Boxoffice-September.23.1950

Some Changes Must Come,
Says Young Film
Buyer
Elmer Rhoden Jr. asks for a redrafting of pressbooks,
and more campaigns on regional mass booking basis
In this article, a second generation exhibitor
gives his vieivs on the merchandising
of motion pictures
and proposes some
changes to be made
by the distributors in
preparing pressbooks
and developing advertising
campaigns.
Elmer RJioden jr..
film buyer for the extensive
Commonwealth
circuit which
has headquarters in
Kansas City, is the
son of Elmer Rhoden. Elmer Rhoden Jr.
president of Fox Midwest
theatres and veteran in midwest exhibition
circles.
By ELMER RHODEN JR.
As a young man in the motion picture Industry,
I have found that the lifeblood of this
industry is based on advertising, publicity,
showmanship and public relations. Yet, in
my time in the industry, there has been little
improvement in the advertising promotion of
our stock-in-trade pictures. Let us look at
it. First, we have the same old pressbooks
with the same old stunts and publicity material
that insults the intelligence of the man
it is supposed to help. Let us see what we
can do to improve the quality or the pressbooks.
Let us lift them up and set them
down in a way to eliminate the junk and
save the meat. Following are my ideas on
improving this book:
Why don't we have two pressbooks one
with the ads, the stunts, and the radio
and newspaper squibs, slanted to the
larger centers. Then, another pressbook
slanted to the smaller centers. Why have
all the ads and stunts slanted one way?
Leave the ads and mats open so the individual
exhibitor can put in some of his
own copy. He usually has to rewrite the
ads anyway, so make it easier for him
and stimulate in him the idea of putting
in his own copy. He knows his town better
than a man sitting in Los Angeles or
New York! There has been, I believe, on
the part of most exhibitors, a lethargy in
the writing of ads. They are prone to use,
without hesitation, the ad mats of the
pressbook in their entirety, without trying
to use any personal or local touch.
They have lost initiative!
Trailers, as is known, bring anywhere from
35 to 45 per cent of the business on any given
picture. If you have two pressbooks, let us
have two trailers. One slanted for your larger
situations, the other for the smaller ones.
For example, it is known that a picture like
Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay" will, in a territory
like my own (the midwest), be a tremendous
grosser, yet will completely fail in the eastern
market. It seemed to me that all of the
trailers and ads on this picture were slanted
more to the smaller situations.
It is a definite pity that a Technicolor
production like "Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay"
could not be .sold in the east. Another example
of the use of two trailers can be
pointed out in Metro's picture "That Midnight
Kiss." The first trailer dealt mainly with the
operatic qualities of the picture and caused
the picture to drop far under average in the
smaller situations. Metro then went to work
and put out another trailer showing the
star working around trucks in parts of his
old GI uniform and soft-pedaled the highbrow
part of the picture. As you know, in
the eastern market, "Duel in the Sun" did
a satisfactory gross, where as most large
westerns do not enjoy this same success.
Could it be that the slanting of the advertising
on this picture towards sex and love interest
caused this picture to do above average
in the east? So, why not have two sets of
ads and trailers slanted for two different
situations?
GETTING TERRITORIAL BREAKS
Now, let us look into the national advertising
budgets on motion pictures in large
national publications. There are millions of
dollars spent every year to hit an audience
which can be covered twice as well locally in
the following manner:
Allocate the money spent on national
publications, with the exceptions of industry
journals and Hollywood fan and
screen magazines, into a fund to advertise
locally in either of the following two
ways: First, go into a fifty-fifty advertising
program with your local exhibitor.
He knows his situation and can spend
your money and his to a better advantage.
Second, territory breaks. These are the
finest examples of local saturation and
advertising. Let us take one particular
example: Eagle Lion's picture "The Sundowners."
As a buyer, if this picture had
not had a territory break, I would have
bought it low flat and played it off probably
one-day double bill. As it was, we
gave Eagle Lion percentage and were extremely
glad that we did, for this picture
gave us one of the most outstanding
grosses we have had all year. Yet, as you
know, the picture was no epic and never
could be termed excellent or even good.
As westerns go. it was only fair. An exhibitor
friend of mine, who held out on
buying this picture, consequently missing
the territorial break and the momentum
of the local advertising saturation, played
the picture much later to an unsatisfactory
gross.
Since we have been buying, we have never
had a picture, booked on a saturation booking
with local advertising saturation, that
did not go far above average, returning us
more net and the film company a higher
film rental. Any exhibitor who will not get
into the spirit of the saturation booking is
cutting off his nose to spite his face. For
example, look what RKO did with "Stromboli"
in the east, yet what a miserable flop
It was in this territory. It is hard to under-
.stand what goes on in the minds of men,
when having made a tremendous success in
one part of the country, they let this success
and momentum gained die in other territories
where it could have been used to the
.same advantage to the distributor and the
exhibitor.
When a distributor decides to have a saturation
booking and advertising campaign on
a picture, he has foresight enough to come
to the local exhibitors and the local circuit
advertising and publicity men to set up his
advertising campaigns for his saturation.
Yet, the same distributor, in setting up his
regular campaign on pictures, will, for the
most part, wrap up his campaign in New
York or Los Angeles without asking for the
help or advice of the men in the field who
have to do the actual ground work on his
productions. These men find it necessary,
time and again, to rework entire advertising
campaigns in their territories in order
to get some revenue out of the production.
Let us make advertising in this industry
flexible so that the local men will have a
chance and will want to sell the pictures.
Let the local man, the man in the field,
have his say in the making of your trailers,
of your ads, and of your campaigns. He
knows how to sell his community. He will
help. Just ask him and give him the chance.
This is the one business where we are all
partners, so let us actually be partners,
not partners in name only.
Alexander Film Co. Head
Reports Business Gain
KANSAS CITY—In a visit to the plant and
publishing office of BOXOFFICE, J. Don
Alexander, president of Alexander Film Co.
of Colorado Springs, Colo., was enthusiastic
about business prospects for the industry.
Citing his company's progress in a constant
increase of billing of about $1,000,000 per year
for the last several years, Alexander felt that
this certainly bespoke the confidence other
industries had in the general business picture.
Television has given Alexander additional
outlets as was well as production of advertising
films, which are serviced to more than
8,000 theatres in the U.S. Alexander also reported
an increase in the use of theatre ad
films in foreign countries with some 2.500
theatres served.
Accompanying Alexander was M. E. Williams,
sales representative for Kansas and
Missouri.
Korda to Do Ballet Film
NEW YORK—Alexander Korda has signed
Margot Fonteyn, premiere danseuse of the
Sadler's Wells Co., for the leading role in a
full length ballet film version of "The Sleeping
Beauty," to be made in Technicolor in
England next year. The film will be wordless
and will feature a full ballet and acting group.
The conductor and cast will be made known
soon by London Film Productions.
22
BOXOFFICE
:: September 23, 1950