Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1951)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD MARTIN' QUIGLEY, Editor-in-Chief and Vublhher MARTIN QUIGLEY, JR., Editor Vol. 185, No. 1 October 6, 1951 Exhibition's Watchword From the exhibition branch of the industry at the end of the TOA meeting came emphasis on a watchword— enthusiasm. Mr. Gael Sullivan, executive director of the TOA, quoted Mr. Leonard Goldenson's apt expression, "Enthusiasm is the priceless ingredient." And so it is. As priceless as it is in production, it is equally valuable in theatres. Producers and other creative workers are expected to have an innate enthusiasm. All good salesmen — and the distributors' ranks include many very good ones indeed — need enthusiasm. But enthusiasm on the part of one or another department of the business is in vain If that "priceless ingredient" does not permeate all. Fortunately, exhibitors everywhere, in their response to the Movietime U.S.A. campaign and in many other ways, are demonstrating that they have the capacity of enthusiasm in the best traditions of show business. The New Hollywood Mr. barney BALABAN, president of Paramount Pictures, chose the closing banquet of the TOA convention in New York as an appropriate occasion to deliver an important address that was both an expression of reasoned optimism and one of praise for "the new Hollywood." The talk was especially striking because Mr. Balaban is known as a realist in economic matters affecting the Industry. "I can now report to you," Mr. Balaban said, "that there is a new spirit in Hollywood. It's not the same place that I used to come home from, three and tour years ago, with increased headaches and heartaches. They know the score there now, and they are doing an outstanding job. The prevailing atmosphere of confidence is really contagious. . . . We are on the upbeat. We are no longer looking back over our shoulder wistfully dreaming about the 'good old days.' .... The tide has turned. If we chart our course wisely there's happy sailing ahead. The future will be good for us if we go to work and make it good." A major share of the credit for the Improved spirit should go, Mr. Balaban believes, to Hollywood. Successful attractions now doing good business did not, in his words, "just happen of their own accord. They were conceived and nurtured in an understanding of the facts of life as they affect our business." The contrast of the outlook now with that of three years ago was emphasized by Mr. Balaban, recalling his address to the TOA in Chicago in September, 1948. "The problem three years ago was every bit as serious as I then presented it. . . . At that time, many forces had combined to threaten our industrial structure. Now, three years later, the headlines of our trade press, day by day, reflect the changing character of our industry. They record the transition from the grim reality of a struggle to survive to happier days." (In his 1948 Chicago speech Mr. Balaban prophesied, "Only when all of us have adjusted ourselves realistically to the economic facts of life can there be any hope for a change for the better.") What is particularly gratifying in the new order of things in Hollywood is that the studios have continued to remember that the theatres must have high quality product to meet competition for the public's leisure time and available amusement dollars. "At no time did we yield to the temptation to cut corners in quality. Instead, we sought for better quality, but produced at greater efficiency," was the way Mr. Balaban expressed It. * ♦ * * FRCM Hollywood this week came a statement by Mr. Dore Schary, vice-president in charge of production and studio operations for MGM, that complemented Mr, Balaban's remarks: "I think Hollywood can stand on its own record, with apologies to no one. The motion pictures it produces have given entertainment , happiness and pleasure to millions. Our community believes in the dignity and intelligence of man, faces the future without fear, and believes that through the films it makes it helps the world to be a better place in which to live.” Mr. Schary's remarks, coupled with Mr. Balaban's, should be added encouragement to exhibitors for confidence in the forthcoming product and a spur to greater efforts to attract the largest audiences possible. ■ ■ ■ Grass-Roots Previews The plan for holding previews In smaller towns and cities throughout the country, suggested by Mr. H. E. Jameyson, president of Commonwealth Theatres, Kansas City, is worth serious study by studio and distribution executives. The obvious problems of cost and inconvenience should not detract from careful analysis of the idea. Mr. Jameyson believes that "Hollywood" previews could be arranged each year, a power"grass roots" previews. Moreover, there would be important additional advantages including potential publicity locally and increased box office returns. Assuming that as many as a few hundred well-staged local "Hollywood" previews could be arranged each year, a powerful assist to industry public relations and theatre popularity would result. ■ ■ ■ ^ Amid the preoccupations of life on the home front sometimes too little thought is given to the war in Korea which — despite truce discussions — continues to be a bitter conflict. The motion picture industry is entitled to be proud of the salutary effects Hollywood films have on the fighting soldier's morale, day after day. Recently the Pacific edition of the Army newspaper Stars & Stripes published a dispatch from a soldier correspondent with the Tenth Corps In Korea which said that, when the history of the war is written, it should not be forgotten that "Hollywood stars will have played as much a key role in building a great fighting force as have hot chow, letters from home, top battle equipment and tobacco rations." Members of the American and other United Nations forces look to films as a means of escape from the stark Korean reality. Some critics notwithstanding, there is nothing wrong with fhe right kind of escapist entertainment. Let doubters talk with veterans of the Korean War.