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Trend to Color Marks<br />
Paramount's Shorts<br />
Product Schedule<br />
40 of 64 Subjects Are Tinted-<br />
Anniversary for Newsreel<br />
The trend to more color has found expression<br />
in Paramount's shorts lineup for<br />
1952-53. Of the 64. subjects on the chart,<br />
40 will he in Technicolor.<br />
The list includes subjects in ten classifications,<br />
all one-reelers except for the Musical<br />
Parade Featurettes (two-reelers in Technicolor!<br />
which have been meeting with<br />
marked success, especially in drive-ins.<br />
Of the exploitable subjects, Grantland<br />
Rice will be back with 12 more Sportlights.<br />
These have been steadily popular for many<br />
years, and the Rice name on the marquee<br />
has drawing power.<br />
Also on the tie-in credit side are the<br />
Popeye cartoons, which include eight newones<br />
and four Champion reissues for a total<br />
of 12. These can be tied to newspapers<br />
which run the daily and Sunday comic strip.<br />
This involves merely screen or lobby credits<br />
in return for newspaper ])ublicity or promotion<br />
ads. Or the available one-sheet can<br />
be sniped with a credit line, such as "Read<br />
'Popeye' every day and Sundays in the<br />
News." Newspapers will usually huv this<br />
kind of promotion.<br />
The Casper cartoons, also in Technicolor,<br />
are still coming strong, and the licensing<br />
Newsreels Are Very<br />
By OSCAR A. MORGAN<br />
Director of Short Subjects Sales,<br />
Paramount Pictures<br />
Twenty-five years ago, "Tlic<br />
Eyes and Ears of the World"<br />
flashed across theatre screens<br />
not only in this conntry but<br />
all around the world. It entered<br />
npon a quarter of a<br />
century of recording history<br />
on motion picture film. For<br />
its achievement Paramount is<br />
very proud.<br />
A short while ago, another<br />
medium of vision came into<br />
hef;in television; and suddenly<br />
some exhibitors got very<br />
panicky — predicting that now,<br />
indi-ed, newsreels were ohsolele.<br />
A few exhihilors eliminated<br />
newsreels, claiming thai<br />
televisiim destroyed their<br />
value. .Subsequently this<br />
inylh exploilcd and for nood<br />
reason: Television is not<br />
equipped to give the public<br />
a(i'eplalile news. (lood reportion<br />
is sacrificed for frantic<br />
speed, which means news<br />
unidited, in its rawest form.<br />
They do not have the "knowbow"<br />
wliich adds up, in the<br />
cu-r of newsreels, to years of<br />
experience and a sense of<br />
25-<br />
Left to right, at the recent 2Sth-year celebration of Paramount News: short subjects<br />
sales manager Oscar A. Morgan; Alfred W. Schivalberg, president. Paramount<br />
Film Distributing Corp.: Ted O'Shea, vice-president. Paramount Film Distributing<br />
Corp.: A. J. Richard, editor of Paramount News.<br />
operations built around this and other Famous<br />
Studios characters is continuing. One<br />
is a comic book which theatres can use as<br />
giveaways or prizes for children. There will<br />
be six Casper's in all.<br />
Other listed product includes: six Noveltoons,<br />
color; four Herman and Katnip cartoons.<br />
Technicolor; six Pacemakers and<br />
six Toppers.<br />
The newsreel has special significance for<br />
Paramount and its customers this year, for<br />
its editor, A. J. Richard, is celebrating 25<br />
years with the reel, which itself was fully<br />
launched in 1927.<br />
Much Alive/ Says Oscar Morgan<br />
r<br />
Oscar Morgan<br />
what the public wants. Television<br />
news is telecast on<br />
"off" times— when a smaller<br />
viewing audience is available.<br />
Frankly, in my humble opinion,<br />
it will be a long, long<br />
lime before television news<br />
can compete with theatrical<br />
newsreels. It's part of my<br />
business to look at television<br />
news programs, and I wonder<br />
hnu many exhihilors lake the<br />
Irouble lo find out the facts<br />
fill themselves, anil make an<br />
honesi ('(unparison.<br />
To the exhibitors' credit, it<br />
can be said that they do not<br />
now considir television news<br />
as a major competitor, but<br />
receiilly newsreel distribution<br />
has mi-l with another problem<br />
.^ome exhibitors are<br />
eliminating newsreels to cut<br />
expenses.<br />
The American public likes<br />
newsreels. It expects to see<br />
them on every program and, I<br />
believe, feel cheated if news<br />
is omitted from a program.<br />
Newsreels are a part of the<br />
picture-goers' "way of life."<br />
Therefore. exhibitors who<br />
eliminate newsreels are certainly<br />
adding to the "lost<br />
audience" we hear so much<br />
about.<br />
The American public is the<br />
best-educated and best-informed<br />
in the world. Newsreels,<br />
with superior reporting,<br />
have contributed materially to<br />
this condition. On this, our<br />
2.'ith anniversary, proof of this<br />
statemeni is documented in<br />
the many letters i>f congratulalion<br />
which have come lo us<br />
from our country's lop executives,<br />
including President<br />
Truman and members of his<br />