Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

58 MOTION PICTURE HERALD May 2 3, 1931 LOCAL APPEAL AND CIVIC CONTACTS! By NAT HOLT City Manager, Fox Theatres Wichita, Kansas WHEN a man manages two or three million dollars worth of property in a town of a hundred thousand population, is the head of an organization of a hundred or so employees, with a payroll running over $20,000 a year — employees who are in weekly contact with between thirty and fifty per cent of the total population of the city — that man needs must be a public figure in his city. Such places fall to the lot of very few men in the ordinary American city of the size mentioned. There are, of course, the city officials themselves, the heads of the public service companies, and, last but not least, the manager of a group of circuit theatres. This latter individual is — or should be — as important as the former ones named, for what organization or factor in community life is more at the constant service of the public than the motion picture theatre? Truly, it has become a part of our daily life, and it ministers to a need that is taken care of, in mass numbers, but no other means — the need for relaxation and entertainment at a price everyone can afford. I did not realize the multiplicity of public demands that can be made upon a theatre manager in such a location, or the necessity for civic contacts to maintain such a position properly until I came to Wichita, Kansas, a year ago, from San Francisco. I had managed one theatre in Frisco, a big one, but my field was necessarily restricted. In Wichita I had four on my hands, four large down town houses and one suburban house in a high class residential district. In Frisco, while I had a wide acquaintance, it was largely among the newspaper boys, the men in my own business, the police and city hall bunch — the sort of friendships which can do a theatre man the most good in a big town. In Wichita I soon found that citizens belonging to this group played a very small part in the life of the community ; that the large majority of the populaiton took its cue of conduct from the churches, the civic clubs, the re One of Holt's Attractive Lobby Display Pieces Nat Holt is the City Manager for the Fox Theatres in Wichita, Kansas, and we are paying no idle compliment when we say that he ranks with the foremost theatre managers in the country. Mr. Holt is NOT a story-writer, that's why his article may never win a prize, but he IS a showman and therefore knows what he is talking about. Nat Holt did not seek us out, on the contrary, we sought him and kept on his trail until he finally consented to tell us a little about the fine work being accomplished at the theatres under his direction. What he has to say in this story is straight-f rom-the-shoulder and should be Tiighty interesting to every showman who is a showman. We are grateful to him for this courtesy and hope that his interesting activities continue to be a feature of our Club pages. "CHICK" tail merchants association and the business leaders associated with the chamber of commerce. Even politics, under a city manager form of government, was not a matter of party alignment, but largely denominational feeling. I don't suppose I would have realized this sectional differences so quickly if I hadn't been drawn into the vortex of a Sunday theatre fight within a month after I hit Wichita. Now, I had always regarded a theatre on Sunday the same as I had looked at it on Tuesday — except that Sunday was the day when you had the biggest crowds. In Wichita it was brought home to me with a wallop that to open a theatre on Sunday was not only morally wrong, desecrated the Sabbath and fed the youth of the town into all sorts of licentious practices — but violated an ancient state law — adopted in 1867 — as well. Our battle was to remove a city ordinance which prohibited Sunday opening, since this antiquated state law was only a labor statute, never invoked against anything but theatres. Pointing out the unfairness of such discriminatory interpretation of the law, we directed our campaign along the line of fairness and personal liberty, and by newspaper advertising, personal electioneering, radio speeches, and every sort of publicity we could employ, we convinced a majority of the population that they shouldn't let a hypocritical minority tell them how they should spend their leisure time. The campaign was a wonderful experience for me. and I profited by what I had learned. I saw the necessity for establishing and maintaining the right sort of civic contacts, realizing that any animosities which remained after such a spirited battle would have to be remedied by myself, as head of the theatre group which was popularly supposed to have inspired and carried on the fight. Carefully I laid my plans. I made it a point to meet the pastors of the important churches, convince them that I was not their competitor, offered the facilities of the theatres to help them in any of their church enterprises. I became a member of the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce; help ed the retailers in several of their civic schemes and soon was made a director of the Retail Merchants Association. I was elected to membership on the Red Cross board and made chairman of publicity. I gave free shows for various charitable purposes, aided the Community Chest in its annual campaign, used the theatre screens in the Red Cross relief drives, the Christmas Seal fund. All this activity brought much publicity of a commendatory nature, and within a short time many who had opposed us on the Sunday issue discovered that I wasn't such a bad fellow after all, and really had spirit that could be directed along lines of public service as well as lines that led only to the box office. The natural result, of course, was that one line did lead to the other. Our business has shown a healthy growth during the year I have been in Wichita, and I know that public service has had its share in this increase as well as showmanship. All other things aside, showmanship is, of course, the most important factor in a theatremans' success. After all, except for some differences in temperament due to geography, people are pretty much the same the world over. And they will succumb to the same methods of showmanship in one spot that will fall for in another. Good programs, properly advertised, and properly presented in clean, attractive, comfortable theatres, will bring in the customers. To keep them coming, their confidence must never be abused. Keep your advertising clean. It can be clean and still be effective. Dress up your lobbies, and change the fi.xed decorations before they become shoddy. Vary your poster style, so t^at every production won't look alike to the passerby. Use your marquee for something else than just a roof to keep the rain of? the sidewalk. Don't over-exploit a poor program simply to show a profit for that one week. Over-exploitation is liable to place you in the positjon of the boy who cried "wolf!" once too often. When everything is dramatic, nothing is dramatic. Urge upon cashiers, doormen and ushers that so far as the public is concerned they are the Blank Theatre. Sugar draws more flies than vinegar, and the cashier's smiling "How many, please?" the doorman's polite salute and the usher's solicitous attention are remembered long after a poor picture is forgotten. The patron will never see that picture again, but he'll meet those same employees time after time. All these things are the things that every showman knows, but it doesn't come amiss to have them recalled to his attention now and then. And if he persists in their practice, makes and keeps himself favorably known in his community, lets nothing in his personal conduct ever reflect on his business, he can't help but succeed. HOLT'S NEWSPAPER ADVT. On the opposite page we are reproducing some of the newspaper ads used by Holt. You will note many unusual angles to this portion of his merchandising and some of them are outstanding. They are typical of his other fine showmanship methods and have attracted wide attention In and around Wichita.