Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

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2I)TH-F0X DEMANDS RETRACTION Reply Is Emphatic on Product Survey Boston— Asked to indicate on a printed questionnaire what sort of treatment he has been accorded by Warner, M-G-M, Paramount, RKO, 20th-Pox, Universal, Columbia, United Artists, Republic, Grand National and GB, one exhibitor ignored the suggestions of “good-bad-fair” on the Independent Exhibitors postcard poll and pencilled in the epithet, “Lousy.” The New England affiliate of Allied is conducting a 1936-37 product survey through the mail. Returns already in at the time of going to press are too far below the anticipated total to permit an accurate analysis of the situation, according to the Independent Exhibitors, Inc., which plans to make its first public reports on the ballot at its business meeting in June and, thence, at confabs monthly. Replies Remain Anonymous Exhibitors to whom the postcards were sent were advised by Arthur JC. Howard, business manager for Allied in New England, that no attempt would be made to identify replies. Theatremen were advised to drop the questionnaire in a mail box in some outside town if they so wished. Similar cards will go forward for a 1937-38 product survey, according to Howard. The poll sought to establish price trends, percentage and preferred playing time deals, the use of shorts, and similar problems contingent upon film buying. The number of features needed as contrasted to the number actually contracted for was asked. The extent of the popularity of premiums and cash giveaways in New England is another film factor that the Allied survey is seeking to learn. MAURICE WOLF IS AIR FAN Hollywood— Maurice Wolf, who flew in to the Metro convention from Boston, has becMne a raving booster of air transportation. He left Boston 30 hours after his boys— and got into Hollywood 24 ahead of them. Drive-In Theatre Building Booms Boston — New England has become drive-in theatre conscious. The marked success of the Weymouth Drive-In Theatre, opened last year by a concern headed by Thomas DiMaura, is at least partially responsible for the wave of similar new construction sweeping across the territory. The DiMaura group controls certain fundamentals of drive-m theatre design in New England. The Levenson Brothers are at work on a drive-in theatre project at Raynham. Mass. E. M. Loew is contemplating a similar construction, accommodating 300 automobiles and costing $40,000 in Lynn. The Weymouth operators, already working on a spot outside of Providence, have announced plans for drive-m locations in Cambridge and Saugus. Theatre seats have become rolling stock. MAINE REPEALS TAX ON GAMES OF SKILL Portland, Me. — A few hours before final adjournment, both branches of the Maine legislature passed a bill repealing taxes on games of skill in the state. The lifting of the $25 license fee imposed on skill game dealers and the $10 operators fee will become effective July 24, 1937. The repealed law defined games of skill as “any slot machine or contrivance which reieases balls or other objects subject to the controls of the slot machine or contrivance, upon the insertion of a coin, disc, or token, the play of which machine or contrivance is in some measure dependent upon the skill of the player.” County Attorney Albert Knudsen warned operators that the repeal law does not legalize gambling or slot machines, which do not involve the element of skill nor will they tolerate the operation of “any gambling devices under the subterfuge of being licensed as games of skill.” Denies Exhibitor Unit's Charge of Paid Ad in "Wake Up" New York — Retraction of the resolution against “Wake Up and Live” on the grounds of alleged commercial advertising is demanded by 20th Century-Pox of Independent Exhibitors, Inc., in Boston. Felix A. Jenkins, chief of the legal staff of the corporation, has sent the following letter to Arthur K. Howard, business manager of the exhibitor unit: “We are in receipt of your letter of April 21 setting forth copy of resolutions adopted by your organization on April 20 in regard to our motion picture ‘Wake Up and Live.’ “The resolutions, adopted without the courtesy of private protest or inquiry to us, are not only intemperate in tone but include statements which are false in fact. “The locale of ‘Wake Up and Live’ is the New York theatrical district and the picture opens with an authentic view of Times Square at night. Authentic motion pictures of welt known districts in cities, used as backgrounds for featm’e motion pictures, will always reveal the actual advertising signs of various commercial concerns. The scene in question was not, as falsely stated in your resolutions, inserted by any arrangements between us and General Motors Corporation. “Since you have already given publicity in the trade press to these resolutions containing these false statements, we hereby demand that you make public retraction thereof. If such retraction be not made and if such resolutions are again published either in your monthly bulletin or otherwise we will hold you responsible therefor. Warn Against Misframing “We note that the resolutions urge members of your organization to instruct their projectionists to eliminate the advertising sign to which you object by a slight misframe of the title. We call to your attention Article Eighteen of our standard form of license agreement, which provides that the Exhibitor shall exhibit each print in its entirety and further provides that the Exhibitor shall not cut or alter any print (Continued on page 61) NEW ENGLAND EDITION Is One of the Seven Sectional Editions in Which BOXOPPICE Is Published Weekly. The Other Six Editions Are: MIDEAST, CENTRAL, MIDWEST, WESTERN, SOUTHERN, EASTERN. BRAD ANGIER, New England Editor, 14 Piedmont St., Boston, Mass., Phone: Liberty 9305. GERTRUDE PEARSON, Suite 915, 42 Church St., New Haven, Conn. C. A. ROSSKAM, 106 Miller Ave., Providence, R. I.