Boxoffice (Dec 22, 1951)

The EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY (Continued from preceding page) Mating Season, The (Para)—Gene Tierney, John Lund, Mirlam Hopkins. This is strictly topnotch. Thelma Ritter stole the show. She's priceless. Played Fri., Sat., Sun, Weather: Okay.—Frank Sabin, Majestic Theatre, Eureka, Mont. Small town, rural trade. ad Molly (Para)—Gertrude Berg, Philip Loeb, Eli Mintz. Doubled with “The Pep-Saddler Fight” (RKO), and two clinkers if I ever saw clinkers, However, I did not go down without giving everything a whirl. I’ve lived around Brooklyn so could appreciate some of the humor in “Molly,” but it passed by most of my patrons. It was too sweet and insipid anyway, and is a type I'll be careful to lay off in the future. All we needed was a big sign with “They Lived Happily Ever After” to close this dud. Played Wed., Thurs.—Josef Nehring, Floodwood Theatre, Floodwood, Minn. Rural, small town trade. = That's My Boy (Para)—Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Polly Bergen. This is the best MartinLewis picture to date. It is nothing to shout about on business. However, we had no patron complaints. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Fair—Edwin A. Falk sr., Roxy Theatre, Billings, Okla. Farmer, oil field worker patrons. v Warpath (Para)—Edmond O’Brien, Dean Jagger, Forrest Tucker. ‘This is another boxoffice dud from Paramount. The picture is fair enough. Business was very poor Friday and average Saturday—not enough take with a $300 jackpot to help. I haven’t had a good grossing western from Paramount since “Copper Canyon.” Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Clear but cold—Don Donohue, Novato Theatre, Novato, Calif. Small town, rural patrons. OO RKO RADIO Behave Yourself! (RKO)—Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest. Here is a little picture that is tops for small town entertainment. However, it didn’t jell here. My Sun., Mon. the worst since “Vendetta.” “No Highway in the Sky” (20th-Fox) supported this and gave it plenty of help. Weather: Showers—Don Donohue, Novato Theatre, Novato, Calif. Small town, rural patrons, enero. Company She Keeps, The (RKO)—Lizabeth Scott, Jane Greer, Dennis O’Keefe. I hope we don't have many more pictures with false advertising such as this one or it’s curtains for us. The picture was good, the comments were good, but the patrons were disappointed, as the picture wasn’t anything like the advertising outside the theatre depicted it. That's bad. Business was better than average on this one. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Fair. —G. P. Jonckowski, Lyric Theatre, Wabasso, Minn. Small town, rural trade. ~ Easy Living (RKO)—Victor Mature, Lucille Ball, Lizabeth Scott, This was my Thanksgiving show and played to disappointing business. The weather was punk and even a good show couldn't bring ’em away fromthe TV sets. This is a drama with not too much action, a good cast, and a sock ending, It is Patrons Pay Attention To the Second Features RISONERS IN PETTICOATS (Rep)— Robert Rockwell, Valentine Perkins, Danni Sue Nolan. This is a good second feature. My customers have learned to pay attention to the second features, and a good one helps business. Played Saturday. Weather: Good.—Audrey Thompson, Ozark Amusement Co., Hardy, Arlc. Rural and small town trade. ° another midweek show that needs plenty of selling in spite of the big cast. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Snow and cold.—Carl F. Neitzel, Juno Theatre, Juneau, Wis. Rural, small town patrons. ooo Thing From Another World, The (RKO)— Kenneth Tobey Margaret Sheridan James Young. I took a chance and played this on my best time to the best business in three months. It’s nothing big but a pretty good picture. The young folk ate it up. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Good.—Norman Barker, Lorimer Theatre, Lorimer, Iowa. Small town, farm trade. bd REPUBLIC Rose of the Yukon (Rep)—Steve Brodie, Myrna Dell, William Wright. Now here’s a pleasant programmer that will please the average action fan. To an ex-sourdough like me, the scenes on the ice-jam lottery were just plain ridiculous, but those who have never been there won’t know the difference, so it gets by okay. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Wed. wind, Thurs. cold.