Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1945)

Pacific G.I. Booker Handles 100 Theatres Laff movie Originator Laughs, Too, As Patrons Flock Into Theatre By FLOYD L. BELL Fiom New England Edition BOSTON — As the Boston dowager said, raising her ocean blue framed lorgnette and sniffing a bit disdainfully — for dowagers do sniff at times even as you and I. '“Humph, in Boston we spell it ‘laugh.’ What outrageous outlanders have spelled it ‘laff’?” But spell it, sneeze it, pronounce it any way you like there’s a new idea come to Boston town and it’s Laffmovie. A clever Frenchman named James J. Mage (and it’s pronounced Maje), who owned 14 theatres in France before Hitler marched in one day and burned most of them and closed the others, came to America with an idea and a reputation for being one of the best showmen and one of the most reliable in the business. He landed in New York and they do say that he gave one look at Times Square and said, “Why, everyone is looking so mournful, are there no comedy pictures to be seen here?” Assured there were none he got on a train and came to Boston and found people here even more lugubrious at the moment and the theatre marquees all bally hooing pictures with the title of “war” somewhere. Not a Tear in Ten Reels “This will never do,” said wise Mr. Mage, "New York and then Boston ... we must give them a new type of theatre and call it Laffmovie. We’ll give people nothing but comedy pictures, not a drop of tears in ten reels — no war, no murder, no gruesome events at all, just funny pictures . . . and people will laugh and their hearts will be young and gay and they will go forth better equipped to fight the battles of democracy.” And Mage hurried back to New York and engaged a personable young man named Harold Weisenthal, who had been born in a theatre and fed upon a bottle containing liquid grease paint. And Mage made Weisenthal his general manager of a company which from that moment existed. Then he leased, for 30 years, showing his faith and his optimism, a theatre on 42nd St., near Broadway, remodeled it and named it Laffmovie. Then he scurried back to Boston and leased the former Normandie Theatre opposite the big R. H. White store and renamed that one also Laffmovie, and then he went to Chicago and to Detroit. And he will go to other cities and repeat this stunt. Start Laughing in Lobby But to Boston he returns every week or so to rub his hands with glee and note with satisfaction that his idea has taken fruit in a big way and to listen to the loud roars of laughter coming forth from Laffmovie, for the laughs can be heard many times for blocks and people line up in front of the theatre to enter that strangely fascinating new lobby where all the mirrors are odd ones and where laughter begins even before one enters the theatre to view the comedy pictures shown there. There’s a handsome young chap named Don Martin, who is resident manager, and his smile is wide and intriguing as he greets patrons of Laffmovie. And over in one corner usually may be seen this tall, broad shouldered, stalwart Frenchman and the slender Weisenthal standing beside him, and they are chuckling, too, because their idea has clicked. Laffmovie displays never a serious picture. From the time it opens until it closes one hears naught but laughter by people who want to forget their worries and their cares and to forget above all the blood and the desolation shown on many a screen. Mage has been in the thick of the fighting in Europe; he has seen friends and relatives killed, his home desolated, his theatres torn from him, but he knows that people must not weep always lest they lose their strength, their valor and their keen perception of things which really mean something in life. Mage had an idea. It has blossomed forth with a full bouquet of laughter. Yes, spell it any way you like, it all adds up to the fact that the world still is able to laugh if one will but now and then provide the vehicle. Build Cast of "Rough Riders" Peggy Stewart, Michael Sloane, Kenne Duncan, Tom London and Wade Crosby have been added to the cast of “Rough Riders of Cheyenne,” a Republic picture. From Mideast Edition DETROIT — That service men and women are getting the finest in motion picture service is indicated in information received here from Sgt. Don Fill, who has been booking pictures in the central exchange in New Guinea for a vast area of the Pacific war area, embracing a territory many times the spread of the continental United States. Fill formerly was manager of the Cameo and Varsity theatres here, and also a booker for Republic. He now is awaiting a transfer to the Philippines. Charges of old pictures and repetition of shows in the combat areas are unfounded, Fill’s statement indicates, as exceptional care is taken to give the latest pictures and every possible service, including phone, amusement guides, and radio, is used to inform the men and women in the services, of available pictures. Fill writes; Ahead of Detroit First Runs “New Guinea and the adjacent islands today are showing films ahead of such show places as the Michigan, Fox and United Artists, the top theatres in Detroit. The army, navy and marines in this theatre of war are getting the latest films produced in Hollywood. “Each week 12 copies of three new films are sent out of New York to the overseas motion picture service exchange in New Guinea. From this spot the films are redistributed in a manner that would do justice to the big film distributors in the states. “A print of each of the three new pictures is shipped immediately to 12 subexchanges, which are located strategically throughout this theatre. This means that in 12 spots three new films start on a lengthy circuit each week. The men in distant and newly recaptured places receive first consideration, such as Hollandia, Biak, Morotai, Leyte and Manila. The circuits are arranged so that these bases head the circuits, and the prints work back to towns and bases that a few months ago were in the headlines — Oro Bay, Lae, Milne Bay, Finschafen and Port Moresby. By supplying the new films to the most distant places, men moving up are always sure of seeing new films, and the chances of repeating shows are very slim. Air Force Transports Film The air force supplies the transportation and makes it possible to maintain tightly booked circuits. The priority given to the 16mm prints equals that of food and bullets. In the commercial exchange, any day a picture is left on the racks, means so much lost revenue, while in the army, a picture on the shelf means the loss of valuable entertainment to the men. “Many features have had their premiere overseas. Weeks before ‘Going My Way’ was released nationally in the states, the boys in New Guinea had seen it. ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ had its world premiere the last week in November 1944 while ‘Saratoga Trunk’ was shown for the first time last December 1. “ ‘Arsenic and Old Lace,’ which is just now enjoying success in the States, was played in this area the early part of 1943. “Other films of outstanding nature which are now giving hours of pleasure to our fighting men are ‘Here Come the WAVES,’ ‘My Reputation,’ ‘Together Again,’ ‘And Now Tomorrow,’ 'Woman in the Window,’ ‘Wilson,’ ‘Princess and the Pirate,’ ‘Experiment Perilous’ and ‘Meet Me in St. Louis.’ “To be around one of the overseas film exchanges, one is transplanted in thought back to the hustle and bustle of an American film exchange.” HEAP O’ BAGGAGE — Henry Bergman of the Aztec in San Antonio took advantage of the timeliness of “Hotel Berlin” and installed this impressive baggage display two weeks in advance of the engagement. 96D BOXOFFICE :: May 12, 1945