Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

m ana ffer6 An International Association of Motion Picture Showmen — Walter Brooks , Director TELEVISION— Takes Its Toll In Many Ways COLLAPSE of Crowell Collier, a nine-days’ conversation-piece in the Rockefeller Center neighborhood, has shocked most of us — with 2400 people out of work, at Christmas time. That two great magazines, each with more than four million circulation, could fail, seemed unbelievable. But TV was taking the cream off the advertising budgets, and three great publications couldn’t exist on skimmed milk. Collier’s and Woman’s Home Companion suspend with current issues — the American Magazine shut down last August. All publications, including daily newspapers, are hurt by television, because people read less, and rising costs cannot be approached with diminished revenues. A recent “Periscope” in NEWSWEEK, predicts a technological revolution in the publishing field, in the next 15 years, intended to reduce costs — but with the terrifying conclusion that before this happens, costs will jump so much that onethird of all U. S. dailies will be forced out of business. Last week, in the Round Table, we had a story about the campaign which the H. J. Heinz Company is conducting through 1957, in cooperation with the National Restaurant Association, to bring the family downtown, and out of the house, for a restaurant meal, which is prompted by the same reason that theatres want to bring the family downtown to the movies — to pry them away from their home television sets, where the average American family spends six hours a day. Even the bus companies, carrying local street traffic, are interested in cooperative advertising to get the family out of the house, going so far as to offer a free trip home, if you pay your fare one-way, and present a coupon stamped at your theatre box office to show that you went to the movies. Local merchants are now using every effort and showmanship trick, to persuade people to come to the stores, for one night a week, of family shopping. There are a lot of opinions regarding the effect of TV and the movies — on various lines and each other, in the new HAPPY NEW YEAR! All patients are from Amusement Industry WILL ROGERS More than 1500 TB cases have been cured Successful in 94 % -plus of our cases MEMORIAL HOSPITAL Most pleasent living conditions for patients. and RESEARCH No finer care and treatment anywhere Constant Research. LABORATORIES. Saranac Loire, N. Y. You, and all of your employees, everywhere, are eligible for protection against tubercular disease, at this wonderful hospital, and this benefit is continuous and without cost, to all in amusement industry. We should be very proud of the fine results obtained and be generous this year. Give more than before— and keep your hospital going and growing as a national institution in our Christmas giving. competition that we all face. John Crosby, syndicate writer for the Herald-Tribune, says, “Network television is digging its own grave by allowing the film capital to compete with its high quality merchandise in its own store. The motion picture industry is digging its own grave by giving the public free access to the homes of their best customers while still trying to sell tickets at the box office for new pictures.” This is not quite true, for we haven’t given up the battle of the gravediggers, as easily as some people think. We have a better chance today. MOVIE MONEY, instead of trading stamps, was treated in a well-written letter to the editor of the Herald, by J. Arthur Turner, who manages three theatres and a drive-in, at Lebanon, Oregon. He has used scrip, which he calls “Hollywood Movie Money” for the past three years, and says, “We’ve been through the trial and error period. Many changes have been made in the plan. We’ve got it now where it’s workable.” Round Table members should read all of the original letter, on the Herald’s “Letters” page, for December 15th. Merchants buy the scrip money at 2% of face value, so it costs the same as trading stamps, but it has several extra values and virtues, beyond stamps — since it is dedicated to motion pictures, and theatre attendance. However, there are some angles that are perplexing. Mr. Turner marks his money “Trademark Reg. U. S. Pat. Off.” — and that means it is owned privately, which requires substantial advertising and distribution to place in the market. Ill STEVE ALLEN, who was manager of the Odeon theatre, Haney, B. C., when he won a quarterly award last August, but now is in charge of the Plaza, in Victoria, B. C., — a much nicer assignment in the spot where Hollywood should have been located. And. as a result of his citation in the Round Table, he received a congratulatory office memorandum from Ron Leonard, circuit advertising and publicity head in Toronto, and more than that — a fine and friendly letter from Kenneth Winckles, joint assistant managing director for the J. Arthur Rank Organization, Ltd., in London. We are particularly happy when both Canadian and English head offices recognize the efforts of theatre managers across the world. In an acknowledgment letter, Steve says, “Maybe in some future year, I’ll reach my goal by being manager of a theatre in some small rural district in the South of England.” — Walter Brooks MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE SECTION, DECEMBER 29, 1956 29