Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

o Letters to the ^Jdercilcl On Lichtman View To the Editor: I read with interest A1 Lichtman’s memoirs on the industry and noted that when he starts producing and selling picures on his own the only person he will be friendly to and favor will be A1 Lichtman. He says that the smaller accounts should be serviced directly by the various exchange offices. Little does he know what goes on in the lower echelons of distribution and exhibition. Many of these smaller owners today are spending so much time doing all the work they can do themselves that they could never take the time necessary to visit the exchange centers. I myself with two theatres spend a day a week in each theatre doing the day-off relief in the booth, and I know of at least five other owners in the San Diego area alone that work their booths full-time just to keep their theatre doors open. What would happen if there were no salesmen on the road? Revenue would drop off for the companies. Why? Because they could not possibly do the job from the branch offices that the salesmen are now doing in securing not only contracts but dates on pictures, shorts, etc., that probably would be passed by the boards. These could not possibly be pushed from the offices with the proper results. Take Buena Vista Corporation operations for example. I have never met nor seen the salesman that covers my territory. He is not on the road. He sticks to his phone or runs to the several dominant chains in the Los Angeles exchange area. I have played four out of the total number of features that have been released by the company and those were sold to me by a booker that was sent to San Diego for some obscure reason or other. There are other theatres in the San Diego area that have not played all the Disney product either. Just imagine what Disney could really do if they really tried to sell their product through salesmen traveling the territory. Or just imagine what would happen to sales generally if all the salesmen now traveling the country districts were cut off. As it now is most companies are working with small sales staffs and all have more than a normal number of accounts to service. The only contact the small independent exhibitor has with the various film companies today is through his salesman. He is the only one he can turn to for advice and relief when the going gets too tough for him. Mr. Lichtman says, “Present national methods of operation have to be so altered that policies will be installed so that a theatre may buy product on a basis of its ability to pay for it.” Just try to buy any of the big pictures he has listed such as “The King and I,” “Giant,” “The Ten Commandments” or many others that I can name for a small house. I have heard that orders have gone out at various times, “Don’t fool with the smaller accounts on this picture — they can’t meet our terms. Just go for the larger accounts.” No, Mr. Lichtman, you are in part on the wrong track. It’s about time for the producers to realize that there are other people in the great industry in addition to themselves. The small independent exhibitor, from whom a good part of the monies stem, is the forgotten man. Give him a chance to make a buck or two and you will see a lot more enthusiasm and honest-to-God work in exploiting and selling the pictures that you plan to make and distribute. — LEO A. HAMECHER, Ramona and Hillcrest Theatres, San Diego, Calif. • Incentive To the Editor: May a countryman take exception to the position taken by some of our high-powered executives? I refer to the objection to producers owning theatres. Of course there should be some legal controls, but if a producer had 200 theatres crying for pictures there would be more and better pictures made — just like a man with a large family to feed. And producers — with 200 theatres — wouldn’t sell pictures to television for $75,000, because it would actually cost them more than that in theatre receipts. — D. S. McDONALD, Interstate Enterprises, Quitman, Ga. • "Time" on the Fire To the Editor: The “Time Goes to a Movie” editorial in The HERALD of November 17 is a fine editorial and one which a lot of movie patrons should have the opportunity of reading. It expresses my sentiments with regard to the Time motion picture reviewer exactly. I think that there are a number of newspaper editors who would reprint your editorial even though uninterested in movies, as they sometimes seem to be, because you have Time dead to rights on this one. — EDWARD SCHOENTHAL, City Manager of the Fremont Theatres, Fremont, Nebraska. MOTION PICTURE HERALD December I, 1956 STELLINGS of TOA in New York for film company talks 12 CAROLINA exhibitor group holds meeting in Charlotte 12 ALLIED STATES tackles industry problems at Dallas convention 13 UNITED ARTISTS holds fieldmen's convention in New York 23 CANADIAN industry parleys are marked by optimism 24 BRITISH exhibitors' hopes rise for ticket tax remission 26 COLUMBIA predicts gross increase for 1956-57 fiscal year 27 LEGION condemns "Baby Doll," scores Code approval 27 FILM SPACE in national magazines, 1945-55 — a graph 28 LACY KASTNER honored in Columbia foreign sales drive 28 ABC-TV to use production facilities of Warner Brothers 33 SERVICE DEPARTMENTS Film Buyers' Rating 3rd Cover Hollywood Scene 29 Managers' Round Table 45 The Winners' Circle 32 National Spotlight 36 IN PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION Showmen's Reviews 169 Short Subjects Chart 170 The Release Chart 172 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Martin Quigley, Jr., Editor; Charles S. Aaronson, Managing Editor; Floyd E. Stone, Photo E-ditor; Vincent Canby, News Editor; Ray Gallagher, Advertising Manager; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager. Bureaus: Hollywood, Samuel D. Berns, Manager; William R. Weaver, Editor, Yucca-Vine Building, Telephone HOIlywood 7-2145; Washington, J. A. Often, National Press Club; London, Hope Williams Burnup, Manager; Peter Burnup, Editor; William Pay, News Editor, 4 Bear St., Leicester Sq. Correspondents in principal capitals of the world. Member Audit Bureau of Circulation. Motion Picture Herald is published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., Rockefeller Center, New York City 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable eddress: "Quigpubco, New York”, Martin Quigley, President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary. Other Quigley Publications: Better Theatres and Bette* Refreshment Merchandising, each published thirteen times a year os a section of Motion Picture Herald; Motion Picture Daily, Television Today, Motion Picture Almanac, Television Almanac, Fame. 8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD. DECEMBER I, 1956