The Exhibitor (1966)

A LONG LOOK AT SHORT SUBJECTS IF you were to ask a theatregoer as he entered a movie house just what he expected to get for his money, chances are he would answer “entertainment.” It is an all-embracing term, and it probably means something quite different to every indi¬ vidual. We go to the movies to be informed, to be amused, to escape from our troubles, or to be made more aware of the world around us. Some theatregoers seek realism in their screen fare and some shun it. Rather than a single motion picture audi¬ ence, we are faced with an infinite number of audiences, each seeking something different and none realizing just what it is they seek until after they have found it. The process of satisfying these entertainment needs and ful¬ filling the expectations of each theatregoer is the challenge that faces exhibitors every day of the year. There are certain crowd¬ pleasing attractions that figure to please large numbers of the potential theatre audience, but these sure-fire hits are rela¬ tively few. The theatreman can’t always control everything that goes on his screen, and even if he could, it is likely that he would have a difficult time making all the right decisions. When dealing in something as fickle as the public’s enter¬ tainment tastes, there are simply too many variables. What the intelligent theatreman does, therefore, is to try to balance his show to widen its range of appeal. He has learned through a difficult history of trial and error that the average moviegoer seems best pleased by a show so many minutes in length (fill in the appropriate numbers from your own experience) . He knows the length of his feature film, and what is left is his maneuvering room in which to “balance” his screen offering. Available to him are a great variety of short subjects from a great variety of film sources. Hopefully, he is doing some¬ thing more than merely booking seven or 17 or 27 minutes. He is using information that only he possesses— a knowledge of his particular audience — to add something meaningful to his film program. He has analyzed the strong and weak points of his feature film and attempted to complement it as much as possible with the remainder of his program. If he does any¬ thing less than this, he is short-changing his audience and proving that not all exhibitors can be classified as showmen. Despite an increasing number of roadshow attractions, most film programs in most territories are still either double-feature in nature or a combination of a feature film and “selected” short subjects. Unfortunately, it seems that short subjects are viewed with greater regard in other countries than they are in the United States. If so, we are the losers. Many new and exciting things are being done in this country and all over the ever-shrinking world in the field of the short subject. Experiments are possible in the shorts field that would be unthinkable and frightfully expensive if adapted to feature films. There is a world-wide sense of excitement about the educational, informational, and entertainment possibilities of movies, and nowhere is it more evident than in the area of short subjects. The wise theatreman will stay abreast of these developments and bring these new developments to his audi¬ ence. A theatregoer may be in search of that nebulous product called “entertainment,” and he may not be able to define it. However, it is equally true that he knows very well when he 8 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR November 30, 1966