Pictures More Popular

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21819, 23 November 1940, Page 6

Pictures More Popular

jniGURES for the year 1939-40, which have been * published in the October issue of the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, prove that patronage of the Dominion’s picture theatres is increasing. In 193839 the number of paid admissions to the theatres was 29,809,454, but last year it rose to 31,171,130, which means an average attendance of 19 per head of population. The admission receipts amounted to £2,100,999 out of which £1,840,811 went as theatre expenditure. So it can be seen that for a relatively modest profit, not nearly as great as that won in some other national industries, New Zealand’s picture theatres were able to provide excellent relaxation for a large portion of the population. The popularity of amusements is to some extent a reflection of a natural desire for a short reprieve from the inevitable anxieties of the times. The producers of Hollywood give a distressed world glimpses of life as it should be lived. Tragedy is rarely carried to excess, for the characters under the lash of Fate more often than not are succoured before the last “fade out”; heroes and heroines have their exciting set backs, but they generally go smiling to the altar, or equipped with the necessary licence, into the country to a civil functionarie’s home. There is comedy, too, always acceptable, but never more so than now. Occasionally instruction obtrudes itself, but no more than is necessary to give a little balance to a programme. Picture theatres are an established part of the country’s social life; they are growing increasingly popular because they meet a healthy contemporary appetite which can be satisfied in no other way. The most dangerous opinion that can afflict a country at any time, although most of all in time of war, is the opinion that “the ordinary person” will be no worse off under foreign rulers than under his own, so that it matters little (and is certainly not worth so much suffering and sacrifice) “if the Germans win,” says the Nineteenth Century. This opinion, if sufficiently widespread, will make defeat in war certain. We have observed it in Britain as well as in France, and suspect that it is being spread by means of a deliberate “whispering campaign.” We are convinced that it is not widespread and does not correspond with any general mood as it did in France. But it is a deadly foe that demands the greatest vigilance. ***** Without the British Navy, the Atlantic would give us no more protection than the Maginot Line gave France. — Mr William Bullitt, American Ambassador to France.