Variety (Jun 1939)

VARIETY PICTURES Wednesday, June 7, 1939 FILM SHOWMANSHIP Jack Sidney Lores Pilots to Bridgeport Premiere of 'Angels' Bridgeport, June 6.- An outstanding exploitation stunt lor 'Only Angels Have Wings' (Col) was engineered by. Jack Sidney at the Loew-PoU theatre. He tied in with the Bridgeport Flying Club and the organization- in turn invited pilots from New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Ccmnecticut to a flight breakfast and a screening of the 'film. Pilots and plaqes,.50 In all, came whizzing in. planes. pt all sizes, color and make; alsq several women flyers. As they arrived.at .the air- port they were; registered and a loud speaker announced their, home port and a ^lug for the picture. They kept coming In so fast it looked like a Cleveland Air Meet Newspapers played it up In ad- vance,- which brought thousands to- the alrpdrt,. and after their arrival they were lined-up in what resem- bled a squadron of army planes ready to take oS for 6 drill. This stunt was a splendid boost for the picture, , Bridgeport Flying Club praised the Loew Poll Theatre lor the- stunt, which put the airport right on the map. An escort plane, with a huge 170- loot banner trailing it, met the ia coming planes and acted as a great ballyhoo ever the city. SCREWY STUNTS SEND 'WORLD'ON DIZZY WHIRL Reading, June 6. Opening of It's it Wonderful World' (MG) at the Colonial' here was used by Iioew's -as- part of an at- tempt to determine whether the film would sell better if presented as a screwbaU comedy.' or as straight comedy-drapia. .'Screwball angle was the one played up )iere in a hea-vy exploitation. campaign. by. George Peters, manager, of the house, and Jimmy Ashcraft, Metro pluggef.- Among the :Etuitts used was the placing of an aquarium fllle^i with water, pebbles, and grass in a down- town window. Sign on it said: "Mal^ and Female' Invisible Gold Fish, Very Rare. It*3 a Wonderful World.' Another window had' a monkey wrench displayed with a sign: Ijeft: handed monkey--wrench. Very Rare It's a Wonderful World.' Ten thousand heralds headed 'Confidential' were distributed at cigar counters, restaurants, tap rooms and similar places. In the middle they had a red spot, witl^ in- structions: 'Blow, your breath on this spot If it turns black, see your doC' tor at once. If it doesn't. see 'It': a Wonderful World' at the Colonial.' Another stunt employed an empty store window. A boy Inside raised and lowered a blank xurtain on shouted instructions, from another kid outside. Whenever a crowd gathered, instead of the blank cur tain one was lowered .with the leg' end: 'If you think this is funny, see •It's a Wonderful World' at the Co loniaL' - Stunt which stopped traffic was placing a boy in a raincoat on'a high stool on a street comer. He fished in an aquarium. On his back was sign reading: 'If you think I'm crazy, see It's a Wonderful World' at the Colonial.' Film industry faces a period of boxoffice imcertainty which is clouded by disturbing and disrupting legisla- tive and anti-trust aggressions from without and con*. fused by the trend of trade events affecting all branches within the business—production, distribution and ex> hibition. Some radical readjustments of a hind and nature that may disturb the entire film structure will probably be experienced before the situation clarifies. Discussing the film panorama from the viewpoint of an exliibitor, Robert B. Wilby, partner , of Harold F. Kincey, of Wllby-Klncejr theatres in the southeast, said; I have met no one who can confidently predict tha Immediate future. Although I have been in the busi* ness for 25 years, I wouldn't attempt any prognostica- tion. The only comment I can make is to repeat what teU our organization, which operates some 135 the- atres. That is, 'Conduct your business in the ismartest possible manner. No <>n« has any right to expect special dispensations and fayors. If you'r^ not smart, enough to cope with your problems, and your com- petitor is, he'll take over your troubles gladly, and also your businessl' Taking up in order of their Importance the various Issues which the film industry is meeting, Wilby places first on the list the fundamentals of public relations. He said: 'We must never lose sight of the fact that attending a film must be made an exciting experience for the public, and picture business was founded and has. prospered on the theory that the public was getting a lot for a' very small eoat Sometimes I -wonder if: we haven't pushed up admission prices too high and just