Boxoffice-11.04.1950

!
company's
; company
j
I 1951
j
;
feld
j
of
has brought a number of good writers and
directors into the Lippert fold. He said his
company lias a good picture coming up sojn
in "Steel Helmet" which deals with the Korean
situation, and has made a deal with
Mickey Rooney to do a "Sad Sack" story.
The first of the pictures being produced by
Lippert's — production partnership with Gary
Cooper "Three Outlaws"—also is due for
release soon. Another picture which the company
anticipates good business is on an exploitation
feature. "Lost Continent," which
has prehistoric setting.
Broidy was quite frank about what his
company is trying to do in production. "We
don't claim superlatives." he said. "We just
try to make a family type film. We try to
supplement what the majors have to offer.
If they make a lot of westerns, we make
some musicals. If they are heavy on dramas,
we make comedies.
"The only pictures we don't make are the
psychologicals," he said, a comment which
brought him a big hand. "We tried a couple
of them and they were so confusing that even
we couldn't understand them."
POINTS OUT SERIES SUCCESS
Turning to specific piotui'es, Broidy said
Monogram had been quite successful with
the series type of picture. The Bowery Boys
have been the most successful pictures the
company has put out, and they are doing
good business for the small exhibitor everywhere.
The Bomba series is another group
which has gone over well, and the company
will continue to make features in this series.
It has gotten so now that many exhibitors
merely book by the series and not the title,
he said.
The major presentations of the day came
from MGM and 20th-Fox. with Spyros
Skouras, the 20th-Fox president; Al Lichtman,
vice-president; Andy W. Smith jr., vicepresident
and sales manager; and Charles
Einfeld, vice-president and director of advertising
and publicity splitting the Fox presentation
between them. W. F. Rodgers presented
MGM's policy statement (more fully
reported in the next column) and the
short subject on Its forthcoming
product was the most effective presentation
of program by any of the exhibitors. The
went to considerable expense pre-
senting the short, which includes shots from
pictures—and the picture will be "road-
shown" at exhibitor meetings within the next
I several months.
1
Lichtman "emceed" the Fox presentation.
Smith
1
let the exhibitors in on new company
policy on a variety of trade problems. Ein-
;
took up problems of advertising, and
Skouras took to the more general problems
industrywide concern.
NEW 20th-FOX PLAN SOON
I
Smith said Fox had plenty of confidence
in the future and was putting up substantial
money to back it up. The extra 10 million
which will go into production in the next
year will bring 36 A pictures to the company
schedule in 1951. an average of three a
month—with 11 of them in Technicolor. In
1949, the company had 23 A pictures and had
28 A features in 1950, so that in a three year
period, he commented, the company had
upped its average releases by one A picture
a month.
Smith said the plan which he announced
at the Allied convention that the company
was willing to sell a year's supply of product
MGM May Take Steps to Halt
Competitors From Overbidding
HOUSTON—Giving emphasis to production
quality and new personalities as vital to
solving the patronage
problems of the industry.
William F. Rodgers.
vice-president in
charge of sales for
MGM. paved the way
for the screening of a
multiple-reel "trailer"
showing some of his
company's forthcoming
product. "This," he
said, "we consider to
be as emphatic a
means as we know to
effectively indicate our
confidence in the future
of motion pictures."
W. F. Kodgers
at convention
Rodgers touched upon a number of controversial
facets of exhibitor-distributor relations,
not the least of which was competitive
bidding and litigation resulting from
misunderstandings and misinterpretations of
the court ruling that brought this condition
about. "Meritorious complaints can be disposed
of by sensible arbitration." he said,
"but, unfortunately, others are motivated by
personal differences of long standing with
to the small independent exhibitor—via a
contract which will not condition the sale of
one picture on the purchase of another—is
ready to be put into practice. The procedure
has been worked out, and the plan will
be announced to exhibitors shortly. There
has been considerable demand for this type
of a contract, Smith said.
On drive-in sales. Smith said his company
is ready to protect indoor theatres from unfair
competition by the outdoor operations.
His company is fully aware of the types of
drive-ins which have sprung up in many sections
of the country. His company's statistical
department in its most recent check on
drive-ins showed 2,472 in operation in the
United States. The same check revealed
21,783 indoor accounts, which brings outdoor
theatres to 12.8 per cent of the total number
of theatres.
Now that drive-ins are more numerous and
competition has set in, many of them are
demanding first run, Smith said. This, his
company will not do. He said that the company
now considers drive-in theatres in the
same classification as first run subsequent
little, if any. sincere basis of fact."
Rodgers deplored the existence of overbidding
in a few situations. But he said this
condition could not be remedied, because
competing interests often do not favor a
solution and have repeatedly refused his
company's attempts to correct the situation.
He warned, however, that "unless such individuals
discontinue this form of procedure
... it may be necessary to take such action
as we consider necessary to protect such
erring participants from themselves." He
added that "insofar as the law permits, we
intend to confine our future competitive
bidding activities to theatres that are adequate
to exhibit our product on the run
desired."
He set forth company policy as follows;
"We construe our responsibilities to be that
of producing, distributing and intelligently
preselling the finest motion pictures that
can be made. The time is past, in my opinion,
where policies and terms can be worked
out entirely by formula. We will continue
to treat each situation as an individual situation."
He emphasized that MGM had not
invited competitive bidding—that it has been
followed only because "we know of no other
method to satisfy competing interests who
are seeking the same position as to product
and its availability."
As to the relationship of drive-in theatres
in competition with conventional theatres,
another source of exhibitor complaint, Rodgers
declared that "we believe we have no
alternative" but to treat the drive-in, generally,
as we do the conventional theatre, if
it operates as does the conventional theatre;
that each theatre and each picture must be
considered independently. He excoriated as
"unfair" drive-in competition, those operations
that have free admissions; that accept
box tops in exchange for admission; that
advertise and invite busloads of patrons at
a specified price for the entire busload and
who have their sights only on the development
of concessions sales.
Rodgers advocated a system of industry
arbitration for the purpose of determining a
fair and reasonable clearance where such
matters are the subject of dispute. "Our
position in favor of arbitration is well
known," he said, "and has been conveyed
to your organization and to others. We
will welcome aggressive activity in this direction
and believe that the initiative should
come from the exhibiting fraternity. We will,
when this move takes place, gladly participate
in such an undertaking."
houses and pictures will be sold to them on
that basis.
On competitive bidding. Smith said his
company will not seek it, and wants to hold
it to a minimum but that when requested
by an exhibitor, the company will comply
with the request.
The last of a five-point program which he
presented was the Fox sponsorship of arbitration.
Smith has been a personal champion
of the conciliation or arbitration of industry
problems. He said he believes the
courts will approve a plan devised within the
industry. "But," he added, "no matter how
good a plan is, it simply will not work if all
distributors and all exhibitors do not embrace
and support it."
Einfeld made a very effective presentation
on advertising problems of the industry
—and while he apparently did not relish
doing so, he took up some specific cases to
show how pinch-penny and shortsighted
some exhibitors were, even in key cities, in
keeping local advertising budgets to the lowest
possible figure with which they would
(Continued on page 22)
BOXOFFICE November 4, 1950
19