Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 30, 1956)

PAGE FOUR Outhe Seam “(Continued from Page 1)--~ with the hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation”. For this finale, in the Fingold houses, the fader was raised almost to the limit, and as the curtain closed, instead of breaking into a cartoon, a newsreel, or a candy-counter trailer, a special “Let’s Go To Church” trailer went on the screen, allowing the audience to remain in the mood in which the feature had left them. Similar campaigns followed on pictures like 20th-Fox’s “I'd Climb The Highest Mountain”, Peerless Films’ “The Country Parson”, the latter which was a change of title that resulted in fantastic grosses in small towns for the picture. With this latter picture, in the Fingold houses, an organ recording was played at the end of the picture, to retain the proper mood. When the Dale Harrison combination were faced with the booking of a picture called “Scandal at Scourie”, the title was changed to “Heart of My Heart”, and the result was excellent business, that could not have been achieved under the original title. “Count Three and Pray” was another winner for the Dale-Harrison type of promotion, and when Greer Garson came along in a Warner picture called “Strange Lady in Town’, the DaleHarrison campaign sold “Greer Garson as The Country Doctor in ‘Strange Lady in Town’”. When Columbia decided to re-issue a picture called “Boots Malone”, to the Dale-Harrison operation the picture became “A Saddle and a Prayer”. So successful was the Dale-Harrison campaign on Paramount’s reissue of “Shepherd of the Hills”, that Jerry Pickman, Paramount Advertising, Publicity and Exploitation Director invited Jim Harrison to come to New York at Paramount’s expense to attend a special screening of their new picture, “The Fighting Parson”, in order to make up a specal small-town campaign for this picture. In_ discussing the small-town campaigns conceived by Ralph Dale and Jim Harrison, they told me that the first step, always, is to screen the picture, and then a meeting is held between Dale, Harrison, and the booker, Bill Monroe, at which any ideas the three of them may have, are thoroughly discussed from all angles. If the picture seems to be one of those particularly adaptable to the Dale-Harrison type of campaign, Bill books it into one or @ two houses first, for six days, and a test is made of audience reaction. If successful, then all stops are pulled, and the full scope of the ° campaign is put into force in the remaining houses in the circuit. In nearly all cases, the campaign is based around a full week’s run, as it is Ralph Dale’s own feeling that it is much better to try to extend the run of a picture he knows a small-town audience will like, than to try to force a different type of picture down their throats, even for two days. “The picture has to have heart appeal”, says Ralph, “in order for us to get anywhere with our type of campaigns. We try to give our patrons a feeling of hope, knowing that if they leave the theatre with that kind of an inspiration, we are creating theatre-goers, not just selling tickets.” It is Ralph’s feeling that if each of the producing companies, would turn out at least two family pictures a year, it would go a long way towards putting the small town theatres back on their feet, and as Ralph Dale points out, “The small town theatres MUST be kept alive, for the theatre-going habit is developed in the small towns, and from there spread further with the population shifts to the cities.” A number of special campaigns have been worked out by the DaleHarrison combination, for use in their own theatres, that could be equally well employed by all small town theatres. Special shows for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, etc., are given extra attention, not only by the booking department, under Bill Monroe, but by the advertising department under Jim Harrison. Special manuals are got out for the Drive-Ins, and managers working under Ralph Dale’s supervision are encouraged to work closely with all service clubs, with the merchants, and with local fire departments, police forces, and school groups. As Ralph says, there is no limit to the amount of effort a theatre manager can put into his campaigns, and certainly not every campaign will click, but a constant plugging, and a continuous and genuine effort is bound, in the long run, to pay off at the box-office. On the opposite page, are displayed a number of the special ads made up by Jim Harrison for the Dale-supervised houses. All have proven successful. U.A. TITLE CHANGE Hollywood: “Tomahawk Trail” has been set as the new title for Bel-Air Productions’ “Mark of the Apache” which was filmed for United Artists release. ~“pIECECT F-P PICNIC (Continued from Page 1) be present for the induction ceremonies. The picnic itself, with its accompanying golf tournament, was a terrific success, with perfect weather contributing its assist to the enjoyment of the day. Low gross winner of the men’s golf tournament was “Jeff” Jeffrey, Capitol, Sudbury manager, and winner of the men’s low net was George Cuthbert, head of General Theatre Supply. Len Bishop, in his own inimitable manner, acted as toastmaster for the banquet, and introduced Vice-President Rube Bolstad, who gave an inspiring message to the several hundred employees present. He struck an encouraging note in respect to the future of the Motion Picture Industry, reminding the Famous employees that we have seen difficult days before in our Industry, and have always emerged stronger than ever. As Rube pointed out, “people will always want to gather in the marketplace,” and as long as this holds true, there will be motion picture theatres catering to the public’s demand for entertainment. Gifts for everyone present were donated by Theatre Confections Ltd., courtesy of Jack Fitzgibbons. “The Halliday Brand” Hollywood: Viveca Lindfors has been signed by Collier Young and Associates Inc. to co-star with Joseph Cotten in “The Halliday Brand” which will be released by United Artists. Pat, London, Opens As New Victoria London: The Patricia Theatre here, old Moorhead and Fillman house, for many years operated by Famous Players, has been completely refurbished, and re-opened last week under the management of 20th Century Theatres, Famous Players affiliate, as the new Victoria Theatre. Marquee and sign from the Victoria, Toronto, which has been sold and is being torn down to make way for a parking station, was sent to London, and installed at the former Patricia. Frank Paul, formerly manager of the Centre Theatre, another Twinex house in London, has been transferred to manager of the new Victoria. Tom McKnight, veteran F-P manager of the old Patricia, remains with Famous Players, and will act as relief manager for vacationing theatre men during the summer season. JUNE 30, 1956 MGM-TV (Continued from Page 1) amounts and _ percentage offers were substantial and consistent with the success that attended the theatrical presentation of the films, the Board decided that the company would be well advised to enter the television distribution field on its own so that it could exploit every facet and bring to the company the greatest amount of revenue. M-G-M activities will extend to new productions especially produced for television. First productions are planned for 1957-58 season. In addition, the company intends to acquire interest in TV station ownership. Some months ago, Charles C. Barry, former network vice-president and program executive, was engaged to study and organize the ~ television policies of the company. Richard Harper, a member of the sales department of M-G-M, was also assigned to assist Mr. Barry in this new phase of activity for the company. Within the coming months a TV distribution organization capable of negotiating in all the cities where stations are located will have been completed. W-B Declare Dividend New York: At a special meeting of the Board of Directors of Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. held Wednesday, June 20, 1956 a dividend of 30c per share was declared on its common stock payable August 4, 1956 to stockholders of record July 13, 1956. SELZNICK (Continued from Page 1!) March. This is consistent with the new 20th Century-Fox policy of augmenting its own productions with those of the world’s most outstanding film makers. The contracts with The Selznick Company also call for Jennifer Jones to play the leading feminine role, that of Catherine Barkley. The leading male role, that of Frederick Henry, American ambulance driver on the Italiant front, has not yet been cast, but will be played by a leading male star. The period and setting of the book, Italy and Switzerland during World War I, will be left unchanged. The contracts with The Selznick Company also call for the rerelease in the United States, Canada and Australia, and in certain other foreign territories, of two famous Selznick pictures, “Rebecca” and “The Third Man.” Both of these will be re-released in the United States and Canada this summer, accompanied by big new campaigns, SRS leek aa PS Pe et SS Als pee near Ps ale (isaac aca stamalaeO ati Ni t, ‘ i J ‘| NG ee ee oe ee an