Motion Picture Herald (1954)

Product N ceded To the Editor : Every encouragement toward greater production should be made by exhibitors. To restrict the Paramount anti-trust defendents, or anyone else, from supplying the urgent need for more releases would be a crime against our industry. With the trend to curtailment, print shortages and unreasonable percentages, it is becoming a question of theatre survival. The previous full supply of features and shorts with their wide appeal to the masses has changed so that our business is becoming limited — and if this continues, only class houses will survive. Eagerness and greed — and the pursuit of a quick dollar can spell our doom. Despite the fact that theatre investments far exceed production investments, theatre owners in their panic are encouraging an unequal partnership by accepting unreasonable terms. Both sides should review the experience of vaudeville and the legitimate stage, which diminished themselves almost to extinction. Ours is a business founded upon widest public acceptance. Cake is fine but the “meat and potatoes” (the average Western and family type film) will still sustain us as an industry. May I suggest as a remedy that the spendid actors and directors who today await periodical summons to production be given exhibitor guarantees by cooperative planning and competent directors likewise be reemployed, to resume the flow of film and keep a maximum of theatres running. Let’s don’t die on the vine ! The Makelim plan and other production efforts are fine as far as they go — but our theatres need an ample supply and they’re valuable enough for every owner to invest in protection rather than depend upon a competition which has lost sight of its future. — M. LOWENSTEIN, President, The Theatre Ozimers of Oklahoma, Inc., Oklahoma City. Serials— New Idea To the Editor: The letter on the subject of “Old Time Serials” sent by Eldon Coffman, of the Saenger theatre, Hope, Ark., in the August 28 issue, has prompted me to write on the same subject. At present the serial in this country is mainly confined to children’s matinee performances and spotlights on “Flash Gordon,” “Spaceman,” “Rocket Man” and similar subjects dear to the heart of small fry. I see no reason why the chapter-play, treated more to the adult palate, cannot be used for “come-every-week” bait. Surely some of the great and lengthy productions could be chopped into chapters and treated with such prestige as deserved. I have no intention of submitting an ideas EXHIBITOR CITES HERALD' IMPORTANCE To the Editor: As a new member of The HERALD's Managers' Round Table, I would like very much to tell you how important your book is to me in the various exploitation stunts I have been using at my theatre. I have been in the theatre business almost all my life and finally became proprietor of the beautiful Zenith theatre here in Milwaukee. — THOMAS MACK, JR., Milwaukee. guide, but I’ll take a bet that millions of movie-goers, both sides of the Atlantic, would more than appreciate this form of reissue, call it that, of some of the great films now in the storehouse in addition to any original material thus treated. Going back several years, and I mean several, I can, as a youngster, well remember a romantic serial titled “Gloria’s Romance” which starred the very young Billie Burke. I cannot remember the producing company but I well recall that it was printed on sepia stock. This was ’round about the “Exploits of Elaine” period, but in its story form it took out a very good page from the weekly magazine idea in selling the magazine via its serial love stories. Yes, try the idea in Hollywood, Calif., or London, England. I guess you would both be surprised by the golden result. It might be a better gimmick even than 3D, wide screen or any other ’scope. It might even put new life into the ticket issuing machines but handle it the right way— do it the way a great producer would like, not something to fill out the program every week. Go to it, Production Chief. In closing, many thanks for the Herald. I lookforward to reading it each weekend. — G. J. Derek, Manager, Grand Cinema, Exmouth, Devon, England. Price of Film To the Editor: The price of film is so high and out of line I am not showing any more profit now than I did when the Federal tax was on. We need more pictures badly, we need little pictures for the second half of double bills, we need anti-trust laws enforced for the good of the entire industry. We need more advertising help from the distributors; trade papers should begin to be fair and impartial to both the exhibitors and film companies. — JACK A. FARR, Farr Amusement Co., Trail Drive-in Theatre, Houston 21, Texas. WHEN AND WHERE October 31: Ninth annual film industry ball, sponsored by Famous Players Theatre Managers Association of British Columbia, Commodore Cabaret, Vancouver. October 3 1 -November 4: Annual combined convention of the Theatre Owners of America Theatre Equipment Supply Manufacturers Association, Theatre Equipment Supply Dealers Association, and International Popcorn Association, Conrad Hilton Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. November I: Washington Variety Club luncheon for the election of officers for 1955, Willard Hotel, Washington, D. C November 3: Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries, annual meeting, Toronto. November 8-9: Missouri-lllinois Theatre Owners, annual convention, Chase Hotel, St. Louis, Mo. November 14-16: Theatre Owners of North & South Carolina, annual convention, Hotel Charlotte, Charlotte, N. C. November 16-17: Allied Theatre Owners of Indiana, annual convention, Marott Hotel, I ndianapolis. November 17: Annual dinner of the Motion Picture Pioneers, Hotel Astor, New York City. November 19-20: Colosseum of Motion Picture Salesmen of America, annual convention, Drake Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. November 20: Variety Club of Washington's 19th annual dinner dance and presentation of "Personality of Year" Award to Eddie Fisher, Statler Hotel, Washington, D. C. November 21: Screen Producers' Guild, annual milestone dinner, honoring Nicholas and Joseph Schenck, Statler Hotel, Los Angeles. November 21: Pittsburgh Variety Club, Tent No. I, annual banquet, William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh. November 21-23: Motion Picture Exhibitors of Florida, annual convention, Roosevelt Hotel, Jacksonville, Fla. November 22: Annual meeting of the National Committee of the Motion Picture Exhibitor Associations of Canada, Toronto. November 25: Annual dinner of the Canadian Motion Picture Pioneers to honor Jack Arthur as "Pioneer of the Year," Toronto. December 5-7: Theatre Owners of Oklahoma, annual state convention, Biltmore Hotel, Oklahoma City. December 7: Independent Exhibitors of New England annual convention, Hotel Bradford, Boston. 8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 30, 1954