FILM MAGNATE’S VISIT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19998, 25 July 1939, Page 14

FILM MAGNATE’S VISIT

MR. ADOLPH ZUKOR’S TOUR LAUDING PUBLIC TASTE TELEVISION AND CINEMA (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. A leading figure in the American motion picture industry for more than a quarter of a century, Mr. Adolph Zukor, founder and head of Paramount Pictures Incorporated, arrived at Auckland by the Niagara yesterday from Vancouver, in the course of a short visit to Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Zukor was the guest of honour at a dinner given by the representatives of the film industry in New Zealand. Mr. Zukor said he wished to meet the distributors and exhibitors and to see something of the public in this part of the world because in the present condition of the industry, it was necessary to gauge tastes in all countries very closely. American motion pictures couljc! not 'be produced without a world market owing to the high costs whicn tended to increase. . Mr. Zukor was not apprehensive of future rivalry from television. Hje had investigated it closely, he saa|d and. in his opinion, a good deal more technical progress would have to be made before “televiewing” became universally popular.

There was no question that television was already efficient in handling public-events and sports after thd manner of the newsreel, but motion pictures had a long start of it in; developing technique for the presentation of dramatic entertainment. Another handicap was the limited range —25 miles or so—bt the television stations. These difficulties undoubtedly would be overcome in time, blit motion pictures had nothing to fear for many years, if ever.