Boxoffice-October.27.1951

1
Macy Executive Reviews
Advertising Handicaps
NEW YORK—Questions about advertising
fall into one or another of four categories,
according to Victor Ratner, vice-president.
Macy's New York department store. These.
he told a Boston conference on distribution.
are advertising as an art, as a science, as a
factor in making profits and as a cultural
force, "and it's useful to know which category
we're in when talking about any part of
advertising."
Ratner recently spurred interest in film
advertising by production of an advertisement
naming "An American in Paris" (MGMi
Macy's picture selection of the month. This
went far in the direction of simplicity of language
and almost understatement in appealing
to the public to patronize good films.
Advertising as an art calls for eloquence,
vitality and emotion because buying most
things "is a matter of emotion and fun as
well as practicality and logic."
"But eloquence comes only from individual
talent," he said. "And talent is a scarce
commodity ... It is here that the science of
advertising comes in : the development of facts
and techniques, of measurements and principles
anyone should be able to use. And it is
here we are enormou.sly handicapped by how
little really firm knowledge we have yet accumulated
about advertising.
"Today, our media are massive, and advertisers
must make very important dollar-decisions
on their relative values. Yet what
objective and solid data do we have to go on?
All promotion claims to the contrary, we have
only the vaguest impressions of the relative
value of different advertising media, and we
know very little more about how they work
individually."
Remarking that almost the entire Macy
budget has gone into newspapers for 93 years.
Ratner said the only precise knowledge about
newspapers is their circulation and rates.
"We don't know for papers as a whole, except
in hazy terms," he said, "who reads
what newspapers, how many women, how
many men, what kind of people they are,
when they read the papers and where."
An advertiser who discovers a new technique
wants to keep it a trade secret, Ratner
said. He added, however, that a formula
might be worked out through which advertisers
would report their data to an impartial
university or foundation for analysis.
The second most important thing about
advertising, according to Ratner, is absolute
honesty about the merchandise, and third
is the contribution made by advertising itself—the
form and excitement given the message
through advertising techniques.
"Our media are busily at work doing three
different things," he said. "They move entertainment,
they move merchandise, and they
move ideas. I place them in this order because
it is in this order we are successful
with them. Our media are at their best today
in distributing entertainment across the
country, whether by comedy on the air or by
comic strips in the newspaper—the most
widely read feature of any paper. And our
media are least effective today in moving
serious ideas to the public."
New Anglo-American Film Pact Signed
Sir Frank Lee, permanent secretary of the British Board of Trade (center), is
shown taking a pen from Joyce O'Hara, acting president of the Motion Picture Ass'n
of America, to sign the new Anglo-American film agreement. Looking on is Ellis G.
Arnall, president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers, who also
signed the pact, along with O'llara. The ceremony, which took place at the MPAA
headquarters in Washington, extended the agreement another year. Industry and
government officials attended, including Eric Johnston, MPAA president on leave as
economic stabilization administrator; John W. Snyder. Secretary of the Treasury, and
Nicholas M. Schenck, president of Loew's.
Turkish Film Industr
Produces 24 Features
WASHINGTON — The Turkish film i:
dustry has made considerable progress boi
in the quality and quantity of productior
During the 1949-50 film year 20 feature filn
were produced. This was increased to :
during the 1950-51 season and forecasts f(
the coming year indicate that productic,
will reach about 35 films. The market hii
a good supply of rawstock film, especial)
from Belgium. Turkish producers have ab
succeeded in obtaining an allocation of $50
000 for imports of rawstock film from tt
U.S.
Probably the principal factor in this ex
pansion has been the admission tax differer,
tial in favor of Turkish produced films. Th
admissions tax on Turkish films is 25 p«
cent as compared to 70 per cent tax on imported
films. This 45 per cent tax differen
tial in favor of Turkish films virtually com
pels theatre owners to show Turkish film:
In taking advantage of this situation th
Turkish film industry is invading the marke
by putting into circulation more than te:
copies of a film at one time. As a result, n
matter how successful and good a foreig!
film might be, the difference in net revenu
is so great that a number of importers anc
distributors heretofore specializing entire!
in foreign films began distributing Turkisl
films.
While the public still gives definite preference
to U.S. films it is reported that Italiai
films are constantly increasing in popularit;
and constitute a threat to British and Prencl
films on the market. During the first fivi
months of 1951, a total of 134 feature film:
were exhibited in Istanbul. Of these. 92 wen
U.S. films, 13 were Turkish productions, 1(
were Italian, 9 French, 9 British, and 1 wa:
an Argentine film. Of the 92 U.S. films released,
31 were dubbed and 16 were reissues
U.S. Films Most Popular
With Natives of Haiti
WASHINGTON — United States films in
general continue to
be preferred by the majority
of Haitians, however, French pictures
occupy a prominent second position. Distribution
of motion pictures in Haiti is handled
by three firms. One distributor handles
U.S. films almost exclusively and in 1950
reportedly imported 100 U.S. films. A second
distributor imports approximately half U.S.
films and half foreign, mostly French, and is
reported to have imported 60 U.S. films last
year. A third distributor handles mainly
French films and imports about 40 to 45
films a year. It is estimated that 50 per
cent of the films imported are of U.S. origin,
40 per cent are French, with the balance coming
from other countries.
There are 20 theatres in Haiti, three of
which are equipped to show 16mm films only.
Total seating capacity of the 17 theatres
equipped to show 35mm films is approximately
6,850. Action type films are favored. Westerns,
both .serials and features, are popular, ij|
but equally well received are swashbuckling j
action films combining sword play with romance.
Tommy Rettig has been handed the top role
of the youngster in Producer Stanley Kramer's I
"5000 Fingers of Dr. T.," a Columbia release, ft
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46 BOXOFFICE :
: October 27. 1951
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