Publix Opinion (Jul 11, 1930)

“= Oe ae era st ———————————————— ee es A ED = . Ys 6 $35,000, Oe PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JULY 111, 1930 4 000 FOR SHORTS THIS YEAR! PUBLIX TO GET FIRST CHOICE MAX BALABAN TELLS MEETING Chicago, July 1—Perhaps the most enthusiastically received news at the convention of the Chicago-Detroit division of Publix Theatres Corp., came today when Max Balaban told of the vast program embracing production of “shorts” which all pro ducing companies are now following. Some $35,000,000 will be spent on short subject pictures next year, he said. His complete speech follows: Mr. Sonaiter has just told you about the sound maintenance department and its functionings. Mr. Brockell gave you all the information on feature pictures. It is my aim to acquaint you with the short subject situation for the coming year and the functioning of our Short Subject Department insofar as the construction of sound programs is concerned. During the past two years short subjects have more or less been an experiment with all companies. They did not know just what suited the public taste. We feel now with the new season’s product, which I will explain to you later, that short reels are past the experimental stage. The producers have a general knowledge of what types of subjects appeal to the public in general. With the limited source of supply this past year, there was sometimes the necessity of depending on our screenings from week to week to select short subjects for our next week’s programs. This was generally due to our depending upon practically one company for short subjects. But in view of all these difficulties, we have been very fortunate in being able to set up some very consistent programs. $35,000,000 Product At each of our screenings we found that for every one good short there was at least three bad ones. But we feel that with the advent of the new season’s product this situation will be eliminated. Thirty-five millions of dollars will be spent next year to produce the following: PARAMOUNT Two Reel Comedies Screen Song Cartoons One Reel Acts 8 Talkartoons One Reel Pictorials METRO Laurel and Hardy Our Gangs Boy Friends (Grown Up Our Gangs) Black and White Acts (2 reels), “Song Writers Revue,” “Copy,” “Rounders” & “Gems of M-G-M" Flip the Frog Dogville Comedies Charlie Chase Colortone Reviews Burton Holmes EDUCATIONAL Mack Sennetts Lioyd Hamiltons Vanities Ideals Hodge Podge Mermaids Tuxedo Gayeties Terry Toons (Cartoons) Single Reel Comedies COLUMBIA Screen Snapshots Krazy Kat Cartoons Curiosities me COM — bo AABNAAAA NWAWAD = DO Oe O20 181 O01 OO #0200100 S10 S10 OO! FROM MR. LASKY John Balaban, Paramount Publix Corp., Chicago, Tl. Please give my _ personal thanks to every member of your organization in both Chicago} and Detroit for the outstandingly fine showmanship displayed in the handling of our product. I wish I could be with you during this meeting but circumstances make it impossible. Best wishes to everyone. JESSE L. LASKY. IDPS D-DD BSO D0 OO SO DO O20 O20 +O -2-0-O-0: 15 Micky Mouses Taken Over from Judell, of which three are released 13 Walt Disney's Cartoons 13 Micky Mouse Cartoons 26 Specialties : WARNER BROTHER 104 Single Reel Black and Whites 12 Ripleys 1 Two Reel Technicolor and 13 One Reel Technicolors held over 52 Two Reel Black and Whites 12 Looney Toons UNIVERSAL 10 George Sidney’s & Chas. Murray 10 Additional Two Reelers 13-Fanny the Mule 10 Leather Pushers 26 Oswald the Rabbits 13 “Strange As It Seems,’ one reel novelties PATHE 52 Reviews 26 Fables 6 Knute Rockne On Football 6 Manhattans (2 reels) 6 Checkers (2 reels) 8 Whoopee (2 reels) 6 Melody (2 reels) 26 Sportlights 26 Vagabond Traveltalk Series 8 Rainbows (2 reels) 6 Campus (2 reels) 6 Follies (2 reels) 6 Rodeo (2 a) . Kk. O. 6 Broadway Headliners 6 Louise Fazenda 8 Micky McGuire 12 Humanettes (1 reel) 6 Dane and Arthurs 6 Nick and Tony 12 Toby the Pup Cartoons Tiffany 26 Voice of Hollywood 6 Kentucky Jubilee 6 MonkeyComedies 6 Musical Fantasies JUDELL 24 Traveltalks 12 Horoscopes 12 Musical Poems 6 Edgar Guests 18 Music Masters 12 American Holiday Series 24 Novelties (1 reel song and dance comedy) 12 Two Reel Comedies The following name attractions will be found in the 1930-31 “shorts.” These shorts will have the greatest names of stage and screen in them. Some of the big name acts that have become familiar to the vaudeville legitimate and picture house theatre-goers are as follows: Maurice Chevalier George Jessel Eddie Cantor Joe Frisco Smith and Dale Lulu McConnell Paul Ash : Geo. D. Washington Johnny Perkins Solly Ward Gilda Grey Venita Gould Arthur and Morton Havel Clark and McCullough Ripley (‘Believe It Or Not’) Harry Fox Eddie Lambert Eddie Buzzell Bobby Vernon Johnny Arthur Henry Walthall Ann Pennington Lou_ Holtz Al Trahan Jim McWilliams Jack McClellan Codee and Orth Francis Williams Yacht Club Boys Van and Schenck Herman Timberg Ruth BEtting George Sidney Charles Murray Carl Dane Geo. K. Arthur Louise Fazenda Laurel and Hardy Charley Chase Lioyd Hamilton Knute Rockne Football Series Jack Benny Clifg Edwards Benny Rubin Gus Edwards With these great attractions in short subjects it means that every unit of our