Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

THE CHANCING STATUS OF THE EXHIBITOR Robert B. Wilby -m /r R. Robert B. Wilby of Atlanta, /!/# forthright exhibitor leader in the Southeast, and your editor are fellows in gardening and in various speculative considerations of the state of the nation and of course our industry. In an Easter weekend letter Mr. Wilby has discussed some aspects of the evolution of the art and business of the screen, with special attention to the changing position of the exhibitor. Mr. Wilby's letter is shared with the readers, here. Dear Terry: Some evening as you look in the dying embers of that fire, which probably is still needed in the valley of the Silvermine, you might speculate a bit upon the ever-lessening position of the exhibitor. But without going that far back, you might give thought to just the economics of it all. At one time the exhibitor bought a year's product and pretty well marketed it in his local community. In general that which the community knew about the picture was that which the exhibitor told, so that he could put emphasis where he chose and his efforts could have a definite and not immaterial effect tipon the gross of one picture as compared with another. During those days, one after another made an effort to sell trade-marks to the public, but since there is no uniformity in the product, there was obviously no particular value in the trade-mark, and the exhibitor remained in a somewhat strong local position with the security which comes from strength. Could Play Averages And there was mathematics to it, too, for in buying the thirty or forty pictures he was, like the dealer at roulette, playing averages, which he could load a bit in his own favor. The somewhat individual sale of pictures which accompanied the blocks of five put the films on a more individual basis and took away from him that ability to play those averages. Then it was found, and perhaps just as a result of the careless spending which went with excess profits taxes, that films could be nationally sold as individual pictures rather than under brand names. The exhibitors then began to approach the position of the corner drugstore with its cigarettes, which performs only the function of delivery and thanking the customer — and gets damn little for it. But the very nature of this national advertising in turn caused a concentration of production values into a single picture — a combination of the best script writer working on the best story, with the best producer and the best director, and the best actors. Obviously, a concentration in one place would take assets from another, so that the spread, both in cost and in effectiveness, between the tops and the next became wider. And as it became wider the theatre obviously could contribute less and less to the gross of that top picture. Difficult Advertising Problem Nor did the exhibitor have a remedy by attempting locally to market the secondary ones, not only because they did not have high marketable values but because the very prevalence of national advertising on other pictures left the public in a local community reacting to his advertising efforts somewhat by the expression : "What are you trying to do ? That must not be much of a picture ; I've never heard of it.'' He was perhaps in about the position of a fellow who might try to sell a Jackson automobile, or, perhaps more practically, in the position of some of the radio dealers who are finding it impossible to sell off-brand, though maybe rather good, receivers. And so the exhibitor moved further into the position of the retail dealer who makes the goods available and loses the control of his local market. The films went up in percentage terms and his reaction was to spend less himself and he thereby waded just a bit deeper in the mire. And it's all making a specialty business of this one, as it moves further and further along the road traveled by the legitimate — long runs in small theatres, at ever-increasing admission prices. Mr. Goldwyn is proving how well it can be done, not just at the Woods in Chicago, but in a good many "B" and "C" theatres around the country, where admissions are being jumped from around a quarter for what they were playing to six or seven times that for his film. So the exhibitor, with a very vast majority of the investments in this business, becomes less and less a factor and more and more subject to the dictates of what is, at least in a capitalist system, much the smaller branch of the industry. Whether it was inevitable evolution, just an accident, or the result of considerable default in his own function by the exhibitor, I leave as a subject upon which you may speculate. — R. B. Wilby. The manifestations observed and commented tipon by Mr. Wilby are not, as he is so entirely aware, peculiar to the distribution and retailing of the motion picture. He has pointed to cigarettes and motor cars. That same direct-to-consumer merchandising obtains in many lines. It has long been applied to soap and pickles, to books and magazines, to shoes and hats, even to bread and ice cream. The development has been accelerated by the rise of the great mass media of press and radio. The manifestation pertains quite as immediately to the consumer mind and habit as it does to traits of capital and business. It ivould be of interest to The Herald to receive expressions on the development, as it pertains to the motion picture, from other exhibitors. — Terry Rams aye Chicago Exhibitors to Meet On Industry Foundation John Balaban, head of Balaban & Katz Theatres, Chicago, has invited 150 industrv leaders in the Chicago exchange area to attend a Motion Picture Foundation organizational luncheon meeting at the Blackstone Hotel April 16. A Chicago area committee of from seven to 17 members will be elected at this meeting and they, in turn, will elect a national trustee, who will attend the meeting of the Foundation's National Board of Trustees some time in May. Mr. Balaban and Edward G. Zorn, head of United Theatre Owners of Illinois, were appointed temporary co-chairmen for the Chicago area by the Foundation's Steering Committee. Universal Gets Permission To Build Six Exchanges The Civilian Production Administration has granted permission to Joseph M. Berne of Universal Film Exchanges, Inc., to build six film exchange buildings. The six buildings, to be constructed at an estimated cost of $1,130,000, will be located in Dallas. Omaha, Kansas City, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. The applications were granted on the grounds that increases in the volume of business were creating fire hazards in existing exchanges. Applications for 22 other exchanges are still pending. Liebeskind to Enter Production Soon Nat Liebeskind, former general manager for RKO in South America, expects to enter production shortly with Hollywood as a base. He is now liquidating his interest in eight theatres near Buenos Aires, where he long maintained his headquarters as representative for RKO, for which company he originally established offices in Argentina and Brazil. Mr. Liebeskind, now on an extended New York visit, is one of the pioneering American distribution representatives in the foreign field and has been active in South America for 20 years. Keith Theatre Sold Keith Operating Company, Inc., of Indianapolis, operating the Keith theatre in that city, has sold the lease to Arthur J. Steel and Harold Mirish. The theatre has been remodeled and the new owners will take over April 30. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 12, 1947 21