a fortune. This picture made history and is still spoken of in the industry. It made Chaney, Tom Meighan and Betty Bronson. So vital is the theme that it is only a question of time when it will be done again. Although there was much advance publicity, "Tol'able David" was another "doubtful" film. Phis, too, won immediate favor and put on the film map Richard Barthelmess and Ernest Torrence. Because it was a novelty, Nanook of the North ivas looked upon dubiously by the salesman. To the public it was a classic and the money poured into the box-oflSce. More recently Stark Love made a tremendous "hit". This was sold not because of its artistic worth — not a hint of this went into the sales talk — but because of the cheap production cost. The salesman pointed out to the exhibitor that since he would have to pay so little for it the per centage of profit would be high. So despite inferior selling talk, this picture reached the public and is among the most talked of films of the day. Poor salesmanship is the stumbling block that interferes to-day with the putting forth of those new things which the public wants. The film salesman has certain ideas about pictures that amount to obsessions. He judges entirely from the past instead of anticipating the future. If a set costs $40,000 he can talk about it. His embarrassment was great when he couldn't discuss the production values of Stark Love because they were nil. He has shied off from unhappy endings. He has been lukewarm over pictures of fine characterization such as The Last Laugh. He couldn't see that the public would be interested in an aged man. This picture made little money because the film salesman wouldn't stand behind it. Now that Jannings is established in the consciousness of the public as one of the world's great actors, together with the advance exploitation on The Way of All Flesh, that included the production costs of the film, the salesman's task was not difficult. Jannings is sold to the public! April 14, 1928 Pictures have not been sold on their individual merit. The salesman has dealt with the obvious. He thinks he knows what the public wants. He believes it likes jazz. Films can't all have cafe sets, but he can't see why they don't when it is so easy for the scenarist and director to do what they want with a picture! Picture values and the logic of a situation mean little to him. "To hit 'em in the eye" is a fetish with him. Now that the block system is going, he will have to know pictures intelligently and to sell them accordingly. He should keep his hand on the pulse of intelligent criticism. Take the case of Chang, hailed by the critics as a clean-up, and prior to that Grass, and other pictures of novel nature, he should have been able to anticipate their success with the furore caused by Nanook, fresh in his memory. He should be wary of the bromidic and should take his cue from the mental attitude of careful critics that new ideas are not a risk, but a boon for a jaded public weary of the same way of doing things. He should learn to boost the things the public ,' likes and insists on having. All over the country, in cities and small towns is the demand for the new and better things. The salesman has plenty to talk about if he will consent to leave his rut. But he must know those things in a picture that make it meritorious, just as a critic does, and in this way there will be every incentive to make films of higher artistic content. He must get a new mind and an open one, bury his conservativeness and know his public as it exists, instead of motivating from a false viewpoint as to what he thinks it wants. The public is educated. Let the film salesman go to school to the public and then the better things it wants won't have to go begging. Orders Inciuir ies Can be scured Polks Reference Book and Mailing List Catalog Gives counts and prices on over 8.000 different lines of business. No matter T\'hat your business, in this book you will find the number of your prospective customers listed. Valuable information is also ^Iven as to how you can use the mails to secure orders and Inquiries Xor your products or services. Write for Your FREE Copy R. L. POLK & CO.. Detroit. Micb. 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