beyond the reach of the masses. Frankly, it is a. hard question to answer. Overhead of first class the- atre operation Is expensive. Lower admissions of com- peting subsequent runs cut into first showings vi- ciously. But I say the time has come when the ad- mission price scales are something to think about 1 was much impressed recently,' he continued, 'by the results which Karl Hoblltzelle is obtaining in the Texas territory where the Individual theatre is forcing itself into the community life, and is taking its place actively in local affairs. This is smart showmanship, a step in the right direction, a winner of good will and a service that will stabilize exhibition.' And the quaUty of current films?. . 'I shoul^L^y that films are better—that is, the good ones show constant improvement over the best that have gone before The -fact is, however, and it is well known to everyone in the business, that not more than 100 good-to-great films are made atanually out of a total of 400 pictures. Everybody on Lookout For Mysterious Haisie' Providence, June i. Loew's successful venture into use of auto bumpers as possible adver tlslng medium of current attractions has manager Edward McBride con- tinuing stunt with a teaser strip on •Malzle Wai a Lady* (M-G) which opens next week. Town is literally flooded with large banners such as 'Has Anyone Seen Maizie,' 'Maizle Is Coming to Town' and just the tlUe "Maizie' with a huge question mark. Bumper cards read Take It £ssy—Maizle Is Coming to Town.' Classified ads also pressed into service for teaser ads. Distribution of 2,000 circulars; radio broadcasts andH6ther newspaper pub licity round out the campaign. By John C. Flinn OVEB-PBODUCTIOH WASTIS QTJAIJTT "The consumption of pictures is much too fast Tbis is brought about because of over-production by every company and. .the sales policies of blockbooking which compel the purchase of scores of unneeded pictures. JBegardless of the quaUty, the exhibition machinery Is not geared normally to absorb eo many films, and I believe that every distributing organization would profit by handling fewer pictures,' which would open playing time for.the good films of all the companies, or adopt selective selling which would accomplish the same end, so that all good pictures from -whatever source would get before the public. 'We have maintained generally in oiu territory,' he said, *a single bill policy, but the pressure from dis- tributors is constant to make us and our competition play double bills. I'm against duals. Double billing obtains in about 70% of the country, chiefly through distribution sales policies, not by reaison of exhibitor or public desire. 'It is an incongruous circle of merchandising, the equal of which is not to be found in any other line of enterprise. And distributors have created the condi- tion, through special inducements, and .the determina- tion of every company to sell all its product First the top picture when played on a dual program is li- censed at 5% less than the contract price; second, the supporting feature is sold for small rental, and third, the reduced percentage is figured after deduction of the cost of the supporting film. It doesn't make sense. 'Another bad angle of duals Is the practice of first runs in playing the most ordinary and cheapest films in the lower spot Then, wheta the time comes'for the subsequent nms to get the class pictures, the film rent- als for good product are low enough to team up the best films available and sell them at a bargain. Must be a lot of money In producing pictures if they can pay out under such a system! IjOgislatlon and lawsuits are a serious matter. I sometimes wonder if the Government really under- stands the processes by which the film business oper- ates. I sometimes feel that the idea prevails in the courts, that all protection and clearances are wrong and oppre^ive^ and that thi ideal system would be that pictures should be made available simultaneously to all theatres on a day-and-date basis. Well, you know bow long the business would last if operated on such principles. AAd yet some, court decisions lead one to believe that that is what the Government Is driving at In its suits, "Let me give an Instance of this viewpoint,' he con- tinued, 'in,the light of actual experience. Recently in one of the towns in which we operate a first run the- atre, the liidependent opposltioui charging 15c., made a violent protest that our protection of 90 days was - too long, and worked hardship on him. So I called on the exhibitor