The motion picture industry (1933)

222 ^ ^> <^ The Motion Picture Industry and unaffiliated exhibitors do not want to work it out yourselves and among yourselves with the cooperation of this office, that is the thing for you to decide. A fair and practical zoning and clearance schedule in all territories would bring pictures to every theater quicker and fresher, thereby better serving the public. If the plan is intelligent, every theater will know what pictures are available, and when. Distributors will get their revenue quicker and no theater from the largest to the smallest will be able to unreasonably hold up pictures over subsequent runs, without losing their protection, thus avoiding wellintentioned overbuying in many cases. The continuing zoning committee as suggested would be always on the job to hear any complaint and to make such recommendations to the local board as would permit the righting of 'any wrong or any inequality whatsoever. Don't permit somebody 1,500 miles away to do something for you that you should do for yourselves when you know you can do it better. Ask all parties to throw suspicion out of the window and all of you make an honest, sincere effort to put down on paper what is fair and right for all parties concerned. If you cannot do this, then there is something wrong with you fellows out there. If you can and will do it, I will undertake to get parties here (New York) to accept any plan that represents the best opinion and judgment of your three groups. Is that a proposition that any of you can afford to turn your back on? Harrison's Reports for October 18, 1930, gave the following reasons for the rejection of the northern Illinois plan of zoning and protection: The plan was drafted without the consultation of the independent exhibitors. Whether it was drafted in Chicago or in New York, it does not matter, although I personally believe that it was drafted in New York, at the headquarters of the trust ; what concerns us is the fact that it was drafted paternalistically, without the knowledge of the independent exhibitors, ably represented on the committee by Mr. Saperstein, President of Allied Theater Owners of Illinois. When it was all ready a meeting was called hastily and the independent representatives were asked to endorse the plan. This was entirely different from the plan on which the exhibitors had worked previously. After hearing all the speeches Mr. Saperstein refused to endorse it. Seeing his inflexibility, the representatives of the Film Board of Trade requested Mr. Saperstein to initial it on the back for purposes of identification. Mr. Saperstein has no faith in initialing a document for identification purposes, and so refused to have anything to do with the document. The result was that the meeting was broken up. A few days later there was a meeting of the organization during which Mr.