Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1938)

WINNIPEG A DAILY feature appearing in the Free Press, local daily, has been the means of attracting attention to the films and figures of the industry. This feature is in the form of a series of articles by Frank Morriss, film critic of the paper, who is vcaationing in Hollywood, from where he has been penning interviews with stars and bits of gossip about the film center. For its 'premiere showing in Winnipeg at the Garrick, UA has given “Algiers” an extensive buildup. A comprehensive campaign has included tieups with travel bureaus, displays in fashion shops and beauty parlors playing up Hedy Lamarr, and the reappearance of the distinctive newspaper advertising for which the Garrick has become noted. A clever tieup was effected with the Picaddilly Florists, local flower shop. The first 100 ladies entering the theatre at seven in the evening were presented with a rose each, on both the Friday and Saturday of the opening of the film. Manager Harold Bishop of the Capitol tied up his presentation of “Too Hot to Handle” with camera stores in the city playing upon the theme of no shot too hot to handle. Bishop is hard at work now on large scale exploitation campaign for Deanna Durbin’s “That Certain Age” for which advance publicity has already broken through a magazine story on the star and colored layout in last week’s magazine section of the local Free Press. Directed at the large Ukrainian section of the Winnipeg population, “Marusya,” Answers to I-Q Test (Questions on page 94) 1. Quiz booklets are being distributed in both English and French. One hundred and twenty-five thousand to date, with more required. 2. “Drums.” It is being distributed by United Artists. 3. E. A. Whelpley of RKO Distributing Corp. of Canada. 4. The means of bringing television images up to a suitable size have not yet been developed. 5. That film business in the west has shown a 10 to 20 per cent increase over last year. Ukrainian talking picture, should do well in its scheduled four days’ run at the Orpheum. Of special interest to Winnipeg members of the national group is the appearance in the film of Maurice Lechow, popular young exponent of folk dances, whose billing is receiving prominent place in the advertising , slanted for local display. A piling up of counter attractions presented heavy competition for Winnipeg showmen. In the course of a single week rugby football games, exhibition games between stellar American hockey squads and the one-stand of Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra offered strenuous competition. Glen Gray packed 5,000 swing crazy jitterbugs into the Winnipeg Auditorium for some sort of a record. ^HE Duke of Kent, a brother of King George VI, is an ardent film fan. He was recently quoted as saying: “I have often thought that one of the reasons why one country loses the friendship of another is because the peoples do not know one another well enough to understand any point of view but their own. In overcoming this, the film is playing a great part.” About 600 members are being sought in the drive for a Regina branch of the National Film Society of Canada. The plan is being sponsored by the Local Council of Women. More than 200 painters of Regina and vicinity witnessed a film dealing with interior decorating and the making of wallpaper by the world’s largest wallpaper mills at Perivale, Eng., during a conference at the King’s Hotel. Good news for theatre men of Saskatoon was Monday night’s approval by the city council of a by-law declaring Wednesday afternoon a holiday for retail stores and general shops through nine months of the year. October, November and December are the three months not affected. Moose Jaw and Regina close Wednesday afternoons 11 months each year. J. J. Doyle of Edmonton is planning to operate a tractor train service to Goldfields, Sask. this coming winter. At the present time, all film for the new theatre at Goldfields has to be flown in over the 500 miles separating the mining town from civilization. A tractor train would offer cheaper rates. How to operate motion picture theatres profitably Here is a new book full of HOW TO DO IT information, written by a man who believes that the first objective of theatre management is to make money. In this book he covers motion picture theatre management from A to Z, giving the best results of years of experience as a guide in establishing successful policies, building profitable business, and efficiently operating any size theatre. The Management of Motion Picture Theatres By FRANK H. RICKETSON, Jr. Get This Great Aid to Theatre President, Fox Inter-Mountain Theatres, Inc. Management! GET IT TODAY!! 375 pages, 6x9, illustrated. $3.50 Send check or money order to ASSOCIATED PUBLICATIONS, 4704 East Ninth Street, Kansas City, Missouri 96 BOXOFFICE : : November 5, 1938