Variety (Jan 1940)

10 PICTURES rhiriy/ourih VARIETY AHmrersary Wednesday, January 3, 1940 Film Stoowmanship By John C. Flinn It !<= only when viewed from the perspective of a years end that events shape themselves clearly to disclose the radical changes and trends which are txiK- ing place in film showmanship. Also the incrcasmg importance of capable and experienced handling ot picture properties. Past 12 months have seen soine revolutionary methods of exploitation tried out witn varying degrees of success. . Dominant has beeh the out-of-town^premier_build- up. which in a few months since Charles Einfold first put Dodge City, Kas., back on the map, 'cacljcd a high state of ballyhoo when Howard DieU and the Metro brass band, arclight batteries and Hollywood screen stars, took over Atlanta, for three days and made the natives forget on which side General Sher- man had (ought. The prairie debut was in behalf of Warner B"0.<;. technicolor we.<!tern. 'Dodge City, ana resultant publicity from the premiere celebration reached millions of newspaper readers. The Atlanta blowout, still alive in memory, ushered the miHai showing of David O. Sel/.nick's 'Gone With the Wind. Eve-witncsscs report the festivities in Atlanta con- sisted chicny of the thrill which the. feminine popula- tion experienced in beholdii\g Claik Gable, the wicked Rhett Butler of the film, in person. While the.se two had the distinction of being the first and the last of the out-of-town preeins of the year, thero wore other films that , also benefited by first'showings away from New York and Hollywood. Cecil B. DeMille's "Union Pacific' nearly wrecked the city of Omaha during a week given over to revival of frontier customs and costumes. Severar blocks of buildings in ihe downtown section were transformed to represent the frame structures of 75 years ago when the first ti-anscontinental railroad was built. Bob GilUicm.and Ujo Paramount publicity forces en- tertained scores. of newspaper writers from many cities for a week's outing, asking in return only head- line mention of the name of the film and several thou.sand words of vivid description of it,s reception.. 20TH-rOX'S TIEUPS Taking advantage of the gratis cooperation from chambers of commerce, politically ambitious city and state officials and the willingness of newspapers to cover the premieres, other companies tried out success- fully the out-of-town openings until they became monthly aflTairsr Charles E. McCarthy, of 20th-Fox, invited half a hundred members of the press to the openin.g of 'Young Abe Lincoln' at Springfield, 111., the onetime home of the martyred president. He tied in with a national radio network and the air show almo.st s.rholhcied the fihn angles when Marian Ander- son sang some spirituals so beautifully that listeners, entranced by her artistry, demanded more from her and less from the bevy of film stars who spoke their pieces. McCarthy has taken the lead among the pub- licity directors in using radio tieups for exploitation of Zanuck film productions. He bought the broad- casting rights for the Kentucky Derby and the air account of the turf classic was an amusing mixture of hor.<«-flesh, 'My Old Kentucky Home,' Al Jolson jokes and a minute description of 'Rose of Washington Square.' He has tied in also with Kate Smith com- mercials. Othor inland premieres were arranged by Barrett McCormick for RKO's 'Allegheny Uprising,' which was launched in Pittsburgh with pomp and pageantry; Columbia's release of Frank Capra's 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' which was shown before officials at the national capital; Universal's "The Under-Pup,' which provided a gala week's outing for film writers of the dailies who were introduced to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., the home of little Gloria Jean, star of the picture; and another Zanuck repeat when 'Drums Along the Mohawk' was preemed in Albany, Schenectady, 'Troy and other upstate cities before it was shown in the key spots. Paramount's special showing of 'Gulliver's Travels' in Miami lost lustre as an important national event because first rvin bookin;;s followed within a few clay.-; in Now York and Chicago. Film h.ls proved a natural for holiday .screen fare. DON T NEED THAT B'WAY STAMP Breakdown of the lonn c.-.tablishcd prrrcdcnt of a Broadway premiere, as the accepted official first r\ww- iii" was an inevitable development of showmanship due to the crowded condition of bookings in New York Smash boxniVice records which 'Gbric With the Wind' is ringing up in Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, nor.ning and Hairisburg furnish ample proof that the Broadway slnmp of approval is unneco.