Variety (Aug 1946)

nCTIJItlES WednMiday, AngnM 7, 1946 $800,000,000 Nat'I Film Gross In '26 To $1,500,000,000 In Sound's 20 Yrs. The national flim gross, which ag- ereKated $1,500,000,000 last year, will. Ibp that fiRure by at least $150,000,000 lliis year, according to present rale of business as reflected in the Treasury Department's admission tax collec- tions, and thereby will, more than double the industry's gross o( less than $800,000,000 reported in 1926. This all-time record boxofTice in- take, the peak of progressive gains credited by exhibitors to the launch- ing of talking pictures by Warnei- Bros., at a time when the industry was in the doldrums and had to rely incre:tsingly on presentations and other special attractions to draw the crowds, was achieved oddly enough while the number of releases was dropping from above 800 annually to lesi-' than 400 in the past year. It also represents a jump of at least 75% in theatre attendance in the same period, since the compaj-'a- tively moderate increase in admis- sion iicnles (about 25%) eould not ac- count for the much higher gross. Average admission charge at. present is around 30c, minus tax; compared with approximately 25c 20 years ago. The tax collection figures give veri- fication to present attendance of over 100.000,000 weekly, compared . with le.ss than t)0,000,000 in the silent days. Although estimates, of 70,000,000 to 90,000,000 or more had been circu- lated before the war, it has since been admitted that these weekly at- tendance figures were either rough estimates or fictional, and it is only in recent years that reliable statis- tics have been available. Costs AIM Amplifl.ed Also iunplified even more loudly by sound have been the costs of pro- duction, distribution and exhibition. In the silent days, Holly>yood turned out 800 features for a tot^l cost of less Ihr.n $100,000,000, averaginsi $125,000 per picture, whereas the cost of 4UU features in 1946 will ag- gregate $^95,000,000, or nearly a million per pix. an increase of some SOOVr! About half of this increase has taken place in the past 10 years, due directly to higher' wartime costs and growing union demands. Payrolls in the studios have risen from less thaii $90,000,000 in the silent days to $250,000,000 last year, and somewhat more than that in' 1946. Exhibition payrolls havie gone up slightly less, but still a ' hefty bulge from around $80,000,000 in 1926 to $170,000,000 last year, while dis- tribution paychecks also are up nearly lOf/u from approximately $20,000,000 in 1926. From Quantity la Qoality ■Viewed from anoiher .angle, talk- ing pictures converted the industry from quantity to quality, as - far as production is conceraed. Activity by shoestring and "poverty row" pro- ducers was given the skids, with a resultant reduction in the number oi "quickies" that once did so rnuch to discredit the industry. General im- provement in film quality brought corresponding upturns in patronage, aided by the comparatively low ad- mission price factor, which in turn was made possible by increased at- tendance. It Timely Booking The first western Pennsyl- vania theatre to be wired for. talking pictures, nearly 20 yearis ago, was the Cambria in Johns- town. . Harry W. Scherer had the house until Warners took it over a few years ago. J6hiu:lowri Is noted lor its floods, but the sturdy Cambria has survived the biggest of them . as well ias some smaller ones. While one of these periodical disa.sters appeared to be in the making, the Cambria booked an: early Warner soundfllm that did the biggest business in years. The picture that proved such a strong drawing card while a fiood threatened was—"Noah's Ark." Battle of Vaude Vs. Vitaphone John CroVo, a southern showman who gained his experience in han- dling legit road shows and vaude- ville, applied those exploitation methods to talking pictures when they came along 20 years ago, with the result that in Jacksonville, Fla., vaudeville threw in the . sponge in favor of Vitaphone after a lO-month. struggle. Crovo was managing the Imperial in jax at that time. He is now at - the Arcade in the same city. It didn't take him long to find out that a new "star".had been born and its' name was the same week after week —Vitaphone. The mere billing of Vitaphone atop the marquee of the Imperial, Crovo relates, was enough to draw the crowds away from the next-door Palace even though the lattei- house played name vaude acts. When Warners released "The Jazz Singer." Crovo 'put on an advance canipaign that lasted a whole month, augmenting his newspaper activity with heralds, .