Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-09

made the industry the recent target Of
antitrust litigation.
Many short cuts were made possible
by this producer-exhibitor ownership
with the result that there was for the
year an average increase in earnings OF
rs per cent over 1928. Only one Of the
producing companies failed to make q
large profit.
A curious and interesting fact about
the movies is the manner in which the
stock market crash helped their patron
age. In almost every line OF business
some hints Of depression have been felt
because of the losses sustained by stock
traders. Luxury lines of business have
fallen of notably and in many lines en-
tirely unconnected with the market or
the securities involved, business has
been somewhat duller and collections
have been notably slow. Not so with the
movies.
Composition Of Movie Audiences.
The psychology Of the situation has
been studied with keen interest. It takes
all kinds of people to make q world and
representatives Of every type were to
be found specializing in stocks and los
| ing. Some OF them went into darkened
movie houses to sit down and brood over
their losses or plan coups to recover
them. Others went there for Solace,
finding a measure of forgetfulness in
the action and sound coming from the
screen.
| Then, too, the matter of personal
economy entered in. After all, the mo-
ton picture is one of the cheapest
amuSements. Men who had held boxes
at the opera or attended only the most
expensive theater performances and who
went to night clubs and cabarets found
they no longer could afford the cost of
these pastimes. They turned in great
numbers to the less expensive movies.
With these numbers added to the
habitues, total box ONCE receipts were
swelled so that the last two months OF
| 1929 were the best of the entire year.
Those were the very two months in
which stock market losses were the
most keenly felt. In New York, at least,
the last week Of the year showed the
greatest attendance at motion pictures
of any week In the entire history Of the
industry.
Two Billions Invested.
Total investment in the American mo-
ton picture industry now amounts to
approximately $4,000, 100000. This huge
sum is represented by various proper
ties, but among them are to be found
tangible properties. such as studios, Of
fice buildings, theaters and other per.
manent buildings worth 81 ESQ, 000, 900.
Other property rights are vested in
copyrights and contracts and the good
will built up by advertising and by ex-
cellent past performance. This Is big
business for one so new.
The American people pay $500, 000, 900
annually for admission to motion picture
theaterS and the sums received by the
producers for the rental Of their Aims
amount to 5000, 000, 900 year. Thus, It
Is seen that on the $4,000, 000,0 900 In
vestment the industry receives q gross
return of $1,000, 900, 900 every year, or
so per cent. Out of this must come the
heavy cost of operating theaters and
the production of pictures.
The high salaries paid the stars drag
down the net profits materially. but per-
haps not more than the destruction OF
property in the process Of making pic
lures. In the million-dollar spectacles
produced, Q very large amount Of prop
erty is utterly destroyed. Locomotives
are turned into scrap iron to make
wreck scenes and ships are sunk. Build.
ings are burned. Animals are killed,
automobiles destroyed. And any amount
of clothing completely ruined. This all
comes out Of the gross. The day has
passed when about all the damage done
in the making Of q picture would be ac-
counted for by the loss of few custard
pies. But. In spite Of this hard year, the
industry seems to have come out on
top.