Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 22, 1966)

$ | : } ; } Vol. 31, No. 13 VOICE OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY Incorporating the CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST (Founded 1915) "OS ORI TORONTO, June 22, 1966 Our Business WAT lor Second Guessing —/t Never Led To Riches "THE best football strategists are the Monday morning quarterbacks. The most successful campaigners are the armchair generals. And the wisest men in our business are the _ second guessers. After a film has flopped at the boxoffice it is very easy to cite the reasons. Everyone has his own catalogue, from which several can be removed and neatly packaged, to prove what idiots these producers are. And, of course, there is always’ the weather or season of the year. Second guessing and negative thinking go hand in hand. This is the antithesis of what is required for success in our business. Our thinking must at all times be positive and first guessing predominant. Predictability of boxoffice success for motion pictures is no longer the easy game it once was for the experts. In today’s market they are more frequently confounded than right. The successful producer attempts. to scent in advance what an alwaysunpredictable public will buy and frequently attempts to set his own trends. The odds against success are now greater but so are the potential rewards. The building and operation of motion picture theatres offers a new kind of challenge. Costs of building, maintenance and operations continue to rise. The distributor attempts to set ceilings on profits for “clickers” and floors for “clinkers.” The cushion the exhibitor once had has virtually disappeared. How then can the Day Appointed Head Of Era Of New Economics Alberta Censor Board FFor Motion Pictures Jack Day, 43, has been appointed chairman of the Alberta Motion Picture Censor Branch and director of the Amusements Branch as successor to P. J. A. Fleming, who retired March 30 after 20 years of service, it was announced recently in Edmonton by the Hon. A. Holowach, Provincial Secretary, whose depart ment is responsible for the Cen(Continued on Page 10) Warners World Premieres e Weltner, Paramount head, says TV now as essential as theatre distribution The motion picture industry is in the midst of a fundamental change in its method of operations and its policies, George Weltner, president of Paramount Pictures, told the company’s recent annual meeting. ‘Television Comic Western In Houston Nothing close to the vest or the wallet in the way Warner Brothers world premiered its current release, A Big Hand for the Little Lady, recently in Houston, Texas. By jet, train, Avis, Greyhound and burro, the company ferried in more than 100 press, radio and TV _ representatives from all over the US and Canada to launch the Fielder Cook-produced and directed film about a wacky poker game in the Old West in which the final hand provides one of the all-time snapper endings. The two-day around _ the event, centred Shamrock-Hilton Hotel, got under way with a pa tio reception of representative Texas proportions. To belabor a (Continued on Page 10) oy distribution is now as essential to its business as theatrical distribution,” he said, “and this fact alone has ushered in the era of new economics.” Television has been using more and more feature films at steadily rising prices and rentals, he said, pointing out that a feature on TV, as much as in theatrical distribution, had several different “runs” available to it. A feature might get one or two prime-time network showings, for example, then be syndicated on a stationto-station basis. “Ratings on second showings,” Weltner said, ‘‘come within a respectable distance of the first-run ratings. In fact, some of the lesser films actually improve (Continued on Page 4) Clubrooms Yes Or No? Variety Must Decide Members of Toronto’s Variety Club Tent 28 are being put on the muscle—they have six months to decide whether or not they want their own clubrooms. New, elegant, midtown quarters were opened about a year ago in The Colonnade, a _ shopping office residential complex, but they haven’t been getting the anticipated play. As a result, at a recent business meeting, the mem (Continued on Page 4) May Levandusky Again Named WOMPI Head Installation of officers, a humorous speech by Robert R. Hall and presentation of the Service Award to May Levandusky of Famous Players, re-elected for a second term as president, were features of the recent annual dinner of the Toronto Branch of the ase JOANNE WOODWARD, star of Warner Bros.’ A Big Hand For The Little Lady, was also a centre of attraction at Warners’ world premiere of the picture recently in Houston, Texas, attended by more than 100 press, radio and TV personalities from Cancda and the US. Also attending were Fielder Cook, left, who directed the picture, and Jack Vulenti, right, new president of the Motion Picture Association of America. It was his first premiere since taking office. Other photographs of the event appear on Page 7. Women of the Motion Picture Industry. Emceed by Len Bishop, manager of the Hollywood Theatre, the event took place in Va riety clubrooms in the Colon(Continued on Page 4) exhibitor hope to survive, let ? alone prosper in such an atmosphere? The answer must surely be that the exhibitor must become (Continued on Page 4) the theatres of Metropolitan Toronto, confirmed that it drew o 284,000 entries, double the 1965 total, reflecting an interes which “far exceeded our fondest hopes.” Chaplin estimates ever 14,000,000 copies of the Star carried stories and f With release of the prizewinners in the Toronto Academy Awards Contest last week, Charles S. Chaplin, head of the organizational committee, reported that it was far and away the most success ful yet. The Star, which sponsored the competition along with