Harrison's Reports (1962)

104 HARRISON'S REPORTS July 7, 1962 Cohen Ret utes 3iochrie (Continued from Front Page) "Ben-Hur" to some exhibitors. He gave himself as an example. "I have been after them for the return of this ad money, but for months they've done nothing about it. Many of us have failed to make any money on the picture, mainly because the terms on 'Ben-Hur' were so stiff. And, that's the same approach Mochrie is using on 'King of Kings/ " said the energetic Allied unit head who has assured the man from Harrison's Reports that within a short time, it will be one of the most active and biggest (comparative) links in the ever-growing chain of national Allied. "Ben-Hur" Terms A*ked on "-King*" Cohen resented that theatres which did no worthwhile business on "Ben-Hur" had no hope for some help from the distributor because the no look (no reduction) terms were forced on the exhibitor. "That Bronston's 'King of Kings' is by far not another 'BenHur' should be pretty well known by this time, nine months after the film has been out in release. Yet, M-G-M is demanding almost the same terms they got on 'Ben-Hur,' " said Cohen. He believed that such film companies that fail to consider the exhibitor in these hard times, should be dealt with harshly, severely, self -protectively by the exhibitor organizations. "Together, working in unison, we can accomplish a lot more than individually. Also, in such kind of exhibitor organization unity there is more strength for progress and greater opportunity for achieving our aims." The New York Allied head is a strong organization man. He thinks the "loner" is lost in the exhibition end of our business. Cohen was in favor of the brother Allied unit of New Jersey (of which William Infald is its fighting president) taking its cause of action to the Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice. - which brought up the allied convention operation, this year, of the two Allied units. New York and New Jersey, it is to be remembered, will unite for the annual meet of each, this summer. The state organizations (New York-New Jersey) will convene at the famous Concord Hotel, on Kiamesha Lake, N. Y., August 6 thru August 9. "We'll make this 1962 event one of the biggest not only in the history of Allied unit conventions, but of any other national exhibitor organization. We expect a large turn-out both from New Jersey and New York," assured the energetic Cohen as he got ready to board the bus for the annual pilgrimage to the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital up at Saranac Lake. As has been the costly custom for many years, the overall committees, officers, trade and lay press and disinguished visitors are the guests of the Robbins family (National Screen Service) at their sumptuous Edgewater Motel, Schroon Lake, N. Y., for the two-day session. The summer session of the board of directors of the Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors, will be held on Monday and Tuesday (August 6-7) at the Concord Hotel, Kiamesha, N. Y. This meeting will be held concurrently with the combined conventions of the Allied Theatre Owners of New Jersey and Allied Theatres of New York State. UA9S "Premiere--99... (Continued from Front Page) this almost on the losing end. In several instances "The Road to Hong Kong" is not strong enough to stand up for the three allegedly guaranteed weeks. We rated the film as a "good" one but far from a great release. Some theatres may be forced to pull the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby comedy after two weeks. In a way, the timing of the presentation is not to the advantage of the exhibitor, a few said. "A month or so earlier, or two months later would have produced better results neighborhood -wise," said some others. The chief complaint is one relayed from the ticketbuyers. They were not happy going from the usual 85c weekdays admission to $1.25. Or, from 99c on weekends to $1.35. In general the 25% increase prevailed over the 13-theatre "Premiere" circuit. Another exhibitor complaint was that the neighborhood tieup would have been given stature if "The Road--" would have been playing simultaneously one of the recognized first run Broadway houses. This was almost another off-Broadway neighborhood saturation campaign, only United Artists gave their "new era" launching publicity building power which won the praise of the exhibitors. If a summary of the entry of "Premiere Showcase" in the realm of power exploitation neighborhood exhibition were to be drawn, - and it is yet too soon, though more than a week has gone by, - those who were slightly disappointed outweighed the others who were very happy with the results. Spokesmen for Century Theatres sang the praises of "Premiere-." They said that three of their theatres did some of the biggest business in a long time. Several exhibitors didn't think that in choosing the Beacon Theatre as the so-called Broadway showcase added any real Times Square Broadway prestige to the campaign. Some Beacon customers weren't overly happy to find the admissions jumped from $1.25 to $1.75. In some of the theatres there were no direct New York radio station coverage. Also, in a few theatres the only celebrities that walked the red carpet, were lovely girls dressed in Chinese costume. Some exhibitors summed it up this way: "If we only could have got some of those people gathered on the sidewalk to come in and buy tickets to see the film inside, we may have made out a lot better." * , "The Tartars" (Continued from Preceding Page) his (Welles') brother. Mature's wife is captured by Welles and he inflicts all sorts of torture on her. As the embattled tribesmen arrange for an exchange of hostages, Mature's lovely wife falls from the castle steps and dies, a victim of Welles' brutality. Mature takes the shattered remains back to his place. Now, there is but one recourse left, an all out war to the death with the tortuous Tartar forces. The battle is on and the heads of the two tribes (Welles and Mature) cross swords. The big, beefy, slowlymoving Welles is killed by the fleet-footed Mature. The fighting continues. Finally, an arrow claims the life of Mature. Produced by Lux Film; directed by Richard Thorpe; screenplay by a quintette of writers and rewriters. General patronage.