Harrison's Reports (1950)

28 HARRISON'S REPORTS February 18, 1950 The actions taken by the Allied board included ratification of the organization's participation in the Council of Motion Picture Organizations; authorization of the formation of a committee to gather infor' mation from all Allied territories on competitive bid' ding, and to investigate charges that the bidding system is being used by some distributors in discrim' inatory ways; authorization for the standing committee headed by Col. H. A. Cole, of Texas, to meet with distributor sales managers to protest against violations of their promises on percentage pictures, and to propose that flat rental deals be granted to more theatres than at present; and authorization for a committee to appear before the Federal Communications Commission to ask for special theatre television frequencies. Authorized also was the setting up of a central' 'antitrust" library to serve counsel for independent exhibitors— whether members of Allied or not — engaged in anti-trust litigation against the major companies. This library, which probably will be set up in Washington, will contain complete information on all industry anti-trust cases, and one of its chief uses will be to keep the lawyers of independent exhibitors informed of the inconsistent positions taken by major company lawyers in their defense of anti-trust suits. Another action taken by the board was the adoption of a strongly worded resolution condemning RKO for marketing the picture "Stromboli," and terming the company's advertising and exploitation campaign as "sensational and debased, knowingly calculated and designed to take greedy and reprehensible advantage of shamefully immoral conduct." The resolution urged exhibitors to "refuse to buy or exhibit this picture and all pictures produced and released under like or similar circumstances." In his annual report to the Allied board, Mr. Meyers said that the future looks bright for the independent exhibitor but warned that he must not sit back and rely on court decisions and legal documents to protect himself in his dealings with the distributors. Constant vigilance and strong organization is needed, he said, if the exhibitors are to reach the ultimate goal of a free and open market for films. With pictures no longer moving in fixed channels, he continued, "the distributors are beginning to revive the lost art of salesmanship. The independent exhibitors are receiving more consideration than they have in many years, and the end is not in sight. We look forward with confidence to the day when the playing time on every screen will be at least as important to the distributor with a picture to sell as that particular feature is to the exhibitor." Pittsburgh was selected by the board for the 1950 national convention, to be held on October 2-4. THE KATZMAN CORPORATION 1422 Lyman Place Hollywood 27, Calif. February 3, 1950 Mr. Pete Harrison, Editor Harrison's Reports 1270 Sixth Avenue New York 20, N. Y. Dear Pete Harrison : The review of our picture, MARK OF THE GORILLA, which appeared in your paper dated January 31, has been called to my attention. It is needless to say that it is not only upsetting to those of us who worked on the picture to read a review such as you have written, but it is unfair for exhibitors to judge a picture on the basis of that review. We are certain you realize every picture that is made is not intended for Radio City Music Hall, nor is it a contender for an Academy Award. There are definite audiences, not only in this country but throughout the world, who very much appreciate a film such as we have produced in "Mark of the Gorilla." For example, I quote an excerpt of a letter written by an exhibitor, Mrs. Pat Murphy of the Queen Theatre in Holliday, Texas, which is currently printed in the January 28th edition of Boxoffice, as follows: "The kids all welcomed Johnny Weissmuller back. He's still Tarzan to them, with clothes on. This is very well made, has good animal shots and the clever crow's antics were well received. Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Fair — Mrs. Pat Murphy, Queen Theatre, Holliday, Texas. Oil field patronage." (Editor's T^ote: Mrs. Murphy's remar\s refer to the picture "Jungle Jim," which Harrison's Reports termed "very good eri' tertainment" in its review published December 25, 1948.) Apparently it is pictures like these that keep exhibitors like Mrs. Murphy in business. We must call your particular attention to your remark, "The film libraries are full of such stock shots. . . ." You might be interested to know that the stock material you saw in the beginning of this picture has never been seen on a theatre screen before, and there is a complete story in itself describing how we were able to secure that particular stock material. Desiring to give the public jungle footage that they had never seen before, we made an extensive search to uncover different and unusual jungle and animal film. By virtue of reading an old Sunday supplement which described the explorations of a wealthy building contractor who makes his home in Lubbock, Texas, we were successful in securing some of his prize collection footage that he himself photographed in Africa on a safari that he recently led. The school system of Texas thought so much of the jungle film that the contractor has given it to them for educational purposes. So again let me say that such effort as we have made, while not apparent to you — at least as evidenced by your review — might be apparent to keener observers. Upon closer observation I think you will find that the crooks, while fewer in number than the rangers, met their just due as a result of gunfire — and only two of this group survived. We have taken the trouble to write this extensively only because we think it is an injustice to the subscribers of your paper who undoubtedly rely largely on what they read as to what pictures they book. In order to maintain some degree of perspective, we think whomever you delegate to write these reviews should bear in mind that different pictures are made for different audiences, and that such sweeping statements of criticism as are included prove very damaging, not only to those whom it concerns, but to the very integrity of the paper in which it appears. Very truly yours, The Katzman Corporation (signed) Sam Katzman President sk:my