Appendix 2.2: PG, KW, MPH; Annual assessments of UK box office
Picturegoer 12/5/51 p7
The collective enterprise on which the whole industry ultimately
depended, the audience, in which the fan magazine was implicated,
was also confirmed by these means:
Your vote, and the votes of thousands like you, has helped
us to keep a better picture of picture-going.
Ibid.
The categories 'Best Actor' and 'Best Actress' were used
consistently throughout the period, recording primarily the
popularity of specific stars, but also these stars' performances
in specific films: the awards are thus an extremely useful
reference point for the more complex information purveyed through
my other two sources. In 1955 two new categories were introduced,
these were 'Best Male Newcomer' and 'Best Girl Newcomer', but
they were not used again. In 1957 the category 'Top Singer'
appeared, to reappear in 1958, the year that was, as it turned
out, to be the last for the Picturegoer awards. The introduction
of this category reflects the growing concern with popular music
in the magazine, presumably in response to the interests of its
market.
Kinematograph Weekly
This journal was the main forum for the British industry, serving
particularly the interests of exhibitors by offering an overall
view of general trends and individual performance across the
whole country. Notices of trade previews appeared regularly and
reviews of all new releases were clearly intended to classify
pictures for the benefit of exhibitors who might wish to hire
them. The tone of the KW film reviews was quite different from
those in the national press addressed to cinemagoers - the
potential audiences. Josh Billings' annual assessment of 'form'
was intended as a kind of survey of work in progress, addressed
to those engaged in the work. The whole point of the annual
review was an attempt to discover some logic in past successes
in order to predict the best 'bets' for future risks. A
consistently reliable distributor was, in the end, a better bet
than the uncertainties of 'continental' films or gimmickry in the
form of technological innovations (KW 15/12/55 p4). The foreign
(i.e. 'continental' not American) film was given a cautious go
ahead in 1956 as the chauvinist comment 'some foreigners stood
entirely on their own feet* (KW 13/12/56 plθ) indicates. The
reasons for their success however were inherently suspect, as
were also, it seems, the British critics:
With most foreign films sex is either an impediment or a
gimmick, but at least they're pretty certain of being well
received by the critics.
KW 17/12/59 pl60.
95