Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1948)

<±An international association of showmen meeting weekly in MOTION PICTURE HERALD for mutual aid and progress WALTER BROOKS, Director THERE'S no denying the fact. We are getting more usable material for the Round Table, and a better quality of entries for the Quigley Awards, from abroad than from our domestic market. Might as well face it, but showmanship within these United States has been running on the downside the last six months. We get more quantity, there are more contenders for the Awards; but we get less quality, because there is a distinct lack of enterprise — or inspiration? Perhaps it is coincidental that about six months back, there was a tendency to cut corners in the costs of exploitation, and perhaps, we are now just feeling the impact. Debate continues as to whether "business" is off, or whether "pictures" are off, at the source. But, certainly, showmanship is off, and, we hope, only temporarily. Current films may bring back old times. From Australia, by airmail, comes a copy of the editorial page of The Film Weekly, where argument has been raging about the relative value of ballyhoo. They miss it, too. In England, where things are difficult, showmen have become skilled at doing much with little. Here, let us hope, we can swing back to showmanship. r^Sl, c^V, r^SV. Elmer Rhoden, out in Kansas City ^1 Fox Midwest theatres, and the Wometco circuit, down in Florida, are using a twist on the March of Time's "Presidential Year" short film, recently released. They conduct a straw vote, a poll of presidential candidates, in the theatre, through the run of the picture, and post the cumulative audience vote from day to day. In the March of Time release, all potential candidates for the Presidency are seen and given a chance to speak for themselves. Following the outline of the reel, the theatre prepared their own straw ballots, THIS IS GOOD NEWS Bill Ferguson is conducting five field meetings of his exploitation staff for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer, starting this week in Cincinnati, at the Netherlands Plaza Hotel, where J. E. "Watty" Watson, Cincinnati; Harold Marshall, Indianapolis; Charles Dietz, Detroit; Charles Deardourf, Cleveland, and Bernie Evens, Kansas City, will be present. The second meeting, at the Blackstone Hotel, in Chicago, will have Metro's exploitation men, Bill Bishop, Warren Slee, Norman Pyle and Louie Orlove in attendance, with Metro executives of the Chicago area. Three remaining sessions will be set up on Bill Ferguson's return to the home office. Each of the meetings will last two days and will consist of a survey of exploitation plans for the immediate future in each section. More good news for exploiteers is the announcement by Max E. Youngstein that Eagle Lion will continue its policy of sharing with all theatres advertising and promotion costs: dollar for dollar, over normal house budgets on every major picture to be released by the company. Mr. Youngstein reaffirmed the policy at exploitation meetings held in Dallas for the south and west, last week. Which rates three rousing cheers in this department. which are deposited in a lobby box. Interest is accumulative as the run progresses, and rivalry between candidates becomes lively material for a newspaper story or street ballyhoo where these returns are posted. Politics can be dangerous when you take sides, but helpful when you catch a free ride on the train of current events. jf* Phil Williams tells us a good trick ^1 that he has seen in use in his suburban town of Hartsdale, N. Y., to stimulate interest in a coming attraction. The high school students are encouraged in a contest to design a handbill on the picture. The kids compete with each other to create the most professional job, highlighting what they consider the salient points, sketching what they choose out of material shown to them in the pressbook. It not only teaches them something about advertising, but sells the picture to a waiting audience, at a cost of a few modest prizes. There are two ways to win patronage from school sources. One is to solicit their purchase of tickets at the boxoffice in the usual fashion ; the other is to invade the school with your own basis of cooperation. It pays oftener, and better, to meet school authorities and school pupils on their own premises, with your obvious intention to be part of their community life. Too often, "the picture show" is below the level of the public library and the local newspaper. c^Vj c^Vj c*Sl, ^1 Lou Smithgal, in our old home town ^1 theatre, the Rialto, Canton, Pa., has boosted her regular ad copy from the old one-column measure to a wide two-columns. That's better — and it won't cost any more in the long run, for you get MORE display in one inch across two columns than you do in two inches down one column. For top attractions, the two-column space has room enough to spread the word around, with better showmanship. Now, we urge Lou to try still another idea: Give the Sentinel some publicity mats to illustrate those long reading notices. A picture would lift the advertising value of this free space and give readers of the best-newspaper-in-four-counties something to look at while picking the pictures. —Walter Brooks