Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1948)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD ... _ — — II MARTIN QV1GLEY, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher TERRY RAMSAYE, Editor Vol. 173, No. 6 OP November 6, 1948 FORECASTS & SAMPLES THE surprise impact of the national election has come chiefly by reason of a debacle in the art of forecasting. The status of polls of public opinion has come tumbling down like the rattle of bricks in the dynamited smokestack. We are not concerned here at all with the political considerations involved, but with the implications for that order of audience research which purports to say what the customers want, what they prefer, what they take from screen, radio and television. There are also some similar implications concerning the infallibility of the newspapers and their seers, critics and students of the scene. Never before have so many experts been so wrong about so many millions of people. It is entertaining to recall again the observation of the late Samuel L. Rothafel, exhibitor extraordinary and himself much a member of the great majority, when he said: "The people know exactly what they want — right after they have had it." Also, speaking of exploration of public opinion and straw votes, we can be remembering when the late, very late, Literary Digest went way out on a limb forecasting the defeat of Franklin D. Roosevelt. That was the beginning of the Roosevelt era, and substantially the end of the Digest. The answer seemed to be that the Digest based everything on response from names in the telephone book. The list did not seem to entirely represent the voters. Also the fact remains that persons answering questionnaires take a stance, affected by personal pride in a personal occasion, very different from their attitude in the secrecy of the voting booth, or in the cash anonymity of the box office. One may expect that about now some of those producers who have been so enthusiastically consulting the soothsayers of audience exploration, and those advertisers ever in fervent consideration of the radio ratings of the audience samplers, will be taking thought. It would be nice and handy if the people could be put into a test tube or laboratory crucible and assayed. Showmanship would then be a matter of balances, spectroscopic colour charts and slide rules. It is just not that scientific, not that simple. The really popular music is played by ear. WINCED WORDS HIGH speed photography is the essential medium of delivery in the new miracle of communication called Ultrafax, which delivered the text of "Gone With the Wind" by television facsimile in a couple of minutes across three miles in Washington the other day. An early utilization of photography in swift communication, three-quarters of a century ago, was cited this week by Mr. Glenn E. Matthews, technical editor of Kodak Research Laboratories, speaking before the Photographic Society of America in Cincinnati. "The first microfilms," said Mr. Matthews, "were military dispatches sent out by carrier pigeons during the seige of Paris in 1870. They were printed photographically on thin sheets of collodion. Twenty sheets, two by one inches, containing more than a million letters, one eight hundredth of their original size, were fitted into a quill attached to the pigeon's wing. They were read by projection." The war messages were gone with the wind, too. Somebody had to smuggle the pigeons in through the seige. There is no record on that fellow. ENGINEER THE accession of Mr. Earl I. Sponable to the post of president of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers is an assurance of a continued aggressive policy of the administration of that organization in the increasingly complex and demanding technologies of the art. Ever and ever our industry's equipment becomes more and more electronic, with growing problems In research and its reduction to practice. _ It is to be remembered that Mr. Sponable came in, in association with Theodore Case and the evolution of Movietone, with Fox affiliations in the very dawn years of sound-on-film! He has lived with the rise of sound, and its backstage laboratory adventures. Also, as is less known, he has been more recently somewhat deeply concerned with certain matters pertaining to colour, which may be heard from one day soon. MIKE HAD A LOOK THE lively report on the refreshment merchandising in the Comerford theatres, in words and pictures in this month's Theatre Sales section, brings to mind some background on the service policies of that organization. It was ever so long ago that the late Mr. Mike Comerford, finding himself impressed with the suave operation of the Schrafft restaurants in New York, tried asking some questions. The management was not very informative. One day not long after, so the story runs, with a new name and a less than elegant suit of clothes, the magnate from Scranton applied for and got a pantryman's job at a Schrafft restaurant. He was industriously employed at it for a couple of weeks, having the while an inside look around. Then one day he quit. He had his answers. CJ Should you be wondering what became of Miss Gloria Swanson, you can find her of a Thursday evening about 8:00 o'clock on the WPIX television show. It is described by Jack Gould, reviewer, as almost overwhelming in elegance and chichi, and with dialogue strewn with broad "a's". Seems to be positive identification. CJ Resolved: There are many too many mimeographs in this country, and too many of them appear to be in working order. — Terry Ramsaye