Publix Opinion (Aug 31, 1929)

‘PLAYS BIG | ROLE IN THE LIFE AND PROGRESS OF MANKIND By SIME SILVERMAN (Reprinted from VARIETY by Permission) Paramount touches the lives of more people in the world—-and more intimately—than any other commercial activity under one management. With its affiliated companies— Publix Theatres Corporation, the Charles Frohman Company, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Famous Music Corporation, and through its varied advertising activity, Paramount plays a vast and amazingly intimate part in the life and progress of mankind. ° No company in any of the major industries of the country holds a position of such close relation to as many people. International bankers, whose names are house-/} hold words, the great world-wide oil companies, the railroads, the steel industry, even the great} newspaper chains, with their: tre-| mendous power and wide scope, cannot compare with Paramount! in its influence upon the lives of} the peoples throughout the world. & ° but to distribute this entertainment to all countries of the world, to exhibit it in a vast chain of theatres, to publicize it and exploit it is a task that busy every day in every part of the globe. The governing policy of this organization has been quality in quantity. Ever since Adolph Zukor, seeing the picture industry imperilled by mediocrity, startled the film world by importing the feature picture, ‘“‘Queen Elizabeth,”’ the ideal of his organization has been toward a consistent superiority in film production and theatre operation. Complete Unit Hand in hand with this ideal of superior quality in picture entertainment has gone a policy of making Paramount sufficient unto These organizations, great asj/itself. This has been carried out they are, are either sectional or! in the production of pictures, in touch only the fringe of people's) distribution of this product to the everyday lives. Paramount’s story | far corners of the world and in the is told in all languages, in all) theatres controlled by the comclimes, and is a moving, vital force | pany, so that today Paramount in shaping the thought and aspir-| stands as a complete, many-sided ations of a large section of man-| ynit in the entertainment world. kind. |» Im the early days, faced with Paramount, now more than) the necessity of having more ever before, is the world’s great| est story teller. In pictures, on| tion could produce, Mr. Zukor the stage, and over the radio’ ajlied himself with Jesse L. Lasthis company carries drama, ky, who was his only competicomedy, and music to the far! for in the production of quality corners of the globe. Through! pictures. The amalgamation of pictures than his own organiza-| keeps several thousand workers | its stars and featured players) famous characters of fiction are | made to live before the eyes of. the world and, now that sound | dialog is an integral part of! the motion picture, they also| can be heard speaking the words of famous authors and | playwrights. ) Any little girl, obscure and unknown, may become a star in| Paramount pictures, as many have | done, and almost over night she } | combination, iturned his thoughts to distribution | the Famous Players Company) and the Jesse L.. Lasky Feature | Play Company made one of the: strongest producing organiza-| tions in the picture business, Having assured his company of) a sufficient output of quality pictures through this production! Mr. Zukor then! |in order to be certain his pietures | would be sold on a proper basis. The company then acquired the | becomes th il-| ephtt : Sameret friender mil | Paramount Distributing Company | lions of people. Every afternoon and. evening'| when people decide to go to the-| atre for motion picture entertain-| POT@tion, ment millions of them pick a Pub-| lix theatre where Paramount pits tures are showing. Every night when people throughout the country dance | they do so to the music carried | to them over the Columbia Broad-| casting System. ess and Paramount was well Wherever music and songs are| fortified in both. A few years played and sung the tunes of Para-| later the formation of theatre mount songs are heard. the organization was ing unit. Exhibition lems in the motion picture busi able to stand on its bwn feet as a/ ;complete producing and distribut-| At that time distribution and | production were the major prob| and in 1916, with the formation | of the Famous Players Lasky Cor| chains into the production field, | | ’ Millions of People For two decades Paramount pictures have blazed across the amusement horizon of the world. In the United States Publix Theatres alone have a seating capacity of more than 900,000 and with | the addition of the independent theatres that show Paramount pictures, millions of people see this company’s screen entertainment every day. People, who speak 37 different languages, in 70 foreign countries also look at the same Paramount pictures that are shown in the United States. Add to this the millions that will hear Paramount entertainment over the air, through the affiliation with the Columbia Broadcasting com-} pany’s chain: of radio stations throughout the country, and one gets a truer picture of the magnitude of this tremendous enterprise called Paramount. That Paramount has maintained its leadership in an industry that is so fraught with pittalis is testimony enough to the genins of Adolph Zukor and his aides. To keep an organization. geared up to provide entainment that will satisfy this world-wide audience, is one job, threw into sharp focus the prob| lem of proper exhibition of pic-| tures. This problem became | ficiently acute to make it impera-| tive that Paramount go a step) farther in keeping the organization sufficient unto itself. The company acquired theatres in key centers throughout the country to be sure its prod uct would get the proper outlet. In the acquisition of theatres the other twin idea of Paramount—that of quality entertainment — became even more apparent. From this has grown the immense Publix chain of magnificent theatres, which is | admittedly the greatest organization of its kind in the history of enverta mt. With the advent of sound pictures, music became a great factor’ in screen entertainment. Just as the company had fortified itself in every other branch of the business, it immediately set out to build up this new and hitherto uncharted phase of the motion picture: Not only did Paramount acquire the gervices of outstanding composers and librettists to work in its studios and | but it established a music