Boxoffice (Apr 21, 1951)

Wen and Events UA Dea! Dramatic HE United Artists purchase of Eagle Lion Classics in slightly more than 72 hours from the start of negotiations to the finish borders on the miraculous. Less than a dozen men knew about it. Matty Fox, who engineered it, told the trade press that he “never knew lawyers could work that fast.” This had elements of humor, because Robert S. Benjamin, Arthur B. Krim, Max E. Youngstein and Seymour Peyser, all lawyers, were present. When the new management took over UA control Krim said that if he and his associates could put the company on the profit side of the ledger in three years they could acquire 50 per cent of the stock, all of which is owned by Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin. Up to April 9 all the new excutives were confident they could do this, but they were worried about the time gap between now and the end of the year when the new releases and the revived sales effort would restore the company’s income. It costs a huge amount of money to keep a worldwide distributing organization going without income. The way the situation stands at present it looks as though the company would jump from the red ink side of the ledger to the black side in less than three months instead of three years. There will be no time lag in getting the best of the Eagle Lion Classics lineup into full circulation. Krim and Youngstein are familiar with the general method of Eagle Lion distribution and William J. Heineman, who moved from the top sales post of ELC to UA less than a month ago, can continue where he left off. He figures about 50 pictures of the big ELC backlog can produce important income. That's all UA needs until it can get its proposed program of 24 top features per year into circulation. Nothing like this speed has ever been attained before in this business so far as most old-timers can remember. How to Embarrass FCC ABRAM F. MYERS presented a suggestion to the Des Moines Ad Club that could cause red faces among Federal Communications Commission members, television station operators, national advertisers and the market researchers who estimate the number of listeners on all types of air programs, It was very simple. If, suggests Myers, exhibitors have to pay 25 to 40 per cent of grosses for pictures, why shouldn't the television stations pay? And at the average rate of 50 cents per viewer, which is what the theatremen collect. Imagine it! ‘The researchers report 5,000,000 saw a certain TV film, the telecasters report to their big sponsors to convince them they are getting their money's worth, and the film distributors sit back and listen as they present a bill for $2,500,000 for the film. If the researchers and telecasters should cut down the estimates of viewers, the big advertisers might want a rebate. These things happen in the film business, 22 By JAMES M. JERAULD Perhaps, after the FCC has looked into this problem, it may conclude somebody has to pay for million dollar pictures, and after the telecasters have looked into the financial angles they may decide it’s about time the television industry tried developing its own source of programs—either alive or on film. New Circuit Coming EFORE the year ends there may be an important new theatre circuit in operation in the midwest and west. Negotiations have been under way for some time for transfer of ownership of theatres from National Theatres and its subsidiaries to & group headed by a well-known theatre operator, who, with his associates, has important banking connections. Negotiations for a consent decree between the Department of Justice and 20th Century-Fox made further progress last week, and it is understood that the remaining details concern transfers of individual theatres. Cerebral Palsy Trailer United Cerebral Palsy fund-raising campaign runs nationally during the month of May, but if it conflicts with any local drives during the period exhibitors can use the Technicolor trailer prepared by Cecil B. DeMille at a later date. The trailer is the most elaborate of the kind ever produced. Arrangements for it were made by Earl J. Hudson, national campaign chairman, with Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, president of Technicolor, and with Barney Balaban, president of Paramount Pictures. Cecil B. DeMille volunteered his services. It is called ‘“‘The House on Any Street,” and any exhibitor who plays it can be assured it will be a credit to his theatre and will help his public relations. British Film Problems ‘AT BRITAIN’S venture into film financing through the National Film Finance Corp. has run into a new crisis that may make enforcement of the British quota law even more difficult. Only about $2,800,000 of the $16,800,000 appropriation for the second year of operation is left. It is predicted that only 12 of the 26 films financed will show a profit. This leaves it up to Parliament to decide how much more money is going to be poured into the venture—a decision that can have an important effect on the discussion between the U.S. industry and the government on remittances as well as quota. Paramount Shifts Isaacs NEW YORK—Phil Isaacs has been named Paramount branch manager in Washington by A. W. Schwalberg, president of Paramount Film Distributing Corp. He succeeds Albert Benson, resigned, Isaacs joined the New York branch in 1946 and has been assistant to Hugh Owen, eastern and southern division manager since 1949. Coston, Hoffman Out Of Warner Theatres NEW YORK — Two well known Warner Theatres executives, James Coston, ChicagoMilwaukee zone manager, and I. J. Hoffman, New England zone manager, have resigned effective May 1. Al Kvool, assistant zone manager in the Chicago-Milwaukee area which takes in Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma and Memphis, has been named to succeed Coston. Both resignations are said to be the result of conferences regarding the new theatre setup made necessary by the consent decree in the antitrust case. Coston has been an exhibitor since 1909 and for a long time was president of Chicago Theatres Corp. and the Coston Booking Circuit operating 136 theatres. He sold out to Warners and became zone manager in 1930. Hoffman also was an independent operator before selling his interest to Warners. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1911 and went into the theatre business with his brother, Bernard E. Hoffman, with whom he formed Hoffman Bros. Theatrical Enterprises which operated 24 theatres. He sold out to Warners and joined that company in 1929 during the theatre expansion era which followed the introduction of sound. Carl Peppercorn Named. RKO Canadian Manager NEW YORK—Carl Peppercorn has been named RKO Canadian district manager by Robert Mochrie, vice-president and general sales manager. He succeeds the late Leo M. Devaney and has already taken over at Toronto. Peppercorn will supervise branches at Calgary, Montreal, St. John, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. He entered the business 24 years ago with the old Film Booking Offices in New Haven as a booker. He has been stationed at various times in Seattle, Oklahoma and Pittsburgh. For the past three years he has been assistant to Charles Boasberg, sales manager of the north-south division. Clyde W. Eckhardt Retires After 37 Years With Fox LOS ANGELES—After 37 years with 20th Century-Fox and its predecessor company, Fox Films, Clyde W. Eckhardt. has gone on the retirement list. He had been the local 20th Century-Fox branch manager for the past ten years. Eckhardt will be succeeded here by Alex Harrison, transferring from the San Francisco exchange. Harrison’s vacancy will be filled in the Bay City by Salesman Jack Erickson. Drutman Joins Columbia NEW YORK —Irving Drutman will handle publicity on “The Whistle at Eaton Falls,”’ the Louis de Rochemont picture which Columbla will release this summer. Drutman also ran the campaign’ for de Rochemont’s “Lost Boundaries.” “The Whistle at Eaton Falls,” which deals with real life events was directed by Robert Siodmak. The cast is headed by Lloyd Bridges and Dorothy Gish. BOXOFFICE :: April 21, 1951 SO ——————————————E77~:~CSCSCStSOe Ee ea eee Ee eee eee