Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1961)

THE NATIONAL FILM WEEKLY Published in Nine Sectional Editions BEN SHLYEN Editor-in-Chief and Publisher DONALD M. MERSEREAU, Associate Publisher & General Manager NATHAN COHEN. .Executive Editor JESSE SHLYEN. .. .Managing Editor HUGH FRAZE Field Editor AL STEEN Eastern Editor IVAN SPEAR Western Editor I. L. THATCHER. .Equipment Editor MORRIS SCHLOZMAN Business Mgr. Publication Offices: 825 Van Brunt Blvd. Kansas City 24. Mo. Nathan Cohen. Executive Editor: Jesse Shlven, Managing Editor: Morris Schlozman, Business Manager: Hugh Fraze. Field Editor; T. L. Thatcher. Editor The Modern Theatre Section. Telephone CHestnut 1-7777. Editorial Offices: 45 Rockefeller Plaza. New York 20. N. Y Ronald M. Mersereau, Associate Publisher 4 General Manager; Al Steen. Eastern Editor; Carl Mos, Equipment Advertising. Telephone COlumbus 5-6370. Central Offices: Editorial — 920 N. Michigan Ave.. Chicago 11, III.. Frances R Clow. Telephone superior 7-3972. Advertising— 5809 North Lincoln, Louis Dtdler and Jack Broderick, Telephone LOngbe&ch 1-5284. 11 Western Offices: Editorial and Film Advertising— 6404 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood 28, Calif. Ivan Spear, manager. Telephone Hollywood 5-1186 Equipment and Non-Film Advertising — 672 S. Lafayette Park, Los Angeles. Calif. Bob YYe.ttstein, manager. Telephone RUnkirk 8-2286. London Office: Anthony Gruner. 1 Woodberry Way, Finchley, No. 12. Telephone Hillside 6733. The MODERN THEATRE Section Is Included In the first issue of each month. Atlanta: Martha Chandler, 191 Walton NW Albany: J. S. Conners, 140 State St. Baltimore: George Browning. Stanley Thea Charlotte: Blanche Carr, 301 S. Church & Cincinnati: Frances Hanford, UNniversily 17180. . Cleveland: W. Ward Marsh, Plain Dealer. Columbus: Fred Oestreicher, 52% W. North Broadway. Dallas: Mable Guinan. 5927 Winton. Denver. Bruce Marshall. 2881 S. Cherry Way. Res Moines: Russ Schoch. Register-Tribune Detroit: H. F. Reves, 906 Fox Theatre Bldg., WOodward 2-1144 Hartford: Allen M. Widem. CH 9-8211. Jacksonville: Robert Cornwall, 1199 Edge wood Ave. i-g! Memphis: Null Adams, 707 Spring St. Miami: Martha Lummus, 622 N.E 98 St. Milwaukee: Wm. Nlchol, 2251 S. Layton. Minneapolis: Don Lyons. 72 Glenwood New Orleans: Mrs. Jack Auslet, 2268% St. Claude Ave. St Oklahoma City: Sam Brunk, 3416 N. Virginia. i£ Omaha: Irving Baker. 911 N. 51st St. Pittsburgh: R. F. Klingensmith, 516 Jeanette. Wllkinsburg, CHurchill 1-2809. Portland. Ore. : Arnold Marks, Journal Providence: Wm. Trambukls, Loew’s State St. Louis: Joe & Joan Pollack. 7335 Shaftsbury, University City. I*A 5-7181. Salt Lake City: 11. Pearson, Deseret News. San Francisco: Dolores Barusch, 25 Taylor St.. ORdway 3-4813; Advertising: Jerry Nowell, 355 Stockton St.. YUkon 29537 Washington: Charles Hurley, 306 H. St N. W In Canada Montreal: Room 314, 625 Belmont St.. Jules Larochelle. St. John: 43 Waterloo. Sam Babb. Toronto: 2675 Bayview Ave. Willow-dale, Ont. W. Gladish. Vancouver: 411 Lyric Theatre Bldg. 751 Granville St., jack Droy. Winnipeg: 300 New Hargraves Bldg., Kenneth Beach. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations Second Class postage paid at Kansas City. Mo. Sectional Edition. $3.00 per year. National Edition. $7.50. MAY 2 9, 1 9 6 1 Vol. 79 No. 6 I LET'S GET GOING! ONCE again the Council of Motion Picture Organizations proposes to undertake an attendance-boosting campaign. This time, the executive committee gave its approval to a “showmanship crusade,” the objective of which is to increase ticket sales at every performance of every theatre. In so doing, attendance could be increased by several millions weekly, according to A. Montague, Columbia Pictures’ executive vice-president and one of the COMPO governing committee, thus benefitting the entire industry to an important degree. Complete details of the plan are yet to be worked out, but the basic framework calls for conducting it on a grassroots level across the country, literally taking it “on the road” in August or September. When approved by the distribution members and the advertising-publicity directors committee of the Motion Picture Ass’n, the distributing companies would dispatch teams of advertising and promotion men to about 50 key cities to enthuse exhibitors, their theatre staffs and newspaper, radio