Motion Picture Herald (1954)

Offer the Best To the Editor: In the November 27 issue of The Herald you printed a letter from Edward A. Rosenblatt, an independent sound engineer, who was critical of exhibitors who are presenting CinemaScope motion pictures without the advantage of full four-track stereophonic sound. I want to say, “Bravo” to Mr. Rosenblatt’s assertions ! All too well do I remember those dark days in the motion picture business when, in my home town of Gadsden, Alabama, the manager of the ace house tried in vain to lure patrons into his theatre to see the “cream of the crop” of the silent pictures plus the opportunity to win $50 in gold. Needless to say, no one was interested. People on the corner each day were excited about having gathered around a battery operated radio with ear phones listening to a radio station several hundred miles away ! There was no doubt that radio had something more to offer the public than silent motion pictures. Then an overwhelming and revolutionary thing happened. Motion Pictures began to talk ! Anyone who has been in the business long enough knows full well the terrific amount of money he had to expend for a few years in order to keep up with talkies. First, he had to install various and sundry disc reproducing systems. Then came the vital photo-electric cell system and the talking picture was on its own. The business thrived for more than twenty years without any appreciable advancement in technique. I would like you to name any other product on the American market (for mass consumption) which has enjoyed so great a prosperity as has our business without any major improvement whatever for so long a period. Television is here. It is here to stay. If the public can get as good entertainment at home on their television screens as they can get at their local motion picture theatres, why go out and pay to see it? History is indeed repeating itself ! The thing for our industry to do is to give the public something it cannot get at home on television just as the talkies gave sight plus sound in competition with radio over twenty years ago. I believe, as Mr. Rosenblatt does, that any exhibitor who presents any motion picture in the name of CinemaScope without the full benefit of the photographic and stereophonic sound available is fooling himself as well as the public. Argument has it that the public doesn’t know the difference between regular and stereophonic sound. As such I must agree with that argument. However, we must never forget the fact that full stereophonic sound in accompaniment with the visual ad vantage of CinemaScopic photography and reproduction does greatly enhance the presentation of a motion picture. While the public is not aware of the technical aspects of the art, they are all too well aware of the fact of whether or not they enjoyed the picture more than staying at home and looking at their favorite television program. Progress is as inevitable as death and taxes. When the investors in our business realize that, I think we will all be well on the road to the victory over our obstacles. — R. L. CURRY, Field Inspector, Altec Service Corp., Mullins, S. C. Ad Survey To the Editor: How much good is advertising doing us today? We spend a good percentage of our gross to advertise a picture, but do we follow up and see just what we get for our money? I’m calling up three people a day to ask them questions about my program for the coming month. If they can answer they get a free pass to the show on the night they are called. I also try to get information on what kind of advertising makes the best impression on them. After a few weeks I will be able to compile this information and see just how many people know what is playing at my theatre every night. This should be a big help in bringing up my profits. — MERT MARTIN, Manager, Unique Theatre, Gunnison, Colorado. No Knights To the Editor: I have seen CinemaScope come to the theatre screen. The public has seen it now many times. They are tired of CinemaScope now. Why? Because there has not been a decent production as yet with a good story. People are tired of knights and their shining armor. They want something gay and happy in these trying days, not to relive the years gone by. — TERRY CALLAGHAN , Sandusky, Ohio Round Table Lauded To the Editor: I always find the Managers’ Round Table pages of The HERALD most interesting in the exchanging of ideas and suggestions put forward by other members. — K. C. BROMLEY, manager, Metro Theatre, Melbourne, A ustralia. Accent the Shorts To the Editor: Now that most producing companies are once more seeing the light with good films, they should start paying attention to a most important part of the program — the shorts. Gain the public’s further support by turning WHEN AND WHERE December 19: Annual banquet of the Variety Club of Baltimore, Emerson Hotel, Baltimore. December 21: Annual Christmas party, Associated Motion Picture Advertisers, Picadilly Hotel, New York City. December 21: New York Cinema Lodge of B'nai B'rith, entertainment junket to Will Rogers Memorial Hospital, Saranac Lake, New York. December 31: Open House sponsored by Tent 37 Variety Club, Cosmopolitan Hotel, Denver. January 6: Annual luncheon and election of officers, Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, Cleveland. January 12: MGM Ticket Selling Workshop, Denver. January 14-31: International Film Festival, Punta del Este, Uruguay. January 17: Joint meeting of exhibition and distribution arbitration committees, New York City. January 18: Annual dinner of the Motion Picture Associates of Philadelphia, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia. January 19: Cleveland area exhibitors' testimonial to honor I. J. Schmertz on his 50th anniversary with 20th-Fox and its predecessor organization, Hollenden Hotel, Cleveland. January 24: MGM Ticket Selling Workshop, Jackson, Miss. February 8: MGM Ticket Selling Workshop, Richmond, Va. February 8-10: Allied States Association national drive-in convention. Chase Hotel, St. Louis, Mo. February 22: MGM Ticket Selling Workshop, Detroit. February 28-March I : Annual convention of Allied Theatre Owners of Oklahoma, Skirvin-Tower Hotel, Oklahoma City. March I: MGM Ticket Selling Workshop, Columbus, Ohio. March 1-2: Annual convention, Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio, DeshlerHilton Hotel, Columbus. out good shorts, and with the better films being made, TV will be just another slight inconvenience. Mind you, I tfeel that the exhibitors will help lots if they advertise certain shorts in their advance programs, especially if they are worth the advertising.— DAVE S. KLEIN, Astra Theatre, Kitwe/Nkana, Northern Rhodesia, Africa. MOTION PICTURE HERA’ D, DECEMBER 18, 1954