-sary on a piece of enterUiinment given the potent advance buildup which has made the 'Wind' campaign the year's best and most efToctive bally. Attractions like 'Gone With the Wind' come infre- quently, however. It is the exception, rather than the rule But the wav has been opened and the prin- ciple clearly re-established that the most effective method of filnv advertisin.c and exploiUlion is to beat the drums of .showmanship far in advance of first bookings. If there has been one outstanding omission by major company advertising departments during the past year it has been the neglect in starting adverr tising campaigns a period of time sufficiently far in advance of first showings to acquaint both the trade and the public with the merit of important pictures. HO COHESION WITH NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS Recognizing the necessity of . reaching as large an audience as possible, some b£ the major companies have appropriated large sums for national magazine advertising, timed to appear on newssUnds concur- rent with the general release date of the films. It Is an cxpen.>:ive and far from satisfactory method; a one-time shot usually, creating a ripple of interest for a clay or two and then ineffective as a follow-through aid for thousands of theatres which do not play a film until weeks and months after the first runs. The chorus of comment from ejihibitors on present ■ day exploitation is that many films are released which possess real boxoffice values, but the theatre men learn of their strength too late to plant their advertising effectively for local showings. Extended national cam- paigns in the slick magazines are too exjjensive for most distributors to handle, whereas consecutive, con- sistent and advance informative buildup for pictures through the trade press would quicken exhibitors into action, spur their efforts locally and at the same time meet the requirements of limited budgets. Every distributor currently is straining to lift do- mestic film rentals to fill the gap which has been opened by a disordered foreign market. More and more pictures are allocated to the higher percentage brackets in existing license agreements. True solution of the problems of upping film rental grosses will not come from highpressuring exhibitors; a more logical approach would be more intensive cooperation with theatres to increase public attendance at the box- office. And in" that highly commendable undertaking the exhibitor, when properly and adequately informed of what he has to sell to his patrons always has proved the most effective agent in getting the cus- to.nifrs through the wickets. ■^he'true showman—^^and the business has thousands of them—is a creator of ideas. If there is existing incongruity in .the film situation it is the lack ot recognition on the part of distributors of the latent abilities of showman—exhibitors who know their busi- ness backwards. This goes for operators of affiliated major circuit houses as well as independents. The first national distributor and sales manager who devotes himself to winning enthusiastic exhibitor sup- port to his films by talking exhibitor language through the trade press will have gone far towards a solution of his troubles. mNEE RIVER' PLUGS COME EASY IN prrr Pittsburgh, Jan. 1. 'Swanee River,' current at Alvin, Is a cinch for local exploitation pos- sibilities and George Tyson, head of Harris publicity department, squeezed them dry. Radio tieups were easy, inasmuch as Stephen C. Foster was a native Pittsburgher and some of scenes. of picture are laid in this city. Best publicity break, however, was a private screening of picture for Mrs. Alex- ander Dallas Rose and Mrs.Ralph L. Mellady, granddaughter and great - granddaughter, respectively, of the composer, who still live here. Pix and stories of this broke in all the papers and relatives also went on the air over KDKA with a plug for the film. Another swell break locally, was Darryl F. Zanuck's invitation to Fletcher Hodges, director of Foster Memorial here, to fly to the Coast for a private filming of 'Swanee River.' Hodges went out and gave the picture his blessings,- with story breaking nationally and, naturally, played tip particularly big here. Beery, Carrillo Teamed Hollywood, Jan. 1. Wallace Beery and Leo Carillo team up a^ain in '20-Mule Team,' a J. Waller Ruben production at Metro. Pair last worked together in 'Viva Villa.' • Just a Tie-Up Kid Philadelphia, Jan. 1. To Jack Lexey, manager of the Stanley-Warner Broadway the- atre, goes the prize for tieups. When he played 'Heart of the North' last year he had a heavy snowfall. When 