Harrison's Reports (1944)

IN TWO SECTIONS— SECTION ONE 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: 1270 SIXTH AVENUE Published Weekly by United States $15.00 R««tn 1 R1 2 Harrison's Reports, Inc., U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 Room ioi6 Publisher Canada 16.50 New York 20, N. Y. p. s. Harrison, Editor Mexico Cuba, Spain 16.50 A MoUon picture Reviewing Service Oreat Britain ............ ±o.<o Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July 1, 1919 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe Asia .... 17.50 Ug EdUoria, Policy. No problem Too Big for Its Editorial Circle 7-4622 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXVI SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1944 No. 48 SUCH IS FAME! As most of you will undoubtedly remember, this paper, in its May 13 issue, under the heading, "A Get-Rich-Quick Policy," reproduced a letter signed by Rube Jackter, Columbia's Assistant Sales Manager, in which he called upon the the Columbia branch managers to secure 25% more rental on "Cover Girl," where it had been sold on a flat rental basis, than was obtained on "The More the Merrier" out of their total flat rental situations. As to the methods to be employed to exact the increased rental out of the exhibitors, Jackter had this to say: "We are not particularly concerned whether you get this increase in each situation or whether you get it on an overall basis in increased rentals, increased playing time or additional runs in the flat rental situations. Our main interest is that you reach the new quota set up for 'Cover Girl" in the flat rental spots." Columbia, apparently, did not confine its ruthlessness to the American exhibitors; it seems as if Jackter' s instructions were given also to Nick Pery, Columbia's Managing Director in Australia, for here is what the Australasian Exhibitor, a leading trade paper in that country, has to say in its September 21 issue, under the title, "Watch this Move": "Apparently confused by the title, Nick Pery is looking to make a recovery for Columbia through 'Cover Girl.' He wants this one bright spot in an assemblage of ordinaries to sacrifice her attractiveness by luring enough cash from ex' hibitors to make up the deficits of her less appealing sisters from the same menage. "Naughty Mr. Pery! ... he has been endeavoring to persuade exhibitors to negotiate with him for higher rentals for the 'Cover Girl.1 But exhibitors refuse to be hoodwinked. They know that flat rentals still remain as they were on the ceiling date and Columbia has neither the right nor power to compel its customers to change from flat rentals to percentage. He may have obtained permission to negotiate — but beyond that he cannot go. "The executive of the M.P.E.A. (Ed. T^ote: Motion Picture Exhibitors Association) is watching his moves closely. It has been informed by exhibitors and exhibitor companies that in some cases 'Cover Girl' was included in the contract without any additional increase being sought, and that in other cases it was sold at only a comparatively slight increase in hire. "It seems to be a case that if an exhibitor wants to be a mug and deny himself the protection that price fixing gave him then Columbia will help him waste his money. "We strongly advise exhibitors to reject every overture that may be made to induce them to play this picture on percentage where they formerly paid a flat rate and, in the latter case, to remember their right under the price fixing regulation and to turn down any suggestion of excessive hire. "Act differently and you'll pile up future trouble as well as present difficulty. Columbia owes you a lot, but few of us would hesitate to meet a reasonable proposition from a debtor!" (Editor's T^ote: In Australia, the Government has decreed that motion picture rentals, either flat rate or percentage, come within the scope of its price-fixing regulations, and that film rentals must not exceed the prices that were in effect as of April 15, 1942.) As further evidence of what our Australian friends think of Columbia's dealings, the Australasian Exhibitor, in its October 12 issue, recalls that, not many years ago, when Columbia was struggling for a foothold on the Australian market, the Motion Picture Exhibitors Association of New South Wales urged exhibitors to support Columbia because it had announced a sales policy consonant with the views of the Association. "Unfortunately," states this reliable Australian trade paper, "the Columbia of today . . . seems to have forgotten how many exhibitors became clients of one of the weaker exchanges. Emboldened beyond its strength it has set itself out to exploit— -with short-sighted selfishness — the goodwill thus created for it by an exhibitor organisation. "Who will be fools enough to let it get away with that! ". . . It is commonplace that youngsters love to ape their elders; that kiddies dearly love big brothers to note their bulging biceps but there is grave danger that all that the new boastful Columbia is doing is outgrowing its strength. "If Columbia persists in trying to negotiate outrageous prices for anything that surprises its own self by looking and behaving something like a real picture then Columbia may find that many exhibitors will be only too glad of an excuse to turn elsewhere for a better and more consistent class of product. And it will be much harder to swing them back a second time! "The charges that are being levelled against Columbia in America are charges which form the basis of complaints which we have against the Australian branch. "COLUMBIA DOES NOT KEEP ITS PROMISES! "The company issues alluring advertisements extolling its promised new season's product, books up trusting exhibitors, fails to deliver all of the much boosted goods, substitutes others of lesser appeal and then asks, what we deem, outrageous terms for anything that stands out among a mediocre lot. "When you find a journal like Harrison's Reports attacking Columbia's sales policy . . . you are justified in examining your own relationship with and treatment by that organisation. "Well if their own brother American are sick to the teeth with Columbia and its ways, it surely behoves us to 'take a tumble'." The Australian exhibitors sure have Columbia's number!