Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 31, 1955)

August 31, 1955 Vol. 20, No. 33 August 31, 1955 ee HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Assistant Editor Ben Halter Office Manager Esther Silver CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Canada Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Deportment, Ottawa Published by Film Publications of Canada, Limited 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada — Phone WAInut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. VARIETY GAME (Continued from Page 1) A rough estimate of the amount that would reach Variety Village from the sale of tickets and the profit of the souvenir program is $25,000. The league game was preceded immediately by a vaudeville show drawn from the Casino Theatre, which followed a_ seven-inning softball game, won 3 to 1 by the 30th Battery Bombers from the NHL All-Stars. Richard Scott of CKEY acted as emcce and offered Variety’s appreciation. During the game 18 lucky number prizes, donated by merchants, were awarded. Before and during the game a dozen barkers sold souvenir programs. Much effort went into the event in advance, barkers selling tickets in the stands days before the game and lady barkers helping to distribute tickets among friends. Press, radio and TV people, who were entertained at a luncheon in the clubrooms a few days before the game, were helpful. Why didn’t the game draw a larger crowd? The reasons are varied. There was considerable rain earlier in the day, which caused people not to make arrangements to attend. The law prevented the Variety Club from giving away a car, as in former years. The show did not have a popular star. And Bunny Morganson suggested in his Telegram report of the game that “Boosting the tab for general admission was a mistake.” It was most fortunate for Variety that the souvenir program, which was suggested by Raymond Allen after several games without one, was in existence to guarantee a certain amount of income. In the program editorial ‘content was a page of appre‘ciation to Jack Kent Cooke, pressident of the ball club; a report oon the annual graduation dinner, san article summarizing Variety's tten years, a tribute to the George Hormbys for their recent Variety ttour, the story of Variety’s origgin, the annual report of the Willage, a picture and story about t:hose who put on out-of-town boenefits, the thanks of the tent too Walter Murdoch of the musiicians and others. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Barney Balaban Here (Continued from Page 1) companies as the base of a healthy motion picture industry. In Toronto for a _ directors meeting, Balaban and Paul Raibourn, a company vice-president, were welcomed by John J. Fitzgibbons, president of Famous Players, who noted that this was the 35th anniversary of Canada’s leading circuit and that Balaban was entering his 20th year as head of the parent company. Those present were department heads, several press representatives and two guests from Paramount Film Service. They heard Balaban touch on many industry matters in chatty fashion and enjoyed his observations, quite a few of them humorous. Paramount, which controls Telemeter, had begun preparing for TV 15 years ago with the conviction that it was just another form of motion picture exhibition. Some years ago it began cleaning its studio shelves so that it could make a fresh start in picture by picture production. And now his company had the highest dollar inventory in the industry and the question about each new picture was not how much but how good. Balaban recalled when Famous Players had 18 theatres and said that Fitzgibbons and R. W. Bolstad, the vice-president, had given the company 25 years of wonderful service. The foundation had been laid by others but they had built the company to its present position, aided by many of those present—and they had done it in a way that was a credit to the entire motion. picture industry. He commented on Fitzgibbons’ new working pattern — part of the year in Toronto and the rest at the studio in Hollywood — and hoped that it would keep him in service “for 25 or 50 years.” Mayor Nathan Phillips, introduced by Fitzgibbons as an old friend of the industry, welcomed Balaban, saying that he was famed for his philanthropic work, and praised Famous Players for it part in helping to develop the city and country. After Paul Raibourn spoke, saying that TV was of value to the industry, Bolstad thanked the gathering. Win Barron, captain of Paramount’s Canadian Balaban Drive, delivered the good wishes of his team. Also at the head table were Angus MacCunn, Famous Players’ secretary, and Gordon Lightstone, Paramount’s Canadian chief. JARO Men On the Deck of the HMS Wallaceburg, RCN One of the most remarkable film-theatre promotion ideas was Odeon Theatres’ three-ship screening of JARO’s great film of naval warfare in WW Il, Above Us the Waves. The screenings took place at the end of a full day's exercises on Lake Ontario by 15 ships of the Royal Canadian Navy. The film was shown on HMS Portage, HMS Minas and HMS Wallaceburg, the last being the flagship, which was under the command of Rear-Admiral K. F. Adams. Each of the three ships carried radio commentators, columnists, cameramen and newsreel photographers from Western Ontario, who boarded them in Toronto at 9 a.m. and returned to shore at 12.30 a.m. They observed the exercises, which included gunfire and depth bombing, and made notes of the RCN's commemoration of the launching of two RN sloops in 1775. These were the first British ships to fly the ensign on the lakes. In this picture we see Foster Hewilt, who was transferred from the Wallaceburg fo the Portage via ropes; L. W. Brockington, QC, who seems to be emphasizing his point; and Frank H. Fisher, general manager of J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (Canada) Limited. Odeon's Jim Hardiman handled his company's part in the proceedings, helped by JARO's Tommy Knight. He worked with Ltd.-Cmdr. A, J. Plosz, Staff Officer Information. Page 3 Our Business by A Taylor THE owner of a motion picture theatre in a very small town located in a TV-saturated ares faces a real economic problem today. Any self-respecting town of approximately 3,000 population could always support a motion picture theatre unless, of course, it bordered on a much larger town and thereby virtually became a subsequent run. Since such theatre usually could seat about three or four hundred, the rule-ofthumb of one seat for every ten of population was generally applicable, and the exhibitor prospered in direct relation to his ability .as a showman, businessman, film buyer, etc. In many places there is now a new situation. It is really unfair to suggest that TV is the sole villain in many of these cases, Actually, there are many economic factors which have affected small towns. As an example, the increased use of the automobile has drained off a great deal of the spending money of the small-town exhibitor’s potential patronage. It has also made his potential patron a possible customer for one of the drive-in theatres which have been springing up around the country in the most unlikely places. While these units are not in themselves economically sound, quite often they draw sufficient business from the established small-town theatres to make the difference between profit and loss. Actually, therefore, TV is really only the last straw, With due consideration to all contributing factors, it seems apparent that the old _ rule-ofthumb of one seat for ten people is no longer applicable to small towns, any more than it is to large cities. Assuming, for a moment, that the rule becomes one seat for every 20 people, such small town can now only support from 150 to 200 seats. Generally, it is not feasible to operate a theatre so small, particularly with presentday costs. What, therefore, is the solution or salvation for smialltown theatres? Such theatres must now operate with reduced overhead or some kind of subsidy—perhaps both, It has been proven that the closing of the only theatre in a small town is quite detrimental to the business of the merchants therein, It is also bad business for the motion picture industry to have people in the small towns depriyed of the opportunity to see some of the fine attractions that are current. The subsidy, therefore, may come from the merchants of the town in a co-operative manner (Continued on Page 9)