Harrison's Reports (1951)

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32 HARRISON’S REPORTS February 24, 1951 It is to be hoped that the other exhibitor organizations will follow Allied's lead in demanding representation for exhibition at all conferences having to do with the raw stock shortage, for it is a matter that is vital to the business existence of all exhibitors, large or small. THE ALLIED MID-WINTER BOARD MEETING Trueman T. Rembusch was reelected for his second oneyear term as president of Allied States Association of Motion Pictures Exhibitors at the MidWinter meeting of Allied’s board of directors. Reelected along with Rembusch were Abram F. Myers, general counsel and chairman of the board; Charles Niles, treasurer; Irving Dollinger, secretary; and Stanley D. Kane, recording secretary. The following were among the other actions taken by the Board at the meeting: Approved the new COMPO reorganization setup, and elected Rembusch, Abe Berenson, Benjamin Berger, Ray Branch, Jack Kirsch, Nathan Yamins, Wilbur Snaper and Col. H. A. Cole to represent Allied on COMPO’s executive committee. Adopted a resolution calling for a greater number of color films to help the industry overcome the novelty of TV color when it comes into general use. Authorized Myers to hold exploratory discussions with distributor representatives and other interested parties on the possibility of an industry arbitration system. Designated Yamins, Snaper and Berger as a film rental committee to present to the different distributors, especially 20th Century-Fox, complaints against increased film rentals at a time when theatre attendance is declining. Authorized a committee headed by William C. Allen, of Maryland, to bring to the attention of National Screen Service the results of a survey having to do with that company's service, including complaints from Allied members and varying prices charged on different contracts for the same service. The board, after hearing reports by Jack Kirsch on the Phonevision tests now being held in Chicago, and by Wilbur Snaper on the Skiatron tests being conducted in New York, expressed the opinion that neither system is as formidable as was once feared. New York City was chosen for National Allied’s 1951 Convention, with New Jersey Allied as host. ABRAM F. MYERS’ ANNUAL REPORT Invariably, a highlight of the MidWinter meeting of National Allied's board of directors is the annual report of Abram F. Myers, general counsel and chairman of the board. Because of Mr. Myers’ keen analysis of the state of the industry, as well as of the importance of the subjects he touched upon, Harrison's Reports herewith reproduces it in full, in two or more issues : ‘T. Money everywhere except at the boxoffice. During 1950 the national income soared to new heights, most of the esstablished industries were prosperous, new enterprises were thriving, employment was high. So favorable were conditions at the beginning of the year that Congress embarked upon a general downward revision of taxes. But this condition of serene confidence and high hopes was marred by a strange phenomenon. Ever since its inception the motion picture industry has been the last to be affected by a depression and the first to recover. It has come to be regarded as a sort of perpetual bonanza. Now for the first time the picture business was losing ground whilst other industries surged forward. This strange reversal of the usual order calls first for careful analysis and then for wise planning in order to overcome it. “The boxoffice recession did not descend upon us all at once. The storm signals have been flying for at least three years but the successes of the past blinded us to the perils of the future. The reports gathered a year ago for presentation to the committees of Congress showed that the decline, which had been almost imperceptible in the early stages, had reached alarming proportions. While the falling off was not uniform throughout the country, few theatres went unscathed and many were forced to close. Because the picture business has been so conspicuously profitable — a veritable spoiled darling among American enterprises — the lamenta tions in some cases exceeded the damage inflicted. The shrill bleats of the chief executive of one of the largest theatre chains merely lent encouragement to rival enterprises who were trying to persuade the public that the movies were washed up. “Since the first of this year the situation has taken a turn for the better. Higher grosses are reported from all sections of the country although still below those of the corresponding period of last year. This improvement is generally attributed to the release of better pictures and that probably is the main reason. But I am convinced that there are other contributing factors— factors that will assert themselves with increasing force as time wears on. “2. The cases are many and varied. In their bewilderment over this strange reversal of their fortunes, some exhibitors have seized upon a simple explanation of what is in fact a very complicated condition. They have blamed it all on a rival form of entertainment which has only recently cracked its shell and admittedly is engaging the attention of a lot of people. It would be folly to dismiss television as a temporary minor disturbance and I do not propose to do so. But it has been given far too much credit for the movies’ present distress and that false emphasis has tended to tear down the movies and to build up television. Publicly expressed fear of this new competitor has done serious harm to our own industry. And if television were to fold up tomorrow, the other adverse factors which I shall mention would remain to plague us, at least for awhile. “The figures as to the national income, production and employment have been misleading in their application to the motion picture business because they do not reflect the extent to which the people’s spending money is committed to the purchase of durable goods. During the war years and for awhile thereafter the purchase of such goods was virtually at a standstill due to Government controls of credits and scarce materials. For almost seven years houses, automobiles, refrigerators, washing and ironing machines, carpet sweepers and other gadgets deemed essential to the American way of lift were well-nigh unobtainable. When the controls were released and building and production were resumed, there was a mad rush by the public to acquire these comforts which had been denied them for so long. Add to this list the expensive television receiving sets which have been purchased in vast quantities in the past few years. “Adhering to my purpose not to clutter these reports with a lot of dry statistics I will not repeat the statistics and estimates relative to the state of installment buying which have been published elsewhere. It is enough to say that a substantial part of the spending money of families of the class that generally patronize the movies is committed to installment payments on durable goods of the kind above mentioned. This is a cogent explanation of the strange situation that features peak employment and boxoffice declines stalking hand in hand in so many communities. “There is another important reason for our unhappy state which has received too little attention in industry circles, probably because of the excessive timidity of most industry spokesmen. I refer to the supercilious attitude of writers of popular fiction, picture reviewers, radio announcers and columnists toward motion pictures. This perverse, smartaleky attitude has gotten in its work and has created a fad in this very faddy country. Hardly a day passes that we do not read or hear unthinking remarks to the effect that the movies are 'through' — all washed up; that there are no more good motion pictures; that the only pictures worth seeing are those made abroad; that television is doing to the movies what the movies did to vaudeville a generation ago, and so on. It has even permeated the comic strips. Recently Judy in 'Gasoline Alley,’ was invited by a boy to see a movie and replied, 'How stuffy.’ “So far as the books and stories written and being written about Hollywood are concerned, there is little that the exhibitors can do beyond running public relations films that tell a different story. The basic trouble is that enough factual material seeps out of the colony from time to time to lend a degree of authenticity to these exaggerations. Allied has many times called attention to this condition and we are told that steps have been quietly taken to prevent a recurrence of the scandalous episodes of the past. Nevertheless, the assault on Hollywood continues and it seems that in the past few years I have read dozens of books and stories holding it up to contempt and ridicule. “As regards the supercilious reviewers, the exhibitors have a right to protest to them and to their publishers against the kind of reviews which discourage prospective patrons from seeing pictures which they would otherwise (Continued on inside page)