: Starr Calls Lack of Prints Most Immediate Problem CHARLOTTE, N. C—Print shortages are the most acute immediate problem facing exhibitors today, Alfred Starr, president of Theatre Owners of America, told the annual convention of Theatre Owners of North and South Carolina Monday (lOi. He said this was true despite exhibitor concern over television competition as it may shape up in the future, the outcome of the 16mm antitrust lawsuit, relief from oppressive taxation and "the many benefits that will accrue from a system of arbitration." Starr called on distribution to lead the way in providing a solution to the problem "before it explodes in their faces." He said the existing condition is "almost intolerable and it grows worse every day." He urged price and percentage concessions to the smaller marginal theatres. "Print shortages, as everyone knows," Starr said, "are brought about chiefly by multiple runs in a given area on the same clearance, resulting in day-and-date contracts which the distributor finds it impossible to fulfill. "It is just too easy for the distributor to charge the exhibitor with being the sole cause of this unhappy situation. It is true that many exhibitors demand equal clearance with other theatres over a wide area, but this demand stems most logically from the fact that all the exhibitors in that area are required to pay the same terms for the picture. Any exhibitor has the right to ask himself why he should follow another theatre on a later run when both are paying the same terms. In many cases he would be very glad to drop back to 60 days, 90 days or even six months, if he were given an incentive to do so by getting lower film rentals thereby. "In my opinion, the distributor is almost entirely responsible for the shortage of prints that results from this unhealthy condition, and it seems perfectly obvious to me that a change must be made, lest the whole system of clearance fall apart and chaos replaces it. "At the bottom of this entire situation is the senseless policy of the distributors of maintaining a uniform national policy regards each picture. It is perfectly fantastic to reason that a picture worth 40 per cent in a large metropolitan area is also worth 40 per cent in a small theatre in a small town. "Distribution can restore order to the industry by making price and percentage concessions to the smaller marginal theatres who need help if they are to survive. And by making similar concessions to subsequent run theatres they can relieve the tremendous pressure of simultaneous demands for prints and at the same time can give the theatregoing public a much longer interval of time in which to see a particular picture." Clubwomen Rate 3 Films For Family Audiences NEW YORK—Three of ten pictures are rated for the family in the November 1 issue of joint estimates of current motion pictures, prepared by the Film Estimate Board of National Organizations. They are "Everything I Have Is Yours" (MGMi, "Desperados Outpost" (Rep) and "The WAC From Walla Walla" (Rep). The other ten are rated for adults and young people. Three of them get star ratings as outstanding pictures of their type. They are "Limelight" (UA), "The Promoter" (U-I) and "The Thief" (UA). The remaining seven are "Apache War Smoke" (MGM), "The Hour of Thirteen" (MGM), "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" (WB), "Springfield Rifle" (WB), "Way of a Gaucho" (20th- Fox), "Tropical Heat Wave" (Rep) and "Toughest Man in Arizona" (Rep). None of the pictures are rated for adult audiences. Most Newspapers Friendly to Films, Dick Pitts Finds in Own Survey CHARLOTTE, N. C—Leading newspapers devote ten times as much space to the promotion of stars and pictures than they do to the "sinful side" of the industry despite the belief of many exhibitors, Dick Pitts, public relations director of the Theatre Owners of America, told the 40th annual convention of Theatre Owners of North and South Carolina. Pitts said a survey he had made of 83 leading new.spapers showed the ratio in favor of Hollywood, its people and its product to be better than ten to one. However, he found that while many newspapers surveyed were generous with space, the majority was not and that majority was principally in the smaller cities. "Too many of them," he said, "went for days without mention of motion pictures. If the space given by the minority was matched by the majority, the ratio in favor of motion pictures would be 50 to one or more. So, in a manner of speaking, we have a lost press as well as a lost audience." Pitts said exhibitors should become better acquainted with the press. "But above all, please remember one thing," he said. "To a newspaperman news is all-holy. You can wine and dine him, but if you really want to get on the inside track with him and his editor, provide him with news. Call him on news tips, even though they don't concern your business. "Don't antagonize him by putting him on the carpet for a bad review. Sometimes he's right. If he is, tell him so. Don't alibi Hollywood or its product. Don't bootlick the guy. Don't remind him of how much advertising you are buying in his paper. Make him your friend. Basically, he's a pretty good guy- Just underpaid and generally unhappy." Goldwyn Denies Tale About Closings, TV NEW YORK—Samuel Goldwyn denie Monday (10) that he told a New York new; paperman "that within five years 50 per cei of the nation's theatres will be closed and ttl motion picture market will be shared equalli by pay-as-you-go television and theatres! He added: "Nor did I say with respect to ml next picture that if, when it is finished. pay| as-you-go television is a reality, as I think may be, that's where my next picture wi| be seen." "I doubt very much that subscription T"! will be anything hke a reality when my nex picture is completed," Goldwyn said, "so therl can be no question but that it will be seen 1:1 the theatres. What I actually said was thail in my judgment, it would be at least five yearp before subscription TV was commercial! feasible, and that then pay-as-you-go T would have a share of the motion pictur market, not that the market would be shareii equally between subscription TV and theatre;! "Although I have been aware of the poten tial of subscription TV for a long time, it ha; always been, and still is, my judgment tha theatres will continue to be the main sourc of motion picture exhibition and revenues." I Goldwyn said that no matter what is showi! in living rooms, people will still go to theatre for real entertainment, and that when sub! scription TV arrives, it will serve only to whel the public appetite for great pictures seen ti| advantage in theatres. "Certainly many existing theatres will bil closed within the next five years," he saidi "I have never predicted it would be 50 cent, but that is a normal result in any dyJ namic business which adjusts itself to ne» factors as they arise. Vigorous, alert theatrd owners will always keep abreast of the time:! and. if the trend in Hollywood toward fewe)| and better pictures is met with real showmanT ship on the part of exhibitors, the theatre encf of the business will be in good shape." UA Sets Up Release Dates For Nov.. Dec. Features NEW YORK—United Artists has set relei dates for five features due this month and December. William J. Heineman. distributioi vice-president, said one of them, "Kansas City Confidential," starring John Payne and Coleen Gray, will be shown prerelease only. starting Tuesday (11). It is the first Edward Small production in a 13-picture contract with UA. The others are: "Outpost in Malaya," starring Claudette Colbert and Jack Hawkins, for November 21 relea-se: "Babes in Bagdad," star- Paulette Goddard, Gypsy Rose Lee, Richard Ney and John Boles, December 7: "Monsoon," introducing Ursula Thiess, December 14. and "Breaking Through the Sound Barrier," a Lopert film, December 21. Special RKO Introductions NEW YORK—When Technicolor features are shown in RKO theatres, they will be introduced by a special feature presentation lead in Technicolor instead of. a.s in the past, in black and white. Behind the words "RKO presents" will be an art back.ground. 12 BOXOFFICE November 15. 1952
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