Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1962)

AMUSEMENTS • TRAVEL • BOOKS Dallas jflotmttg SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 1962 — SECTION 5 O’Brien in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer s 1944 release, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” which will open at the Circle June 19. They were younger then. ... A young Tom Drake, a youthful Judy Garland and a moppet Margaret & FORECASTS: nes the tvs me Bnce, one of the funniest women the stage has known. Miss Are Names in By WILLIAM A PAYNE Amusements Editor of The Newt It is by coincidence that two news stories out of New York! would concern television come-1 diennes who will figure prominently in the State Fair Musicals1 season this summer. One of the stories is by lack Gaver, United Press International drama editor, who tells hew. "un-nutty" Carol Burnett is in planning her career. Miss Burnett will headline her “In Per Burnett was seriously considered as a candidate. “It was flattering to be < sidered.” she told Gaver. “I gave it a lot of thought It could be a huge hit But I got to thinking about how it would be done. If the show concentrated on the dramatic events in Miaa Brice's life, they needed a dramatic actress. If it dealt mostly with her as a performer, then they needed enmrane who could work the wav THE PASSING SHOW: Film Revivals Test ‘Truths’ Of Movie Glory By JOHN ROSENFIELD Ten vintage pictures, made during the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer heyday, between 1931 and 1951, will be shown this summer at Interstate’s Circle Theater in very North Dallas. Undoubtedly the economic theory is, if pictures are good enough for television they are good enough for us. Many of the films have been through a television cycle. This caused everything from the rash of irritation to the fever of rage among movie exhibitors. Their reaction was somewhat fiscal. Everybody was getting unanticipated money out of “residual rights” except the operator of the theater, the man who took the first gambling chance of getting the income for the industry. His rental contracts, « ploitation expense, theater costs established the values that gave old pictures their present values in television. Does television now reestablish box-office values for the movie theater in the quirky yaws and topples of show business? Certainly the theater does not have to splice them with incon gruous commercials, four to the I prise directed . . . The story is un abashedly sentimental. EXCUSE MY DUST (1*51) This silent screen comedy for the late Wallace Reid was converted into a talky for Red Skelton ... ^ . not a spectacular success ONSTAGE but Skelton's style recently has won the masses through television the picture may prove a And these were younger, too. . . . Maureen O'Sullivan and Allan Jones are entertained by the stable antics of the Marx Brothers — Groucho, Chico and Harpo — in Metro’s “A Day at the Races,” also due at Circle. age. Still no reentry of an astronaut into the Earth's gravity is fraught with as much "unknown" as the reentry of a 20-year-old film into the movie theater atmosphere. ON ONE SIDE of the ledger the "red ink" fact that c 25year-old motion picture is that many years behind the times in ideology, scripting, photography and acting techniques. On the other page is a more cheerful possibility. The stage, mple, never again the girl. July IS GOODBYE. MR. CHIPS (19J9): If Sam Wood, the director, had e not taken a new look at an idle actress, Greer Garson. she might . not have become Mrs. E. E. 11 Fogelson of Dallas . . . Miss,1, Garson, nettled at drawing }500 ® a week and doing nothing, was about to return to London ... She made her first strong audience impact as Mrs. Chips. Rob c ert Donat's wife . . . jDonat, 1 himself, won kudos and an Oscar. a AT THE CIRCUS (1SJ9): An e cellent Marx Brothers comedy ur-Note Rag Again RUAL ASKEW magazine, which knows and tells most of it, reported a new dimenthe recent dispute involvmember of the Metropoliorchestra and manright to replace him. plications are a bit unsetto say the least. that the players, whose was upheld incident to rbitration of the total mi it-labor disagreement. < to bring up on charges ber of the Metropolitan's staff present Helen Hayes as a delect[which didn't do well . of conductors whose professional judgement was