The Exhibitor (1966)

The Trade Paper Read by Choice— Not by Chance Founded in 1918. Published weekly except first issue in January and first issue in September by Jay Emanuel Publications, Incorporated. General offices at 317 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107. Publishing office at 10 McGovern Ave., Lancaster, Pa. 17604. New York field office: 1600 Broadway, Suite 604, New York 10019, West Coast field office: William M. Schary, 818 S. Curson Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., 90036, London Bureau: Jock MacGregor, 16 Leinster Mews, London, W. 2, England. Jay Emanuel, publisher and gen. mgr.: Albert Erlick, editor; George Frees Nonamaker, feature editor; Mel Konecoff, New York editor; Albert J. Martin, advertising manager; Max Cades, business manager. Subscriptions: $2 per year (50 issues); and outside of the United States, Canada and Pan-American countries, $5 per year (50 issues). Special rates for two and three years on application. Single copy 250. Second class postage paid at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ad¬ dress all official communications to the Philadelphia offices. Telephone: Area Code 215, WAInut 2-1860. CHANGING ADDRESS? Please send old and new address. If possible include address portion of old mailing wrapper. Volume 76 • No. 1 1 October 26, 1966 Our 48th Year EXHIBITOR IN This industry has a rare talent for taking an excellent idea and then running it into the ground. Some bright fellows dug up a number of old features and some rather inexpensive foreign-made product with special appeal for kids and booked them into selected theatres for multiple engagements on a particular Saturday and Sunday matinee. The results exceeded their fondest expectations. Backed by extensive cooperative ads in newspapers, radio and television, such programs grossed very well indeed, even when one con¬ siders the 50 per cent sales terms involved. Now some of the boys apparently are feeling their oats. We understand that certain companies engaged in this kind of operation have decided to cut back on the big advertising cam¬ paigns that launched earlier films so well. Of course, they have no intention of cutting back the 50 per cent terms to theatres. Based on our own broad experience in theatre operation, we would advise exhibitors to be wary in setting up future deals of this sort. Despite high-toned promises and threatened law suits, many of these matinee distributors appear to be on rather shaky ground when it comes to clearing dates for these engagements. There is an understandable reluctance on the part of major film companies, who still provide the bulk of film to theatres, A LESSON FROM We admit to the fact that we wear two hats here at MO¬ TION PICTURE EXHIBITOR. In addition to publishing a trade paper for nearly half a century, we have also operated theatres for even longer than that. There are some striking similarities between the two activities. Take the subject of advertising. We note that when a film company tells a theatre that it has decided not to engage in any cooperative advertising for the engagement of a particular picture, chances are it is a real clinker. Of course, there is an¬ other consideration as well. In a seller’s market and in the grip of a product shortage, the buyer has no choice but to take what is available at whatever terms are required. The decline in cooperative advertising at the theatre level may be equated to a corresponding decline in film advertising as far as the trade press is concerned. The majority of film companies have cut back, and this could also be considered a result of a lack of confidence in product and a high-handed attitude brought on by the fact that theatres must buy what¬ ever is offered to them in today’s market anyway. It is an unhealthy situation and one that is fraught with danger. One of the major industries in this country is the auto „ STRAITJACKET to see their pictures arbitrarily chopped from Saturday and Sunday matinee schedules to make room for these kiddie programs. It is one thing if the regularly booked film is of such an adult nature that it can not be seen by family audiences. With such a situation, exhibitors would do well to make sure a clause in their contract offers them the opportunity to replace the pic¬ ture with more suitable fare for Saturday and Sunday matinees. On the other hand, if the picture being played is not unfit for the family trade, it seems to us that the distributor has every right to protect his property and to insist that his film be shown for the full engagement specified in the contract, including all matinee showings. In either case, the exhibitor is in real danger of taking a legal beating should he bounce film off his screen without definite permission to do so in his contract. There is more involved here than simply the right of a dis¬ tributor to have his film played by theatres choosing to do so. If a battle is shaping up between distributors of matinee films and major distributors, the exhibitor could be caught squarely in the middle. Unless he protects himself by making sure every¬ thing pertinent to his operation is covered in his contract, he could well find himself in a straitjacket where every move he makes is the wrong one. GENERAL MOTORS industry. Here, too, some years are better than others. Some¬ times, the demand exceeds the supply, and dealers can’t keep up with orders. At other times, showrooms are full, and the buyers are nowhere to be found. Auto industry advertising, however, does not fluctuate wildly from good year to bad. The industry knows it is in busi¬ ness for many years to come, and that the pendulum will swing back the other way. The important thing is to keep the sales message before the public and the enthusiasm of dealers run¬ ning high. That is the job that advertising can accomplish. Too many people in the motion picture industry act as though the industry were going to disappear shortly. They refuse to look beyond the moment, with the result that every fluctuation is allowed to destroy what has previously been built up, and the selling job has to be done over and over again from scratch. The theatremen are the dealers in motion pictures. If their enthusiasm for their product declines, it is a cinch that public enthusiasm will disappear as well. When it comes to trade advertising and cooperative adver¬ tising, the motion picture industry could learn a valuable lesson from General Motors.