Publix Opinion (Jun 13, 1930)

a READ EVERY PUBLEXS MR. KATZ PICTURES ENTIRE ACTIVITIES OF COMPANY IN FIVE KEY CITY SPEECHES Tracing in clear, firm strokes the history, policies, ideals, character and very structure of Paramount Publix, Mr. Sam Katz presented an instructively interesting and inspiring picture of all the company’s activities in five separate speeches delivered at key cities during his recent tour of the circuit. The towns at which he addressed conventions of all theatre, district, division and advertising managers, in the presence of the division director of that particular territory, were New Orleans, Dallas, Omaha, Denver and Minneapolis. Because of the gold mine of valuable institutional facts, side-lights, career-building tips, practical theatre operating aids, and sources of explanatory and inspirational matter tending to cement the entire organization into one lasting bond of mutual understanding, that are contained in these informal and impromptu talks, Publix Opinjon is reproducing them here with. Ci ee Highlights Gwen | Inasmuch as Mr. Katz’ message was largely the same in all five cities, we have not reproduced} verbatim all of his: speeches. His first talk, which he delivered on May 20, is given verbatim. Of the remaining four speeches various highlights are given which, for the most part, contain matter not treated at such length in the other speeches, as well as localized references to activities and personalities of that particular section. As is to be expected in all impromptu speaking, there are no definite, clear-cut poundaries on the various subjects treated and, in some instances, the matter contained in one speech may overlap into another. However, because of firm conviction that all discussions of theatre operation by Mr. Katz can be heard over and over again with the greatest profit by all showmen, in view of the various sidelights and new thoughts expressed each time, Your Editor felt that the slight repetition would be completely overshadowed by the _ benefits acquired from a thorough perusal of EVERYTHING Mr. Katz said. | Take This Tip! | Therefore, if you have ever benefited from a tip of Your Editor, if the efficacy of our past advice and’ service is any criterion of our ability to detect what is useful and essential to you, we URGE YOU MOST EMPHATICALLY TO READ EVERY WORD CONTAINED IN THESE SPEECHES! If we were not convinced of its importance, and if our convictions were not corroborated by Messrs. Katz, Dembow, Chatkin, Botsford and other Home Office Executives who have carefully read every word of it, we would never devote so many pages to its publication. The smart showman needs only a tip-off. His common sense and} alertness to make use of valuable information will do the rest. New Orleans Speech! May 20, 1930 — For some time past I have been wishing to get out in the territory and meet the men that make up Publix. I had hoped originally to get out last fall to meet them, but so many things began to take place, that it was impossible to get away until just now, and as a matter of fact it is difficult to get away, even at this time. My purpose in going around to meet with you is, I might say, nothing more than to meet you and have you, if possible, meet the home office boys through me. They are all very anxious to get around, but there is just so much there in New York that they delegated me to do the job for them. First, I want to really tell you how much we in the Home Office appreciate the efforts that you have been making in the field to justify this program of expansion which we have been on, this past twelve months. Without the feeling of complete satisfaction, complete co-operation and enjoyment on your part in being a part of us, we would have lacked the courage to go on at the rate we are going. But—I will elaborate on that a little later in my taik. | At The Beginning | Publix is about four and a half years old. I came on to New York in the fall of 1925, and at that time Publix consisted of about four hundred theatres, none of which had any particular relation to each. other, and of these four hundred, about two hundred—a little less than two hundred——were operated strictly from New York, —the balance being operated through a series of partnerships. I well remember when I got there, I not only did not know the names of the theatres, I didn’t even know the states the towns were in. BE. V. Richards has a standing joke about me trying to figure whether Waco was in Texas or Alabama. However, ‘I was very fortunate in having found in the New York office, a group of very willing, anxious and ambitious boys, who needed merely an assurance that they were going somewhere, to give full expression to the talents that they had. I made up-my mind when I looked them in the face the first couple of weeks I was there, that they were the best looking lot of fellows I had ever met, and the grass was going to be greenest right under my nose; that all of the