Publix Opinion (May 9, 1930)

-METZLER ASKS ATTENTION TO MANUALS Presiding at a meeting of the Second District Managers’ Session which probed the intricacies of the Accounting Department, Comptroller Fred L. Metzler emphasized the importance of meticulously following the prescribed accounting routine. “We have a keen appreciation of the amount of work your managers have to do,” he said, ‘“‘and we are not trying: to load them with red tape. But when any order goes out, there is a definite reason for it. Managers can be of the utmost assistance to the accounting department by constant compliance with rules and routine as set forth in their acecounting manuals.”’ He recommended an active interest on the part of the district manager in the way §individual managers handle accounting routine. In the general discussion of theatre office routine which followed, District Manager Frank Hookailo suggested reinstitution of the monthly ticket inventory. This was taken under advisement by Metzler and those ‘of his aides who were present. Charity Donations Metzler took up a plan of the FE. L. Metzler ' Hays organization which would group funds of producers and ex hibitors intended for contribution to Community ‘Chests, and make single donations to each municipal chest in the name of the industry, District Manager Warren Irvin suggested a budget system for theatres in situations where there is no organized Community Chest, and Niles and Abelson described the success of this plan of making donations in the Northwest Division. T. X. Jones, of the accounting department, followed Mr. Metzler. “An idea of the magnitude of -the company as it affects the accounting department will help you to appreciate the tremendous de tail we handle,’’ Jones said. ‘“‘We have 300 subsidiary corporations and 125 checking accounts, and write 12,000 checks weekly in payment of 30,000 bills. Over 7,000 box-office statements come in weekly. We can check thirty of these in the time it takes to eorrect a mistake in one and write the manager about it. | Delay Causes Losses “Our greatest trouble, perhaps, arises from delay in sending in bills. This not only disorganizes the routine of the department, but causes actual money losses in missing out on discounts, ete. _ Bills should be forwarded weekly. “The .practice of managers in changing totals on bills with which they do not agree, without effecting an adjustment with the vendor, is also troublesome, as is the occasional approval and forwarding of a bill of which a duplicate has already gone in, Both cost time and Boney and create confusion. “Payrolls which are not sent in on the last day of the preceding week are a _ prolific source of trouble. When they are delayed too long, there is invariably an interchange of wires, and to pay off the manager is often forced to make a draft.on the home office, with more needless expense.”’ Tour of Department _ Following Jones’ talk, the district managers visited various units of the accounting depart ment, conferring with unit heads in an attempt to uncover other sources of unnecessary cost and trouble. First stop was the office of F. L. Wieber, where managers’ weekly reports are audited, and blueprints and monthly theatre profit and loss. statements prepared. Common managerial errors pointed out by Wieber included charging of musical novelties and overtures as film rental, instead of in Account 4, invoice section, as a production charge. Receipts for midnight shows, Wieber said, when the picture does not begin its regular run until several days later, should be shown during the current week. If the midnight show is on Saturday. and the regular run opens Sunday, they should be held over and included in the next week’s _ receipts. When changes of policy occasion a 6 or 8 day week, it should be shown as such, figuring fixed charges, ete., on that basis. Midnight shows and special matinees should always be shown separately on reports. Service passes, Wieber pointed out, are not listed. with regular passes, and receipts from this source’ should be shown in the column “‘Tax on admissions.”’ Common Errors Next meeting was with Miss C. Shumate of the payroll unit, where the necessity of mailing payrolls on the closing day of each week was again brought out, as well as the importance of completely filling them out. Most common error in connection with box-office statements, as indicated by Homer S. Traw, in charge of general cash records, is incorrectly carrying forward the opening ticket number. This necessitates eight or ten changes on the statement, and consequent correspondence. Correct name of the depository account should be shown on the deposit slip, and duplicate deposit slip pasted in the upper left-hand corner of the statement, so that it will not become mislaid upon receipt at the home office, Correctly naming the depository accounts is important because of multiplicity of accounts, and possibility of an error on the bank’s part in crediting the deposit, with consequent overdrafts when funds are transferred to the home office. Miscellaneous receipts, Traw said, should be detailed on the statement, and the totals on the deposit slip and box-office statement should agree. Routine Changed New routine, as described by Traw, is for a stamped, addressed envelope to accompany the statement and duplicate deposit slip to the bank, so that it may be mailed immediately by the bank itself. The district managers spent some time with C. C. MacPike, head of the cost control unit, who checks all bills as to approvals, and against the managers’ weekly reports. This unit prepares