Harrison's Reports (1929)

140 HARRISON’S REPORTS August 31 , 1 ^29 A SPY SYSTEM THAT RIVALS THAT OF RASPUTIN The Hays organization has clev’eloped a spy system that has put to shame the spy system of tlie notorious Rasputin, tlie Russian monk. It is the Copyright Bureau. Last month an upstate c.xhihitor was fined $7,500. He liad hooked thirty M-G-M scenics, at a price of $j.5o a day, one day each, and the Hays spy system asserted tliat all the thirty scenics were shown by this exhibitor an extra day. In many cases small town exhibitors have other interest besides running a theatre. As a result, they hire a manager to run them. This exhibitor, being in the banking business, has a manager running the theatre for him. So if the pictures were run an extra da>-, he was unaware of it. But he was fined by the Copyright Bureau $7,500 or $250 for each supposed violation, although the manager asserted that only one picture was held an extra day. But just because he is a banker, the Hays spy sj'stein took advantage of it and forced him to compromise lor $J,odU ; rattier than lose his reputation, tlie exhibitor settled for that amount. In other words, he was "blackjacked" into paying that money. Aow, the laws of the land provide a punishment in accordance with the crime committed. Lawmakers always take care not to make the punishment out of proportion to the offense. But not so with the Hays spy system; they want every dollar they can get hold of. '1 hey think that by being cruel, they can stop an abuse for which they themselves are responsible to a great e.xtent. .-inotncr cruel case that has come to the attention of this paper comes troni Cincimiaii. On July 24, an exliibitor was informed by the Secretary of the film Board of Trade that the I’araniount exchange had filed a ciaiiii against him for an alleged breach of contract and that they were demanding :p25U tor each breach, under the Copyright Law. The exhibitor applied to tlie excfiange for information; he wanted to know vviien and how he violated the Copyright Law. No specific charges were filed with the 1 ihn Board of i rade and he felt that he was entitled to know. But the Baramount manager would give no information. 1 he case was set for trial. But in a later letter this exhibitor informs this office that it has been postponed until the middle of September. "Several days before the date for the original hearing,” he writes, "we received a ’phone call from a representative of the Copyright Bureau, asking for an interview. 'I'his man made all kinds of wild charges against us, showing that fie didn’t know what he was talking about; he dwelt upon the powers of the Bureau, and the severity of the penalties that had been inflicted elsewhere. His whole idea seemed to be to scare us and to force us into a settlement before the case was tried. He suggested a figure of $2,500, which the Bureau would take, and gave us a day’s time for an answer by ’phone to Pittsburgh, his next point of call. He offered over the long distance call to further reduce the amount to $2,000. We did not, of course, accept his "kind” offer. "During our conversation he admitted that his proffer of settlement on his part was irregular, but gave as his reason that ‘friends of ours in New York had reported that we bore a very good reputation, and wanted to help us. . . .’ ” This exhibitor makes certain statements about the motive of the Bureau’s representatives that are unprintable. They show the indignation of a man that has been threatened to be hauled before an inquisitional body by methods that are an exact duplicate of the methods used by the Spanish Inquisition. These are only two cases. There are many others. When Mr. Hays came into this industry, there was a certain amount of tolerance on the part of the exhibitors towards him; they felt that he ought to be given a chance. Some exhibitors felt even more than tolerance; they felt a friendly feeling toward him. Today, Mr. Hays is disliked by ninety-nine out of each hundred exhibitors, just because of these tactics. The fact that he may not have approved of these tactics seems to make, no difference; they are being practiced by his men. whose Jfdvice he takes in all matters concerning the industry. He .reminds us bf mon'archs.in. ancient times, whose kingdoms crumbled to dust just because of the tyranny practiced by those that surrounded them, even though they themselves often knew nothing about the abuses. Lnless Mr. Hays puts an end to this tyranny, his days in the motion picture industry are numbered. And no one will shed any tears when he exits. SILENT PICTURES FOR 1929-30 I base been asked by several subscrit>ers to inform them how iiiaiij silent pictures will be produced during the iy2y-30 season. The question has not been made correctly. The inquirers should have asked how many silent pictures Will be produced as silent, and how many will be made from sound negatives. In a recent article in this paper it was stated that .silent pictures made from sound negatives will, in the average, prove poor for the reason that the action is keyecl up to sound values, a fact which makes the silent version flat. There are exceptions, but experience has proved that this is the rule. L’nder the circumstances, an exhibitor is taking great risks to contract blindly for such pictures. There will be between three and four hundred silent pictures made, but at least eight out each ten of these will be made out of .sound negatives. My suggestion to those of “silent” exhibitors that can afford to wait is to buy their silent pictures after they arc made and are reviewed, either by them, or by this paper, or by any other reviewer that will give them reliable information. If they should take a chance, they might just as well make up their minds that they will be compelled to shelve at least fifty per cent of them. Because of the value of singing anrl of music, most of the talking pictures that will be made this season will be musical comedies. .Almost every one of the "silents” made from negatives of such pictures will have to be shelved. A picture such as “The Desert .Song," “Movietone l''ollies,” and others of this sort, for example, have not much “silent" value. Of the dramas, at least fifty per cent of them will have to be shelved. The number of good pictures out of a single company’s product, during the silent picture days, never exceeded fifty per cent. Imagine how much smaller the pcrcenta.ge of good pictures made out of sound negatives will be. Some of them will lie. so boresome that they will drive picture-goers away. The best thing “silent” exhibitors can do is. as said, to wait and buy them only after they screen them. HOW TO JOIN ALLIED STATES Several subscribers have asked me to advise them how they could join .Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors. I took this matter up with Mr. Abram F. Myers and was informed by him that the constitution of .\llied .‘'tates does not provide for direct membership. He requested me to inform you, if your state organization is a member of .'Mlied States, to pay your dues to it, thus helping it carry on the good work; if your local or.ganization is not an .-Mlied member, to request its officers to call a convention with a view to putting it to the vote of the members whether it should join or not; if there is no organization in your state or zone, then to write to several exhibitors asking them to meet with you at a town to be agreed upon for the purpose of forming an organization and of joining Allied States. Whatever action you may take, hear in mind that you will find aid, both material as well as sentimental, for the reason that the Myers idea is sweeping the United States and Canada from one end to the other like wild fire. Every exhibitor is showing an unprecedented willingness to join the movenrent or to do all there is in his power to bring about the reawakening of the independent exhibitor spirit. The meetings held everywhere, whether they are attended by .\llied States representatives or not, are like Billy Sunday revivals. ■Another way of contributing to the complete success of the independent movement is for every one of vou to buj' a Radio Pictures and a Tiffany-Stahl franchise, and to put m your application at once for a low price Photophone instrument. In this way. you will prove to the Radio' Pictures, to the'RC.A Photophone, .'and to theTifiFany executives that the confidence they placed in your leaders was not misplaced.