miracle workers that I expected to need were right there in the room, and I was not going to go on the outside to bring in any help. ae At this time I want to say the only vanity and egotism I have about this job of ours, is that in spite of our development in these few years to somewhere near 1600 theatres, the same men that began that job are doing it now, and that we have brought into the organization in these four and a half years,’ only one man from the outside, and that is your own division — manager, Bob O’Donnell. I qualify that statement by saying I heard that name about the second day I was in office, and it always seemed Bob was a part of us—that he was simply getting his salary from some other source, temporarily, Bob was a fighter with us in Texas, and when Mr. Hoblit zelle was ready to dispose of his business, Milton Feld made an arrangement to have Bob come with us, in the event such a deal was made. When Hoblit zelle did make the deal he suggested to Bob that the best place for him to be was with Publix. Other than that, we have yet to bring in a man from the outside for a job that is being done, or a job that remains yet to be done. We took ample time the first couple of years to try and correlate all these theatres and co-ordinate everybody’s activities so we might get an even flowing machine in which everybody functioned to a given point. We had one slogan , only among ourselves in those days. That was, “If we did our job well, everything else would follow.’’ And I believe I can look at you and tell you that has honestly been our motivating. force and nothing else. | Monperer Kept Pace | | I know there were times when business was stimulated by the business of this or that producer, and it looked like we might be falling behind the rest, but we never moved any faster than the rate at which we felt we had man power to keep pace with the obligations we were to take. Last year just about this time, due to the chaos existing then in the business, we decided we would acquire as many of our then existing partnerships aS was possible, and almost with one move, we took on about five hundred additional theatres. This consisted of the Saenger Circuit here, Fink| elstein and Ruben, the Great States, the Marcus, Idaho and Utah, Dent Theatres in Texas, Rickards and Nace in Arizona, and numerous small circuits. : These theatres were all taken over for direct operation out of New York, so almost over night the job had multiplied many times. And characteristic of the boys in the Home Office, they merely rolled up their sleeves and assured me they could) lick .the job, and before I knew it, the job was fairly licked. I mean the circuits were absorbed, the machinery was co-ordinated, and tied in with New York, and by the first of the year it was merely another Publix circuit. That was their finest bit of work. | Executives Grew In that process, it was interesting to watch the size to which these kids had grown in New York, and I know you are familiar with them. Bill Saal, Lem Stewart, Sam Dembow — up and down the line, and those of you who have had contact’ with them, must have seen what I saw—the tremendous growth of those boys. They have taken on maturity, and nothing phases them. Now we got by the first of the year and thought we were going to have a resting period, when suddenly other producers got active and it looked like we would have to hustle a little ahead of ourselves this year, with the net result in the last sixty or ninety days, we have taken on over five hundred additional theatres with which we had no previous contact, OPINION, WEEK OF JUNE 13x, 1930 —the Canadian circuit, extending from Nova Scotia to British Columbia; the Walter Reade circuit, Netoco circuit, Goidstein Bros. circuit in New England, and numerous small ones. When I asked the boys in the Home Office if they were ready to jump on _ these things, the chorus was unanimous —YES. We will lick the job, and I know I have gone home at night quite comfortable in the feeling that the boys had grown again to this additional load. | Boston Meeting | Last week we held a meeting in Boston of our New England Division, and it was thrilling to me, because two years ago when I was there and talked to what then looked like a.large circuit to me, I was addressing only about fortyfive theatres. I stood up there a week ago and was addressing 145 theatres. I remember in discussing the matter with Mr. Fitzgibbons and Mr. Mullin, I was trying to discover the outstanding characteristics of these boys, and it occurred to me in the four and a half years I was with them, I had never found it necessary to use more than one sentence in an assignment. I merely said, ‘Fitz, you go here, and Mullin, you go there,’’ and their bags were packed and they went. I looked some of the young men in the face and said that the possibilities are that tomorow or next week I will get on the ’phone and say, “‘Pack your bag and go to Australia.’’ I personally have no apprehension about our job, only because I know that if you sat at my desk and read the district managers’ letters, such as I get from here, and read the undertone of enthusiasm and willingness, you also would have no apprehension about the size of the job that is before us, because the fundamentals of the business are fairly well written out. I think the centralized functioning machinery -is fairly well oiled, and if I properly sense your enthusiasm for Publix, then I have no fear of the future. I know that most anything that I can say from now on from the standpoint of personal opportunity to you men in this field, must necessarily be an anti-climax to the picture of where we are going from that point. A Huge Business Any business that grows to the size that ours has, is, of course, a huge business in and of itself. That is more singularly true of our business than most industrial businesses, because to make a proper return on that capital in a business’ like ours, takes a_ greater amount of energy than in an industrial business. The reason for that is we are in business all over again, with each change of program, and in each community, in and of itself. The compensation is great. Just as the business requires maximum nervous energy to get a proper return out of it, so is it colorful enough to make the expenditure of that energy possibly an easier task than a more monotonous, colorless business might present. I know for myself, I never found any great difficulty in spending 16 or 18 hours a day around a theatre,’ because the theatre threw off something in return,'in contrast to a cut and dried business. \ Man To Man I left New York purposely on this trip with no program of discussion in mind. I brought no notes so I might be free to ramble from subject to subject to see if, when I got through, we could not WORD OF THESE TALKS! | feel we met and merely had an informal talk, each to the other. I know Mr. Richards worried considerably when we took hold down here, as to whether or not we in New York would have a sympathetic appreciation of you men. I know I do not have to eulogize ‘‘Rich”’ to you, other than to tell you he is one of the best friends I have in the amusement industry, and has been that for about ten years. He would come to me in the beginning, and get me on the ’phone frequently, wondering whether the boys we sent down here would be the type of boys you would like a lot, and all of that. From what little I have heard— I heard something from Mr. Dureau' coming down on the train; I get reports from Bob and George here—they have measured up to your hopes and desires. The only thing I can assure you in addition is that while, from time to time in a business that grows like ours, these men may be moved to different sections of the country, I will promise you that at no time will your contacts be of a different nature than those you have enjoyed up to this time.. We are going to expect many, many things of you, and we are conscious that everything we expect of you, we who are removed from you, must in turn give that to you. | Policy of Patience : | We have a policy in New York that has been adhered to quite religiously, and that is the policy of patience with our men. I was very happy to learn when I got here this morning, that Mr. O’Donnell and Mr. Walsh have carried that out in this field—real patience and a willingness to understand the fellows in that field. I asked Mr. O’Donnell how many changes had been made in the field since he has been here, and he told me two men had resigned and that he had dismissed none. Well, that was about the best morning salutation he could have given me, because I expect our men to be just as patient with the boys in the field as they know I have been with them. I said to the boys in New England in admonishing them to be patient with the younger men, I would have hated to go back and talked with them if I had been less patient with them. For example, I would have had an entirely different set of men in the 1 Home Office if it were not for the policy of real patience and a willingness to find that which is best in the boys, rather than that which is worst. We tried to pick out the defects, study them, work on them, and build them up. | The Worker Wins | The reason I emphasize it in the way I do is this:, I have had a long training in this business. This is my twenty-fifth year, and I have watched ali of the miracle workers and great geniuses this industry has produced. IT am very happy that none of the geniuses are ° sitting on top. Some of them have retired, blowing their horn occasionally; the genius did not rise to the top. It was the worker who thought his way through a problem. Therefore I started firmly in the belief of what I said in the beginning, that the grass is greenest under our very eyes with the fellows that make up this company, who are the greatest lot of fellows anywhere; that they have everything that anybody has, (Continued on Page Five)