Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1940)

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April 6, I 940 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 19 PRESS-FILM RELATIONS SEEN BETTER, BUT HIGH AD RATES ARE PROTESTED Comparatively Few Increases in Charges Recently Indicates Saturation Point Reached, Says Doob, as Appropriations Rise Relations of theatre men generally with newspapers are now considered cordial. Amusement advertising rates are still called too high and editorial cooperation not all that it could be, but now exhibitor leaders say motion picture affairs are running smoothly in the placing by the industry of some $80,000,000 annually in advertising. A year ago the attitude of the industry towards newspapers was summed up in an open letter which Arthur Schmidt of Loew's wrote to Editor and Publisher, newspaper trade journal. Theatre managers were called "stepchildren" in newspaper offices, lost somewhere between the business office and the editor's desk. At that time many film pages in newspapers were called slipshod. The amusement rates, which are considerably higher than department store and other commercial advertising prices, are always a subject of controversy, traced in part to the fact that national and local rates in different cities and rates in the same town vary without apparent reason. Few Rate Increases Oscar A. Doob, advertising and publicity director of Loew's theatres, said that "there have been comparatively few rate increases despite the increased cost of publication for newspapers, which indicates that they were getting all the traffic could bear." On the other hand, he added, "It is so seldom that amusement advertising rates are lowered that it could not be called a trend." The consolidation of newspapers has resulted in an over-all rate reduction in some cities. Over a hundred papers were consolidated or ceased publication last year. When two newspapers are merged the advertising rates of the remaining paper are usually increased but not to an amount equal to the two old rates. In this way some theatres which previously split their advertising in two publications can now place the advertising in one paper with a small saving. Cooperative advertisements usually are placed at the lowest rate, unless there is a special reason for doing otherwise. If the local rate is less than the national, the ad is placed through the theatre, and if the national rate is cheaper than the local the advertisements usually are placed through the major company's newspaper advertising agent. Appropriations Increase Newspaper advertising appropriations in the big cities have gone up substantially in the last ten years, according to Mr. Doob, because the producing and distributing companies are going in and doing extensive newspaper exploitation on "big" pictures in key cities. For the exhibitor the newspaper has been and is one of the most important advertising media. A theatre spends from 4 to 10 per cent of its gross on advertising and most of the advertising goes to newspapers. In general, it was said, a successful theatre has to pay a smaller percentage of its gross for advertising. Motion pictures are reported to be receiving UPS AND DOWNS OF ATTENDANCE While New York City theatres were jammed with Easter Week crowds, and while many boasted attendance records, theatres in four states, in hundreds of localities, some within a few hours of the metropolis, were unable to draw crowds, and some were closed. Flooding rivers, beginning Sunday in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, upper New York State, and Delatvare, made persons think of their homes and safety and damaged or closed theatres interfered with film deliveries. In the Wilkes-Barre area (the Susquehanna river territory), business virtually suspended, after an estimated 3 5,000 persons were deprived of their homes. Film deliveries from Philadelphia were crippled. About 30 theatres were closed in Central Pennsylvania. There were flooded basements in Pittsburgh and McKeesport. more attention than ever before in the daily press. The unprecedented amount of editorial attention given to "Gone With the Wind" has made newspapers more aware of the interest their reading public has in films, it was pointed out. "I believe that 'Gone With the Wind' did more for the newspapers than the newspapers did for 'Gone With the Wind,' " Mr. Doob said. Test polls in the past have shown that the motion picture page is one of the best read pages in the entire newspaper. It was reported that only the "funnies" and front page ranked ahead of films when both men and women readers are considered, and that the amusement page generally gets more attention from women than men. Mr. Doob said that the Hollywood column and other studio reports should not be allowed to crowd out the local material. The present advertising rates over Loew's Circuit is about $2.25 per milline. Uses Lowest Rate The RKO circuit in placing newspaper advertising takes advantage of the lowest rate — ■ national or local. Paramount also makes use of both advertising rates, depending on the local situation. Though local and national rates vary, with little or no apparent reason, it was reported that there is no tendency to "jack up" one set of rates against the other. The local rate guarantees a position on the amusement page ; the national rate does not, but in this case the ad is put on the page opposite the amusement page or on it. The highest agate line rate in the country for amusement advertising is for the New York Daily News, with the rate of about $1.70 a line. New York rates are high. The Chicago Tribune rate is the highest outside New York. Rates in other cities go down to the low teens — 13, 14, 15 cents a line and on up, depending on the local situation. Ban on 2 Films is Detroit Precedent "Strange Cargo," the Metro-GoldwynMayer film, co-starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, and the RKO Radio picture, "Primrose Path," with Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea, were banned last week in Detroit, marking the first time in many years that major American-produced films have encountered complete censorship there. The National Legion of Decency placed "Strange Cargo" in the "C" or condemned classification, and "Primrose Path" in the "B" or objectionable in part classification. Both films were passed by Hollywood's Production Code Administration. Police Censor Objects The banning of the two films in Detroit followed the recommendation of the police censor, Sergeant Charles W. Synder, that the pictures be denied display there on the ground that they were "obscene and indecent." Commissioner Frank D. Eaman viewed the films and sustained the censor's recommendation. A letter was sent to MGM by Mr. Eaman notifying the studio that "Strange Cargo" would not be permitted on Detroit screens and a similar letter was to be sent to RKO Radio concerning "Primrose Path." In both cases, it was held that undesirable characters were portrayed, that the dialogue was objectionable and the subject matter "obscene and indecent." If a local exhibitor attempts to show either of the pictures, he will be charged in court with displaying indecent films, police officials said. William F. Rodgers, MGM general sales manager, has instructed J. E. Flynn, district manager at Chicago, to make a first-hand investigation of the Detroit banning of "Strange Cargo." The company plans to obtain a review of the censor's decision and will appeal to the courts only as a last resort. "Strange Cargo" was based on the book "Not too Narrow, Not too Deep," by Richard Sale. Chicago Censorship Battle One more fight has arisen against censorship, this time in Chicago. The Chicago case concerns an independent release, "The Living Dead," banned two weeks ago by the Chicago police lieutenant, Harry Costello, in charge of censorship there ; and, early this week, after liberal groups, and others opposed to local censorship, had attacked the ban, J. H. Hoffberg, New York distributor of independent films, and the distributor of this picture, was endeavoring to "line up" all the anti-censorship groups, and take the matter into the courts, if necessary. "The Case of the Living Dead" was made in Germany six years ago, by Gabriel Pascal. According to the Hoffberg office in New York, it was lately smuggled from Germany, Hoffberg obtaining United States rights to it, and the print, this year. The office refuses to name the source from which the film was obtained, claiming reprisals upon the man's relatives may be expected from the National Socialist authorities, who banned the film. The picture has a morbid theme, dealing with murder, and homicidal insanity. However, it has received the Production Code Administration seal, was passed by the New York censors, and has already played in Los Angeles and San Francisco.