Harrison's Reports (1949)

184 HARRISON'S REPORTS November 12, 1949 subsequent embargo on American film shipments and compelled him to increase production in order to keep his theatres supplied with product. "Unfortunately," he said, "many of the films we produced were not of the quality to ensure even reasonable returns. It can now be seen that our plans to meet an unexpected and critical condition were too ambi' tious." Rank added that "we made demands on the creative talent in the industry that were beyond its resources and, as a result, spread out our production capacity too thinly over the films we made." In contrast to the prediction made by Mr. Rank that he would deliver sixty pictures annually in order that the British exhibitors may be enabled to give forty-five per cent of their playing time to Britishmade films, as required by the quota, which he supported over the opposition of Britain's exhibitors, Mr. Rank now admits that his program contemplates production of only six to ten pictures during the six months ending next June. It seems as if Mr. Rank has found out what the American producers had found out a long time ago, and what this paper has been telling him right along, ever since he decided to challenge Hollywood's supremacy— that the meritorious pictures, unlike sausages, cannot be ground out on an assembly-line basis. Harrison's Reports predicted some time ago that it would take a debacle, the like of which Mr. Rank never dreamed of, to bring him to this realization. THE "JOLSON SINGS AGAIN" SITUATION The organized exhibitors' fight against Columbia's sales policy on "Jolson Sings Again" continues unabated. Typical of the strong resentment felt is the following from the latest bulletin of Allied Rocky Mountain Independent Theatres : "This bulletin is fed up with distributors who say one thing and then do another. Especially when by doing the other they break the law. "The Columbia sales policy on 7°lson Sings Again' is a flagrant violation of the Federal Court decisions which have now become the law. "This law is not vague on dictated admission prices. It is clear, concise, and complete. It says in very simple language that the distributors cannot dictate a thea' tre's admission price 'in any way or by any means.' "Despite the law, the Columbia sales organization, under the direction of Mr. Abe Montague, is demanding that theatres raise their admission prices to road-show scale. "This is not being written into the contracts, but is demanded as a separate agreement. "This attempted evasion of the law is one of the lowest forms of subterfuge. The policy is stupid. It is shortsighted. It is illegal. AND, it could very easily wreck the entire industry's Public Relations program. "This disclosure of which Columbia is trying to get away with was one of the highlights of the [Allied] convention. The significance is so important that every exhibitor should consider Columbia's action as a personal insult to his rights as an independent businessman. "For many years Columbia and the other distributors broke the law and the result was the Government suit against them. The result of that was several Federal Court decisions which laid down certain laws of conduct for Columbia and the other distributors. "Now Columbia thumbs its nose at the law and goes ahead just as it damn pleases. If they get away with it, they will continue to brea\ the law whenever they want to and the other distributors will probably do likewise. "The old days of the big stick, monopoly, blind selling, and dictated admission prices are over in the industry. If there are some distributors left who don't know it, then they had better read the law and read it fast. "The laws of this country are not something to be used as an old dishrag. They are not something to get around by subterfuge, back-door dealings, or whispered verbal instructions. They are to be obeyed. If they are not, then sooner or later, somebody is going to jail." CONFERENCE COMMITTEE TO MEET IN WASHINGTON The Conference Committee of the Motion Picture Industry, formed in Chicago at the All-Industry Public Relations Conference, will meet on December 12 and 13 in Washington, D. C, according to an announcement by Ned E. Depinet, Committee Chairman, following a poll of the nine groups that participated in the Chicago meeting. All have approved the specific actions taken by the Conference. At the two-day meeting, the Conference Committee will deal primarily with matters bearing on the practical follow-up of the resolution unanimously adopted at the Chicago conclave, which provides "that a national policy-making authority, composed of all elements within our industry, be created to plan, organize and supervise a comprehensive, continuous public relations program representing the maximum coordination of all the organizations represented at this Conference, and such authority shall supplement the operations of our organizations with such activities and personnel as may be deemed advisable." The delegates and alternates who will attend the Washington meeting, and the groups they represent, are as follows: Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors, William L. Ainsworth and an alternate yet to be named; Independent Theatre Owners Association, Max Cohen and Harry Brandt; Metropolitan Motion Picture Theatres Association, Leo Brecher and Oscar Doob; Motion Picture Association of America, Ned E. Depinet and William F. Rodgers; Motion Picture Industry Council, Roy Brewer and Art Arthur; Pacific Coast Conference of Independent Theatre Owners, Rotus Harvey and William Graeper; Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers, Robert J. Rubin and probably Ellis Arnall; Theatre Owners of America, Gael Sullivan and Walter Reade, Jr. ; Trade Press Publishers, Abel Green and Martin Quigley. ORDER YOUR MISSING COPIES Look over your files of Harrison's Reports and if you find the copy of any issue missing ask for it and a duplicate copy will be sent to you without charge. A substantial number of copies of back issues is kept in stock for just such a purpose.