The Exhibitor (1957)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 11 As A Theatreman (Continued from preceding page) otherwise damage them with unfair com¬ petition. This latter can be considered sort of a shade of gray, rather than pure black, for it often stems from stupidity and one day such dopes are certain to be caught. Equally stupid because they are settling for a short-term profit while creating a long-term industry cancer are: (a) the price cutters, with their brilliant show¬ manship that wouldn’t do credit to a six-year-old mind, who promote “dollara-family nite,” “dollar-a-car nite,” “three features for one admission,” “dusk-todawn shows” with five and six features, and all other bushel basket gimmicks; (b) the sex and sensationalism peddlers, who will show anything, and make even wilder than actual claims in their adver¬ tising; and (c) the “passion pit” operators, who don’t care what goes on inside of their joints so long as it shows them a profit. And last but not least of the evils that we as theatremen create for ourselves is the failure to do our level best to exploit each and every show, and to keep our physical theatre and its equipment in tip-top modern and inviting shape. All of this could be developed into a full-fledged talk of its own, but time doesn’t permit. Now I come to my concluding point. 5. THE ROAD AHEAD As a theatreman myself I wish I could stand up before you today and paint a rosy picture of big grosses and small film costs. I can’t. When your Mr. Lider asked me to come up here he expressed the wish that I would keep my remarks on an optimistic plane. I replied that if that should be a requirement then I couldn’t accept. To his credit, and to that of Allied, he was quick to remove any thought of such restrictions, and to ex¬ tend to me complete freedom. I can’t for the life of me understand the purpose that motivates Eric Johnston to make his optimistic statements about increasing business during the very months of this year when our boxoffice grosses were lower than the proverbial “belly” of an eel. Of course, he has the advantage of being the “All-American Salesman,” which gets him a good press and liberal quotes if he only yawns. And I suppose his “talking up” doesn’t do any actual harm. But it is hard to take when you know it is just a lot of malarky. And that’s just what it was when he made such a statement during the first five months of this year. With few ex¬ ceptions, reports from all sections of the country point to 10 per cent to 15 per cent below 1956, so if you are better than that I — count your blessings! Using local legislatures to eliminate the industry use of “dark checking” won’t { help this situation. It may provide some dishonest theatremen with a “license to steal,” or what may more aptly be de¬ scribed as “an insurance policy against getting caught”; but that situation won’t be permanent and you can bet that dis¬ tributors will either insist on stiff “front money” guarantees or put their own treasurers in the boxoffices in order to insure that they get their full share of June 12, 1957 Johnston Is Reelected As MPEA President NEW YORK — At the regular annual meeting of the hoard of directors of the Motion Picture Export Association of America last week the following officers were elected unanimously for the ensuing year: Eric Johnston, president; Ralph Hetzel, vice-president; Kenneth W. Clark, vice-president; G. Griffith Johnson, vice-president; Irving A. Maas, vicepresident; Robert J. Corkery, vicepresident; Sidney Schreiger, secretary Stanley R. Weber, treasurer; Herbert J. Erlanger, assistant secretary and assistant treasurer; Thomas J. Mc¬ Namara, assistant treasurer. Obscenity Conviction Upset Boston — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last week ruled that “Garden Of Eden,” nudist colony film, was not obscene as a matter of law; and thus overturned the convictions of Antone T. Moniz, projectionist, and Benja¬ min Rogers, salesman, who were found guilty of exhibiting the allegedly obscene film at the Embassy, Fall River, last fall. each percentage engagement. The boys from Arkansas and Texas better celebrate while they can for you can be sure it will be short lived. Neither do we think that field surveys and analysis of the number of people who didn’t show up to buy tickets will help this situation. I understand that Mr. Sindlinger is due to speak to you today. I have heard him before and I know you will find him interesting. But I have al¬ ways felt that for surveys such as his to be helpful the “how many” people don’t come is pointless. What we need is the “why” people don’t come. And then the energy and ability to do something about it. Confusing all thinking, and distracting attention from our plans for the future, is the ridiculous but always possible prospect of Toll-TV. I say ridiculous be¬ cause should the F.C.C. give approval to such a charge for the use of the air waves it would be contrary to all concepts of public ownership and free use. And it seems silly to suppose that sizeable quan¬ tities of the public would pay to see even the best pictures on their 21 inch or smaller TV sets. But Toll-TV is always there, just over the hill, as a shadowy boogey-man that scares theatremen. TollMovies piped from the theatre is also a pretty expensive proposition the way we hear it — but it will stand watching. Pi'obably the most pleasant thing that is happening today is the boxoffice gross being hung up by a little picture called “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.” I say little because there are really only two people in it, they aren’t the biggest boxoffice names capable of carrying any old feature, and John Huston though a top director has never been known to carry a show. It’s not a problem show, or a rock ’n’ roll, or a science fiction, or a juvenile delin¬ quency then%e, and it doesn’t even boast of a big bosomed blonde. It’s just a clean, off-beat little story, that is interesting Crown Leaves AA, Forms Own Company New York — Steve Broidy, president of Allied Artists, last week announced the resignation of Alfred Crown as a vicepresident of the corporation. Crown, whose resignation is effective immediately, has formed a partnership with Morris Helprin for the production of motion pictures for theatrical and tele¬ vision presentation. Their new organiza¬ tion, to be known as Barbizon Productions Corporation, will be located in New York City. Broidy, in a personal message to Crown, stated, “I regret very much the loss of your services, but naturally, I am happy that you are getting to do the things you want to do. May I take this oppor¬ tunity to extend my gratitude for your efforts on behalf of Allied Artists and my very best wishes for success in your undertaking.” Eckman Joins Schaefer New York — Sam Eckman, Jr., has be¬ come associated with George J. Schaefer to supervise the sales in the United King¬ dom and Ireland of the films produced by Stanley Kramer, Otto Preminger, Henry Fonda, and other important producers. and has been well sold, and the public took to it even in those early spring weeks when no other distributor would venture to release any of their supposedly big pictures. But Fox released “Mr. Allison” during those supposedly lousy weeks, and “Mr. Allison” did great in the first-runs. Right now, in the first of sub-runs and driveins, it is clobbering them. This is healthy. This is escapist stuff. This is the kind of thing this business of ours was good at doing. But forgot. (At this point, Mr. Emanuel left his text to commend Spyros Skouras and 20th-Fox for their ambitious production plans and the fairness they display in their dealings with exhibitor customers.) While I termed this last point “THE ROAD AHEAD,” maybe I made a mistake in bothering to look that way. Maybe what we need is a return to fundamen¬ tals. Maybe we should stick to our knit¬ ting and keep turning out America’s best and cheapest entertainment delivered in the most modern retail establishments. Maybe we should let TV keep those arty “Eloises,” quiz shows, message stories, and comedians, because the people who are satisfied with that stuff on their 21 inch or smaller screens probably wouldn’t be our customers anyway. Let’s not forget that “Mr. Allison” is not a blockbuster — but it’s doing OK. I may be prejudiced, but as I look around I don’t see any other trade paper publishers, so as long as you invited me up here to talk, maybe you agree with me. In any event, I’m proud to state that MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR has the largest theatre circulation of any trade paper in New England, so there must be somebody up here who likes us. I want to thank the committee com¬ posed of Nate Yamins, Mickey Redstone, and Ed Lider for inviting me up. It’s been a pleasure to renew old acquaintances with many of you and an equal pleasure to make a lot of new friends.