program is now a salable article to the public. It means that every unit of our program can be advertised and has box-office possibilities. We have already screened the first five of the Paramount shorts and they are as follows: ‘Fit to Be Tied,” with Burns and Allen; “Accidents Will Happen,” a tworeeler with Smith & Dale; ‘‘Artists’ Reverie,’ a classical music reel directed by Frank Cambria; “At Home,” a single reel knock out with Lulu McConnell, and ‘‘Insurance,’’ a comedy sketch with Eddie Cantor. : It was the consensus of opinion of all those present in the screening room when we screened these subjects that every one was of excellent quality and it would be impossible to pass one up even if we wanted to, and as you know, we haye a very critical staff in our screening room, irrespective of whose shorts are being screened. We have also screened some of next year’s product from the other companies and they are a great improvement over last year’s. | Balancing Programs | Up to the present time there has always been a great deal of discussion about the balancing of vaudeville programs, and now sound programs. I want you to know that there is no mystery in balancing a sound or vaudeville program and there never has been. Anyone can do it. All it requires is a little common sense and good judgment. I know that if I were to have any 10 of you men in this room to review 30 or 40 shorts and have each one of you sit down after this screening and balance up several types of programs, while all of you may not select the same subjects, the balancing and routining would be the same nine times out of ten. It is always our aim to build up strong shorts with names with weak features. Whenever a weak feature is released it is always our aim to release a name comedy or act that week to build up that program. Remember one thing, that regardless of the size of the theatre, the size of the town, the sound theatres of today are just as important and require just as much attention in setting up your programs as the Chicago, Uptown, Tivoli o1 any large de luxe theatre in this country. You all know that the product that goes into the de luxe theatre today is presented no differently to the public than it is in our small houses. In silent days we had stage effects and large orchestras accompanying comedies and short reels. Today the film comes to you direct from the studios with proper musical scores synchronized and all the necessary sound effects. De Luxe Houses | In our de luxe houses the programs are first laid out on paper and at the first de luxe performance several of the executives sit in the theatre and review it. This is to get the audience reaction. After the first performance a meeting is held, notes are made and the routining of the show is usually changed. After the corrections are made in same they catch the second performance to make a future check and see if proper corrections were made. If necessary, we come back and catch the third show until we are satisfied that every show is absolutely perfect. Every theatre, regardless of size, is in this same position and it is very important for the manager, the assistant manager and other assistants, if necessary, to sit in and check your show just as we do in our de luxe theatres. It is very dangerous for sound houses to overload a performance with too many short subjects. For instance, when getting a feature, like Jack Oakie in ‘‘The Social Lion,” which only runs one hour, there is no necessity to load up your program with a lot of shorts to make a performance two hours and 10 or 15 minutes long. All it requires is proper balance. The public is not interested in the amount of time. All they are interested in is the quality of your performance. A one hour and 50 minute show with a one hour feature and five shorts seems just as long to the public as a two hour and 15 minute show with a one hour and a half feature and only three subjects. It is all a question of balance and quality. Suggestions Always Welcome The fact that our booking department sends out a program already routined for you does not mean that this is always correct. After receiving the program from our booking department you may find it necessary to change it or make some _ suggestions to the booker. Suggestions are welcomed at all times. Remember that while Mr. Bragin or Mr. Moule are thinking of 20, 30 or 40 theatres you have only one to think about, and sometimes they may make mistakes in routining a program. We are all human and all . make mistakes. . We are only using one newsreel in most of our theatres, but in some of our larger houses we are giving them another newsreel, for example, a Paramount sound and a Universal talking newsreel with Graham McNamee announcing. It is very important in editing your newsreel to be sure that you do not leave out any important scenes and that you do not select the wrong subjects. For instance, in one of our theatres the. manager received the Universal News with the Zeppelin shot in silent and the Paramount News had the same shot with Eckener speaking and with all effects. The manager in this theatre did not use good judgment in picking the silent shot instead of the sound. You all know that