Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Sep 1956)

Newspapers Giving Away Too Much Space to TV, Says Rhoden . . . National Theatres president cites results of big-city survey and says papers are hurting film theatres and themselves LOS ANGELES: Newspapers are building up their biggest competitor for the advertising dollar, television and radio, with publicity running two-to-one to paid advertising, said Elmer C. Rhoden, president of National Theatres, Inc., in announcing this week the results of a comparative motion picture-television and radio publicity survey conducted by National Theatres in 16 newspapers of metropolitan areas. According to Mr. Rhoden, newspapers are committing “a double sin — mass homicide of motion picture theatres, and journalistic suicide.” He referred also to the fact that “motion pictures, using five times as much ad space as television and radio, received publicity and news (only) on a ratio of 50 per cent to advertising.” I\ot Including Logs “These figures for television and radio publicity do not include the space newspapers give to the logs, except in two cities,” added Mr. Rhoden. “If the logs were included, the ratio of free space for TV would be even greater. In San Francisco the inclusion of free TV-radio listings raises publicity to three and a half times that of paid advertising. “On the one hand newspapers give away directory listings to their worst competitors, TV and radio; and they charge the motion picture theatres for the same kind of directory listings at higher than commercial rates.” Claiming that newspapers were sowing seeds of their own destruction with TVradio publicity, Mr. Rhoden said, “The buildup may eventually prove injurious to other service businesses who advertise. The demand for the luxuries of the automobile, gasoline, restaurants and stores can well diminish through the influence of TV, making us a race of moles living in dark, dank rooms illuminated only by a dim TV set.” Mr. Rhoden said he is instructing all theatre managers of the National circuit to visit newspaper publishers and editors and acquaint them with this trend so detrimental to both newspapers and the atres. “This disproportionate relationship between publicity and advertising is neither good busness nor, n my opinion, good journalism,” said Mr. Rhoden. “We were as SURVEY MUST READING FOR CIRCUIT MANAGERS “The results of the survey comparing the relationship of motion picture publicity and advertising to TV-radio publicity and advertising is must reading for every manager of National Theatres, Inc.," says Elmer C. Rhoden in the August issue of National Theatres' publication, "Showman." Mr. Rhoden continues: "It reveals an alarming situation that we and the newspapers have allowed to develop in recent years. It poses a serious threat to our future success and to the newspapers. We must take immediate steps to correct the situation. I want each manager in each town to run his own survey. And I want him to call on his newspaper and present the facts, both as to his local situation and as to our national survey. I am sure the average newspaper will be just as astonished as we were when the final results were tabulated. And I am sure that the newspaper publisher, both as an astute business man and the operator of a public service newspaper, will take steps to correct a situation that is harmful both to you and to the paper." tonished when Robert Selig, division manager, initiated this survey in Denver to find how much space was being given to TV and radio in relation to the movies. But Denver was not unique. The same conditions were found to prevail in other areas. “I am sure that the publishers will realize this, too, when they are acquainted with the facts, and will take steps to protect both themselves and their old customers, the motion picture theatres.” In a recent compilation of statistics, covering representative newspapers on the national scene, the radio-TV percentage of publicity over advertising was 183.1 per cent; the same percentage for motion pictures was 50 per cent. Award to Columbia A double merit award for distinguished achievement in its annual report to stockholders both for the 1955 report and for those of the last 13 years has been received by Columbia Pictures from the investment weekly magazine, Financial World. The citation certified that the 1955 financial statement of Columbia was judged among the most modern. Blumenstock Dies At 54 HOLLYWOOD: Mort Blumenstock, 54, formerly vice-president in charge of advertising and publicity for Warners, died here July 18 of a heart attack. Mr. Blumenstock was with Warners for 28 years, ending his association with the company last May. At that time he expressed intentions of entering production on his own. Later there were rumors that he would rejoin Warners. Since 1945 he had held the Warner ad-publicity post. Widely known and highly respected throughout the motion picture industry, Mr. Blumenstock was born in New York in 1901. He entered the industry as a writer and film editor for First National Pictures. Prior to this he had taken a degree from Columbia University. Mr. Blumenstock during his long publicity career was responsible for a number of “firsts.” He is credited with originating “junkets,” or arranging trips for personalities and the press in connection with a certain project or fete. He also created a war bond premiere for “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in 1942, with a resultant $5,000,000 sale. He is survived by his widow, Sandra; a daughter, Mrs. Marvin Perskie of Wildwood, N.J.; two brothers, Sid Blumenstock, advertising manager for Paramount Pictures, and Leonard Blumenstock of Miami, Fla., and two grandchildren. Maryland's Censor Loses "Arm" Fight BALTIMORE: The Maryland Court of Appeals at Annapolis has ruled that a scene in “The Man with the Golden Arm” showing Frank Sinatra receiving a narcotics injection does not “teach and advocate” the use of such drugs, and therefore is not in conflict with the state’s revised film censorship law. Thus Maryland’s Board of Motion Picture Censors has lost its fight with United Artists over deleting a two-minute scene from the picture. In a 21-page opinion the court decreed: “On the contrary, the evidence is strong and convincing that the picture is likely to have a beneficial effect as a deterrent from the use of narcotics.” The action, reversing a Baltimore City Court decision, was the first legal test in the Court of Appeals of Maryland’s censorship law since it was rewritten in 1955. 14 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JULY 21, 1956