Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

Tuesday, March 20, 1951 Motion Picture Daily 5 N.Y. Grosses (Continued from page 1) Hall, where a second week of "Royal Wedding" and Leon Leonidoff 's Easter stage show is expected to almost match the first week's take of $143,000. $140,000 is the estimate, a splendid figure. The Roxy brought in "Bird of Paradise" for its Easter bill, with Tony Martin, and the first week looks like a pleasant $82,000 gross. Another opener, "Inside Straight," at the Capitol, is having a good first week, with about $38,000. Banner business is still beingchalked up at the Strand where "Storm Warning," with Josephine Baker on the stage, is expected to top $50,000 for the third consecutive week. The bill will be held over Easter weekend, with "Lullaby of Broadway" opening there on Monday. "Molly," at the Paramount, is holding up fairly well, with $45,000 expected in a second week, following a mild first week's gross of $50,000. "The Lemon Drop Kid," with Billy Eckstine on stage, will open there tomorrow. The only new pictures at straight film-policy houses are "GamblingHouse," which looks like a satisfactory first week's gross of $15,000 at the Mayfair, and "The Groom Wore Spurs" at the Criterion, where a mild $15,000 is estimated for a 10day run. The picture will bow out there on Thursday to make way for a special Easter film, "The Prince of Peace." At the Astor, "14 Hours" is expected to take in a healthy $20,000 for its second week ; the first week missed its estimated $25,000 by about $3,000. "Born Yesterday" at the Victoria is expected to take in about $18,000, ex cellent for a 13th week. "Tomahawk" is winding up a good five-week run at Loew's State with about $14,000 due for the final stanza "Up Front" will open there on Satur day. At the Rivoli, "The 13th Letter' will close on Friday after a modest four-week stand ; about $9,000 is due in the last week. "Rawhide" will open there on Saturday. "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" is beginning to limp at the Globe with under $10,000 due for a fourth week, but it will hold. "Cyrano de Bergerac" is still strong at the Bijou, with about $7,500 due for the 19th week of a two-a-day run. "Trio" at the Sutton will take in about $4,000 in its 24th week; good enough considering the length of the run. Review "Golden Salamander" Chicago Business (Continued from page 1) well with "Royal Wedding" and a stage show, while "Born Yesterday," "Cyrano De Bergerac," "Three Guys Named Mike," "The Mudlark" and "Bitter Rice" all did nicely. The surprise box-office performance was a revival of "Dodge City" and "Virginia City" at the United Artists ; the pair did exceptionally good business. The four drive-in theatres which opened on Friday all reported good business. Ralph Smitha, Essaness general manager, said the circuit was "very well pleased" with attendance at the Harlem Avenue Drive-in. On Friday and Saturday nights all 1,100 auto spaces were filled. Sunday business fell off considerably, however, because of cold weather. The other three drive-ins which also (Rank — Eagle Lion Classics) LIKE most British pictures "Golden Salamander" is deft in characterization and leisurely in pace. Shot on location in North Africa, the film has some excellent camerawork and local color. Otherwise it is a mystery melodrama cut from a standard stencil. The story has Trevor Howard, a British archaeologist, sent to North Africa to supervise a collection of salvaged antiques. En route he chances to witness a gun-running incident outside the village of his destination. At first Howard' chooses to ignore the incident and safely mind his own business. However the activities of the illegal gun smugglers soon affect Howard. Drawingguidance from an inscription at the base of an antique salamander — "Not by ignoring evil does one overcome it, but by going out to meet it." — Howard sets out to overcome the evil. There follow a series of incidents in which Howard is captured by the gang, escapes, and has a long and nerve-wracking flight to freedom. There is a quality of pristine charm to Anouk as the girl who becomes involved, romantically and adventurously, with Howard's melodramatic experiences. As the mastermind of evil who finally gets his due, Herbert Lorn plays his role with suavity. Howard, in the focal role, is a persuasive performer. A J. Arthur Rank film, it was produced by Alexander Galperson and directed by Ronald Neame, from the screenplay by Lesley Storm, Victor Canning and Neame. ... .r Runnino time, 94 minutes. General audience classification. March release. Mandel Heebstman O'Dwyer Stars (Continued from page 1) RKO's Fordham in the Bronx had scheduled a showing yesterday, but technical difficulties made it impossible. Fabian's Palace showed excerpts, with the telecast sent to Albany over telephone wires. Century hailed its free show at the Marine and Queens a huge success, with the two large crowds attentive and orderly. Favorable comment on theatre TV as compared to home sets was the rule, a spokesman said. At the Queens, a neighborhood diner cooperated by serving coffee and sandwiches, "on the house," during the noon recess. Century will repeat its all-day, freeof-charge showing of the hearings again today, but the other theatres have not definitely scheduled the telecasts. The importance of today's hearings will determine whether or not excerpts will be shown, it was, said. If interest warrants, the RKO Fordham will also put its theatre TV equipment to work, a spokesman said. Para. 