Motion Picture Herald (1954)

vv * vyyy vy* vrrryyy vyyyyy *y r >• vyyy *yy ********** vyy*yyyyyyyyyyy»yy *** rrrrrr^r^rur r rr.^r.i'' rrr^r.r.rr. A HEALTHY FILM DIET NEEDS MORE SHORTS by WALTER BROOKS Director, Managers’ Round Table OUR NEW dimensions in motion pictures have not only added ’Scope, and Color and Sound, to feature attractions, but also to short films on the same bills — and, to accent the obvious, have made it more important than ever that the short subject have its proper place in programming. Our new aspect ratio is the natural opposition to television, and should make it clear that no theatre audience wants double features to the exclusion of short films. In thirtytwo million homes, the public can get all the old fashioned movies they want — all day, -every day, for free. It is,, vital that we avoid any resemblance to television in our new expression of quality oji the big theatre, screen. The public will appreciate our broad ’Scopes, our fine color, or superior sound, as we get farther away from the standardized formulas which television has borrowed from us. Those gluttons for punishment who choose “B” pictures can see one after another, watching television, eight hours a day — and we have SH0R1 r FILM SPECIALISTS for the wm L3 i r THEATRE Unique Color Documentaries on Art, Travel, World Events. Complete Catalogues of Descriptions and Rates available free on request. Lester Schoenfeld, Distributing Manager DIC 30 Rockefeller Plaza D. I. O. New York 20, N. Y. no solution for it except our new ’Scopes. You can be sure, these things that are new in the theatre, will recapture and keep our movie-going audiences in the future. Any gourmet knows that a satisfying dinner must have all its points — the appetizer, soup, the entree, the salad, dessert and coffee. To serve two sirloins will never satisfy the sustaining trade that keeps theatres operating in the black. No housewife in her right mind would ever serve a couple of steaks on every platter — for the second one would never taste as good as the first. In our industry, the same procedure creates “B” pictures, and provides films for TV. Roxy Drops Stage Shows CinemaScope, as the pioneer, has eliminated stage shows in a lot of theatres, including the Roxy, in New York. That’s because they don’t need stage shows with CinemaScope on the big screen. But they do need the new CinemaScope short films, and folks who go to the movies are raving about such short subjects as “Vesuvius Express” — which put travel films on a new level. They acclaim the orchestral short films, with stereophonic sound — which are as close as you'll ever come to having a fifty-piece orchestra in the theatre. They talk about new shots of West Point, which has been photographed a thousand times, but never before in CinemaScope. Every first run theatre on Broadway, presenting programs in our new dimensions, has chosen short films of comparable quality to augment and to accent, this new sensation on the screen. Any theatre with a variable lens can project any of the cartoons or other short films in the current market, on the wide screen. The production lists are full of new releases, and more are coming up, to make it possible to build a showman’s program, for a gourmet’s taste, and not to seek satiation through a surfeit of quantity, without satisfaction of the appetite. Our movies are habit-forming, if we don’t overstuff our patrons. Lesson in Cinerama We can learn a lot from Cinerama, the inspiration of all new dimensions in our industry, when we realize they have grossed $17,000,000, in two years, in less than a dozen theatres, with an attraction which is actually an assembly of short subjects. Often, in the Round Table, we report the use of a program of cartoons, offered all on one bill, with special audience values. Right now, in New York, the 55th Street Playhouse, a small but selective theatre, is using thirteen UPA cartoons, to attract capacity audiences of adults — and we note their next LANTZ MARKS 25 UNIVERSAL YEARS Walter Lantz, father of such indestructible pen-and-ink characters as Andy Panda, Wally Walrus, Oswald the Rabbit, not to mention Woody Woodpecker, this week celebrates his 25th anniversary with Universal Pictures. It was just 25 years ago that Mr. Lantz, then 29 and already a veteran of 13 years in the industry, was signed by Carl Laemmle to head Universal's animated film department. With the exception of one year, he has been associated with Universal ever since. Since 1935 he has produced his cartoons independently for release by Universal. Mr. Lantz was born in New Rochelle, N. Y., and attended the Art Students League in New York. His first cartoon job was with Gregory LaCava. Among the earlier, memorable cartoon characters which he created were Krazy Kat, Happy Hooligan, the Katzenjammer Kids and Colonel Hezz Liar. With an eye toward casting Woody Woodpecker into a pot of continental troubles, Mr. Lantz has just returned to this country after a 10week trip through Europe gathering background material. attracion will be “The World Dances” — an assembly of folk songs and dances from all over the world. It’s new, it’s modern, it’s competitive, to offer new ideas in programming, new dimensions, new styles to attract and regain lost audiences. We can thank the pioneers who lead us into this new opportunity, and be grateful that we have ample product of suitable quality to cope with competition that lurks on the home grounds. Short films always have indicated a desire for quality — not quantity ; and we must stick to that formula now — while TV struggles through endless mediocrity to fill their program time. Your audience will open their eyes with surprise and wonder — if your eyes are open to the new trends. Shorts — Featurettes ! IF ITS UNUSUAL— we have them Write for catalogue today! Est. 1914 HOFFBERC PRODUCTIONS, INC. 362 West 44th Street, New York 36, N. Y. Walter Lantz 52 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 23, 1954