Variety (January 1954)

Wednesday, January 6, 1954 Forly -eighth Anniversary PICTURES SI f,. M .mill tmttMtHMMMMt 1 1 III « 1 1 1 >*■ Vr7 By. m HOLUNGER Theatre’ TV marked its fith birthday during 1953, but .it remained the industry's retarded chi d. Enthusiasm of proponents of the medium ^ has not. waned, however. TheV stm feel it can serve as a ootent sideline biz for theatres throughout the country once , the technical and programming bugs are ironed out; However they were saying just that a year -ago. Closed-circuit hookups were snowed under the avalanche of conversation, and concrete accomplishments relating to 3-D, widi screen, Cinemascope arid stereoT phonic sound. The problem of re trieving audiences via the theatres’ standard product — pictures — became more immediate. T Only 100 Equipped — As a result, except for temporary installations for, specific theatre tv events, not a single new permanent ciosed-circuit unit was. unveiled during the year. The number of theatre TV installations remains, at about 100, an infinitesimal number When compared to the. approximately 20.000 theatres in the country. The largest number of theatres yet corralled for a theatrie tv event has been 50 amd that was two years ago for the first . Rocky MarcianoJoe Walcott heavyweight championship fight, • This factor .points up the difficulty in obtaining sufficient line clearances " from the . American Telephone & Telegraph Co. Biggest complaint of the closed-circuit promoters has been the1 turtle-like pace of the AT&T in providing and servicing long lines and local, loops. Frequent attempts have been made to lick this bottleneck and the objective was one of the prime aims of .the National Theatre Television Exhibitors Committee in appealing to the Federal Communi. cations Commission for separate | theatre bands. While the FCC did not grant this request, theatres received assurance that the lines would be available once the medium operated on a more or less regular bas'is. There were only two attractions available to theatres during the past year—both in the field of sports. A lineup of 45 theatres with New York and New England blacked out was obtained for the Rocky Mareiario-Roiand LaStarza heavyweight championship fight on Sept. 24. This Nate Halpern Theatre Network Television event grossed about $300,000, with theatres charging $2.50 to $4.80. Second attraction, a series \ of five Notre Dame football games presented on Saturday afternoons during the fall, brought in a total of «bout $65,000. The lineup of theaties varied from eight to a peak of 2 with the admission charges ranging from _85e to $9 an L I^bts of BigTalk nJh^^ridcasts were offered by Box Office Television, Inc., which fniC1iCo-ihe clo-ed-circuit field dur*^TV, headed by att°mey Milton Mound, elosed-drcuit subsidiary. No sooner naq. it grandiosely announced its intention to present a sehies of weekly boxing, bouts and to promote sales meetings via the meciiuiii (hdn it disbanded thfe project. Also established during the year was Stadium Network Television an outfit headed by Ed Dorfman which had as its objective the presentation of., theatre-. tv events in ballparks. Two other .firms— TelerConference and Closed-Circuit Television Co.— were conspicuous by their silence. One of the prime objectives of the medium, eyed by exhibitors as well as the promoters, is use of the medium during theatre off-hours, especially for business and industry use for sales meetings, etc. Both industry’s reluctance to try something new and the lack of big screen color have been the factors that have delayed the advance of this project. The color problem is on its way to solution and may be one of the major advances theatre tv will make during 1954. RCA, General Precision and 20th-Fox, latter with Eidophor, are expected to push developments in this field, during the corning year. Business use of the medium, al j though dormant sin c e TNT’s Gentiemen Prefer Blondes,” Shane, youse of Wax,” etc. But it is still the poor man’s entertainment when you consider that our normal admission price is 70c including tax, and our increase—with the exception of ”The Robe”— has been around 95e including tax, and in some instances plus threedimension glasses. . On Dec. 1, in my local garage, they raised rhy daily parking rale from 60c to 70c. Not too long ago it \vas 40c. ; How can anybody Object to paying 80c or $1 for a great evening in a: theatre when ond-fate H’WOOD COWBOYS By WILLIAM ORNSTEIN ‘•You gotta and the right lovi »> have a seccharges alparking an Tucson, the right tune tempo in literature ! and movies to turn but a true west! ern,” in the opinion of j. Frank Dobic, erstwhile professor of English at Texas University and author of such books .as ‘'The Voice of the Coyote” and ‘‘The Mustangs." Dobie appeared here in a onenight stand at the University of Arizona where "The Cowboy in Literature" was the. topic of a Sunday .evening; Gathered in the tremendous stadium-effect auditorium of the University, whose stage is almost, if not as large as. Radio in New York. parking lot most that much for automobile for a day? ; With reference to widescrecns, it is not niy opinion that ClnemaScope is applicable to air pictures, nor would I care to see it that way. It has been my hope that we would have an all-purpose screen and an all-purpose theatre. By that, I mean that each week we. could put, plenty ol' exciting advertising and ,| ]f showmanship in our publicity.