Harrison's Reports (1931)

68 HARRISON’S REPORTS Mr. W. J. Taylor, president of The Daily Sentinel-Review, of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, has published a bitter attack against the practice. The Evening Leader, of Staunton, Va., and The Daily Record, of Morristown, N. J., have joined this crusade whole-heartedly. Mr. W. D. Mansfield, Editor of The Daily News, of McKeesport, Pa., writes me as follows : “Answering your letter of April 6, we are enclosing herewith an editorial published in our paper today. It is our answer to the question.” The editorial, instead of attacking the advertising practice directly, points out to the people of McKeesport the disgusting sight that strikes the eye of those who go to the Harris Theatre, a Warner House, which was erected and dedicated to the memory of the late Senator J. P. Harris. “As one enters the lobby,” Mr. Mansfield writes, “the eye is caught and held by the harmonious decorations. The floor covering, rich tapestries, the memorial fountain and the period furniture create a feeling of relaxation, . . . Everything typifies the best in art, until the glance rests upon — a refrigerator or a washing machine. “The pleasing illusion vanishes. The decorator’s art has gone to naught. Here in a setting of splendor is a discordant note that jars almost as effectively as a slap in the face. “ . . . a refrigerator in the foyer of such a theatre is as suitable as a kitchen sink in the living room of a modernly appointed home. “The kitchen and laundry equipment display is part of an ill-advised advertising scheme. When men go to the theatre they want to forget for a time the cares of commercial life. When women go they want to put behind them the home duties, and thoughts of refrigerators, washing machines and kitchen stoves. “In the otherwise quiet and restful atmosphere of the local theatre these strictly utilitarian objects shout with a disturbing intensity the fact that commercialism is being permitted to transcend in importance the pleasure of the patrons. They almost shriek their story, and din into the unwilling ears of the people who go to the theatre to be amused, and not to become interested in refrigerators, kitchen stoves and washing machines. ...” For the information of editor Mansfield and of all other editors, let me say that the “ill advised advertising scheme,” resorted to by Warner Bros., which owns the Harris Theatre, is the result of the chain system of theatre operation. Four or five years ago, when theatres such as the Harris were under independent management, an advertising scheme of this kind, or of any other kind, for that matter, was unthinkable. It would, in fact, have been an insult to even suggest, let alone propose, such a scheme : the managers were proud of their screens, proud of the patronage of the people of their community. But things are different today ; w'ith one thousand theatres under his control, the general manager of a producers’ theatre department becomes the easy prey of the advertising promoter, or of the “inside” man, who wants to make fat commissions for himself. The hard times that have prevailed unusually long this time have naturally contributed to the capitulation, for when business is bad, the chain, with its incompetent management, with the high salaries, unthinkable in other businesses, paid to the high executives and to the political appointees, with dishonesty rampant in the lower ranks, loses heavily. To save their reputations, and their jobs, the general managers of these departments rack their brains to find means of reducing the losses. And the income from advertising comes to them as a savior. Will Paramount-Publix and Warner Bros. Pictures give up their advertising policies? The answer depends on the attitude of the newspapers ; if the editors remain apathetic, Paramount and the Warners will get away with it ; if they stand up and fight, one of two things will happen — they, that is Paramount and Warner Bros., will either give up their advertising activities, or else the Paramount Pictures, the Warner Bros, pictures, and the pictures of First National, subsidiary of Warner Bros., will come to be hated by the picture-going public. As far as I am concerned, I shall continue my efforts, as strong as before, to arouse the newspaper editors to April 25, 1931 the danger to their interests from this source; and judging by the generous responses to the appeals that I have made to them so far, I have no doubt as to the outcome. WHAT ABOUT THE CRIME FILMS THAT ARE STILL ON THE ACTIVE LIST? Mr. Will H. Hays, in his annual report to the board of directors of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, declared that the American public are tiring of pictures dealing with crime and gang rule, advising all members to give up this sort of theme and to employ cleaner themes. He made several other statements that can be challenged, but let us forego this effort at this time and confine ourselves to putting the following question to Mr. Hays : “If the American people have tired of gangster and of other demoralizing pictures, and if it is injurious to the entire industry to continue producing them, what will become of such pictures that have been released at different times and still active? The answer to this question is of vital interest to the small exhibitors, who have to trail along long after the ‘model’ or ‘style’ of pictures has changed. If Mr. Hays admits that the gangster story has aroused the American public from its lethargy to the point of demanding that it be abandoned, and if the industry would be hurt if it were not abandoned, the small exhibitor, who has not encouraged this sort of pictures, and who is compelled, by the block-booking system in vogue, to run everything the producers make under the penalty of being shut out of product, is entitled to some relief ; for unless he is given such relief his business will be ruined. It is a “crime” that the producers should make dirty, vile, demoralizing pictures and when they find out that the “style” has changed abandon them but insist that those who run their pictures at later dates should carry' out their contracts. It is exasperating to think that innocent parties should be made to suffer for the stupidity of the producers’ production departments and for the incompetence and the graft that exist in some of them. The producers, at least the biggest of them, who set the style, have brought so much disgrace to the American nation that in Canada the censors have compelled all distributors to add the following announcement in all American-made gangster pictures: “The incidents depicted in this picture are peculiar to life in the United States of America only, and have nothing to do with life in the Dominion of Canada.” And I understand that the British censors have adopted a similar ruling, not as explicit as the ruling of the Canadian censors, but disgraceful to this nation nevertheless. Foreigners have come to look upon Americans as invariably belonging to one gang or another, the business of which is to rob, and if necessary, to exterminate those who may attempt to prevent them from doing so. If this condition should continue much longer, the day will come when no American, travelling abroad, will be permitted to go about without a guard, for fear that he might teach crime to the y'oung of the nation he is visiting. If you have any crime pictures on your contract and you fear to show them because the people of your community have protested to you against the use of this sort of pictures, or if there has been a general protest in your town against this sort of pictures, call on the leaders of such a movement and request them to write to Mr. Hays demanding that the owner of such pictures be made to take them off your contract. It is my belief, in fact, that you can reject all crime and sex pictures even without any protest from anybody in your town. If the distributor should sue you, he will not find a jury anywhere in the United States that will give him a favorable verdict. Reject all crime and other demoralizing pictures ! Mr. Hays has said that the American people resent them, and advises the members of his organization to give up making them. Such being the case, they certainly cannot be inconsistent with themselves by demanding that you continue demoralizing the people of your community ! ORDER YOUR MISSING COPIES Now and then, the envelope containing your copy of “Harrison’s Reports” is lost in the mails. Look over vour files and if you find any copies missing write me about it. These will be sent to you free of charge.