Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

Allied Merchandising Considers TV Show ALLIED CONVENTION . . . (Cont'd) Independent Producer-Distributor Viewed as New Era of Industry NEW YORK — “A new era looms before the motion picture industry,” predicted Paul N. Lazarus jr., executive vice-president of Samuel Bronston Productions, as he delivered the feature address to the afternoon session of the Allied States Association's convention at the Americana Hotel here, Wednesday (23). “Our business is verging on a revolution,” Lazarus told the delegates. “Thirty years ago, we were in the ‘Major Company Era,’ the age of the ‘Hollywood Titan,’ the ‘Star List’ and the ‘Studio-Made Program.’ Twenty years ago, in the early war years, came the ‘Birth of the Independent.’ This was the period when independent production tried its wings, when it faltered, fell and rose to fly again. START TEN YEARS AGO “Ten years ago,” continued the Bronston executive, “we entered the ‘Decade of the Independent,’ the coming of age of the untrammeled and talented producer and the acceptance by the major companies of the independent as the primary source of product. “We are now entering the next evolutionary stage, the ‘Age of the Independent Producer-Distributor.’ More and more, we find, that the truly independent is no longer satisfied with traditional, yes, even antiquated, distribution techniques. Just as he has pioneered the development of a mature and progressive production process, the independent will probe and search for new methods of bringing his films to the marketplace. Our own Bronston Distributions Co. is an example of this. So is Joseph Levine’s Embassy Pictures. So are the announced plans of Dino de Laurentiis and many other major independents.” The Bronston vice-president, scheduled to leave shortly for his Madrid offices for meetings with Samuel Bronston, reviewed distribution and merchandising plans for his company’s $16,000,000 production, “The Fall of the Roman Empire,” scheduled for roadshowing next spring. “Motion pictures of this magnitude,” he declared, “require new concepts of selling and distribution.” ELY LANDAU OPTIMISTIC Lazarus also discussed production progress on “Circus World,” the John WayneClaudia Cardinale starrer, which Paramount will release in this hemisphere. Although describing himself as a newcomer to this business, Ely Landau told the Allied States Ass’n convention here Wednesday ^23) that in the 20 months he had been associated with the industry, he had personally financed and produced three major pictures, had four pictures in work, would have seven films in distribution before the end of 1964 and had acquired two theatres in New York. Landau said his first reactions to the business had been “appalling,” having found lethargy, a callousness, a resignation, a hide-bound tradition, a lack of innovation, and enormous amount of “bandwagons-manship” and a lack of forward thinking. The growth of television, the reduction in the average weekly attendance and the drop in production were given as reasons for the condition. As a newcomer, Landau felt that too little was being done to meet the challenge and that what was being done was being done by too few. He said it was in the area of exhibition that he found the greatest weaknesses in the film industry. Landau said that it was in the area of thinking for tomorrow where he found the exhibitor had failed. He said the exhibitor must think for tomorrow now, individually and collectively, and to analyze, experiment and discover what it is that will bring more people of America back to the theatres. Landau said he did not know for certain what the something was, but that unless exhibitors experimented with new processes and new ideas, they never would get the lost audiences back. Expressing optimism, however, Landau said a new motion picture industry would emerge in the next decade, different in concept and operations, but based on the premise that people like to go out for the best in entertainment, and that that entertainment will be found in the motion picture theatres of the United States. Letter Expresses Fear For Small Town Theatre NEW YORK — A letter written by Mrs. L. C. West of the Strand Theatre, Mount Vernon, Iowa, expressing fear for the future of the small town theatre, was read at the Tuesday (22) trade practice session of the Allied States Ass’n convention here. The letter, addressed to Irving Dollinger, convention chairman, asked Allied to try to make producers “realize the value of the small theatre,” and continued: “Some act as if they wish there were no such thing, or consider them a nuisance. “The little theatres are just a reminder that there are motion pictures still being shown. If nobody sees them in the little town itself, the tourists see them. One said to me, ‘I am glad to see a little theatre in a small town. There aren’t many left any more.’ “Closed, they are a bad omen and cause talk. Like closed banks, ‘Pictures business is bad!’ The little theatre teaches the kids the theatregoing habit. They are the cities’ potential customers. Too many producers are putting pictures out on percentage and ignoring the little theatre that must have some of the good films and the new ones to exist.” Stanley Warner Dividend NEW YORK — The board of directors of Stanley Warner Corp. has declared a dividend of 30 cents per share on the common stock, payable November 25 to stockholders of record November 8. (Continued from page 5) give more thought to hiring the right men for the showmanship handling of pictures at the theatre level.” Melvin Gold, general sales manager of National Screen Service, addressed the convention not as an NSS executive but as president of Associated Motion Picture Advertisers. He said that AMPA no longer was a New York City organization, but had launched a new membership drive for the purpose of helping all theatres everywhere. Gold said that the theatre had to be the focal point in every town and urged exhibitors to offer special events and special shows. Stating that AMPA wanted every exhibitor to be a member, Gold said initiation fees were being waived. He said AMPA would supply exhibitors with institutional publicity for local planting. He said he wanted exhibitors to send him the names of the editors and publishers of their local newspapers and that AMPA would write them to tell them AMPA wanted their support of the motion picture business in return for the premium rates they charged. He added that speeches would be provided for delivery at local Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs and women’s organizations. He said AMPA had many other plans to help get the public out of its parlors and into theatres. The recent campaign in which 28 theatres in Detroit tied up together on a 13week business drive was described by Robert Solomon, head of his own advertising agency in Detroit. With the use of slides, some of them on the humorous side, Solomon explained how, on a combined budget of under $12,000, the theatres grossed $2,600,000 with a group of carefully advertised pictures. A highlight of the merchandising session was an address by Neal Houtz of New Hampton, la., who gave a review of his career as an exhibitor, starting as a seller of his own homemade popcorn in Nebraska, then as an usher, head usher and assistant manager in Kansas City and finally to the ownership of his own theatres. Houtz said the most important thing was to get a patron back after he had once attended his theatre. Cleanliness and a smiling staff were the important factors. He said a burned-out light bulb was a distracting item in a theatre, stating that nobody noticed it when all the bulbs in a marquee were lit, but that one dead bulb was noticed at once. Frederick Klein, executive vice-president and associate publisher of MacfaddenBartell Corp., described the link between fan magazines and the theatre in drawing business. He publishes Photoplay and Motion Picture magazines. Gurney Switches Film Title NEW YORK — Robert J. Gurney jr., who produced “The Prude and the Parisienne” in New York last spring with Lilianne Brousse starred, has changed the order of the title to “The Parisienne and the Prude” to avoid any possible confusion as to which point of view wins out in the film, he said. The film has not yet been passed by the New York censors and Gurney has not closed a distribution deal, as yet. Paul Lazarus jr. 6 BOXOFFICE :: October 28, 1963