Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1963)

5. XHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY A B 0 U T PICTURESi^^H ALLIED ARTISTS Da%’id and Goliath (AA) — Orson Welles, Ivo Payer, Eleonora Rossi Drago. This did above average for my midweek change. A poor job of English dubbing in this, as it was never in time. Some people seemed to notice it too. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Cold. — James Hardy, Crescent Theatre, Jasonville, Ind. Pop. 2,500. BUENA VISTA Big Red (BV) — Walter Pidgeon, Gilles Payant, Emil Genest. Disney has had a lot of good movies — and this is one of the best. In beautiful color. Played Thurs., Fri., Sat. Weather: Good. — B. W. Berglund, Trail Theatre, New Town, N.D. Pop. 1,200. COLUMBIA Advise and Consent (Col) — Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Walter Pidgeon. I knew my people did not like this kind of show, but would never have believed that it could interest so few. Awfully poor paper on this. I used an eightfoot banner and I could cover the name of the show with one hand. Guess we wanted to keep it a secret that we were playing it — because people who would like to see this are the ones who never see our preview and would never look at a movie calendar. Played Sun., Mon., Tues. Weather: Good. — B. W. Berglund, Trail Theatre, New Town, N. D. Pop. 1,200. Interns, The (Col)— Michael Callan, Cliff Robertson, James MacArthur, Haya Harareet. A good picture, but it failed miserably due to extreme cold weather and snow. It has some good acting and a top-notch cast. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Snow and very cold. — James Hardy, Crescent Theatre, Jasonville, Ind. Pop. 2,500. METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER Boys’ Night Out (MGM)— Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall. Excellent. Don’t fail to play this one. Perfect cast. Played Sun. through Wed. — S. T. Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Florala, Ala. Pop. 1,480. Jailhouse Rock (MGM) — Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy. Doubled this early Elvis effort (1957) with “The Hired Gun,’’ also from Metro — but didn’t need to. Elvis really pulls ’em in. It doesn’t matter how old it is, it still brings in the cabbage.— Don Stott, Southwind Theatre, Solomons, Md. Pop. 950. Ride the High Country fMGM) — Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley. A very well-made western with two great stars, but it did not do anything extra. I guess they see too many of them on the idiot box. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Cool. — James Hardy, Crescent Theatre, Jasonville, Ind. Pop. 2,500. Secret of Monte Cristo, The (MGM) — Rory Calhoun, Patricia Bredin, John Gregson. This was okay on my action change. Good double-bill material. — Don Stott, Southwind Theatre, Solomons, Md. Pop. 950. Two Weeks in Another Town ^MGM) — Kirk Douglas, Cyd Charisse, Edward G. Robinson. Excellent acting, but not the type of picture for our town — too deep. Business was poor. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Rain. — Albert Aguiar, Lincoln Theatre, Lincoln, Calif. Pop. 3,200. PARAMOUNT Counterfeit Traitor, The (Para) — William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith. A very interesting plot and star power that failed to draw. Played Sat., Sun., Mon. Weather: Poor. — Carl P. Anderka, Rainbow Theatre, Castroville, Tex. Pop. 1,500. Counterfeit Traitor, The (Para) — William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith. Well done on all counts, but not a small town film. Too long and involved. Too little action. Lilli Palmer is very effective in this. Poor biz. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Nice. — Paul Fournier, Acadia Theatre, St. Leonard, N. B. Pop. 2,150. War and Peace (Para, reissue) — Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer. This sui'prised us. We played a French-language version and broke a three-month attendance record. A repeat that is worth replaying. Still a grand spectacle of Napoleonic wars. Audrey Hepburn divine. Print in good condition. Synchronization in French well done also. Play it again in English, if you’re not French, that is. Played Sun., Mon., Tues. Weather: Fine. — Paul Fournier, Acadia Theatre, St. Leonard, N. B. Pop. 2,150. White Christinas (Para, reissue) — Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney. This is a beautiful old musical that brought Don't Forget the Good Little Independents Jn these days of extreme shortage of product I think it behooves all of us to do everything possible to help promote our small independent producers. This source of product becomes more and more important as the majors continue to unload their very recent pictures to TV (including many blockbusters). Without a fair number of good, playable, small independent pictures, we will not be able to keep our drive-ins and neighborhoods and action houses open. I would like to highly recommend “Wild Guitar’’ (Fairway Int’l) to theatres as mentioned above. “Wild Guitar” will please the teenagers, young adults and the general family trade. The cast features two youngsters. Arch Hall jr. and Nancy Czar, along with many other young people, as well as several experienced character actors headed by William Watters. Arch is a big strapping young blond who appeals to the young girls and his playing of the electric guitar and singing was very well received by everyone . . . Our company has no stock or any connection whatsoever with Fairway Int’l or its distributors. Our only purpose in writing this letter is to try to encourage support of the small independent producers and to give the young stars a much deserved boost. WELDON E. LIMROTH, Gen. Mgr. Giddens & Rester Theatres, Mobile, Ala. Wants More War Action Films Made in Color A swell war picture that appealed to old and young was “Merrill’s Marauders” from Warner Bros. Lots of suspense, action and in color — and that is what they like. Many asked when we would have another one like it. Playable any time. A real good one and a true story. Used it on my Sunday-Monday change. LEONARD J. LEISE Roxy Theatre, Randolph, Neb. a nice, larger crowd on Wednesday-Thursday than we’ve had for months WITHOUT unusual promotion. Since it brought out the “lost audience,” why not reach for good oldies, for midweek, regularly? P. S. Weather is nearly always good here, so — after two and a half years — I forget to mention it. — A. A. Richards, Marion Theatre, Marion, S. C. Pop. 7,200. 20th CENTURY-FOX It Happened in Athens (20th-Fox) — Jayne Mansfield. Nico Minardos, Trax Colton. Here is a good movie in beautiful color and Cinemascope. Well directed and a nice story. Played Thurs., Fri., Sat. Weather: Good. — B. W. Berglund, Trail Theatre, New Town, N. D. Pop. 1,200. UNITED ARTISTS Bird Man of Alcatraz (UA) — Bimt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter. The younger set, our Saturday night previewers, said this is for the birds, so they must have unsold it for us completely, because Sunday and Monday business was off 75 per cent. Weather: Rain.— Carl P. Anderka, 5 Rainbow Theatre, Castroville, Tex. Pop. 1,500. Island Women (UA, reissue) — Vince Edwards, Marie Windsor, Marilee Earle. Played this one back on a double-bill on account of Vince Edwards. Received a good print. Not much business on it — too much football right then. Played Sat. — S. T. Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. Pop. 1,480. UNIVERSAL That Touch of Mink (Univ) — Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young. This did fairly well on Thanksgiving night. The other nights were just average. Very good comedy. Cary Grant at his very best and Doris Day just sparkled. Gig Young and Audrey Meadows very good also. Played Thurs., Fri., Sat. Weather: Cold. — James Hardy, Crescent Theatre, Jasonville, Ind. Pop. 2,500. WARNER BROS. Guns of Darkness (WB) — David Niven, Leslie Caron, David Opatoshu. Another one of those English pictures. Our dear patrons kept away from this one. Mighty fine acting, though. Business was too terrible to mention. Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Cloudy. — Albert Aguiar, Lincoln Theatre, Lincoln, Calif. Pop. 3,200. Touch of Gold, A (WB) — 2 reel short subject. A swell two reel subject — very good and a worthy build up for any program. — Leonard J. Leise, Roxy Theatre, Randolph, Neb. Pop. 1,029. 4 — 12 — BOXOFFICE Showmandiser ; : Jan. 21, 1963