Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1941)

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November 1, 1941 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 37 4r Walt Disney Plans Subjects With Latin-American Appeal Walt Disney, producer of what the public and the exhibitors of the country have termed the best short subjects, returned last week from a trip to South America, during which he gathered much material for a new series of shorts. Disney, who has long relied on folk tales and fairy stories for his ideas, said that he particularly studied the legends and animals of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and other countries for ideas for future subj ects. Although his shorts have a tremendous market in the United States alone, he said he could not continue making them unless he had a world-wide market, or at least a considerable market outside of the U. S. He therefore proposes to make a series of subjects which will portray some of the legends and animals of South America in order to whet the South American appetite for similar pictures from North America. Plans to Sign Latin-American Artists Disney studied the music of the ABC countries as well as their folklore. In order to obtain faithful reproductions of South American tunes and accents, he plans to sign LatinAmerican vocal and instrumental artists to score the subjects. He modestly admitted that his present series of shorts was already tops in popularity in South America and that Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Pluto and the Goof, especially the latter, are extremely well liked. For Latin-American audiences, these cartoons have whatever English dialogue is spoken, printed on the screen. Just for the sake of novelty, Disney proposes to make a couple of shorts with Spanish dialogue and superimpose the English titles for U. S. audiences. Among the unusual animals which Disney proposes to use in his new series are the sloth, which is one of the slowest moving animals in the world and habitually hangs upside down from a tree ; the ant-eater, an elongated creature with an armor-plated hide and an extremely long tongue, and the brightly colored South American parrots. The new Brazilian dance, the bomba, will be used in some of the forthcoming cartoons, and it is partly for this purpose that the musical and vocal artists are being brought to the Disney Studios. The art of the animated cartoon has never been successfully practiced in South America, so that Disney will have to rely on photographs and his memory as well as those of members of his staff who accompanied him. Some who made the trip took different routes, visiting many countries not touched by Disney himself. Pal Sets Two More With "Rhythm in the Ranks" now in production, George Pal has set the next two Puppetoons for Paramount. Now being readied is "Jaspar and the Watermelons," to be followed by "The Rain Beau." Get More Steady Patrons by Selling Grown-ups on Serials A preview of the first chapter of "Don Winslow Of The Navy" in the Universal projection room last week served as a reminder that many theatremen who shy away from serials, except for kid appeal, might be wise to give some serious consideration to building up adult following for the better chapter plays. Conceded that to make a play for the adults for extra money on your serial bookings you must first have a serial that has some adult appeal. This would then lead to the perfectly natural question : "How to get the grown-ups interested." We have always been firm believers in the theory that all you need to interest the adults in a worthwhile chapter film is to make a special play for them. Always remembering, however, that largely because theatremen have placed overemphasis on the kid angle, adults have taken for granted the fact that no grownup could possibly be interested in a serial. "Don Winslow" will capture the kids. So the theatreman's next problem, if you want to call it by so serious a name, is the adults and how to get them. Well, here you have a story based upon a cartoon strip that is syndicated from coast to coast. In addition, "Don Winslow of the Navy" is a successful radio serial in which it is well known that thousands and thousands of adults listen to it regularly and appear to be tremendously interested in the adventures of Don Winslow. Wouldn't it stand to reason that if any theatreman would book this serial for a Friday and Saturday booking he might well be able 'Quiz Kid' Delivers Address Gerard Darrow, 9-year-old mental wizard of Paramount's "Quiz Kids" motion picture shorts, is shown above as he arrived in New York recently to deliver an address on Oct. 21 at the annual dinner of the National Audubon Society at the Roosevelt Hotel. The juvenile ornithologist was the youngest speaker ever to address a convention of the Society in its existence. to attract considerable attention among the older people by tying it in with the newspaper comic strip and the radio show? This can be done through spot announcements over your local radio station and especially if the coast to coast hookup or transcriptions are used on your local station. In the latter event you should spot your announcement immediately following the chapter play. Instead of using the corny kid appeal you've used so often on your other serials, why not try a campaign especially designed for the adults. Shoot it at them with both barrels and with all the showmanship you can muster along the lines best suited for your particular community. If they like adventure, play up adventure. If they have a weakness for espionage, give that to them. Surely you have enough material and angles to draw from in selling any chapter play. What we liked about that first chapter was the way in which it was handled. It had none of the earmarks of the customary ground-out serial play. This one has a fine cast, swell direction and real production values. If they did a lot of faking you and your audience will never know it. Everytime we think back to the early beginnings of serial plays we cannot help recalling how the grown-ups used to go for them lock, stock and barrel. They would line up early in their intense desire to find out how things were faring with Pearl White. You may never see that same amount of adult response in serials today, but you can make the serial's weekly showing an event in your town and theatre if you take the trouble to sell it like you would any other good action and adventure thriller and minus all the childish angles that you once reserved for the kids on all your serials. Book Travelogues of New Theatres Of War As Soon As They Develop With events happening so swiftly, keeping abreast of the news these days seems to be an almost impossible task to set for theatremen. But those whose communities do so will be expected to follow suit. One way is to book travelogues of new theatres of war as soon as they develop. For example, Indo-China figured in the headlines this week and the smart theatreman immediately booked in some of the travelogues of that country. 20th-Fox had one with a particularly timely title — "Spotlight on Indo-China." Columbia also has an appropriate one called "From Singapore to Hongkong." Naturally it is impossible for us to predict where the trend of world events will be focused next. But you can fortify yourself by checking with your exchange for a list of travelogues. Tremendous Publicity Real showmanship, resulting in tremendous publicity in every local newspaper, was displayed by Bill Elder, Loew's, Indianapolis, in connection with the showing there of the "Crime Does Not Pay" short subject, "Coffin on Wheels." Elder arranged for a local judge to sentence all traffic violators to see the picture. a4a*fC0U*tf It's Hot! It's A Hit! It's , . . 9A*&.^8fih HOPPERS HOUY1VO00