Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1954)

CONSTRUCTION THE VALUE of theatre construction and alteration awards let in Cana¬ da in 1953, as compiled by Mac¬ lean’s Building Reporter, was $3,075,300, bringing the total for the eight years since wartime restrictions were lifted at the beginning of 1946 to $42,471,200. Last year’s figure represents the dollar value of 64 contracts, bringing the total awards since 1946 to 740. The 1953 figures — 64 awards worth $3,075,300 — represents only a 1.3% drop from the previous year, when 54 contracts valued at $3,11 6,900 were let. This was the reverse of the trend of all construction in Canada, which showed a 11.3% increase in 1953 over 1952. A gain of about 15% was shown by 1952 over 1951, as there were 61 contracts worth $2,713,900 awarded in the latter year. It must be remembered that the figures are based on estimates only and, as is well known, the cost at the finish is invariably much higher. Over the eightyear period this factor adds many milli¬ ons of dollars to the overall total of industry construction. In actual theatre openings for the eightyear period the score is 129 new situ¬ ations in 1953; 74 in 1952; 79 in 1951; 147 in 1950, which was an all-time high; 128 in 1949; 75 in 1948; 109 in 1947; and 28 in 1946. These figures, which set the total of new Canadian situations since 1946 at 769, were gathered by the Cana¬ dian Film Weekly and include replace¬ ments for outdated theatres and several destroyed by fire. These, however, do not include established 16 mm situations that converted to 35, of which there were three in 1953. The 1953 total of 129 new houses, made up of 77 drive-ins and 52 standardtype theatres, may require slight revision before they can be taken as final. Two factors account for this — several driveins completed in 1953 were not listed as finished because they will not actually start operations until the spring of 1954 and final reports from all regional ex¬ change sources have not been tabulated as yet. Dividing the awards and their values into smaller areas to give a clearer pic¬ ture of the 1953 activity, Maclean’s re¬ ports that in the Maritimes there were seven contracts, worth $72,300; in Que¬ bec nine for $778,000; in Ontario 27 for $867,000; in Manitoba one for $150,000; in Saskatchewan seven for $480,000; in Alberta eight for $430,000; and in Brit¬ ish Columbia seven for $298,000. In Ontario’s 27 there were only two small contracts, worth $6,000, in Toronto and in Quebec’s total were five in Montreal for $459,000. To the $42,471,200 figure must be added many millions of dollars more for equipment and furnishings if the extent of the unprecedented surge of building in Canada is to be realized. Accompany¬ ing this expansion was a big increase in boxoffice receipts which is now double that of ten years ago. THEATRE FIRES ALTHOUGH the Statistical Report of Fire Losses in Canada, recent¬ ly issued by the Fire Prevention Branch of the Department of In¬ surance, Ottawa, deals with 1951, motion picture industry people will find it inter¬ esting as an indication of fire safety. Issued by C. A. Thompson, Dominion Fire Commissioner, the report is address¬ ed to, along with three others, the Do¬ minion Fire Prevention Association, of which the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association is a member. Of the 60,317 blazes which caused an aggregate property loss of $76,919,357 in 1951, the 48 in theatres resulted in damage amounting to $229,524. Twentyfour fires in places of assembly brought losses of $50,000 or over and one of these was a theatre in Drumheller, Al¬ berta, to which the damage was valued at $131,626. In 1950 there were 29 fires in theatres and damage was $266,438. Fire damage in Canadian theatres during 1953 may reach $150,000, if a summary of printed reports can be used for estimation. They show that three 35 mm. and one 16 mm. movie theatres were gutted by fire in 1953, while exten¬ sive damage was done to a closed house. 59