Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1947)

Goldwyii Qualified To Defend Advanced Admissiom SIMON ^^^^^P With all the controversy ^^^^^H raging in the industry ^^^^^H about the issue of ad^^^^^m vanced admission prices on special pictures (dis^^^^^H tributors pro, exhibitors ^^^B con), theatremen geneially agree that the one man in the industry reali% ly qualified to defend the idea is Samuel Goldwyn. , f The consistency of his product down thru the years has been unmatched by any other producer or studio, they admit, and he. therefore, has some justice to his argument. However, the overwhelming majority of exhibitors are unalterably opposed to hiking their admission scales, regardless of the quality of, any picture, and they maintain that no studio turning out a flock of features each year, many of them mediocre or poor, cm justify a demand for higher adm'ssion prices for its one top picture. Many exhibitors contend that the public may b3 willing to pay, but they are boiling mad about it after they do. THE NEW LOOK. . . Mike Simons, M-G-M's assistant rsl tions chief, talked cold turkey to exhibitors at the W. Va. TO convention, in Charleston, when he plu^jged "specialized selling" of films as th& "new mode"', the talisman that's going tJ make "plenty of exhibitors richer in 1948 '. "The exhibitor who sells any picture short because of a preconceived notion that it won't do business is going to rob himself of profits in the months to come," said Simons. "The day when a general announcement of the program — that your theatra will be open — is gone, maybJ forever, c:rtainly to the likely benefit of th? industry," he added. The public is getting choosy and they're being tempted by other entertainment mediums and the showman who can make a careful study of a picture's entertainment values and plug the same, can take a picture that "does only fair business in one theatre and make it a record buster in another." MILES OF FOOD... The Friendship Food Train, almo:t three-quarters of a mile long, bearing millions of pounds of foodstuffs for hungry Europe, arrived in NY last week to a tumultuous reception with the top civic and industry leaders in stellar evidence. Mort Blumenstock, WB v. p. and ad-publicity head, represented national chairman Harry M. Warner as he outlined the basic concepts of the Train to an audience that inclu'ied Mayor O'Dwyer, UN delegate Warren Austin and other luminaries. . .An apt note was sounded by the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Assn., when they announced that their next annual dinner will be "dinnerless" with proceeds from the ticket sales to go to purchase food for the Train... Eric Johnston sends word that the MPAAs "Power Behind the Nation" looks like it will set an all-time national high in the two-reeler field. Eight thousand contracts in the first 60 days, indicating a play-off in 15,000 theatres, says Johnston, prophesying repeat bookings in many theatres. FOR KIDS ONLY. . .Eagle-Lion has employed a neat switch in invitational premieres with the bow of "Red Stallion " at the Gotham in New York, Nov. 26. With the invitation reading, "adults may attend only if accompanied by a child", the affair has beefn angled at the kids, with an ice-cream-^and-cake "cocktail" party and reception at Cafe Society Upown preceding th© showing. Parents will be seated in the side sections, with uniformed matrons on hand to make sure the adults' exurberant whistl ng and stamping do not disturb the youngsters' enjojTnent of the film . . .Paramount got an assist from the astral forces on Nov. 12 an 1 took advantage of the partial eclipse to film the famous sequenc® for "A Connecticut Yankee", the Crosby Technicolor starrer. UP AND ABOUT. . .William Ard goes into the assistant ad mgr. post at Warner Bros., under Gilbert Golden .. .Jack Chinell has been upped to manager of RKO Radio's Buffalo branch, succeeding Elmer Lux, resigned. Chinell has been with the company in Buffalo for 15 years. . . A. W. Schwalberg, Eagle-Lion sales chief, announced the appointment last week of Edward Heiber to Chicago district manager, succeeding the recently resigned Max Roth. Heiber held branch and district manager posts with Universal previously. . .Two new SRO sales