The Moving picture world (January 1922)

36 MOVING PICTURE WORLD January 7, 1922 Goldberg have balances on the credit side of their ledgers, according to Mr. Price, and he is looking forward to better con- ditions all the time. "Business has not been bad for u^," said Mr. Price, with assurance. "All the theatres under our control—and there are eight of them—are showing profits and we stand ready to take on as many more if it is possible to get them. I hear all this talk about depression, but we evi- dently have been fortunate in escaping the hard times, for our theatres are showing up wonderfully. "If everyone who operates a theatre stayed on the job like Mr. Goldberg and I do, you would not hear the complaints about depressing times. I have always said that there are three things vitally necessary for the success of a picture the- atre. They are: first, a good entertaining program of pictures; second, good adver- tising to let the people know what you you have, and third, the proper surround- ings and methods of presentation. Protected Against Disapproval "Any man who starts out to run a pic- ture theatre who will follow those three rules will have success. Give the people what they want and in the way they want it and you can't fail to succeed. That's what I always do and liave done. "When I book a picture, I protect my- self in case it does not meet with public approval, and does not do the business I expect it should, by having another pic- ture ready to put on in its place if I decide to take it off. I frequently do it, too. "Just recently at the Blue Mouse I took off a picture on Friday and ran the ■oicturc I had booked for the following week with a slide I had made, announcing that the film would be shown during the next week. You can do this without extra charge with First National Pictures because their franchises read that you can play them for twelve or six days, if you book them for six or three days. With pictures from other companies, of course, if I run the picture more than the number of days allotted to me, I pay the company for the extra time used. Meeting Competition "Another thing: if my competitor gets stars and pictures that are too high priced for me, I immediately fall back on the big stars in comedies and let my competi- tor buy his head off; then I bill my shows as double attractions. But if he gets the comedy stars and banks on that, then I turn around and book the biggest stars in the best pictures and play that up. "People want the right star in the right picture and they wil pay for what they want to see. The public will spend its money if it can get what it wants, and they are holding their money very tight these days, so I aim to give them just what they want. I keep a watch on my patrons all the time and note how they like certain stars and productions, and it pays. "Of course the profits of this time this year do not measure up to those of last year, but business is gradually picking up and steadily improving. I have no com- plaint to make for all our theatres are progressing." Better Conditions Coming It was the customary thing for people to patronize certain theatres which gained their favor some time ago, according to C. B. Councilman, manager of tlie Grand Theatre, Higlandtown, Baltimore, but now they shop for the best picture before they go in, he thinks. "I believe that conditions will be better the first of the year," said he, "and base that opinion on the fact that I think business conditions generally will be bet- ter. You cannot figure on any regular amount of business now because it is so uncertain. I attribute that not only to the scarcity of money, but to the fact that people are shopping for their picture en- tertainment now, where before they had certain theatres they attended regularly. "Now, however, they look around and see which theatre has a play that appeals to them and they go there. When a play has a big run at one of the first run houses it generally goes big all over town in the smaller houses." Blames the War The present exchange rates and the war is the cause of the depression, according to William E. Stumpf, manager of the New Theatre, Baltimore. "The present depression in all lines of business is caused by the war—the crisis through which the world has just passed," said Mr. Stumpf. "I believe that condi- tions will become better gradually, but it will be so gradual that it will hardly be noticeable. "At the present time this country is practically the only one where a dollar is worth a dollar, and due to the low rate of exchange in Europe now, the products of this country cannot be sold there with a profit and that in turn necessitates a curtailment in the manufacture of goods on this side. That makes factories close down or go on half time and that cuts down the wages of the employes. "Now two things are necessary in the life of every man—that he must have the necessities of life and then some form of amusement. It stands to reason then that when he has to curtail his expenses on one or the other, he will cut out the amuse- ment, and I believe that is the principal reason for the present depression in the picture business. "While there have been a great many theatres built in the past year, still I do not consider that has anything to do with the lack of patronage, because when I ran the Goodtime Theatre the Palace was en- larged to a greater seating capacity. It draws from the same territory as the Goodtime, but I found that it did not hurt my receipts in the least." To Improve Next Fall R. L. Rubenstein, proprietor of the Pastime Theatre, 2028 Greenmount avenue, a residential house with a seating capacity of 290, thinks this summer will be very hard on the exhibitors. His rea- sons for thinking so are that conditions have not been good up to the present time; that the time for making money this sea- son is passed; that Easter and Lent will soon be here and after that summer fol- lows with its usual depression, and that he does not see how better conditions can be possible until the fall season opens. New York State Slow Improveinent Expected in Albany, Troy and Schenectady BUSINESS conditions prevailing in the three cities of Albany, Troy and Schenectady, constituting what is commonly referred to as the Capital Dis- trict, are probably without parallel, inso- far as they may affect the attendance at picture theatres in these three cities, in the entire United States. In the first place, a street car strike existed in Albany and Troy from January up to within two or three weeks ago. During this long period of time, while street cars were operated, they were necessarily shunned by not only all members of unions—and there are many of them in the manufac- turing cities—but also friends and sym- pathisers. Jitneys were operated during the time, but at a fare about double that charged by the street car company. As a result the picture theatres in these cities have suffered tremendous losses during the past year. The downtown houses caught only a comparatively small percentage of business from residential sections any distance away. Persons re- fused to pay the increased fare demanded by jitneys to attend picture theatres dur- ing the evenings, preferring to stay at home or to visit neighborhood houses. On the other hand, there were thou- sands of persons in the two cities who felt compelled to husband their resources as the effects of the street car strike radiated to business houses and made itself felt in dozens of ways. This naturally affect- ed the neighborhood picture theatres, nar- ticularly those located in sections inhab- ited by the laboring classes. Tlien again, the locomotive shoos in Albanv all but closed over a considerable neriod, while collar factories in Troy suffered from a like depression. In Schenectady, escaping from the ef- fects of a street car strike, the theatres are doing a poor business, especially at the present time, through the shimn which has occurred in the General Electric Com- pany's plant, where as high as 25.000 persons have been employed and where probably todav there are not over 9.000. With free milk distribution going on in Schenectady, and three-minute-men speaking in the aid of the unemployed, there has not been a time in many years in Schenectady contributing to so great a degree toward dwindling audiences. All of which is in the nature of an