\\>indow cards and other promotion throughout the Jax trading area. As a result, "The Jazz Singer" opened to one of the biggest turnouts ever witnessed in that city.' A double lihe stretched around the block waiting for seats. Some came from as. tar away as Palatka, San- ford. St. Augustine and other Florida points, and some from Waycross, Ga., 75 miles to the north. A lot of them had to wait several hours to get into the theatre, which broke all existing records for two weeks. Another smart piece of promotion was put over by Crovo when, he sold the Florida Times-Union on the idea of running the story of Al Jolson's ''The Singing Fool" as a daily serial in advance of the local opening of the Warner picture. The newspaper went for the innovation as a circula- tion builder, using half-page copy to advertise the story and coming pic- ture. Between this, and the fact that the unanimous opinion of e^^t popularity in Learning to M At $100 a Lesson Chicago, Aug. - 6.. Colleen '^Uoore, the .'former film star who is" now Mrs. Homer Har- grave; a Chicago society leaded has some interesting recollections of the Hollywood - to - Broadway upheaval caused by Warner Bros, when they brought talking pictures into the theatre 20 years ago. She recalls that trains loaded with actresses and actors from the 'New York stage' were arriving daily on the West coast but these legitimate aclpcs were going west not so much to break into the new talking pic- tures but to instruct the. silent stars on how to talk. "Talking lessons." as they weire known in those da/s. were. $100 a les.son. Mi.ss Moore recalls her own personal experience. "On the first day I was taught to say; one word, mother,' and this al $100 a throw. On the .second day I was taught to say 'father.' On the third day, 'brother' wa.s the , word that I brought back to my suite. Before I set out for my fourth day of in- struction.s, one . of the studio' heads rcrriarked. 'Before she gets a vocab- ijlary we'll be broke' ." Miss . Moore remembers how grapevine rumors afTected the in- dustry during the early days of talkers. "The rumor would bciiin that Garbo had made a test and her low voice re.s!istered very well and if you had a low voice you were in. ThiLs you would go to a party and have, a ver.v dear friend of yours greet you with 'How are you darl- ing?' in subterranean tones. The next day the rumor would be that Norma Shearer had made a test with her high pitched. voice and that thnt was the type voice that registered well and so on. Theirefore, you would go to. a party, meet the Fame girl who greeted you in low tones a few days before, only this time the same "How are you darl- ing?' would be screeched in high pitched syllabes which was all very confusing to an onlooker and very amu.sing to tho.se in the industry. "The big question of the time was 'Can she talk or can't she talk?' and that's all one heard on the coast. If you could talk you were in. it you couldn't talk yoii were out. It was that quick and that definite." showmen queried that this expansion of motion picture attendance could not have been achieved, under a silent regime. Addition of music and dialog to the screen action, it is figured, practically doubled the mass appeal of the films. . As one oldlime exhib put it, "See- ing Al Jol.son on the screen, but not hearing him, was just fair entertain- ment. Hearing Jolron on the radio, but not seeing him, was pretty good. But'seeing and hearing Jolson at the same time on the screen-^boy, that's socko!'' this previous Warner film appearance, "The Singing Fool," chalked up some new b.o. records in Jax. Lots has happened since tho.se days. Crovo says, but nothing to match the excitement of the early days of talking picture.s—and the battle of Vitaphone vs. Vaudeville. GAU ACADEMY SALUTE FOK SOUNb'S 20TH ANNI SENATOR DOWNEY'S D.C. TRAILER FOR WB . Washington, Aug. 6. Senator Sheridcn Downey iD., Calif:) devoted his farewell floor speech here last Friday (2) to eulogy of the four Warner Bros, and their pioneer production of the first talking pic, 20 years : .6 today. Hollywood, Aug. 6. Downey called on the Senators to More than 2,000 screen, civic, and celebration of .sound films' 20th military noUbles turned out for the anniversary in their home sUtes commemorative prograrn on the this summer. . 