Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1940)

Price Boosts on Specials Find Exhibitor Opinion Critical By B. O. TELLER Kansas City — Exhibitor opinion is divided on the new idea of special prices for special pictures, which gives every indication of being pushed more and more strongly by producers and distributors as the season goes on. A variant of the old roadshow plan, it is based on the theory of getting increased admission for a big picture all the way from first run down through the subsequents. Because the new plan demands the cooperation of a greater number of exhibitors than did the roadshow idea, exhibitor reaction is significant at this early stage. The opinions of several exhibitors in this area is summed up pretty well in the following; Tagging special pictures with special prices is a good idea, thinks Frank Cassil, who operates the Rialto, St. Joseph, Mo., and who is president of the Kansas-Missouri Theatres Ass’n. But only if the particular and individual picture has proved its value in test runs, he modifies. Exhibitors can handle all such pictures that they can get, Cassil feels. Always Money's Worth “During the past few years,” Cassil commented, “motion pictures have been about the only commodity which hasn’t reflected its cost back to the public. Patrons have been able to buy all movies at the same price.” To the criticism that the theatre can hardly play clucks for 25 cents, and then, when it gets a good picture, up the price. Sunday Serials Get Tryout in Kaycee Kansas City — “Serials on Sunday” form a rather new departure in policy for a Kansas City theatre, but Arthur Burke of the Gillham and Colonial is experimenting with the idea at both houses, and has found it fairly satisfactory. With a triple bill and dime top on the Sunday-Monday change, points out Harvey Udell, who is managing the Colonial, the theatre is appealing to children from six to 60. The individual brought up on the newspaper comic strip is a potential fan for the film serial based on such comic strips. Children like serials, and a lot of them come back every Sunday. Use of the serials has helped business. Advertising serials for the Sunday change has helped, Udell reports. Adults like “chapter plays” also, Udell observed. He points out that in the early days of the films, particularly at the time of the first World War, serials were built to appeal as much to adults as to children; “Million Dollar Mystery,” for instance, or “Tillie the Toiler,” or “Perils of Pauline,” or “Galloping Ghost.” Udell thinks that the theatre business could use a new type of serial, something that has in it a little less blood and thunder, and something that is a little more integrated than the “Blondie” and “Hardy” series. Cassil pointed out that “at no time does the patron go into any theatre and not get his money’s worth. You can take the two worst pictures of any season, and figuring them on the basis of per hour cost of entertainment the patron gets it at the rate of five cents an hour in my house.” Cassil believes the idea will work if the higher prices for a special are maintained all the way down through various classifications of theatres. While not averse to the idea personally. Jay Means of the Oak Park and Carrol, Kansas City, points out several factors that represent dangers in the plan. Reaction of a lot of patrons is going to be that the theatre hasn’t had a good picture for several weeks and now that it does have it is charging extra for it. While they may buy the special picture at the special price, the following two or three weeks they may not attend the theatre. This will aggravate a present weakness in the boxoffice graph; Too deep a sag between good pictures. “The difficulty will be in maintaining a certain price level; 25 cents, say, from which to go up on specials. It looks to me, if you’re going up from 25 cents scale a dozen times a year, then you’re going to have to scale down h’om 25 cents on the ten-cent pictures. A lot of patrons feel that if 25 cents is your year-around price, okay; they’ll take the bad with the good. But few houses can successfully shift their prices around. We have a certain number of persons who come to the theatre week in and week out; they form the backbone of our business. They’re the ones who take the good with the bad — at the same price. They’re the ones who are going to object to a price policy that selects against them on the good pictures.” Requires Restraint Summarizing views of other exhibitors here ; The idea seems to be the only one brought forward to date that offers a solution to the producer-distributor problems of loss of foreign business, increased selection by the public of pictures, etc. Since the public increasingly is shopping for its film, and buying less and less of the average offerings, then the only way to counteract it is to get more for the good ones. While it doesn’t always follow that a good picture is an expensive picture, most good ones have the most invested in them. One other danger that has been pointed out is that too many “specials” will be offered. This v/ill wear out the idea pretty quickly. In this same respect, offering of pictures as specials when their appeal doesn’t justify it, will also sour the exhibitors and public on the plan. Judiciously employed, however, the idea is the best that has been put forward in a long while, the majority opinion at the present moment seems to indicate. Estee Acquires Elkton House From Sorenson Elkton, S. D. — P. G. Estee is the new owner of the Elk here, recently purchased from E. C. Sorenson. Estee was in the S. T. and City Hall theatres in Parker, S. D., for 15 years and from 1920 to 1924 in Brookings, 22 miles from Elkton. Periume Adds Note of Realism to Scene Burlington, la. — When Linda Darnell sprinkled periume on her dog during the showing of “Day-Time Wile" at Lee and Tiemeier's Avon Theatre here, the audience thought it actually smelled the periume. It did. An usher turned the perfume loose in the ventilating system at the proper time and the fans fnot filmi did the rest. Seeking $50,750 in Conspiracy Suit Emporia, Kas. — Charging that the defendants in July, 1939, conspired in an effort to force them to sell their theatre below its real value, Mr. and Mrs. E. O. Briles, owners and operators of the Lyric here, have filed suit in Coffey county district court seeking a total of $50,750 in damages from eight principals. The Briles suit names as defendants; A. J. Simmons of Burlington, Kas.; Warren Webber, St. John, Kas.; E. L. “Jack Johnson, McPherson, Kas.; and W. L. Rees, Mary Esther Rees, Catherine Ann Evans, Elizabeth Jane Brunt and Scott Mouse, all of Emporia. The Emporians being sued all have property interests in the Lyric building except Mouse, who is a real estate agent. In their petition, Mr. and Mrs. Briles assert that Simmons, Webber and Johnson conspired to injure the Brileses’ credit and business and by unlawful means to acquire the Brileses’ rights to film contracts and to secure a lease on the Lyric building. The Brileses also state in their petition that a foreclosure suit was filed against them in an effort to break the lease, and that the suit was later dismissed on grounds of lack of cause for action. Hollingsworth Hearing Comes Up Sept. 16 Lincoln — Frank E. Hollingsworth of Beatrice sees his suit for $234,000 triple damages come to federal court here Monday, September 16. Hollingsworth charges five of the major distributors — Metro, 20th-Fox, Paramount, RKO and Universal, along with Fox-Midwest, and the Fox-Beatrice Theatre Corp., with having conspired to force his ruin in Beatrice. Hollingsworth’s complaint dates from his signing the lease for the Pix, which he says he did only after he had been assured by the distributors that there would be plenty of film available to him to run the house on an “A” first run basis. He already has a subsequent runner in Beatrice, but it does not figure in the case. He says, once his name was on the line, the majors elected to stay with Fox-Midwest, even though it meant F-M was contracted for more than twice as many films as they had ever been able to play in the one house. He, he says, has been forced to suspend operation at times in order to build up a film backlog to keep himself going. RCA Sound for Plaza Burlington, Kas. — The Plaza here has been outfitted with RCA sound. 88 BOXOFFICE ;; September 14, 1940