and asked him about his complaint ' He insisted he ^ouid get his films earlier. "Then I asked him how much rental he paid on a film he had shown .recently, and he said he had paid $22.50. I told him we had played 0ie same picture first run and had paid $3,000 flhii rental. After a thorough comparison of our separate problems, he agreed that 00 days was not too much protection.' FUBUG WnX FraS THE FIIH STABS Booking flhns of aU distributors, Wilby has concrete Ideas of showmanship- values In productions. Contin- uing, be said, 'A^ no time in the history of the busi- ness has there been more than 10 or 12 popular stars compeUng. Hiey change conStiantly and the popularity of some of them lasts longer than others. Therefore the struggle of producers to establish every film player ai star la silly and Impossible. Let the studios con- centrate' on -gted stories, suitable for American family entertalninent and the 'stor' situation wiU take care of itself. The public will discover them sooii enough. ■When the "Hardy* pictures were.- flrst released, Mickey Rooney was not a big draw. Now one hears to all sides that It's Rooney who makes the 'Hardy pictures, but the truth Is just the reverse. It's the series that has made Rooney.' And radio? ..... fRadio is terriflc competition for films. For three years I have been contending against permitting film stars, story material and film musical compositions oh the radio and handing them free to the public; that is, literally Invited to stajr home and listen. Metro never permitted the! music of 'Naughty Marietta' to be sung on the air by Jeaniette MacDonald and Nelson Bddy, and I venture the statement tjiat the film has had more rebookings in theatres than any film released at the same time. The other evening I heard a radio performance of "Golden Boy.' . It .was done as well as the radio is capable of doing these things, but I should say that the free performance, instead of helping the film, has taken off a substantial portion of its picture value. Film business gradually is coming to realize these things; I hope it's not too late. There's room for Improvement in the exploitation and advertising of films to the public,' he said. 'Per- sonally, 1 have ideas on this subject that seem con- trary to the prevailing theories. That, I guess, is be- ' cause I started in show business on the. legitimate end in a small town where the advance agent used to come in, lay out the advertising and the billing and handle his attraction without regard to the local angles. When I found the system kept me from running my own business. In the manner I thought most effective, I decided it was a bad business and got out of it not being content with the usual boxoffice divisions which . - left me about 20% of the gross.' 1 don't think we need these big national advertising ' campaigns in the magazines, which take one shot at an attraction and then forget it Of course, I can imder- stand why the distributors do it in their effort to force sales, but for ^my part rd rather, see a system that passed the buck of advertising responsibility to the theatre man. - Then we would be running our busi- ness and not depending on the other fellow. Reminds me that one of our. boys- down south said recently that he always noticed the only films which get the heavy backing are the smash hits. I'U be convinced that these big.advertising campaigns are effective when . one of the distributors selects just a iaix picture and puts It over. That will be the test That's what ex- hibitors are doing constantly, and In order to stay ln< - business they have to do it successfully. 'I call that show business.' XHIPS' BREAKS INTO LA/S CLASSROOMS IjOs Angeles, June 6. Marking the first time such co- operation has been extended to a motion picture, the Board of Educa- tion of Los Angeles recently issued a bulletin on M-G's 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips' which reached practically every public school student in the city. The bulletin was sent to all teachers of English, a compulsory subject and read in all classes over the eth grade in elementary school and to every high school class throughout the L. A. city district The bulletin consisted of the com- ment of James Hilton, author of the novel' from which the production was made, in which he calls the film 'an author's dream fulfilled,' fol- lowed Alexander WooUcott's talk on the. picture as shown in the trailer. 