— not i ■ ■ ^ s Music Hall just showing a standard motion ! were more than 1,000 listeners and picture, but appealing to the pub j curious who turned out to see Svhat lie by showing a Cinemascope one the Texan historian of the western week, a three-dimension the nqxt,.!100^ llke an<l "hat he had to and perhaps a widescreen and : -^^y stereophonic sound attraction next I Shocked with a goodly crop of week. This would put our man, white hair, Dobie could pass olf agement and advertising departi as a second Will Rogers . lie has ments on their toes and get us out ' the drawl, the mien, the unruly 1? a l ^ . .'i. _ a. ' , ii • . 'fc/* 1 . , , ' 1 • ' ' guns; and the cattle are running from the time they leave the range until they get to Canada.” The only film he saw that was any good, the author stated, was "North 36,” a mute drama. He admitted he only goes to see those westerns "advertised as masterpieces,” and there haven’t been many such advertise^,*^.; /Another thing about western films, according to Dobie, is that in all the traveling the cows do, "it is very rare they stop for grass or . water land I can’t even read their brands. 'Git Along Little Dogie’ has been sung and played so much it’s become. a Texas lullaby e. "The touchstone for all kinds of literature is the use of the right words and the right tune, the right tone and the ; right time." He pointed to specific examples of Mark Twain and Zane Grey, commenting that "Twain’s wjfe.Livvy, tried on several occasions to repeat the slang used by her husband in his books but couldn't She got manner. Certainly, different types great humorist whose "All J know of pictures lend themselves to dif i is what I read in the papers'’ w as .ferent types of exciting copy. j his calling card. As you know; Dallas was one of “The popular Hollywood cow presentation of a Lees Carnots ! the guinea pigs for "Kiss Me Kate” hoy,” Dobie declared, "never . walks . . ■ ' ■ r’ *' I | .4 L H/\A #1 S'VV« J\ *1% A* A M •• k M-.1 T J 1 ! 4 U MA • « #r L ' A #1 A AM i • A-’ ' t A n a' i .4. meeting last year, appears headed for a comeback in 1954, with two business, meetings scheduled for this month. TNT, is staging a 16Theatre confab for the Sealtest Division of the National Dairy Products Corp. on Jan. 22 while BOTV will present a 31 -city meeting for othe Ford Motor Co. on Jan. 28. Thinks Fewer But Theatres Alive By ROBERT J/ O’DONNELL in three-dimension, /Continued on and I do page 56) be through a door but jumps dut a * window; he is always shooting two of the rut. of selling 52 attractions ! wave flowing over his brow and all j the right . words but the wrong . in 52 .weeks in almost an identical the general mannerisms of the late j tune.” As for Zane Grey, Dobie added, "He had his hired hands put on local color for his books. Gone; these many years. Ris books are still coming out. He provided his secretary with enough stories for a lifetime; He doesn't have the right time for the tune in his books." .During the talk, Dobie made use of all the mannerisms of Will Rogers, adding a drawling pun here and there to eke a laugh out of his audience. He is sharp and keen-witted' and shifted his balance from time to time for an easy stance before the music stand. He read from notes and embellished them from memory. His stage su'd! ence was as spellbound as the • visitors out front. At least they appeared as such, including Mary : I.. Jeffries, forum director. Who drew the centre gold chair behind the footlights. ' • By ARTHUR LEVEY < President, Skiatron ) nn ... , — ‘talking” an ambitious program of 30 closed 2" 9^*nts annually including oL...s' ^*'oadway plays, music 222n d con.ccrls To encourage unit e |!nJ,°: install closed-circuit norm/^°TV ls 0<Tei*ing units, both rei '? • and Posable, -on a rnand n!>aS,S'.' 