Harrison's Reports (1962)

20 HARRISON'S REPORTS February 10, 1962 Broadway,.. (Continued from Front Page) less soul. Hers is an atmosphere of high-pitched, garish messiness. The Street is in a pathetically deplorable condition. The showmen doing business on it feel that some day Broadway will be its old, exciting, respected self again. That the Street will pull itself together, and like the indomitable old trouper that she once was, she will again be a mecca where the greater enjoy ments can be found. To be sure, her syndicated columnists are still standing by her in their daily pieces. Endless words still go out to the newspapers of the nation of Broad' way's allure, thrill, never-ending excitement. But, it is not so. The writing men have to go along with the imaginary greatness of Broadway, or else half their columns would be left to trivia which may lose some of their followings. By the same token, the showmen running the costlier, better theatres are in hope that the one time glamour will return to the world's biggest Main Street. Economies, of course, have stripped the theatres of some of the window-dressing that made for a good show out front, and within the portals of the playhouses themselves. Theatre properties have lost some of their real estate values because of the type of stores that adjoin the theatre entrances. Orange-juice stands, frankfurter counters, shooting galleries, pornographic book stores and other nature of catch-penny operations now tenant the stores that neighbor the theatre. Then, there are some of the Broadway exhibitors themselves. They too have surrendered to the catchpenny method of operation. They don't believe in set admission prices. Let an attraction bring out even a thin line, and the usual admission is given an immediate jump. Steady patrons, whatever there is left of them, have voiced their resentment over this. But, there is no heed paid to their squawks. This manner of doing business must needs destroy whatever fragment of goodwill that may still exist. To be sure, this onand-off hoisting of admission prices is born out of an economic desperation that is upon the Street. Some of these theatres doing business on a Broadway that is somewhat remindful of a clip-the-public midway of an in-and-out, fast moving, "hey-rube" circus hardly helps build a trusting faith in a business of which there is supposed to be no other like. Speaking of Broadway's ever-faithful syndicated columnists, their counterpart in Hollywood seem to be of a different cut of typewriter ribbon. Out there, there isn't such benevolence shown the movie capitol. Most of its by-liners are contemptuous of the place, its people, the way the industry goes about its business. Some of the irrepressible, indispensable ladies of the press by being at war with each other, wind up being against the movie capitol and its people. The kindly approach used by the New York syndicators to their Big Street, is almost in ironic contrast to the journalistic mayhem raised, sometimes, by their Hollywood colleagues covering the movie beat. That Hollywood has been in needs of a better, more sympathetic press for a long time has been the lament of its public relations sentinels. That for sheer professional enthusiasm the scriveners out there can well afford to take a lesson from their brethren manning their typewriters in New York, is easily discernible when you compare the east vs west movie columns in ilelease Recap... (Continued from Front Page) contenders for substantially big money (during this period) are "The Hustler," "Splendor in the Grass," "Back Street" (though this will get some argument) "Summer and Smoke," "Breakfast At Tiffany's" "The Children's Hour," "The Young Doctors," "Walk on the Wild Side," and one or two others. To be sure, this summary is not the result of survey services, statistical probing by the Sindlingers. This is how we at Harrison's Reports rated these entries before they went out to the theatres. ("The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" was trade shown as we were going to press.) We covered 109 releases during the period of which we speak. Twenty-three of these were imports. The rest were from our own studios. According to our ratings, it tallies up thusly: More than half of our own product were rated FAIR. About 45% came through as GOOD. Fifteen films were downright POOR. The imports, like the tribe of Abou ben Adhem, continue to increase in number. We dealt with 23 that merited attention, considering the number of our subscribers who operate art theatres. These imports were almost evenly divided between the FAIR and the GOOD. A few of the foreign films were POOR. Conrlunlonn on Profit Sldv »/ Ledger Can you draw any conclusions from this rundown at the halfway mark? We'd say, yes! We'd say that box officeward the season, thus far, hasn't been a bad one. It may not send most exhibitors to the bank loaded down with huge profits. But, it should not have been a discouraging one (return-wise) as we measure the results right now. The studios are not falling behind on their late August promises of delivering their promised product. If one or two distributors are finding the economic going a little rough, they'll come out of it. Exhibitor support will rally to those who need it to get over that temporary hump. Exhibitors are endowed with inner sympathies that may not always show up on the outside. But, if there's a cause that needs their rallying they won't be found wanting. Give the theatre operator a half-way decent chance to make his rightful share of the profits that accrue from a money-making film, and he will come through with his measure of substantial appreciation. Exhibitor-respect has kept pace with the ever-onward march of our industry. All in all, the half-way mark gone by of the current season was quite heartening. Let's hope that the second half will prove to be even a much brighter one for all factors in the industry. With Washington promising a more improved economy, in the months ahead, the ingenuity of film industry operation won't find us without sharing in this extra margin of a public's free spending money. As a better economy walks hand-inhand with a happier way of life ours will be the residue of increased visits to the movie theatre. your metropolitan daily sometimes. That for all of Broadway's woes, it has at least one thing to be thankful for. The New York columnists syndicate an image to the reading public (so many millions of which are movie-goers) that is not scooped up out of the ugly dishpan of Broadway's prophetic reality. The eastern brigade is still kind to the aging, dilapidated Old Lady.