Harrison's Reports (1949)

Entered as seoond-class matter January i, 1321, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: 1270 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS Published Weekly by United States $15.00 (Formerly Sixth Avenue) Harrison's Reports, Inc., U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 «. v L 9ft 1M V Publisher Canada 16.50 wew 1 orK 1 • p. S. HARRISON, Editor Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Great Britain 15.75 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July L 1919 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 Ks Editorial PoUcy: 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. XXXI SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1949 No. 3 AN UNWARRANTED REQUEST FOR INCREASED ADMISSIONS According to a report in the January 12 issue of weekly Variety, the Selznick Releasing Organization has started to sell "Portrait of Jennie" on an unusual advanced'admission'price policy. Instead of asking the exhibitors to raise their scale of admissions to the usual roadshow figures of $1.20 or $1.50, SRO is requesting that they raise admission prices slightly to give the connotation to the public that "Portrait of Jennie1' is not an ordinary picture. The report states that SRO is suggesting that, if the regular admission fee is 60c, the exhibitor raise it to perhaps 80c. The report states also that rental terms of 50% is being asked. Although "Portrait of Jennie" is an artistic picture and has been produced with great care, it is by no means an exceptional entertainment, one that war' rants a boost in admission prices. As a matter of fact, to quote from this paper's review of the picture, "its reception by a substantial section of the rank and file, particularly 'teen agers, is doubtful, for the story is slight and the action slow." Harrison's Reports is not alone in its opinion of the picture's entertainment values. Here is what two Los Angeles newspaper critics had to say, in part, after the picture's opening in that city on Christmas Day: " 'Portrait of Jennie,' you might suppose, would be an artistic picture. It is. Unfortunately, it's more artistic than entertaining. "For David Selznick's entry in the Holiday Sweepstakes, now screening at the Carthay Circle Theatre, has a plot too slim, actually, for a full-length photoplay. "And when such is the case, you have instead of mounting action and rising dramatic conflict a onelevel narrative that is episodic." — Lowell E. Redelings, Motion Picture Editor, Los Angeles Citizen' Kiews. "Selznik's motion picture, which is now esconced with special equipment at the Carthay Circle, is technically magnificent — photographically, in sound and in performance. Dramatically, due to the fragile, even tenuous nature of the theme, I found it touching rather than poignant. " — Philip K. Scheur, Los Angeles Times. Thus far, the picture is being exhibited in Los Angeles only. When it opens in other cities, it is doubtful, in the opinion of this paper, if the great majority of the newspaper critics will treat the picture any better than the two aforementioned critics. No one can blame Mr. Selznick for trying to instill in the public mind the idea that his "Portrait of Jennie" is an out-of-the-ordinary picture; that is good exploitation. But when he asks the exhibitors to help him put over that feeling by raising, even slightly, their admission prices, he goes too far, for the patrons who will feel that the picture was not worth the additional tariff imposed will vent their wrath, not on Mr. Selznick, but on the exhibitor. As it has been said frequently in these columns in the past, the criterion of the value of an advancedadmission-price picture to the exhibitor and to the public should be, not its cost or its magnitude, but its entertainment values. Not even the fact that a picture is good entertainment is sufficient reason to boost admission prices. It must be an exceptional picture in every sense of the word. "Portrait of Jennie" does not fall into this category. As a matter of fact, the exhibitors who book it will have enough on thenhands trying to fill the seats at regular admission prices let alone advanced admissions. TELEVISION IN SALOONS Exhibitors who operate theatres in areas that have television find that the decrease in theatre attendance is due in some measure to the fact that most of the taverns in their territories offer free entertainment to their drinking patrons in the form of televised programs. Throughout the years, the movies have done a great job in keeping young men and women out of the saloons, but it seems as if television is now sending many of them back to the saloons. Since the saloons are drawing a considerable part of their trade by advertising extensively that they have installed television receivers, they become places of amusement and the exhibitors should see to it that such saloons are made to pay for amusement licenses and are subjected to a tax on admissions just as are the motion picture theatres. According to a report in a recent issue of Boxoffice, the Pennsylvania State Liquor Control Commission has ruled that taverns with television receivers are places of amusement and, as a result, the receiver of taxes in Philadelphia has imposed a five per cent tax on the taverns' grosses, effective January 1. The tavern owners' association is now demanding that the law be changed to provide specific exemption for taverns. This action will, no doubt, be opposed by the Philadelphia exhibitors. Theatre owners in other cities should take immediate steps to seek the imposition of a similar tax on the taverns in their localities. It is no more than right, for if a tavern is permitted, without taxation, (Continued on bcu:\ page)