Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1962)

TOA CONVENTION ■ ■ ■ Cont'd Youngstein Firm Plans 15-20 Films a Year MIAMI BEACH — A pitch for support of Entertainment Corp. of America, the new enterprise of Max E. Youngstein and his associates, was made by Youngstein to the Theatre Owners of America convention in the Americana Hotel here on Friday (9). Explaining that the new project had been in business formally for only four days, Youngstein received cheers when he announced that after the first year of operations, ECA would deliver between 15 and 20 pictures a year. Youngstein chided his listeners for their practice of wanting to book only blockbusters and established hits, asserting that exhibitors should support the smaller pictures as well in order to encourage more production. He admitted that his company, which would function in production, distribution and financing, probably would have some “stinkers,” too, but that it needed exhibitor cooperation. The new company, Youngstein said, would seek to "cm'e a disease that is killing both of us,” meaning the need for more product. But, he insisted, there must be exhibitor cooperation and financial support “to the extent that the law permits.” If the law doesn’t permit it, “then let’s change the law,” he added. He was referring to the consent decrees in the Paramount case which restricted some circuit participation in production. Youngstein conceded that, prior to the antitrust case, there were abuses and practices that were harmful, but, he contended, many of the provisions of the decrees were not applicable today. He m-ged all segments of the industry to get together and try to bring about changes; not to go back to the old practices but to effect changes to conform with today’s conditions. Youngstein said that when he, Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin took over United Artists, they were told by some industry leaders that they were “idiots” and that UA never could be put on a paying basis. The company in 1951, when the takeover was made, was in the red and, that year, had a gross of less than $19,000,000. This was boomed up to $125,000,000 in ten years and Youngstein credited exhibitor support to the achievement. He said that in the early days of the new management, a picture was not sold on the stars, director or story but on whether or not it had enough sprocket holes. He asked for the same kind of cooperation in his new enterprise. There has been a lot of talk about orderly distribution, Youngstein said, but, he asked, what about orderly exhibition? He said that too often an exhibitor, when offered a picture, asked: “Who’s in it?” He indi Arfhur Mayer Joins ECA As Member of Board MIAMI BEACH — Arthur Mayer, industry veteran, has joined Entertainment Corp. of America as a member of the board of directors, Max Youngstein, president, announced at the Theatre Owners of America convention. He said that Mayer would be active in the packaging of properties. Also in the new setup will be Basil Estreich, who had been chairman of Television Industries, which the Yoimgstein group had acquired. Estreich, a lawyer, will be chairman of the board of ECA. Jerome Pickman, former vice-president of Paramount, is executive vicepresident of ECA, and Charles Simonelli, former executive assistant to the president of Universal Pictures and Decca Records, is vice-president. Youngstein stressed that the importance to the success of any venture was manpower and that he had it in his associates. cated that if “Marty” had been sold on the basis of its cast, it wouldn’t have been sold at all. He said the same was true with “Never on Sunday,” which was produced for less than $400,000 and, to date, had grossed $4,000,000. Youngstein said that he and his associates had committed themselves to five years in building the new company. He asked that his group, even though taking all the financial risk, be given the support it needed by exhibitors whom he regarded as his partner. Floersheimer Leaving TOA To Join Electronics Firm MIAMI BEACH — The resignation of Albert Floersheimer as director of public relations for Theatre Owners of America was armounced at the TOA convention here by John H. Stembler, president. Floersheimer will leave TOA on December 1 to handle personnel and public relations for Federated Purchasers, Inc., a New Jersey-based national distributor of electronic parts. He has been with TOA for five years. Floersheimer entered the motion picture industry 20 years ago. After wartime service with the Signal Corps Photographic Center, he joined the Walter Reade organization in 1946, serving as director of advertising, publicity and exploitation. He later became vice-president in charge of catering, leaving to join TOA early in 1958. Max E. Youngstein Arthur Mayer 'Double Standard' of Press Attacked by Felix Bilgrey MIAMI BEACH — Newspapers which indulge in advertising censorship in effect are practicing a double standard and this makes their censoring all the more unfair, Felix Bilgrey, counsel for Times Films Corp., told the Theatre Owners of America. Bilgrey said the newspapers printed stories of rape, murder, intimate details of marriage and divorce, accidents and holdups. These events present a real side of real life, he continued, and if they sell more newspapers to capitalize on the stories, the publishers claim that it is “incidental.” But if a motion picture emphasizes the sensational, then these same papers become moralists in spite of the fact that the film maintains the elements which form the basis for the ad. “And so,” Bilgrey stated, “the motion picture medium has become a second-rate advertiser in spite of the fact that it pays the highest rates and in spite of the fact that the presence of the motion picture page may be responsible for a great many sales of the paper itself.” Bilgrey said that perhaps some of the papers which had set themselves up as new protectors of morals should consider the havoc that some of their other advertisers could cause in the hands of the immature, such as liquor and car ads. He said many of the ads for underwear, foimdations and even cigarets were calculated to arouse lustful desires of the average reader. The Times Films coimsel said he wanted to hear about experiences of this nature which exhibitors had encountered which “may enable us to find some common ways and means to combat jointly this latest intnision into our business.” He said it was his firm belief that such incidents should not go unnoticed and that the more arbitrary examples of this new censorship should be met with some kind of action on the industry’s part. Cost Savings Discussed At Small Theatre Forum MIAMI BEACH — Small town exhibitors should take advantage of every opportunity to save costs and at the same time maintain clean and efficient theatres. This advice was given by Max Connett, head of a Mississippi circuit, at a small theatre breakfast forum at the TOA convention. In that respect, Chris Gorder, Poplar, Mont., exhibitor said that he and fomother exhibitors in his area had been able to increase attendance through a pooling of efforts. He said that the five theatres had cooperated on television campaigns on major pictm’es, ballyhooing the title and story but not mentioning the individual theatres. This pre-opening campaign had paid off, he said. Another pooling arrangement, he said, was the cooperative payment of shipping costs on independent product, giving them access to independent pictures which otherwise would not have been available to the theatres individually because of shipping and booking expenses. Other speakers were J. W. “Bill” Cosby, sales manager of National Carbon Co., who stressed the need for keeping their projection equipment in the best of condition, and Allen Preville, insurance expert of Oakhurst, N. J., who discussed possible savings to exhibitors. 6 BOXOFFICE :: November 19, 1962