Montana labor news., 1936-05-14
THE film CORNER
Continued from Page y

ACSAeAAANA ASAA o6N -
have to buy a ticket for the show in
side. You oblgate yourself in no way.
Then you sit back and hope that your
number viii be selected during a draw
ing held on the stage once or twice
each week. Ii you're lucky you receive
a prize iron % TO as much as $iOOO
depending on the size OF the house.
But there's a catch to it. In order
not to forfeit your winnings you have
to be inside the theatre when the lucky
number is selected, or, at the latest,
within fifteen minutes thereafter. To
get in you have to buy a ticket, and
to be on the safe side you'd better not
wait for some obliging friend to snatch
YOU from your bath or bed and send
you flying to the theatre in bathrobe
and pajamas. So, after signing your
name to that fatal book you haunt
the Starlight Theatre on Bank Night
even though you break your jaw yaw-
ming at the antics OF Title, the Tear
Jul Tea faster" or Three Gun Kelly
in Hells Bend" Due to the sleep
including qualities OF the third and
fourth-rate movies shown on Bank
Night, it is still possible, however, that
you'll miss your big chance by not
waking up when your number is called,
Perhaps there is poetic justice in the
fact that Bank Night was introduced
by the very independent theatre own
ers who now turn over to Affiliated
Enterprises most OF the increase in box
office receipts resulting from the popu-
larity of the legal lottery" Forced to
run pictures a month to six weeks
after the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS chains
finished playing them and also forced
to pay outrageously high prices for
these shopworn films, the independ-
ents first hit upon the idea of giving
away china, silverware, soap and what
nots on the nights when attendance
was poorest. Patronage increased
somewhat but the big fellows refused
to be disturbed. They still were get
ting the lions share Of the business and
the little theatres were going deeper
and deeper into debt.
Embroidered by their slight success
with premiums the neighborhood
houses next tried giving money to the
holder of a lcky number on an ad-
mission stub. The government crack.
ed down on this practice in a hurry
because it clearly violated the LOTTERY
laws.
Then along came Charles U. Yeagei
(who, Significantly enough, was unit
recently manager for the great Fo2
West Coast Theatre Circuit with hi
fool-proof Bank Night scheme opera
ted by Affiliated Enterprises, Inc.
which he organized and still controls
The little fellows, all Of whom were OF
the verge of bankruptcy, snatched a
the idea. It caught on. Attendant,
bomed in the neighborhoods and tn
first run houses began to feel tn,
pinch from empty auditoriums. Holly
wood retaliated by taking over the jde;
bag and baggage and boosting the ant,
from a modest sawback or SO to
grand" The independents couldn'
follow suit, so they're now worse of
than they were in the first place.
There's a fascination in gambling, o
course, but it is the opinion OF thi
column that the public is very short
sighted in letting itself be boared By
mediocre pictures night after night il
the hope of being the 5000 to l sho
who wins the prize. The money does
Mt come out OF the air, you know. l
is diverted from the production de
parment which means that the picture
shown on Bank Nights are the shod
diest made in Hollywood.
The only way to get more fine pic
lures like Modern Times" "The Stor.
Of Louis Pasteur," 'The Milky Way,
"These Three" and "Mr. Deeds Goe
t to Town" is by patronizing them an,
5 giving the go-by to so-called program
pictures which are ground out Xix
fr%ankfurters tc keep the protector
running until it's time for the DRAWN
t to be held.