1Iowcvor, it is dconV S1,c i,lental payments for a) tsfv ,ir 111 ;ulvance. For. example, comrln’1' ^ asking theatres fits In lhSi J°r lhe ' Portable.. out-; ingfoi-'m'o out. $1’500 when sign-. u i hc sprvice. . HalporH's TNT and Mound’s PhitnL /-pP^seht two different Pertaining to the the noi medium. TNT .favors naiionnfS1()nal outstandin6 event of Ss l while. BOTV as a 2 va4d,a continuity of events On tl pG 'r;s,t0-buil.d the. medium, “occasin 2 S1S of b'd’ receipts, the have People seeni t() that > n fi cd , 11 lHMP claim so far d° WZSo2big faction to TN’T and BOTV in present'1 bave succeeded been X ^"lguev,ents; There have tion "as ace the only pro )lvn f.vj ^ un-CMipicu io ticl.d, but their efforts onlv 2.2nsisted of conversathe^ bust the year Ronald & , .Moo tfms u 1 1 n «.T °” thd ' Bay to n , O. sales tonsuitanr.,; 5 ^ayton, o. sales ■Theatrp--Tni a^c.ncjr* "hich formed 1 1 vision Associates as a Dallas. In my opinion, fewer but bigger pictures could keep the big city theatres alive; for today, I think, the weekly same opening day, year in and year out, is a thing of the past. Cities from 250,000 up. must be flexible and exploit every bit of amusement income before indiscriminately changing shows every i seven days. However, these are; not the theatres that are. most in \ jeopardy. It is the three-and-four^ \ change-a-week theatres and the , split-week theatres that are a prob i iem, although in 'our situation we | have been for many months cx, tending the three-day runs to four , and five days; the four days to ; seven days; and the two-day to three-days— and attempting to get the money out of the better attractions. The equipment migraine in our situation is no particular headache, as we jumped the gun last spring | and have completely equipped for widescreen and stereophonic sound more than 80 of our 100 theatres. We have attempted to secure the best all-purpose screen, and believe we have done this. But our ideas of a fine, all-purpose screen! do not, in every instance, agree i with the thinking of one pioneer in Cinemascope who shall be nameless. 1 , ., We would not trade for anything in the world our, experiences in the past six months, which included a most active and successful summer wherein we emphasized widescreen -i and stereophonic sound. We have found it well worth the gamble, , despite the fact that in 38 sets of Our. RCA equipment w<? have an extra sound-head that will be obsolete; when andvas all companies go to the four-track sdund-on-film. Writing this off will be a bit burdensome but we believe it has proven our point during the past Radical changes have taken place in the thinking of the film industry in relation to subscription television. And the film people are 1 not. the only ones to see the potentials of tollviewing. We have , been eorit acted by leaders from many fields, frpm doctors, scientists and : educators to important figures in the world of sports and the legitimate theatre, and even by heads of theatre circuits. Even though, the Federal. Communications Commission has yet to make up its mind where pav-asyou-see television fits into the developing broadcasting pattern, subscription TV is already a reality in the minds of a great many of the policy-making executives. Never before has there been such . intense interest in Subscriber-vi i Sion, sueli determination to examine every aspect of the miethod for its potential as the cheapest, most effective way of establishing a box-office in the. home. To a very considerable extent, the march of events during the past year has pinpointed the need lor tollvision. The economics of commercial telecasting are such that even the broadcasters themselves, who might be considered having a vested interest in the status quo. are no longer shutting their eyes to the simple truth that they have reached the saturation point in programming quality under the prevailing sponsor-telecaster relationship. Today, subscription television is no longer in a position of trying to force itself on an unwilling industry. Events during 1953 have proven conclusively that . if TV broadcasting is to survive and prosper, i( must broaden its bask to; take in pay-as-you-see telecasting. Resisting it not only defies economic logic, it is merely delaying the inevitable. The film people are watching! the spectre of color /TV over the horizon. It doesn't lake much , imagination to figure put what this I could mean to those millions upon millions of dollars worth of black-1 and-whitc negatives now crowding the vaults. These pictures 'arc -being summer, as it has always been: our .hcW back with, tlie optimistic hope aim and ambition to keep abreast of the times and to attempt, in our theatres, to give the last word in entertainment, We feel that if we had not installed stereophonic sound an all-purpose screens and every facility for three-dimension pictures, we would have been derelict in oiir duty. We have been guilty of juggling our prices in Texas, and raising them for outstanding attractions that the day may come when some J television sponsor will fork over a I. sum