representatives are Schuyler Beatty, with Paramour t for 17 y.a-s, goes into the Albany territory, and Douglas McLsod will head SRO sales in the Boston area. . .Arthur Greenblatt his arrived in New York to open a sales office for Sc.een G lild, foUowmg his appointment t3 an executive sa'es posit. on by SG's gene;'El tales chief, F. A. Bateman. IN THE LIMELIGHT. . Ted R. Gamble, TOA praxy and Northwest circuit operator, was recipient of a sprig of liurel from the Picture Pioneers for his aid to the Govemmsnt as War Finance Division director and hi* current job as consultant to the Treasury Dipt, anl the President's Food Conserv. fon Commit?e. Similar scrolls of honor went to Adolph Zukor and George Jesse'. Zukor, "dean of motion pictures," revealed details of a permanent m. p. museum housing memorabili i of the industry from its li:c option at the Pioneers' annual shindig, their eighth. . . The Motion Picture Foundation his woxml up its organization of all of the 31 exch'^nge areas and has scheduled its initial meetinj; of the Board of Trustees for Dec. 8-9 at NY's Hotel Aster, it was revea'eJ by Barney Balaban, Coordinating Committee chairman, cli nax ng the gigantic launching of the all-industry group last December ui New Orleans. . .The Astor will be the scene, also, for the NY metropolitan area fund-raising drive exHb tors' conf Jb to m?et the $325,C00 entertainment industries quota in the $15,030,000 Fsderation of Jewish Philanthropies campain. Chiirman Sij Fabian presides at the Nov. 25th meeting. REALART REAL GOOD ..R;alart's D imon Run on reissue cornbo, "Butch Minds the Baby" and "Tight Shoes", loppad off a nice chui k of its rece pts at its Gotham Thaatre op ning in NY to the Damon Runyon Memorial Fund. Realart will continue to send a percentage of the national gross to the anti-Cancer group. The Realart reissue combinations are going great guns in thei/ NY bows; with seven duos gracing the metropolitan ar a, all registering above the house average, ad-publicity director William B. Schulman reports. . .Astor prcxy Robert M. Sav'ni fired th3 opening gun in his "Sunset Carson ' western series with announcement of release of the first, "Sunset Carson Rides Again". GAMBLE THE FRONT PAGE ERIC JOHNSTON President, Motion Picture Association We wonder how many women, meeting him for the first time and vaguely aware of his connection with the movies, have remarked, "So. you're an aclor, Mr. Johnston!" The boss man of the MPA could readily pass for a film star, the Walter Pidgeon type, you know, for his youthful, bright countenance and slim, erect figure belie the approach of his 53rd birthday, come Ueccniber 21st. Born in Washington. D. C. of "very poor" parents. Eric was transplanted to Montan.i when he was a year old. His father, a pharmacist, died while the lad was in grade school and his mother found work in a physician's office, while Eric sold newspapers. The Marine Corps claimed Johnston from the University of Washington and 1918 found him with captain's rank on tour of duty with the legation guard in Peking, China. He was injured in Peking and. after spending a year in naval hospitals, returned to home in Spokane. His mother, meanwhile, had invested some inherited capital in a vacuum cleaner company, which was fast fading. Johnston went out on a dooi^to-door selling drive in which he exhibited the superb salesmanship for which he has since become famous. He put the company over, after which hf promotf-d some bank c^p'tnl and bought into a large electrical concern in Spokane. Eric Johnston, then at the age of 33, was embarked on the career that has made him one of the nation's foremost business leaders. From the presidency of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce he st<'pt)pd into the top spot with the National Chamber in 1942, a post he held for a record-breaking four years. In September, 1945, lie accepted the presidency of the Motion Picture Association, l)ecause. as he told a radio audience, of the "tremendous capacity of the mot'on picture to inform and enlighten." His real hol)l)ie.s are hard work and public speaking, and he is one of the most effective and sought-after speakers in the country. He married his high school sweetheart, Ina Harriet Hughes. NOVEMBER 24, 1947 9