ublishing hed company of its ased In the last issue of PUBLIX OPINION, a great deal ot valuable information about Publix was reprinted by permission from the Paramount-Publix issue of VARIETY. This was done in order that, incorporated in your PUBLIX OPINION files. the information might be a permanent part of your | office data, to be drawn upon at will, In this issue, the same is being done with equally valuable information about Paramount. Be sure to file all this and USE IT! Details about the production and distribution of Paramount pictures, for the most part unknown to the public at large, and about which it is voraciously curious, are contained in these stories, The newspaper editors wii be eager to print them. That's just the stulf you've been looking for keep Paramount pictures before the public during PARAMOUNT MONTH. Here's your ammunition! USE IT. eee ee ee ee ey a one-half interest in one of the country’s largest broadcasting systems. Paramount's Big Part In building its organization and following the policy of being a complete entertainment unit in | itself, Paramount, by its leader ship and example, has played an important part in shaping the destinies of the entire motion pic | ture industry. The success of the policy of producing, distributing, and exhibiting the highest type of motion picture entertainment persuaded others to follow. Paramount's attitude to, and its treatment of, the public in its theatres has had a salutory effect on the industry. Its publicity and advertising policy has followed step by step the advancement of the company and always has maintained the sense of bigness and breadth, and fair | dealing, which have been the car dinal principles followed by this organization. Such policies as these could not help but have an effect in shaping the policies of the entire industry. While the two principles— quality of entertainment and a complete entity in itself—have | been the main guiding prineiples in the organization, another one has been equally important In the building of mount, and that is its policy of developing manpower, Early in his career Mr. Zukor saw the wisdom in getting good men around him and keeping them in the organization. The plan of promoting men from the ranks to fill responsible executive positions soon was put in force, This attitude toward the workers in the company has developed a stability of organization that has been the marvel of an industry that has been characterized by a heavy turnover in men, New Show World Just as the proof of the pud ding is in the eating, so is the | value of these policies shown in the public support given to this world-wide organization. Today thore people see Paramount pictures than any other entertainment. Paramount came into a show world beset with the delusion that “one is born every minute" and “never give a sucker an | even break.” These two axioms were rejected immediately and the company went on the principle that the finest entertainpe mes ome ray bogs service in the re appreciat the public. spain The success of this idea is shown in the fact that Paramount today is the leader in every department of entertainment enter. prise and those wh stuck to the old theories of bunsic eg — , 1 mpped subnd lost in world. this new show ramount’s job has bee well and pen Aly Ppt (Reprinted fro .VARD oT All doubts as to the manner in whi ingly enthusiastic reception tertainment. Instantaneous suc-|~ cess has followed the introduc |, tion of the screen’s newest form of its art in all the leading coun tries of the world, theatres every: where having felt the tonic-lik cy effect of the revolutionary enter |, tainment and thousands of oth are now engaged in a scramble} to obtain equipment which will |? enable them to participate in this latest wave of prosperity which | m, has embraced the world-wide wa rs | pring! ‘| motion picture indy The Paramount foreign department has assumed world leader-| ship in the presentation of sound | ,, and talking product. Sensational box office returns from those theatres which pioneered in the exhi. bition of this new Paramount product have stirred the exhibition |, arm of the industry as no other)». development has in many years in| ,, the industry. England, France, Australia, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, |, Cuba, Guatemala and Japan all) report tremendous spurts in box/ office receipts and that wide-awake/,, exhibitors in these countries are making their preparations for inclusion in the rapidly growing list of sound-equipped theatres. — The sensational success accord-|_ ed the presentation of “Wings,”| — with its music score and sound ef-| 5 fects, encouraged Emil E. Shauer,| se general manager of the Paramount foreign department, and Joseph H. | Seidelman, assistant general manager, to arrange for the showing; ¢ of this great film spectacle in| every foreign country in exactly the same manner as at the criterion in New York. Initial exhibitions abroad were enormously| ; successful and theatres throughjout the entire world participated jin the wave of prosperity that fol-| — l\lowed the introduction of this/... novelty in motion picture art. The|. atre attendance established new records for ali times in many countries and exhibitors abroad 'began to show a keen interest in jevents taking place in the Amert|can industry. ) First Foreign Theatre | The first foreign’ theatre to |make ready for the exhibition of the new prodtict announced in the United States waa Paramount's} beautiful Plaza theatre in London, |™* *% ® | the show window for Great Britain |* tam jand the Continent of Europe. The |! the) ; success of this new policy was so/7*?* jimmediate and overwhelming that |*¥_ | other great theatres began hurried | Preparations to install equipment. | * | One of the leaders was the new | Paramount theatre in Paris. Sound | pictures made a great hit from the | start, the climax of this new form |™ of entertainment for France com jing with the premiere of Maurice| SOum Chevalier, “Idol of France,” fn his} & }first Paramount talking and sing-| — ‘ing production, “Innocents of |Paris.” Parisians stormed the | theatre in such numbers that it} |became necessary to give seven! jshows daily and the engagement| was extended to record-breaking length, a An outstanding ot) just what Paramount's latest | Productions are doing to spur on the motion picture industry is to be found in A ; of the P tres with was nate 7 larger cities in presenting pictures to th they have « 0 stubbornly | tres in Sydney, other cities, and sound-equipped