a detailed record of theatre expenses, and submits analytical and comparative statements to the Cost Control Committee. Among errors listed by Mac Pike are the forwarding of bills without approval, and sometimes of entire registers; not listing reasons for long distance calls on the form provided for forwarding with the phone company’s bill, and no explanations accompanying important invoices. Bills for large amounts, however regular, MacPike said, would not be passed unless submitted with an explanation. Statements are not approved unless itemized or accompanied by a duplicate invoice. If a manager thinks something should be charged to new equipment; and not expense, he should give reasons. When local conditions make it necessary to pay fairly large sums immediately, such as paying off a man engaged for a ballyhoo, etc., MacPike suggested utilizing a requisition for payment, instead of petty cash, as a means of expediting reimbursement. Maintenance routine, he said, should be adhered to strictly except in emer~ gency cases. | SPECIAL HERALD Al Smith of the State, Winona, had a special herald on the Pageant of Progress distributed. to every house in town selling pictures for two weeks. Out of town distribution was also attempted. PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF MAY 9th, 1930 BOTSFORD HITS! Holiday Trailers\DISTRICT MEN. EXPLOITATION WASTE Advertising, Publicity and HExploitation Department engaged the attention of district managers convened at the home office for a valuable half day, under the direction of A. M. Botsford. After discussing the value of manuals, Mr. Botsford gave a resumé of matter from the advertising department which will be incorporated in the proposed District Managers’ Manual. j Cautioning the district heads against permitting managers “|to waste time on fripperies of =} ox ploitation, Mr. Botsford as serted that if present exploitation fails to sell the expected number of tickets the fault can be attributed to much that is trite such as the too frequent use of mediums like paper napkins and milk bottle tops. Activities and _ possibilities of district publicity directors were covered. Jack Meredith, publicity director of Geo. Walsh’s division, and George Planck, home office supervisor of publicity in J. J. Friedl’s division, contributed to this discussion, in which district managers also participated. Campaign Danger Mr. Botsford spoke of campaigns in taking over or re-naming theatres, and warned against over-merchandising in such instances, particularly when a theatre is taken over in a Publix town. Danger lies in getting too enthusiastic over minor renovations, he said. Lem Stewart suggested that the district’ managers visit the offices of the adv. department to see the men at work on the manuals and to see the files in which ad records are retained; also to view the voluminous activity there, to arrive at a better understanding of reasons for requesting prompt forwarding of ad-records and tearsheets. There is no better gauge of advertising effectiveness, Lem Stewart said, than a study of the percentage of advertising costs to receipts. These percentages point out advertising trends and warn of impending bad conditions. At present, he said, there seems to be a tendency toward over-advertising of C houses and minor pictures. Stewart blamed this partially on combination ads, which he described as impractical except in the larger cities, as in smaller towns they lead the’B and C theatres into excessive expenditures. Wasted Effort Decrying wasted effort, Stewart produced tear sheets of concrete examples. One Monday morning newspaper carried a duplication of a theatre’s large Sunday ad, and on the same page two co-operative ads: One quarter-page co-op ad was extremely effective, apparently laid out by the manager. Stewart’s point was that the manager had failed to capitalize on his splendid effort in securing the tieup, by expending an inordinate sum on his own Monday ad, failure to use a new layout and new copy, and placing his ad on the same page as the co-op ads. Advertising manuals and supplements, Stewart said, were designed to improve the character, appearance, readability and effectiveness of Publix ads, and establish a standard for our theatres’ advertising. Their usefulness in this direction is not exhausted when a particular picture has been played, he said. They should be broken up and placed in tickler files when their primary purpose is accomplished. Describing the method of attempting ad improvement before institution of manuals, when letters to individu A. M. Botsford Will be Issued — Regularly E. H. Kleinert, head of the Music Novelties division of the Music Department, detailed services proffered by his department to the district Sede group last week. Holiday trallevs song subjects, organ solos and slides, 33 1/3 r. p. m. overture-exit records and synchronized trailer strips were among the material discussed. -Holiday trailers will be forthcom ing regularly hereafter, Kleinert said. Song subjects will principally be on Paramount songs, and will be ready in ample time for use in picture exploitation. “Back Home,” song subject now being developed around the song featured in ‘‘With Byrd at the South Pole,’ will be ready for showings at least one month prior to release of the Byrd picture, Kleinert promised. It may be used to capitalize upon coming publicity attendant to Byrd’s return to the states, Kleinert elaborated on the new booking plan for these novelties which had been touched on by Sam Shayon, executive assistant to Boris Morros, in a previous meeting. No profit accrues to the music novelties department on these subjects, and the wider the dis-. tribution accorded them, the lower the charges to individual theatres will be. Under the plan to be adopted shortly, prints will be supplied to Paramount exchanges, and will be set in by district bookers in accordance with regular routine. — _ With regard to the synchronized trailer date strips, Kleinert stated that requirements of individual theatres not included in the stock list would be made up to order, at special prices dependent upon the amount of material. Price of stocked trailer strips is 10c per foot. List of trailers now available has appeared in Publix Opinion. Kleinert asked for expression of opinion on advisability of making up more ballyhoo records similar to that on ‘“‘The Vagabond King.’’ District managers generally commended the idea, and specified desire for records suited to outdoor ballyhoo, and lobby and radio use as well. Session adjourned to the screening room, where the district managers saw a number of recent holiday and song subjects. al managers with constructive ad eriticism were the means of establishing this desired standard, Stewart said that ads of operations taken over were brought up to standard within three months as against four or five years under the old system. Use of Manuals Stewart declared that Publix particularly does not want its theatres to subscrib? to ad-mat seryices, which keep men from learning the desirable principles of advertising inculeated through the use of the manuals. Tickler files and their importance were covered. L. L. Edwards told of the new system of circuit art shops being instituted, and spoke of _ the economies to be effected through circuit buying of artist’s supplies. He asked the district managers to be on the lookout for men worthy of development in the home office art department, under Duke Wellington’s supervision, for later assignment elsewhere. Charges to theatres using the sound trains this season will be materially reduced, Edwards said. He cited the success of the special in Miami this winter. District Manager Jesse Clark corroborated his statements on the effectiveness of the sound trains when properly employed. A sound train manual, incorporating many of the ideas used by Clark in Florida, will be distributed shortly, Edwards announced. Effective Trailers “EHixperiments in various operations have indicated that it is impractical to sell sound with silent HEAR SAAL ON BOOKING William M. ee, General Direc tor of Film Buying and Booking, © presided over a meeting of the ten district managers . now in New York which took up the work of his department in detail. Saal covered the organization of the booking department, buying and booking of mittments, relations of district manager and _. booker, sqareenings, handling booking emergencies, and program arrangement. “Our primary consideration,’ Saal said, ‘“‘is the fact that we owe the utmost allegiance to Paramount. Paramount again vindicated this allegiance in the difficult three months just past, delivering consistently good, moneymaking, box-office pictures. It is our first duty to get behind every Paramount picture with everything we have, so that revenue! to Paramount as a producer will justify making more and even better pictures.’’ Outlines Advantages Discussing the relations between the various departments of Publix, Saal elaborated on the complete organization of Publix, and its advantages. “District managers, ‘district bookers and district advertising men can sit down and talk over their theatres as if they were partners in the operations. The growth of the company and the development of its manpower largely lies in the hands of this trio. If you are better men for talking with me, I am a better man for talking with you, and this is true all down the line. When we tune in on each other’s problems and duties, we present a single, united front, and contribute much to the progress of the company.’’ Saal asked about advance screenings in the field, and whether or not the district managers would recommend any changes in the present system. Expression of a diversity of opinion resulted. He suggested that each man present write a memo to him on that subject before leaving for the field. Shorts came up for discussion next. Shorts Important “The front show determines whether a program is good entertainment or poor entertainment. Information to assist in routining and publicizing short subjects is our greatest need, and one of several plans now under consideration will shortly provide this for your managers,’ Saal outlined one of the plans to ascertain the reaction of the assembled district managers. “It is my hope,” he said in conclusion, “‘that you men will hereafter be able to analyze booking problems on a basis of constructive criticism, and possibly of solution. Your ability to instill good principles of the business of booking into the manpower in the field will be of immense value to this department and to the company.” William M. Saal trailers,’ Edwards said. ‘‘Many difficulties formerly experienced in securing trailer service have been ironed out, and we will assist you in every way in securing proper service from National Screen and Vitaphone:’”’ He asked for definite correspondence on ‘cases where trailer charges seemed excessive, and promised every assistance in procuring adjustments. Several combination services for houses’ with frequent changes were described. Special trailers on the Jubilee , are ready, Edwards said, and two © (Continued on Page Eight) product, com— ~