'They All Come Out' v/as showing, convicts at the nearby Moyamensing gaol staged a prison break. Last week he featured 'The Rains Came.' The weatherman came through with an all-day downpour. Exhibitor Leaders Laud NSS-Par Deal National Screen Service under terms of a new five-year contract with Paramount will handle dis- tribution of all Par trailers immedi- ately, and on Feb. 1 will become the active sales agency for all Par ad- vertising accessories. For the latter function a nev/ subsidiary company has been formed called Advertising Accessory Corp. Charles Casenave is general man- ager of the accessory distribution unit. BAINTER IN 'MARYLAND' Hollywood, Jan. 1. Fay Bainter was assigned by 20th- Fox to a topline in the high-budget picture, 'jMaryland.' Shooting starts Feb. 15. WB Shorts Go West In Feb. Hollywood, Jan. 1. Concentration of all Warners shorts at the Burbank studio is effective in February, when Norman Moray, WB briefle sales head, comes west. Meanwhile, Gordon . Hollingshead continues to turn out the remainder of this year's shorts under Bryan Foy's siipervision. F. ^.-Canadian Finds That Campus Trade Pays OK Vancouver, B. C, Jan. 1. Surveying the past year. Famous Players officials consider their ap- peal to university and high school trade as orte of their better promo- tion bits of '39. 'Passport' system, whereby kids are identified by pIx in pockelbooks and admitted any time for a quar- ter, has proven highly successful, ac- cording to district superintendent Larry. Bearg. 'Sea Hawk' Winged Hollywood, Jan. 1. " Start of 'The Sea Hawk.' high- budget picture at Warners, has been set back two weeks from Jan. 3, to permit Michael Curtiz and F.rrol Flynn to finish their jobs in 'Vir- ginia City.' Western film has been delayed by bad weather and illness. Wasted Pubficity; Paper Defunct San Diego, Jan. 1. Example of stiidio wastefulness in shoveling out publicity j.s being demonstrated by all flackcrics in refusing to remove defunct Sun Diego Sun from mailing lists despite 'return to sender' kickback. Shortly before the papier folded, one studio circulated a quiz on the u.sc of publicity. It was informed ^hat the sheet tossed all releases into the trash basket, while stafi'crs collected the pretty photographs. Studio, however, continued to shoot the works anyhow. When paper folded, mail was .sent back marked 'Return to Sender. Paper Out of Business.' But anyway the studio sends airmail Hashes of special pix, etc., on 'Gulliver.' Itcply went back by return mail point- ing out the paper had been dark almost a month, and sufrgcsling pub- licity be slopped. S'no use. The flood continues, direct from that one studio to the city dump. Latest batch was received day this was written, one nioiilh and two days after the paper expired. RLM STYLES FOR 1940-41 By Bob Moak Hollywood, .Ian. 1, Music once more fills the Hollywood atmosphere, which moans another cycle of tunefilms—fourth since the dawn of cinematic .sound—is just around the corner. Along with biographies, actionful dramas and super- sagebrushers, musical pictures will make up the major pi)rtion of Film- town's 1940-41 output. There'll be the usual .sprinkling of straight comedies, too. but .screw- ballcrs, as well as crime pictures, arc as passe as yesterday's map ot Europe. ' While scenario department stafi's are oiling their typewriters preparatory to the start on next season's vehicles, studio production bo.s!;es are .><canning lists of compo.wrs and lyricists with an eye to putting the clelfers back in the foldin' money division. It's been a tough year for the sharps-and-flats crowd, but they're already turning up their noses at the 'cofTec and' coun- ters, having been assured that they may now unlock the rainy day hoard because of fat weekly paychecks that arc again iii the offing. Rcharnessing of music for talker purposes, however, doesn't mean that there'll be a return to the old order of things. What the lot bi.ugie.S;-cur- rently have in mind is drama with song rather than the clambake type of musical they previously sought to popularize, with disappointing results. The gingerbread revue will be permitted to rest in its grave alongside slapstick and cops-and-robbers yarns. The Lineup Emblematic of the current trend to tunefilms are Mctro'.s recent 'Babes in Arms,' its just-released 'Balalaika' and its forthcoming "Broadway Melody of 1940' and 'Good News'; 20th-Fox's soon-to-be-filmed 'Say It With Music,' by Irving Berlin, and not unlike his other b.o. w inner, 'Alex- ander's Ragtime Band,' in pattern; Paramount's presently-circulating 'The Great Victor Herbert,' its new 'Buck Benny Rides Again' and 'Road to