'Edits' (Continued from page 1) Canadian Board Gets Budget Hike Ottawa, March 19. — The Canadian government has revealed in Parliament that estimated expenditures for the National Film Board in 1951-52 will reach $2,602,666, compared with $2,295,141 in 1950-51. However, the budget for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which has jurisdiction over television, will be cut to $1,928,600, against $3,292,361 in 195051. The appropriation vote for Canadian Broadcasting gives rise to the belief that Parliament has clamped down on the government radio agency for TV development because of defense requirements. Broun Tops Film Unit Myron L. Broun, vice-president of The Demby Co., will head the newlycreated motion picture department of that New York agency. opened on Friday did not do as well as the Harlem, but they did better business than anticipated considering the weather and the early seasonal openings. condensation of considerable previous testimony, it was said. Similarly, the two excerpts shown last night were edited to bring out the highlights of the day's hearings. In order to prepare the 45 minutes of theatre televised hearings shown, approximately three times that length of time was actually picked up by the theatre equipment, the spokesman said. Other theatres in the Metropolitan area televising the hearings are equipped with RCA "instantaneous" equipment and that part of the hearings actually on the air while the theatre program is on is used. Paramount feels that its intermediate system allows a selectivity in the choice of material through editing that enables the theatre to miss the routine parts of the proceedings. Yesterday's noon theatre telecast was praised by Robert Shapiro, Paramount Theatre manager, for its "spontaneity." "Our audiences always respond warmly to theatre television because of its dramatic freshness," he said. ELC Meeting (Continued from page 1) were the topics discussed by these executives. The Midwestern division will have its turn to meet here tomorrow and Thursday, the Southern division will be on hand on Friday and Saturday, and the Western division will have its sessions next Tuesday and Wednesday. $18,830 for 'Dimes' Atlanta, March 19. — William Jenkins, Georgia Theatre Co. president, has turned over $18,830 to the Georgia Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The amount represents audience collections by theatres in the area in the 1951 "March of Dimes" drive. Arthur Producing Shorts George K. Arthur is producing a series of five short features here for theatrical release. The first of these is "Goodbye My Love." It was shot on location at Nassau in the Bahamas. 'Alice' on Television In Black-and-W hite Sunday night's first telecast of scenes from Walt Disney's forthcoming Technicolor production of "Alice in Wonderland," on Fred Waring's topspot General Electric program over CBS, gave an ideal example of the marked technical difference between the TV screen and the theatre screen as purveyors of motion picture entertainment to the public. Waring's highly-esteemed musical organization gave a splendid rendition of several highlights from the score of Disney's production, but the cartoon sequences in black-andwhite which accompanied them pointed acutely to the technical limitation of television's public film presentations in the present state of that media in its bid for public attention. A Disney spectacle in black-andwhite on television's screen is mighty flat when compared with a Disney spectacle in color on a theatre screen. J. P. C. Legion Reviews 8; One Listed Class 'C Eight additional films have been reviewed by the National Legion of Decency, which placed one in Class C, two in Class B, and the remainder in Class A. "The Lovers of Verona," (French), Souvaine Selective Picture, Inc. was condemned. Those in Class B include "M," Columbia, and "Smuggler's Island,'' Universal-International. Those in Class A, section two, include "Cavalry Scout," Monogram ; "I Can Get It for You Wholesale," 20th Century-Fox, "Soldiers Three," M-G-M, and "Tales of Hoffman," (British), London Film Product, Inc. "Sons of New Mexico," Columbia, was given a Class A, section one, classification. Salesmen's Union (Continued from page 1) counsel, declined to say how much above the ESA-allowed 10 per cent the union is seeking. He explained, however, that it will be necessary for the distributors and the union to appeal jointly to ESA for the additional percentage if there is agreement between both sides on that point. He said an increased on-the-road expense allowance also has been proposed by the Colosseum. Others in the Industry Negotiating Committee are Clarence Hill, 20thFox ; Henry Kaufman, Columbia ; Charles O'Brien, Loew's; Joseph McMahon, Republic ; A. A. Shubart, RKO ; Tom Murray, Universal ; Arthur Israel, Paramount. Colosseum negotiators include Harris B. Winn, union president ; N. Provencher, secretary, and the following district representatives : Floyd Klingensmith. Eastern ; Grady James, Southern ; Reville Kniffin, Western ; Paul Fine, Central, and Harold Zeltner, Midwest. Paul A. Vogt, 54 Buffalo, March 19.— Paul A. Vogt, 54, secretary-treasurer of Local No. 10, IATSE, and a staff member at Shea's Buffalo, died in the Veterans Hospital here r.fter an illness of seven weeks.