'Qhlps' is currently in its fourth week at the Four Star, In L Ai Gaynor Out, Rod Bush Heads 2Ws Combined Expkitation-Pnb Depts. Following move of 20th-Fox yesterday (Tues.) in combining the exploitation and publicity depart- ments, Leonard Gaynor, with the company about five years, resigned. He turned In his notice In the morn- ing, effective at noon (Tues.) and walked out with no exact reasohs said to have been given. Gaynor had been in charge of publicity con- tacting of the daily newspapers and syndicates, having come to 20th after several years with Paramount In merging the exploitation and publicity divisions,' Charles K. Mc- Carthy, head of all advertlshig-pub- liclty, named'Rodney Bush as chief of the two departments tmder Mm DAVE LEVY JOINS LEO ABRAMS UPPED Resigning from Metro after 13 years with that company as New Jersey sales manager, Dave Levy goes into Universal June 19 as branch manager at N. Y., while Leo Abrams, whom he succeeds, moves into the U home office under a pro- motion made by Bill Scully. Abrams, 23 years with Universal, will become shorts product sales manager and double from that into general distribution duties under Scully, Including circuit sales con- tact He will have sales supervision over serials, of which U is making (our lor, 1939-40, as well as over the newsreel. U is selling 57 shorts lor the new season. Branch manager at N. Y. for 10 years, Abrams was lormerly ex- change chlel in Kansas City, St Louis and New Haven, prior to that having been a film salesman. Public Goes for Fdm Qdz; Distribs_Nix Ni.W. Melbourne, May 17. Hoyts, after nmning a successful Movie Qtilz in. this territory, dropped the idea lor New South Wales. Understood that dlstribs were ad- vised Irom their N. Y. office not to come in on the' idea lor elsewhere bid. Hoyts didn't leel disposed to carry the Quiz solo, hence the nix lor other spots. In connectlpn with the Victorian try it's interesting to note that Hoyts received 185,000 entries from film fans covering city, nabes and stlx. £xecs consider this to be a really ' remarkable figure. First prize was won by .Col's, "You Can't Take It With You.' Prizes ranged from an autom.obile to a suite of furniture. The whole Quiz was worked on excellent ..lines by. execs and' Includefl' booklets,, .special twenty-foiir sheeters, trailers and splash newspaper ads. Was a costly layout but repaid by patronage from the fans. Stanilar layout was proposed lor N.-S. Wales, but according to Hpyta^ execs the M-PAA.. ga-^e a nix or- der as regards . certain financial backing. Execs said that had they gone ahead, with the Quiz In N. 9. Wales the dlstribs, whilst .not com* Ing in lor cost would have wUU Ingly taken the added percentaga gotten from the biz build. MIDSUMMER SLEDDING HEATS'WOLFCAIl'BIZ . Seattle, June 8. Ifs hot In- Seattle thU week. But this doesn't stop a 'sourdbugh' Irom 'selling* his huiskles and piilling his own sled, on wheels; about the town, while he's dressed in. parka, beaver coat and heavy p'uttMs, jUst like tha Alaskans In the cold, cold up north. . At least this Is the story told by the 'street parade' put on to attract attention to Jack London's 'WoU Call' (Mono) current at the Palomar (Sterling), A placard on the outfit says: 'I've sold my dogs to see 'Wolf CaU' at Palomar.' Jack Sampson of the adv. dept figured this stunt Ice Kibitzers Swelter Writing for Oakleys Lincoln, June 0. Crowd gathering stunt lor tha opening ol "Wohderlul World' (MG) was M. E. Lolgren's brainstorm here, when he had 25 tickets to the show, frozen in a lOO-pound cake of Ice, and the ice block deposited In the hot sun on the sidewalk In front ol the theatre. Admission was by whole ticket only, extracted as the ice melted. He's kicking hlinself because ha thought of it too late to do it with the natural—'Ice Follies.' Heifetz, a La Marian Anderson, for Pic Preem Hollywood, June .6. Following Darryl Zanuck's lead In engaging Marian Anderson to war- ble at the "Young Mr. Lincoln' pre- view, Samuel Goldwyn will have Jascha Heifetz and the California Junior Symphony appear at the press showing of 'Music School.' Heifetz Is in picture. Texas Quiz for Schools Harrlsburg, June 6. Variety of exploitation stunts em- ploying Captain Jack Uoyd, vet Texas Ranger, were used by Jerry WoUaston, manager of the Rio, for 'Renegade Trail,' Par western. Aside from newspaper stories on Lloyd, who roamed the streets for three days in costume, considerable interest was beaten up by bis stopping at downtown corners and in the vicinity -of schools to con- duct quizzes on Texas history. Passes were handed to those giving the cor- rect answers to Us questions.