Moving Picture World (Dec 1917) - Learn About Movie Posters

1732 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD December 22, 1917
A Message
to the Exhibitors
of the United States
from
Mr. C. L. Dooley
Managing Director of the Regent and Garden Theatres of
Paterson, New Jersey
The present salvation of the exhibitors of this country is in booking
pictures at prices that will give us a fair return on our investment.
These are precarious times. There is a natural slump in our business on
account of the approaching holidays. For the past fifteen weeks the Regent
and Garden Theatres, the most successful theatres in the State of New
Jersey, were operated for rent alone. We did not make one penny of profit.
Bad management was not the reason because formerly we did make a
profit. A careful analysis of our daily business convinced me that we were
not making any money because of the increased cost of film rental.
It was a question of either discontinuing expensive productions that do
not bring sufficient revenue, or of going out of business. We have thrown
off the shackles. The Regent and Garden Theatres are not going out of
business.
I believe that there are thousands of other exhibitors in the country in
the same position. My advice to them is to do what we have done—throw off
the shackles and book pictures at prices that give them a chance to make a
living. No star is big enough to earn a profit for the exhibitor if the picture
is too costly. My opinion is that entirely too much attention is being paid
to the star, and entirely too little attention to the story. Audiences demand
good stories.
We exhibitors cannot support fabulous priced stars by paying for these
pictures more than is justified by our box office returns.
President Motion Picture Association,
Paterson, N. J.