and television representatives over pictures to be released in the last quarter of the year. The distributing companies would pool their best promotion and merchandising ideas and present them to groups of exhibitors for adaptation in carrying out their own individual picture promotions. This is not a completely new idea, but it has not been done on so large a scale for a long while. Moreover, it is something that needs constantly to be done, if theatre attendance is to be maintained at a high and profitable level. The idea of instilling enthusiasm for specific pictures on the part of exhibitors, thereby inspiring them to their best promotional efforts, when they play the pictures, is an essential to our business that, of late, has been grossly neglected. Not disparaging the value of national advertising, it is the effort put forth at the point of sale that is the determining factor in how well or how poorly a given picture will fare. So whatever can be done to encourage and increase that effort should, indeed, be done. Recalling that some past business-building projects were hampered in getting off the ground — one in particular staying in the talking stage for nearly three years — it is hoped that this time there will be no undue delay of any kind in permitting the new program to get quickly and intensively under way. With the distributing companies contributing their support, finimcial and otherwise, and exhibitors doing likewise, there is no reason why the new COMPO campaign should not be a success. In fact, there is every reason why it should be a gigantic success. Glancing over the list of product already scheduled for the September-December period, the opportunity for a most successful campaign is considerably enhanced by the number of high quality attractions to be released in those months. And the volume of top pictures that will have had their key runs during the summer that will then be playing the subsequent runs is a reassuring plus that there will be plenty to be worth the best efforts of all concerned, which should be everybody in this business. There is a keen awareness on the part of production, distribution and exhibition, as never before, that they must team together and work together. Experience along that line has been completely favorable in cooperative efforts over the past year or more. Distributors always have been willing to match exhibitors dollar-fordollar in the financing of promotion campaigns. Exhibitors, whether because of shortsightedness or plain financial inability, who didn’t measure up to doing their part in projects such as referred to above, have learned the value of cooperative campaigns by participating in a variety of promotional projects. And, of course, the superiority of motion pictures as an entertainment medium again is way ahead of the rest of all competition. So let’s get on with the COMPO campaign! And, then, let’s keep it going through every season of every year! ★ ★ New Tune and Tone A current bulletin from Theatre Owners of America provides a refreshing change of tune and tone. It avers that both the production and product outlook for the current year looks somewhat brighter than it was earlier in the year. And, w ith seven months of the year remaining, that outlook can take on an even brighter hue that may stretch well into the next year. At any rate, we are certain that every exhibitor would like to see that development and we are inclined to believe that distributors, too, have become cognizant of the greater value to the business as a whole that is inherent in a plenitude of product. Blockbusters may come and blockbusters may go, but it’s the constant output of product that helps to maintain a continuing input of customers into theatres. Besides it helps hold down studio and exchange overhead. ★ ★ New Trend The trend of building four-wall theatres in shopping centers that started five years ago is on the rise, with a total of some 30 projects having been built in the past 18 months at a cost of about $16 million. Theatres of this type are serving to meet the need for theatres in new population areas and to cope with the parking problem. There are some interesting facets to the new trend presented in a Boxoffice survey article in this issue from which ideas for other than theatres of just this particular type may be gleaned.