Film Weekly 1961-62 year book : Canadian motion picture industry with television section (1961)

dicated that 19% of the average capacity was utilized. The estimate of potential admissions is based on the normal programs shown by theatres throughout the year. Potential admissions may be either over stated or under stated depending on whether normal programs are interrupted during the year. For this reason the measure¬ ment of average capacity utilized is not considered entirely satisfactory but is of some value as an indicator of conditions. Receipts from sources other than sales of tickets were valued at $11,732,322 and included $10,817,214 from the sales of candy, drinks, cigarettes, etc. ($11,120,994 in 1958), $385,146 from the rental of concessions and vending machines ($376,615), $73,245 from showing commercial films ($76,634) and $456,717 from other sources ($380,134). Except for Prince Edward Island which reported an increase of 5.6% in receipts from admissions, theatres in all the pro¬ vinces recorded decreases in both receipts from admissions and number of paid ad¬ missions. These decreases ranged from 7.4% in Manitoba to 12.7% in Saskatche¬ wan in the case of receipts, and from 10.4% in Prince Edward Island to 17.8% in New Brunswick in the case of paid ad¬ missions. PRICES Over the last six years average ad¬ mission prices (excluding amusement tax¬ es) have increased at a faster rate than receipts have declined. From 1953 when receipts were at their highest, with the average admission price at 42 cents, to 1959 when receipts were lowest, with the average admission price at 58 cents, the drop in receipts was 32.2% compared with a rise of 38% in the average admission price. A geographical breakdown of prices for 1959 indicates that the average price was highest in Quebec at 65 cents and lowest in Newfoundland at 41 cents. PAYROLL Regular theatres employed 11,537 per¬ sons in 1959 and paid in salaries and wages $16,505,588 compared with $17,110,735 received by 11,776 persons in 1958. These employment figures include exe¬ cutives of incorporated firms but do not include proprietors of unincorporated firms who were actively engaged in the business. In 1959, 821 proprietors and partners were actually employed in the business, 566 of whom received no stated salary but shared only the profits of the enterprise. There were 255 proprietors and partners who drew regular salaries or wages estimated at $522,615. Added to this were 483 members of proprietors’ families employed in the business but not receiving a stated salary, bringing the total work force of proprietors and un¬ paid family members of these unincor¬ porated firms to 1,304 in 1959. DRIVE-INS RIVE-IN figures for 1959, issued by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics' in the last week of 1960 as part of its an¬ nual film-theatre report, show gains in the number of establishments, total car capacity, receipts and number of paid admissions over the previous year. It is likely that these gains will continue, since several new factors have boosted public interest in them. One is year-round or almost year-round operation, there hav¬ ing been perhaps ten in this category in 195960 and even more have tried this in 196061. A good many are getting earlier runs on better-quality pictures and some are day-and-dating with in-town theatres. Although the 1959 receipts are the peak for drive-in operation since its inception in 1946, there were more situations in 1955 and 1956—242 and 237. In the peak year for car capacity, 1955, there was room for 7,289 more cars than in 1959 and the latter year’s capacity was also ex¬ ceeded in 1954, 1956 and 1957. There were also 1,763 walk-in seats in drive-ins. The peak year admissions, 12,380,246, were in 1954, with those of the year be¬ fore and the year after both being higher than the total for the year 1959. In the verbatim DBS introduction to its tables to follow, it should be noted that the amount of revenue from food and re¬ freshments hardly seems adequate. There were 234 drive-in theatres oper¬ ating in Canada during 1959 with a cap¬ acity for 90,488 cars, an increase of two in the number of theatres and 604 in car capacity. Receipts from admissions (ex¬ cluding taxes) increased by $889,515 to an all-time high of $7,143,925, exceeding the 1954 peak by $826,978. The number of paid admissions increased to 10,225,995 from 10,148,774 in 1958. Total receipts from other sources amounted to $3,008,128 of which $2,835,998 was derived from the sale of candy, drinks, cigarettes, etc., $33,935 from rentals of concessions and vending machines, $74,582 from exhibiting 38