The Independent Film Journal (1954)

Exhibs Host Journal Contest Winners The third annual New York "Joumal-American" movie contest winners were hosted for the third consecutive year by metropolitan exhibitors at a cocktail party at the Roxy Theatre executive offices. (Top, 1. to r.): Samuel Rosen, Stanley Warner vice-president; Eva Marie Saint, star of Columbia's "On the Waterfront"; Emanuel Frisch, Metropolitan Motion Picture Theatres Association, and Russell Downing, Radio City Music Hall managing director. (Bottom, 1. to r.): Ray Rhone, Rhone Theatres; Richard Brandt, Trans-Lux Theatre Corp. vice-president; Rita Gam, appearing in U-I's "Sign of the Pagan"; Martin Levine, William Brandt Theatres general manager, and John C. Bolte, Bolte Theatres. Reade Houses Offer BO Cuts To Oldsters An interesting experiment to encourage older people to attend movies has been in¬ augurated by the Walter Reade Theatres in Plainfield and Freehold, N. J. The plan ad¬ mits “senior citizens” over 65 to these the¬ atres at a substantially reduced admission price. Welfare agencies, recreational groups, and other organizations who work with older age groups will distribute the discount cards. It is expected that most recipients will be in the limited income group. The experiment was adapted from a similar program developed by Stanley Sumner, man¬ ager of the University Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. If it proves successful, it will be ex¬ tended next Fall to all communities in which the Reade organization has theatres. For many years, Reade has offered year-round discount cards to students from 12-18, and recently extended this privilege to teachers in the 10 communities served by the theatres. New COMPO Ad Digs Burial Of Trade News The latest COMPO advertisement in “Edi¬ tor & Publisher” takes a dig at the tendency of newspapers to bury constructive motion picture industry news in the back pages. Re¬ printing a paragraph from a recent issue of “The New York Times” that told of the help Hollywood personalities had given worthy causes, the ad carries the headline, “Just A Stick of Type On Page 28. . . .” The paragraph was in the Hollywood news column of the “Times” and quoted statistics of personal appearances made by Hollywood people at national and local patriotic and public service activities. Add Justice Charges In 16mm. Trust Suit Hollywood. — The Justice Department has amended its complaint in its 16mm. trust suit against the majors by tagging the charges of blacklist and boycott of exhibi¬ tors. Earlier, Justice had added the names of six theatre-exhibitor organizations as coconspirators in the case. Justice pointed out in its boycott-blacklist charge that the “defendants have maintained an intricate system to police and enforce, and with the assistance of coconspirators have policed and enforced license restrictions imposed upon exhibitors of 16mm. feature films, and have blacklisted or boycotted ex¬ hibitors who disregard such restrictions.” Named as co-conspirators were: National Allied, Independent Theatre Owners Asso¬ ciation, Metropolitan Motion Picture The¬ atres Association, Southern California The¬ atres Owners Association, PCCITO and COMPO. Theatre Owners of America had earlier been designated by Justice as the sole exhibitor co-conspirator in its case against the 12 distributor-defendants. The exhibitor organizations named as co¬ conspirators in the case meanwhile are re¬ portedly considering the possibility of inter¬ pleading as defendants in the case. If such decision is made, the exhibitor groups would gain the right to present evidence, call wit¬ nesses, etc. Fox Studio For TV Several million dollars have been allocated by 20th-Fox toward the complete retooling of the company’s Western Ave. Studios in Hollywood for television production. Sid Rogell, 20th-Fox executive producer, will head the project of transforming the lot’s 10 stages into a modern and complete studio for the production of TV films. Announcement was made following a board meeting this week. Survey Cites CS Over Flat Films Survey by 20th Century-Fox of box office performance for its CinemaScope features in comparison with grosses on a top nonanamorphic feature discloses an overall per¬ centage increase in all types of situations for pictures filmed anamorphically, the com¬ pany pointed out this week. An even greater increase would be registered for anamorphic features over 2-D features, the company predicted, if more theatres in the categories tested were equipped with CinemaScope. Five classes of indoor and outdoor the¬ atres were evaluated by 20th-Fox in the survey. Theatres in Class 1, where rentals on “Song In My Heart,” the 2-D feature, were $200 or better, showed an average in¬ crease, when compared with comparative bookings of any of six CinemaScope features, of 159.34 percent. Without figuring in book¬ ings on “The Robe,” the percentage increase was 56.6 over “Song In My Heart.” Rentals Compared For theatres in Class 2, where rentals on “Heart” ranged from $199 down to $100, the percentage rise for the six CinemaScope fea¬ tures was 125.88; without “The Robe,” 75.48. For Class 3 theatres, with rentals of $99 to $50, the increase was 137.14 percent; with¬ out “The Robe,” 89.56. Class 4 houses, where rental did not ex¬ ceed $49, showed a 192.3 percent rise with “The Robe”; 134.8 without; Class 5, com¬ posed of drive-ins, showed a 116.6 per¬ centage boost with “The Robe” ; 95.6 without. The film company noted that “the potential for expansion of CinemaScope installations is greatest in this group (drive-ins) for an inestimable amount of film rental based on results so far.” Areas tested were Albany, Boston, Cin¬ cinnati, Detroit, Philadelphia and Dallas. CinemaScope features were “How to Marry a Millionaire,” “River of No Return,” “Three Coins in the Fountain,” “Demetrius and the Gladiators” “Broken Lance” and “The Robe.” Fox, Famous Players Sign Buying Contract Twentieth Century-Fox and Famous Play¬ ers Canadian, which controls and operates close to 200 theatres, have concluded a threeyear block buying deal, estimated to result in more than $10,000,000 in film rentals for 1955-57, 20th-Fox announced this week. Agreement, the company stated, is the larg¬ est deal ever worked out on its CinemaScope product. Deal was worked out in detail by John J. Fitzgibbons, president, and Rube Bolstead and Ben Geldsaler, all of the theatre firm. Representing 20th-Fox were A1 Lichtman, director of distribution ; Arthur Silverstone, assistant general sales manager, and Peter Myers, Canadian division manager. Metro-Selznick Pact? Reported nearing consummation is a deal whereby David O. Selznick would personally produce two top-budget pictures for M-G-M. Metro will finance and hold a partnership interest in the films, stories for which have yet to be determined. THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— February 19, 1955 13