Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1947)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 18, 1947 National Campaigns Aid Small Towns — Gordon National advertising and exploitation of a nltn by distributors does have a definite effect on the picture's gross in the area where the campaign penetrates, Julius Gordon, head of some 70 theatres in the East Te^^as Theatre and the JefTerson Amusement group which are located in situations of from 3,000 to 100,000 population, declared in New York last week. Gordon, who has found business this j-ear good but not up to last year said : "We seldom get the benefit of such campaigns because our houses are small houses in smaller : towns. But when we get the benefit of the national tieups, we feel the results in that town I where the campaign has penetrated. "We got Beaumont on the saturation of one campaign and didn't get Port Arthur. Beaumont on the same picture, was up over the previous week ; Port Arthur, 20 miles away, was down." Gordon struck at roadshow advanced prices as causing local resentment "against local exhibitors" before tax boards and other bodies, "while all the money goes for distribution." "The public today," he continued, "is a helluva lot more selective than it was last year. They won't buy .'K pictures at roadshow prices." In the category of A pictures, he included "The Rest Years of Our Lives." He also pointed out that his admissions are from 43 to 60 cents and that while in a large city roadshow advances may be 10, 15 or 20 per cent, in the smaller localities the $1.25 top may be as much as 300 per cent over the usual admission. The majority of Gordon's houses, he points out, are susceptible to public resentment since they have to drive to get the same audience back twice a week. "If we couldn't get them to come back twice a week," he said, "we might as well go out of busines." $250,000 20th-Fox Fire Four workers and three firemen were injured in a $250,000 fire which was started by a faulty generator Tuesday on the 20th Century-Fox back lot in Holivwiind. Take City Tax Question to Public Exhibitors in St. Louis and Chicago this week were taking the question of a municipal amusement tax to the public through newspaper ads as well as other media. Chicago in approximately quarter-page ads called attention to the fact that the public paid a 20 per cent tax already and pointed out that the tax singled motion pictures cut alone, "an industry which serves almost every man, woman and child." It also pointed to the other taxes paid by theatres and to the fact that while the cost of living went up radically, pictures advanced but slightly. St. Louis in half-page newspaper ads points to the fact that all amusement taxes, if the city tax passed, would total 27 per cent and amount to a luxury tax on movies. It points out that movies are not luxuries like a "high-priced motor car nor expensive jewelry." The ad includes a coupon on which the citizen can register his protest. In addition post cards are being distributed in theatres and the fight is being carried on by means of trailers. Capital Ready As Film Quiz is What some W'ashington circles look upon as the big show of the year was scheduled to get under way in the nation's capital Aloiiday (20) when the House Committee on Un.-\.merican Activities resumes its inquiry into the motion picture industry. Officialh' the committee, which had already conducted a one-sided hearing in Hollywood where its supposedly "secret" testimony became public, is out to look into alleged communistic influences in motion picture production. To this end it liad apparently planned to select a list of suspected pictures and launch the inquiry from there. This plan may be followed out but W'ashington is betting at present that the inquiry will be more concerned with persons and personalities. Concerned With Persons (hie reason for tliis may be the fact that one of the pictures on tlie committee's list which apparently is considered guilty of spreading communist thought is Sam Goldwyn's "The Best Years of Our Lives." .■\mong others reportedly listed in the committee file are: "Margie," (20th-Fo.x) ; "Song of Russia, (MGM) ; "Tender Comrade," (RKO); "Blockade," (United Artists); "Mission to Moscow," (Warner Bros.) ; "The North Something New? MGM Tries Selling By Phone and Letter in 2 Centers An e.xpcrimenl in selling film wherein all salesman are pulled off the road and attempts to sell the exhibitor by long distance and letter are substituted, was being tried by MGM this week in the St. Louis and Cleveland territories, reports from those sections said. The experiment is not general and MGM exchanges queried elsewhere denied in some instances e\eTi of having heard of the experiment. St. Louis said MGM would try its innovation for a 60-to-90-day period to get an overall picture of possibilities. The scheme was reported to have been tried nationally by MGM on a block of five pictures with success. Cleveland reported that if the MGM move were successful, other companies might adopt it after Jan. 1. Cleveland also reported the dismissal of Salesman Jack Walsh, veteran of 17 years, but this may have been the result of an oversupply of man power. In Hollywood Pacific Coast Sales Manager George Hickey denied selling any pictures either by long distance or letter other than usual routine. Hickey said that some salesmen were being let go in that area but said that these men were being helped by MGM to get other jobs. "W'e are back to our prewar setup," he pointed out. "We needed more help during the war because of overseas and armed forces business and we were making twice as many films as today." In all instances, those discharged were being given a year's salary, e.xcepting in Denver where a salesman there who had not been with the company a sufficient time, received six months' pay. Salt Lczke City Midway Suit Trial Set for Oct. 29 Trial of the suit filed by five Salt Lake Amusement companies challenging the state's right to grant exclusive rights to state fairground concessions to Beehive Midways, Inc., here was this week scheduled on the Third district court calender for Oct. 29. for Big Show Set for Monday Star," (RKO); "Medal for Benny," (Paramount); "Boomerang," (20th-Fox) ; "Watch on the Rhine," (W^arner Bros.) ; "Action in the North Atlantic," (Wa rner Bros.) ; "Hitler's . Children," (RKO); "Keeper of the Flame," (AIGM). However since the Motion Picture Association has challenged any one for proofs of communist propaganda in films produced by Hollywood and has made it plain that the true test of whether communist propaganda exists in the motion picture industry is the finished film, it is e.xpected that the committee will concern itself less with films and more with persons and personalities. The AIP.A, which has retained astute politician Paul V. McNutt to appear for it, is standing by its guns that while it has no control over the political views of its employes, it has over the finished product and that it has kept the screen free of red taint. From Hollywood came word that five more figures — Dore Schary, James K. McGuiness, Emmet Lavery, Fred Niblo and Floyd Hendricksen — had received subpoenas to appear at the W''ashington hearing. Here They Rre The House Un-American Affairs Committee follows: (Republicans) : THOMAS, Parnel J.. 52, chairman, whose name originally was Feeny, insurance man with residence in Allendale, New Jersey. Has been on the committee since "Dies days" and is experienced in headline technique. McDowell, John, Wilkinsburg, Pa., publisher, listed as conservative. MUNDT, Karl, South Dakota, considered radical by Republicans; supported State Department international information program. NIXON, Richard, 34, lawyer, Whittier, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, who Washington says knows the difference between a communist and a liberal and who they also would have dearly liked to have the hearing held while he was in Europe. VAIL Charles, Chicago steelmaker. (Democrats:) RANKIN, John, Mississippi, who once called a columnist a "kike" while on the floor of Congress where he is immune from slander suits. WOOD, John S., Canton, Ga. PETERSON, J. Hardin, Lakeland, Fla. BONNER, Herbert, North Carolina. (All the Democrats voted against antilynching legislation on the grounds it violated states rights and all fought fair employment practice measures. Bonner supported the president in his veto on the tax bill.