Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1951)

Institutional Ads To THE Editor: Walter Brooks in the Manager’s Round Table recently commented regarding the size of the ad mats furnished with pictures, as per those published in pressbooks. Indeed, you are on the right track. There are tno'-iaaiiy big ads listed, which cannot be uiedr because -of thef^ cost — Give us a greater variety of smaller ads. And why couldn’t the press sheet boys include in each pressbook a nice institutional ad on the movies ? Paramount did this a couple of times by reprinting an institutional some circuit had used, and even making mats available. These were good, and we used them. A majority of towns do not have an artist ; and many do not have photo engraving, but every newspaper in the land can cast mats. So let the press sheet boys cut down on the size of the big ads, give us a greater variety of smaller ads, and include in every pressbook a nice institutional ad, either an original or a copy of a good institutional that some theatre or circuit has used, and make mats available on it. Let the pressbook men or the head of all advertising departments have a catchline or two in all national ads, selling movies as entertainment — some good slogan to attract the eye. And why should Movietime U. S. A. be continued for a year — why not forever ? — GEORGIA MANAGER. Pictures Better To THE Editor : Looking through this week’s Product Digest after lunch today, it whimsically struck me to compare the Herald’s ratings on pictures with those of a couple of years ago. Maybe you’ve done this at various times. Anyway — I found that in 1949, of 287 pictures listed with Herald ratings, 31p2 per cent were given high approval (superior, excellent or very good), 25 per cent were deemed barely acceptable (average or fair), with the remainder (43p2 per cent) in the medium bracket (good). Two years later, of 306 titles listed with ratings 39 per cent are called excellent, superior or very good; 15 per cent acceptable (there does not seem to be any provisions for a rating of poor), leaving 46 per cent sufficiently entertaining to be called good. Apparently the films are, if not better than ever, at any rate somewhat better than they were a couple of years ago. — CIRCUIT OPERATOR. Human Interest To THE Editor: It seems to me that the revival of the motion picture as a medium of family entertainment to compete with television rests on the ability of the industry to return to the human interest type of picture, and especially pictures aimed at attracting women. During the time of our greatest prosperity, when we had the constant repeat business of the family trade we were showing musical comedies, family pictures and romantic comedies. Any exhibitor knows it is impossible to please all your patrons all the time, but it does seem that there is a larger potential audience for entertainment appealing to the family trade. — H. G. CLARK, IV &' IV Theatres, Detroit, Michigan. On the Newsreels To THE Editor: Being a manager of a large theatre in a large circuit I wish to express my opinion as to the likes and dislikes of newsreel subjects by the movie theatre patrons. Eirst of all is the showing in every release of some of the Newsreels this last month of professional football games. And now college games will no doubt be coming along in every release. The patrons groan when these games appear on the screen as they see too much football. Then all winter scenes of snow skiing are overdone. The movie patrons do like sports in the news, such as a big handicap horse race, a steeplechase or trotting horse race, tennis now and then with boxing and basketball occasionally. Most of the time when they show a horse race it is either in Australia or England. Except for the Grand National these are of no interest to the American public. American turf events are the favorites. One newsreel about a month ago showed, under sports, a man in Germany swimming down a stream with the current, while the same newsreel showed a bicycle road race in England which was of no news value and just a waste of film. There also was a subject “New Ships and Styles” showing a young lady and a man on a cruise just walking around in new clothes and on the beach in bathing suits. This subject had no place in a newsreel. Neither have showings of expensive furs and gowns which the average theatre goer could not afford. The average newsreel lover dislikes seeing a politician talking on the screen about the sacrifices we have to make, etc., along with other bigwigs talking about world affairs when he does not know what he is talking about. I know most managers, when pressed for time, cut from their current news all football games, styles, foreign scenes and movie stars attending a pre-view of a film in some city (as they do not have this said film booked for their house). We also slice all political talks, from the President down. If you would canvass the theatres and look at their schedule you will often find a newsreel given four minutes instead of the usual eight. Give the people news and sports from this country not foreign events which are too numerous to mention. Please don't cram too much football down our patrons’ throats. —IV. H. MORRISH. Satisfaction To THE Editor: The big hits of the moment, notably “Caruso” and “Show Boat”, have something in common that should not be overlooked; the music. Technicolor and the lush production values. Each tells a simple, human story with the villains very black and the heroes and heroines, if not snow-white at least with hearts of gold under their checkered mantles. People love to see a villain get his comeuppance instead of having their errors investigated psychiatrically. They want retribution, not conclusions. Unless you can give your audience that feeling of satisfaction at the end of the picture, it is useless to make the product in the first place. — ERANK BOYLE, Saxon Theatre, Fitchburg, Massachusetts. High Rentals To THE Editor : I do firmly believe that our film distributors should give the independent exhibitor a break on the extremely high rentals. At the present rate, only the strong will survive the slow period we are having in Chicago. According to a statement made in the press we found that of the number of theatres which were closed in this area, only a small percentage belonged to a circuit. The theatre I operated closed and the high film rental was a contributing factor because the owners could not afford to continue on that hash.— LEONARD C. UTRECHT, Chicago, Illinois. a 8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 6, 1951