Harrison's Reports (1962)

Entered as second-class matter January 1321, at the post ofii :e .1! N'ew York, New York, under the act 01 March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: Published Weekly by United States $17.00 Harrison's Reports, Inc., U. S. Insular Possessions... 19.00 Canada and Mexico 19.00 A Motlon picture Reviewing Service 1600 Broadway Other Countries 19.50 New York 19, N. Y. 45c a Copy Devoted Chiefly to the Interest* of the Bxhtbitors COlumbua 6-4434 Established July 1, 1919 Martin Starr, Editor A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XLIV SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1962 No. 11 Press Conference Outside of the business of government, there is hardly an industry that makes as much use of the "press conference" as does the motion picture. Play ing it big and often are production and distribution. The third leg of the industrial tripod, exhibition, doesn't make as much use of this journalistic imple' ment as do the other two. There isn't a week that the trade press isn't called in for several of these press conferences. Producers launching what they think are important films; moviemakers having completed what they are now sure are big money makers; company presidents; distribution heads; old hands at the business of making films launching new projects, they all serve as protagonists in these journalistic dramas. To be sure, they are all launched with serious intent. Each in his own, innocent way of thinking is quite sure that what he is saying will be of importance to the film industry, especially the exhibitor. More wordage is aimed at this valuable bird of prey (the man who presents the movies in the theatres of the nation) than the buckshot of happy hunters at the rich plumage of open season in the hills and valleys of the land of abundance. That much of the lineage that finally finds it way into the trade fonts is of importance to the exhibitor, there can be no doubt. That some of it may be lost because of moment-crammed schedules of busy theatre operators is regrettable. But, the press conference continues to be the handiest device of getting your story across to the rest of the trade. If it continues to be a rather important implement it's because of the manner in which the trade press treats these calls to duty. All Nature of Press Conferences Whether preceded by a sumptuous luncheon atop of some mammoth skyscraper where the cocktail prelude is protocol, or held in the executive offices of the boss-man, the trade corps always responds with a professional obeisance that does the host proud. When the top names are slated to make the statements, most of the trade editors themselves go along with their reporters. While the latter does the story, his boss may sometimes find reason to hammer out an editorial where the personal opinion can be dealt with away from the straight news. Since most of the interviewees represent companies that are advertisers in these trade journals, it can be said, makes for one of the main reasons for the allout press coverage. It should be remembered however, that that is not always the case. Many a small advertiser, and a few who have no budgets for any kind of a showing in the trades, are not bypassed when they (Continued on Back, Page) Exhibs Take Up Osir Cry With the recent completion of "State Fair" the talk began gathering momentum at the 20th Century-Fox home office, that practically all of the upper echelon, especially those of the sales department, were for putting the Rodgers and Hammerstein melody play out on the road as a hard-ticket property. The talk not only reached the man from Harrison's Reports, but many exhibitors. The latter lost no time in expressing their disappointment. It was so bitter that it almost bordered on loss of faith in Spyros P. Skouras, boss-man of the company. A fortnight ago, in an article in this paper, we relayed these exhibitor feelings adding a few of our own. The other day, C. Glenn Norris, as general sales manager of 20th-Fox, made Harrison's Re* ports feel as if we helped score a victory against the hard-ticket situation because of the effect our story against the practice had on exhibitor-subscribers. Norris Quotes Story in This Paper Said Norris to us: "During the few days following the appearance of Harrison's Reports' commentary apropos hard-ticket policy for 'State Fair' numerous exhibitors called and agreed that 'State Fair' is defi(Continued on Page 43) Cold, Commercial Plugs in Films We've spoken about this in our reviews on many an occasion. Two of the nation's most popular soft drinks are the beneficiary of bold plugs, in films, that should be worth big money to the manufacturers. The trade-marks, in all manner of design are sometimes brought right up close to the cameras . . . All this, (repeated so often of late) can't be just by sheer accident. To be sure, the billposters and the splicers employed by the soft-drink companies are all over hammering, pasting, inserting the well-known sell-slogans of their employers. On occasion, a camera may spoil a realistic scene if it didn't pick up the "commercial." But, there's been too much of this commercialism, of late . . . One is almost ready to say much of it may be by design. It has brought forth complaints from not only the exhibitors, but observant film reporters on newspapers. There's been some films that have even woven cold, commercial plugs into the dialogue. The individual producers of these films with their commercial plugs have too little to gain (via the alleged "payola") compared to how much movies, as a whole, has got to lose if this practice is not blacked out, pronto!