Harrison's Reports (1931)

60 HARRISON’S REPORTS THE FACTS ABOUT CONCEALED ADVERTISEMENTS IN PARAMOUNT PICTURES Word has reached me from a reliable source that the distributing department of Paramount-Publix has not received any compensation, either in money or in services, for the mentioning of the nationally known commercial articles in “It Pays to Advertise,” or in any other picture. My informant said that Mr. Zukor is decidedly opposed to concealing advertisements in motion pictures. “It Pays to Advertise,” he said, “has been produced just as it was written for the stage years ago. As far as the mentioning of the Isota and the Mercedes automobiles in ‘Unfaithful,’ and of Dunn’s and Bradstreet’s in ‘A Man of the World,’ this was done for atmosphere.” If such is the case, then the production heads of Paramount have acted like idiots, for they have given away tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of advertising and in return have received nothing but ill will, for every one of those who has seen “It Pays to Advertise,” has without any question accused them of having accepted money for the advertisements. If Paramount had not gone into the advertising business, closing contracts for Lysol, Oldsmobile, Texaco and Westinghouse Radio, with a “waiting list,” and if picture-goers were not so hostile to advertising because of the antagonistic sentiment that has been aroused in them by the abuse in the radio field, perhaps no one would have accused them of having accepted money for these advertisements. But the matter differs now ; few will take their statement as a fact. Let Paramount-Publix put this to a test by taking a vote among the patrons of one of their theatres where “It Pays to Advertise” will be shown and they will be convinced of the accuracy of my statement. The fact that Paramount-Publix has not received any money for the mentioning of nationally known commercial articles in their pictures, however, is not the point at issue, but the act itself, for the harm that is done to the theatre business is as great as it would be if they had been paid for it for the public cannot distinguish the one from the other. Conditions today are not what they were several years ago ; the picture-goers nowadays are advertisement-conscious. And the quicker Paramount-Publix, Warner Bro., and the Warner Bros, subsidiary, First National, realize this the better it will be for them as well as for the entire industry. Every producer should give his production forces orders to refrain from inserting in pictures anything that might look like an advertisement, even close-up of newspapers or magazines It is only thus that they will avoid being accused of having “stolen” screens they do not own — those of the independent theatre owners, and incurring the ill will of the public. Pictures deal with a fictitious world and everything that appears in them should be fictitious. As far as this paper is concerned, it will continue classing advertisements in regular features or shorts as paid advertisements, not only because I have no way of knowing which have and which have not been paid for without a laborious or costly investigation, but also because the harm is no less when they are than it is when they are not paid for. THIS PAPER'S FURTHER EFFORTS AGAINST “SPONSORED” SCREEN ADVERTISEMENTS This paper’s campaign against “sponsored” commercial advertisements on the screens, adopted by ParamountPublix and Warner Bros., has been not only not relaxed, but intensified. Many articles that have been written in many newspapers have encouraged me to double my efforts. The following is a copy of the second letter I have sent to every daily in the United States, two thousand of them : “The response of the press to my appeal for editorial support in the fight against ‘sponsored’ screen advertising resorted to by Publix and Warner Bros, has been so wholehearted that I am prompted to write you on the subject again. “In order that our efforts may bring quicker results, the public must be invited to take part in this fight. This may be done by an appeal to them, through your editorial columns, to express their views in the matter. The effect of such a campaign should be instantaneous, for whatever is printed in the newspapers about the motion picture industry is, as you well know, transmitted to the motion picture producers through their clipping services. “Your full co-operation is necessary, for the danger to your interests is just as great as it is to the interests of the independent theatre owners, who are opposed to ‘sponsored’ screen advertising, and this is the reason : AprU 11, 1931 ‘In the last three years, Paramount-Publix and Warner Bros, went into a mad theatre acquisition campaign, each trying to outdo the other in the number of theatres it bought or built. “But motion picture theatres cannot be conducted on a chain grocery store basis ; they require the personal attention of the owners, a thing which long-distance circuit management cannot supply. It took but a depression to prove the vulnerability of this system, for in the last two months Paramount-Publix has shut down more than two hundred theatres and many of those it keeps open are conducted at a loss. Similar is the situation with Warner Bros. “In the face of such a failure, each company is trying desperately to hold on to its theatres and is seizing upon the opportunity screen advertising offers to help its efforts. If they are successful, they will buy additional theatres so as to present greater circulation to the advertisers. And an increase in the number of their theatres will mean decreased advertising for you, not only from national advertisers, but also from the circuit theatres, for experience has proved that, whenever a producer-exhibitor has bought all, or almost all, the picture theatres in a town, the advertising space in the newspapers grew less : every time business slackens somewhat and the profits shrink, the first thing the long-distance manager does is to order the advertising space in the newspapers reduced. The success of this policy will also drive more independent theatre owners out of business. “I am enclosing additional material for you to use in case you should see fit. If you use it, will you be good enough to send me a marked copy ?” If your local editor has not received a copy of this letter, take yiis copy to him, and request him to join the other newspapers in the fight. If it should be necessary for you to part with your copy, write to this office for another ; I keep a large number of them in stock. Send to your editor, in fact, any of the copies, or all, that have dealt with this subject, and write so that I may send you duplicate copies. You will help this campaign greatly also if you should send me clippings of articles against sponsored screen advertising; although I am receiving many, there are times when the editors forget to send them. You cannot blame them, for they are a busy lot. THE VALUE OF PARAMOUNT, FIRST NATIONAL AND WARNER BROS. PICTURES NEXT SEASON The press is aroused against Paramount-Publix and Warner Bros, because of the fact that these companies have entered the advertising field, which is in direct competition with the newspapers. There is no doubt, therefore, that they will continue attacking these companies. The result will be that the pictures of these concerns will not attract the public as much as they would if they would not have incurred the ill will of the newspapers. If you intend to buy the pictures of these concerns, and of First National, you should take this into consideration. Do not make a mistake now and then cry over my shoulders afterwards. Use your brains now ! My advice to you is not to buy pictures from any film concern that has entered the advertising business in competition with the newspapers before it informs you that it will quit such a business. If you buy them, it is my belief that you will be showing them to empty seats. Use your head ! WILL SOME PRODUCER EXPLOIT THIS? Bryan Untiedt, a thirteen-year-old boy of Towner, Colorado, has thrilled the nation with his heroism, as you no doubt have read in the papers, when a bus in which he and twenty-two other children, all younger than he, was stalled in a snowstorm. The driver froze to death while going for succor, and young Untiedt, who was left in charge, in an effort to keep his companions from freezing, teased them into fighting so as to keep their blood circulating : and when their strength was gone, he gave most of his clothes to the younger ones. He is to be the guest of President Hoover at the White House when he recovers. The moving picture producers have immortalized every prostitute, every gambler, every blackmailer and cut-throat who has gained notoriety, by making them heroes in pictures. Will some one among them be moved by this young boy’s heroism to make a drama out of his exploit? There might not be much money in it but it would bring good will to the motion picture industry, for there is inspiration in this hoy’s act and would set an example to the nation, especialh to its young.