a recommendation for dismissal. In the vocabulary of unionism, 'to bring up on charges” translates "to lodge a complaint against a fellow member of the union, with a possibility of punitive action. In the complaint's phraseology conductor Fausto Cleva's recommendation "did not enforce good faith, fair dealing nor adherence to union principles.” Further, that this action “defamed" the player involved and "injured |his ability to earn a living." | (As we recall the Met-union hassle that hmiiehf in I ahnr Serrclsrv They really shouldn't be, of course, however vital each element is to the whole function. It recalls the sturdy anecdote of Toscanini rehearsing an orchestra which was agitating for the right to organize. Came a rehearsal situation which distressed him deeply. He called for an interruption. "I understand," said Toscanini, turning to the concertmaster. "you are organizing the orchestra in order to join a "Yes, maestro." said the concertmaster. Said Toscanini: "Then the first clause in your charter should be: The orchestra must always play in tune!' '* Major assistance in promotion of outstanding films and famous stars of past years can be expected from the newspepers. Reproduced here is the top half of on amusement page in the Dallas, Tex., Morning News with a lead article by John Rosenficld, amusement editor, who makes the point that since film revivals have been profitable for TV, they should also prove worthy at the boxoffice of theatres, since it wos the latter who originally established them. ne New Boxoffice . . . (Continued from preceding page) Music: Up and Under. Anncr: Bring the whole family to see these two happy hits . . . and plan NOW to see each new double program in the BIJOU'S FAMOUS FILM PARADE! They're all GUARANTEED GREAT! Music: Up and Out. To really achieve an impact in behalf of the new policy, all the gimmicks have to be pulled out of the trick bag, such as: Publishing stills from the vintage films and offering theatre tickets as a prize to people who can identify ALL the actors and actresses pictured. Selling supermarkets tickets which they in turn give away with each purchase of a certain amount of merchandise. Garnering free ad space in the newspapers through classified-ad page tieups by offering passes to people who find their names on the classified pages. Having a newspaper reporter interview people as they leave the theatre, getting their reaction to vintage films. Making available in the lobby "request' cards so that patrons can voice their preference of which films to be shown. No stunt is wasted if it focuses attention on the vintage films. Partial List of Golden Years' Films The following is a partial list of 1931-51 productions being made available by MGM through independent distributors. They feature the top stars of that period at the peak of their youth and glamor, some of whom are still active. JEANETTE MacDONALD and NELSON EDDY Naughty Marietta Rose Marie The Chocolate Soldier GRETA GARBO Camille (with Robert Taylor) Susan Lennox (with Clark Gable) Ninotchka (with Melvyn Douglas) Anna Karenina (with Ramon Novarro) Anna Christie (with Charles Bickford and Marie Dressier) JUDY GARLAND Easter Parade (with Fred Astaire) Meet Me in St. Louis The Harvey Girls Babes on Broadway Summer Stock (with Gene Kelly) For Me and My Gal (with Gene Kelly) Words and Music (with Gene Kelly) JEAN HARLOW and CLARK GABLE Red Dust Saratoga GREER GARSON Pride and Prejudice (with Laurence Olivier) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (with Robert Donat) LON CHANEY SR. The Unholy Three NORMA SHEARER and LESLIE HOWARD Romeo and Juliet A Free Soul WALLACE BEERY, MARIE DRESSLER Tugboat Annie Viva Villa (Beery only) The Champ (Beery only) LUISE RAINER The Good Earth (with Paul Muni) The Great Waltz (with Ferdenand Gravet) DINNER AT EIGHT, with Marie Dressier, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow. GRAND HOTEL, with Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford. A DAY AT THE RACES, AT THE CIRCUS, with the Marx Brothers. DAVID COPPERFIELD, with Freddie Bartholomew and W. C. Fields. LITTLE WOMEN, with June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh and Margaret O’Brien. A TALE OF TWO CITIES, with Ronald Coleman, Edna Mae Oliver and Blanche Yurka. -y, ne .as of 4 — 120 — BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: July 23, 1962