Harrison's Reports (1933)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison’S Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: United States |15.00 U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 Canada 16.50 Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Great Britain 16.00 Australia, New Zealand, India 17.50 35c a Copy 1440 BROADWAY New York, N. Y. A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Published Weekly by P. S. HARRISON Editor and Publisher Established July 1,1919 PEnnsylvania 6-6379 Cable Address : Harreports (Bentley Code) A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XV SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1933 No. 12 THE WOULD-BE GIANTS HAD FEET OF CLAY For several years ; in fact, ever since I started Harrison’s Reports, I have been trying to convince you that the socalled big men of the industry were, not only not big, but they lacked even the business acumen of the average business man. Many persons were considerably sceptical about such bold statements, and were inclined to take them with a liberal number of grains of salt. It took a depression to convince every one that my assertions of these years have been entirely accurate. Since the day of the market crash not one of the leaders of the motion picture industry foresaw the present breakdown, not one of them took a single step to put his company on a foundation that would enable it to carry on when other companies crumbled. They lacked the necessary vision. They rode to success on the crest of the prosperity wave and when the wave receded they found themselves stranded on the shore like a ship, helpless. Depression ! Thou art the destroyer of unworthily gained reputations and the exposer of charlatanism ! Thou hast stripped the incompetents of their pretensions of ability, the ignorants of their cloak of learning, the grafters of their opportunities to gather more shekels ! But thou hast one saving characteristic : thou enablest the competents and the intelligent to come to their own! I should like to print words of cheer for you. I should like to paint an encouraging picture about the condition of the moving picture industry. Unfortunately I am not justified so to do. If I did otherwise, the picture that I would present would not be true. Before there is any hope for the industry, the present leaders mast be driven out. As long as they retain any authority whatever, there is no chance for a betterment. The prosperity of an industry depends on the quality of the articles it manufactures. The quality of the articles depends, in turn, on knowledge. How can the motion picture industry be successful, then, when its leaders have no conception whatever of what constitutes good picture material ? They do not understand drama. They have no conception whatever of what is suitable picture material. They choose such material in the “She loves me : she loves me not” order — the hit-and-miss system. If the picture turns out successful, well and good ; if not, it is just too bad — they will try again. In the meantime, millions have been poured into production, the greatest part of which has been wasted. The good pictures do not make enough profits to offset the losses caused by the poor picture. They were successful three years ago and before because they were able to get all the money they needed from the bankers: by juggling and manipulating figures they were able to show profits to the bankers and by taking them on the top of a mountain and showing them the prospective huge profits, to whet their appetites for more profits. But that is all gone now ; Since the day President Roosevelt stated in his speech that the bankers can no longer take the money of the depositors and gamble with it, the producers of motion pictures have been left on their own ; and since they possess no ability whatever, there is but one outcome — failure. They will not, of course, give up the power willingly. That is why the industry must go through some more suffering. But they will eventually — soon, in fact, — be driven out of it. When they are no longer able to raise money to cover losses, they will have to get out. It has been the experience in all big businesses that at first a big business is a racket, which eventually is put on a real business foundation by the working of the economic forces : the racketeers and the incompetents are driven out of it by the process of the survival of the fittest. The moving picture business is now going just through such a purgatory. It will come out of it as a real business ; things are so shaping themselves that those who have the ability and the knowledge will displace the incompetents and the nonintelligent. It will take a little more time before this happens, but it is coming fast. WHY ELIMINATE ONLY THE COAST OFFICE OF THE HAYS ORGANIZATION? Information from the Coast has it that the producers are thinking about closing down the Hays office on the Coast. Why only the Coast office? The entire organization should be shut down, not only because of the saving that would be effected, but also because of the fine impression that would be created among millions of Americans. The Hays policy of paying “honoraria” to some church people, to gain good will with, of misleading the churches into believing that, by his influence, the moral tone of the picture would improve when he knew that he could not keep such promises, as subsequent events proved (the pictures have kept getting worse every week), has done the greatest harm to the motion picture industry. One other reason that should prompt the producers to shut down the Hays office is the fact that, during the present crisis, not one constructive thought has come from Will Hays to help those who employed him to avert the catastrophe. All he has been doing these months has been to devise means and ways by which he could save his fat job. As said in another article in this issue, there is no longer room in the industry for non-productive persons ; the industry can no longer support drones. Everybody has to work. LITTLE TO WORRY ABOUT Under the heading “Mr. Katz in Production,” Jay Emanuel, editor of the Exhibitor, deals with Sam Katz’ star jumping activities on the Coast. “Sam Katz,” he says ironically, “after demonstrating to the industry his keen perception and administrative ability in connection with his relations with Paramount-Publix, is now doing the industry another good turn by his Coast policies. Since his arrival in Hollywood nothing but rumors of star jumping were heard, with the bait of a strong percentage return.” After condemning the activities of Sam Katz and of his associates on the ground that they are using the percentage bait to lure stars away from the companies that made them, at a time when there is need for cutting down the cost of production and operation, Mr. Emanuel says : “Plowever, there is a happy token somewhere. If Katz directs his production policies as he contributed to Paramount’s welfare, there would be little for exhibitors to worry about. . . ” The policies which contributed to Paramount’s downfall Mr. Emanuel hints about are those that induced Adolph Zukor to build a theatre empire. It is what broke Paramount and Zukor. Adolph Zukor listened to the voice of the siren and fell for it. He fell for it because that was one of his dreams — a dream that prompted him to disregard the promises he gave to the exhibitors in Minneapolis. Sam Katz will, of course, do the industry much harm if he should go in for “star jumping,” a policy which he seems to have adopted since the day when, having resigned from Paramount, he decided to strike out for himself. (I have been informed reliably that he has offered George