the public would much prefer to hear a great, important figure as Dr. Eckener than to sit through a silent shot. They also had a shot showing the Indianapolis auto races. They had a silent shot of four or five cars in a collision. Paramount News had the same shot with the actual collision in sound in which you could hear the impact of the cars and the excitement of the crowd. | Use Common Sense Again the manager used poor judgment in running the silent shot and as we have said before, the public would prefer to hear it as it actually is. You want to use a little common sense in making this item of your program a feature. Years ago many of the public would walk out on the news. Today they look forward to seeing this part of your program and it is just as important as the feature picture or any item that makes up your program. I want to say one thing, and that is, we are giving you the best we have in us to co-operate with you. We have the best sound maintenance department and projection department that I believe is humanly possible for anyone to have. We have the pick of the Erpi men. We also have the pick of all feature pictures from Paramount, Metro, United Artists, First National, Warners, Universal, Columbia, Tiffany, Pathe and R.-K.-O. For your information I believe you should know that we have just closed a long term franchise with Fox Film corporation in addition to the franchises we already have with other large producers. We have the pick of all short reels. We have no definite commitment on short reels except with our own company. We screen them and buy. those which have merit. Chicago and Detroit set aside one day each week and their entire screening staffs are present at the screening, at which all shorts that are available for us to review are screened. The small exhibitor of today has to go around to 10 or 12 different exchanges to see all the available product and you know they just do not have the time nor do they do it, You can just imagine how many bad subjects the individual exhibitor shows in his theatres, for as I told you before, for each good subject there are at least three bad ones. The individual exhibitor books mostly from a release sheet sent out by each film company. You can very readily see the advantages that we have over the independent exhibitor. With all these facilities at your command it is up to the manager of the theatre to see that each performance is properly presented to the public. See that your projection is correct. See that your picture is always in focus. See that your program is properly balanced. Most important of all, see that your sound is properly controlled and what I mean by properly controlled is not to have your fader level at nine or 10 when it should be at eight or not to have your level at six or seven when it should be at eight. There is a proper fader level for your sound. It is no different than the radio in your home. If the radio in your home is too loud or too soft you would set it at the proper level. Remember one thing, and that is SOUND IS THE HEART OF OUR BUSINESS. It is controlled at the operating booth by an operator and he will only follow the instructions sent up to him if you check him. Operators get careless at times. Rehearse Fader Levels Poor sound does not always mean poor acoustics. Your theatre may be acoustically perfect, but if your sound is not properly controlled the audience leaves the theatre in disgust. They do not know what the trouble is. All they know is that the sound was not right. It is very important that after a cue sheet is sent to the booth after you have a rehearsal, whether you have a rehearsal prior to the first performance or whether your first perfomance is a rehearsal, it is necessary for you or your assistant to follow out all instructions, not only on one show but every show while that program is being presented. It is necessary for someone to be in the auditorium at all times to check your sound. I believe that the appointing of a member of the staff to be in the auditorium at all times to act as a sound monitor is a step in the right direction to correct and to keep sound as nearly perfect as it is possible to get it. in conclusion I want to repeat an old standby of mine. The success of your theatre depends almost entirely on your sound and your manner in presenting rograms. You may have tha t theatre, the best location and the choice of first run pictures in your zone, but if the public does not like the sound in your theatre they will wait and see the picture in a second run theatre at a cheaper admission price. Gentlemen, it is your responsibility to present your programs in such a manner as to keep our patrons from going elsewhere. IT IS UP TO YOU. FROM” MR. KENT ¢John Balaban, Paramount Publix Corp., Chicago, Il. Sorry I cannot be with you $on the occasion of the first con1 {vention of the Chicago-Detroit {Division of the Paramount Pub¢lix Theatre Department. Howjover you know I am with you 3in spirit. Please convey my sincere best wishes to everyone gathered with you and accept my personal thanks for every: }thing that hasbeen done in the ae for our product. Regards: SIDNEY R. KENT. Or O+0+-0+0+-0+0-0 0-00-00 018-0-000 ree