Harrison's Reports (1945)

144 HARRISON'S REPORTS September 8, 1945 week that the exhibitors should demand of all the distributors an expression of their plans and intentions. It was suggested also that the exhibitors should insist upon the inclusion in their film contracts of a clause to the effect that the pictures they license for exhibition will not be licensed to others in 16mm prints for exhibition within the area serviced by their theatres. Such a clause would, of course, protect the exhibitor only with respect to the product he buys from a particular distributor. But there are other problems that may confront an exhibitor as regards 16mm competition. One, for example, is entertainment films produced exclusively for the 16mm field. In this case, there will probably be no restrictions as to where the pictures shall be shown, but an exhibitor might combat this competition along the following lines: First, as regards the competition in his own town, he should try to have an ordinance passed by his local lawmakers requiring traveling 16mm motion picture operators to pay a specified license fee for the privilege of operating within the city's limits, and to abide by strict sanitation regulations and fire prevention rules. Those of you who have read our recent editorials on restricting traveling carnivals might incorporate some of the suggestions contained therein if you should try to induce your City Council to pass an ordinance regulating "jack-rabbit" exhibitors. Secondly, as regards the competition in localities that have no theatres, but from which an exhibitor draws patronage, he might follow the suggestion offered at the recent Allied meeting, namely, that he should protect himself by running 16mm shows in such communities. In keeping with this suggestion, Harrison's Reports would like to add that exhibitors in such situations should include in their film contracts for 35 mm pictures a clause that would give them the exclusive right to exhibit the same pictures in 16mm prints in the outlying districts normally served by their theatres. Since pictures produced exclusively for 16mm exhibition will undoubtedly not match the quality of pictures produced for the 35mm market, the exhibitor who shows regular na' tionally advertised feature pictures in 16mm in outlying districts will certainly have an advantage over the traveling showman exhibiting inferior product. There is still another possible problem — a mighty serious one, for if it should come to pass it may develop into one of the rankest abuses the exhibitors have ever experienced. I refer to the possibility of some of the distributors using 16mm exhibition of current pictures as a threat against recalcitrant exhibitors either in an attempt to force them to accede to inequitable rental terms, or in an attempt to gain playing time for some of their pictures in situations where an exhibitor can use only a limited number of pictures each season and must of necessity eliminate the product of some companies. There was a time when a film salesman, to whip an exhibitor into line, threatened to build a competitive theatre across the street, or used other tricks and ruses, most of which are too numerous to recount here; besides, most of you are familiar with them. Now 16mm exhibition may serve as a new weapon for them; whenever a salesman fails to conclude a deal with an established theatre, he may threaten to have his company's pictures reduced to 16mm size and exhibited by mobile 16mm units right in the town. Or he may threaten to have the pictures exhibited by the town's churches, Elks, Kiwanis, or Rotary Clubs, war veterans' posts, and other similar organizations, which would be only too happy to grasp the opportunity to raise funds for their individual purposes. And, in the event any of these organizations do not have 16mm projection equipment, it would be relatively simple and inexpensive for the distributor to furnish them with their needs. Harrison's Reports does not pretend to have the solution for the variety of problems that may beset the exhibitors as the result of the 16mm field's expansion. It merely seeks to bring to the exhibitors' attention the fact that the 16mm business has graduated to long pants and now seeks to make a mark for itself in the entertainment world. The exhibitors and their organizations should promptly give the subject thorough study with a view, not only toward protecting the established 35mm theatre from undesirable 16mm competition, but also toward using 16mm operation to the advantage of the 35mm exhibitor. * * * While on the subject of possible competitive threats to exhibition, I'd like to call your attention to the following news item, which appeared in the September 5 issue of the Tiew Yor\ World-Telegram under a Washington dateline: "The pessimists who fear that Uncle Sam will be stuck with billions of dollars of unsalable surplus war goods should tell it to the Marines. Also, to an ever-increasing group of idea-packed soldiers and sailors. "These men, including both veterans and many still in the service, are full of schemes for making use of surpluses. So enthusiastic arc they that they're bombarding the Surplus Property Board with a thousand letters a week. " 'Who could have thought,' a board spokesman said today, 'that anybody would be interested in acquiring any of those round-topped quonset huts that the Army used in the Arctic? Well, we've already had lots of suggestions for their use from veterans.' "One chap, for example, got to thinking about those huts after returning to his home in Phoenix, Ariz. They'd be just the thing, he decided, to help him start a chain of low-priced movie houses in small towns which never before boasted a movie theatre." This chap, states the article, was advised to get in touch with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Whether or not any one will follow through on this veteran's idea for the use of quonset huts is something that only time will tell. But even if the use of quonset huts should prove to be unfeasible, the idea has been sown. And, in view of a recent estimate by the U. S. Office of Education that the armed services will have some 40,000 to 50,000 16mm projectors available for civilian use, this idea, which at first blush may seem ridiculous, cannot be laughed off; it begins to assume substantial proportions. Exhibitors must face the reality that returning soldiers, as well as civilians with war-time nest-eggs, are full of ideas for post-war careers, and that many of them look to the motion picture exhibition field, where they will become an unmistakable competitive factor. Now is the time for the established exhibitor to prepare to meet these new-comers.