20th Anniversary of Talking Pictures ' The California legislator paid sponsored by the Motion Picture tribute to technical cITorts of such Academy of Arts and Sciences at men as Theodore Case and E. I. Warners' Hollywood Theatre tonight Sponable, who worked with Warners (is). in producing "Lights of New York" Tributes to modem films as a with soundtrack back in 1926. powerful force for progress were I Siaid Downey: "American niotion paid by Jean Hersholt, Academy j picture producers have consistently prexy; Byron Price, board chairman,' maintained their unquestioned Association of Motion Picture Pfo- ^ leadership in producing . the finest ducers; Donald Nelson, head of So- motion pictures' in the world, ciety of IndepenSent Motion Picture i Throughout the world, the town of Producers; Brig. Gen. Frank D. Mcr- ^ Hollywood has become a .symbol of rill; and Edward Arnold, president: artistic and technical excellence un- ci the Screen Actors Guild, 'equaled anywhere." Dean of Projectionists Pioneered With Edison On Sound Experiments Dean of the motion picture pro- jectionists, with some 46 years in the booth to his credit is' 7.3-year-old Cecil Wood, now at the Hollywood theatre on Broadway. . Wood, as a member of the Elec- trical Workers, helped put up the 400 arc lamps u.^ed in photographing the JofTi'ies-Sharkcy fight in Coney Island back in 1899. His career as a projectionist started with that pic- ture—iifter taking a one-day course from Fred Arinitagc on how to oper- ate a machine. Wood toured the U. S. with "Birth of a Nalion"—incicicntally cutting the picture himself to meet the re- quirements of various, censor boards. He met Harry M. Warner, president of Warner Bros., in 1917 aifter H. M. liiid acquired Ambassador James W. Gerard's "My Four Yeairs in Ger- many" and hielped him to get pro- jection equipment for the New York showing, of the picture. Wood's experience with .sound pic- tures goes back lo the early Edison experiments. He was hired lo show Edison soundfilms at the San Fran- cisco Exhibition and: also worked for Bell Telephone when the latter was experimenting with sound. When Warners took over the commercial development, of talking pictures, Wood, joined Warners' Vitaphone or- ganiz;>tion. After "Don Juan" opened in New York and several other cities, he was assigned to install .sound pro- jection equipment and train local operators to u.sc it. He (hen joined Electrical Research Products, and re- mained with thsl .outfit until it rlo.scd shop. w!)fii he returned to Warners snd Ir " br n at the Holly- wood theatre ever since.' An Industry Must Cheer The beat tditorlal for any business is written in Its flnancla) atatement. Especially when it's a piibllc enterprise like the plcl- ure business. By coincidence, on Page 5 of this Issue, the saga of Warner Bros.' progress is recorded with its record-high S9-week net earnings of $14,749,000. Show business, congenltally sentimental, must take-cognizanre of Warners' current hoopla attendant to Its 20th anniversary of sound. While, technically, "Don J[uan" (John Barrymore), with a Vitaphone soundtrack, was a milestone In 1926, WB's real con- vlncer didn't come until Al Jolson's "Jazz Singer" a year later. That's when sound revolutionized an industry, creating an up- heaval In cinematic entertainment which today Is being signal- ized not only by Warners but the entire industry. Where "Jazz Singer" and "Don Juan" cued the l>eginning of sound, WB's current "Night and Day" depicts the ultimate in sound. But whatever the milestones or peaks In the pii-ogress of talkers, there's no gainsaying that soundpix, thanks to American enterprise; courage and resourcefulness, have been developed to the degree that "going to the movies" means something more than mere shadow entertainment. The ability of the screen to articulate, to project adult thoughts and to carry the American idea around the world is something which transcends any one- company occasion. It's something for which an entire Industry must cheer. Abel, Film Costs Nearing Danger Point Sez Jack Warner at WB Conclave Honors in Conn. Hartford, Aug. 6. N6l-;t\g that 20 years ago today (Tuesday) the first sound pic was; released. Governor Baldwin has .set aside all of this week iii commem- oration of the event. In designat- ing the . week as one ot. recognition for the event, the governor said that "talking pictures rank with tlie pre.s,-; and radio, as the great forces in the formation of public opinion." WB Meet Plots Single Selling Atlantic City, Aug. 26. The new system of selling' on a single: picture basis that has just gone into effect, and . the proposed plan of selling at auction, not only is going to speed up the industry's methods of doing business to a de- gree never imagined, but it will make the field sales forces twice as important and give ' them twice as many responsibilities, declared Ben Kalmenson, v.p. and general sales manager of Warner Bros., in ad- dreissing the opening session of the company's 20th anniversary of talk- ing pictures (international sales con- vention) at the Ambassador hotel. Under the new regulations, said Kal- menson, first cla.'