Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

An International Association of Motion Picture Showmen Walter Brooks , Director NEW POLICY— To Solve New Problems Martin quigley, jr., editor of the Herald, recently had a reference to the need for new booking and operating policies to provide for changes in audience habits — and now he is back from the Allied convention in Dallas with renewed belief in the necessity for making these changes, in midweek and for preferred playing time. Distributors, for many years, have had a formula whereby the week was divided into tenths — with Saturday and Sunday counting for five-tenths (preferred time) and the other five days of the week having an allocation of one-tenth each, upon which basis flat rentals and other distribution deals were figured. But audience habits have changed with prosperity and full-employment. As a result, matinee business has about disappeared on Monday through Friday — and because so many employed people have to go to work in good form on Monday morning, the old theory that Sunday was “preferred time” is getting a revision in many places. Now, perhaps it is Friday and Saturday that are the family’s “nights out” — with many business men’s associations plugging to keep stores open on these evenings. Mr. Quigley’s suggestion of one performance per night, on Monday through Thursday, is a good one, and will work to advantage in many situations, if it is properly presented to the public. Thus, there would be one capacity house, at 7:30 p. m., with a program of short films preceding and following, for late comers. Television is making people conscious of being punctual — for their favorite programs don’t wait, nor repeat immediately. Television sources are smart enough to know that if they immediately repeated a show that was on the air, a majority of their audience would tune out. Certainly, all those who have seen it, would switch to another station or turn off the set. We should be smart enough to know that “distorted programs” tune people out of the movies. They don’t want to see a good picture, backwards. MERRY CHRISTMAS! -Ay. 1 Be generous this year. Give more than before to keep your Hospital going and growing. You're only asked once yearly, you know, but the protection to you is continuous. Employers, boost the Salute in your Company . . Executives, boost the Salute in your Department . . . Employees, boost the Salute in your conscience and your heart * WILL ROGERS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL and RESEARCH LABORATORIES We usually offer something in season in this editorial page box for Christmas and New Year's— and so this time we'll repeat, in miniature, an advertisement you've seen recently in the other pages of the trade press, as a reminder that this is "Merry Christmas Salute Time" for the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital— the industry's own special Hospital and research laboratory, at Saranac Lake, N. Y. The best example of showing films with the policy of one performance per night has been developed by Walter Reade Theatres, with their program of “Tonight at 8:30” — devoted mostly to off-beat and art films. The house is sold out in advance, and the audience is punctual, for the show begins on time, as it does with legitimate theatre, the opera, and everything else, including television. IF ANY PROOF were needed — that hometown columnists and by-line writers would do a better job than the fixed-post correspondents who cover the Hollywood beat, then you should see what Ernie Emerling turns in as a result obtained by Sam Wilson, film critic and movie columnist for the Columbus Dispatch, reporting from the film capital to his Ohio readers. Not only is this material of more particular interest to home folks, as a series of twelve pieces which build up in accumulative value, but the subject matter is more constructive than any run-of-the-mine stuff that comes out for public consumption. “Sam Wilson in Hollywood” had all the right approach to appeal to those who like movies — not those who are seeking only sensationalism and sordid criticism of both the movies and movie people. These pieces ran from four columns wide to full half-pages, with art — so they made a splash in the local scene. We don’t generally read “fan” stuff — but we read these, and liked them. Ernie says, “We’re for more junkets like Mr. Wilson’s” — and that is seconded from this corner. It can be done, city by city, as a plan to effect local areas and popular by-line writers who are in our corner, without passing resolutions or asking for huge appropriations. OUR FAVORITE national advertising executive has long been David A. Lipton, Universal Pictures Company vice-president, for his conviction and belief in the policy of pre-selling in terms of playdates, at the local level. Dave doesn’t do this merely as “lip service” — for he carries through with all his programs, to prove the point. He said in a recent Hollywood conference that “The real power of national pre-selling is directly linked to the effectiveness of the point-of-sale campaign. No matter how deeply national pre-selling may penetrate,” he pointed out, “it cannot pay off at the box office unless the campaign effectively reaches the identical audience at the time of the local playdates.” — Walter Brooks MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE SECTION, DECEMBER 22, 1956 29