large enough to compensate 1 producers lor their investment/' Hollywood, in its Search for greater revenue, has gone to a wider screen. Here again, the reI issue value of ordinary pix is depressed. What will happen to those millions 6f feet of standard film that the companies will no longer be able to sell? As presently con such as "From Here to Eternity," j stituted, television cannot pay enough to suit the studios. And even if all the producers v. ere to dump their product — as some tear they may — the only effect this would have would be. to drop the bottom out of the market. The film industry has begun to realize that Subscriber-Vision offers an electronic distribution system to many niillions of TV homes, which will eventually permit a high quality film to gross $6-S7,000.060 in a single evening. Our 10-day test of SubscriberVision in New .York last June proved conclusively not only how well our system works, hut. equally important, that more than 90rr of all set-owners, would be willing to pay for superior TV entertainment alongside the regular sponsored, shows. Our. method, involving transmission of a' coded signal which is unscrambled at the home seLJby dint of a small, compact decoder, lias been developed and improved over the past three years in tests authorized by the FCC. and held in conjunction with WOR-TV in NewYork. All of the FCC Commissioners. together With the chiefs of the legal and engineering departments, came from Washington last year to witness Subscriber-Vision and expressed themselves as deeply impressed with the system. We are going to the FCC shortly, with an application for a eommer■•■eial tollcasting license in metropolitan New York, We expect that, within 18 months of obtaining FCC approval, we will have installed at least 500.000 decoders in the metropolitan area. wherp nearly 4.000,000 sets are already in use. Manufacturers have assured us that they stand ready to swing into production of; the. /decoders al most as soon as the FCC act*, and we are prepared to : license t hem under our patents. The cost of tiie decoders will he quite small in mass production. Following FCC approval, we aspect to implement a coopeiatR^ arrangement with Western Unjpn which wiil. process all subscription applications, including billing and accounting, etc. Installation of our decoders is so simple, it should cost no more, than about $2,50. Uowcyer. our present, thinking is not to charge pur subscribers either for the decoders nor for the installation since we hope to amortize the cost out of our eventual subscription fees. We . feel assured that-,, once the FCC lias approved toll.casting the entire broadcasting industry Will be revitalized along w ith a I lied entertainment industries. Literary Hopalongs t "Cowboys read Police Gazette then as they do Life today,". Dobie said. When asked whether the real cowboy was disappearing, the Texan novelist and authority on Lone Star -lore answ ered, "I don’t think so. More cowboys are wearing i spurs in cars .than on horses, There ; is something about living in ma1 chines that fascinates^niem.” ■ \ Dobie. went on to sav that, in his opinion. "The Virginian’’ by Owen Wister is the most popular light novel, in the last century. /Not a cow boy or cow is mentioned . in the book. It has no cow psyi cliology and. it has left an indelible impression on the mind of the public. So much so. there has be■ come an American saying. 'When you call me a Virginian, smile." he | draw led. I In early hooks, all cowboys were witty and lantern-jawed men. They . were called lifters and Cow’ Bo\ s because they attended eowsi and most of the yarns dealt with cattle thieves, Dobie declared. He drew a verbal picture of the inception of the cow boy to present-day literature. One of the best cowboy literature which reveals the natural life on the trail which is slow and provides natural cowboy talk is Andy Adams’. "The Log of the Cow .boy,” lie Said. "There.' are no women in this book,” Dobie added, "and when Adams was advised to put a woman and love story in the book to make it popular, lie refused slating he had never seen a. /woman on the trail and if she had been there she 'would have only . been in the way. There is shooting i and one drowning and true-to-life. It lias the right lone and the right : tempo, and 40 c,o of the book deals w ith anecdotes and ■ natural settings,” he said. In eo'ncltrding. Dobie told of . visiting small towns where there were two film show’s a week and . all he could see advertised were westerns.” The popularity of • the western movies in Europe and Japan can be accounted for as in the small towns of the west. These pictures are a travesty on. life, but apparently the range people like them. . ' "In . time all cowboys will be modeled after Hollywood.”