^s sales manpower will be at the highest premium.since the industry began. Salesmen will have to cover a lot more territory. Kalmenson pointed put, and they, as well as branch managers and dis- trict managers, will have to act on their own initiative and judgment more than ever before. In the matter of single-.selling. said Kalmenson, Warners is fortunate be- cause it has already had a thorough (Continued on page 31) VET EXHIB FRED WILCOX RECALLS OZARK BOOM The Landers Theater in Spring- field, Mo., was a genuine "gold mine in the Ozarks" when the first Warner-Vitaphone pictures hit that section, says Fred Wilcox, veteran exhib, in some recollections and re- velations about the early days ot sound. In contrast to the two shows a day that had been the policy with silent films, relates Wilcox, it wa.s neces.sary lo operate 12 hours a day whenever a talking picture was shown. "We used to prepare for the rush by posting notices 50 miles in each direction from Springfield to let' the Ozarkians know we were going to show an hohe.st-to-goo<l- ness talkie," says Wilcox. "And every day after .the picture opened we discovered wc had tnken in so much money that wc h.id to haul it to the bank in suitcases!" Wilcox was hou.se manager of the Landers and his wife w.n.s cashier. He now operates the Cozy in Lock wood. Mo. Atlantic City, Aug. >6! Addressing the Warner Bros, in- ternational sales convention here on company plans for the coming yeari Jack L. Warner warned the produc- tion and distribution .divisions that unless steps were taken to . counter the trend of ballooning costs, the whole film industry 'would be pushed over the red-ink danger line. "Film- ing cost.s," he pointed out, ''have risen 150% since pre-war days be- cause the studios must pay' more for stories, talent, labor, materials, and the average shooting time has more than doubled as result of more big- scale productions." The WB veepee said the company was now in the strongest position'in its history with 20 major features completed or before camera, 40 stories in preparation and an addi- tional pool of over 60 properties in reserve. Stating that the company planned to work their studios at full blast, Warner omitted announcement of any specific number of pictures-to be released or produced during the next year. "We will adhere." he said, "to our con.sistently followed policy of maintaining a flexible schedule, which permits us to re- lease the kind of pictures the public wants to see at the time it.wants to .see them." (During the 1945-46 sea- son, Warners released 20 new fea- tures in addition to four rri>suer.) Urrcd Higher Quality Declaring that the only way to beat increased costs is with in- creased income, Warner urged pro- duction chiefs to raise the quality ot their output, and increa.se e/Ticiency to keep costs at a workable level. He stated that "distribution and ex- hibition efforts must match those of production." In di.scussing the increasing pub- lic demand for better films. Warner told distribution men 'at the con- clave that "the motion picture audi- ence is in a hard-tieaded shopping pha.se. The public is boss and it can't be fooled. Both production and distribution needs of the motion pic- ture industry must realize today Ihe , hard reality of the public nppriii.sjil of films.". . Work for Peace, Prosperity Wai'ner struck a "work for pr;icc and prosperity" keynote in .hi? -mU dress, saying that "now is the lime for less conversation and more hard work. Opportunities for our com- pany, the motion picture industry and the country generally were never brighter, if we quit day- dreaming and bickering, face reali- ties and really dig in to work lor the peace wc all realize we must have and the prosperity it is within ' our power to achieve." More than 100 WB execs, repre- senting the domestic and fort-ign ■sales department, home office, studio and theatre cii-cuit, are attending the three-day convention skcdded for windup tomorrow (Wednesday). Sessions, marking the first major sales meeting held by Warners in four years, arc presided over by Ben K.Tlmcnson, vcepcc and jgcntrHl »ijiU's manager.