Singapore,' and its coming-up 'Miami'; Siamuel Goldwyn's proposed 'Natchez.' with Alice Faye and Zorina, and Universal's licanna Durbin starrer, 'It's a Date.' Some will carry big choral ensembles and hoofing lines, while others will merely intersperse drama and song, but all of tliem will be woven around tales as gutly as it is po.ssibic to drag from writing mills. Holly- wood is convinced that the theatre-going public is music-minded, but it's not overlooking the established fact that the story's the thing that really counts. Bkies Aeain Biographies, having proven their worth as turnstile spinnors. will gel even a heavier play from the celluloid czars in 1940-41 than they have in the past. Any.studio would be willing to swap a top star for another 'Jesse James' or 'Stanley and Livingstone.' Lincoln has now been done to ■ crisp, what with 20lh-Fox's 'Young Mr. Lincoln' and RKO's 'Abe Lincoln in Illinois.' Metro, unable to cram the whole of Thomas Edison's life into one feature, is splitting it into two, "Young Tom Edison' and 'Edison the Man.' Warners is reaching all the way to Germany for 'The Life of Dr. Ehrlich.' Darryl Zanuck is playing the field, moving from Broadway's 'Lillian Russell' to Utah's 'Brigham Young,' while Cecil B. DcMille will construct Paramount's 'Queen of Queens' around the Virgin Mary. Nor are persons who figured in the'too-dim ago to garner all of the glori- fication. There's a tendency on the part of the talker chiefs to dramatize the biographies of their own celebrities, an idea tried out by David O. Selznick when he made 'A Star Is Born' fpr the 1937-38. slate. It isi gen- erally conceded that the characters portrayed in that' feature by Frederic March and Janet Gaynor were composites of folks who once rode the crest of the village'.s-wavc. 20th-Fox's 'Second Fiddle' undoubtedly was drawn from the career of its skating star, Sonja Henie. 'Hollywood Cavalcade' touched numerous Hollywood lives. Metro's 'Babes in Arms' more than hinted at truth in fiction as pertaining to Mickey Roonpy and his father, Joe Yule. Zanuck's 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' will parallel the biog of its star, Linda Darnell, while his 'End of the Trail.' cavalcade of we.st- ern.s will parade the private and public lives of the screen's two-gun gents. Par has designated 'Royal Norlhwc.n Mounted Police,' with DcMille at the helm, as its bid for a ride on the action feature gravy train. Metro has its 'Northwest Pasfage.* RKO its 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 20th-Fox its 'Little Old New York.' Civil War All Over Acsin Selznick-Metro's 'Gone With the Wind' having shown the pi ocluclion lads there is both romance and action in the Civil War.period, there's a race on at the moment to dig other yarns out of those years during and immedi- ately following the strife between North and South. Metro is winding up one tagged 'Arouse and Beware,' with Wallace Beery starred, while Re- public has before the cameras 'Dark Command." co-starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor and Walter Pidgeon. 20th-Fox, Par and Warners are mull- ing ideas touching on the same era. Universal's 'Destry Rides Again' is serving to intensify interest in the more elaborate type of westerns. Teaming a pair of names never before associated with sagebrushers, as U did with Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart in 'Destry,' has minds of producers following new lines of thought, and any day now you can. expect to find the Gables and Lombards, and the Munis and Shearers, donning caps and boots for lariaf practice with the Hatflelds and the Coys. Greater care than ever before will be u.scd by company heads in lining up programs for new season, execs of each outfit having come to realiza- tion that they've got to make features that lend themselves to the heaviest po.ssible exploitation. Paramount's success in swelling domestic revenues by throwing unusual bally campaigns behind its A product this year has shown rival home office and studio groups a way to partially overcome decreased takes in foreign fields. Better than 85% of the 1940-41 crop of features will be turned out with a view to salesmanship angles. Producers today arc unanimous in their stand that pictures lacking in marquee names are more or less a waste of time and money. Traveling exploiteers, roving bands of players, radio lime and increased newspaper and mag space will be utilized by all distributors to drain every po.<:sible dollar out of each film. But fellows who control the bankrolls are aware that exploitation of any kind is worthless unless they have somc- j thing worth-while to exploit.