SELLING OF FILMS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1932, Page 6

SELLING OF FILMS

PROVIDING ENTKRTA NMEAT

TALK TO ROTARY (JEl'B

WFLLIXCITON, April 20

••We lire not selling uplift ; «'o ' arc not selling sermons. Wo are seeing

entertainment. Pictures arc an a,noil vne. When the bank rings you up there arc one of two tilings to do • have a drink or go to the pictures. Well, go to the pictures, because iW healthier, - ’ said Mr I). X. (jillespie in giving an amusing and instructive talk on moving pictures to the Rotary C'.uh yesterday. Though it was but a generation old, the 'pic'.mv industry was the largest in (be world of entertainment, and was established firmly in every couutrv in j lie world, said Mr (lillespie. It was despised at the beginning, wii. • it was assoeiated with penny peepshows and the like; and it was t despised h v .some, but the pimple v' did the despising were net a:, a re! those* who were in dose touch the public and what it wanted in tlr ,i ; ;v of mi ten ainment. Now there were some 5000 picture theatres in the L'nited Slates alone. COM IXO OF TTIM TALK lIW. After mil lining the rise ol the silen! picture, ‘Mr OilJpspie referred to coming of Ihe talkies. The microphone was most unkind to the American ac- j cent, lint actually, lie said, file Ameri-j can accent was not so bad as it sound- ! ed when it came from the screi t. | English used long vowels ami bald consonants, whereas the American used short vowels ami soft consonant s, wT.liTi was all against them. i Tiiiglami’s real start in (lie (alkies was made by the coming of a Scotsman named Maxwell. He hail the t advantage of not being n pum ( cm, wlmli sToo.l him in 'Stead when ( he Imill the Kl'Uve studios. Maxwell was a man who hated owing money.' he went, into the venture with cvlreme canitim >■ At Hist the Rn- j tj Intel national Pi'Anie;; had enpi-j tr,i ~i £100.000: to-day it; capital wu?

£5,000,000. It owed nothing. had ithree hundred theatres, and was making films c<|ual to anything America has turned out. At the present time there were a do/en companies in England making a. good article, each hiving the silly old idea till at they must balance their budget each year—and did. NO BED OF ROSES. Describing the exhibiting side ol fir.' business in New Zealand. Mr Gi|lc:pio said the- theatres were owned, eo" trui’ed and stalled by New Zealanders. but tile lot of the picture mail, from the manager down to the ticket .seller, was by no means a bed of roses. Hi ore was a fallacy afloat to the effect that vast sums of money f, llllll l their way to America trom New Zealand through the agency of the pictures. "You may be surprised to j learn that not more than 3<| out of J Ihe 2,< 9d yon pay for your ticket goes j In America and not more than a penny j out of the shil'ing.’’ said Air Gillespie.: ‘■Yet this intriguing industry is taxed j iu three or four ways, which means 12.1 per cent, of the gross *vln*||n*«* ( tlm picture man wins or loses. That is i o say, even if be i< losing steadily that. 121 per cent, comes oil bis receipts for (he Gnvermmmt." j