International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1954)

DISTRIBUTION THE GREAT OCTOPI? (Continued from page 17) so-called epic or million-dollar-budget pictures is there a future in production and a basis for substantial profit. I say to you now that this is not so. Medium or lowbudgeted pictures, well planned, well exploited have been and will continue to be successful. Creai'ive Ability the Only Payoff You may say to me that it is all very well for me to talk this way, but how can we, as individual groups, or as individuals, produce motion pictures and get the finished product delivered to your theatres? It has been done, it is being done, and more of it must be done. Here in this very room is creative talent, the creative genius of our industry. You may need financial support. Bankers and theatre owners are ready, willing and able to back you for the appropriate talent, the proper story and the fresh approach. Pay no attention to the malicious and untruthful statements by distribution that exhibition plays an unimportant role in the motion picture world. Do you know that exhibitors in the United States have an investment of billions of dollars in their plants as against a far, far smaller investment by all of the production and distribution elements combined? Your contribution, your investment, and your rewards are at stake, too. Should we not work together on a cooperative basis to the end that we may build more securiy and a more prosperous industry? "Phony'' Overhead Means Prohibitive Costs The phony overhead and the prohibitive costs of distribution must be reduced and changed. Existing methods are chaotic and will not do. You have given us new ideas, new thoughts. We, in turn, are daily developing new and better ways of theatre management and of showmanship. It is essential that from this time on there be a positive, strong, well planned, co-operative effort between you and the theatre owners. If there be some doubt in your minds as to the need as I have stated it concerning our real desire to cooperate, you have but to leave the enchantment of your Hollywood backyard and visit, with me, as I have these many months, the small and the large cities of America, speak with the theatre owner and with the man on the street concerning the place and the prominence that Hollywood-made movies have in the American way of life. I remind you that the only direct tie you have with the box-office line of America is the theatre manager who is at that line 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. He tells you that the goal of production and distribution must be a steady flow of good product adequate for proper operation of the country's theatres. a i s 1 THE PRIMi^LEHi^ ISSTItLTHE HEART OF YOUR PROJECTION SYSTEM ! Since the advent of CinemaScope hundreds of progressive theatre operators have equipped their projec "" tors with Hilux and Super-Lite projection lenses — for use "■■■■; as prime lenses with their anamorphic attachments. •', Your patrons, too, will appreciate the superior quality that over • 30 years of lens craftsmanship have engineered into the Hilux //1.8 and Super-Lite lenses. PROJECTION OPTICS CO., INC. 330 Lyell Ave., Rochester, N. Y. GLenwood 3993 28 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • AUGUST 1954