Wid's year book (1918)

Chains of Theatres an Important Factor Gradually, in the past few years, there has been a decided tendency towards the accumu¬ lation of several theatres by one individual or corporation, particularly the tieing up of all the best houses in one city. In some districts, these theatre chains almost dominate the activities of that particular sec¬ tion, being at times in a position to dictate what releases shall be shown in better theatres and at what prices they shall be booked. In analyzing this situation, and considering it in discussions with some of the more promi¬ nent sales managers here in New York, I have found a general recognition of the fact that there are not anything like ten thousand good theatres showing films in this country, and it is the general concensus of opinion that the actu¬ al figures, which oddly enough no one has ever listed perfectly, will come nearer to registering at about 6,000. For years, the saying that there were fifteen or twenty thousand film theatres has been re¬ cited glibly by the voluble soothsayers of the industry with the result that that saying has taken its place alongside of such classics as “The indusry is still in its infancy” and “The surface of the industry has not yet been scratch¬ ed.” It is very easy to understand how this pe¬ culiar idea as to the number of theatres in this country has held forth inasmuch as there has never, to my knowledge, and I have searched most of the offices in this town in recent years, been a truly accurate list secured of the the¬ atres operating in this country, which would in¬ telligently distinguish between an opry house in a hick town that might show a film once a year, and a live store show in a town of the same size which has progressed to the point of changing twice a week because of the ability of the manager in charge. These so-called lists of theatres that have ex¬ isted and used up postage in circularization for years in this industry, generally registered an appalling percentage of dead houses, repeats, and incorrect names and addresses. One of the principal reasons for the discrepancies which always existed in these lists was the fact that for many years it has been customary, particu¬ larly in the small towns, to change the name of a theatre whenever it changed management, and everyone who has been around the film business knows that theatres have changed management quite frequently In every office, these lists have been in charge of the mailing clerk and every time a mailing clerk was fired, the list suffered be¬ cause the new boy was entirely at sea. Most of the existing distribution organizations will tell you that they have a perfect list of theatres based upon reports made by their salesmen, and yet when it comes down to brass tacks you’ll find that except for a list of customers and immediate prospects, there is no such thing as an accurate existing list which will approach anything like the figures running above ten thousand. I do not for a moment dispute the fact that there are considerably more than ten thou¬ sand buildings in this country that bear the name of “theatre,” and I understand that taxes have been paid on something like fifteen or sixteen thousand theatres, but this of course includes buildings of every sort which could be so labelled. In analyzing the present situation, one out¬ standing fact, presents itself. There are only a very few thousand truly worth while theatres. The figures on the chain theatre situation run about as follows, these estimates having been prepared after a very careful consideration of data collected from several of our best dis¬ tributing companies and from several inter¬ views with well informed sales managers. There are 100 chains in this country which will average ten theatres to a chain. There are 150 chains in this country that will average five theatres to a chain. There are 500 combinations in this country that will average three houses each. There are 1000 instances where two houses are controlled by one man or one corporation. This means that 100 men control 1000 houses; 250 men control 1750 houses; 750 men control 3250 houses and 1750 men control 5250 houses. Figuring that on the outside there are more than 1000 houses separately and individu¬ ally owned that could qualify as first class the¬ atres, we have a total of 6250 theatres. It is undoubtedly true that there are several thousand theatres individually owned in addi¬ tion to this 6250 houses, but there is little ques • tion in the minds of those well informed but that the 6000 mark amply covers everything that could be considered a first class film the¬ atre. When you think of such theatre chains as the Ascher Bros, in Chicago, the Stanley Interests