— Bob Walker, Uintah Theatre, Fruita, Colo. Small town, rural trade. Sdibdiad Don Donohue Bothered By Brutal Deals DON DONOHUE of the Novato Theatre at Novato, Calif., outlines a problem here from the exhibitor’s point of view: “On percentage terms, some deals are brutal, but the producers have to get their investments back! When I talk about my overhead, they politely inform me at the exchange that it isn’t their problem. I can’t seem to make a working deal with some companies. If I play their pictures on the nose, their rentals are shoved sky high. I’m held behind the town north and the town south, so dating is a probIem. If I wait for a play-off to try to peg 2 picture, then I have a backlog that {is hard to liquidate. In other words, why fool around with a company’s product when you can’t hold your own with it, let alone win?” 20th CENTURY FOX Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (20th-Fox)— Clifton Webb, Joanne Dru, Hugh Marlowe. This is the kind of show people want to see Clifton Webb in. Cut out his other pictures and keep him cast as Belvedere. I could use about six of these a year. Fox is going to be disappointed in the gross, but Old Man Winter licked me on this one. The story is swell, the cast couldn’t be better, and Belvedere was wonderful. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Snow blizzard.—Carl F. Neitzel, Juno Theatre, Juneau, Wis, Local patronage. eee No Highway in the Sky (20th-Fox)—James Stewart, Marlene Dletrich, Glynis Johns. This is typically a “limey” picture and a good one. However, it is a dud at the boxoffice. Doubled with “Behave Yourself” (RKO) to my poorest Sun., Mon. in months. Weather: Showers.—Don Donohue, Novato Theatre, Novato, Calf. Small town, rural patrons. ° * * Rawhide (20th-Fox)—Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Hugh Marlowe. This is one of the really good, suspenseful westerns, believable and I'd like to see more pictures of its type made. It brings back memories of western Pictures of the past that had a real impact on the emotions.—Walt Rasmussen, Star Theatre, Parkersburg, Iowa. Small town, rural trade, 22.9 Bucked Both a Snowstorm And Free Show With This LL ABOUT EVE (20th-Fox)—Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders. This has a nice selling trailer by NSS, good paper and was sold right. The salesman advised against playing it but we had a lot of requests for it so we played {t in a snowstorm and against a free farm show to a small profit and a ritzy audience. Played Tues., Wed. Weather: Stormy.—Ken Christianson, Roxy Theatre, Washburn, N. D, Small town patrons, * ° ® UNITED ARTISTS Rogue River (UA)—Rory Calhoun, Peter Graves, Frank Fenton. played this a little late and business was not as good as I expected. It is an action drama of the northwest in Cinecolor and pleased those who came. I broke even on it. Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Cold.—E. M. Freiburger, Dewey Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town trade. * * ° Second Woman, The (UA)—Robert Young, Betsy Drake, John Sutton. This was doubled with “Hollywood Burlesque” to triple my regular business on Tues., Wed., Thurs. All around it made a pleasing program, for adults only. Weather: Rain and cool.—Melvin Edel, State Theatre, Centralia, Ill. Family trade. ooes UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL Comin’ Round the Mountain (U-I)—Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dorothy Shay. They left singing the praises of Dorothy Shay. She certainly put this A&C film over. It is not up to the usual topnotch antics from Bud and Lou. SRO opening night, and they loved it. So did we. Business 150 per cent— Played Thurs., Fri., Sat. Weather: Below zero.—Ken Christianson, Roxy Theatre, Washburn, N. D. Small town patrons, °° ° Little Egypt (U-I)—Rhonda Fleming, Mark Stevens, Nancy Guild. This is one to watch— a little too “hippy” if you have “nicey-nice” customers but we did fair business on it. It will not draw your churchgoers. There is really nothing in it to embarrass level-headed people. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: No good. Edwin A. Falk sr., Roxy Theatre, Bil lings, Okla. Farmer, oil field worker patrons. e WARNER BROS. I Was a Communist for the FBI (WB)— Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey. I read where several exhibitors had good luck with this but I was disappointed in our receipts at the end of the run. It seems that all we have to do to scare patrons off is to hang out a picture of a sinister character with an automatic in his hand, and perhaps that is what did it in this case, although the Story wasn’t a gangster Plot at all. Played Tues., Wed. Weather: Good—R. L. Stanger, Windsor Theatre, Windso town trade. r, Colo. Rural, small see Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison Steve Cochran, David Brian, Philip Gree A very good picture with a lot of action and splendid acting. My patrons talked this up for me and we had a nice house on the second night. — Virgil Anderson, C-B Theatre Bucklin, Mo. Rural patrons, coo Strangers on a Train (WB) — Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert iWalkanan very interesting picture which {s so far from the usual type of stories that it fascinates your patrons. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Bad.—Bill Leonard, Leonard Theatre Cedar Vale, Kas, Small town, rural patrons, “ee BOXOFFICE BookinGuide :: Dec, 22, 1951 4s At