Harrison's Reports (1950)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the a«t of March 2, 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 , M v Publisher Canada 16.50 Wew Ior* £U' n' «• P. S. HARRISON, Editor Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Great Britain 17.50 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July 1, 1919 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.60 Kg Editoria, Poiicy: No problem Too Big for Its Editorial Circle 7-4622 85c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXXII SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1950 No. 12 HOW SOME HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVES FEEL ABOUT TELEVISION Hollywood — Last week I had luncheon with Sid Rogell, head of RKO production in Hollywood under Howard Hughes, for the purpose of ascertaining how he and perhaps other production executives feel about television. He told me that if any one thinks that television is not competition to motion pictures he is way wrong. But, he said, no one need despair as to the future of the industry. Perhaps, he said, we shall have to work a little harder, and cut down expenses at the same time, but he feels sure that we are going to survive. The first thing that should be done, said Mr. Rogell, is to take advantage of television by making it work for us through trailers. An attractive trailer cannot help arousing the interest of those who see it on a television set, thus inducing them to attend their nearest theatre to see the picture. And the exhibitors, he said, must work harder to attract more people into the theatres. It is up to us, he assured me, to hold on to the present patronage and to keep adding to it by proper exploitation. One other thing we must do, he said, is to stop telling our friends and others that pictures are bad and that busi' ness is poor. Mr. Rogell related to me an interesting inci' dent: "I had dinner," he said, "with one of the foremost screen writers, who told me that, having no worthwhile pictures to see the day before, he went to a vaudeville theatre with his friends. I told him perhaps he did not look over the advertisements carefully and I picked up that day's newspaper to see what was playing. I saw many outstanding pictures advertised and asked him whether he had seen any of them. When he said that he had not, I asked him to stop berating motion pictures without any justification since he himself is making a living out of the business." Finally, he said, our stars must stop demanding exorbitant salaries so that they may help us make more pictures with what they give up. The same goes, he said, for the studio executives — they must reduce their salaries. Mr. Rogell told me that he is having manufactured but' tons with the wording "Booster" to pin on the lapel of a person's coat. He expects every one of his friends to wear one, and when any one should ask the wearer of a button what he is boosting, his answer will be : "Moving pictures," adding that they are better than ever. Mr. Rogell's decision to have booster buttons made and passed around to his friends is a wise one, and others in the industry will do well to follow his lead. The evening of that day I had dinner with William Beaudine, Sr., the well known director, and I asked him to express his views on television. He replied: "I wouldn't have any part of it. They are now trying to use us — they don't offer any money to speak of, but when they put television on its feet they will pass us by. It will be at least five years before they will be in a position to spend money for good entertainment." The following day I had luncheon with Harry Thomas, the independent producer; he had attended a meeting where Commander Eugene F. MacDonald, president of Zenith Radio, made a talk to some prominent Hollywood people in connection with his company's Phonevision. Commander MacDonald, of course, is intensely interested in the project and thinks that, when Phonevision gets going, it will supplant picture and radio entertainment. But Mr. Thomas, like many of the others who were present, feels that the Commander has oversold himself, and that the picture business will go on just the same. Commander MacDonald has made a deal with the tele phone company in Chicago for testing about one hundred telephones, fitted with Phonevision, next September. He does not want new films, he said; one year old subjects will do. On Saturday evening, I attended at Long Beach, a St. Patrick's party, given by Dr. Richard Johnson, an intimate friend of our late friend, Al Steffes, and met a Dr. Paap, who expressed the opinion that the moving picture has nothing to fear from television. If anything, he said, tele vision will help make more picture patrons. Such is one layman's theory. Discussing the matter with Mike Vogel, one of the outstanding exploitation men in the business, he cited a case that has come within his own observation: "One of our neighbors," he said, "has had a television set for more than one and one-half years. All the children of our neighborhood, including my own two sons, used to congregate there to watch the television shows. Now not one of them bothers to go." Personally, I believe that this fear about the industry being on the brink of disaster is mostly unjustified, and that the exhibitors, with a little harder work and with the aid of better pictures, will pry people away from their television sets. BOX-OFFICE PERFORMANCES The previous box-office performances were published in the March 11, 1950 issue: Eagle-Lion "Port of New York": Fair "The Sundowners": Fair "Never Fear": Fair "Sarumba": Poor "Salt to the Devil" (formerly "Give Us This Day") : Fair "Guilty of Treason" : Good-Fair Six pictures have been checked with the following results : Good-Fair, 1; Fair, 4; Poor, 1. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer "That Forsyte Woman": Fair "Adam's Rib": Good "Tension": Fair-Poor "Challenge to Lassie": Fair-Poor "On the Town": Very Good-Good "Johnny Eager" (reissue) : Fair "Malaya": Good-Fair "Ambush": Good-Fair "Battleground" : ExcellentVery Good "East Side West Side": Good-Fair "Blossoms in the Dust" (reissue) : Fair-Poor "Key to the City": Good-Fair Twelve pictures have been checked with the following results: Excellent-Very Good, 1; Very Good-Good, 1; Good, 1; Good-Fair, 4; Fair, 2; Fair-Poor, 3. Paramount "Chicago Deadline": Fair "Red, Hot and Blue" : Fair "Holiday Inn" (reissue): Fair "The Lady Eve" (reissue) : Fair "The Great Lover": Good "File on Thelraa Jordan": Good-Fair "Captain China": Fair "Dear Wife": Good Eight pictures have been checked with the following results: Good, 2; Good Fair, 1; Fair, 5. (Continued on bac\ page)