Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1946)

EDITORIAL Vol. 14, No. 18 September 2. 1946 Page Five BULLETIN An Independent Motion Picture Trade Paper published every other Monday by Film Bulletin Company. Mo Wax. Editor and Publisher. BUSINESS OFFICE: 509 RKO Building, Rockefeller Center, N. Y. 20. COIumbus 5-2125. PUBLICATIONEDITORIAL OFFICES: 1239 Vine Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa., Rlttenhouse 6-7424; Barney Stein, Publication Manager; Isabelle Weener, Circulation Manager; Bruce Gallup, Business Manager; Frank Leyendecker, Staff Representative. HOLLYWOOD OFFICE: 8580 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood 46, Calif., CRestvlew 6-2061; Sara Salzer, David Hanna. Subscription Rate: ONE YEAR. $3.00 in the United States; Canada, $4.00; Europe, $5.00. TWO YEARS, $5.00 in the United States; Canada, $7.50; Europe, $9.00. WHO'S KILLING SHOWMANSHIP? The story in a recent issue of that esteemed trade journal, "Variety", observed that "Lack of showmanship being displayed by exhibitors in selling the films playing their houses is starting to seriously disturb distributor execs . . .What's particularly bothering the distribs is that exhibitors will have completely lost their sense of showmanship when income begins to level off in a few years ..." The story quoted one publicity-advertising chief of a major company as saying that conditions in the theatre advertising field are bound to improve — because they couldn't be worse! Why? Why, in the face of the knowledge that exploitation would bring more money to their boxoffices, has there been a steady diminution in exhibitor showmanship in late years? We cannot accept the answer that the war boom is responsible. Undoubtedly it has been a factor, but it is not reasonable to assume that business men are unwilling to make more money. We point to a more logical reason — percentage pictures. There is a school of thought in the distributor ranks which maintains that the only solution to the problem of film rentals is the straight percentage basis. Students of this school argue that the true value of a picture can be based only on the gross business it brings. Any other price is arbitrary, they say, and liable to be unfair either to the distributor or the exhibitor. This impresses one, at first glance, as a most persuasive point. It seems almost to wrap and dispose of the issue of film prices. But it doesn't, actually. There are other factors, among them showmanship, that make out a strong case againsv percentage terms. A percentage of the theatre's gross is not necessarily a fair rental for a picture. To the contrary, it might be grossly unfair. The question immediately arises: who is to decide what a fair percentage would be? Since the distributors arrogate to themselves the arbitrary right to fix percentages, the odds are against the exhibitor getting a fair shake. What would be a fair percentage for one theatre, might be wholly unreasonable for another theatre. It is quite possible to have a 35 or 40 percent picture show a loss for the exhibitor while showing a handsome rental for the film company. What with the rising costs of theatre operation in recent years, this has not been an uncommon occurrence. Exhibitors, for a long time, have been complaining abou: the overallocation evil. Some of the distributors have grossly abused their customers by allocating better grade program pictures in the 40 percent bracket, simply because they had nothing better in the block being offered. One company, in particular, has incurred the ill will of theatremen everywhere by its unreasonable and ruthless attitude in this respect. All the while they have been stepping up the number of percentage pictures and the percentage terms, the distributors have been unable to fathom why exhibitors are doing less and less advertising. There has been plenty of criticism levelled at the theatremen, without mention of the reason for their seeming ennui. Consider their position. We have heard enough operators of small and medium size theatres tell their financial problems to be convinced that many, many of them show no profit on 40 percent terms. When they are required to hand over to the fiim company 35 or 40 cents out of every gross dollar brought to the boxoffice, they certainly are not going to spend 100 cents of each dollar to advertise the picture. Furthermore, they will tell you, by boosting the gross on the percentage pictures, they are inviting increased prices on the pictures they are still able to buy on outright terms. In our economic system, a man is supposed to be entitled to the fruits of his labor, fairly done, but percentage playing time in film business has brought about a condition where most of the fruit of the exhibitor's labor would go to the film company. This is the human element in the problem of diminishing exhibitor showmanship, and it cannot be ignored. As a matter of fact, one enlightened distribution executive, William F. Rodgers of Metro, appears to be aware of the (Continued on Page 24)