Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

THERE’S CANDY ON THE EXHIBITOR’S XMAS TREE Holiday Week Finds a Big Package of Box Office Gross Tidily Wrapped Theatre grosses soared to new highs on the box office graph of the nation with the arrival of the Christmas holidays. Circuit representatives and theatre executives reported greater business this Christmas weekend than last year. Broadway in New York reflected the general business upswing, with Radio City Music Hall establishing a new high for a Saturday. Other key houses in New York showed exceptional vitality with such attractions as “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef,” “Miss Sadie Thompson,” “The Eddie Cantor Story” and “King of the Khyber Rifles.” AB-Paramount Had High Level Grosses Among the circuits that reported a higher level of Christmas business this year were American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres and the Stanley Warner circuit. RKO Theatres, which had “The Robe” opening Christmas Day, reported the circuit enjoyed a weekend box office record in the New York metropolitan area. It was learned from other quarters that “The Robe” had grossed $735,000 during the weekend in the 82 neighborhood situations in the Metropolitan area, among which are 27 RKO houses. MGM’s “Knights of the Round Table” was reported to have garnered close to $250,000 in the first four days of seven Christmas Day openings and including the six days of the picture at the Egyptian theathe in Los Angeles, marking record-breaking business. The film did a smash $45,700' in the first week in Los Angeles. For four days each, in the following cities, the picture grossed $19,405 in Atlanta; $27,150 in New Orleans; $24,190 in Kansas City; $35,210 in St. Louis; $33,401 in Cleveland; $27,640 in Detroit, and $34,700 in Pittsburgh. New York’s Radio City Music Hall, with “Easy to Love” on the screen and the annual Christmas show on the stage, was expected at the beginning of the week to hit an enormous $181,000 in the fourth week. Lines of thousands covered more than four blocks daily. The Saturday business, which was $31,500, established a new Saturday record for the Hall. Broadway Houses Showed Box Office Power At the Roxy, a solid $130,000 was estimated for the second week of “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef,” in CinemaScope. “Miss Sadie Thompson” in 3-D was expected to ring up nearly $100,000 for its first week at the Capitol, an outstanding gross. At the Paramount a fine $86,000 was indicated for the first week of “The Eddie Cantor Story.” GROSSES JOYOUS IN GREAT BRITAIN TOO LONDON: Britain's cinemas Monday enjoyed their most fabulous day in years. London's West End piled up dizzy grosses. "The Robe" at the Odeon in its sixth week grossed £1,385 to mark the theatre's second biggest gross, excelled only the first Saturday of "The Robe" run. Other West End houses shared the glad harvest, notably Metro's Empire with "All the Brothers Were Valiant." Rank's Haymarket Gaumont playing "Kidnappers" did SRO business. A midnight roundup of suburban houses revealed similar record-making marks. Another CinemaScope production, “King of the Khyber Rifles,” at the Rivoli was grossing a resounding $75,000 for the first week. “How to Marry a Millionaire” in CinemaScope ended its run at Loew's State Sunday with $25,000 for the last six days of its seven-week run. The same picture at the Globe was expected to do a good $22,000, and was continuing there. “This Is Cinerama” was expected to do $65,000 for the 30th week with extra performances slated for the holidays. A good $35,000 was indicated for the first week of “Here Come the Girls” at the Mayfair and “Cease Fire !” was expected to hit $15,000 for its fifth week windup at the Criterion. Many off-Broadway first run houses also enjoyed good business. William W. Howard, vice-president of RKO Theatres, commenting on “The Robe,” said that during its first three-day showing it broke all weekend records of the circuit for the last five years. Christmas Weekend Was Among Best Ever Edward L. Hyman, vice-president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, said that business Christmas weekend was higher in AB-PT theatres than the holiday business done last year. He pointed out that this was true for the circuit despite the “Bwana Devil” grosses last year, which swelled the business done in the circuit’s Texas and southwest affiliates. From a Stanley Warner spokesman came the report that grosses during the weekend were “much better than last year.” A Loew’s official commenting on weekend business, said that Loew’s neighborhood houses did “very well,” about the same as last ‘year. He saw an upsurge later in the week with “From Here to Eternity” opening in Loew’s metropolitan situations. “Lure of the Sila,” an IFE release, was expected to hit a big $12,000 for the first week at the New York theatre following a three-day record gross of $6,475. In Chicago the first runs snapped out of their pre-holiday slump with several new bills opening well and some holdovers bouncing up from the previous week’s figures. Among the newcomers, “Kiss Me, Kate,” topped $60,000 at the Chicago. “Walking My Baby Back Home” was heading for a strong $20,000 plus at the United Artists; “The Living Desert” bettered the opening week of “Martin Luther" at the Loop with a fine $22,000 expected. “Here Come the Girls” and “Those Redheads from Seattle” went over $30,000 at the McVickers; “Easy to Love” turned in a good $16,000 at the RKO Grand and “Annapurna” lifted the Surf to a strong figure of $6,308. The top holdovers are “This Is Cinerama’ winding up a $31,000 week at the Palace, but expecting to go higher during the week in which nine extra performances were scheduled. “The Robe,” back over $30,000 in its 14th week at the State Lake; “How to Marry a Millionaire,” also still topping $30,000 at the Oriental and “The Captain’s Paradise” holding steady with $3,500 at the Ziegfeld in its ninth week.” U-l Holds Promotion Talks On "Glenn Miller Story" Universal Pictures field exploitation personnel met in New York Tuesday and Wednesday for a series of promotion conferences on “The Glenn Miller Story” under the direction of Charles Simonelli, the company s eastern advertising and publicity manager. On the agenda are the key city tour of James Stewart ; the Clarinda, Iowa, observance of “Glenn Miller Day, and the film s world premiere January 19 at the Miami, Carib and Miracle theatres in Miami. The film will open in mid-February at the Capitol theatre, New York, and will be released nationally on Febrary 22, Washington’s Birthday. Allied Artists Prepares "Riot" Saturation Dates Saturation bookings in New England of Allied Artists’ “Riot in' Cell Block 11” will begin with openings February 25 at the Paramount and Fenway theatres, Boston. They will coincide with other openings in the area, and be preceded by heavy television and radio campaigns. Terry Turner of General Teleradio, Inc., has been retained by the company to prepare the radio transcripts and television films which will supplement newspaper advertising. Harry Goldstein, Allied Artists eastern publicity manager, will go to Boston shortly for the exploitation campaign. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 2, 1954 21